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True, money can't buy me love, but $26 worth can buy me plenty of lead time to get out of Dodge when a Predator is on the way to blow up my tent. According to this Wall Street Journal story, Predator drones are just as wildly popular with the Iraqi bad guys as they are with the U.S. military good guys. Something tells me that the new generation of the Predator is going to have some serious upgrades.

The report card is mixed regarding next-generation nonkinetic, or limited effects, weaponry ­developed by the U.S. and its allies. Cyber-warfare turns on three critical aspects--attack, defense and assessment. Information-technology industry officials say attack capabilities are receiving attention and funding. Defenses against cyber-attack have begun attracting support because of persistent adversaries who flourish in the Wild West atmosphere of the Russian and Chinese cyber-worlds. The big shortfall, they agree, is in battle damage assessment (BDA). "I'm trying to render an enemy system nonfunctional with a nonkinetic attack," says John Osterholz, BAE Systems vice president for integrated cyber-warfare and cyber-security. "How do...

The military is a major user of supercomputers (the fastest computers on the planet). These machines were first developed, as were the first computers, for military applications. These ultra-powerful computers are used for code breaking, and to help design weapons (including nukes) and equipment (especially electronics). The military is also needs lots of computing power for data mining (pulling useful information, about the enemy, from ever larger masses of information.) Because there's never enough money to buy all the super-computers (which are super expensive) needed, military researchers have come up with ways to do it cheaper. A decade ago, it...

Mumbai: Two weeks ago, AGL Resources Inc., an Atlanta, US-based natural gas distribution company, decided to shift its call centre operations from India to the US. The centre was operated by India’s third largest information technology (IT) services company, Wipro Ltd. Along with similar instances of Delta Airlines Inc., United Airlines Inc. and Chrysler Group Llc reported earlier in the year, this could raise a flag for Indian business process outsourcing (BPO) firms which earned nearly $15 billion (Rs69,450 crore today) from such back-office work in the year to March AGL said that were no consumer satisfaction issues. “Wipro employees...

American college prof develops cell-phone tool to help illegals cross borderIllegal aliens crossing the U.S.-Mexico border now have a cell phone tool to chart the best route, find food and locate people who will help them enter the country – courtesy of a professor at a state-funded university. Ricardo Dominguez, a University of California, San Diego tenured visual arts professor and activist, designed the Transborder Immigrant Tool, an application much like a global-positioning system used in cars, to help illegals find the best locations for food, water and groups to assist them as they sneak into America. Dominguez is also...

While rumors of a possible Verizon-compatible iPhone in 2010 persist, one analyst has predicted that Apple will instead bring the iPhone to another GSM-based carrier in the U.S.: T-Mobile. In a note to investors released this week, Doug Reid of Thomas Weisel Partners said his firm believes that T-Mobile, and not Verizon, will be the beneficiary when Apple's exclusive agreement with AT&T expires next year... AT&T's exclusive contract with Apple for the iPhone is due to expire in 2010... While the iPhone in its current iteration is compatible with T-Mobile's network, it is not capable of connecting to its high-speed...

Israeli scientists have discovered a way to create beating heart cells using human skin cells reprogrammed to become stem cells. The findings could lead to advances in disease research, and could in theory be used to repair damaged or diseased tissues. Published in the latest issue of Circulation, the findings by Professor Lior Gepstein of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology could make it possible to clinically repair damaged human hearts...

For the inspiration behind the next generation of avionics, just look around you; it is to be found in the consumer electronics we use every day. The touchscreen interactivity and broadband connectivity of today’s smart phones and laptops is poised to enter the flight deck. The signs are already here. Garmin International has introduced touchscreens with its G3000 integrated flight deck, selected for the HondaJet and PiperJet light business jets. In addition to wide-screen liquid crystal displays, the G3000 has a pair of vehicle management system controllers with touch-sensitive screens and desktop-like menu icons. Garmin says the user interface draws...

These images may look like just pretty patterns, but they are visual representations of songs sung by whales and dolphins.

Inventor Raphial Morgado has been invited as a guest speaker a the Oregon chapter of SAE to discuss and demonstrate his Massive Yet Tiny (MYT) engine. Also working on building 5.5-inch versions to demonstrate this 40x power-to-weight ratio engine.Inventor Raphial Morgado has been invited as a guest speaker a the Oregon chapter of SAE to discuss and demonstrate his Massive Yet Tiny (MYT) engine. Also working on building 5.5-inch versions to demonstrate this 40x power-to-weight ratio engine. We've got several updates to report on Angel Lab's Massive Yet Tiny (MYT) engine -- the internal combustion engine with multiple firings in...

