California Police Used Stingrays in Planes to Spy on Phones
January 27th, 2016Via: Wired:
The government’s use of a controversial invasive technology for tracking phones just got a little more controversial.
The Anaheim Police Department has acknowledged in new documents that it uses surveillance devices known as Dirtboxes—plane-mounted stingrays—on aircraft flying above the Southern California city that is home to Disneyland, one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world.
According to documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, the Anaheim Police Department have owned the Dirtbox since 2009 and a ground-based stingray since 2011, and may have loaned out the equipment to other cities across Orange County in the nearly seven years it has possessed the equipment.
“This cell phone spying program—which potentially affects the privacy of everyone from Orange County’s 3 million residents to the 16 million people who visit Disneyland every year—shows the dangers of allowing law enforcement to secretly acquire surveillance technology,” Matt Cagle, technology and civil liberties policy attorney for ACLU-NC, wrote in a blog post about the new documents.
Stingrays and Dirtboxes are mobile surveillance systems that impersonate a legitimate cell phone tower in order to trick mobile phones and other mobile devices in their vicinity into connecting to them and revealing their unique ID and location. Stingrays emit a signal that is stronger than that of other cell towers in the vicinity in order to force devices to establish a connection with them. Stingrays don’t just pick up the IDs of targeted devices, however. Every phone within range will contact the system, revealing their ID.
They not only pick up trackable data from phones; Stingrays and Dirtboxes also can disrupt phone service for anyone in their vicinity whose phone connects to the devices. This means that potentially millions of people in Orange County had their phones unknowingly connected to government surveillance devices and may have experienced service disruption as a result. Last year an FBI agent admitted the disruption capability for the first time in a court case involving a Sprint customer.
Early Antibiotic Use ‘May Predispose Children to Weight Gain and Asthma’
January 27th, 2016Via: BBC:
The use of antibiotics in young children may alter the natural populations of gut microbes in a way that leaves them predisposed to weight gain and asthma in later childhood, according to new research.
The study of 236 children aged between two and seven, with a median age of five, backs earlier research on mice and children indicating the negative consequences of early antibiotic use. Antibiotics are the most commonly used drugs in childhood populations of western countries.
Researchers at the university of Helsinki said the use of antibiotics is associated with a long-lasting shift in microbiota – clusters of bacteria from different regions of the body – and metabolism.
Humans and other animals are home to vast populations of microbes that live on the skin and in the gut. Humans carry around 100 trillion bacteria – meaning microbes outnumber human cells by 10 to one. But rather than causing us harm, studies suggest that a healthy “microbiome” is crucial for our wellbeing.
“Among the children who received macrolides (a class of antibiotic) in early life, we find a positive correlation between overall lifetime antibiotic use and body mass index (BMI), as well as an increased risk of asthma, suggesting that macrolide use may alter the microbiota in infants in a way that predisposes to antibiotic-associated weight gain and asthma in later childhood,” said the study published in Nature Communications.
Previous research on mice suggested that antibiotics are not directly to blame for weight gain later in life. Instead, the problem arose when antibiotics wiped out some types of gut bacteria but allowed hardier ones to thrive. This change in composition of the microbiome had a long-term impact on metabolism that persisted even when the population of gut microbes had returned to normal several weeks later.
Google Achieves AI ‘Breakthrough’ by Beating Go Champion
January 27th, 2016Via: BBC:
A Google artificial intelligence program has beaten the European champion of the board game Go.
The Chinese game is viewed as a much tougher challenge than chess for computers because there are many more ways a Go match can play out.
The tech company’s DeepMind division said its software had beaten its human rival five games to nil.
One independent expert called it a breakthrough for AI with potentially far-reaching consequences.
The achievement was announced to coincide with the publication of a paper, in the scientific journal Nature, detailing the techniques used.
Japan: Automated, Clean Room Agriculture
January 27th, 2016Via: TechInsider:
The Japanese lettuce production company Spread believes the farmers of the future will be robots.
So much so that Spread is creating the world’s first farm manned entirely by robots. Instead of relying on human farmers, the indoor Vegetable Factory will employ robots that can harvest 30,000 heads of lettuce every day.
Don’t expect a bunch of humanoid robots to roam the halls, however; the robots look more like conveyor belts with arms. They’ll plant seeds, water plants, and trim lettuce heads after harvest in the Kyoto, Japan farm.
“The use of machines and technology has been improving agriculture in this way throughout human history,” J.J. Price, a spokesperson at Spread, tells Tech Insider. “With the introduction of plant factories and their controlled environment, we are now able to provide the ideal environment for the crops.”
Americans Hate the U.S. Government More Than Ever
January 27th, 2016Via: CBS:
A handful of industries are those “love to hate” types of businesses, such as cable-television companies and Internet service providers.
The federal government has joined the ranks of the bottom-of-the-barrel industries, according to a new survey from the American Customer Satisfaction Index. Americans’ satisfaction level in dealing with federal agencies –everything from Treasury to Homeland Security — has fallen for a third consecutive year, reaching an eight-year low.
Oregon Standoff Spokesman Robert ‘LaVoy’ Finicum Killed, Bundys in Custody After Shooting Near Burns
January 27th, 2016Update: About 10 Insurgents Remain at Malheur
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Update: Insurgent Firing at UAV
One of those guys just took a few shots at a UAV.
