Archive for the 'Technology' Category
Air Force Zaps Drones in Laser Test
November 23rd, 2009Via: Wired: In a recent series of tests at the Naval Air Warfare Center, China Lake, Calif., a trailer-mounted laser was able to knock five unmanned aircraft out of the sky. The demo, sponsored by the Air Force Research Laboratory, was a test of the Mobile Active Targeting Resource for Integrated eXperiments (MATRIX), an experimental […]
VeriChip Buys Steel Vault, Creating Micro-Implant Health Record/Credit Score Empire
November 22nd, 2009Via: Bnet: VeriChip (CHIP), the company that markets a microchip implant that links to your online health records, has acquired Steel Vault (SVUL), a credit monitoring and anti-identity theft company. The combined company will operate under a new name: PositiveID. The all-stock transaction will leave PositiveID in charge of a burgeoning empire of identity, health […]
NSA Is Giving Microsoft Some Help On Windows 7 Security
November 18th, 2009Other software makers have turned to government agencies for security advice, including Apple, which makes the Mac OS X operating system. “We work with a number of U.S. government agencies on Mac OS X security and collaborated with the NSA on the Mac OS X security configuration guide,” said Apple spokesman Anuj Nayar in an […]
Silicon Sweatshops
November 17th, 2009Via: Global Post: Despite strict “codes of conduct,” labor rights violations are the norm at factories making the world’s favorite high-tech gadgets. Hourly wages below a dollar. Firings with no notice. Indifferent bosses. Labor brokers that leech away months of a worker’s hard-earned wages. A corporate shell game that leaves no one responsible. Such conditions […]
And Now… The Fear Sniffing Magic 8 Ball Terrorist Detector
November 17th, 2009Via: PhysOrg: British scientists are aiming to develop a device that can detect the smell of fear, and that could one day identify terrorists, drug smugglers, and other criminals. The 18-month project to develop two sensor systems is being carried out at the City University London, and is being led by Professor Tong Sun. The […]
Short Video About UAV Combat Operations
November 17th, 2009I wonder if Captain Dan is allowed to have a Bobblehead Jesus on the “flight” deck?
U.S. Army Opens New Ground-Vehicle Energy Research Lab in Michigan
November 17th, 2009What does all of this mean for GM? I have no idea. But if something really, really strange happens, it might make much more sense in hindsight. I’m going to quote from Blank Spots on the Map again: The Manhattan Project, a project lasting roughly five years from start to finish, had cost $2.3 billion […]
Apple Patents Technology That Would Force Users to Interact with Ads
November 16th, 2009Via: New York Times: Its distinctive feature is a design that doesn’t simply invite a user to pay attention to an ad — it also compels attention. The technology can freeze the device until the user clicks a button or answers a test question to demonstrate that he or she has dutifully noticed the commercial […]
“To Inhabit the Solar System”
November 16th, 2009Via: Register: The best mad scientist autobiography this year, perhaps the only one, is Tony Zuppero’s To Inhabit the Solar System. Better still, it’s free and in time for holiday reading. It’s a long but definitely not windy 391 pages. In it, Zuppero confirms everything – bad, weird, insane, amusing or simply astonishing – you […]
The Folly of a ‘Drone War’
November 16th, 2009Via: CBS News: What we’re talking about here is the gaze of the gods, updated in corporate labs for the modern American war-fighter — a gaze that can be focused on whatever runs, walks, crawls, or creeps just about anywhere on the planet 24/7, with an instant ability to blow it away.
