Free Republic

ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. -- For Marine Corps aviators, hydraulics are critical part of performing all the heavy lifting required during aircraft operations. Marine Cpl. Habtamu Sharew and Lance Cpl. Juan Herreragonzalez know that better than anyone. The two are hydraulic mechanics from Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 29 in Jacksonville, North Carolina. They work specifically on the hydraulics systems. Not long ago, they entered their idea for streamlining hydraulic line maintenance into the 2016 Marine Corps Logistic Innovation Challenge. Out of more than 300 entries, theirs was chosen as one of 18 to move to the next step. That brought...

Sorry, posting from my phone.

n 1971, Intel, then an obscure firm in what would only later come to be known as Silicon Valley, released a chip called the 4004. It was the world’s first commercially available microprocessor, which meant it sported all the electronic circuits necessary for advanced number-crunching in a single, tiny package. It was a marvel of its time, built from 2,300 tiny transistors, each around 10,000 nanometres (or billionths of a metre) across – about the size of a red blood cell. A transistor is an electronic switch that, by flipping between “on” and “off”, provides a physical representation of the...

A new collection of transportation agencies and universities is taking one small step toward transforming the Rust Belt into a place associated with the future instead of the past. Eleven agencies and institutions located in Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania have formed the Smart Belt Coalition, which will spur joint efforts on the testing and deployment of autonomous and connected cars. The collaboration comes on the heels of a legislative overhaul of Michigan regulations last month, which have been relaxed to spur the testing of self-driving technology on the state’s public roads. Ohio and Pennsylvania do not have laws on the...

ItÂ’s the leftÂ’s secret weapon in the continuing resistance. While Facebook is getting a lot of the credit for making last weekendÂ’s WomenÂ’s March happen, a somewhat obscure tech platform called the Action Network was critical to organizersÂ’ efforts. And in the wake of that worldwide protest, the platform is already helping to push the movement forward. A nonprofit created by progressives who hoped to build a political movement with staying power, the Action Network offers tools for sending emails, organizing marches and events, fundraising, creating petitions, conducting surveys and connecting with other organizers. Activists who use the tools can...

Blue Origin, the aerospace company owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, is using 3D printing to build the BE-4, a next-generation rocket engine fueled by liquefied natural gas. The engine will power Blue Origin’s New Glenn orbital rocket and potentially a United Launch Alliance rocket too. Christmas is an understandably busy time for Amazon, the online megastore and one-stop destination for media, electronics, and last-minute gifts that are guaranteed to arrive by December 24. But now that the festive season is over, founder Jeff Bezos can busy himself with other matters, such as his Washington-based aerospace manufacturing company, Blue Origin....

Ref: Drone SWARM technology https://www.google.com/amp/compositesmanufacturingmagazine.com/2017/01/department-of-defense-successfully-tests-composite-drones/amp/

Semiconductors are essential to everything from home appliances to cars, satellites and fighter aircraft. The U.S. has led the industry since its start in the 1950s, with firms like Intel, Qualcomm and Apple today accounting for nearly 50% of global sales, worth about $165 billion a year, and employing some 359,000 Americans. Semiconductors are the fourth-most valuable U.S. export behind airplanes, petroleum products and cars. China hopes to change this through state subsidies and predatory trade practices. The White House report, drafted by industry and policy experts, warns that “Chinese policies are distorting markets in ways that undermine innovation, subtract...

#CalExit just received a big boost from an unlikely source: Peter Thiel, billionaire tech buddy of President-elect Trump. In a “Confirm or Deny” interview with the New York Times’ Maureen Dowd, the 49 year-old Thiel confirmed that he believed California should secede. Maureen Dowd: California should secede. Peter Thiel: Confirm. I’d be fine with that. I think it would be good for California, good for the rest of the country. It would help Mr. Trump’s re-election campaign. Apparently Thiel’s comment that “…it would help Mr. Trump’s re-election campaign” was made rather tongue-in-cheek. But it does raise an interesting question. With...

Into the future By Udo Gollub at Messe Berlin, Germany I just went to the Singularity University summit. Here are the key points I gathered. Rise and Fall: In 1998, Kodak had 170,000 employees and sold 85% of all photo paper worldwide. Within just a few years, their business model disappeared and they were bankrupt. What happened to Kodak will happen in a lot of industries in the next 10 years – and most people don’t see it coming. Did you think in 1998 that 3 years later you would never take pictures on paper film again? Yet digital cameras...

