Archive for the 'Economy' Category
Ello: Something’s Missing from the About Page
September 27th, 2014I was looking for some sort of social networking site or software that Cryptogon contributors could use in a post-Cryptogon era. I thought Ello might be worth considering—until I researched it a bit more. Check this out. Via: Aral Balkan: What I didn’t know at the time was that they’d taken $435,000 in seed funding […]
NY Fed Fired Examiner Who Took on Goldman Sachs
September 26th, 2014Via: ProPublica: In the spring of 2012, a senior examiner with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York determined that Goldman Sachs had a problem. Under a Fed mandate, the investment banking behemoth was expected to have a company-wide policy to address conflicts of interest in how its phalanxes of dealmakers handled clients. Although Goldman […]
Hungary Suspends Gas Supplies to Ukraine
September 26th, 2014Via: BBC: Hungary’s gas pipeline operator, FGSZ, says it has suspended delivery of gas to neighbouring Ukraine “indefinitely”. Ukraine has been receiving gas from Hungary, Poland and Slovakia since Russia cut off supplies to Ukraine in June in a dispute over unpaid bills. Ukraine’s state-owned gas firm, Naftogaz, confirmed the stoppage. It called the move […]
Managing a Nightmare: The CIA Reveals How It Watched Over the Destruction of Gary Webb
September 25th, 2014Via: First Look: Eighteen years after it was published, “Dark Alliance,” the San Jose Mercury News’s bombshell investigation into links between the cocaine trade, Nicaragua’s Contra rebels, and African American neighborhoods in California, remains one of the most explosive and controversial exposés in American journalism. The 20,000-word series enraged black communities, prompted Congressional hearings, and […]
China’s Tech Factories Turn to Student Labor
September 25th, 2014Via: Dow Jones: CHONGQING, China—On the outskirts of this southwestern Chinese hub lie the student factories. Schools send thousands of teenagers here to put together electronic devices for some of the world’s largest brands. Many students say they are given no choice. … Student interns have become increasingly entrenched in China’s labor force, especially among […]
U.S. Attacking Oil Infrastructure Belonging to… ISIS?
September 24th, 2014Via: CNN: U.S. and coalition warplanes pounded ISIS positions in eastern Syria on Wednesday, targeting what a Pentagon official described as mobile oil refineries being used by the so-called Islamic State terror group to help finance its operations. The latest round of airstrikes were aimed at cutting off money flowing to ISIS, which makes up […]
Scientists Make Airborne Ebola… In Laboratory Conditions Only *wink*
September 24th, 2014Via: Reuters: Ben Neuman, a Reading virologist who has been monitoring the Ebola epidemic since it began in Guinea, noted that under carefully controlled laboratory conditions, scientists have shown it is feasible to make Ebola transmit through air, but added: “So far there is no solid evidence that it actually happens out there in the […]
Germany: DHL Begins Drone Deliveries to Island
September 24th, 2014Via: Reuters: Logistics firm DHL is using a drone to fly parcels to the German island of Juist, in what it says is the first time an unmanned aircraft has been authorized to deliver goods in Europe. The company, owned by Germany’s Deutsche Post, joins the likes of Amazon.com and Google in testing the potential […]
The Robots that Feed Humanity
September 24th, 2014Via: Engadget: The Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, divides agricultural robots into three generations. The first gen is comprised of basic ones that can collect data, while the second-gen bots are capable of harvesting, seeding, spraying and cultivating. Finally, the third and most advanced generation is comprised […]
Robots That Learn Through Repetition, Not Programming
September 23rd, 2014Via: MIT Technology Review: Eugene Izhikevich thinks you shouldn’t have to write code in order to teach robots new tricks. “It should be more like training a dog,” he says. “Instead of programming, you show it consistent examples of desired behavior.” Izhikevich’s startup, Brain Corporation, based in San Diego, has developed an operating system for […]
