Archive for the 'Technology' Category
Judge: Google Can Be Sued for Wiretapping in Street View Debacle
June 30th, 2011Via: Wired: A federal judge has found that Google can be held liable for damages for secretly intercepting data on open Wi-Fi routers. The ruling is a serious legal setback for the search giant over activity it has engaged in across the United States for years. That decision, the first of its kind, was handed […]
Facebook: 10th Most Hated Company in America
June 30th, 2011Dvorak is right: Facebook is a sort of AOL. Via: Business Insider: #10 Facebook A common complaint includes user’s privacy and personal information protection. Social networkers worry about privacy and sometimes complain when Facebook introduces new features, like the news feed. Or when Facebook shuts down apps without warning users beforehand, like they did recently […]
Japan’s Newest Popstar Outed as CGI Creation
June 29th, 2011Via: Vigilant Citizen: Aimi Eguchi, the latest star of the popular girl band AKB 48, told fans on her website that she was a normal 16-year-old from Saitama Prefecture, north of Tokyo who enjoyed track and field sports. Her cute features made her a fan favorite and quickly created a buzz. … Miss Eguchi blogged […]
Researchers Discover New Alloy That Converts Heat Directly Into Electricity
June 28th, 2011Still waiting… (Not holding breath.) MIT: Turning Heat to Electricity University of Utah: A Sound Way to Turn Heat Into Electricity Via: PhysOrg: University of Minnesota engineering researchers in the College of Science and Engineering have recently discovered a new alloy material that converts heat directly into electricity. This revolutionary energy conversion method is in […]
FOIA’d Documents Raise New Questions About Airport Body Scanner Radiation Risks
June 27th, 2011Cancer clusters… Via: Electronic Privacy Information Center: In a FOIA lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security, EPIC has just obtained documents concerning the radiation risks of TSA’s airport body scanner program. The documents include agency emails, radiation studies, memoranda of agreement concerning radiation testing programs, and results of some radiation tests. One document set […]
Google Gets Driverless Car Law Passed in Nevada
June 26th, 2011Via: PhysOrg: The savvy among you may remember that back in May we told you about Google’s attempts to get the Nevada state legislature to consider allowing users to driver UGV, or unmanned ground vehicles, that are more popularly know as self-driving cars on the states roads. At the time it seemed like an interesting […]
Austrian Company Debuts Revolutionary Wingless Aircraft
June 24th, 2011Via: PhysOrg: A firm from Austria, Austrian Innovative Aeronautical Technology (IAT21) has unveiled a new type of aircraft that flies without wings or rotors, at the Paris Air Show. Though not actually flown at the show, spokesmen for the new aircraft, named D-Dalus (no doubt after the tragic Greek figure Daedalus, who lost his son […]
U.S. Government Launching Antitrust Investigation of Google
June 24th, 2011Oh sure. I bet Google is quivering with fear. Via: Wall Street Journal: Federal regulators are poised to hit Google Inc. with subpoenas, launching a broad, formal investigation into whether the Internet giant has abused its dominance in Web-search advertising, people familiar with the matter said. The civil probe, which has the potential to reshape […]
Sinister Public-Private Partnership to Spy on Web Users
June 23rd, 2011Via: Guardian: When President Eisenhower left office in 1960, he provided the American people with a warning. “In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.” Sixty years later, […]
DARPA: Mind’s Eye Program
June 23rd, 2011Via: SRI: SRI International is leading a team to design a visual intelligence system, known as VIGIL (Visual Intelligence Grounded in Learning), to enable a new era in unmanned robotic surveillance. The SRI team is being funded through the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA’s) Mind’s Eye program. VIGIL will be integrated with other […]
