Archive for the 'Technology' Category
Zynga’s Secret Dealer for High Value Farmville Addicts
September 13th, 2010Via: Valleywag: The company behind Mafia Wars and Farmville doesn’t like to talk about the sad addicts who fuel its profits. But it does quietly run a special store for them, where imaginary credits are bought with very real bank transfers. The minimum purchase in Zynga’s underground “Platinum Purchase Program” is $500, payable by wire […]
Japan Developing Alternatives to Rare Earth Metals
September 10th, 2010Via: Forbes: If China is trying to give its manufacturers a leg up by restricting exports of rare earth metals, it may find the advantage temporary. With prices spiking following the latest in a series of annual export quota reductions by Beijing earlier this summer, miners have been scrambling to develop deposits of the essential […]
DHS Cybersecurity Watchdogs Miss Hundreds of Vulnerabilities on Their Own Network
September 9th, 2010Via: Wired: The federal agency in charge of protecting other agencies from computer intruders was found riddled with hundreds of high-risk security holes on its own systems, according to the results of an audit released Wednesday. The United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team, or US-CERT, monitors the Einstein intrusion-detection sensors on nonmilitary government networks, and […]
DARPA Antics: ‘Remote Control of Brain Activity Using Ultrasound’
September 9th, 2010Via: U.S. Department of Defense: …my laboratory has engineered a novel technology which implements transcranial pulsed ultrasound to remotely and directly stimulate brain circuits without requiring surgery. Further, we have shown this ultrasonic neuromodulation approach confers a spatial resolution approximately five times greater than TMS and can exert its effects upon subcortical brain circuits deep […]
Robot Snake Now Climbs Trees
September 7th, 2010I’ll sleep well as long as that thing requires an extension cord. Via: PhysOrg: Uncle Sam, Carnegie Mellon’s latest robotic snake, has been taught to climb trees. The snake is the newest version of “modsnake” created by the Biorobotics Laboratory at the Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. The snake’s movements are biomimetic, mimicking movements of […]
Copenhagen Suborbitals Launch Fails Due to Frozen Liquid Oxygen Valve/Hairdryer Mishap
September 7th, 2010Via: Copenhagen Post: The dreams of the first Danish rocket in space were shot down this weekend, as the Heat-1X/Tycho-Brahe rocket failed to lift off. Rocket builders Peter Madsen and Kristian von Bengtson confirmed last night at a press conference that it was their by now infamous hairdryer that resulted in the rocket not achieving […]
Augmented City 3D
September 6th, 2010My guess is that it’s going to look a lot more like this: …but maybe a bit of both. Via: Vimeo / Keiichi Matsuda: Augmented City 3D from Keiichi Matsuda on Vimeo. The architecture of the contemporary city is no longer simply about the physical space of buildings and landscape, more and more it is […]
U.S. Navy Makes $3 Billion “Hostage Payment” to HP for Crappy Computer Network
September 6th, 2010Via: Wired: Normally, it’s hard to get anyone but the geeks fired up about information infrastructure. But the Navy Marine Corps Intranet isn’t your normal network. With 700,000+ seats, it’s the world’s second-biggest network, after the internet itself. NMCI’s technical complexities and hiccups are the stuff of dark legend around the Navy. The fights it’s […]
In Japan, Men Take Virtual Girlfriends on Real Vacations
September 3rd, 2010Also: Building the Perfect Kill House with Video Games Via: The Atlantic: Loneliness exists in every society, but only in Japan has emotional isolation become a market for video game manufacturers and tourist resorts. The Wall Street Journal’s Daisuke Wakabayashi reports on a popular game called “LovePlus+,” played on mobile consoles, that simulates the (non-sexual) […]
SEC Investigating High Frequency Trading: My Voice Is Higher Than Your Voice
September 3rd, 2010WARNING: This is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any financial instrument. “Manipulating share prices to benefit from the distortions would be considered illegal.” *chortle* It’s not illegal, it’s innovation! Rest assured, though, the SEC is going to sort it out. *double chortle* Are you betting your financial future on the stock market? […]
