Discussion: Micorsoft employees, along with U.S. Marshalls, raided two Web hosting companies on Friday, March 23. Microsoft’s goal was to put a hault to the over $100 million dollars that the cyber mafia has stolen over the past five years. The seized servers were the main tools that the organized crime ring used to steal the… Read more »
Monthly Archives: March 2012
Nokia eyes tattoos that talk to your phone
Discussion: Finnish-based company, Nokia, just filed a patent for magnetic tattoos that would vibrate when your cell phone rings. Instead of lound, annoying ringtones, magnetic ink embedded under the skin would generate a perceptible stimulus when the ink registers a call, alarm, or other message. Just like a ringtone, the tele-tatto can be set to different… Read more »
SEC crackdown ends Wild West days of private stock trades
Discussion: Private stocks will no longer be traded on a secondary market free of regulation. On March 14, the SEC announced that it was filing charges against four of the major firms involved in the trading. Acts such as making false statements, “improper self-dealing” and making “secret commissions” are no longer going to be overlooked… Read more »
Grenade-throwing robot to fight fires on ships
Discussion: The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory is designing a seaworthy humanoid robot that will help to improve firefighting capabilities on board military vessels. The Shipboard Autonomous Firefighting Robot (SAFFIR) is intended to fight fires in cramped quarters. It will be able to traverse obstacles, activate fire suppressors, and interact with humans as a part of firefighting… Read more »
Futurist: We’ll someday accept computers as human
Discussion: Ray Kurzweil, a famous futurist and inventor, stated that he believes that technologies and humans are merging. He says that it is not a matter of us versus them, but it is a question of us versus us. Everyone has been enhanced with computer technology, and soon the issue will be what humans will do… Read more »
Turning the homeless into 4G hotspots
Discussion: Homeless residents of Austin, TX, have been turned into mobile hotspots. In a combination marketing stunt and charitable event, homeless participants were given a Verizon MiFi 4G hotspot for South by Southwest participants to use. Access is pay what-you-want, though $2 per 15 minutes is the suggested donation. Not only does the project offer… Read more »
Tiny $35 Raspberry Pi computer causes big stir on launch day
Discussion: British designers have built the Raspberry Pi, which is a credit-card sized, fully-programmable PC that costs only $35. The miniature circuit board has 256MB of RAM, one audio and two USB ports, an Ethernet port, external SD memory and can be powered by a standard USB mobile phone charger. Sales of the device crashed… Read more »
Seti Live website to crowdsource alien life
Seti Live website to crowdsource alien life Discussion: Seti, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, is going to stream radio frequencies on the internet from the Allen Telescope Array with the hope that members of the public will help to sift through the signals in seach of unusual activity. The radio frequencies that Seti will stream… Read more »
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