Tag Archives: technology

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Using biometrics to identify potential terrorists

Airport Security Ever look at the guy next to you in the lineup at airport security and wonder, "Is he a terrorist?" Well, scientists at the University at Buffalo are working on automated systems to help answer that question before those questionable individuals ever get on the plane–although, unlike you, their suspicions hopefully won’t be fueled by a mistrust of bald men with earrings or the fact your ex-wife’s mother looked just like that before she started smashing your prize collection of Star Wars figurines.

Instead, the system will track faces, voices, bodies and other biometrics against "scientifically tested behavioral indicators" to provide a numerical score of the likelihood that an individual may be about to commit a terrorist act. (Via Science Daily.)

Smile for the camera! But not as if you have something to hide… (Photo from Wikimedia Commons.)

[tags]security, biometrics, terrorism, technology[/tags]

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Wearable monitors – cyberpunk style for the subway

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Scalar's Teleglass T4N wearable monitors From the “cyberpunk gadgets I’ve always wanted” department come these stylish and remarkably svelte wearable monitor glasses, which deliver any NTSC video signal to a pair of tiny monitors right in front of your eyes … and still allow you to see beyond them, so as not to bump into people while watching music videos on the metro platform. In a couple more years, these things will be as cheap and ubiquitous as PMP earbuds – which should make avoiding eye contact on your daily commute that much easier. [Image re-ganked from PinkTentacle post]

[tags]wearable, display, technology[/tags]
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Is space the third option?

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Out here, noone can here you scream for more resourcesIn a move that will excite many science fiction fans, a political scientist from Norway has suggested there may be a third way to solve the coming environmental problems of the21st century: Space. He posits that there are two theories for sustainable development. One, Ecologism, aims for a post industrial era of lessened use of carbon and requires a change in the way our current political and social climate works. The other is Environmentalism which aims to keep life much as it is, only using funds to develop, repair and nurture the environment. However, he thinks that by tapping into the resources offplanet, it may be able to solve the Earth’s issues. Reading the brief it seems like very much a political rather than scientific hypothesis but there’s definitely a place for space in the coming time when resources become scarce – we just have to know where to look.

[from science daily, photo by Hubble Creative Commons]

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Space travel without propellant

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800px-Aurora-SpaceShuttle-EO

"Fuel? We won’t need no stinkin’ fuel for our spacecraft!" might be the motto of the Cornell Planetary Magnetic Fields Propulsion research team. Led by Dr. Mason Peck, the team envisions spacecraft that would be able to surf planetary magnetic fields, requiring little if any propellant. The effect to be harnessed, known as Lorentz forces, is small, so the spacecraft would likewise have to be small: imagine a swarm of millions of craft, each the size and mass of a single silicon wafer, gathering information, providing communications, or creating a distributed-aperture telescope kilometres in diameter. Such tiny, lightweight craft might even be perfect for the first trip to another star system. (Via Centauri Dreams.)

Hey, at 1/10th light speed, Proxima Centauri is only 43 years away… (Photo from NASA via Wikimedia Commons.)

[tags]space travel, propulsion, spacecraft, technology[/tags]

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PRSCRPTN 4U kthxbai – consulting your doctor by SMS

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Tattooed guy using a cellphone I think the most surprising thing about this is that it’s taken so long for someone to do it. Brooklyn medical practitioner Dr. Jay Parkinson offers a unique service to his young hipster-freelance clientele – for a yearly fee, they can get two home visits and unlimited consultations by text message or email. Not only does this make it far easier for his patients to get the advice they need at the time they really need it, it keeps Dr. Parkinson’s practice overheads nice and low, and leaves him time to indulge in his own creative pursuits as a photographer. The first practice in my town to offer this service will be getting my subscription fee in cash, with a smile. [Image by ElvertBarnes]

[tags]health, medicine, doctor, consultation, technology, business[/tags]