Free Republic

A research team based out of the University of Waterloo has developed a drone-powered device that can use WiFi networks to see through walls. The device, nicknamed Wi-Peep, can fly near a building and then use the inhabitants’ WiFi network to identify and locate all WiFi-enabled devices inside in a matter of seconds. The Wi-Peep exploits a loophole the researchers call polite WiFi. Even if a network is password protected, smart devices will automatically respond to contact attempts from any device within range. The Wi-Peep sends several messages to a device as it flies and then measures the response time...

Moreover similar alerts were issued in the regions of Cherkassy and Kirovograd, and in the city of Zaporozhye KIEV, October 20./TASS/.The city administration of Ukraine's capital Kiev declared an air raid warning in the early hours of Thursday. "Attention! Air raid alert issued for Kiev. We urge everyone to urgently proceed to civil protection shelters," the city administration said in its Telegram channel...

As the election season is upon us, I want to take this moment in time to reflect upon the fact that the CCP is not a friend of the United States. This became very clear last week, as I watched a pre-screen of the new Epoch Times documentary about the CCP called “The Final War.” I was shocked at the evidence presented that the CCP’s historic and ultimate goal is truly about global domination. In fact, the CCP has historically defined and declared the United States to be its its enemy #1. All I can say is that when this...

What would you do? (“And what in your comfortable urban life has ever prepared you for that decision?”) Just a great scene from James Burke's Connections Series 1, Episode 1. I highly recommend you watch the show. It is old (50 years old!)but it is insightful.

Electronic Vehicles are being pushed on the public before the technology is ready. This article by Andrew Thomas addresses the folly of this approach.These are excerpts from this excellent piece: "...You cannot tell progressive politicians that the technology for EV’s is still in its infancy. You cannot convince them that the current state of technology makes them completely impractical and unworkable on a national scale. We are at the same point in technological history as we were in 1896, when we transitioned from “horseless carriages” powered by steam and electric motors to gasoline engines. What we see on the EV...

Smart technology is surveillance technology. It is not smarter because of its inherent qualities, but because it sends and receives data that allows it to be ‘smarter’ in manipulating users. The smart part of smart technology comes from human beings. So does the stupid part when people sacrifice their privacy and independence for the benefits of technology being shaped to them. Clean energy is even more of a myth. The Inflation Increase Act doles out another stream of billions toward the inefficient forms of energy generation that the government has been subsidizing for over 50 years because some Madison Avenue...

Summary:How is it possible for proprietary AI models to enter patient care, without extensive peer reviews for algorithmic transparency? That's a question we should be asking about Epic's Deterioration Index, which has been utilized for several use cases, including COVID-19 patient risk models.The conversation about machine learning development largely centers on how individual organizations proceed - and whether they use adequate data, methods, algorithms, transparency, and a process that guarantees models do not go into production until they are tested and vetted.At the other end of the spectrum are AI models developed by Google and Facebook that are completely opaque,...

Amazon.com Inc. will let brands and merchants send marketing emails to shoppers, a risky bid to boost sales that could inundate inboxes with spam. The company announced the initiative Wednesday at the Amazon Accelerate conference in Seattle, where it demonstrates new features to the independent businesses that sell more than half of the products on Amazon.com. Merchants will be able to send free emails to new shoppers, repeat customers and their biggest spenders through a new "Tailored Audiences" tool, which will also let sellers monitor the results. The tool has been in testing this year and will be available to...

But one entrant, Jason M. Allen of Pueblo West, Colo., didn’t make his entry with a brush or a lump of clay. He created it with Midjourney, an artificial intelligence program that turns lines of text into hyper-realistic graphics. Mr. Allen’s work, “Théâtre D’opéra Spatial,” took home the blue ribbon in the fair’s contest for emerging digital artists — making it one of the first A.I.-generated pieces to win such a prize, and setting off a fierce backlash from artists who accused him of, essentially, cheating. Reached by phone on Wednesday, Mr. Allen defended his work. He said that he...

Here comes the X-59: Supersonic transport may hold a promise of super-fast travel, but it also promises to be extremely loud – and not just to those on the actual aircraft. That is why the Concorde, which was developed as part of an Anglo-French effort and while operated by British Airways and Air France, was typically only used for travel from Europe to North America. The American SST (supersonic transport) effort was grounded mainly due to noise and environmental concerns. Those concerns remain as multiple European nations and environmental groups seek to stop any comeback of supersonic commercial travel. Earlier...

