Police using ‘predictive analytics’ to prevent crimes before they happen

from rawstory.com: Crime fighters have long used brains and brawn, but now a new kind of technology known as "predictive policing" promises to make them more efficient.

A growing number of law enforcement agencies, in the US and elsewhere, have been adopting software tools with predictive analytics, based on algorithms that aim to predict crimes before they happen. The concept sounds like something out of science fiction thriller "Minority Report", the 2002 Steven Spielberg film based on a Philip K. Dick story.

Without some of the sci-fi gimmickry, police departments from Santa Cruz, California, to Memphis, Tennessee, and law enforcement agencies from Poland to Britain have adopted these new techniques.

The premise is simple: criminals follow patterns, and with software -- the same kind that retailers such as Wal-Mart and Amazon use to determine consumer purchasing trends, police can determine where the next crime will occur and sometimes prevent it.

Colleen McCue, a behavioral scientist at GeoEye, a firm that works with US Homeland Security and local law enforcement on predictive analytics, said studying criminal behavior was not that different from examining other types of behavior like shopping. "People are creatures of habit," she said. "When you go shopping you go to a place where they have the things you're looking for... the criminal wants to go where he will be successful also." McCue states that "the technology could help in cities where tight budgets were forcing patrol reductions. When police departments are laying (off) more sworn personnel, they can do more with less."


The key to success in predictive policing is getting as much data as possible to determine patterns. This can be especially useful in property crimes like auto theft and burglary, where patterns can be detected.

"You can build a model that factors in attributes like the time of year, whether it is hot and humid or cold and snowy, if it is a payday when people are carrying a lot of cash," says Mark Cleverly, who heads the IBM unit for predictive crime analytics. "It's not saying a crime will occur at a particular time and place, no one can do that. But it can say you can expect a wave of vehicle thefts based on everything we know."

IBM has worked with dozens of agencies such as London's Metropolitan Police, the Polish National Police and a number of US and Canadian cities. In Memphis, officials said serious crimes fell 30 percent and violent crimes declined 15 percent since implementing predictive analytics in a program with IBM and the University of Memphis in 2006.

The program known as CRUSH -- Criminal Reduction Utilizing Statistical History -- targeted certain "hot spots" to allow police to deploy more efficiently.

John Williams, crime analysis manager for the city's police, said the system has had a dramatic impact, allowing Memphis to get off the list of worst US cities for crime. "If the data is indicating a hot spot, we are able to immediately deploy resources there. And in a lot of instances we are able to make quality arrests because we're in the right area at the right time," he told AFP.

Although beat officers can use their instincts for similar results, Williams said the software could be far more precise, such as predicting burglaries in a small geographic area between 10 pm and 2 am.
In one case, the software was able to help police break up a group that was committing armed robberies on the city's Hispanic population. "There were 84 robberies, but we had no idea it was so organized," Williams said.By crunching the numbers, police were able to pinpoint the zone and time of likely holdups: "We caught a group of robbers in progress, we had leads on additional robberies," he said. Williams said police officials from as far away as Hong Kong, Rio de Janeiro and Estonia have come to review the experience in Memphis.

In Los Angeles, another program developed by scientists at the University of California-Los Angeles and Santa Clara University was tested in a single precinct, and resulted in a 12 percent drop in crime while the rest of the city saw a 0.2 percent increase. That test and others led to the creation of a company called PredPol. 

Los Angeles will expand its use of the program under contract with PredPol, said CEO Caleb Baskin who said, "the system is based on a model from mathematician George Mohler which is very effective in predicting the time and location for crimes that have not yet taken place."

PredPol had begun working with other cities in California and "we've had inquiries from a lot of places in the US and international locations," Baskin said. "The science that underlies the tool will work anywhere. The question is does the agency maintain a database that we can plug into."

While use of such analytics generally wins plaudits for helping "smarter" policing, it does raise concerns about Big Brother-like snooping, Andrew Guthrie Ferguson, a law professor at the University of the District of Columbia, said the use of technology could be positive but that it could lower the threshold for constitutional protections on "unreasonable" searches. "To stop you and frisk you and search you, a police officer needs reasonable suspicion, so my question is how will this affect reasonable suspicion?" he said. If the search is based on a computer algorithm, Ferguson said, and the case comes to court, "How do you cross-examine a computer?"

IBM's Cleverly said the technology can in many cases improve privacy. "You can pinpoint the record of who has access to information, you have a solid history of what's going on, so if someone is using the system for ill you have an audit trail," he said.

As for "Minority Report" and its predictive software, Cleverly said, "It was a great film and great short story, but it's science fiction and will remain science fiction. That's not what this is about."

