Technology Plus

US anti-terror big data experiment 'breached privacy'

2012-10-09T14:34:00.002-07:00

Big Data is all the buzz in every field, from big business to science. So it's no surprise that the US Department of Homeland Security is trying it out too, attempting to pull information together from different government bodies with the intention of gleaning crime-busting information to foil terrorism before it happens.

The DHS set up 72 "fusion centres" across the US between 2003 and 2007 to do just that, allowing local law enforcement officers to cooperate with agencies up and down the chain.

But it hasn't worked, according to an investigation published this week by a subcommittee of the US Senate. The committee found that the information provided by the Department of Homeland Security's "fusion centres" was "oftentimes shoddy, rarely timely, sometimes endangering citizens' civil liberties and Privacy Act protections".

The 140-page report claims that the DHS programme has been plagued by poor management while sucking up between $289 million and $1.4 billion in the past 10 years. The Illinois Statewide Terrorism & Intelligence Centre (STIC) is held up as an example of failure, after it flagged a supposed cyberterrorism event in November last year. STIC and the DHS both erroneously reported that a local water plant had been hacked from a Russian IP address, causing a burned-out pump.

The Russian IP address turned out to have been an employee accessing the network while on holiday, and completely unrelated to the pump, which burned out five months afterwards in any case.

GM moves to bring computer technology in-house

2012-10-09T14:29:00.000-07:00

General Motors is moving past layoffs and the Motor City’s rusty, low-tech image. It’s setting out on its own to develop software and invent the most advanced gizmos for your car.

America’s biggest automaker plans to hire up to 10,000 computer professionals in the next three-to-five years as it tries to lead the auto industry with cutting-edge technology.

It’s a bold and expensive move, counter to the industry’s history of buying software and other electronic applications from outside companies. Experts say it’s also the start of a trend as manufacturers realize that software is among the few things that will set them apart from competitors.

”The companies that build the software themselves in general are going to have an advantage,” says David Kirkpatrick, author of a book about Facebook and CEO of Techonomy Media Inc., a New York firm that specializes in setting up technology conferences.

”If you outsource the development of software in particular to others, you can risk … your own ability to compete in the future.” General Motors Co. isn’t alone in trying to move more technology development under its roof. But the plans of its biggest competitor, Ford Motor Co., aren’t nearly as ambitious.

GM’s aims to bring 90 percent of its computer technology work into the company by recruiting workers to four new information technology centers around the nation. Ford recently joined GM, BMW AG and Renault-Nissan in opening a technology office in California’s Silicon Valley, although it’s staffed by only about 15 people.

GM’s first ”Information Technology Innovation Center” was announced last month in Austin, Texas, with plans to hire 500 programmers and software experts. And Monday the carmaker unveiled plans to hire 1,500 more at a second computer center in Warren, Michigan, on the campus of its big tech center.

GM already has product designers, engineers and other technical experts at the site, including the team that created the Chevrolet Volt electric car.

The other two sites haven’t been revealed. Staff at the centers will try to stay on top of software trends. They’ll develop the latest ways to link smartphones with cars or control a vehicle’s heating and air conditioning with voice commands.

They’ll also be counted on to invent technology that no one’s thought of yet. And GM also sees long-term cost savings when the centers are fully in operation.

”We’re currently seeking the next generation of game-changers to help us usher in a new age of automotive innovation,” says GM Chief Information Officer Randy Mott, who was Hewlett-Packard’s CIO until he joined GM in February.

Although there are shortages of programmers and software engineers in some parts of the country, GM should be able to recruit enough talent by setting up shop in four different regions, experts say. With the tech-hub of Austin and GM’s home base in Detroit already covered, the most likely locations for the next two centers are on the West Coast, experts say.

GM says it will offer competitive wages and benefits to pull in recent college graduates and experienced information technology professionals. The company’s iconic brand status will help attract people, experts say. But offering competitive pay will cost GM.

Software engineers make $60,000 to $70,000 a year right out of college, and experienced workers can make more, says James Stoeckmann, senior compensation specialist for World at Work, an organization of human resources executives who deal with pay issues.

Expensive or not, the strategy is correct for GM as it tries to differentiate its products from other automakers, says Michael Robinet, managing director of IHS Automotive, an industry consulting firm. With the gap in quality between brands shrinking, the way a car drives and its electronics soon will be the only things that set a company apart, he says.

Currently, GM and most automakers rely on outside companies for touch screen and other technology. But often those companies sell the technology to multiple carmakers, or new software is sold in an expensive bidding war, Robinet says.

”If they have their own skunk works and they find a new technology, they are guaranteed to bring it to market first,” he says.

