Free Republic

[It would really be great if private entrepreneurs could develop this system! Musk is an innovator. Check out the videos in the article.] “Hyperloop moves closer to becoming reality.” Phil LeBeau@Lebeaucarnews (Hyperloop Transportation Technologies,Inc., says Elon Musk’s vision for the new transportation system is beginning to take hold. CNBC’s Phil LeBeau reports, and talks to Ahlborn about the 5-mile stretch to be tested in the next few years.) The Hyperloop, just an idea in the mind of Elon Musk two years ago, is moving closer to becoming reality. Hyperloop Transportation Technologies has signed an agreement with a developer in central...

Editor's note: The following is an adapted transcript from “The Flipside with Michael Loftus,” a new comedy show that’s debuted on TV stations across America.You know what I did? I invented an app for your phone. Now here’s what you do when inventing an app, you look around and try to figure out what everybody needs; so I’m watching the news, turns out everybody’s getting killed by cops. So everybody’s gonna need my new App, “Michael Loftus’ How Not to Get Killed by the Cops.” It’s super easy; you just press a button and it tells you what to do. Let’s...

Just one gram of DNA can store the equivalent of 14,000 Blu-ray discs. But although the potential for DNA as an alternative to hard drives has been known about for years, it is not the most reliable and secure way to keep data safe. The latest breakthrough could be about to change that, however.

In September 2013, Oklahoma passed a bill safeguarding student data, and since then, student and family data privacy issues have received greater attention in state houses, largely because of increased data collection requirements and availability of data. There is also a growing need to provide parents with timely, relevant data to make informed choices regarding schooling options. To successfully navigate data privacy issues, it is important to consider existing policies and safeguards in place at the federal level. These safeguards include several significant and far-reaching policies such as the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), Children’s Online Privacy Protection...

Most of life happens without a central planner. Yet people think we need one. Suppose you'd never seen a skating rink, and I told you that I want to lay down some ice and charge people money to strap sharp blades on their feet. They will zip around on the ice -- young and old, skilled and unskilled. My only rule: Go counter-clockwise. Hillary Clinton would say the rink needs regulation. She calls herself "a government junkie." Government junkies like government plans. Hillary'd probably demand that my rink have an official who tells skaters when to zoom left or right,...

Distraction caused by taking selfies is likely to blame for a plane crash that killed a pilot and his passenger in Colorado in May, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. Investigators found an undamaged GoPro video camera near the wreckage and recovered its data card. Video from the card showed the 29-year-old pilot with several passengers on flights the previous day, and one nighttime flight shortly before the fatal trip, taking photos of himself with his cell phone, according to investigators. "The camera's flash was activated and illuminated the cockpit area," the report said. The fatal flight, on May...

Normally I try not to get personal when it comes to columns, but occasionally an issue gets too close to home. In the case of the rampant cries of sexism in the tech industry, it literally got to the point of taking up residence. Before writing anything on conservative politics, I was a code junkie – way back in the 80s. As far as my work is concerned, I've never completely left the tech world, since I still manage a short pile of websites, and an internet radio station. But, the work I did previously involved writing and editing documentation for software....

China has requested all of their foreign tech collaborators who have businesses on its territory to alter their products before releasing them on the Chinese market. The Chinese government has imposed new, stricter legislation for the foreign companies which will make them less secure. The official authorities requested that IT infrastructure providers, such as Cisco, should provide access to their hardware in the form of back-doors leading to their products. Softwares will have to follow the same rules, so ATMs which use Microsoft software will also have all their secrets exposed – going as far as revealing its source code....

Samsung’s Galaxy S5 was a monster flagship, except we’ve been able to put together everything you need to know about Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy S6, and it’s shaping up to be the most amazing phone we’ve ever heard of. From a CPU that’s 50% faster, to an incredible quad-HD display, Samsung hit every angle with this year’s flagship phone. It will also have a payment feature which works with magnetic and NFC terminals, incredible cameras, and a gorgeous glass and metal body. This is shaping up to be the Android phone to beat this coming year. We were sent photos from...

January 17, 2015 Money Morning Michael A. Robinson writes: This year, 80% of the chips for new PCs will be produced in Silicon Valley… Taiwan… China‘s Shenzhen Province… South Korea… Wrong on all counts. More and more of today’s chipmakers locating their manufacturing facilities a bit off the beaten path these days – in one of the world’s fastest-growing economies… and a nation that some of you may find controversial. But my job is to take you wherever the biggest innovations are being made so that we can find the biggest opportunities. So, today I’m going to show you exactly...