The U.S. Army Special Forces is equipping 18 A Teams (officially known as ODAs, or Operational Detachment Alpha) with Land Warrior electronic equipment. But the Special Forces gear will have one special addition; satellite communications. Normally, Land Warrior comms use line-of-sight (FM) radio. But in the hilly Afghan terrain, and with the dispersed tactics used by Special Forces, satellite communications makes more sense. This is yet another field test for the cancelled Land Warrior project. Last Summer, the army sent an infantry brigade, equipped with Land Warrior gear, to Afghanistan. All this is happening, in spite of the fact that,...

How "Photo Tagger" lets anybody recognize you Facebook likes to talk about privacy, but the truth is the site is all about revealing yourself. A new app, however, may take Facebook's hey-look-at-me culture one step too far. It's called "Photo Tagger," from a company called Face.com. It uses amazing photo recognition technology to take your uploaded photos, go out to the Web, and identify them through "tags." That in itself doesn't sound all that bad, but when we tried this in the newsroom, it scared the crap out of just about everybody with a Facebook account. Here's why: While it's...

Several high-priority and high-priced satellites crucial to U.S. national security are slated to launch over the next 15 to 18 months, according to Bruce Carlson, director of the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). During a keynote address here at the Strategic Space Symposium, Carlson did not provide details of the upcoming missions. Most of the NRO’s satellite programs are classified. Carlson noted the launches to make the point that the NRO continues to perform its mission despite having had its struggles in recent years. But Carlson also said the NRO has suffered a steep decline in its research and development...

It’s worth looking at how life used to be. Now, as early as a thousand years ago, people didn’t have laptops. Back even further, in the hunting and gathering days — the 60s — there were no computers of any kind. At all. The primary method of social networking was drawing pictures on cave walls. So, for instance, if one of the cave dwellers was hunting buffalo, instead of using his cell phone to update his Facebook status to “kilin buf-lo,” he’d go to the cave wall and draw a picture on it of a buffalo next to himself holding...

BENEATH ALL of the anger and frustration surrounding the current flu vaccine supply problem is a simple fact - as we gear up to fight a new flu strain in our first pandemic winter in 40 years, we employ a really old technology to make flu vaccines. The nation needs to find a better option. The basic way we make flu vaccines has changed little since the 1950’s. It relies on hen’s eggs. Each year, a seasonal flu vaccine is developed to cover three strains of flu that are circulating. And, each year the flu viruses change a little bit,...

GPS device can track children Updated: Tuesday, 27 Oct 2009, 12:13 AM EDT Published : Tuesday, 27 Oct 2009, 12:13 AM EDT KELLY JOYCE | FOX 35 News ORLANDO, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - A GPS device the size of your pinky finger is about to hit store shelves and the web. Some parents say it's a good way to keep track of children given all of the children disappearing in central Florida. The "insignia little buddy tracker" is a Best Buy brand GPS system that's about to hit store shelves. It's already drawn so much interest it's on back...

Oct 21, 2009 — Plants are not as stationary as one might think. Parts of them, like seeds, can travel for miles. One good example is the maple seed. Its little helicopter seeds can catch an updraft and fly a long distance from the tree. Now, engineers at University of Maryland have imitated its physics and designed a radio-controlled mono-copter that can sustain stable flight for hours...

Not even kidding - talk about a revolution in sidewalk pro-life counseling technology: The Star Trek Tricorder, a device that allows medics to check their patients in the field in the sci-fi TV show, took a step closer to becoming reality today thanks to a new device being shown off by General Electric in the US. The device, which is a cross between a mobile phone and an iPod was shown at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco on Tuesday. Called Vscan, the clamshell designed gadget is aimed at doctors, and possibly would-be parents who could use it in...

The White House Friday highlighted a new multi-million-dollar technology fund for Muslim nations, following a pledge made by President Barack Obama in his landmark speech to the Islamic world. The White House said the US Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) had issued a call for proposals for the fund, which will provide financing of between 25 and 150 million dollars for selected projects and funds. The Global Technology and Innovation Fund will "catalyze and facilitate private sector investments" throughout Asia, the Middle East and Africa, the White House said in a statement

Audio From Glenn Beck's Radio Program (Aired LIVE 10.22.09)- Did you know OnStar has the ability to shut off your engine, deflate your tires and listen to what you are saying inside your car?? It's true. They never used to use this technology, though it has been available- but now that the government is running GM, apparently they have decided to go ahead with it..Did we miss that press release? At the very least, it should concern you..with this kind of technology in the wrong hands.. Part 1-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDoDwEPKYMA Part 2-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhXEzJHWF1c

Note: The following text is a quote: THE BRIEFING ROOM THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary ___________________________________________________________________________ For Immediate Release October 23, 2009 White House Announces Global Technology and Innovation Fund During his speech in Cairo on June 4, the President announced that the United States would "launch a new fund to support technological development in Muslim-majority countries." As the latest step in delivering on this commitment, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation announced this week a call for proposals for a Global Technology and Innovation Fund. This fund will help catalyze and facilitate private sector investments that promote...

