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Cisco asks Obama to stop NSA from hijacking US tech
News reports included an image purportedly of staff from the NSA’s Tailored Access Operations unwrapping a Cisco box.
Cisco’s CEO John Chambers has asked US president Barack Obama to consider new rules preventing agencies hijacking networking equipment at it moves through the supply chain, or risk undermining confidence in the multi-billion dollar US technology sector.
In a letter dated...
Computer Monitors weaker than Smartphone Displays
Not too long ago screen resolution was strictly associated and linked to physical screen size. The bigger the screen was, a bigger resolution it was able to handle. Even to this day screen resolution is still tightly locked to screen size when it comes to computer monitors. 18.5 inch monitors rarely exceed a 1366×768 resolutions and 19.5 inch monitors rarely exceed 1600×900.
If you want...
Automaton Robots exhibition held in Moscow
RoboThespian, a life-sized, interactive robot, which was created to move, speak, communicate, interact, and entertain, performs at Artplay Moscow exhibition center in Moscow, on May 14, 2014.
The Russian capital is hosting a unique event, dubbed ‘Ball of Robots,’ where automatons are exhibited entertaining attendees.
More than 20 robots from Canada, United States, United Kingdom, South Korea, Singapore,...
Minnesota signs "kill switch law" for stolen smartphones
Minnesota has become the first US state to sign off on a bill mandating that smartphones be equipped with anti-theft software.
“Any new smart phone manufactured on or after July 1, 2015, sold or purchased in Minnesota must be equipped with preloaded antitheft functionality or be capable of downloading that functionality,” read the bill that was signed into law by Gov. Mark Dayton on Wednesday.
The...
US FDA approves Star Wars-like bionic arm
A “near-natural” prosthetic arm, that took eight years to develop and test, has been approved for mass production by the US Food and Drug Administration.
The DEKA Arm System has been affectionately dubbed “The Luke,” after Star Wars’ Luke Skywalker who received a robotic replacement for the hand he lost in a fight with Darth Vader in the 1980 film “The Empire Strikes Back.”
One of the...
UN meeting to host debate on Autonomous Army Robots
An upcoming expert-level meeting of the UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) in Geneva is to host a debate on killer robots.
The discussion is to be held between Prof. Noel Sharkey, co-founder of the Campaign Against Killer Robots and chairman of the International Committee for Robot Arms Control, and Prof. Ronald Arkin from the Georgia Institute of Technology, a public research university...
China working on 3000km/h vacuum Maglev trains
Chinese researchers at the Applied Superconductivity Laboratory of Southwest Jiaotong University claim their fast transportation concept based on magnetic levitation (Maglev) technology could potentially be three times faster than an airplane.
Maglev technology was first proposed in the mid-20th century. Nowadays, the Shanghai Maglev Train can reach speeds of over 430 kilometers (260 miles) per hour...
Stephen Hawking Warns Robot AI 'Worst Mistake in History'
Stephen Hawking has warned that artificial intelligence has the potential to be the downfall of mankind. ‘Success in creating AI would be the biggest event in human history,’ he said writing in the Independent. ‘Unfortunately, it might also be the last’.
A sinister threat is brewing deep inside the technology laboratories of Silicon Valley.
Artificial Intelligence, disguised...
Glossy vs Matte and 16:9 vs 16:10 computer monitors
HP w2216h, 16:10 Glossy Monitor
These days, wanting to buy a glossy computer monitor it’s as if you’re searching for a needle in a haystack.
While all computer hardware parts have evolved more or less in recent years, computer monitors haven’t shown any signs of technical progression for at least 5 years. It’s not because the tech isn’t there, because it is and we’ll...
US stealth jet F-35 can't evade Russian and Chinese radars
The US’s newly developed radar-evading F-35 Joint Strike Fighter will not be able to escape Russian radars.
“The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter… is not, in fact, stealthy in the eyes of a growing number of Russian and Chinese radars,” the Aviation Week said.
It said the jet, which the Pentagon hopes would be stealthy, is “having all sorts of shortcomings.”
The report said the jet is not...
Roads glowing at night being tested in Netherlands
Trials are underway in a town south of Amsterdam on roads bearing markings, which absorb light during the day and diffuse it at night potentially superseding street lighting.
The markings on the roads in Oss, 100 kilometers south of the Dutch capital, have used a special paint containing a special “photo-luminizing” powder, which glows after dark.
The luminescent effect lasts for up to...
Third-party apps can use Samsung's fingerprint scanner
In a not so surprising move Samsung released its latest flagship with a fingerprint scanner just as rumors suggested. The home button on the Galaxy S5 does more than just unlocking the phone though.
Samsung is also providing its fingerprint scanner information for use with other apps so developers can, for example, replace passwords with biometric print data.
This is done with the Pass API, released...
DARPA producing sea-floor drone pods
Artist’s rendering of the possible communications application of an upward falling payload.
The Pentagon’s research arm, DARPA, is developing robot pods that can sit at the bottom of the ocean for long stretches of time, waiting to release airborne and water-based drones to the surface upon an attack command.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) recently called for bids to...
Human Biometric Chip Implants Being Tested Around the World
In some areas of the world, payment systems that require palm scanning or face scanning are already being tested. We have entered an era where biometric security is being hailed as the “solution” to the antiquated security methods of the past.
We are being promised that the constant problems that hackers are causing with our credit cards, bank accounts, ATM machines and Internet passwords will...
Tech giants working on world-wide direct satellite internet
Tech giants are attempting at transmitting Internet signals to remote parts of the world using aircraft deployed in atmospheric space.
The course of action could draw upon drones, satellites, high-altitude balloons, blimps or other flying machines.
With this end in sight, Google acquired Titan Aerospace this week, a maker of solar-powered drones. Titan’s drones are able to fly for five years...