[I really think it is important to highlight all the great advances in technology and medicine, to show what is good in society and what we can accomplish if we put our minds to it! Even if you don’t have diabetes you should appreciate the advances that can be made—if government regulators and Obama don’t destroy the medical industry first.] This Temporary Tattoo Can Monitor Diabetics' Glucose Levels as Accurately as a Finger Prick “A flexible and easy-to-wear temporary tattoo could help diabetics manage their condition without daily finger pricks.” By FIONA MACDONALD January 15, 2015 Engineers from the University...

The California technology industry has a rare opportunity: An open U.S. Senate seat from the Golden State. Could Silicon Valley put up one of its own? It's a potentially powerful idea. A tech-savvy leader replacing Sen. Barbara Boxer, who announced this week she would not seek re-election in 2016, could use the Senate as a bully pulpit to promote how Silicon Valley innovation can improve people's lives. And with a "Tech Senator," Silicon Valley, which has struggled to gain a footing in national politics, could finally achieve the influence it sees itself deserving. The Senate seat "presents an opportunity to...

It's never easy to predict the future. But as PM's 110th anniversary celebration draws to a close, we've decided to try. Here are 110 ambitious ideas for the decades ahead. (For more about PopMech's brain trust and methodology, read Editor-in-Chief Jim Meigs' introduction. And if you want to try your hand at predicting the future, take our Facebook survey, and see when other readers think the most important events of the next 110 years will happen.) 2012—2022 · People will be fluent in every language. With DARPA and Google racing to perfect instant translation, it won't be long until your...

[Most of these, except for a couple, are very positive achievements. Let’s work for more in 2015, Happy New Year!] The Most Futuristic Predictions That Came True In 2014 By George Dvorsky As 2014 comes to a close, it's time to reflect on the most futuristic breakthroughs and developments of the past year. This year's crop features a slew of incredible technological, scientific, and social achievements, from mind-to-mind communication to self-guiding sniper bullets. Here are 15 predictions that came true in 2014. Technologically-assisted telepathy was successfully demonstrated in humans For the first time ever, two humans exchanged thoughts via mind-to-mind...

The drone needs to be able to fly indoors at speeds up to 45 mph, automatically navigating through complex indoor environments without communication with outside operators, DARPA says.

..........Could this wristband sensor one day be moved to inside the wrist, or somewhere in the hand? It may sound rather far-fetched, but it’s already happening. According to the local.se, Emilott Lantz, 25, from Umeå in northern Sweden, got a microchip inserted into her hand early November. She became a guinea pig during Sime 2014 in Stockholm – a conference about digitalism, the internet, and the future. In line with the goals of the event, participants were offered to get a microchip fitted for free – an opportunity Lantz jumped at. “I don’t feel as though this is the future...

Ever see people shooting their AK's or AR's around the corner without looking? The folks from Tracking Point is making it a reality with their upcoming app that allows you to do this with a pair of Google Glass and Tracking Point Site System attach to your favorite AR, the app binds the two together. I'm not going to go into the nuts and bolts of this, but just know that where you point your gun you would be able to see on the hud of your glasses. If you're technically savvy you can have this on your own...

In the past, this season was marked by a greater interest in divinity, the family hearth and the joy of children. Increasingly our society has been turning away from such simple human pleasures, replacing them with those of technology. Despite the annual holiday pageantry, in the West religion is on the decline, along with our society’s emphasis on human relationships. Atheism seems to be getting stronger, estimated at around 13 percent worldwide but much higher in such countries as Japan, Germany and China. “The world is going secular,” claims author Nigel Barber. “Nothing short of an ice age can stop...

Danielle George, Professor of Radio Frequency Engineering, at the University of Manchester, claims that the under 40s expect everything to ‘just work’ and have no idea what to do when things go wrong...This year’s Royal Institution Christmas Lectures are entitled ‘Sparks will fly: How to hack your home’ she is hoping it will inspire people to think what else they can do with common household objects...Ideas include using a magnifying glass and shoe box to turn a mobile phone into a rudimentary projector; how to use tin foil to make too small batteries fit correctly and how to turn a...

“German researchers have discovered security flaws that could let hackers, spies and criminals listen to private phone calls and intercept text messages on a potentially massive scale – even when cellular networks are using the most advanced encryption now available,” Craig Timberg reports for The Washington Post. “The flaws, to be reported at a hacker conference in Hamburg this month, are the latest evidence of widespread insecurity on SS7, the global network that allows the world’s cellular carriers to route calls, texts and other services to each other,” Timberg reports. “Experts say it’s increasingly clear that SS7, first designed in...