The Grand Entrance Narrated by William Shatner

Actor William Shatner narrates excellent four minute video, describes crucial seven minute descent by newest Mars rover Curiosity to surface of Mars.  Curiosity, AKA Mars Science Laboratory (MSL),  launched November 26, 2011 from Cape Canaveral and will set down August 6, 2012 at Gale Crater. NASA endured criticism over landing site as not best selection for chances of discovering life on Mars!

'December 21, 2012 - Two Suns in the Sky'

Will we see two Suns in the sky on December 21, 2012? Marshall Masters believes Zecharia Sitchin correct that a celestial body exists, a brown dwarf called Nibiru. Masters has produced "December 21, 2012 - Two Suns in the Sky," a sixty minute video on Nibiru and its passing through our inner solar system. Will sight of two suns be harbinger of dread and doom to befall mankind and Earth? Masters sees cataclysmic period caused by a Nibiru flyby as it swings around Sun from its perihelion (Feb. 14, 2013) to point it crosses solar system ecliptic. A pole shift as Edgar Cayce saw in prophetic vision and devastating solar storms are predicted, and Marshall entertains idea, Annunaki may return to get their fill of gold and young virgins. Masters suspects extraterrestrials warned Earth about imminent threat with 2008 Avebury crop circles.

In an Exopolitics blog entry just this week, Masters adds:

"My analysis of the Avebury Crop Circle 2008 shows that Planet X-Nibiru comes up from the South from behind and to the left of the Sun. It then arcs over the Northern hemisphere of the Sun to its point of perihelion, which is on our side of the Sun at it's 2 o'clock position. So all the videos we're seeing of an object off to the lower left hand side of the Sun at this time are consistent with the Avebury Crop Circle 2008. After August 2012, we'll likely lose sight of Planet X-Nibiru for a few months until December 2012 as it travels behind the Sun."

Nibiru has heated up as topic of interest, again, when Brazilian astronomer Rodney Gomes observed recently orbits of Kuiper Belt objects only make sense if there's another large body out there. In June, BBC-TV broadcast an image of a second large object near Sun. John Moore and Mike Harris, RBN show hosts, ran a two hour Nibiru preparedness special this past week! Hour 1 and Hour 2 are available on You Tube. Nibiru is a wild ride and seems as real as ever! The present writer, despite an open mind, chalked up earthly disturbances to our present space in the galaxy near its ecliptic, where most mass and energy resides in our celestial neighborhood. Will you be looking up more to catch a glimpse of a large shadowy object near our Sun? Seeing will be believing, but then what?

Sci-Fi Weekend: Journey to Mars!

Curiosity is scheduled to land on Mars, August 6th. Juan Pablo Zaramello, an Argentine filmmaker, produced 15 minute sci-fi animation in 2005, "Viaje a Marte."  An excellent science fiction story done in claymation, perhaps, best suited for children. Antonio, young protagonist, wants to go to Mars, his grandfather obliges in his classic Ford tow truck. The only real question is model year:  53 or 54?  Moral of story is Argentineans beat Americans to Mars. Viaje a Marte, Parte Dos is here - good stuff!

How Long Does it Take to Get to Mars?

Universe Today article by Fraser Cain asks, "How Long Does it Take to Get to Mars?"  It may not be a practical question a long trip by any measure at five months, but still interesting and educational.  Space seems reinvigorated, possibly, due to all the private ventures?  Or, is it the human race searching elsewhere for salvation since our chances at home seem diminished?  Whatever the case, space travel is perceived exciting and Mars closer than ever!   Cain puts in perspective Mars proximity: 

"The planet Mars is one of the brightest objects in the night sky, easily visible with the unaided eye as a bright red star. Every two years or so, Mars and Earth reach their closest point, called “opposition”, when Mars can be as close as 55,000,000 km from Earth. And every two years, space agencies take advantage of this orbital alignment to send spacecraft to the Red Planet."

How long does it take to reach Mars? Cain informs below:

"When you consider the fact that Mars is only 55 million km away, and the spacecraft are travelling in excess of 20,000 km/hour, you would expect the spacecraft to make the journey in about 115 days, but it takes much longer. This is because both Earth and Mars are orbiting around the Sun. You can’t point directly at Mars and start firing your rockets, because by the time you got there, Mars would have already moved. Instead, spacecraft launched from Earth need to be pointed at where Mars is going to be."

The Hohmann Transfer Orbit is predominate method used to reach Mars, a nice link to video illustrates path.  German scientist Walter Hohmann first described transfer orbit in his 1925 work, "The Attainability of Heavenly Bodies." Hohmann was influenced, in an interesting note, as was the German Rocket Society by science fiction novel, "Two Planets," written in 1897 by Kurd Lasswitz.  Cain supplies data  Mariner 7 reached Mars in 1971 in 131 days.  Huntsville researchers are working to shorten that time to eight weeks as covered in a recent post.

