Archive for October, 2014
Eleven Countries Studied, One Inescapable Conclusion – The Drug Laws Don’t Work
October 31st, 2014Oh, drug laws work great if you’re a corporation that turns a profit on locking people up. Via: Guardian: The UK government’s comparison of international drug laws, published on Wednesday, represents the first official recognition since the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act that there is no direct link between being “tough on drugs” and tackling […]
Brain Decoder Can Eavesdrop on Your Inner Voice
October 30th, 2014Via: New Scientist: TALKING to yourself used to be a strictly private pastime. That’s no longer the case – researchers have eavesdropped on our internal monologue for the first time. The achievement is a step towards helping people who cannot physically speak communicate with the outside world. “If you’re reading text in a newspaper or […]
Google’s Secretive DeepMind Start-Up Unveils A “Neural Turing Machine”
October 30th, 2014Via: MIT Technology Review: DeepMind has built a neural network that can access an external memory like a conventional Turing machine. The result is a computer that mimics the short-term memory of the human brain. Related: “With Artificial Intelligence, We Are Summoning the Demon”
Swiss Company to Build Utility-Scale Batteries in North Carolina
October 30th, 2014Via: Fortune: A Swiss maker of giant storage batteries for wind and solar farms is taking over a giant Philip Morris plant. The Philip Morris plant in Concord, North Carolina used to manufacture a billion cigarettes a year. But Americans are smoking less, and in the tobacco giant shuttered the factory’s doors years ago and […]
Verizon Launching Tech News Site that Bans Stories on U.S. Spying
October 29th, 2014Via: The Daily Dot: Verizon is getting into the news business. What could go wrong? The most-valuable, second-richest telecommunications company in the world is bankrolling a technology news site called SugarString.com. The publication, which is now hiring its first full-time editors and reporters, is meant to rival major tech websites like Wired and the Verge […]
Verizon Wireless Injects Identifiers that Link Its Users to Web Requests
October 29th, 2014Via: Ars Technica: Cellular communications provider Verizon Wireless is adding cookie-like tokens to Web requests traveling over its network. These tokens are being used to build a detailed picture of users’ interests and to help clients tailor advertisements, according to researchers and Verizon’s own documentation. The profiling, part of Verizon’s Precision Market Insights division, kicked […]
Google Pill to Diagnose Disease
October 29th, 2014How about a Google suppository? Via: Wired: Google is attempting to develop a pill that would send microscopic particles into the bloodstream in an effort to identify cancers, imminent heart attacks, and other diseases. Andrew Conrad, the head of life sciences inside the company’s Google X research lab, revealed the project on Tuesday morning at […]
Lowe’s Hires Robots for the Holidays
October 28th, 2014If you think it’s just for the “Holidays”, I got a bridge to sell ya. Via: PCMagazine: Lowe’s is hiring some new workers for the holiday season, but they’re not human. The hardware store just announced plans to test customer service robots, which will be able to help you locate items in the store, and […]
Taco Bell Unveils Mobile Ordering
October 28th, 2014“Cashiers and food service workers: You’re pretty much screwed.” —Seattle Hikes Minimum Wage to $15 Per Hour Via: USA Today: Food used to be what drove folks into restaurants. But these days, it’s also increasingly the technology behind it. That’s why two major restaurant chains, Taco Bell and Outback Steakhouse, made marketing waves on Tuesday, […]
‘Ambulance Drone’ Prototype Unveiled in Holland
October 28th, 2014Via: AFP: A Dutch-based student on Tuesday unveiled a prototype of an “ambulance drone”, a flying defibrillator able to reach heart attack victims within precious life-saving minutes. Developed by Belgian engineering graduate Alec Momont, it can fly at speeds of up to 100 kilometres per hour (60 miles per hour). “Around 800,000 people suffer a […]
