Network Archives

Mass State Surveillance Not About Privacy

"The way we’re encouraged to cope with this is to make it about privacy: to turn inwards, take stock of our personal inner domain, and decide just how much of our lives can be offered up to the state. Large scale, bureaucratic intrusion into our personal lives is a given, but we can fill out a customer response card if we have any comments about the degree of the intrusion. If this is about privacy, the onus is on us to define its limits, to guide our servant institutions to the right policies that will protect our newly cordoned-off personal space. And so they invent a clever distraction about what the limits of privacy should be." Continue reading →

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China now home to the world’s fastest supercomputer

"A Chinese supercomputer is the fastest in the world, according to survey results announced Monday, comfortably overtaking a US machine which now ranks second. Tianhe-2, a supercomputer developed by China’s National University of Defense Technology, achieved processing speeds of 33.86 petaflops (1000 trillion calculations) per second on a benchmarking test, earning it the number one spot in the Top 500 survey of supercomputers. The tests show the machine is by far the fastest computer ever constructed. Its main rival, the US-designed Titan, had achieved a performance of 17.59 petaflops per second, the survey’s website said." Continue reading →

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New Zealand becomes home to global tech industry

"The Google foray into New Zealand, dubbed Project Loon, is perhaps the most ambitious high-tech test carried out in the country, aiming to bring Internet to the two-thirds of the global population currently without web access. It involved sending 30 helium-filled balloons to the edge of space above the South Island last Saturday, each carrying transmitters capable of beaming wi-fi Internet access down to antennae on properties below. The first person to access the web under the scheme was dairy farmer Charles Nimmo, who said he appreciated the chance to work with one of the world’s largest companies to push the frontiers of technology." Continue reading →

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Satellites to bring cheap, multi-gigabit Internet speeds to 3 billion people

"The first four of 12 satellites in a new constellation to provide affordable, high-speed Internet to people in nearly 180 'under-connected' countries, were shot into space. The orbiters, part of a project dubbed O3b for the 'other 3 billion' people with restricted Internet access, will be lifted by a Russian Soyuz rocket from Kourou in French Guiana. The project was born from the frustrations of Internet pioneer Greg Wyler with the inadequacy of Rwanda’s telecommunications network, while travelling there in 2007. The system would cover the entire African continent, most of Latin America, the Middle East, southeast Asia, Australia and the Pacific Islands." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSatellites to bring cheap, multi-gigabit Internet speeds to 3 billion people

Obama steps into China’s African shadow

"Obama's trip comes a little over two months after Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Africa. Chinese investments in Africa have grown steadily over the years that the United States has been engaged in Asia and the Middle East. Several private Chinese firms have also invested heavily in Africa. For example, Huawei, a leading global telecom services provider, has invested US$1.5 billion and employs 4,000 workers in Africa alone. The past decade's trade figures also attest to China's growing ties with Africa, having grown from just $9 billion in 2000 to $200 billion in 2012. That is more than double the US trade for last year, which stood at $95 billion." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObama steps into China’s African shadow

South African group calls for Obama’s arrest during presidential tour

"Cosatu cites Obama's 'horrifying record of US foreign policy in the world', highlighting, the 'militarisation of international relations for the multinational companies and their profit-seeking classes in the US'. It is also opposing the 'US support for oppressive regimes that benefit US narrow interests', saying in a statement on its website that its call was part of world-wide struggle against imperialism. Many in the country have already heeded the call with a huge protests, dubbed the 'Nobama campaign', being planned across the country. The University of Johannesburg's decision to award him an honorary degree has already spurred protest and frustration." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSouth African group calls for Obama’s arrest during presidential tour

Restore The Fourth: Group Organizes Nationwide Anti-NSA Spying Protests On July 4

"Restore the Fourth is a grassroots, non-partisan, non-violent movement that seeks to organize and assemble nationwide protests on July 4th, 2013. Protesters in over 100 cities across America will gather to demand that the government of the United States of America adhere to its constitutionally dictated limits and respect the Fourth Amendment. http://www.RestoretheFourth.net provides a detailed list of protest locations. Restore the Fourth maintains that justification of the Fourth Amendment beyond the original text need not be given; the legitimacy of which is self-evident." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRestore The Fourth: Group Organizes Nationwide Anti-NSA Spying Protests On July 4

Disabled Duck Gets A New Foot Thanks to 3D Printing Technology

"After living one year with a backward foot, disabled duck, Buttercup, will finally get a viable foot due to 3D printing technology. Buttercup was born in a high school biology lab last November and at first appeared like any normal yellow and fluffy duckling. However, Buttercup's deformity quickly revealed itself as the duckling could not walk around properly due to a partially developed foot. Fortunately for this little duck, the Feathered Angels Waterfowl Sanctuary, a Tennessee-based group, came to his rescue." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDisabled Duck Gets A New Foot Thanks to 3D Printing Technology

USDA Tells Missouri Magician to Write Disaster Plan for His Rabbit

"My USDA rabbit license requirement has taken another ridiculous twist. I just received an 8 page letter from the USDA, telling me that by July 29 I need to have in place a written disaster plan, detailing all the steps I would take to help get my rabbit through a disaster, such as a tornado, fire, flood, etc. They not only want to know how I will protect my rabbit during a disaster, but also what I will do after the disaster, to make sure my rabbit gets cared for properly. I am not kidding–before the end of July I need to have this written rabbit disaster plan in place, or I am breaking the law." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingUSDA Tells Missouri Magician to Write Disaster Plan for His Rabbit

Incoming police chief shoots woman while trying to kill her dog

"A woman in North Carolina says that the incoming police chief in one town did not react to provide immediate assistance after accidentally shooting her while trying to kill her allegedly aggressive dog. Tamara Whitt said that she couldn’t understand why Winston-Salem Assistant Chief Barry Rountree would take the chance of firing his weapon while she was standing so close to the 'very passive' dog. Doctors told Whitt that the 40 caliber bullet would have to remain in her leg because it was too dangerous to remove. Rountree was placed on administrative leave. The city, however, insisted that Rountree’s swearing-in would go on as scheduled on Sunday." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIncoming police chief shoots woman while trying to kill her dog