Free Republic

Advocates of "body hacking" will gather in Austin this weekend to promote everything from bionic limbs to human microchips that can serve as anything from identification to a car key... Goodman showed off his own most recent "hack," a radio-frequency identification (RFID) chip in his left hand. It's the same technology veterinarians implant into pets as a way to identify dogs and cats, but humans are using them to make their lives simpler or, in some cases, safer. "You can log into your computer, you could open your doors" with the chips, Goodman said. "I know people who start their...

It was a crowded primary field and Tony Evers, running for governor, was eager to win the support of officials gathered at a Wisconsin state Democratic Party meeting, so the candidate did all the usual things: He read the room, he shook hands, he networked. Then he put an electronic fence around everyone there. The digital fence enabled Evers’ team to push ads onto the iPhones and Androids of all those attending the meeting. Not only that, but because the technology pulled the unique identification numbers off the phones, a data broker could also use the digital signatures to follow...

This may be disappointing news for the tablet-toting software buffs that populate San Francisco, but their hometown is no longer the top tech city in the world, according to a new report. It’s being outranked by an East Coast rival, New York. The northern California metropolis has long held its title, largely thanks to giants like eBay, Netflix, Apple and Fitbit storing their headquarters there. But its high cost of co-working is sending firms and their talent eastward, notes a study from the commercial real estate agency Savills. Manhattan and Brooklyn already have their fair share of big names in...

(CNN) - Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has quickly become one of Washington's most prolific social media users, but this weekend the New York freshman said Silicon Valley companies had too much power and that "the current monopoly trend is societally and economically unsustainable." Ocasio-Cortez's comments came in the aftermath of layoffs at a number of number of news organizations, including BuzzFeed and HuffPost. "The biggest threats to journalism right now are tech monopolies & concentration of ownership," she tweeted on Saturday, adding: "The fact of the matter is the current monopoly trend is societally & economically unsustainable. We can't simply...

I'm looking for an affordable dash cam system, either front facing or both front and rear facing. I don't want to have to tear out my headliner or pay big bucks to have it installed. TIA.

Researchers have created a field-effect transistor using a single-crystal, “paint-on” perovskite Illustration: North Carolina State University =================================================================== Transistors, and the conductive traces that connect them, are routinely created by the billions on the surface of silicon wafers, which are later cut into the individual “chips” that power our computers, phones, watches, and countless other electronic gadgets. But few people think much about how those silicon wafers are made in the first place. It’s quite tricky. Very pure sand (silicon dioxide) has to be melted, at which point a seed crystal of elemental silicon is brought in contact with the melt,...

In a move supported by both major political parties in Australia, a bill named the “Telecommunications Assistance and Access Bill 2018,” has passed the House of Representatives and is headed to the upper House for a vote. Given its bi-partisan support and the position of PM Michael Turnbull regarding encryption, passage into law seems certain. A Hacker News article provides additional details about the bill and its ramifications, not only for tech companies like Apple, Samsung, WhatsApp, Signal and others but also for individuals. The intended purpose of the legislation is to give the Australian government and security and law...

The Worldwide Ferry Safety Association (WFSA) is pleased to announce that winners have been selected for its 2019 Ferry Design Competition. The awards will be presented at WFSA’s Ferry Safety and Technology Conference, which will be be held in Bangkok February 20?22, 2019. In the contest, student teams were tasked with designing a passenger ferry for the Pasig River, the locus of commercial and public activities in Manila. Dr. Roberta Weisbrod, executive director of WFSA, noted that navigational challenges included low bridges and waterborne vegetation and debris. The first prize of $5000 will be awarded to a team from the...

A terrifying moment for a Houston-area family. The parents of a four-month old boy say a man hacked into their Nest Wi-Fi camera and threatened to kidnap their baby. "We heard sexual expletives being said in his room. So we throw on the light in our room. He turned that camera on and told us, said 'turn off the light' and then said, 'I'm going to kidnap your baby, I'm in your baby's room,'" said Ellen Rigney, the baby's mother. The parents raced up the stairs and found their son safe and sound.

RUSH: The Drive-By Media and willing accomplices sense that the walls are closing in on President Trump and that more and more of the people around him who were there to protect him are abandoning him, which makes them all believe they’re going to have a clear head shot, political head shot at Donald Trump sooner than later. And we’ll get into the weeds of all this stuff in a minute. But I have to share this with you. For you tech people in the audience, I’ve got a stumper for you. I’ve got an Apple Watch. I have two...