RFID Chips Can Catch Computer Virus

A BBC News Technology video reports RFID "...implanted identity chips can pick up computer viruses." An experiment conducted by Reading University's Mark Gasson demonstrated RFID virus susceptibility, and suggests, chip should be viewed as a simple computer able to do some tasks. Gasson portrays vulnerability as a risk of technology, there's good and bad! Is it time to for some benefit-to-cost risk assessment? The present viewer finds remark suggesting implantable tech such as pacemaker chip or deep brain stimulator can be infected and likening human figure to a "...walking computer infected with a virus" - just plain curious! The last comment is equally disquieting, "...there's no danger, right now, of somebody say with a pacemaker getting a computer virus."

'AC/DC virus' hits Iran nuke plants

from torontosun.com: An Internet security company says it received a report nuclear plants in Iran were hit by a virus that makes their computers play music by the rock band AC/DC.

In a blog post earlier this week, F-Secure Labs, which monitors spyware, phishing and other cyber threats, said a scientist working at the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) sent “a series of e-mails” saying computer systems at the Natanz and Fordo nuclear facilities had been infected by a computer worm. The sender said hackers shut down their automation network and Siemens hardware.

Chief research officer at F-Secure Corporation in Finland - Mikko Hypponen, confirmed the nuclear scientist was sending and receiving e-mails from within the AEOI but could not verify any of the other details.

Iran’s nuclear facilities have recently been infected by viruses called Flame and Stuxnet, which Hypponen told the International Business Times were part of a joint U.S.-Israel cyber espionage operation.

Microsoft won’t say if Skype has a wiretap backdoor

Microsoft-Skype Snooping Accusations Push All the Paranoia Buttons*

from slashgear.com: No one likes to think their private conversations can be eavesdropped on by a third-party. The United States government and law enforcement agencies have been trying to force VoIP carriers such as Skype and other digital communications companies to include a backdoor that would allow police and government agencies to institute a wiretap on online communications. The surveillance laws have been proposed not only in the US but in other countries as well.

The proposed laws would force software companies to add backdoors to allow wiretapping in certain instances. Skype has historically resisted any attempt to get it to institute a backdoor for legal wiretapping. However, there is some indication from an unlikely source that things may have changed at Skype with regards to a backdoor. Hackers originally alleged that changes made to Skype’s architecture seemed to be able to make it easier for wiretapping by law enforcement agencies.

Microsoft won’t confirm or deny that it can intercept phone calls. A Microsoft spokesperson said that the VoIP service cooperates with law enforcement agencies as much as is legally and technically possible. However, we do know that Microsoft was granted a patent in June of 2011 for “legal intercept” technology designed to be used with VoIP services such as Skype. The patent documentation said that the technology would allow Skype to “silently copy communication transmitted via the communication session.”

Phone hack charges may add to fallout for British PM

from theglobeandmail.com: Britain's phone hacking scandal entered a new and expanded criminal phase Tuesday, with charges brought against two former members of Prime Minister David Cameron's inner circle over a campaign of illegal espionage that has rocked the country's establishment.


The Crown Prosecution Service announced Tuesday that Andy Coulson and Rebekah Brooks, both former editors of Rupert Murdoch's now-shuttered News of the World tabloid, were among eight people being charged with conspiring to intercept the communications of at least 600 people between 2000 and 2006. The alleged victims included everyone from a murdered teenager to Hollywood power couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.


Coulson and Brooks, who had previously been charged in related cases, have both denied any wrongdoing and vowed to fight the charges. The charges may further embarrass Cameron, who hired Coulson as his chief communications adviser and once counted Brooks and her horse training husband Charlie in his circle of friends. The prime minister is Brooks' neighbor in the well-to-do Cotswolds town of Chipping Norton, and would swing by the News Corp. executive's house for Christmas parties, go horseback riding with her husband, and text her weekly.




The developing criminal investigation will shortly be overshadowed by the long-awaited London Olympics, but the prospect of having Cameron's former associates in the dock during lengthy trials could prove an unwelcome sideshow as the prime minister battles to get Britain's recession-scarred economy back on track.


“Of course we don't yet know what the outcome of these trials will be, but the fact that this is rumbling along is deeply unhelpful for a prime minister who is in some trouble,” said Stephen Fielding, the director of the Center for British Politics at the University of Nottingham.


The long running scandal has spread beyond the Murdoch's News Corp., damaging the reputation of British journalists as well as politicians and police suspected of getting too cozy with the press.
Phone hacking first came to public attention in 2006, when police arrested private investigator Glenn Mulcaire and the News of the World's then-royal editor Clive Goodman on suspicion of hacking into the voicemails of members of Britain's royal household. Coulson quit as the tabloid's editor after the pair was convicted, but insisted he'd had no inkling of their wrongdoing.


