U.S Spooks Want a System That Automatically Gauges Who Can Be Trusted

Just as DARPA pushes the wackier Pentagon ideas and ARPA-E backs next-gen energy projects, IARPA serves the intelligence community by checking out "high-risk, high-payoff" research. The spooks' lab has now launched a "TRUST (Tools for Recognizing Useful Signals of Trustworthiness)" program that aims to figure out whom can be trusted, even under the most stressful or deceptive circumstances.

Trust has always presented a problem for the shadowy world of espionage, where believing in the wrong person could mean death and the loss of military or national secrets. A sobering reminder of that came in December 2009, when a trusted informant turned suicide bomber killed seven CIA analysts in Afghanistan who had been directing drone attacks against Pakistani militants.

IARPA's five-year plan aims to design experiments that can measure trust with high certainty -- a tricky proposition for a psychological study. Developing such experimental protocols could prove very useful for assessing levels of trust within one-on-one talks, or even during group interactions.

Read the complete article at http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-02/us-spooks-want-better-gauge-trust-matter-life-and-death

Cybersecurity: Here’s What Really Worries the Pentagon

In Washington, "cybersecurity" is a term that's come to have a thousand meanings, and none at all. Any crime, prank, intelligence operation, or foreign-government attack involving a computer has become a "cyber threat." But at the Pentagon, they aren't worried about some kid painting a Hitler moustache on Defense Secretary Robert Gates' online portrait. They're not even that concerned about a full-scale attack on the military's networks – even though the modern American way of war depends so heavily on the free flow of data. In the military, there's now broad agreement that one cyber threat trumps all others: electronic espionage, the infiltration (and possible corruption) of Defense Department networks.

Well-placed spy software not only opens a window for an adversary to look into American military operations. That window can also be used to extract information — everything from drone video feeds to ammunition requests to intelligence reports. Such an opening also gives that enemy a chance to introduce his own false data, turning American command-and-control systems against themselves. How does a soldier trust an order, if he doesn't know who else is listening – or who gave the order in the first place?

Read More http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/01/cybersecurity-heres-what-really-worries-the-pentagon/#ixzz0fwqyd9BP

Pew Research quiz

This is not a humorous joke, but a Pew Research quiz.

See how well you do compared to the national averages. Once you see the results, you will know why the country is in the pathetic shape we're in. No one knows a damn thing!!! I contend the really uninformed Americans haven't even taken this test.

Test your knowledge with 12 questions, then be ready to shudder when you see how others did.

http://pewresearch.org/politicalquiz/quiz/index.php

Pass it along to your friends and see how well they did!!

'Lab on a chip' that detects viruses developed by BYU researchers

A team of BYU engineers and chemists has created an inexpensive silicon microchip that reliably detects viruses, even at low concentrations.

For medicine, this development is promising for future lab diagnostics that could detect viruses before symptoms kick in and damage begins, well ahead of when traditional lab tests are able to catch them.

Read the complete article at http://news.byu.edu/archive09-Dec-labonachip.aspx

To Charge your iPod, Plug in Your Jeans

A breakthrough in wearable computing lets researchers change ordinary cotton and polyester into electronic textiles that can double as rechargeable batteries. That means powering an iPod or cell phone could become as easy as plugging it into your tee shirt or jeans and charging the clothing overnight.

Read More http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/01/e-textile-charge/#ixzz0dJ5Rl6jE

Toyota Sees Robotic Nurses in Your Lonely Final Years

Japan's aging population and low birthrate point to a looming shortage of workers, and Japan's elder care facilities and hospitals are already competing for nurses. This fact has not escaped Toyota, which runs Toyota Memorial Hospital in Toyota City, Japan. Taking a lead from Honda, Toyota in 2004 announced plans to build "Toyota Partner Robots" and begin selling them in 2010 after extensive field trials at Toyota Memorial.

This is more than some futuristic fantasy. The government is drafting safety regulations for service robots, which would include nursing droids. A new agency, the Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization, has launched a five-year project to improve safety standards for the machines. The South Korean Government has even drawn up a code of ethics for how robots should treat humans and, perhaps ironically, how humans should treat robots.

To read more click on Robotic Nurses

Can Cell Phones Help Fight Alzheimer's?

Jan. 6, 2010 -- Cell phone exposure may be helpful in the fight against Alzheimer's disease, a new study shows.

The study, involving mice, provides evidence that long-term exposure to electromagnetic waves associated with cell phone use may protect against, and even reverse, Alzheimer's disease. The study is published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.

