Archive for the 'Technology' Category
Google Offers Public DNS Service
December 4th, 2009Update: Some Thoughts on Google DNS Interesting post from the CEO of DNS services company OpenDNS, who probably feels the bull’s-eye painted on his chest: Google claims that this service is better because it has no ads or redirection. But you have to remember they are also the largest advertising and redirection company on the […]
Yahoo, Verizon: Our Spy Capabilities Would ‘Shock’, ‘Confuse’ Consumers
December 3rd, 2009Via: Wired: Want to know how much phone companies and internet service providers charge to funnel your private communications or records to U.S. law enforcement and spy agencies? That’s the question muckraker and Indiana University graduate student Christopher Soghoian asked all agencies within the Department of Justice, under a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request […]
Kandahar’s Loch Ness Mystery Plane Returns
December 1st, 2009Via: Flight Global: Kandahar’s Loch Ness monster has been spotted again. This time an actual photo of the beast was published by French journalist Jean-Dominique Merchet, who writes for the Liberation newspaper, on his Secret Defense blog. We last saw the mystery Kandahar aircraft in a drawing by Shephard’s Unmanned Vehicles and a very grainy […]
Sprint Nextel Geotracking Info Given to Law Enforcement Eight Million Times from September 2008 and October 2009
December 1st, 2009My running hypothesis is that MAINCORE targets are geotracked on a persistent basis. Via: Slight Paranoia: Sprint Nextel provided law enforcement agencies with its customers’ (GPS) location information over 8 million times between September 2008 and October 2009. This massive disclosure of sensitive customer information was made possible due to the roll-out by Sprint of […]
New Sharp Flat Panel Factory: No Humans on Assembly Line
December 1st, 2009Via: AP: Huge sheets of glass are guided by robotic arms, sliding and turning in a towering germ-free plant, the world’s first making giant “10th generation” panels for flat screen TVs. Japanese electronics maker Sharp Corp.’s futuristic-looking plant doesn’t have a single worker on the floor. Each sheet, measuring about 3 meters (3.3 yards) by […]
Scientists Grow Pork Meat in a Laboratory
December 1st, 2009Oh yummy. Via: Telegraph: SCIENTISTS have grown meat in the laboratory for the first time. Experts in Holland used cells from a live pig to replicate growth in a petri dish. The advent of so-called “in-vitro” or cultured meat could reduce the billions of tons of greenhouse gases emitted each year by farm animals — […]
Blind Man Able to Read With Visual Prosthesis System
November 30th, 2009Via: Times Online: A blind man fitted with a “bionic eye” in a trial at the Manchester Royal Eye Hospital has delighted doctors by being able to read simple words. The implant uses a camera mounted on spectacles to send wireless signals to nerves that control sight. The brain then decodes the image. Peter Lane, […]
New Bomb-Resistant Trucks Will Blast RPGs Before They Hit
November 30th, 2009Via: Wired: The U.S. military’s toughest trucks are getting a new layer of protection — against rocket-propelled grenades. The Army recently awarded an $8 million contract to equip MRAP (mine resistant ambush protected) armored trucks with Iron Curtain. It’s a protection system which blasts incoming rockets before they can hit the vehicle. If the system […]
Otakulypse Now: Japanese Man Marries Virtual Girlfriend
November 29th, 2009Via: Stuff: We may occasionally wish our spouses had an “off” switch but a Japanese man will have that luxury full-time after he married his virtual girlfriend in an official-looking ceremony over the weekend. In a bizarre story reminiscent of the film Lars and the Real Girl, the man, known by his nickname SAL9000, fell […]
UK Jails Schizophrenic for Refusal to Decrypt Files
November 24th, 2009Via: Register: The first person jailed under draconian UK police powers that Ministers said were vital to battle terrorism and serious crime has been identified by The Register as a schizophrenic science hobbyist with no previous criminal record. His crime was a persistent refusal to give counter-terrorism police the keys to decrypt his computer files. […]
