Archive for the 'Technology' Category
AI vs. AI. Two Chatbots Talking to Each Other
August 31st, 2011HAHA. Isn’t it reassuring to know that these types of systems are trading stocks, bonds, currencies, commodities and derivatives millions of times per second? Never mind the killer robot applications… Have a nice day! Via: Cornell University / YouTube: Research Credit: jakdmsy
‘Smart’ CCTV Could Track Rioters
August 31st, 2011Yeah, in other words, ‘smart’ CCTV could track anyone. I’d be shocked if it turned out to be the case that this wasn’t already operational for the British equivalent of MAIN CORE, assuming there is one (which I do). Via: BBC: CCTV that can automatically monitor criminal behaviour and track suspects is being developed by […]
Obama DOJ: John Yoo Memos on Spying Must Stay Secret
August 31st, 2011Via: The Atlantic: What was Bush Administration lawyer John Yoo thinking when he wrote various legal memos declaring that the president has the power to spy on American citizens without getting a warrant or telling anyone about it? The Obama Administration isn’t telling: The Obama administration has refused to declassify a secret memo from the […]
Google Wants to Become an Identity Service
August 30th, 2011Oh sure. Via: Business Week: Ever since Google (GOOG) launched its new Google+ social network, we and others have pointed out that the search giant clearly has more in mind than just providing a nice place for people to share photos of their pets. For one thing, Google needs to tap into the “social signals” […]
Google Explores +1 Button to Influence Search Results
August 30th, 2011I’ll re-post my commentary on this from 2008: Google Planning to Enable Mob Rule Ratings for Search Results. Fill it to the rim, with grim: Get Ready for New and Improved Google Results: Now Powered by the Zombie Consumer Death Cult! I have to make jokes because this is very, very grim. If you want […]
Appeals Court to Weigh NSA Dragnet Surveillance
August 30th, 2011Via: Wired: Whether the federal government and the nation’s telecommunication companies can be held accountable for allegedly funneling every American’s electronic communication to the National Security Agency without warrants is the subject of oral arguments scheduled for a federal appeals court Wednesday. At issue is a Jan. 31, 2006 lawsuit, and others that followed, alleging […]
Scared Mexicans Turn to Bogus Tracking Chip Implants
August 29th, 2011Via: Washington Post: Of all the strange circumstances surrounding the violent abduction last year of Diego Fernandez de Cevallos, the Mexican power broker and former presidential candidate known here as “Boss Diego,” perhaps nothing was weirder than the mysterious tracking chip that the kidnappers allegedly cut from his body. Lurid Mexican media accounts reported that […]
Mexican Terrorists Target Nanotech Researchers with Package Bombs
August 25th, 2011Via: Times Union: A Mexican terrorist group is targeting nanotechnology researchers around the world. The group, which is influenced by the Unabomber, has sent package bombs to universities and research facilities in South America and Europe. A number of victims, including professors, were injured after they opened mail that exploded. Research Credit: lagavulin
Germany: Facebook Data Collection Under Fire Again
August 25th, 2011I use a custom filter in AdBlock+ to block all Facebook nonsense. I haven’t seen one of those ‘Like’ buttons in years. (Not on my computer, anyway.) If you don’t know what this ‘Like’ button garbage is all about, it’s a little widget that site operators put all over the place that lets Facebook users […]
Cisco and Abuses of Human Rights in China
August 25th, 2011Via: Electronic Frontier Foundation: What responsibility do corporations have to consider human rights when making business deals? Are companies that build and market equipment for the purpose of surveilling and censoring pro-democracy activists in authoritarian regimes culpable when those activists are imprisoned or tortured? Do companies bear a special responsibility if they customize products to […]
