Search Results for “https:” – Page 1055

Critics object to Obama nominating ‘Mr. Drone’ John Brennan to CIA head

“The nomination of President Barack Obama’s top counter-terrorism advisor John Brennan to head the CIA has sparked outrage and concern about America’s growing drones programme and its use for targeted killings of suspected Islamic militants. Brennan has been a key architect of drones policy under Obama and many experts believe that the use of the unmanned robot planes in countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia is likely to increase if he becomes America’s top spy.” Continue reading →

Judge rules TX school district can make students wear locator chips

“A U.S. District Judge upheld a Texas school district’s rule requiring students to wear locator chips on Tuesday, Reuters reported. Judge Orlando Garcia overturned an injunction won by John Jay High School sophomore Andrea Hernandez requiring the school to let her continue her studies without wearing the tag. The Northside Independent School District mandated students wear the chips as part of a policy tracking attendance via radio frequency identification, or RFID, technology.” Continue reading →

Palm Beach County teachers seeking gun training, permits in wake of Sandy Hook shooting

“Following last month’s fatal shooting at a Connecticut elementary school, gun ranges throughout Palm Beach County — and the country — are reporting an increase in teachers coming in for gun training and concealed weapons permits. Some may see it as an unorthodox response to the Sandy Hook tragedy, given that Florida law still bars teachers and others from carrying firearms on school grounds. But local gun shops say the uptick is a natural response.” Continue reading →

Google chief Eric Schmidt urges North Korean leaders to adopt Internet freedom

“Schmidt said he told North Korean officials they should open up the country’s Internet ‘or they will remain behind’. ‘As the world becomes increasingly connected, their decision to be virtually isolated is very much going to affect their physical world, their economic growth and so forth, and it will make it harder for them to catch up economically,’ he said. ‘Once the Internet starts, citizens in a country can certainly build on top of it. The government has to do something. It has to make it possible for people to use the Internet which the government in North Korea has not yet done.'” Continue reading →

New technology has touchscreens sprouting physical buttons

“A new technology shown off at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas enables regular touch screens to sprout actual, physical buttons. Developed by a company called Tactus, it works by manipulating a transparent fluid inside the screen and causing it to press up against a top polymer layer, which bulges up and creates a button that can be pressed. The effects, shown in the video below, seem to promise that touch screens of the future won’t just be flat interactive displays, but dynamic devices with every bit as much tactile feedback as the keypads of old.” Continue reading →

China becomes second-largest movie market

“Moviegoers in China spent 17 billion yuan ($2.7 billion) on tickets last year, turning the country into the second-largest film market in the world, the state news agency Xinhua said on Wednesday. Sales rose 30 percent from 2011, it said, citing the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT), underscoring the rapid growth that has long attracted Hollywood despite China’s tight restrictions on foreign films. China in 2012 agreed to increase the number of films allowed in annually from the United States — which is the world’s largest movie market — from 20 to 34, whereas 893 domestic films were produced last year.” Continue reading →

Doug Casey on Orwell’s Nightmare – the Darker Side of Modern Technology

“I’m an optimist on the future of technology. But the way a lot of it is going to be applied by people in government is a different question. The current developments are quite disturbing, especially the emerging capability of police to use cameras and computers to scan millions and millions of people and identify individuals in seconds. They say it’s to track sex offenders or catch terrorists, but what’s clearly at stake here is the universal monitoring of everyone all the time – just like in 1984. The bad news is that it’s here now, and spreading around the world.” Continue reading →

Supreme Court to decide whether police can take your blood without your permission

“‘It comes down, basically, to are you going to see blood draws every single time someone gets pulled over for a DUI,’ said Michael A. Correll, a litigator with the international law firm Alston & Bird, who examined the legality of blood draws in the West Virginia Law Review last year. Because drunk-driving stops are such an everyday occurrence, ‘it’s going to affect a broad area of society,’ he told NBC News, adding: ‘This may be the most widespread Fourth Amendment situation that you and I are going to face’ for the foreseeable future.” Continue reading →