Archive for the 'Technology' Category
Bill Would Give President Emergency Control of Internet
August 28th, 2009Via: Cnet: Internet companies and civil liberties groups were alarmed this spring when a U.S. Senate bill proposed handing the White House the power to disconnect private-sector computers from the Internet. They’re not much happier about a revised version that aides to Sen. Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat, have spent months drafting behind closed […]
The Crapification of Everything is Just Beginning
August 27th, 2009Becky did lots of research into finding a handheld blender that wasn’t crap. She eventually found an article in a consumer magazine that said that there are no handheld blenders that aren’t crap and to just buy the cheapest one available, expect it to crap out, and when it does, buy another one or use […]
Taser Projectile Fired from 12 Gauge Shotgun
August 26th, 2009Via: New Scientist: THE manufacturer of the Taser stun gun is sparking new controversy with the commercial launch of a long-range version that can be fired from a 12-bore shotgun. Government-funded tests on initial versions of the new Extended Range Electronic Projectile (XREP) have revealed possible health risks to people on the receiving end, New […]
Multitasking Muddles Brains, Even When the Computer Is Off
August 26th, 2009Via: Wired: Some people suspect that a multitasking lifestyle has changed how they think, leaving them easily distracted and unable to concentrate even when separated from computers and phones. Their uneasiness may be justified. In several benchmark tests of focus, college students who routinely juggle many flows of information, bouncing from e-mail to web text […]
School Kids Buying Their Breakfast Sticks Using Fingerprint Readers
August 20th, 2009In case you don’t get the “breakfast stick” reference: “Texas: In-School Suspension Program” Uses GPS Tracking Systems Attached to Students. Via: Chronicle Telegram: For lunch Monday, Elyria High School served up pepperoni pizza to the students who came back for the first day of classes. But instead of students handing over cash, some placed their […]
Video Ads in Magazines
August 20th, 2009Via: Financial Times: When some readers of Entertainment Weekly open their magazines next month, they will discover characters from US television programmes speaking to them from a wafer-thin video screen built into the page. The marketing experiment – which is being conducted by CBS, the US broadcaster, and Pepsi, the soft drinks maker – recalls […]
The Fourth Kind
August 19th, 2009I noticed some chatter in a couple of nonsense polluted backwaters about a psychologist and some related cases in the upcoming alien abduction film, The Fourth Kind. At first, I wasn’t going to post anything about this, but to head off people from emailing me about it, I decided to go ahead: I spent about […]
IBM Uses DNA to Make Next-Gen Microchips
August 17th, 2009I don’t post a lot of ten-years-from-now type stories, but the weird factor on this one is pretty high. Via: Reuters: International Business Machines Corp is looking to the building blocks of our bodies — DNA — to be the structure of next-generation microchips. As chipmakers compete to develop ever-smaller chips at cheaper prices, designers […]
The Hubble Ultra Deep Field in 3D
August 14th, 2009Airlines to Require More Passenger Data
August 13th, 2009Via: Wall Street Journal: Airlines this week will begin requiring some people making reservations for domestic flights to submit their dates of birth and genders as part of a screening process aimed at keeping boarding passes out of the hands of suspected terrorists, the Transportation Security Administration said. The agency said the screening would all […]
