Archive for the 'Economy' Category
Hagel: Threat Posed by U.S. Funded and Armed Terrorist Organization ‘Beyond Anything We’ve Seen’
August 21st, 2014Mmm hmm. Via: Reuters: The sophistication, wealth and military might of Islamic State militants represent a major threat to the United States that may surpass that once posed by al Qaeda, U.S. military leaders said on Thursday. “They are an imminent threat to every interest we have, whether it’s in Iraq or anywhere else,” Defense […]
Amazon Expands Its Cloud Services to U.S. Military
August 21st, 2014Via: DefenseOne: Amazon Web Services has become the first commercial cloud provider authorized to handle the Defense Department’s most sensitive unclassified data. Today’s announcement that AWS has achieved a provisional authority to operate under DOD’s cloud security model at impact levels 3-5 is a major win for the company, as it allows DOD customers to […]
Bank of America in Record $16.7 Billion Mortgage Settlement
August 21st, 2014If you think that sounds like a big number, notice the part in bold below. Anyway, what’s the U.S. government going to do with its cut? Send more tanks to collapsing American cities? Via: BBC: Bank of America has agreed to pay a record $16.7bn (£10bn) to US authorities for misleading investors about the quality […]
36% of Americans Haven’t Saved Anything for Retirement
August 18th, 2014Via: CBS: Over a third of all Americans (36%) have not saved any money for retirement, according to a new Bankrate.com (NYSE: RATE) report. Sixty-nine percent of 18-29 year-olds haven’t saved anything, along with 33% of 30-49 year-olds, 26% of 50-64 year-olds and 14% of people 65 and older.
A $50 Billion Chinese Canal Across Nicaragua
August 17th, 2014Via: NPR: One hundred years ago today, the first ship passed through the brand-new, U.S.-built Panama Canal; a century later, Panama owns the canal outright, and the country is one of the most prosperous in the region. Panama’s neighbor to the north, Nicaragua, is hoping a transoceanic canal and similar prosperity are in its near […]
Central American Gangs: Made in America
August 16th, 2014Via: Guardian: Central America didn’t always have a gang epidemic. That was exported there by us. And the current immigration crisis is as much a United States legacy as it has become a local tragedy – a consequence of US-financed civil wars from the 1980s that sparked the first migration wave, and of US policies […]
The Kilobot Project: A Low Cost Scalable Robot System for Demonstrating Collective Behaviors
August 15th, 2014Here’s one for your This-Will-End-Badly file folder. Via: Harvard: In current robotics research there is a vast body of work on algorithms and control methods for groups of decentralized cooperating robots, called a swarm or collective. These algorithms are generally meant to control collectives of hundreds or even thousands of robots; however, for reasons of […]
Humans Need Not Apply
August 14th, 2014Via: CGP Grey: Research Credit: P7y845W4
Facebook to Track Users Across Devices to Study Shopping Habits
August 14th, 2014In other news, resolution of Google satellite imagery could soon double. Via: Bloomberg: Facebook Inc. (FB) will let advertisers know where a promotion was first viewed and when it led to a purchase by tracking users between their electronic devices, a tool that may reignite privacy concerns. Marketers will be able to see the number […]
Could Hemp Nanosheets Topple Graphene for Making the Ideal Supercapacitor?
August 13th, 2014Via: American Chemical Society: As hemp makes a comeback in the U.S. after a decades-long ban on its cultivation, scientists are reporting that fibers from the plant can pack as much energy and power as graphene, long-touted as the model material for supercapacitors. They’re presenting their research, which a Canadian start-up company is working on […]