Many species of marine creatures are very well suited to their watery environment, with precisely arranged gas exchange organs, properly angled eyeball parts, and streamlined bodies with appropriate musculature for expert swimming. They also have a continuously sloughing slime layer that lubricates their underwater motion. Rahul Ganguli of Teledyne Scientific in California is experimenting with ways to provide a similar slime for ship hulls to glide through water more efficiently...

If we allow ourselves to be controlled by computers, or even begin to act like computers ourselves, we should not be surprised when we are sent to the recycle bin and permanently deleted.

A new generation of electro-optical imaging satellites to be built by Lockheed Martin pending congressional approval will have an aperturesize of 2.4 meters, a senior U.S.intelligence official said. James R. Clapper, undersecretary of defense for intelligence, disclosed the aperture size — or diameter of the satellite’s primary imaging mirror — of the Next-Generation Optical satellite system Oct.19 during a keynote address here at the Geoint 2009 Symposium. Technical details and capabilities of the nation’s spy satellites typically are closely guarded secrets. Aperture size and altitude are the two factors that determine a satellite’s imaging resolution, which is the minimum size...

Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Vivek Wadhwa, an entrepreneur turned academic. He is a Visiting Scholar at UC-Berkeley, Senior Research Associate at Harvard Law School and Executive in Residence at Duke University. Follow him on Twitter at @vwadhwa. I spent Columbus Day in Sunnyvale, fittingly, meeting with a roomful of new arrivals. Well, relatively new. They were Indians living in Silicon Valley. The event was organized by the Think India Foundation, a think-tank that seeks to solve problems which Indians face. When introducing the topic of skilled immigration, the discussion moderator, Sand Hill Group founder M.R. Rangaswami...

National Security: On the eve of a visit by China's No. 2 ranking military officer, the Obama administration loosens export controls on technology that will benefit Chinese missile development. It's deja vu all over again. The Pentagon has announced that Chinese Gen. Xu Caihou will visit the United States and meet with Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Oct. 26. Xu is vice chairman of the People's Liberation Army Central Military Commission. While here, Xu will visit American military installations around the U.S., including the U.S. Pacific Command. Perhaps Xu will bring with him a note of thanks for the administration's...

Chinese cell phone companies have been cloning some of the top phones in the world the past few years, including the iPhone and the Nokia N95, trying to get people to buy their knockoffs for half the price. Now, Blockberry… err…Blackberry has joined that list and with U.S. President Barack Obama as the face of their advertising campaign. The slogan for the new Blockberry is: “Obama have Blackberry, I have blockberry”. The Chinese Blockberry 9500 runs windows Mobile 6.1, with a 460MHZ proccessor, and features a 3.2 inch touchscreen, WIFI and bluetooth connectivity,Sirf III GPS navigation and supports 3G and...

When I wrote this expose on nuclear-powered laptops in 2005, it was nothing but a juvenile April Fool's joke. It was a prank that most people "got" right off the bat, but it also naturally suckered in a few of the gullible into thinking the dawn of portable nuclear power had arrived. Gag or no, I've remained obsessed with the idea of personal nuclear power ever since. The realist in me understands that it's probably the worst idea ever, what with the radioactivity, hazardous waste, and Iran to think about. But I remain deeply intrigued with the idea. Now comes...

A server meltdown over the weekend wiped out the master copies of personal data -- including address books, calendars, to-do lists and photos -- accumulated by users of T-Mobile's formerly popular Sidekick smartphone. This computing calamity allows Sidekick owners only a faint hope of backing up the information currently on their devices, and none of recovering anything they'd trusted to online storage. And it leaves T-Mobile and the operator of the Sidekick's data service, a Microsoft subsidiary formerly known as Danger Inc. -- oh, the irony! -- with serious explaining to do. A statement on T-Mobile's site phrased things a...

