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Lockheed Martin has successfully tested a Patriot Advanced Capability-3 surface-to-air-missile against a tactical ballistic missile from a remote launcher. Sept. 22 (UPI) -- Lockheed Martin has successfully tested a Patriot Advanced Capability-3 surface-to-air-missile against a tactical ballistic missile from a remote launcher. The test was conducted by the U.S. Army at Reagan Test Site at the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. The PAC-3 Missile Enhancement Segment ballistic missile defense system was launched from a remotely controlled launcher, as opposed to a manned system. "PAC-3 continues to be successful against today's evolving threats, and it remains the only combat proven...

Planned Parenthood of Northern New England along with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit Wednesday challenging a provision of a Maine law that says abortions can only be performed by physicians.The ACLU claims that the law “significantly restricts patient access to abortion services in Maine, and prevents some Maine women from receiving an abortion from their regular primary and gynecological care provider,” and “blocks qualified nurse practitioners and nurse-midwives (also known as advanced practice registered nurses, or APRNs) from doing so, despite their rigorous post-graduate training and extensive clinical experience.”“Today, while medication abortion is available via telemedicine...

Dive Brief: The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has awarded Jacobs Engineering Group a 10-year, multimillion dollar contract to design an active traffic management (ATM) system for Interstate 76 through Philadelphia, according to Traffic Technology Today. Jacobs' services for the Schuylkill Expressway will include preliminary and system engineering, design, analysis of alternatives, right-of-way acquisition and construction consultancy.The final ATM system could include occasional use of the shoulder, connected vehicle technology, variable speed limit signage and traffic jam detection and alerts. PennDOT could also implement features like ramp metering, junction control, dynamic lane assignments, and multimodal strategies in tandem with shoulder use....

The competition to host HQ2, as Amazon’s planned second headquarters is called, has captivated the nation. The lucky city can expect an economic bonanza: 50,000 jobs, plus the tech ecosystem that the online retail giant’s presence will inevitably attract. But the winner doesn’t have to be a big metropolis. On the contrary, Amazon has the power to create an entirely new American technology hub. In a recent piece, Bloomberg View columnist Conor Sen discusses some of the factors that will (or should) influence Amazon’s decision. These include an educated workforce, an airport, tax incentives, and — perhaps most importantly —...

A facial recognition experiment that claims to be able to distinguish between gay and heterosexual people has sparked a row between its creators and two leading LGBT rights groups. The Stanford University study claims its software recognises facial features relating to sexual orientation that are not perceived by human observers. The work has been accused of being "dangerous" and "junk science". But the scientists involved say these are "knee-jerk" reactions. Details of the peer-reviewed project are due to be published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. For their study, the researchers trained an algorithm using the photos of...

The Potentiam network was created to find the much-needed balance in the music and content distribution sub-industry. It is the new music distribution network created by veterans in the industry and powered by the Blockchain network. Potentiam is poised to put back the power to earn in the hands of content producers and their fans. Potentiam was borne out of the desire to proffer solution to the myriad of challenges faced by music artist, content producers and all those who strive to make music possible. Potentiam was designed and is promoted by the same music veterans that founded Britznbeatz in...

Back in January, Food and Wine reported that KFC China would be introducing a facial recognition system that would predict your order (it’s not as creepy as it sounds). Now it looks like the brand is enhancing that technology with additional features. According to Reuters, the system lets customers pay by face, just by approaching one of the store's newly unveiled monitors. The new device is located at a KFC outpost in the city of Hangzhou. The facial recognition system is called Smile to Pay, and it’s being featured at a Yum Brands (the company behind KFC) so-called concept store...

IN BRIEF Chinese physicists managed to demonstrate long-distance quantum entanglement in space, breaking previous records. This development, made possible by a novel method, could lead to improved information storage and transfer in the future. SPOOKY ACTION GETS TO SPACE When it comes to weird science stuff, quantum entanglement is probably near the top of the list, especially back in the days when Einstein referred to it as that “spooky action at a distance.” Physicists have since demonstrated the “spooky” phenomenon to be possible, but now they want to extend its reach. A new study shows it’s possible for quantum entanglement...

In a massive step forward, researchers have sent the first quantum-secured message through the air above a city containing more than one bit of information. This proof-of-concept success means that high-capacity, free-space quantum communication will one day be both a practical and secure process between satellites and Earth—and a worldwide quantum encryption network will also be feasible. In their demonstration, researchers used 4D quantum encryption to transmit data over a free-space optical network between two buildings. The buildings on the University of Ottawa campus stand 0.3 kilometers apart. The high-dimensional encryption scheme is described as “4D” because it sends more...

