Tag Archives: technology

Facial recognition for surveillance at large

There is an interesting article about face recognition cameras and software at TechRepublic that cites a few interesting projects and makes a good point about the advances of the technology.

I talked to a few people that know well the camera systems in London and I understand that they now can track anyone around the city automatically. The technology that we think is from fiction books is actually already there. There is no need to think whether it is possible or not, it is. The only problem for wide-spread surveillance is that the cameras have to be installed…

I read a wonderful book “Rule 34” by Charles Stross recently that I can wholeheartedly recommend. The book’s action is set into the future but that is the future that has all the technology of today, simply deployed overall. It is not such a far-fetched story any more than the article linked above.

The spread of surveillance calls to life such things like counter surveillance clothing fashion. I think when it is in the fashion, it is not new any longer, is it?… -->

continue reading →

Surveillance and resistance

Quite interestingly, it seems there is some resistance to total surveillance, both in the minds and in the reality. Yes, the surveillance is increasing and the automated processes for surveillance, linking of events, things and people and follow-up and recognition is driving the technological advances now in the so-called “big data” processing. Not only your shopping habits but also all of your whereabouts can be linked together and clearly identified with sufficient data and processing power.… -->

continue reading →

A word about RIM and BlackBerry

In an excellent article about RIM and its BlackBerry Messenger, Andrew Orlowski slashes at the current “bleakly uniform design of today’s smartphone slabs” and rightly so. The good old manufacturers like RIM, Sony, and Nokia had a lot to go for their names and devices. The interfaces, the convenience, the engagement they created were priceless. Hope they come back…… -->

continue reading →

Go! Go! Hypersonic!

Well, it is all military at the moment but the military technology has a history of seeping through to the civilian world. US military is developing hypersonic flight at Mach 6 and the decisive test for that particular project is today. Hey, I know it is all about bombs and rockets but I hope we will have the hypersonic intercontinental flights in my time because I missed out on the Concorde!… -->

continue reading →

Google quality

Am I the only one who noticed that the quality of service at Google suddenly took a nosedive? I mean, it still works, sort of, most of the time, but it is not quite the same.

Google used to be very snappy and the interface was very crisp. All elements worked flawlessly and the response was immediate. Now it is all starting to fray at the fringes. It is not so snappy, the code is not that crisp, it fails more often than not and you spend entirely too much time waiting.

I say they are probably loosing good engineers and replace them with cheap ones, like everyone else. It shows.… -->

continue reading →