Mainstream News

Authoritarian regimes use Silicon Valley software to censor Internet

"Authoritarian regimes around the world are using technology from a Silicon Valley firm for Internet surveillance, filtering and censorship, according to a report by Canadian researchers. The report this week from the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab said devices from California-based security firm Blue Coat Systems were being used in China, Russia, Venezuela and other countries with 'a history of concerns over human rights.'" Continue reading →

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Whole Foods CEO: Obamacare-Fascism Comparison Won’t Hurt Profits

"The CEO earlier this week criticized President Barack Obama’s health care reform law, saying 'it's more like fascism,' and that the government controls 'the means of production' in health care. Mackey later said in a segment on HuffPost Live on Thursday that he regretted comparing Obamacare to 'fascism,' despite remaining skeptical of Obama’s plan. 'I regret using that word now because it's got so much baggage attached to it,' Mackey said. 'Of course, I was just using the standard dictionary definition.'" Continue reading →

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Tree Theft on the Rise in Germany as Heating Costs Increase

"The problem has been compounded this winter by rising energy costs. The Germany's Renters Association estimates the heating costs will go up 22 percent this winter alone. A side effect is an increasing number of people turning to wood-burning stoves for warmth. Germans bought 400,000 such stoves in 2011, the German magazine FOCUS reported this week. It marks the continuation of a trend: The number of Germans buying heating devices that burn wood and coal has grown steadily since 2005, according to consumer research company GfK Group. That increase in demand has now also boosted prices for wood, leading many to fuel their fires with theft." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTree Theft on the Rise in Germany as Heating Costs Increase

Law-enforcer misuse of driver database soars

"Florida's driver-and-vehicle database, the system that can help law enforcement identify victims of fatal crashes and decipher the identity of a suspect, can be a useful tool for cops. But at least 74 law enforcers were suspected of misusing D.A.V.I.D. in 2012, a nearly 400 percent increase from 2011, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Officers who needlessly pull information or photographs from D.A.V.I.D. that would otherwise be private could face criminal charges, sanctions or disciplinary action. And yet the temptation of looking up a relative, a celebrity's address or a romantic interest is too great for some law enforcers." Continue reading →

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DNA database not so anonymous on the Internet: study

"As more and more of our personal data — and those of the people we know and are related to — gets posted online, the anonymity promised by the remove of a computer screen gets more and more elusive. That’s what a team of scientists uncovered when they started playing Sherlock with a batch of genetic data posted online for researchers to use. The data was anonymous: the participants’ names were not published. But using the information that was provided, including age and where they live, along with freely available Internet resources, the researchers were able to identify nearly 50 of the individuals in the genomic database." Continue reading →

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Why Bitcoin is the banking industry’s newest, biggest threat

"Bitcoin’s big advantage is that it is essentially the cold, hard cash of the Internet. Instead of bills, Bitcoin’s software keeps a public ledger of every transaction among users. If a buyer and seller are running the software on their computers, they can directly exchange Bitcoins, anonymously and with no taxes or bank fees. Others can pay a company to process the payment. Bitcoin accounts are listed simply as a string of letters and numbers with no names attached, giving a level of anonymity impossible with debit and credit cards or even PayPal accounts." Continue reading →

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Company plans to mine asteroids with ‘FireFlies’ spacecraft

"A US company said Tuesday it plans to send a fleet of spacecraft into the solar system to mine asteroids for metals and other materials in the hopes of furthering exploration of the final frontier. In a first step, the company plans to send 'asteroid-prospecting spacecraft' into the solar system, with the first — 55-pound (25-kilogram) 'FireFlies' — to be launched in 2015 on journeys of two to six months." Continue reading →

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Dutch architect to build house with 3D printer

"A Dutch architect has designed a house 'with no beginning or end' to be built using the world’s largest 3D printer, harnessing technology that may one day be used to print houses on the moon. Janjaap Ruijssenaars, 39, of Universe Architecture in Amsterdam, wants to print a Mobius strip-shaped building with around 1,100 square metres (12,000 square feet) of floor space using the massive D-Shape printer. The printer, designed by Italian Enrico Dini, can print up to almost a six-metre-by-six-metre square (20-foot-by-20-foot), using a computer to add layers 5-10 mm (a quarter to half an inch) thick." Continue reading →

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British scientists announce breakthrough in turning DNA into data storage

"Scientists in Britain on Wednesday announced a breakthrough in the quest to turn DNA into a revolutionary form of data storage. A speck of man-made DNA can hold mountains of data that can be freeze-dried, shipped and stored, potentially for thousands of years, they said. The contents are 'read' by sequencing the DNA — as is routinely done today, in genetic fingerprinting and so on — and turning it back into computer code. To prove their concept, the team encoded an MP3 recording of Martin Luther King’s 'I Have A Dream' speech; a digital photo of their lab; a PDF; a file of all of Shakespeare’s sonnets; and a document that describes the data storage technique." Continue reading →

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Thousands of armed protestors gather at state capitols in pro-assault rifle rallies across the country

"The size of crowds at each location varied - from dozens of people in South Dakota to 2,000 in New York. Large crowds also turned out in Connecticut, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Washington state. Some demonstrators in Olympia, Wash., Phoenix, Salem, Ore., and Salt Lake City came with holstered handguns or rifles on their backs. At the Kentucky Capitol in Frankfort, attendees gave a special round of applause for 'the ladies that are packin'." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThousands of armed protestors gather at state capitols in pro-assault rifle rallies across the country