Archive for December, 2015
ISIS Twitter Accounts Run from British Government IP Addresses
December 15th, 2015Maybe honeypots. Maybe not. In other news, ISIS Armed with U.S. Weapons. Via: Russia Today: At least three Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) supporters’ social media accounts are run from IP addresses linked to the British government’s Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), a group of hackers has claimed. The group of teenage computer experts, […]
The High-Stakes Race to Rid the World of Human Drivers
December 14th, 2015Via: The Atlantic: The race to bring driverless cars to the masses is only just beginning, but already it is a fight for the ages. The competition is fierce, secretive, and elite. It pits Apple against Google against Tesla against Uber: all titans of Silicon Valley, in many ways as enigmatic as they are revered. […]
Antidepressants Taken During Pregnancy Increase Risk of Autism by 87 Percent
December 14th, 2015Via: ResearchGate: Using antidepressants, especially selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI), during the 2nd/3rd trimesters of pregnancy increases the risk of having a child with autism (87 percent increased risk of autism with any antidepressants; more than doubling the risk with SSRI use specifically) – this risk is above and beyond the risk associated with maternal […]
OpenAI Hopes to Prevent Superintelligence Doom
December 14th, 2015Via: Medium: Essentially, OpenAI is a research lab meant to counteract large corporations who may gain too much power by owning super-intelligence systems devoted to profits, as well as governments which may use AI to gain power and even oppress their citizenry.
Air Force proposes $3-Billion Plan to Vastly Expand Its Drone Program
December 14th, 2015Via: Los Angeles Times: The Air Force wants to vastly expand its drone program over the next five years by doubling the number of pilots and deploying them to bases in California and elsewhere to give commanders better intelligence and more firepower.
Disney’s ‘FaceDirector’ Software
December 14th, 2015Via: Engadget: The new tool out of Disney Research’s labs could turn an ingénue’s semi-decent attempt into a finely nuanced performance. This software called FaceDirector has the capability to merge together separate frames from different takes to create the perfect scene. It does that by analyzing both the actor’s face and audio cues to identify […]
LG Chem Quietly Surges in Battery Race
December 14th, 2015Via: Automotive News: Three years ago, LG Chem’s $303 million battery plant garnered unwanted attention when news reports revealed workers were watching movies and playing cards rather than building batteries. As the facility sat idle, LG Chem was shipping lithium ion batteries from South Korea to power General Motors’ Chevrolet Volt — an embarrassment since […]
Autonomous System Aborts Takeoff of Qatar Airways Airbus A350 Rolling Down Runway at Full Throttle
December 13th, 2015Via: Daily Mail: It was meant to celebrate an aircraft model’s first-ever journey from the US, but this Qatar Airways charter flight carrying journalists and staff didn’t go as planned. Nerve-wracking footage shows the moment the Airbus A350-900 XWB abandoned its takeoff attempt as it sped along a runway at New York’s JFK Airport and […]
Tokyo Police Launch Drone Designed To Take Down Other Drones
December 13th, 2015Via: NPR: In Tokyo, police will soon deploy a drone designed to take out suspicious drones or drones that enter into restricted airspace.
Daimler Is Reusing Electric Vehicle Batteries to Store Renewable Energy
December 10th, 2015Via: Ars Technica: When electric vehicle batteries get long in the tooth, they have to be replaced because they’ll start experiencing power loss—which will mean reduced vehicle performance. But what happens to those old batteries after they’re replaced is important if you’re judging a car on how environmentally friendly it is. To this end, automaker […]
