Google Gets Into Battery Arms Race
April 12th, 2015Via: Wall Street Journal:
Google Inc. has joined the search for better batteries to power its expansion into consumer electronics and other hardware.
In late 2012, a team led by former Apple Inc. battery expert Dr. Ramesh Bhardwaj began testing batteries developed by others for use in Google devices. About a year later, the group expanded to look at battery technologies that Google might develop itself, according to people familiar with the matter.
The group, part of the Google X research lab, is small, with just four members. A Google spokeswoman declined to comment or to make Dr. Bhardwaj available.
Amazon Gets Green Light from U.S. Regulators for New Drone Tests
April 11th, 2015Via: Reuters:
Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) has won approval from U.S. federal regulators to test a delivery drone outdoors, less than a month after the e-commerce powerhouse blasted regulators for being slow to approve commercial drone testing.
The Federal Aviation Administration had earlier given the green light to an Amazon prototype drone in March, but the company told U.S. lawmakers less than a week later that the prototype had already become obsolete while it waited more than six months for the agency’s permission.
The FAA granted Amazon’s request to test delivery drones in a letter dated Wednesday, posted on the agency’s website.
Facebook Claims ‘A Bug’ Made it Track Nonusers
April 11th, 2015Mmm hmm.
Via: The Hill:
Facebook researchers have found “a bug” that caused it to track people, even if they had never visited its website, the social media giant acknowledged this week.
The bug caused the company to place cookies — a common way to track people’s browsing habits on the Web — on “some” people’s browsers, even if they had never visited Facebook.com to sign up for an account, the social media website’s European Public Policy Vice President Richard Allan wrote in a blog post on Wednesday.
However, the tracking was “inadvertent,” and Facebook has begun to work on ironing out its code, Allan claimed.
Baltimore Police Used Stingray Systems to Track Cellphones in Thousands of Cases
April 9th, 2015Via: Baltimore Sun:
The Baltimore Police Department has used an invasive and controversial cellphone tracking device thousands of times in recent years while following instructions from the FBI to withhold information about it from prosecutors and judges, a detective revealed in court testimony Wednesday.
The testimony shows for the first time how frequently city police are using a cell site simulator, more commonly known as a “stingray,” a technology that authorities have gone to great lengths to avoid disclosing.
The device mimics a cellphone tower to force phones within its range to connect. Police use it to track down stolen phones or find people.
Indian Police to Use Pepper-Spraying Drones on Unruly Protesters
April 9th, 2015Via: AFP:
Police in a northern Indian city said Tuesday they have a new weapon for controlling unruly protesters in the world’s largest democracy: pepper-spraying drones.
Yashasvi Yadav, police chief of Lucknow, said his officers have successfully test-flown the newly purchased drones with a view to better crowd control.
“The results were brilliant. We have managed to work out how to use it to precisely target the mob in winds and congested areas,” Yadav told AFP.
“Pepper is non-lethal but very effective in mob control. We can spray from different heights to have maximum results,” he said.
The city’s police force has bought five drones, costing about 600,000 rupees ($9,600) each, with their introduction planned for later this month, he said.
The unmanned drones are equipped with high-resolution cameras. They can carry two kilograms (4.4 pounds) of pepper and fly within a one-kilometre radius of their operator.
Lucknow police have previously used drones for aerial surveillance including during religious festivals in the city, the capital of Uttar Pradesh state.
Battery Prices Dropping Faster Than Predicted
April 9th, 2015Via: Bloomberg:
The most important piece of news on the energy front isn’t the plunge in oil prices, but the progress that is being made in battery technology. A new study in Nature Climate Change, by Bjorn Nykvist and Mans Nilsson of the Stockholm Environment Institute, shows that electric vehicle batteries have been getting cheaper much faster than expected. From 2007 to 2011, average battery costs for battery-powered electric vehicles fell by about 14 percent a year. For the leading electric vehicle makers, Tesla and Nissan, costs fell by 8 percent a year. This astounding decline puts battery costs right around the level that the International Energy Agency predicted they would reach in 2020. We are six years ahead of the curve.
NYC Pension Earns $40 Million Over 10 Years, Pays Fund Managers $2 Billion
April 9th, 2015Via: The Reformed Broker:
over the past 10 years, the five pension funds have paid more than $2 billion in fees to money managers and have received virtually nothing in return…
Until now, Mr. Stringer said, the pension funds have reported the performance of many of their investments before taking the fees paid to money managers into account. After factoring in those fees, his staff found that they had dragged the overall returns $2.5 billion below expectations over the last 10 years.
Over the last 10 years, the return on those “public asset classes” has surpassed expectations by more than $2 billion, according to the comptroller’s analysis. But nearly all of that extra gain — about 97 percent — has been eaten up by management fees, leaving just $40 million for the retirees, it found.
Michigan Micro Mote: The World’s Smallest Computer
April 9th, 2015Via: University of Michigan:
The Michigan Micro Mote constitutes the first complete, operational computer system measuring as small as two millimeters across. “To be “complete,” a computer system must have an input of data, the ability to process that data – meaning process and store it, make decisions about what to do next – and ultimately, the ability to output the data.” Prof. Blaauw explained. “The sensors are the input and the radios are the output. The other key to being a complete computer is the ability to supply its own power.”
The Michigan Micro Mote contains solar cells that power the battery with ambient light, including indoor rooms with no natural sunlight, allowing the computers to run perpetually.
U.S. Police Killed More People in March Than UK Police Did in 20th Century
April 9th, 2015Via: Russia Today:
Cryptogon Earnings in February and March
April 9th, 2015Thanks to everyone who helped keep Cryptogon open in February and March.
Total earnings in February came to $623.09.
AD $5
AM $10
Amazon $379.82
Amazon.co.uk £7.27
Blacklisted News $25
DE $10
DS $25
Eileen $45
JH $5
JR $7.50
KH $15
KL $5
Pookie $75
TG $5
The total for March was $687.48.
Amazon $261.49
Amazon.co.uk £9.78
Blacklisted News $25
Amazon.ca CA$159
JR $7.50
MW $25
AM $10
TB $25
KH $15
DE $10
TG $5
KL $5
Eileen $45
AD $5
Pookie $75
