Archive for August, 2012
Mobile Phone Data Used to Predict Where People Will Be Tomorrow
August 20th, 2012Via: WiredUK: A team from the University of Birmingham has won Nokia’s Mobile Data Challenge with an algorithm that can predict where you’ll be in 24 hours. The software, developed by Mirco Musolesi, Manlio Domenico, and Antonio Lima, combines movement tracking with data from the people in your phone book. By looking at how someone’s […]
Britain: Secret Court Hearings
August 20th, 2012Via: Guardian: The government’s plan to establish a new generation of secret courts has sparked fresh controversy after it emerged that the fact that a hearing is to be held behind closed doors may itself be kept secret. During House of Lords debates, it was disclosed that a government application for a court to sit […]
How Police Tracked Down Steve Jobs’ Stolen iPads
August 20th, 2012Recent commentary: With regard to the alleged privacy one supposedly enjoys with the iPhone: What privacy exists if the device is constantly phoning home to the carrier and Apple and both of them can be subpoenaed? Hmm. Via: PC World: The digital breadcrumbs left behind when people use Internet-connected gadgets are what led California investigators […]
Skilled Work, Without the Worker
August 20th, 2012Via: New York Times: The next generation of robots for manufacturing will be more flexible and easier to train. Witness the factory of Tesla Motors, which recently began manufacturing the Tesla S, a luxury sedan, in Fremont, Calif., on the edge of Silicon Valley. More than half of the building is shuttered, called “the dark […]
Suicide of Deloitte Partner Daniel Pirron Linked to Standard Chartered’s Iran Scandal
August 19th, 2012Via: Telegraph: The family of a senior partner at Deloitte has called for answers after he apparently committed suicide days after the auditing firm was linked to the Standard Chartered Iran dollar trades scandal. Daniel Pirron, a partner in Delloite’s key General Counsel’s office in New York, was found dead in a car park near […]
Water Shortages Hit U.S. Power Supply
August 19th, 2012Via: New Scientist: As the United States’ extended heat wave and drought threaten to raise global food prices, energy production is also feeling the pressure. Across the nation, power plants are becoming overheated and shutting down or running at lower capacity; drilling operations struggle to get the water they need, and crops that would become […]
Genetically Engineering ‘Ethical’ Babies Is a Moral Obligation, Says Oxford Professor
August 18th, 2012Via: Telegraph: Professor Julian Savulescu said that creating so-called designer babies could be considered a “moral obligation” as it makes them grow up into “ethically better children”. The expert in practical ethics said that we should actively give parents the choice to screen out personality flaws in their children as it meant they were then […]
Cows Eating Second Hand Candy During the Drought
August 18th, 2012Via: WPRI: Ranchers have struggled with skyrocketing corn prices, because the drought has made feeding their livestock very expensive. But one rancher has turned to a very sweet solution. At Mayfield’s United Livestock Commodities, owner Joseph Watson is tweaking the recipe for success. “Just to be able to survive, we have to look for other […]
‘Mind-Control’ Gaming Devices Leak Brain Data That Help Researchers Guess Users’ Secrets
August 18th, 2012I’d classify this one mainly as entertainment for the moment, but it does really make one wonder what the next decade or two will hold along these lines… Assuming, of course, that we don’t turn our planet into a radioactive cinder. Via: Fortune: The budding field of brain-machine interfaces promises a science-fictional future where games, […]
Former U.S. Marine, Brandon Raub, Arrested and Taken to Mental Hospital for Facebook Posts
August 18th, 2012Circuit Court Orders Brandon Raub Released, Dismisses Case Against Marine Arrested, Detained in Veterans Admin. Psych Ward over Political Views, Song Lyrics Posted on Facebook Via: The Rutherford Institute: In an unexpected ruling handed down today by Circuit Court Judge Allan Sharrett, the judge dismissed the government’s case against Brandon Raub, the Marine who was […]