Communicators with Kim Zetter Cybersecurity analyst and reporter Kim Zetter discussed voting machines and election security ahead of the November midterm elections. KIM ZETTER, YOU RECENTLY SENT A TWEET THAT SAID, I'VE BEEN WRITING A ABOUT ELECTION SECURITY FOR A DECADE, BUT THIS IS PROBABLY THE MOST IMPORTANT STORY I'VE WRITTEN ABOUT IT TO DATE. THERE IS A LINK TO YOUR STORY. WHAT IS THE CRUX OF YOUR ARTICLE? THE REASON WHERE WE ARE TODAY WITH INSECURE VOTING MACHINES AND THE THREAT FROM RUSSIAN HACKERS. THE REASON WE ARE WHERE WE ARE TODAY IS BECAUSE OF DECISIONS MADE IN 2002....

Computers made in America are virtually non-existent, but a little company in Denver had a dream to do just that. System76 has long been looking to make a Linux-powered computer in the USA using open source ideology. A lofty goal, which many folks didn't think would ever be achieved. Well, against all odds, today, System76 proves the haters wrong as it finally unveils its much-anticipated Thelio desktop computer. And boy, oh boy, it is beautiful.

I am looking to shed all things Google, starting with my gmail account. I opened it in 2007 with the thought that I would have it for decades as Google was a behemoth of a company which would not disappear and which could be trusted. But alas, I now have not an ounce of trust in Google. So much is tied to my gmail account that I want to make a move to a company which will 1) stand the test of time and 2) can be trusted. I am quite sure I am not the only person thinking this...

Washington, DC - - Lyft just made a splashy hire as it focuses on working more closely with governments. Anthony Foxx, former President Obama's secretary of the Department of Transportation from 2013-2017, will serve as Lyft's chief policy officer and advisor to its co-founders. Foxx's move speaks to the increasingly central role tech companies play in transportation. He is the first former transportation secretary to join a Silicon Valley startup. Foxx joined Lyft because he is drawn to the company's mission and values, he said in a statement Tuesday.

While browsers such as Tor might be associated with dark web criminal activity and hackers, there are a growing number of reasons for the average person to think about using a secure browser. In light of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, the average consumer has become more conscious of their privacy and the ways in which their data is being used. A secure browser is one way to avoid your data being collected by companies such as Google and Facebook. Another concern driving people to secure browsers is avoiding hacks. Although the nastiest campaigns are aimed at large businesses, the average...

Last week, President Trump tweeted about potentially exploring regulation for companies such as Google, citing a report that claimed searching for “ Trump News” pulls up disproportionately left-leaning results.

Representatives from a dozen of the nation's largest tech companies will meet Friday to discuss the industry's strategy to combat foreign election interference efforts in the midterm elections. An email obtained by BuzzFeed News from Facebook cybersecurity chief Nathaniel Gleicher invites officials from companies such as Google and Snapchat to a meeting set to take place at Twitter's headquarters in San Francisco. “As I’ve mentioned to several of you over the last few weeks, we have been looking to schedule a follow-on discussion to our industry conversation about information operations, election protection, and the work we are all doing to...

What’s become abundantly clear over the past few months is that liberals are now jumping on the anti-fake news bandwagon and using it as an excuse to censor political speech that doesn’t align with their radical agenda. This strategy is perhaps most prominent on social media and various websites across the Internet, including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, and is implemented by teams of leftists and extremists like George Soros who show zero regards for the freedom of speech outlined in the First Amendment. It’s as if the ability to control what information is spread across the Internet and what information...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google wants to know where you go so badly that it records your movements even when you explicitly tell it not to. An Associated Press investigation found that many Google services on Android devices and iPhones store your location data even if you’ve used privacy settings that say they will prevent it from doing so. Computer-science researchers at Princeton confirmed these findings at the AP’s request.

My PC has been running slowly at times during the past several months. Some time ago, I thought I had done enough troubleshooting to conclude I needed more RAM, so I added 4GB and now have 8GB. However, the slowness continues. Now I see that when I am loading a new web page in my browser, or a web page update with new content, the CPU usage goes up to 70-90%, and that is when it slows for a while. I have tried using Waterfox (64-bit version of Firefox) and Edge with the same symptoms and results, so it isn't...