To read the complete article click on http://www.webmd.com/alzheimers/news/20100106/can-cell-phones-help-fight-alzheimers

Free Microsoft Antivirus and Antispyware Software

Information on Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE), a free antivirus and antispyware program, is available on the Microsoft blog at http://blogs.msdn.com/securitytipstalk/archive/2010/01/10/reviewers-like-microsoft-security-essentials.aspx:

Excerpt from one of the articles : "Not only did AV-Test.org find that it detects 98% of their enormous malware database, but AV-Comparatives (a widely known anti-malware testing group) found that

MSE was one of only three products that did well at both finding and removing malware, including the leftovers. It was also the only free product to grab their "Advanced+" rating—the top honor for an anti-malware solution."

NOTE: I suspect MSE is based on a former $50/year Microsoft antivirus and antispyware program named OneCare that failed as a commercial product. I used OneCare for a year and found it to be easy to use but weak on antivirus protection. Microsoft stopped selling the program last year. If we can believe the blog information the free product is much stronger than the commercial product.

Google Hack Attack Was Ultra Sophisticated, New Details Show

Hackers seeking source code from Google, Adobe and dozens of other high-profile companies used unprecedented tactics that combined encryption, stealth programming and an unknown hole in Internet Explorer, according to new details released by researchers at anti-virus firm McAfee.

"We have never ever, outside of the defense industry, seen commercial industrial companies come under that level of sophisticated attack," says Dmitri Alperovitch, vice president of threat research for McAfee. "It's totally changing the threat model."

Read More http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/01/operation-aurora/#ixzz0cdsF417s

NZ's cyber spies win new powers

New Zealand: New cyber-monitoring measures have been quietly introduced giving police and Security Intelligence Service officers the power to monitor all aspects of someone's online life.

The measures are the largest expansion of police and SIS surveillance capabilities for decades, and mean that all mobile calls and texts, email, internet surfing and online shopping, chatting and social networking can be monitored anywhere in New Zealand.

Police and SIS must still obtain an interception warrant naming a person or place they want to monitor but, compared to the phone taps of the past, a single warrant now covers phone, email and all internet activity.

It can even monitor a person's location by detecting their mobile phone; all of this occurring almost instantaneously.

Police say in the year to June 2009, there were 68 interception warrant applications granted and 157 people prosecuted as a result of those interceptions.

Official papers obtained by the New Zealand Star-Times show that, despite government claims that it was done for domestic reasons, the new New Zealand spying capabilities are part of a push by United States agencies to have standardized surveillance capabilities available for their use from governments worldwide.

WOW! Click on NZ cyber spies for the complete article

China develops herbal medication to treat A/H1N1 flu

Chinese medical specialists announced Thursday they had developed a Chinese herbal medication to treat the A/H1N1 flu.

Seven months of scientific and clinical studies showed the remedy, called "Jin Hua Qing Gan Fang," was effective in treating A/H1N1 flu patients, said Wang Chen, president of Beijing's Chaoyang Hospital. "It can shorten patients' fever period and improve their respiratory systems. Doctors have found no negative effects on patients who were treated in this way," he said. "It is also very cheap, only about a quarter of the cost of Tamiflu," he said at a press conference held by the Beijing Municipal Government.

"We are further developing the medicine and trying to present it to the whole country and world as soon as possible, thus offering an alternative to treat the A/H1N1 flu," he said. For more information click on Herbal Medication

Army Tests ‘Universal Remote’ for Future Troopers

On future battlefields, the Army wants to have an all-seeing array of drones, robots and sensors that will be tied together over a common network. But the real challenge will be bringing all that digital information down to the lowest level: the individual soldier.

That's the idea behind a recent series of tests pairing Land Warrior, a controversial array of infantry gadgets the service has trialed in Iraq and Afghanistan, with the Common Controller device, a developmental system that functions something like a "universal remote" for different robotic devices.

To read the complete article click on Army Universal Remote

East Texas Palm Trees

Palm trees don't usually grow well in East Texas – probably because it gets too cold for them in winter. However, one shopping center in Tyler seems to have solved the winter problem:

Nanotech ink turns paper into batteries

"Stanford University researchers have demonstrated a way to turn ordinary paper ito a battery, which may be crumpled or pressed into any form. It's said the technology promises greater durability, higher efficiency, and faster energy transfer than traditional batteries. The technique uses special ink made of carbon nanotubes and silver nanowires. Thanks to the small diameters of these materials, the ink sticks strongly to the fibrous paper, allowing the battery to be extremely durable. The paper battery could last through 40,000 charge-discharge cycles — at least an order of magnitude more than lithium batteries. According to the researchers, the paper batteries will be low-cost, may be crumpled or folded, and can even be soaked in acidic or basic solutions, yet their performance does not degrade. 'We just haven't tested what happens when you burn it,' one of the researchers quipped." For more information click on Paper Into Battery

Technology is bringing changes in health care

Amid all the noise of health care reform, a real revolution is happening.

Medical advancements that sound like science fiction -- growing your own organs, being cared for by robotic nurses, popping anti-aging pills -- are either at or near reality already. No matter what is decided about how we deliver and pay for health care in the future, the manner in which bodies and diseases are treated is about to change dramatically.

