Archive for December, 2014
Google’s Internet Balloons Are Staying Aloft Longer Than Anyone Expected
December 14th, 2014Via: The Verge: When Google announced Project Loon in June of last year many balloon experts were skeptical of its chances. The stated goal was that the balloons that would last 100 days or more in the air, but nobody was routinely getting anywhere near that kind of longevity. Much larger NASA balloons typically stayed […]
Fake Mobile Base Stations in Center of Oslo, Norway
December 13th, 2014Via: Aftenposten: Investigations made by Norwegian daily Aftenposten during the past weeks have revealed a number of fake base stations on several locations, in and around the Norwegian capital. They were detected around the parliament building Stortinget, near several ministries and the prime minister’s residence in Parkveien. Conversations and data may be monitored The fake […]
Very Fun Toy Quadcopter: Syma X5C-1
December 13th, 2014Do you know a child or adult who wants to try out a quadcopter, but not interested in spending hundreds of dollars to give them them the opportunity? I bought a Syma X5C-1 for myself and it’s pretty incredible. It’s very smooth and stable, but also capable of quick maneuvers in high gain mode. I […]
Monster Storm Probably Going to Take Out Our Electricity
December 13th, 2014We’re about to get dumped on really hard. The power is on now, but if history is any indication, it won’t be for long. The red blob will be over our house by around 4am NZ time. Anyway, no updates means that our electricity is out. — SEVERE WEATHER WARNING. ISSUED BY MetService AT 8:23 […]
Sony Suspends Filming After Hackers Hit Payments
December 12th, 2014Via: The Times: The Hollywood studio that made the James Bond and Spider-Man films has abandoned shoots after hackers crippled its computer network, and leaked four films and thousands of documents. Agencies filming for Sony Pictures have cancelled shoots because the problems have left it unable to process payments, a source told The Times.
Persistent Associations Between Maternal Prenatal Exposure to Phthalates on Child IQ at Age 7 Years
December 12th, 2014Via: PLOS One: Child full-scale IQ was inversely associated with prenatal urinary metabolite concentrations of DnBP and DiBP: b = ?2.69 (95% confidence interval [CI] = ?4.33, ?1.05) and b = ?2.69 (95% CI = ?4.22, ?1.16) per log unit increase. Among children of mothers with the highest versus lowest quartile DnBP and DiBP metabolite […]
Britain: Air Traffic Control System Failure
December 12th, 2014Via: Guardian: London airspace has been severely restricted after a system failure at the main national control centre in Swanick. Passengers travelling to and from London’s major airports face lengthy delays and cancellations, with European controllers suggesting skies would be restricted until 7pm GMT. The restriction, which appears to have been sparked by either a […]
Repository of Censored and Sensitive Chinese Keywords
December 12th, 2014Via: CitizenLab: …we have collected 13 lists of sensitive Chinese keywords and aggregated them into a single, sortable, and share-able CSV file (see a Google docs sample, sorted by the number of lists each keyword appears on). This file, along with a description of the 13 lists and their sources/origins, are located in a GitHub […]
U.S. PSYOP Funded Anti-Government Hip-Hop Music in Cuba
December 12th, 2014Via: Reuters: The U.S. government financed a four-year effort to promote Cuba’s rap music scene as part of an effort to promote democracy on the communist-run island, federal officials confirmed on Thursday. “It seemed like a good idea to support civil society,” said Matt Herrick, spokesman for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which […]
HP: The Machine
December 10th, 2014Via: MIT Technology Review: Hewlett-Packard will take a big step toward shaking up its own troubled business and the entire computing industry next year when it releases an operating system for an exotic new computer. The company’s research division is working to create a computer HP calls The Machine. It is meant to be the […]
