Yearly Archives: 2013

Google wants to build the Star Trek computer

"Singhal predicted that will happen in three years’ time—by then, he says, Google’s Star Trek machine will be so good that you’ll ask it a question and expect a correct answer at least twice a day. 'And in five years you won’t believe you ever lived without it. You’ll look back at today’s search engine and you’ll say, is that really how we searched?' Singhal says. He adds: 'These are the best times we’ve ever had in search. I have done this for 22 years, and I've been at Google for 12 years, so I should know. This is the most exciting time—every morning I come into work more excited than ever. Strap in. It's all happening in our lifetimes.'" Continue reading →

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Will Google Glass Change the World?

"In a sense, we entered a sort of cyborg state over 20 years ago, when the combination of exploding computer power and the rise of the Internet gave us an enhanced perception that streamed the whole world into our heads. At first, we could only experience that at our desks. But in the blink of an eye, we jumped from there to being able to carry our computers around with us in ever smaller packages. Today, the Net is there any time we want it, right at our fingertips." Continue reading →

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Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo makes first powered flight

"The spaceplane being developed by UK billionaire Sir Richard Branson has made its first powered flight. The vehicle was dropped from a carrier aircraft high above California's Mojave Desert and ignited its rocket engine to go supersonic for a few seconds. Sir Richard's intention is to use the spaceship to carry fare-paying passengers on short pleasure rides above the Earth's atmosphere. His company Virgin Galactic has already taken hundreds of deposits." Continue reading →

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UK businessman found guilty of selling fake bomb detectors to Iraq

"A businessman has been found guilty of a multimillion-pound fraud involving the sale of fake bomb detectors to Iraq and around the world. A jury at the Old Bailey found Jim McCormick, 57, from near Taunton, Somerset, guilty on three counts of fraud over a scam that included the sale of £55m of devices based on a novelty golfball finder to Iraq. They were installed at checkpoints in Baghdad through which car bombs and suicide bombers passed, killing hundreds of civilians. Last month they remained in use at checkpoints across the Iraqi capital. McCormick also sold the detectors to Niger, Syria, Mexico and a UN agency in Lebanon." Continue reading →

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Fred Reed: Terrorism in Boston

"The return on investment is phenomenal. For example, the attack on New York cost perhaps several hundred thousand dollars. Yet it drew the US into multiple drawn-out, losing wars costing hundreds of billions of dollars, and transformed America from a reasonably free country into a rapidly deepening Orwellian gloom. A tiny input, a stunningly large effect. If terrorism were a hedge fund, it would be the hottest buy on the planet. It is truly slick. The terrorists don’t do serious damage to the attacked country. They stimulate the victim society to damage itself." Continue reading →

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Princeton grad accused of spying for Cuba while employed by State Department

"Former United States government employee Marta Rita Velazquez ’79 has been accused of espionage for Cuba against the United States, according to an indictment released by the FBI on April 25. Velazquez is charged with passing documents and information regarding national defense to Cuban intelligence. The indictment, which was originally returned by a Washington, D.C. grand jury in 2004 and only unsealed yesterday, also alleges that Velazquez helped recruit U.S. citizens to serve as Cuban agents. One alleged co-conspirator, Ana Belen Montes, pleaded guilty to espionage in 2002 and is now serving a 25-year sentence in the US." Continue reading →

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CIA ‘gave millions in cash’ to Karzai over the years

"The CIA has delivered tens of millions of dollars in cash packed in suitcases and backpacks to the office of Afghan President Hamid Karzai for more than a decade. 'We called it ghost money,' Khalil Roman, Karzai’s deputy chief of staff from 2002 to 2005, told the Times. 'It came in secret, and it left in secret.' The money was aimed at obtaining influence, but instead fueled rampant corruption, current and former officials told the newspaper. There appears to be no oversight over the secret CIA money, which is aimed at gaining influence by paying off warlords and politicians including some linked to the drug trade and even the Taliban." Continue reading →

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Boston bombers’ uncle married daughter of top CIA official

"Ruslan Tsarni married the daughter of former top CIA official Graham Fuller, who spent 20 years as operations officer in Turkey, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Afghanistan, and Hong Kong. In 1982 Fuller was appointed the National Intelligence Officer for Near East and South Asia at the CIA, and in 1986, under Ronald Reagan, he became the Vice-Chairman of the National Intelligence Council, with overall responsibility for national level strategic forecasting. At the time of their marriage, Ruslan Tsarni was known as Ruslan Tsarnaev, the same last name as his nephews Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the alleged bombers." Continue reading →

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Humiliating Viral YouTube Interview To Cost Job Of Argentina’s Economy Minister?

"Argentine Economy Minister Hernan Lorenzino’s appearance on Greek television in which he abruptly ended an interview and refused to speak about inflation in Argentina has spurred speculation he may quit, Clarin newspaper reported, without citing its sources. President Fernandez met with Lorenzino to express her concern that he lost credibility among voters after he told an aide at the interview that he wanted 'to go' after the reporter asked what he planned to do if the IMF sanctioned the country for not improving its inflation index, Clarin said. Deputy Eco. Minister Kicillof would replace Lorenzino, Clarin said, without citing anyone." Continue reading →

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