Archive for the 'Technology' Category
Conficker Worm: The Enemy Within
May 16th, 2010Via: The Atlantic: When the Conficker computer “worm” was unleashed on the world in November 2008, cyber-security experts didn’t know what to make of it. It infiltrated millions of computers around the globe. It constantly checks in with its unknown creators. It uses an encryption code so sophisticated that only a very few people could […]
Facebook Founder Called Trusting Users “Dumb Fucks”
May 16th, 2010Via: Register: Loveable Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg called his first few thousand users “dumb fucks” for trusting him with their data, published IM transcripts show. Facebook hasn’t disputed the authenticity of the transcript. Zuckerberg was chatting with an unnamed friend, apparently in early 2004. Business Insider, which has a series of quite juicy anecdotes about […]
Phantom Ray UAV Capable of Completely Autonomous Operation
May 15th, 2010Via: MSNBC: Boeing’s sleek fighter-size Phantom Ray stealth jet will make its first flight by year’s end. This unmanned airborne system is designed for a variety of warfighter roles ranging from reconnaissance and surveillance to aerial refueling, electronic attack and hunter/killer missions. The 36-foot-long aircraft, which will serve as a test bed for advanced technologies, […]
Why We Could All Use a Heavy Dose of Techno-Skepticism
May 15th, 2010Via: Technofascism Blog: A new prophet, Jason Silva, joins the ranks of Ray Kurzweil as evangelist for the emerging Singularity techno-religion. In his new film, “Turning Into Gods”, Mr. Silva promotes the central tenet of this new cult: that all of us will one day become all-powerful deities, that will play with genes and atoms […]
U.S. Government Can Execute Its Own Citizens With No Judicial Process And Based On Secret Intelligence
May 15th, 2010What do we learn from the New York Times in the article below? Some legal authorities are deeply uneasy about the U.S. Government’s arbitrary assassination of Americans. That is supposed to soothe us, I think. We can rest assured that someone feels deeply uneasy about the government murdering its own citizens. I don’t know about […]
Man Fitted with Robot Arm Controlled by the Mind
May 13th, 2010It’s unfortunate that killer robots are the inescapable flipside of this kind of stuff. Whether you love the machines, or dread them (or both), this is pretty remarkable. Via: BBC: Every morning Christian Kandlbauer wakes up, dresses himself, and gets in his car to drive to work. This may sound mundane, but for the 21-year-old […]
$3 Microscope Plugs into Cell Phones
May 13th, 2010Via: MIT Technology Review: Inexpensive, lightweight device provides basic medical diagnostics and images. A small digital microscope that costs just a few dollars can plug into a cell phone and perform basic medical diagnostics that would ordinarily require expensive lab equipment. The microscope, which uses no lenses, saves on cost and weight by using algorithms […]
Britain: Identity Cards Set to Be Scrapped
May 13th, 2010While this seems like good news, expect the other shoe to drop soon enough. Via: BBC: Identity cards will be scrapped under plans announced by the new Conservative and Lib Dem coalition government, new Home Secretary Theresa May has said. Their abolition is among measures the parties have agreed to reverse what they say was […]
Bloomberg Wants ‘Big Brother Britain’ For NYC
May 12th, 2010Via: CBS: Mayor Michael Bloomberg has his eye on more security against terror attacks. He went to London Tuesday to check out their surveillance camera system, one of the largest in the world. Ever since the Times Square car bomb scare on May 1, the mayor’s been looking to build up New York’s camera network. […]
FCC Lets Hollywood Turn Off Your Output Jacks
May 12th, 2010Via: Wired: Hollywood will soon have the power to remotely disable the analog outputs on your set-top box, under a decision by federal regulators on Friday intended to prevent home recording of new movie releases. The move by the Federal Communications Commission grants cable and satellite providers the power to block consumers from viewing just-released […]