For the next five years, the tabloid's owner, Murdoch's News Corp., would claim that the illegal activity was an aberration — the work of single rogue reporter. But a stream of lawsuits as well as enterprising reporting by the Guardian and The New York Times eventually exposed a massive cover-up. Prodded by the media, police reopened their investigation. At News Corp., stony denials turned into apologies sweetened with big settlements. Under pressure, Coulson stepped down from his job as Cameron's adviser.


Still, it wasn't until the Guardian revealed that the News of the World had hacked into the voicemail of 13-year-old Milly Dowler — a school girl whose 2002 disappearance and murder transfixed the nation — that the scandal really exploded. Britons who might've shrugged off intruding on celebrities' lives were horrified by the news that reporters had violated the privacy of a dead girl to hunt for scoops about her whereabouts.


The ensuing furor shook the British establishment like an earthquake.


Once so powerful that many referred to him as a permanent cabinet minister, Rupert Murdoch's influence in Britain crumbled, and politicians who once assiduously courted the Australian tycoon have rushed to distance themselves from him.


Meanwhile Murdoch has distanced himself — and his son James — from News Corp.’s British newspaper arm, News International. Murdoch has shut the News of the World, resigned from a series of directorships, and pulled James back to New York. Three of Scotland Yard's top officers have resigned over their failure to get to grips with the scandal; dozens of journalists, media executives, and public figures have been arrested or resigned. The country's media regulator — widely discredited by the scandal — has been scrapped.


The saga has also tarnished the reputation of many whom, like British Olympics Secretary Jeremy Hunt, were sympathetic to News Corp.’s far-flung interests. Among those charged Tuesday were some of the News of the World's best-known and most senior journalists. Prosecutors named Stuart Kuttner, Greg Miskiw, Neville Thurlbeck, James Weatherup and Ian Edmondson. Mulcaire, whose extensive notes have long been at the center of the scandal, is also being prosecuted. Miskiw and Weatherup are accused of intercepting the messages of actor Jude Law, along with associates of his ex-wife Sadie Frost and former girlfriend Sienna Miller. Edmondson and Weatherup are accused of spying on former Beatle Paul McCartney, his ex-wife Heather Mills, and politicians including former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott. Thurlbeck and Weatherup, meanwhile, are alleged to have eavesdropped on associates of Jolie and Pitt, one of Hollywood's most famous couples.
Brooks, Coulson and Thurlbeck all promised Tuesday to fight the charges. Brooks, who resigned as chief executive of News International after the Dowler story broke, said she was “distressed and angry.” She called the allegation that she conspired to spy on Milly “particularly upsetting.” Coulson insisted he would never have done anything to harm the investigation into Milly's disappearance.
Thurlbeck, meanwhile, said he would make it clear that he always acted “under the strict guidance and advice of News International's lawyers and under the instructions of the newspaper's editors.”
The phone hacking fallout is far from finished.


As the charges were revealed, Justice Brian Leveson announced the end of his long-running inquiry into the culture and practices of Britain's press, which was set up in the wake of the hacking scandal. He said he would release his recommendations as soon as possible, although that is expected to be months from now.


Police also continue chasing leads.


Scotland Yard's Deputy Assistant Commissioner Sue Akers said Monday that detectives are seeking evidence from two newspaper companies that are rivals of Murdochs' and looking into more than 100 claims of computer hacking, improper access to medical records and other misconduct stemming from the scandal.

US Air Force Testing Drone Lasers Above North Dakota

from slate.com: It’s fair to say North Dakota has a fraught relationship with drones. First there was the strange and historic arrest of a farmer in the state involving an unmanned aircraft.

Now military-grade Predator drones are set to test “non-eye safe” lasers flying near Devils Lake in specially restricted airspace, prompting complaints from civilian pilots about safety.

Late last month, in a significant but little reported development, the FAA approved (pdf file) the establishment of seven areas of restricted airspace to fly Predators above the North Dakota military base Camp Grafton. This means that the drones have been designated a large section of the sky, where they will engage in Air Force training operations at altitudes of 8,000-14,000 feet.

Though military-grade drones are currently flown in remote parts of the United States for border surveillance and on occasion for law enforcement, the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association believes the restricted zones in North Dakota set a “disturbing precedent.” Why? Because, according to AOPA, it is the “first ever reserved exclusively for UAS [unmanned automated systems] activity, the start of a ‘slippery slope’ that could lead to similar proposals elsewhere.”



The FAA met with strong opposition from the moment it proposed imposing the restricted zones in November last year. The airspace regulator received 43 comments responding to the plan—and just one was supportive. Twenty of the comments expressed concerns about a “possible collision hazard.” Others were worried about how the lasers could pose a hazard to people on the ground, or that the restrictions could cut off civilian flight routes and increase costs because alternative flight plans would be necessary.

