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DARPA to create “super vision” contact lenses
Researchers have created contact lenses which bestow telescopic vision on their wearers. The lens research was being funded by Darpa, the research arm of the US military. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23142469 Polarising filters in the spectacles allow wearers to switch between normal and telescopic vision. Tiny aluminium mirrors scored with a specific pattern act as a magnifier as […]
Turkey foreshadows US police state
The Turkish authorities widened their crackdown on the antigovernment protest movement on Sunday, taking aim not just at the demonstrators themselves, but also at the medics who treat their injuries, the business owners who shelter them and the foreign news media flocking here to cover a growing political crisis. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/17/world/europe/turkey.html?pagewanted=2&hpw In some of his toughest […]
Immigration bill contains DHS national id system
Driver’s license photographs and biographic information of most Americans would be accessible through an expanded Department of Homeland Security nationwide computer network called E-Verify if the immigration legislation pending before the Senate becomes law. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/16/us/politics/as-immigration-bill-moves-forward-fear-of-an-id-system.html?ref=us The proposal already faces objections from some civil liberties lawyers and certain members of Congress, who worry about the potential […]
Local police surreptitiously add to DNA database
Slowly, and largely under the radar, a growing number of local law enforcement agencies across the country have moved into what had previously been the domain of the F.B.I. and state crime labs — amassing their own DNA databases of potential suspects, some collected with the donors’ knowledge, and some without it. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/13/us/police-agencies-are-assembling-records-of-dna.html?hp&_r=0 These local […]
UK appears complicit in US surveillance scheme
The British government has yet to confirm or deny reports that it had been given information from an American surveillance program called Prism, which is said to have collected Internet data on foreigners abroad from companies including Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, Yahoo and Skype. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/11/world/europe/britain-gchq-surveillance.html?ref=world “Because circumstances vary and because procedures vary according to the […]
Cyborg testing on cockroaches
A project aimed at creating cyborg cockroaches is being launched at the TEDGlobal conference in Edinburgh. The insects are controlled via a mobile phone. The cyborg insect is created by attaching a backpack that communicates directly with neurons in the cockroach’s antennae. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22786371 The neurons convey information back to the insect’s brain using electricity. The […]
Tech companies aid in violating 4th amendment
Internet companies, increasingly at the center of people’s personal lives, interact with the spy agencies that look to their vast trove of information — e-mails, videos, online chats, photos and search queries. They illustrate how intricately the government and tech companies work together, and the depth of their behind-the-scenes transactions. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/08/technology/tech-companies-bristling-concede-to-government-surveillance-efforts.html?hp&_r=0In recent months, the chairman […]
US domestic surveillance program laid bare
Imagine if the government required every American to report to the government every night who they spoke to, or texted, for how long, and from where. People would be furious, but that’s precisely the information the N.S.A. is collecting from telecom companies. And it’s precisely why the government desperately wanted to keep the practice a […]
NWO looks to build global DNA database
More than 70 medical, research and advocacy organizations active in 41 countries and including the National Institutes of Health announced Wednesday that they had agreed to create an organized way to share genetic and clinical information. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/06/health/global-partners-agree-on-sharing-trove-of-genetic-data.html?ref=world Millions more people are expected to get their genes decoded in coming years, and the fear is that […]
Mind controlled robots
Researchers have harnessed the power of thought to guide a remote-control helicopter through an obstacle course. The demonstration joins a growing number of attempts to translate the electrical patterns of thoughts into motions in the virtual and real world. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22764978 Those thoughts, such as that of making a fist with the left hand, are then […]
US Supreme Court backs DNA database for citizens
“Make no mistake about it: because of today’s decision, your D.N.A. can be taken and entered into a national database if you are ever arrested, rightly or wrongly, and for whatever reason. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/04/us/supreme-court-says-police-can-take-dna-samples.html?ref=us The point of D.N.A. testing as it is actually practiced, he said, is to solve cold cases, not to identify the suspect […]
A russian billionaire, transhumanism and the Global Future Congress
Dmitry Itskov, 32, a Russian multimillionaire and former online media magnate, is investing into a project, called the 2045 Initiative, for the year he hopes it is completed, envisions the mass production of lifelike, low-cost avatars that can be uploaded with the contents of a human brain, complete with all the particulars of consciousness and […]
Motorola develops RFID tattoo, pill
Motorola has unveiled an electronic ‘tattoo’ that sticks to your skin which has a circuit so electronic devices can identify you. http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/22731515 Motorola is also working on password pill you swallow – that transmits a signal to devices outside the body. The pill is powered by stomach acid.
Monsanto lobbies to kill GMO labeling law
An amendment inserted into the 2013 Farm Bill passed by the House of Representatives’ Agriculture Committee earlier this month would revoke the ability of individual states’ lawmakers to pass GMO-labeling laws, food advocates warn. http://www.ibtimes.com/monsanto-protection-act-20-would-ban-gmo-labeling-laws-state-level-1267629# The amendment, introduced by Rep. Steve King, an Iowa Republican, is the newest salvo in an ongoing battle between food […]
US monitors progress of Google’s driverless cars
Companies from Silicon Valley to Detroit to Germany are developing cars that park, steer and even drive themselves. Now the federal agency for traffic safety has said it wants to come along for the ride. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/31/technology/self-driving-cars-for-testing-are-supported-by-us.html?hp “We want to have some experimentation in the states to see what works, but it’s nice to have federal […]
Austerity forces privatization
Greece agreed to change some terms in the planned privatisation of natural gas distributor DEPA, opening the way for Russian energy giant Gazprom to bid for the firm http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2013/05/25/business/25reuters-greece-privatisations-gazprom.html?hp&_r=0 “The guarantee was halved to 10 percent of the purchase price,” Privatisation agency HRADF finalised the terms of the sale contract late on Friday, lowering the […]
Robots to care for the elderly
The US will need 70 percent more home aide jobs by 2020, long before that bubble of retirees. And while filling those jobs is proving to be difficult because the salaries are low, in many states, $20,820 annually. Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed Cody, a robotic nurse the university says is […]
Face recognition fully implemented
The odds are you are not just a face in the crowd any longer. Even if your picture isn’t plastered all over social networking and photo-sharing sites, facial recognition technology in public places is making it harder if not impossible to remain anonymous. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-57584887/big-brother-is-big-business/ CBS reports on the new ways this technology is being used […]
Some US lawmakers wary of Google Glass
Eight members of Congress on Thursday formally demanded that Google address a range of privacy concerns about its new wearable technology device, Google Glass.“We are curious whether this new technology could infringe on the privacy of the average American,” http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/17/technology/lawmakers-pose-questions-on-google-glass.html?ref=technology The glasses, which are not yet for sale to the public, connect to the Internet […]
Kurzwell, Google to create artificial intelligence
And you think that dramatically extended life is possible? “I think we’re only 15 years away from a tipping point in longevity, because up until very recently you could not make a plausibly sound argument where life could be indefinitely extended.” said Ray Kurzwell, who is out to build an artificial “Google Brain?” Kurzweil is […]
Dirty Babylon 