Lifeboat Foundation

By Robert McMillan

One of the top software engineers behind the Bitcoin digital currency wants to launch it into space.

Last month, Jeff Garzik floated the idea of Bitcoin in space on an internet discussion forum, pitching it as a way to always keep the system up and running — even if it’s attacked by malicious hackers.

The plan is to send up a Bitcoin computer on a tiny inexpensive satellite and have this machine communicate with terrestrial Bitcoin computers via radio. Garzik — who works at Bitcoin payment processor Bitpay and helps shape the open source software that drives the digital currency on thousands of machines across the internet — says that the satellite node could help the Bitcoin network fight back something known as a Sibyl attack. This is where malicious computers flood a node on the peer-to-peer network with bad data. It could give criminals a way of spending their bitcoins more than once, and it’s also part of the so-called selfish miner scenario that Cornell University researchers described last month, saying it could bring down the entire system.

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By Sandra I. Erwin

A laser beam the size of a quarter fired from the back of a truck successfully shot down football-size mortar rounds and took small drones out of the sky.

In the world of directed-energy weapons, this was a milestone achievement, government and industry officials said. It happened between Nov. 18 and Dec. 10 during tests of the Army “high energy laser mobile demonstrator” at White Sands Missile Range, N.M.

Continue reading “Laser Weapons Are Finally Here, but Future Remains in Doubt” »

Transleadership! By Mr. Andres Agostini

This is an excerpt from the conclusion section of, “…Transleadership!…” that discusses some management, leadership and futurism theories and practices and strategies.

To read the entire piece, just click the link at the end of article:

Continue reading “Transleadership” »

By Sharon Gaudin

Computerworld - China’s lunar probe, and the moon rover it carried, landed successfully Saturday night, marking a major accomplishment for the country’s space efforts.

This is the first time a spacecraft from China has landed on an extraterrestrial body. China becomes the third country, after the United States and Russia, to land a spacecraft on the moon.

China’s Chang’e-3 craft lifted off early on Dec. 2 on top of an enhanced Long March-3B rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China.

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By Jacob Kastrenakes

The clever automation service IFTTT is getting a lot more powerful today with the addition of location features. In an update to IFTTT’s iPhone app that’s rolling out now, the service will be able to begin watching your location, allowing it to automatically trigger tasks based on where you are. When you’re nearing home, you could have IFTTT automatically turn on your connected light bulbs, send an SMS to your roommate that you’re on the way, or send out a tweet that you’re back, among dozens of other possibilities. It’s also added in special triggers for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Foursquare that can let you automate a task whenever you post from one of them at specific location.

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By Associated Press

The former owner of a Las Vegas casino says he’s willing to accept the online currency bitcoin in the $7.85 million sale of his home.

LAS VEGAS — A casino owner-turned-commercial developer is asking $7.85 million to sell a Las Vegas home, and he’s willing to accept the online currency bitcoin for the deal.

Continue reading “Vegas developer selling $7.85M mansion for bitcoin” »

Roberto A. Ferdman

Researchers at Cornell University have managed to 3D print a loudspeaker, according to the University’s newspaper. Using two customizable 3D printers originally developed at Cornell, a team of graduate mechanical engineering students managed to almost seamlessly print the loudspeaker’s plastic, cond

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By Zeke Miller and Denver Nicks — The phone call came from a charming woman with a bright, engaging voice to the cell phone of a TIME Washington Bureau Chief Michael Scherer. She wanted to offer a deal on health insurance, but something was fishy.

Several Time reporters called her back.

Continue reading “Meet the Robot Telemarketer Who Denies She’s A Robot” »

By JOHN MARKOFF

SAN FRANCISCO — BigDog, Cheetah, WildCat and Atlas have joined Google’s growing robot menagerie.

Google confirmed on Friday that it had completed the acquisition of Boston Dynamics, an engineering company that has designed mobile research robots for the Pentagon. The company, based in Waltham, Mass., has gained an international reputation for machines that walk with an uncanny sense of balance and even — cheetahlike — run faster than the fastest humans.

It is the eighth robotics company that Google has acquired in the last half-year. Executives at the Internet giant are circumspect about what exactly they plan to do with their robot collection. But Boston Dynamics and its animal kingdom-themed machines bring significant cachet to Google’s robotic efforts, which are being led by Andy Rubin, the Google executive who spearheaded the development of Android, the world’s most widely used smartphone software.

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