The FAA admits that the restricted areas “could impact civil flight training.” But it says civilian planes can still fly their normal paths, so long as they stay at a different altitude than the drones.

In an alarming article on its website, AOPA alleged that eight days after the changes came in to force, a navigational chart was issued to pilots but contained no information about them. “Pilots could be flying into restricted airspace and know nothing about it,” AOPA’s Heidi Williams warned.

The restricted zones are the latest example of the incremental introduction of drones into national airspace. Earlier this month, in another little-reported development, the U.S. Air Force reported it had tested a Predator in national airspace over Louisiana as part of a disaster simulation exercise, in coordination with the FAA, the FBI, and the Department of Homeland Security.

One of the only existing barriers is the absence of drone “sense and avoid” technology to help detect other planes—which is likely to have played a significant part in a collision with a manned aircraft in Afghanistan last year. The U.S. Army recently announced a new radar system it believes could address this problem, and consequently, as Arstechnica notes, it expects to start flying drones in domestic airspace for training by March, 2014. The deadline the FAA has set for full integration of drones into U.S. airspace is Sept. 30, 2015.

A Taste of Solar Max

NASA produced video recaps X-class solar flare that hit Earth's magnetosphere last Saturday, July 14, 2012. The four minute video labels last week's solar flare as just a taste of things to come as we approach solar maximum in 2013.   It's of interest to hear authoritative source report as  solar flare erupted from AR1520, tracked by NASA STEREO and ESA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory spacecraft on its trajectory to Earth.  Yes, we can expect more Auroras, but real question is when will the next solar flare  be the Big One?

The Real Mars by Joseph P. Skipper

A masterful disinfo campaign has Earthlings convinced Mars is cold barren planet devoid of life with only scant atmosphere.  Joseph P. Skipper, Mars Anomaly researcher, attempts to dispel misconception imposed on public by massive effort to keep secret true conditions on Mars.  The researcher and author succeeds with images in recent entry, "The Real Mars." Skipper describes water cascading over falls (picture, upper right) to continue course down river much like Earth. The second image (lower right) is water and ice. Pictures are from areas in lower latitudes of southern hemisphere of Mars.  You may receive full scoop in Skipper book, "The Hidden Truth:  Water & Life on Mars."

On the surface, it may sound like mere selfishness, but secrecy or withholding truth confirms grave shortfalls in human affairs. Skipper reveals coverup of real Mars "...is based on lies and yet connected to 2+2=4 science, it is possible to turn this around starting with the visual evidence you see here as leverage. If this can happen, then secrecy all over the place will quickly be in trouble and mankind may be able to come out from under this smothering cover of pretense and deception...Because of the deeply ingrained secrecy and as long as it rules, the inaccurate perception of Mars as a dry dead world may prevail to the point of ...our social destruction."  The seriousness of issue is not lost on Skipper, who believes obfuscation of Mars images, represents a lid on truth. "Martian Sky is Blue" and  "Tracing Canals of Mars" are past blog entries that also suggest - we are not made aware of true conditions on Mars!

43rd Anniversary of the 1969 Moon Landing

The 43rd Anniversary of the 1969 Moon Landing recalled here for benefit of those too young to know experience firsthand. It's much like where you were on 9/11 or when JFK was assassinated, it's deeply ingrained. "Apollo 11 was the spaceflight which landed the first humans, Americans Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, on the Moon on July 20, 1969... Armstrong became the first to step onto the lunar surface 6 hours later on July 21... A third member of the mission, Michael Collins, remained alone in lunar orbit until they returned from the surface about 15 hours later. All 3 returned to Earth safely after traveling in space for 8 days," informs Wikipedia. For those too young, everyone watching spectacle on television came away with first words uttered by Neil Armstrong upon placing his feet on luna firma, "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."

#DataDump: Rules, Reality and more

First Newspapers, Now TV: The Internet Reformation Rolls On*
Cisco Home Routers Rule Change Forces Users Onto New Cloud Service with Extreme Rules*
Porn Studios Accused of Screwing Their Fans in BitTorrent Lawsuits*
Kim Dotcom’s Extradition Hearing Postponed to March 2013*
Atari Teenage Riot Goes for the Lulz With Anonymous*
FTC’s $22 Million Privacy Settlement With Google Is Just Puppet Waving*
University of Oregon physicists help discover elusive particle*
Silicon Valley Wary of Reality Series*
Future Shock: Bryan Singer Discusses His New Web Series, 'H+'*

Conventional Forces Explain Pioneer Anomaly

The Pioneer Anomaly still plays in scientific community despite last communication in 2003 from either spacecraft.  An anomalous deceleration of both Pioneer spacecraft recorded in outer solar system - a loss of 300 inches per day squared - has been subject of discussion for years.  Universe Today article, "Case Closed on the Pioneer Anomaly," provides nice survey and how actually explained and accounted for by both Louis K Sheffer in 2001, and more recently, Slava Turyshev.  It turns out, heat generated by electrical systems and normal decay of plutonium onboard Pioneer 10 and 11, adequately explain deceleration anomaly.  For a time, it seemed, there may have been new physics at work in outer solar system?  It's just not the case!  This entry may seem intended for pocket protector crowd, however, it's interesting to see dramatic effect of overlooked forces on spacecraft!