Chinese tech giant Baidu is developing its own quantum computer to compete with the United States in the race toward next-generation information processing. The computer does not outperform rivals currently being developed in America but, according to one expert, signals dire competition over the future of data security.A 3D Illustration of a futuristic computer processor. (James Thew/Adobe Stock)Arthur Herman, a senior fellow at the conservative think tank Hudson Institute, said that Baidu’s recently announced quantum effort fell short of similar efforts being made by companies like Google and IBM.“This quantum computer that they’re touting has only 10 qubits, and that’s...

Computer programs can nowadays generate very convincing human faces. Here is an example and go to the link to see more.This person doesn't exist.

I saw this video on Twitter last week. It shows employees at one of China’s largest tech companies, Tencent, running out of their building after someone inside tested positive for COVID. The employees knew that unless they escape the building very quickly, they will be locked down inside for days.How not to #antivirusVideo took inside head quarter building of #騰訊. (#Tencent ,a world-wide #Chinese IT company)Employee was found receive positive result in virus test.The others was rushing out under the anxiety of lockdown by government.#China #COVID19 #ZeroCovid https://t.co/6CxYS836bD— 過勞死X文香P (@Shimizusoul) August 23, 2022This sort of thing continues happening in China...

The man who married a hologram in Japan can no longer communicate with his virtual wife. The software that allowed the interaction is no longer supported and the man can no longer interact with the hologram with which he had a relationship for years. Fictosexuality is the term used to describe those people who are sexually attracted to fictional characters and in Japan little by little it becomes a trend, to the extent that there are companies that develop technology to offer users holographic couples. Akihiko Kondo took his love for a fictional character one step further by holding a...

I’ve become increasingly intrigued by the fact that western military analysts – even among those not burdened with the epidemic strain of virulent antipathy towards Russia – have not spoken much (if at all) about what I consider to be quite arguably the most impressive revelation of the war in Ukraine. In addition to imposing a virtual “you fly, you die” rule against the Ukrainian Air Force and the various drones they employ, the Russians are, with a formidable array of air defense systems of varying capacities, routinely shooting down: ballistic missiles, MLRS rockets, HARMS anti-radiation missiles, and even artillery...

While in graduate school Matt Schwartz had an epiphany. At the time, he was learning about the food system as part of Stanford University’s Earth Program and also participating in an internship with food tech investor Dave Friedberg, and it was this combination of advanced education with a front-row seat to food tech innovation that helped him to see the future. “That’s when I came to believe that things were heading towards fresh,” Schwartz told me this week in a Zoom interview. “That we need to move towards a more nutrient-dense form of eating, a less calorie dense form of...

There are at least two big missing pieces in the CHIPS Act of 2022, the US$52 billion subsidy for US-based semiconductor manufacturers that has just been sent to President Joe Biden for his signature. The first missing piece is definitional. There is no statement in the Act of what constitutes an “advanced” semiconductor. Second, not only is there no priority on military capability, but there is also no requirement or guidance for protecting newly developed technology funded under the Act. To begin with the question of what constitutes an “advanced” semiconductor, Intel is investing $20 billion in a new manufacturing...

When US national laboratories develop a new technology, Uncle Sam is supposed to ensure it is commercialized in America. But that's not what happened with what's said to be a breakthrough battery design. A vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) design created at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has wound up in the hands of a Chinese company, which has since gone on to become the largest manufacturer of VRFBs in the world. The US, which owns the patent and invested $15 million of taxpayer dollars into its development, reportedly has no domestic production site for the novel VRFBs. That's not...

A Google developer was recently fired for revealing that the tech giant’s AI bot had a mind of its own. The trigger that made him realize that the technology was sentient was a joke it made about Israel not belonging to any religion. In a recent interview with Bloomberg, former Google developer Blake Lemoine explained how he arrived at the conclusion that Google’s AI system, LaMDA was sentient and how a witty response about Israel being run by a philosophy based on a science fiction movie. As part of the process, Lemoine would continually challenge artificial intelligence with nuanced questions...

One of the most enigmatic, sensational, and misguided thinkers of the last 10 years is Israeli historian and pop philosopher Yuval Noah Harari. His book Sapiens, published in English in 2015, sold over a million copies as it told the story of mankind’s evolution. His 2017 book Homo Deus predicts a transhumanist future, a world where technology fundamentally reshapes what kind of entity human beings are. “We humans should get used to the idea that we are no longer mysterious souls. We are now hackable animals,” he told attendees at the 2020 World Economic Forum annual meeting. “By hacking organisms,...