Archive for December, 2012
DOE ‘Manhattan Project’ to Build New Energy Storage Technologies?
December 2nd, 2012There’s just one problem with this analogy. The Manhattan Project cost about $25.8 billion (in 2012 dollars). This DOE effort is $120 million over five years. That’s a noise level allocation of resources compared to The Manhattan Project. Of course, if you need a façade to role out stuff you’ve had sitting on the shelf […]
The New Zealand Film Being Passed Off As North Korean Propaganda
December 2nd, 2012Really quick, to let people know to please stop submitting this: Propaganda is a pisstake by New Zealand filmmaker Slavko Martinov. The artifice of the hoax was what grabbed the attention of mainstream media with this thing. Here are some films that cover similar topics (and aren’t hoaxes): The Power Principle and Human Resources.
DOJ Drops Monsanto Antitrust Investigation
December 2nd, 2012Via: Mother Jones: There’s an age-old tradition in Washington of making unpopular announcements when no one’s listening—like, you know, the days leading up to Thanksgiving. That’s when the Obama administration sneaked a tasty dish to the genetically modified seed/pesticide industry. This treat involves the unceremonious end of the Department of Justice’s antitrust investigation into possible […]
Dear ITU, Please Don’t Bill Internet Use Like Phone Calls
December 2nd, 2012Via: Ars Technica: Telcos lobby for drastic change, think content networks getting a free ride. That’s the input that a number of former monopoly, European telecoms sent to the member states of the United Nation’s International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Why? Because, for the first time since 1988, the ITU will be negotiating new international telecom […]
Site 911
December 2nd, 2012Via: Washington Post: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to supervise construction of a five-story underground facility for an Israel Defense Forces complex, oddly named “Site 911,” at an Israeli Air Force base near Tel Aviv. Expected to take more than two years to build, at a cost of up to $100 million, the […]
With Internet Down in Syria, Rebels Use Skype Over Satellite Links
December 1st, 2012Mmm hmm. Via: New York Times: In a demonstration of their growing sophistication and organization, Syrian rebels responded to a nationwide shutdown of the Internet by turning to satellite technology to coordinate within the country and to communicate with outside activists. Related: Syria: Internet Taken Down
Was the Author of This Renesys Piece Stoned When New Zealand Was Classified as Having a Low Risk of Disconnection from the Internet?
December 1st, 2012Here is Renesys’ criterion for a country having a severe risk of being cut off from the Internet: If you have only 1 or 2 companies at your international frontier, we classify your country as being at severe risk of Internet disconnection. Those 61 countries include places like Syria, Tunisia, Algeria, Turkmenistan, Libya, Ethiopia, Uzbekistan, […]
Microsoft Engineers Predicted that DRM Would Fail Ten Years Ago
December 1st, 2012Via: Ars Technica: Can digital rights management technology stop the unauthorized spread of copyrighted content? Ten years ago this month, four engineers argued that it can’t, forever changing how the world thinks about piracy. Their paper, “The Darknet and the Future of Content Distribution” (available as a .doc here) was presented at a security conference […]
