Archive for the 'Technology' Category
30GB Zunes Failing Everywhere, All At Once
December 31st, 2008Cylons attack? Probably not. Anyway, there’s an object lesson in critical infrastructure here, even though this situation involves digital music players. Via: Ars: Around midnight Pacific time last night, 30GB Zunes began restarting and locking up at their boot screens. Reports have swamped official forums and fan sites, and Microsoft has yet to officially comment […]
SSL CERTIFICATES SIGNED WITH MD5 AUTHORITATIVELY BROKEN
December 31st, 2008“…no tinfoiler in his right mind would bet his life on SSL.” —The Ugly Truth About Online Anonymity * Chortling sounds * Via: CNET: BERLIN–A key piece of Internet technology that banks, e-commerce sites, and financial institutions rely on to keep transactions safe suffers from a serious security vulnerability, an international team of researchers announced […]
U.S. Police Could Get ‘Pain Beam’ Weapons
December 26th, 2008Via: New Scientist: The research arm of the US Department of Justice is working on two portable non-lethal weapons that inflict pain from a distance using beams of laser light or microwaves, with the intention of putting them into the hands of police to subdue suspects. The two devices under development by the civilian National […]
Amateurs Are Trying Genetic Engineering at Home
December 26th, 2008The 21st-century technologies – genetics, nanotechnology, and robotics (GNR) – are so powerful that they can spawn whole new classes of accidents and abuses. Most dangerously, for the first time, these accidents and abuses are widely within the reach of individuals or small groups. They will not require large facilities or rare raw materials. Knowledge […]
And Now: The Bionic Sex Chip
December 23rd, 2008Via: Times Online: FORGET Viagra: scientists are working on an electronic “sex chip” that will be able to stimulate pleasure centres in the brain. The prospect of the chip, which could be a decade away, is emerging from progress in deep brain stimulation, in which tiny shocks from implanted electrodes are given to the brain. […]
Toronto Stock Exchange Suffers Daylong Trading Halt
December 18th, 2008Via: Bloomberg: The Toronto Stock Exchange suffered a daylong trading disruption after a computer failure prevented quotes from being disseminated, causing the worst halt for a major market since September. Most trading on Canada’s biggest stock market didn’t begin on schedule at 9:30 a.m. in Toronto, and buying and selling was halted about 20 minutes […]
Citibank’s Computers Down, Blocking Account Info
December 17th, 2008Via: AP: Customers of New York City-based Citibank have lost access to much of their account information because of a computer outage. Many of the troubled bank’s clients haven’t been able to retrieve account details online or by telephone since Tuesday afternoon. Others can access only parts of their account profiles. Citibank telephone representatives say […]
Australia: Lawyers Given Permission to Serve Debtors with Default Judgement Through Facebook
December 16th, 2008Via: Herald Sun: TWO friends who defaulted on a six-figure loan are about to find out through their Facebook page a mortgage lender’s lawyers are on their trail. In an Australian and possibly world first, two lawyers have won a court order to allow them to serve a default judgment through Facebook. After failing to […]
Google Planning to Enable Mob Rule Ratings for Search Results
December 15th, 2008Get Ready for New and Improved Google Results: Now Powered by the Zombie Consumer Death Cult! I have to make jokes because this is very, very grim. If you want to understand what I mean, just spend some time using Reddit without filters. The imbeciles found their way into the machine, and they’re clicking up […]
Scientists Report Mental ‘Body-Swapping’
December 3rd, 2008Just another grant swindle, or… Something else? Via: Washington Post: The illusion of body-swapping — making people perceive the bodies of mannequins and other people as their own — has been achieved by Swedish neuroscientists. In one experiment, the team fitted the head of a mannequin with two cameras connected to two small screens placed […]