Apollo 11 Launch of July 16, 1969 on CBS

It's still historic - as most people remember where they were on July 16, 1969 - as Apollo 11, first space mission to land men on Moon, lifted off from Kennedy Space Center. Saturn V booster rocket, according to Wikipedia, "... remains the tallest, heaviest, and most powerful rocket ever brought to operational status and still holds the record for the heaviest launch vehicle payload."

Breakthrough Stores Bit Of Information On Single Molecule

from huffingtonpost.co.uk: How big is a bit?

Currently one bit of digital memory is 'made' of about 3 million atoms. But thanks to researchers in Germany and Japan, that could be able to get a whole lot smaller.

Their tests have shrunk one bit of memory to the site of a single molecule - which could lead to the equivalent of every word ever written in human history being stored on a laptop-sized hard disk.

Put simply, a hard drive that currently holds one terabyte could be expanded to more than 50 petabytes, with the same physical dimensions.That's enough to hold the equivalent of a billion filing cabinets filled with text, or about 650 years of HD video. It is also enough to store 33 copies of every photograph on Facebook.

Using an electric pulse, the researchers from Japan, Strasbourg and Karlsruhe had made it possible to switch a metal-organic molecule from a conductive to a low-conductive state. Crucially that means it can 'store' one position or the other, and so build up with other bits to form computer memory. Each of the molecules contains just 51 atoms.

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Moon, Jupiter and Venus Triple Conjunction Before 7/15 Sunrise

Spaceweather.com alerts sky watchers to Venus, Jupiter and crescent Moon bright three-way conjunction in eastern sky just before sunrise, on Sunday, also check out their Real Time Image Gallery.

Auroras Alert: CME Impacts Earth July 14th

Coronal Mass Ejection (CME), hit as expected, Earth's magnetosphere, July 14th, about 2p Eastern/11 a Pacific Daylight Time as reported by Spaceweather.com.  "A geomagnetic storm is brewing in the wake of the impact. At the moment, conditions appear favorable for auroras over high-latitude places such as Canada, Scandinavia, Antarctica and Siberia. It is too early to say whether the storm will intensify and bring auroras to middle latitudes as well," forecasts space weather website.  The present geomagnetic storm activity, is result, of X1.4 flare that erupted from Sunspot 1520 on July 12th.

Retro Sci-Fi Weekend: 'It! The Terror From Beyond Space!'

The 1958 science fiction thriller, "It! The Terror From Beyond Space," is great entertainment! The present writer wants to thank  HYPNOBOBS for refreshing memory as always been on mind to watch, again - if only could recall the title!  "It!" considered to be an influence on 1979 Alien, since storyline involves similar highly predatory creature stowing away to eliminate crew one by one!  It's the storyline that makes movie, as wondering who will be next, provides for suspense!  The production values are also good.  Hynpobobs points out poor choice of devices movie employed such as military rifles and grenades.  You have to ask:  what makes for cheaper props than surplus war goods?  The rocket appears quite sturdy - more like pressurized sub with thick hull -  stronger than present materials.  The aluminum can had just come out the year before!  The ship interior appears it could withstand gun play and grenades!  Kids will possibly find it more entertaining as storyline is similar to children's game of hide and seek.  The crew are trapped at the end in top remaining level of ship, when solution to overcoming alien presents itself!  It's good stuff and still downloadable for free - here!

Incoming! CME On Its Way Toward Earth

Universe Today reports earthbound, "...a coronal mass ejection resulting from the X1.4-class flare that erupted from sunspot 1520 on July 12. The CME is expected to collide with Earth’s magnetic field on Saturday..." Casual observers wonder when will it be the Big One?

'9 Minutes Before Space' Video

"9 Minutes Before Space" is excellent Russian television production on preps made by first time cosmonaut at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan! The program captures cosmonaut's immediate experience in a powerful way. A cosmonaut describes experience of extra gravity, during ascent, as a warm blanket coming over you and after a while just can't seem to catch your breath. The video of zero gravity when it first kicks in - pretty interesting! Everyday events on the International Space Station are described much more intimately than ever seen by present viewer! It's easy to watch! Thanks goes to Spaceports for the link!