An exchange Sunday with my eldest son got me to thinking (a rare feat, indeed). He asked if tomorrow was a holiday. I responded that it’s Columbus Day. Sensitive and bright guy that he is, he came back – half joking -- with “Don’t you mean Oppression of Indigenous Peoples Day?” He and I have debated the matter of the government’s treatment of the American Indian many times. He takes the position that we badly mistreated these original and mostly warrior inhabitants of what we now call America. I agree with him that, sadly, by violating treaties, marching them off...

Allowing social workers and health authorities to monitor households, adding to concern at Britain's surveillance society. The devices, which the government plans to install in every home by 2020, will also tell energy firms what sort of appliances are being used, allowing companies to target customers who do not reduce their energy consumption. Privacy campaigners have expressed horror at the proposals, which come as two million homes have 'spy' devices fitted to their rubbish bins by councils who record how much residents are recycling. The government wants every home in Britain to have smart meters, which give users information on...

Japan is negotiating a contract with the United States that will provide Tokyo with sensitive information about the systems and performance of the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) as it seeks to evaluate the aircraft in a bid to procure a next-generation fighter (FX) for the Japan Air Self-Defense Force. A source at the Japanese Ministry of Defence (MoD) told Jane's on 6 October that the contract is expected to be signed shortly....the development signals a clear move by Japan towards the JSF - and away from the F-22 Raptor ...the MoD has been requesting the US government...

Vimal Patel was studying for a master's in business administration in London when he saw an advertisement for work in the U.S. The ad offered a job in the tech industry, as well as sponsorship for the kind of work visa that allows foreign nationals to take professional-level jobs in the country. So Patel applied and paid his prospective employer, Cygate Software & Consulting, in Edison, N.J., thousands of dollars in up-front fees. But when Patel arrived, Cygate had no tech job for him. He ended up working at a gas station, and Cygate nevertheless took a chunk of his...

The wild, wild Web, where anything goes, could become less wild this year if federal regulators have their way. The Federal Trade Commission on Monday took steps to make product information and online reviews more accurate for consumers, regulating blogging for the first time and mandating that testimonials reflect typical results. Under the new rules, which take effect Dec. 1, writers on the Web must clearly disclose any freebies or payments they get from companies for reviewing their products. Testimonials will have to spell out what consumers should expect to experience with their products. Until now, companies just included disclaimers...

Don't like the idea of your neighbors rudely snooping on the wireless signal you slaved to pay for from the lazy comfort of their living room? It's not just about slowing down your connection; while they're downloading Mad Men via bittorrent, you could be on the hook for their actions. Wireless security and encryption systems are fraught with problems and insecurity, and other methods to restrict your signal to a small area are cumbersome at best. Enter a new solution: Anti-Wi-Fi paint. The idea is simple: Use a special paint on walls where you don't want wireless to pass through...

Once we’ve demonstrated a 200-kilowatt prototype engine operating at full power on the ground, the next step is testing an identical version in space. We’re already testing the prototype unit in our vacuum chamber here in Houston, and we’re designing the actual flight engine, which is called the VF-200. We signed an agreement with NASA last December to actually mount the VF-200 on the International Space Station in 2012 or 2013. > We would hope that, if not the US, maybe the Europeans, the Chinese, the Russians, or somebody else will develop a nuclear-electric power capability that we can marry...

1. Scientists in Israel found that the brackish water, drilled from underground desert aquifers, hundreds of feet deep, could be used to raise warm-water fish. The geothermal water, less than one-tenth as saline as sea water, free of pollutants, and a toasty 98 degrees on average, proves an ideal environment. [...] 3. When Stephen Hawkins recently visited Israel, he shared his wisdom with scientists, students, and even the Prime Minister. But the world’s most renown victim of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig’s disease, also learned something, due to the Israeli Association for ALS’ advanced work in both embryonic...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz was joined by world leaders and nearly 3,000 guests as he delivered the keynote address to inaugurate the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). Other speakers during the ceremony included the KAUST Chairman of the Board of Trustees and Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, His Excellency Ali Al-Naimi, Minister of Higher Education, His Excellency Dr. Khaled Al-Anqari, and the President of KAUST, Professor Choon Fong Shih.

link only http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aK4daf8MD.Bw

Increasing productivity in healthcare is difficult but not impossible. Here's how. The president tells us that we should be “bending the cost curve� on healthcare, and politicans everywhere are scrambling to present their favored pork projects as plans that would do just that. Lobbyists of every stripe and color are storming legislative offices with great wads of dead presidents and the commentariat debates angels dancing upon pinheads: that is, what could be done if we had a legislative system without legislators, pork, lobbyists, or dead presidents printed on pieces of paper.What I have yet to see (and apologies to those...

