Archive for the 'Technology' Category
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.
‘Something May Come Through’ Dimensional ‘Doors’ at LHC
November 16th, 2009I’m sure that Dick Cheney will wear his finest hooded robe for the occasion. Via: Register: A top boffin at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) says that the titanic machine may possibly create or discover previously unimagined scientific phenomena, or “unknown unknowns” – for instance “an extra dimension”. “Out of this door might come something, […]