Google's 'Chairman' Predicts End Of China's Firewall

from pcmag.com: Following Google's high-profile spat with China over censorship in 2010, the company has been mostly candid about its disagreements with the country's Internet policies. However, those comments have usually been tempered by the silent understanding that China must be dealt with in some fashion. But in a new interview, Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt offers even more revealing insight into how the company views China and its future as a global technology player.

"I believe that ultimately censorship fails… I personally believe that you cannot build a modern knowledge society with that kind of behavior, that is my opinion," Schmidt told Foreign Policy magazine. "I think most people at Google would agree with that. The natural next question is when [will China change], and no one knows the answer to that question. [But] in a long enough time period, do I think that this kind of regime approach will end? I think absolutely."

Schmidt's comments were made last week offstage during the Aspen Ideas Festival, an annual gathering of global scholars, artists, experts and business leaders held in Aspen, Colorado. Schmidt's comments come amidst China's newfound popularity as Silicon Valley's hardware manufacturer of choice. China has also enjoyed new global influence as a technology hub as its local brands such as Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent rack up large chunks of market share in Asia versus Western competitors. But despite China's rise to tech prominence, Google's experience in the country has apparently changed the way it looks at the region.


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Telstar Sat Launched 50 Years Ago!

History is about to be made - as old newsreel begins, and possibly, played before the main feature at local movie theaters of era. Telstar launched July 10, 1962 - 50 years ago - from Cape Canaveral!  The first communications satellite to relay TV signals across the Atlantic ocean, President John F Kennedy comments on momentous event in video.  It's also humbling to note, how brief our wired, plugged-in adventure with satellite communications has been - just five decades!  There's a chance either solar flares or EMP attacks, could unplug our wired world in an instant!  Do you wonder whatever happened to Telstar?  You can learn satellite's short-lived fate here.  It was big news a long time ago - television transmissions relayed across the globe - but worth taking moment to remember!

Malware Arrives, Nuked on App Store For First Time

from tomsguide.com: Kaspersky has discovered the first-ever malicious app on Apple's App Store.

Kaspersky Lab is calling this a first-ever for Apple: an app offered on the App Store containing malware. The security firm confirmed its existence on Thursday, reporting that the malicious app was also available to download from Google Play. The app has since been removed from both markets as of this writing.

According to Kaspersky, the application was called "Find and Call." At first glance, it seemed to be an SMS worm spread via sending short messages to all contacts stored in the phone book with the URL to itself. But after careful study, the firm discovered it to be a Trojan that uploaded a user’s phonebook to remote server. 

 "If user launches this application, he will be asked to register in the app using his email address and cell phone number (both fields won’t be checked for validity). If the user wants to ‘find friends in a phone book,’ his phone book data will be secretly (no EULA/ terms of usage/notifications) uploaded to remote server," the security firm reports.

Both the iOS and Android Apps were also able to upload the users' GPS coordinates to the same server, the company said. Meanwhile, device owners were capable of using the application unaware of its malicious intent while it secretly stole data from the device (phone book, cell phone numbers), and uploaded the info to a remote server.

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Sunspot AR 1515 Blasts X-1 Class Flare on July 6

Active Region 1515 (AR 1515) with an expanse of 100,000 kilometers, produced dozen M-Class solar flares in little over week (slideshow).   On July 6th, as anticipated, a X-1 class flare erupted from Sun (video).  Most recent flare, is luckily, not expected to hit Earth.  Huffington Post reports flares triggered moderate radio blackouts.  Thanks goes to Universe Today for the link.

Retro Sci-Fi Weekend: 'Invaders From Mars'

A film gem, "Invaders From Mars," is a 1953 sci-fi flick, where young boy David MacLean, played by Jimmy Hunt, is the star and hero! David, already a keen astronomer, is awakened one night by a flying saucer, viewed outside his bedroom window as it descends just over a hill in nearby sandpits. The young boy alerts his scientist father, George (Leif Erickson) and mother, Mary (Hillary Brooke). David convinces dad to investigate only to have him not return. Mary reports her husband missing, police arrive to investigate only to fall prey to Martain invaders, who capture earthlings by collapsing the sand right out from under their feet by a device that apparently also emits strange musical tones. George and two policemen finally return - greatly changed - each exhibiting a cold, suspicious demeanor. More townspeople fall prey to the implants, later discovered in their necks after victims are terminated. David seeks help and slowly convinces Dr Pat Blake (Helena Carter) something is terribly wrong! Dr Blake enlists aid of Dr Stuart Kelson (Arthur Franz), an astronomer, who witnesses by telescope another victim falling through the sandpits. Kelston speculates Martians are concerned about earthling rocket tech (picture, right). " Dr. Kelston contacts the army and convinces them to immediately investigate: an important government rocket research plant is located nearby. In short order the Pentagon marshals its forces and sends troops and tanks under the command of Colonel Fielding (Morris Ankrum). An alien sabotage plot at the plant is soon uncovered, leading back to the sandpit, and the army surrounds the saucer landing site, " according to Wikipedia.