The United States conducted a successful missile defense test that intercepted a medium-range ballistic missile off the coast of Hawaii early Wednesday morning, according to a statement from the US Missile Defense Agency. The Standard Missile-6, built by major US defense contracter Raytheon, intercepted the missile target at sea in its final seconds of flight after being fired from the USS John Paul Jones. The test comes amid heightened tensions between North Korea and the US. Earlier this week, an intermediate-range missile, identified by the North Koreans as a Hwasong-12, was fired over Japan. A US official, however, told CNN...

This is an interesting and popular currency concept, and it is taking the world by storm. However, are there any dangers ahead for bitcoin users? How do banks feel about bitcoin? For that matter, how does the government feel about bitcoin? https://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2013/11/15/bitcoin-companies-and-entrepreneurs-cant-get-bank-accounts/#a0b6197260d8 In the first week of July, Jay Shore got bad news. U.S. Bank and Chase informed him they were closing the accounts for his company, Coinabul, a San Diego-based precious metals buyer that sells silver and gold for Bitcoin. They didn’t want to house his half-million dollars. Chase was mum on the reason but Shore says a U.S....

Shot Spotter Sensor in Omaha, Nebraska One of the technological fixes that has been attempted is the use of sensors to pinpoint gunshots inside of cities. The theory of the technology is fairly simple. Spread audio sensors throughout the city. Feed the input into a computer system, looking for gunshots. With sophisticated programs, isolate the gunshots from the other noise, and pinpoint their location and time. Ideally, this happens in near real time, to allow police response to gunshots. From ksat.com: San Antonio - A program intended to help police officers identify where a shooting happens, get there quicker...

It was a memorable moment in Pixar’s 2004 classic “The Incredibles,” one that seemed wildly futuristic at the time: Mr. Incredible picks up a wafer-thin tablet computer, and it scans his face to verify his identity before divulging his secret mission. Thirteen years later, many slim phones and tablets unlock with the press of a thumb—and just this sort of mobile facial scanning is on the way. Forget fiddling with passwords or even fingerprints; forget multiple layers of sign-in; forget credit cards and, eventually, even physical keys to our homes and cars. A handful of laptops and mobile devices can...

Reshma Saujani is not a coder but she's empowering "an army of young women" to take on tech's gender gap through her nonprofit Girls Who Code. "I think that this is an opportunity we have to give every single one of our children," Saujani says in a new episode of CNN's Boss Files with Poppy Harlow. "I think the problem is right now, culturally, images that we see are very male. We have to be thoughtful and think about how can we open the door." Through Girls Who Code, Saujani is helping to bridge the opportunity gap for young girls...

Progressives used to pressure U.S. corporations to cut back on outsourcing and on the tactic of building their products abroad to take advantage of inexpensive foreign workers. During the 2012 election, President Obama attacked Mitt Romney as a potential illiberal “outsourcer-in-chief” for investing in companies that went overseas in search of cheap labor. Yet most of the computers and smartphones sold by Silicon Valley companies are still being built abroad — to mostly silence from progressive watchdogs.

We spent a great deal of time talking about inequality of opportunity and outcomes. The tech industry is fanatically progressive in its opinions, as the unfortunate James Damore, formerly of Google, recently learned. The tech industry's drivel about diversity and equality masks a guilty conscience: Digital technology creates inequality of a kind we have never seen before in human history. Instead of talking about inequality of outcomes, suppose we talked about inequality of knowledge? Three hundred years ago, pretty much everyone knew how their technology worked. Europe had lived for a millennium on the innovations of the Carolingian Renaissance: the...

Many of the "Tech Gods" were dismayed when Donald Trump - who holds a very different worldview - won the American presidency. But did they actually help him to win? A key insider from the Trump campaign's digital operation - Theresa Wong - unravels for the first time the role played by social media and Facebook's vital role in getting Trump into the White House. Jamie Bartlett learns how Facebook's vast power to persuade was first built for advertisers, combining data about our internet use and psychological insights into how we think. Watch Secret's of Silicon Valley on BBC Two,...

Arizona -(Ammoland.com)- When the Australian government passed its restrictive gun law scheme in 1996, it did not anticipate the technological innovations that would be promoted.Some, like the straight pull FN/Browning Maral, above, are not much different from previous rifles. The British Lee-Enfield had 10 round detachable magazines a hundred and twenty years ago. The Canadian Ross and Swiss K31 rifles both used straight pull bolt actions with five shot magazines. The Maral has small improvements over all three previous rifles.From browning.eu: With all its undeniable experience in making hunting rifles, BROWNING has innovated yet again in the field of straight-pull...

The firing of James Damore over his "Google's Ideological Echo Chamber" memo will empower the tech alt-right. To understand why, imagine yourself as a Republican working at a big Silicon Valley tech company. You agree with Damore that some average differences between men and women probably explain some of why such a high proportion of computer programmers are male. You, however, in no way consider yourself sexist. What Damore's termination tells you is that many in your field consider people with your beliefs to be unfit to work with. They hold opinions of you similar to those of former senior...

Cumulative profits since introduction of iPhone