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Biometric authentication is reality not fiction
Biometric authentication technology is vital in security, especially at airports, due to unauthorised immigration and terrorism
Biometric authentication is finding more and more parts of the human body to prove we really are who we say we are. But will it ever fulfil the promise of so many sci-fi representations? And will it ever be worth pursuing in preference to simpler checks?
They are at once unique and universal, and for decades they have been the focus of efforts to improve security, personal identification, and even access to electronic devices. Our biometrics – from brain physiognomies down to the characteristics of locomotion or gait – can in theory differentiate one individual from another, and the study of how best to sort between them has resulted in Read more…
Collapsing Earth: Why Are Giant Sinkholes Swallowing Cars, Homes And People All Around The World?
Has the crust of the earth become more unstable? All over the planet, giant sinkholes are forming. Many of them are so massive and are opening up so suddenly that they are actually swallowing cars, homes and even people. So why is this happening? Is the earth’s crust collapsing? Is it expanding? Is something else to blame for this phenomenon? It seems like there is a story about another giant sinkhole in the news almost every single day now, and scientists seem to be at a loss for an explanation. Could human activity be responsible? Yes, the number of sinkholes in the United States definitely seems to be increasing, but we are also seeing massive sinkholes occur all over the globe – often in very Read more…
Gmail users ‘have no legitimate expectation of privacy’
Image by Google
As tensions worsen among privacy-focused email users amid the escalating scandal surrounding government surveillance, a brief filed by attorneys for Google has surfaced showing that Gmail users should never expect their communications to be kept secret.
Consumer Watchdog has unearthed a July 13, 2013 motion filed by Google’s attorneys with regards to ongoing litigation challenging how the Silicon Valley giant operates its highly popular free email service.
The motion, penned in hopes of having the United States District Court for the Northern District of California dismiss a class action complaint against the company, says Gmail users should assume that any electronic correspondence that’s passed through Google’s servers can be accessed and used for an array of options, such as selling ads to customers.
“Just as a sender of a letter to a business colleague cannot be surprised that the recipient’s assistant opens the letter, people who use Web-based email today cannot be surprised if their emails are processed by the recipient’s [email provider] in the course of delivery,” the motion reads in part. “Indeed, ‘a person has no Read more…
Researchers levitate diamonds using only a beam of light
Researchers at the University of Rochester recently demonstrated how beams of light can actually levitate nanoscale diamonds. And while they’re not actually suggesting that we construct a light-driven hoverboard made of the precious gems, the things we might be able to do with floating diamonds are pretty cool in their own right.
By shining a second light source on the diamonds and recording both their vibrations and the light these precious stones emit, it’s possible to create a quantum computer. Project leader Nick Vamivakas describes this possibility in a paper regarding the experiment:
“…in theory we could encode information in the vibrations of the diamonds and extract it using the light they emit. Levitating particles such as these could have advantages over other optomechanical oscillators that exist, as they are not attached to any large structures. This would mean they are Read more…
Robots to Patrol Cities by 2040
Robots will be patrolling cities by 2040 according to Professor Noel Sharkey, who predicts their tasks will include asking for ID, tasering and arresting suspects as well as crowd control.
Image: DARPA
In an article entitled 2084: Big robot is watching you, Sharkey, a robotics professor at the University of Sheffield, forecasts a world in which the jobs of surveillance, security and law enforcement have largely been handed over to artificial intelligence.
WIthin the next 30 years, Sharkey asserts that, “Humanoid walking robots would be more in use for crowd control at games, strikes and riots. Robots will patrol city centres and trouble spots where fights are likely to break out.”
“Robots will have reasonable speech perception and be able to ask questions and respond to answers. What is your ID number? What are you doing here? Move along. They may work in teams of tracked robots with non-lethal weapons (e.g. Tasers or nets) and be on call for Read more…
What is the Arctic Ice ‘Death Spiral’?
Arctic sea ice in the summer. Creative Commons: Guido Appenzeller, 2011
“The record or near-records being reported from year to year in the Arctic are no longer anomalies or exceptions. Really they have become the rule for us, or the norm that we see in the Arctic and that we expect to see for the forseeable future” – Jackie Richter-Menge, US Army Corps of Engineers
Last week’s ‘State of the Climate’ report confirmed it: ice is melting in the Arctic at one of the fastest rates in human history. Researchers and climate scientists monitoring ice melt in the Arctic have started using the ominous term ‘death spiral’ to describe what’s happening at the top of the world. But what does it mean? And is Read more…
Finance expert warns 1987-style market crash coming in last half of 2013
(NaturalNews) Not much prone to gimmicky pronouncements or over-hyped predilections, a noted financial expert says hold onto your 401k and investment portfolio, because by the second half of this year, there could be a major financial disaster not unlike the market crash of 1987.
Per CNBC:
The S&P has rallied 19 percent in 2013, which is impressive by any measure. But the market did far better in 1987, when stocks added more than 30 percent from the beginning of the year to Aug. 8. The problem? The market ended up tanking in the second half of that year – dropping 36 percent from the Aug. 25 peak to the October low, before closing out 1987 nearly exactly where it began.
And now, the publisher of the Gloom, Boom & Doom Report, Marc Faber, believes the very same cycle will repeat itself later this year.
‘Some of the tailwinds are no longer in place’
“In 1987, we had a very powerful rally, but also earnings were no longer rising substantially, and the market became Read more…
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