Category Archive

Stingrays, also known as “cell site simulators” or “IMSI catchers,” are invasive cell phone surveillance devices that mimic cell phone towers and send out signals to trick cell phones in the area into transmitting their locations and identifying information. When used to track a suspect’s cell phone, they also gather information about the phones of countless bystanders who happen to … Read More

Few scenarios conjure up digital nightmares darker than a hacked, Internet-connected camera pointing at a baby’s crib. Cybercriminals are spying on children by accessing devices through networks – and even transmitting noises to scare them.  One such incident shook parents in San Francisco, who couldn’t figure out what their 3-year old meant when he told them that he was scared … Read More

For commuters negotiating post-blizzard conditions, take heart: electric snow-melting concrete may be coming to a city near you. Dr. Chris Tuan, a professor of civil engineering at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and his team of researchers have developed a concrete mixture prototype that melts away falling snow and ice by conducting electricity. The special concrete has carbon byproducts from coal … Read More

There are three separate categories of innovation: The first ranges from fun to mindless such as gaming mobile apps like Angry Birds. The second category includes technology that improves our lives, but doesn’t solve our most pressing issues. Innovations such as drones, Uber/Lyft transportation, socialized TV viewing and advanced GPS technology. These make our lives easier but we could live … Read More

In an embarrassing incident, a Chinese hoverboard-maker’s stand the Consumer Electronics Show was raided by US marshals over a patent dispute. Future Motion Inc., maker of a device called OneWheel, on Tuesday filed a patent infringement suit against Changzhou First International Trade Co. in federal court in Las Vegas. The company won an emergency temporary restraining order, leading the US … Read More

To scientists, this is of greater value than an Olympic gold medal. The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) has confirmed the existence of four new elements with the atomic numbers 113, 115, 117, and 118. Chemistry textbooks are in need of a rewrite with the addition of four new elements to the Periodic Table. The periodic table … Read More

Amazon has removed many, but not all, brands of hoverboards from its website following reports of the popular Christmas present catching fire. Without any public announcement, models of the self-balancing scooters from makers like Swagway and Phunkeeduck have disappeared from the online retailer. Hoverboards from brands like Jetson and Razor remain for sale. Overstock.com announced that it would no longer … Read More

When Vincent showed up at the Story County Animal Shelter in Nevada, Iowa, he’d been through something awful. He had been found injured at a camping site, back legs missing from the shinbone down. The shelter had no idea how he’d gotten that way, but the little guy was in luck. At three years of age, Vincent has been fitted … Read More

Countless movies and books include a plot-line in which the protagonist is abducted and either tied or handcuffed to something solid. In the unlikely event you were taken hostage and incapacitated it would be nice to have something about your person that could help you escape. The Titanium Escape Ring has a hidden extra — a stainless steel multi-tool designed … Read More

Comcast’s data caps are ‘just low enough to punish streaming’. In many regions across the country, Comcast this week added Little Rock, Arkansas; Shreveport, Louisiana; Chattanooga, Tennessee; and Galax, Virginia, among other cities, to its growing list of regions with broadband data caps. It is already known from Comcast’s own internal documents that its data caps have nothing to do … Read More