Archive

Archive for the ‘Technology’ Category

Are you ‘over-connected’?

March 12, 2015 Comments off

bbc.com

(Josh Pulman)

(Josh Pulman)

Wander the city in 2015 and all you’ll see is people staring at screens or talking on handsets. Is it changing who we are? Tom Chatfield weighs up the arguments.

A group of people wait by a monument, unaware of each other’s existence. A woman strides open-mouthed down a busy street, holding one hand across her heart. Two young men – brothers? – stand behind a white fence, both their heads bowed at the same angle.

These are some of the moments captured in photographer Josh Pulman’s ongoing series called Somewhere Else, which documents people using mobile phones in public places (see pictures). Almost every street in every city across the world is packed with people doing this – something that didn’t exist a few decades ago. We have grown accustomed to the fact that shared physical space no longer means shared experience. Everywhere we go, we carry with us options far more enticing than the place and moment we happen to be standing within: access to friends, family, news, views, scandals, celebrity, work, leisure, information, rumour.

I’m pouring my hours not simply into a screen, but the most comprehensive network of human minds ever — So why do we feel the urge to ‘detox’?

Little wonder that we are transfixed; that  Full Article Here

Robots Developed That Can Think For Themselves, Scientists Say

March 1, 2015 Comments off

yournewswire.com

The intelligent machine learns by itself from scratch using a trial-and-error approach that is reinforced by the reward of a score in the game. This is fundamentally different to previous game-playing “intelligent” computers, the researchers said.

The system of software algorithms is called Deep Q-network and has learned to play 49 classic Atari games such as Space Invaders and Breakout, but only with the help of information about the pixels on a screen and the scoring method.

The researchers behind the development said that it represents a breakthrough in artificial intelligence capable of learning from

Read more…

Next in ID Verification: Behavioral Biometrics

February 19, 2015 Comments off

pymnts.com

shutterstock_4104976

The current height in identity verification on the Web is passwords, fingerprints and iris recognition. But the process may move out of the realm of the physical altogether.

The U.S. military is developing a new “cognitive” identity verification system at West Point that could ultimately replace passwords, fingerprints and iris recognition systems for Web users. The system uses “cognitive fingerprints” instead of physical characteristics such as palms, face, DNA or iris recognition.

The biometric API centers on behavioral-based biometrics in which algorithms are used to confirm identity based on the way an individual uses desktop or mobile devices. This can include observing the rhythm of

Read more…

An Inevitable Headache: US Allies Sell Defense Technology to China

December 23, 2013 Comments off

thediplomat.com

An Inevitable Headache: US Allies Sell Defense Technology to ChinaIf Edward Snowden’s revelations about the United States’ global surveillance activities taught U.S. allies anything, it’s that on the world stage, even your closest friends can’t be trusted. The United States has recently been feeling the sting in a similar way – not because of espionage, but because its allies are hemorrhaging valuable defense technology to China. Recent reports suggest that the United States’ European allies and Israel have exported or had made plans to export sensitive defense technology to China.

According to Reuters, “If the People’s Liberation Army went to war tomorrow, it would field an arsenal bristling with hardware from some of America’s closest allies: Germany, France and Britain.” Reuters substantiates this claim – Chinese advanced surface warships largely field French and German diesel engine designs under the hood; Chinese destroyers field French sonar technology, as do anti-submarine warfare (ASW) helicopters and surface-to-air missiles; British propulsion technology and airborne early warning radars can be found in several PLA fighters, bombers, and anti-ship aircraft. Additionally, “some of China’s best attack and transport helicopters rely on designs from Eurocopter, a subsidiary of pan-European aerospace and defense giant EADS.”

Israeli sources report that a top Israeli defense official was forced to Full Article Here

Is your smartphone watching you?

August 17, 2013 Comments off

Micro-Chipped Pharmaceuticals Given Green Light by Medical Totalitarians

August 16, 2013 Comments off

pakalertpress.com

Christina Sarich

Proteus Digital Health which recently changed their name from Proteus Biomedical has been given approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to dose you with a micro-chipped pill. The company has been working with the FDA since 2008, at its own admission, to ‘determine the regulatory pathway for this new technology.’ Just weeks ago, this ‘technology’ application was processed ‘in accordance with the de novo provisions of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act for low-risk devices that have no predicate on the market.’

Micro-Chipped Pharmaceuticals Given Green Light by Medical Totalitarians

While these initial observances of the micro-chip scanning pill seem fairly benign, there are people with concerns that these micro-chips will be used for more nefarious reasons.

Proteus Digital Health which recently changed their name from Proteus Biomedical has been given approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to dose you with a micro-chipped pill. The company has been working with the FDA since 2008, at its own admission, to ‘determine the regulatory pathway for this new technology.’ Just weeks ago, this ‘technology’ application was Read more…

Categories: Technology Tags: , , ,

Researchers levitate diamonds using only a beam of light

August 14, 2013 Comments off

dvice.com

Tuesday, August 13, 2013 – 2:57pm

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…

Categories: Technology Tags:

Robots to Patrol Cities by 2040

August 14, 2013 Comments off

infowars.com

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…

U.S. government spending on big data to grow exponentially

August 10, 2013 Comments off

biometricupdate.com

 

 

August 9, 2013 –

 

Biometrics Research Group, Inc. has observed that national security and military applications are driving a large proportion of “Big Data” research spending.

 

Big Data is a term used to describe large and complex data sets that can provide insightful conclusions when analyzed and visualized in a meaningful way. Conventional database tools do not have capabilities to manage large volumes of unstructured data.  The U.S. Government is therefore investing in programs to develop new tools and technologies to manage highly complex data.  The basic components of Big Data include hardware, software, services and storage.

 

Biometrics Research Group estimates that federal agencies spent approximately US$5 billion on Big Data resources in the 2012 fiscal year. We estimate that annual spending will grow to Read more…

1974 PSA Warned Of High Tech Surveillance State For Behavior Control

August 9, 2013 Comments off

whiteowlconspiracy.com

tvhead-620x400By Aaron Dykes and Melissa Melton
Truthstream Media

 

“A tormenting thought: as of a certain point, history was no longer real. Without noticing it, all mankind suddenly left reality.” -Elias Canetti, Nobel Laureate in literature

As more and more information is released via National Security Administration whistleblower Edward Snowden, many Americans drifting through each day blissfully unaware of what country they really live in have had the curtain pulled back just enough to be fed their first spoonful of reality…it’s a bitter taste.

The clip below is of a public service message warning the public on the growing use of technology and surveillance by government and corporations (though who can really tell the difference these days) to control our lives.

Sure, you say. We know all about that. Snowden has conclusively shown us with leaked documentation what our government is doing to us.

Ah. But the film was not made last week or even last decade; it was filmed in 1974.

Watch and listen. No, really listen. This message isn’t just to warn us about the coming technological surveillance state itself, but how its construct is to Read more…