At least that's the opinion of the innovators in medicine and technology -- scientists, doctors, engineers and philosophers -- who gathered last month at a TEDMED, (that's Technology, Entertainment, Design Medicine) conference in San Diego to unveil solutions to some stubborn health care problems. These innovations are likely to be embraced not only because they could save money, but also because a large, vocal group is going to want them -- the baby boomers.

Click on Future Medical Technology for more information.

Delete Browser Cookies, Clean Up Your Trail of Crumbs

The web knows who you are. It knows which sites you like, what you search for and where you spend your time. By collating these and other bits of data, it's not hard to figure out quite a bit about you.

If that makes you nervous, you need to learn how to get rid of cookies and browse privately, without leaving a digital fingerprint everywhere you go. Click on Delete Browser Cookies for information on how to Get Rid of Cookies, Keep Cookies out of Your Browser and more.

Health Insurer Loses 1.5 Million Patient Records

A health insurer lost 1.5 million patient records last May but waited six months to disclose the incident. The data, which was stored on a portable disk drive that disappeared from the insurer's office, was unencrypted and included patient Social Security numbers, bank account numbers and health data

On a separate note, a second health insurer mailed 80,000 postcards to Medicare recipients last week that listed the patient's Social Security number on the front of the card beneath the patient's name.

The complete story is available at Health Insurer Loses 1.5 Million Patient Records

McKinney, TX

McKinney saved many of the older buildings when they refurbished the downtown area, so it has a nice historic look. There is a wide range of shops and professional offices around and near the square including antique shops, spas and salons, art and music galleries, restaurants, an "eco boutique", law and financial firms, mortgage and insurance offices, a winery and a large ski shop???

The old county court house pictured below is now the McKinney Performing Arts Center. A new courthouse was built in the suburbs near Central Expressway/US 75, the main North Dallas freeway.

In the picture below the building on the left with the red awning is the Spoons Café, my favorite downtown restaurant. They have very good Migas and Breakfast Tacos. There all kinds of restaurants downtown, everything from an expensive Rick's Chop House to Café Malaga, a little tapas restaurant.

The historic old bank building below is now home to a combination antique and home furnishings/accessories gallery.

Churchills British Restaurant & Pub below is a nice cheap restaurant. It has British classics like Steak & Ale Pie and Shepherd's Pie and of course it has Texas favorites like Migas Burritos and Stuffed Jalapenos.

This the original Collin County Prison. Now it's a lawyer's office. Somehow that seems appropriate.

My opinion of a new town is always influenced by their library. The downtown McKinney library passed this test – it's a very nice library. An additional new library will open soon in the suburbs.

There are many prosperous neighborhoods in the McKinney suburbs and many new housing developments continue to be built with houses costing everywhere from $150,000 to $1,200,000

.

Even the newest most luxurious apartments are cheap compared to Fairfax VA: The new Greenhaven apartments start at $775 for a 1-bedroom/1-bath up to $1415 for a 3-bedroom/2-bath.

Looking at all of the new construction of houses, shopping centers and hospitals, you would never know there was a recession. The new Methodist hospital below is almost completed and a Baylor Medical Center will be built in the future.

One very nice new shopping center is Eldorado Plaza about three miles outside McKinney near Central Expressway/US 75. Cafe Brazil, a small coffee house located in this shopping center, is another favorite restaurant of mine.

Croation Village is a beautiful new shopping center being built further out in the suburbs. Like many of the buildings in this area, limestone and other native materials are being used in the construction.

The imposing building below is Samson's Italian Grill restaurant.

Japan eyes solar station in space

It may sound like a sci-fi vision, but Japan's space agency is dead serious: by 2030 it wants to collect solar power in space and zap it down to Earth, using laser beams or microwaves.

The government has just picked a group of companies and a team of researchers tasked with turning the ambitious, multi-billion-dollar dream of unlimited clean energy into reality in coming decades.

To read the complete story click on Solar Station in Space.

Where’s Chuck

In case you're wondering what happened to my travel blog, I have settled in McKinney TX for the winter. McKinney is a small town about 30 miles north of Dallas. I'm continuing to go to school and have started trading options so I decided to stay in the Dallas area for the winter. I found a terrific little furnished studio apartment for $199 per week at Value Place McKinney. That's less than half what I was paying at hotels closer to Dallas. Their prices vary by location. Last month I took some training in Fort Worth and paid $169 to stay at Value Place Fort Worth for the week. If you ever need a nice, cheap place to stay when you travel, check them out. No free breakfasts, no fitness rooms and housekeeping every other week – just cheap, clean, safe accommodations. Only minor problem is they only rent week to week.

About a month ago a couple of friends in Virginia reminded me that I wasn't posting any new security and technology information. Since then I have posted several security and technology articles. I'll be posting articles on McKinney and the Texas State Fair soon.