Archive for December, 2017
Animal Shelter Tried to Use Security Robot to Scare Off Homeless People
December 14th, 2017Via: The Verge: An animal shelter in San Francisco has been criticized for using a robot security guard to scare off homeless people. The San Francisco branch of the SPCA (the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) hired a K5 robot built by Knightscope to patrol the sidewalks outside its facilities. According to […]
France to Ban Use of Mobile Phones in Schools from September
December 13th, 2017Via: Guardian: The French government is to ban students from using mobile phones in the country’s primary, junior and middle schools. Children will be allowed to bring their phones to school, but not allowed to get them out at any time until they leave, even during breaks. A proposed ban was included in Emmanuel Macron’s […]
Food Insecurity in Silicon Valley
December 12th, 2017Via: Guardian: In a region famed for its foodie culture, where the well-heeled can dine on gold-flecked steaks, $500 tasting menus and $29 loaves of bread, hunger is alarmingly widespread, according to a new study shared exclusively with the Guardian. One in four people in Silicon Valley are at risk of hunger, researchers at the […]
‘Here’s How to Shut Down the Internet: Snip Undersea Fiber-Optic Cables’
December 12th, 2017Via: McClatchy: Hundreds of thousands of miles of fiber-optic cable lay on the ocean floors, a crucial part of the global internet’s backbone, and only rarely do ship anchors, undersea landslides or saboteurs disrupt them. Still, a few voices now call for stronger global mechanisms and even military action to protect the cables against future […]
Screenshots from YouTube’s Video Demonitization Console
December 11th, 2017Via: TwitLonger: Google, some months ago, put out a job posting which required a number of different people to work on one project. Google claimed in the posting that they needed a third party company to work as “web search evaluators.” My contact worked for the unnamed company that put in for the job and […]
Botched Pipe Bomb Attack in Manhattan Subway Station
December 11th, 2017Via: Daily Mail: A Bangladeshi national in his 20s has been taken into custody with serious injuries after a suspected pipe bomb he was carrying malfunctioned and exploded prematurely inside a Midtown Manhattan subway station Monday morning. The explosion happened around 7:20am, in an underground tunnel linking the Port Authority Bus Terminal to Times Square. […]
Inside the First Church of Artificial Intelligence
December 11th, 2017Via: Wired: Anthony Levandowski makes an unlikely prophet. Dressed Silicon Valley-casual in jeans and flanked by a PR rep rather than cloaked acolytes, the engineer known for self-driving cars—and triggering a notorious lawsuit—could be unveiling his latest startup instead of laying the foundations for a new religion. But he is doing just that. Artificial intelligence […]
Quantum Computing Is the Next Big Security Risk
December 9th, 2017Disclosure: I have invested in technology related to quantum computing. — Via: Wired: The consequences of mastering quantum computing, while not as visual or visceral as a mushroom cloud, are no less significant than those faced by the scientists who lit up the New Mexico sky with the detonation at the Trinity test site 72 […]
One-Third of All Americans Killed by Strangers Are Killed by Police
December 9th, 2017Via: Granta: Americans are afraid of many threats to their lives – serial killers, crazed gunmen, gang bangers, and above all terrorists – but these threats are surprisingly unlikely. Approximately three-quarters of all homicide victims in America are killed by someone they know. And the real threat from strangers is quite different from what most […]
America’s Farmers Killing Themselves in Record Numbers
December 8th, 2017Via: Guardian: Last year, a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that people working in agriculture – including farmers, farm laborers, ranchers, fishers, and lumber harvesters – take their lives at a rate higher than any other occupation. The data suggested that the suicide rate for agricultural workers in 17 […]