ASHBURNHAM - There are rolling hills and ivy-covered brick buildings. There are small classrooms, high-tech labs, and well-manicured fields. There’s even a clock tower with a massive bell that rings for special events. Cushing Academy has all the hallmarks of a New England prep school, with one exception. This year, after having amassed a collection of more than 20,000 books, officials at the pristine campus about 90 minutes west of Boston have decided the 144-year-old school no longer needs a traditional library. The academy’s administrators have decided to discard all their books and have given away half of what stocked...

In the late '60s, with a little prodding from his sons, my father finally gave in and replaced his monaural Garrard turntable with a stereo one. Suddenly, Sgt. Pepper's band sounded so much bigger. And clearer. I could hear two distinct guitars playing, not just a generic guitar sound. Two decades later, in 1988, I finally broke down and bought a CD player and the first of many Beatles CDs -- now, that was a jump from what I'd been hearing on vinyl for years. There were so many more instruments I'd never noticed. And notes I'd never heard. On...

I just created a group on facebook; Western Mass 912 Project. When friends enter that into search bar nothing comes up. Does anyone have a clue what I did wrong? Thanx Bill

The people of the United States find themselves in the midst of a severe recession, with unemployment higher than it has been in many years, housing prices cratering, retirement plans collapsing, and their lifestyles constricting. The financial industry collapsed. We had to come to the rescue, pouring our own futures into saving the banks, brokerages, and insurance companies from their own greedy foolishness. The stagnant American automobile industry was imploding, and the people had to bail them out too, further mortgaging the future of their children. Our politicians responded to this catastrophe by spending our future for us, and then...

When a hundred men stand together, each of them loses his mind and gets another one. – Friedrich Nietzsche For those of us who work in a corporate environment, it is very clear that we either follow corporate policies or lose our job. At my workplace for example, we are not allowed to display any sort of religious material in or outside our offices. We are also forced to accept our company’s policies in regards to environmentalism or alternative lifestyles. Company policies are not created from the consensus or vote by the employees. Many companies have and are engaged in...

eBay, the San Jose-based online-auctions giant, is trading two-thirds of the Internet phone service Skype for about $2 billion, reversing a 2005 acquisition that many analysts considered a head scratcher from the beginning. It's really a reversal: Among the private funds buying a 65 percent stake in the business from eBay is Index Ventures, a venture-capital firm which backed Skype as a startup and profited nicely from the original sale of the company. Silver Lake Capital, a private-equity firm famous for tech buyouts like that of hard-drive maker Seagate, led the deal, in which eBay sold a 65 percent stake...

Note: The following text is a quote: THE BRIEFING ROOM • THE BLOG THURSDAY, AUGUST 27TH, 2009 AT 6:47 PM Open Government Agenda Spills into States and Localities Posted by Robynn Sturm From New York to California, the White House Open Government Initiative is pleased to see states and cities increasing transparency and civic engagement. On June 5th, New York State announced Empire 2.0, modeled on the President’s Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government. Three weeks later, Mayor Bloomberg announced a series of transparency initiatives, including NYC Big Apps, a new annual prize for innovative applications based on city data....

Every time they send a text message, watch a YouTube video, log on to Facebook and plug in their iPods, today's kids are getting stupider.At least, that's what Mark Bauerlein argues in his provocative book "The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future."Bauerlein, an English professor at Emory University in Atlanta, has spent the last few years touring the country evangelizing about the dangers of exposing the young to technology.His love-it-or-despise it book, newly released in paperback, has spawned heated arguments among parents, teachers and students who are spending more and more time plugged...

The Obama administration unveiled $1.2 billion in federal grants for electronic health records systems on Thursday, the first wave of funding under a health-care reform plan to create vast records-sharing networks aimed at cutting costs and improving care in the coming decade. The administration has described such computer systems as a crucial step in overhauling the nation's expensive health-care system. It allocated more than $36 billion in the landmark stimulus legislation to spur adoption of the equipment by doctors and hospitals along with the development of the networks that will link them all together... ...about half the grant money would...

IBM said it was looking to DNA "origami" for a powerful new generation of ultra-tiny microchips. The US computer giant collaborated with California Institute of Technology researchers to develop a way to design microchips that mimic how chains of DNA molecules fold, allowing for processors far smaller and denser than any seen today. "This is a way to assemble an electronics device of the future," said Bill Hinsberg, manager of the lithography group at IBM's Almaden Research Center in California, on Monday. "It offers a potential way to construct nano-scale devices. The industry has always gone in the direction of...