Ford, for instance, worked with Microsoft Inc. on its pioneering Sync system, which brought voice activation technology into cars ahead of most competitors. But Ford only had exclusive use of the system for a year before Microsoft was able to license it to other companies, namely Hyundai and Kia.

Outside companies have so much expertise that it will take years for GM to catch up, making it unlikely that the company will completely walk away from outside firms, Robinet says. Yet with software gaining so much importance in the way all companies operate, it’s even possible that GM will find its next generation of leaders somewhere in the computer centers, says Kirkpatrick.

Hollywood New's

2012-01-03T12:18:00.001-08:00

Introducing the 60beat GamePad

2012-01-03T12:06:00.000-08:00

This Will changing every thing more ever

LG Set Intro Intel-Based Phone To CES 2012

2012-01-02T11:11:00.001-08:00

A girl photograph homecoming

2012-01-01T20:46:00.000-08:00

Why is it Suppose that she IZ only do "great" things if she was in the US? She is brilliant, and that brilliance and confidence she come's to her Korean grandmother. Why would it be assumed that she would not be able to do "great" things in her home village? she is smart and has an influencial personality. She could has grown up to be someone who CHANGED the way koreans view amerasians.

Calendar 2012

2012-01-01T11:56:00.001-08:00

CORIOLANUS Official UK Trailer

2011-12-31T21:17:00.001-08:00

CSS GRID SYSTEM SPECIALLY DESIGN FOR WEBSITE's

2011-12-31T21:13:00.001-08:00

Have A Smile On Your Toast

2011-12-31T21:02:00.001-08:00

Make YOUR own Diy AC

2011-12-31T20:55:00.001-08:00

IBM NEW SCREW DRIVER

2011-12-31T20:43:00.001-08:00

Interesting New's

2011-12-30T22:14:00.001-08:00

New Latest Technology 2011

2011-12-30T21:35:00.000-08:00

Oh, what the iPad

Apple Tripling Its IPAD Lineup In January???? Not So Fast

2011-12-30T05:01:00.000-08:00

Stack of IPads are piled up at the San Francisco Apple

Store at the iPad launch last year.

What The Hell Iz That Vena

2011-12-30T04:52:00.000-08:00

BEST OF THE BEST OFS: Photos 2011

2011-12-29T09:42:00.000-08:00

Globe and Mail's Pictures of the Year 2011

People view the Tribute in Light, an art installation honouring those who perished in the 9/11 attacks, from the Top of the Rock observation deck on Sept. 10 in New York.

A fisherman arranges a net as his wife paddles their boat in the waters of the Periyar River on the outskirts of the southern Indian city of Kochi on Jan. 5.

Debbie Hakkers looks for possessions in the second-floor bedroom of her tornado-ravaged house in Goderich, Ont., on Aug. 22, a day after a devastating twister ripped through the historic town.

Scott Jones and his girlfriend Alex Thomas during the riot following the Vancouver Canucks' Game 7 Stanley Cup loss in June.

At the other end of the country, more images of love in improbable places: Mike and Nancy Rogers pose for a wedding portrait as Nova Scotia's White Point Beach Resort's main lodge burns in the background.

Alberto Contador punches a fan dressed up as a doctor as he climbs Alpe d'Huez in the 19th stage of the 2011 Tour de France.

A cloud of ash billowing from Puyehue volcano near Osorno in southern Chile, 870 km south of Santiago, on June 5.

Police spray Ugandan opposition party leaders with coloured water during demonstrations in Kampala May 10. President Yoweri Museveni has vowed to crush the protests and blamed rising food and fuel costs on drought and global increases in oil prices.

A woman cries while sitting on a road amid the destroyed city of Natori, Miyagi Prefecture in northern Japan March 13, 2011, after a massive earthquake and tsunami.

A Libyan rebel celebrates the launch of a rocket against government forces .

99 Incredible Views Out Of Airoplane Windows

2011-12-28T21:44:00.000-08:00

The Most Iconic Photographs Ever Taken

2011-12-28T20:24:00.000-08:00

This photograph has become synonymous with The Battle of Gettysburg, which was the most bloody battle of the American Civil War. Photographer Timothy H. O’Sullivan documented and recorded the battlefield, and this picture became a sensation. For many, this was their first chance to see, first hand, the true extent of the Civil War. However, it was not until 40 years after the battle that the pictures were mass produced, as photo-engraving had not been established. The picture shows dead confederate soldiers on the battlefield, and has earned its place in history as an iconic photograph.

