technology

Amazon Hiring 5,000 in Warehouses to Meet Customer Demand

"Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) is boosting staff in 17 U.S. warehouses, adding more than 5,000 full-time jobs to meet brisk demand for products sold by the world’s biggest Web retailer. The new hires will join more than 20,000 employees working at Amazon’s more than three dozen U.S. fulfillment centers, the Seattle-based company said in a statement today. Amazon is also hiring 2,000 customer-service staff, including part-time and seasonal workers. The retailer plans to open five more facilities this year, after adding 20 last year. Median pay is 30 percent higher than 'people who work in traditional retail stores,' the company said." Continue reading →

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Bitcoin activists propose hard fork to keep it anonymous and regulation-free

"The authors are particularly concerned about the Bitcoin Payment Messages system scheduled for release along with version 0.9 of the cryptocurrency. That mechanism would allow merchants to request payment from customers, rather than simply providing them with an address to send payments to. Payments would be completed using digital certificates owned by the merchants, and would contain customer and merchant metadata linked to specific transactions. [The paper] worries that Bitcoin Payment Messages will make it possible – and therefore mandatory – to issue receipts, playing further into the hands of the regulators." Continue reading →

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Amazing video – Ride the Space Shuttle’s Solid Rocket Booster

I LOVE this stuff From the video description: From the upcoming Special Edition Ascent: Commemorating Space Shuttle DVD/BluRay by NASA/Glenn a movie from the point of view of the Solid Rocket Booster with sound mixing and enhancement done by the folks at Skywalker Sound. The sound is all from the camera microphones and not fake […]

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BMW takes ‘great leap forward’ into electric car market

"BMW on Monday took the bold strategic step of revealing its first all-electric car, and said it plans to clinch a significant share of a market still in its infancy. The series-produced model will go on sale in Europe in November to be followed in the United States, China, Japan and several other markets in the first half of 2014. It will hit the German market at a price of 34,950 euros ($46,438) and has a range of 130 to 160 kilometres (about 80 to 100 miles). The Munich-based company trumpeted technological features of the model, which can seat four, including a carbon fibre passenger cell to help offset the weight of the batteries and an aluminium chassis." Continue reading →

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The greatest food in human history?

"What is 'the cheapest, most nutritious and bountiful food that has ever existed in human history'? Hint: It has 390 calories. It contains 23g, or half a daily serving, of protein, plus 7% of daily fiber, 20% of daily calcium and so on. Also, you can get it in 14,000 locations in the US and it usually costs $1. Presenting one of the unsung wonders of modern life, the McDonald’s McDouble cheeseburger. The argument above was made by a commenter on the Freakonomics blog run by economics writer Stephen Dubner and professor Steven Leavitt, who co-wrote the million-selling books on the hidden side of everything." Continue reading →

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Is Nicotine Really Any Different Than Caffeine?

"E-cigarette users are developing their own 'café culture,' encouraged by e-cigarette manufacturers. The Lorillard label blu offers e-cigarette cases that emit a signal and notify users when other blu cases are nearby—a kind of Tinder for the vaping set. The odds of finding a match are growing: Roughly one-fifth of adults who smoke conventional cigarettes have tried their electronic counterparts, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in February. Six percent of all adults have tried them, almost double the percentage in 2010. Looming regulations could dampen some of these developments." Continue reading →

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Independent journalist Ben Swann now accepts Bitcoin for episode funding

"For two and half years I have heard day after day about media blackout, about corporations having too much control over media, about the need for honesty and truth. I have heard about how the American public is asleep and there is no one in MSM speaking about the issues of our disappearing liberties, no one to push back against the left/right paradigm. What I have done is stepped out in response to what millions of Americans from the Tea Party and Occupy movements, from independents to the fast growing Liberty movement have been crying out for. The opportunity is here… not MY opportunity, YOUR opportunity." Continue reading →

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A History of Cronyism and Capture in the Information Technology Sector

"Not only does it deny consumers more and better products and services, but they also may pay higher prices or higher taxes extracted by the corporate-government agreement. Moreover, economic growth slows as entrepreneurs pursue unproductive influence and capture activities rather than productive entrepreneurship. Cronyism also raises the specter of greater government control of the Internet and of the digital economy more generally. When policymakers dispense favors, they usually expect something in return. They may also become accustomed to having greater informal powers over the sector receiving favors." Continue reading →

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Dr. Joseph Bonneau Wins NSA Award, Calls For NSA To Be Abolished

"Engineers and researchers like Bonneau have a unique and important role to play in fighting back against NSA oversteps. As Michael Hirsh noted in the Atlantic last month, tech companies have contributed enormously to wiring up Big Brother -- companies like Palantir Technologies, Eagle Alliance (of Computer Sciences Corp. and Northrup Grumman) and Booz Allen Hamilton. The only way the government gets to spy on everyone is when people who are intelligent and innovative enough to build scalable surveillance technologies decide to help them. Hopefully Bonneau’s example will inspire more cryptographers and security engineers to speak out." Continue reading →

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