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Update: Possible Livestreamer Inside Malheur
This purports to be a livestream from one of the people holding the Malheur facility. As of this update, there’s radio chatter of those guys trying to sort out their perimeter defenses. They obviously know the Government has all of their coms so they don’t care about livestreaming it.
Again: I have no confirmation of who or what is streaming this.
DefendYourBase (He keeps having to reset the stream, so if it goes down, here’s the home page that shows the current live broadcast.)
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Update: Authorities Seal Off Oregon Refuge
Via: Washington Post:
After an exchange of gunfire that left one man dead and another injured, the two brothers who orchestrated the armed occupation of a remote central Oregon wildlife refuge were taken into custody along with six of their followers Tuesday. Then, early Wednesday the government shut down the area, initiating what authorities called a “containment” with checkpoints and promising to arrest any unauthorized people attempting to travel into the refuge.
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Update: Insurgents Still Control Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Buildings
Via: Washington Post:
Armed occupier Jason Patrick, who was at the Malheur refuge Tuesday, said that the arrests don’t change his group’s demands. He wouldn’t say how many people remain at the refuge, or who else was with him, but said they don’t plan to pick up and leave because of Tuesday’s events.
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Via: OregonLive:
Oregon standoff spokesman Robert “LaVoy” Finicum was killed and other leaders of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge occupation were arrested Tuesday after the FBI and state police stopped vehicles about 20 miles north of Burns.
Authorities did not release the name of the person who died at the highway stop, but Finicum’s daughter confirmed it was Finicum, 55, of Cane Beds, Arizona, one of the cowboy-hat wearing faces of the takeover.
“My dad was such a good good man, through and through,” said Arianna Finicum Brown, 26, one of Finicum’s 11 children. “He would never ever want to hurt somebody, but he does believe in defending freedom and he knew the risks involved.”
Ryan Bundy, 43, of Bunkerville, Nev., suffered a minor gunshot wound in the confrontation about 4:30 p.m. along U.S. 395. He was treated and released from a local hospital and was in FBI custody, authorities said.
Also arrested during the stop were his brother, Ammon Bundy, 40, of Emmett, Idaho, Ryan W. Payne, 32, of Anaconda, Mont., Brian Cavalier, 44, of Bunkerville, Nevada, and Shawna J. Cox, 59, of Kanab, Utah. They were charged with conspiracy to impede federal officers, a felony.
Orison Battery: Plug and Play Home Energy Storage
January 25th, 2016Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in New Zealand.
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Wow! Pretty cool, but, questions, questions…
* How does it know when your solar system is making excess power? Current clamp? Inverter coms? Other?
* How, specifically, does it deal with grid failures (islanding)?
In other news, over in Germany, SMA just teased their new Sunny Boy Storage system that will allow the Tesla Powerwall to be added to any existing solar installation. The full unveiling in on 29 January, with shipments in Germany beginning in March.
With regard to storage, my advice continues to be to keep your credit card in your wallet, pop a big bowl of popcorn and stay tuned.
Via: Kickstarter:
Orison gives you power over energy like never before. Whether you get your energy from the grid, a solar array, or some other source, you can now control when to store it and when to use it. Orison will automatically store energy when utility rates are low, and then use that energy to power your home or business when rates are high. During a power outage, it will automatically power your home or business and make sure none of your stored energy is sent back to the grid. By localizing your energy distribution, you save money and reduce peak demand on the grid.
Ecotricity: A More Solar Friendly Electricity Retailer in New Zealand
January 25th, 2016Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in New Zealand.
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Do you live in New Zealand?
Do you have a grid-tie solar power system?
and/or
Do you own an electric car?
Check out Ecotricity.
Time-of-use tariffs mean that the price of your electricity drops dramatically at night, in other words, when your solar system isn’t generating power.
Do you own and electric car?
With Ecotricity, you can charge it at night when the rates drop.
There are other scenarios where Ecotricity makes sense. I have a solar power customer who runs a lot of space heating in the winter at night. While her 4KW solar system helps out during the day, her bill gets shot to hell running those heaters at night. This is an example of no-brainer case to move to Ecotricity.
While it’s common for companies to offer “night” rates, Ecotricity is the only retailer offering solar plans with seven different import tariffs to most of NZ.
If Ecotricity isn’t available where you are in NZ, let me know. I have a contact at Ecotricity who really gets things done. This is not the normal, “Hamish is on holiday in Aussie for the next two months” sort of company that we’re all used to in NZ. (No offense meant to any Hamishes out there.) These guys are very serious about offering a good alternative to the more established retailers.
Harvard Is Trying to Build an AI as Fast as the Human Brain
January 25th, 2016Via: Wired UK:
Harvard University has been awarded $28 million (£19m) to investigate why brains are so much better at learning and retaining information than artificial intelligence. The award, from the Intelligence Advanced Projects Activity (IARPA), could help make AI systems faster, smarter and more like human brains.
While many computers have a comparable storage capacity, their ability to recognise patterns and learn information does not match the human brain. But a better understanding of how neurons are connected could help develop more complex artificial intelligence.
Blizzard Senate Antics: Senate Leader Surprises Lawmakers with New ISIS War Powers Request
January 25th, 2016Via: DefenseOne:
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell offered members a snow-weekend surprise late Wednesday night: Quietly teeing up a debate on the legal underpinning for the fight against ISIS.
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The AUMF put forward by McConnell would not restrict the president’s use of ground troops, nor have any limits related to time or geography.