Lawrence Beitler took this iconic photograph on August 7, 1930, showing the lynching of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith. It sold thousands of copies, which Beitler stayed up for 10 days and nights printing them. It has become iconic over the years as it is one of the best and most recognisable images of lynchingwhich at the time was commonplace, but now serves only as a reminder of the pre-Civil Rights era. The photo shows a crowd that have turned out to view the lynching, and the audience a mixture of anger and fulfillment. The photo was so popular it has been the inspiration for many poems and songs down the years.

Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima is an historic photograph taken on February 23, 1945, by Joe Rosenthal. It depicts five United States Marines and a U.S. Navy corpsman raising the flag of the United States atop Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II. It became the only photograph to win the Pulitzer Prize for Photography in the same year as its publication, and came to be regarded in the United States as one of the most significant and
recognizable images of the war, and possibly the most reproduced photograph of all time.

Alberto Korda’s well known photograph of Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara, titled ‘Guerrillero Heroico’ or ‘Heroic Guerrilla’ has become a symbol of the 20th centry. It shows Che, as he was known, at a memorial service for victims of the La Coubre explosion. The picture depicts the then-31 year-old’s stoic and character and now appear on T-shirts, tattoos, murials and walls all around the world. Despite being one of the most reproduced images in history, Korda, a lifelong Communist and supporter of the Cuban Revolution, claimed no payment for his picture. The rights of the picture are now disputed. Still, it remains
one of the most iconic photographs of the 20th century.

Most of the iconic images of the 20th and 21st century have owned their photographers Pulitzer prizes for their work, and this image is no exception. Eddie Adams was famous for his portraits of celebrties and for being a prolific photojournalist, having been in 13 wars. However, possibly his most famous image is of the execution of Nguy?n Van LÈm by Nguy?n Ng?c Loan during the Vietnam War. Adams later apologized in person to General Nguyen and his family for the irreparable damage it did to Loan’s honor while he was alive.

Possibly the most talked-about, debated and controversial picture in history, the picture of the moon landing has been seen as a feat of human engineering at its best, and has been speculated as a hoax by contractors of the event. Those in doubt of the authenticity of the picture have come up with many suggestions as to why and how it might have been faked. However, none of the accusations have been proved correct and the debate continues in some circles. For many, though, it provides a sense of accomplishment and acheivement by the human race to send a man to the moon, which for years was considered an impossibility. The American flag also installs national pride in the US as the winners of the so-called ‘Space Race’, and their establishment as the world’s one remaining super power.

This photo of a naked and terrified young girl running towards Pulitzer prize-winning photographer Nick Ut has entered popular culture as a symbol of the horror of the Vietnam War. It was taken during the American bombing of the village of Trang Bang, Viet Nam. However there has been much controversy over the events depicted in the photo. It is suggested that American bombers had nothing to do with this event and that there have been many derogatory and misleading comments about the American troops in regard to this photo. Nevertheless, it is said that this photo ended the war in Vietnam and served as an icon for the peace movement that was prevelent in the 1970s.

On July 22, 1975, Stanley J. Forman took this infamous photograph while working for the Boston Herald. He climbed on the back of a fire truck as it raced towards a reported fire at Marlborough Street. Just as the crew had arrived at the scene, a young woman and small girl fell from an apartment above. The woman died instantly, but the young girl lived. This photo earned Forman a Pulitzer prize, and in addition, convinced Boston and several other cities to introduce more comprehensive fire safety laws.

Often considered the most iconic photograph in history, ‘tank man’ or ‘the unknown rebel’ shows an act of courage and defiance and earned the anonymous man widespread fame. It took place during the protests at Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on June 5, 1989, and has subsequently become a symbol of the end of the Cold War era, and one of the most famous photographs of the 20th century. Four people claim to have took photos of the event, but the most reproduced image, and the most famous was by Jeff Widener.

This shocking photo depicts a starving Sudanese child being stalked by a patient vulture. It is a horrific picture that gave people a true look at the dire condition in Sub-Saharan Africa. Kevin Carter, who took the photo, won a Pulitzer Prize for this work. Kevin then came under a lot of scrutiny for spending over 20 minutes setting up the photo instead of helping the child. Three months after taking the photo, he committed suicide.

3D LED Cube Laying Screen Module H48 dance

2011-12-27T08:30:00.000-08:00

How to Succeed in Online Dating

2011-12-27T08:18:00.001-08:00

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How to Make Ice Cream In 5 Minutes

2011-12-27T08:16:00.000-08:00

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Hardest Places to Survive On Earth

2011-12-27T08:14:00.001-08:00

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Hair Do's and Don'ts

2011-12-27T08:11:00.001-08:00

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How to Create a Clever Infographic

2011-12-27T08:10:00.002-08:00

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