Gift Your Next Robot With the Brain of a Roundworm | Hackaday. Privacy Router Anonabox Gets $600K in Crowdfunding—And Huge Backlash. August Germar When it launched on Kickstarter earlier this week, the Tor-enabled router project known as Anonabox successfully tapped into thousands of Internet users’ desire for simpler privacy tech. Unfortunately, it wasn’t ready for the scrutiny that success brought with it. In its first three days online, Anonabox’s campaign raised more than $600,000—more than 80 times its modest Kickstarter goal of $7,500—by promising a portable, $45 router that would direct all a user’s traffic over the anonymizing network known as Tor. But as of Thursday morning, the backlash against that project had become so severe that its total funding was actually ticking down rather than up, as disillusioned backers pulled their pledges faster than others could make them. Anonabox’s creator, August Germar, says that he’s been both dismayed at the vitriol and overwhelmed by the demand for the device.
As criticism snowballed, some backers were even angrier. Home - h-node.org. 4xFreedoms | Open Source Hardware and Design Alliance.
Cable Companies Can Now Force You to Rent Set-Top Boxes. Here Are Your Alternatives. Antenna + Tivo + Hulu + Netflix + Amazon is pretty much all anyone needs. For secondary TV that don't need live, just add a Roku. Paying by the show is the way to go, too. I bought a whole season of The Walking Dead for $35 bucks. To me that's way cheaper than the $130/month package I would need to watch it on cable. Now I am going to get a few of you saying, "Why pay at all! That's bullshit! Torrent that bitch, fuck them all, never pay again to those bastard. " I am already sick of seeing a shiny 2013 Hyundai on The Walking Dead or listening to Booth tell Bones about the amazing navigation system in his new Toyota. I personally hold all of you pirates responsible for Honey Boo Boo. Brown University creates first wireless, implanted brain-computer interface. Researchers at Brown University have succeeded in creating the first wireless, implantable, rechargeable, long-term brain-computer interface.
The wireless BCIs have been implanted in pigs and monkeys for over 13 months without issue, and human subjects are next. We’ve covered BCIs extensively here on ExtremeTech, but historically they’ve been bulky and tethered to a computer. A tether limits the mobility of the patient, and also the real-world testing that can be performed by the researchers. Brown’s wireless BCI allows the subject to move freely, dramatically increasing the quantity and quality of data that can be gathered — instead of watching what happens when a monkey moves its arm, scientists can now analyze its brain activity during complex activity, such as foraging or social interaction.
Obviously, once the wireless implant is approved for human testing, being able to move freely — rather than strapped to a chair in the lab — would be rather empowering. FCC orders 2M people to power down cell phone signal boosters. The Federal Communications Commission today enacted a set of rules governing the sale and deployment of wireless signal boosters, devices consumers use to improve cell phone signals. More than 2 million of these devices are in use across the country, and until now consumers who bought them could just turn them on and let them work their magic. Not anymore. Anyone who buys one of these devices from now on must seek the permission of carriers. Even the 2 million devices already in use must be turned off immediately unless their owners register them. The FCC states in an FAQ: Did the FCC recently adopt new rules for signal boosters? For practical purposes, there is a good chance you could keep using that device without getting any threatening legal letters.
(UPDATE: The FCC has already changed the language on that FAQ, indicating that the onus may not be on owners of existing devices to register with carriers. There are good reasons for the FCC to regulate these devices. Expanding Wi-Fi. Smackdown: Google TV vs Apple TV vs Boxee vs Roku vs… [Updated Dec. 28, 2012] — It’s looking like 2012 will go down as a watershed for “cord-cutters” seeking to replace expensive cable TV services with low-cost gadgets that stream movies and TV shows from the Internet via free, subscription, and pay-per-view services. Accordingly, this DeviceGuru “smackdown” pits five popular streaming media player devices against each other, based on their features, functions, specs, and quality of implementation. Introduction This smackdown among five prominent streaming media players is structured in three sections. We begin with brief overviews of all five devices, and make note of the most noteworthy advantages and disadvantages of each.
Next, come a pair of tables comparing the key features, functions, and specifications of all five devices. Throughout this smackdown, there are links to DeviceGuru’s in-depth reviews of all five devices. Roku 2′s homescreen Pros and cons… Apple TV’s homescreen NTV300′s homescreen (click image to enlarge) Protecting protestors with photos that never existed - life - 07 July 2011. AN IMAGE processing system that obscures the position from which photographs are taken could help protestors in repressive regimes escape arrest - and give journalists "plausible deniability" over the provenance of leaked photos. The technology was conceived in September 2007, when the Burmese junta began arresting people who had taken photos of the violence meted out by police against pro-democracy protestors, many of whom were monks.
"Burmese government agents video-recorded the protests and analysed the footage to identify people with cameras," says security engineer Shishir Nagaraja of the Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology in Delhi, India. By checking the perspective of pictures subsequently published on the internet, the agents worked out who was responsible for them. If a photographer's "location privacy" is not protected, their personal safety is at risk, Nagaraja says.
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Small wonders: the 2009 Ars USB flash drive roundup - Ars Technica. When we last took an in-depth look at USB flash drives in 2005, the landscape was a bit different. A 2GB drive ran nearly $200, and speeds were quite a bit slower then. At the time, we noted that while the then-current crop of drives was pretty fast, they still were not close to saturating the bandwidth of USB2. To top it off, a good drive was still going to set you back $50 or $70—not exactly a cheap proposition. Since our first roundup, this picture has changed considerably, and it leads to a question: has the flash drive become an undifferentiated commodity, just like any other cheap plastic tsotschke that you might find at an office supply store checkout counter?
Consider the following factors: The majority of flash drives sold are either 4GB or 8GB, which is more than plenty of storage for most people. Normally, twenty dollars is not something that most of us would think twice about, but don't most of us still want to know that we are getting our money's worth? Windows test system. Eve Ensler Calls for Rape-Free Cell Phones (Video)