Archive for December, 2015
Engineers Demo First Processor That Uses Light for Ultrafast Communications
December 31st, 2015Via: UC Berkeley: “This is a milestone. It’s the first processor that can use light to communicate with the external world,” said Vladimir Stojanovi?, an associate professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences at the University of California, Berkeley, who led the development of the chip. “No other processor has the photonic I/O in the […]
Microsoft Keeping Disk Encryption Keys for Those Signing Into Windows 10 Using Microsoft Accounts
December 29th, 2015Via: The Intercept: One of the excellent features of new Windows devices is that disk encryption is built-in and turned on by default, protecting your data in case your device is lost or stolen. But what is less well-known is that, if you are like most users and login to Windows 10 using your Microsoft […]
Marines’ LS3 Robotic Mule Too Loud for Real-World Combat
December 29th, 2015Before $42 million of public money was flushed down the gurgler, I guess nobody realized that the thing was going to sound like a leaf blower. Via: Ars Technica: The kickable “robotic mule,” also known as AlphaDog or LS3, created by Alphabet-owned Boston Dynamics under a contract with DARPA, has proved too loud to fight […]
Christmas 2015—Why There Is No Peace On Earth
December 29th, 2015Via: David Stockman’s Contra Corner: In fact, the War Party entrenched in the nation’s capital is dedicated to economic interests and ideological perversions that guarantee perpetual war; they ensure endless waste on armaments and the inestimable death and human suffering that stems from 21st century high tech warfare and the terrorist blowback it inherently generates […]
Switzerland to Vote on Banning Banks from Creating Money
December 29th, 2015Via: Independent: Switzerland will hold a referendum to decide whether its private banks can create money after 110,000 people said they want their central bank to be solely in charge. Seven years after the financial crisis struck, the Swiss federal government confirmed on Christmas Eve that it would ask its people whether the central bank […]
Federal Judge: Drinking Tea, Shopping at a Gardening Store Is Probable Cause for a SWAT Raid on Your Home
December 28th, 2015Via: The Washington Post: In April 2012, a Kansas SWAT team raided the home of Robert and Addie Harte, their 7-year-old daughter and their 13-year-old son. The couple, both former CIA analysts, awoke to pounding at the door. When Robert Harte answered, SWAT agents flooded the home. He was told to lie on the floor. […]
Cheap Batteries Will Give Utilities Electric Shock
December 28th, 2015Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in New Zealand. — Via: Reuters: Power suppliers have long enjoyed a natural monopoly. But the arrival of budget batteries coupled with cheaper solar power will allow a growing number of consumers to pull the plug on old-fashioned electricity networks in 2016 and beyond. Solar panel prices have already […]
A Silicon Valley for Drones, in North Dakota
December 26th, 2015Via: New York Times: “California and New York want what we’ve got,” said Shawn Muehler, a 30-year-old Fargo resident, gazing at a horizon of empty fields, silos, windbreak trees and hardly any people. A winged craft traces the air, mapping a field with pinpoint accuracy for his start-up, a drone software company called Botlink. “They […]
Approximately 62% of Americans Have Less Than $1,000 in Their Savings Accounts [???]
December 25th, 2015Could this possibly be real? It’s an online survey. Via: MarketWatch: Americans are living right on the edge — at least when it comes to financial planning. Approximately 62% of Americans have less than $1,000 in their savings accounts and 21% don’t even have a savings account, according to a new survey of more than […]
TSA Can Now Force Travelers to Go Through Body-Scanners
December 24th, 2015Via: Slashgear: Your next flight might include a mandatory trip through the body scanner, with the US government quietly changing the opt-out rules for searches. In a document published earlier this month, the Department of Homeland Security outlined an update to the Advanced Imagery Technology protocols used by the TSA at US airports, adding a […]