ANY sufficiently advanced technology, noted Arthur C. Clarke, a British science-fiction writer, is indistinguishable from magic. The fast-emerging technology of voice computing proves his point. Using it is just like casting a spell: say a few words into the air, and a nearby device can grant your wish. The Amazon Echo, a voice-driven cylindrical computer that sits on a table top and answers to the name Alexa, can call up music tracks and radio stations, tell jokes, answer trivia questions and control smart appliances; even before Christmas it was already resident in about 4% of American households. Voice assistants are...

Shh! you may want to turn down your television set because Alexa the internet-connected home assistant device may be listening. The Amazon Echo system which does everything from getting your weather report to ordering more laundry detergent can also do some things you don’t want it to. When it comes to answering those tough questions or getting that extra help around the house, Alexa, the voice service that powers Amazon Echo is just a voice-command away. Meyali Sanchez helps sell the system at Best Buy and even uses it at home. “She is kind of like my little right hand....

New anti-surveillance clothing has been developed, allowing wearers to prevent security cameras which use facial recognition technology from recognizing them. The clothing uses complex colored patterns of digitalized faces, and parts of faces, to overload and trick facial recognition software. New anti-surveillance clothing has been developed, allowing wearers to prevent security cameras which use facial recognition technology from recognizing them. The clothing uses complex colored patterns of digitalized faces, and parts of faces, to overload and trick facial recognition software. The patterned design of the clothing overwhelm and confuse facial recognition systems by presenting them with too many faces to...

To say that film Twitter, as it has become to be known, lost its collective mind when a rumor began circulating that the newest iOS update would have a “Theater Mode,” is an understatement. The rumor started with a tweet from Sonny Dickson, a contributor to Forbes who has broken Apple news in the past. Dickson said that in iOS update 10.3, a “Theater Mode” would be added that could be accessed from clicking on a “popcorn-shaped Control Center icon.” Dickson didn’t allude to what the mode would do, but in 2012, Apple patented technology that would “disable noise and/or...

LG has unveiled an array of devices to make smart homes even smarter - including a radical ultrathin TV than can be hung on the wall with magnets. The ultrathin LG Signature OLED W television is just just 2.57mm thin in the 65-inch model, and mounts seamlessly to the wall to create the experience of ‘looking through a window into another world.’ The company is set to market the device, which as yet has no price or release date, as a 'wallpaper' TV. To avoid cables, it has a single cable that runs to a sound bar, which has all...

The matter implicating Amazon's Echo is prosaic, by comparison. While investigating a homicide committed in a private home in Bentonville, Arkansas, the police noticed that the homeowner—and prime suspect—was something of an electronics junkie. Among his devices was an Amazon Echo, an "always listening" device that, when triggered, records ambient sound and stores the recording on Amazon's cloud. The police thought that selected recordings might help fill some gaps in their investigation. Amazon refused to hand them over. The information available about the Bentonville case suggests two distinct problems. The police request may be overbroad, in which case Amazon is...

Devices like Amazon’s Echo and Google Home were big sellers over the holidays, with people all over the country turning their houses over to digital assistants. But while a virtual butler seems like a great idea, consumers are slowly coming to grips with the implications of the “smart home.” Devices that can answer questions are also taking notes. And while that may help digital assistants like Alexa become better and faster, it also helps law enforcement listen in on private conversations.

Subtitle: In the face of a new administration, activists and regular people alike embrace tools for keeping their browsing habits and communications private. There's something about a Donald Trump administration in charge of the US National Security Agency that has folks taking government surveillance very seriously. Encrypted email provider ProtonMail and encrypted chat service Signal saw a spike in new users after the election. What's more, privacy advocates say they're hearing from more people who are interested in covering up their tracks online. Eva Galperin, a global policy analyst at the privacy-oriented Electronic Frontier Foundation, said she's received more requests...

They heard him when he called them criminals, thugs, rapists. They saw the taco-bowl tweet on Cinco de Mayo and listened as he sought to discredit a federal judge of Mexican heritage. And now, with less than a month to go before Donald Trump is sworn in as the 45th president of the United States, Latino tech workers are waiting to see what he’ll do next.

When Donald Trump met with technology leaders in December to tell them he wanted them to create jobs in the U.S., their heads probably tilted to the side, as if you tried to explain physics to your dog and she just watched your lips moving and wondered when, among all those unfamiliar sounds, she was going to hear the word treat. Tech leaders aren’t in the business of creating jobs. They’re in business to help us do more with less. They like innovation and disruption and software eating the world. But people—eh, not so much. In his own Chance-the-gardener way,...