Archive for the 'Technology' Category
£1 a Mile Toll’ to Drive in London?
October 12th, 2009Apologies for the Daily Mail link. Via: Daily Mail: Motorists face being charged for every mile they drive under radical new plans by London Mayor Boris Johnson. Drivers could be forced to pay to use the capital’s busiest roads as Mr Johnson seeks to plug a multi-million pound hole in the Transport for London (TfL) […]
IBM’s Backup Plan for Air New Zealand Smacks the Deck
October 12th, 2009I casually Googled my way around some infrastructure vulnerabilities in New Zealand. All I’ll say is that you wouldn’t believe me if I told you. There’s an address in Auckland that would take the breath away of anyone who knew what they were looking at. As I was looking at it, marveling at it, via […]
Rogue Satellites to be Cleared from Earth’s Orbit by German Robots
October 12th, 2009I swear, it’s a real headline. Via: Guardian: Robots that rescue failing satellites and push “dead” ones into outer space should be ready in four years, it has emerged. Experts described the development by German scientists as a crucial step in preventing a disaster in the Earth’s crowded orbit. Last year it was reported that […]
U.S. Government Considers Dealings with Telecommunications Companies as “Intra-Agency”
October 9th, 2009att.gov? Via: Wired: The Department of Justice has finally admitted it in court papers: the nation’s telecom companies are an arm of the government — at least when it comes to secret spying. … The feds argued that the documents showing consultation over the controversial telecom immunity proposal weren’t subject to the Freedom of Information […]
NYPD Tracking Cell Phone Owners
October 9th, 2009Via: New York Post: The NYPD is amassing a database of cell phone users, instructing cops to log serial numbers from suspects’ phones in hopes of connecting them to past or future crimes. In the era of disposable, anonymous cell phones, the file could be a treasure-trove for detectives investigating drug rings and other criminal […]
Online Game Players Pay 21-Year-Old Computer Geek £50,000 a Month to Carry Out Muggings, Murders and Heists in an Imaginary City
October 7th, 2009Via: Telegraph: A 21-year-old computer whizzkid has become a millionaire and takes home £50,000 a month after he created a hit online computer game. Joe Chedburn, a self-confessed geek, was just 16 when he came up with the idea to write an online game focused on crime. Torn, which is text-based and has no graphics, […]
NY Man Accused of Tweeting Cop Actions at Protests
October 5th, 2009Via: AP: A self-described New York City anarchist has been accused of tweeting the location of police officers to protesters trying to evade them during the Group of 20 economic summit in Pittsburgh. Elliot Madison, 41, described by his lawyer as a social worker and political activist, was arrested on charges including hindering prosecution for […]
Portable, Pentagon Pain Weapon May End Up in Police Hands
October 1st, 2009Via: New Scientist: THE Pentagon’s efforts to develop a beam weapon that can deter an adversary by causing a burning sensation on their skin has taken a step forward with the development of a small, potentially hand-held, version. The weapon, which is claimed to cause no permanent harm, could also end up being used by […]
Augmented Google Earth Gets Real-Time People, Cars, Clouds
September 30th, 2009The surveillance side of this is the chickenfeed. There’s something far more sinister than the simple surveillance… an angle we haven’t heard about yet. Tice never did tell his story to Congress about this different aspect of the program. Well, my guess is that it has something to do with providing surveillance data for this […]
Berkeley and DARPA: Cyborg Beetle Piloted by Remote Control
September 28th, 2009Via: Wired: The creation of a cyborg insect army has just taken a step closer to reality. A research team at the University of California Berkeley recently announced that it has successfully implanted electrodes into a beetle allowing scientists to control the insect’s movements in flight. “We demonstrated the remote control of insects in free […]