While the army searches, Dr Blake and David are sucked underground into Martian tunnels taken to area of Martian ship, where mind-control procedures are performed by mute underlings of a leader, whose identification is given as "mankind developed to its ultimate intelligence." Wikipedia entry provides leader's description as "... the Martian Mastermind: it has a giant green head with a humanoid face atop a small, green partial torso with several green arm-tentacles, and is encased in a transparent sphere." Dr Blake and David are rescued without suffering implantation by Colonel Fielding and troops, who set a detonator onboard ship for six minutes.

The movie takes a surreal swerve with sequence where David runs from sandpits and saucer as army continues to bombard site as Martian saucer emerges from underground. The viewer never sees Martin ship departing or an explosion and David is never seen actually reaching home. The next sequence has David waking up in his bed again with same events, a saucer descending over hill and strange musical tones to end movie. Is it a dream or premonition?

Movie is interesting for coverage of topics such as mind control, nuclear powered ships and nostalgic clips of steam train engines still in operation and rotary dial telephones. You better enjoy as even older sci-fi movies are rapidly disappearing from the net. Ticket prices are free for a short time only!

#DataDump: God Particle, Predictive Programming and more

CERN Physicists Claim Evidence of Higgs-Boson*

Video: What is a Higgs Boson? -
Physicist Michio Kaku Responds*
Theorist Peter Higgs lives to see his boson*
Video: Alan Alda's '#Flame Challenge' Illuminates Importance of Communicating #Science*
Life Imitating Art: Robot Avatar Body Controlled By Thought*
Video: Proof That 'Predictive Programming' Works*
DNSChanger Could Leave Thousands Stranded When Domains Go Dark on Monday*
Government Demands Growing for Twitter User Data*
L.A. Cops Embrace Crime-Predicting Algorithm*
Video: Dan Bull "Death of ACTA"*

Fifties Retro Sci-Fi For Fourth of July Holiday

It's July 4th and too hot to watch fireworks outside! You can still remain cool and watch the fireworks of "When Worlds Collide," a 1951 science fiction film starring Richard Derr and Barbara Rush. You join the stars on a ninety minute adventure as new star Bellus is discovered, but found to be on a collision course with Earth. It's determined a slight chance remains to avoid destruction by building a spaceship to hop to planet Zyra in orbit around Bellus. The plot even includes a senescent millionaire, Sydney Stanton, played by John Hoyt, who funds project and attempts to pull all the strings. Drama peaks when Dr. Cole Hendron, played by Larry Keating, prevents Stanton along with himself from boarding. Stanton attempts to walk in a desperate and vain effort to board as the ship blasts off. When Worlds Collide filmed in technicolor, a favorite of the present writer for its saturated colors. Please enjoy by dropping below the fold, as always, admission is free!

Texas Researchers Hack DHS Drone by Invitation at White Sands

A $1,000 worth of available electronics can enable anyone with the savvy to GPS spoof a Department of Homeland Security drone and take over command.  While no one suggests trying it, all the present writer can say is: "F-ing Cool!" Erik Seawright writes post at Z6Mag, "Drone Hacked With Spoofing on Approval of DHS by University of Texas Researchers," who were invited to White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, to see, if they could succeed in hacking a drone? "The DHS drone was successfully hacked by UT researchers using a spoofing method they detailed in an article titled, 'Straight Talk on Anti-Spoofing,' ... Using the techniques warned about in the article, the UT researchers were successful in taking over control of the Department of Homeland Security drone and proving the possibility of drone hacking," writes Seawright. The success of the UT researchers underscores clear vulnerability, it also tends to corroborate Iranian account last December of exploiting GPS link to capture a CIA drone. It's been reported previously, the GPS vulnerability to attack has been known for nearly a decade!

'Black Boxes' to Monitor All UK Internet and Phone Data

from channel4.com: As part of the Home Office's communications data bill, internet service providers (ISPs) and mobile phone companies will be obliged to collect communications records and keep them for a year.

The government has insisted that the actual content of messages won't be stored, but until now it has not been clear how communications companies will be able to separate content from "header data", such as the sender and recipient of a message, and the date it was sent.

It has now emerged that the Home Office has held meetings with the UK's largest ISPs and mobile network operators, and has given them information about the hardware which companies will have to use to monitor traffic flowing through their systems.

When an individual uses a webmail service such as Gmail, for example, the entire webpage is encrypted before it is sent. This makes it impossible for ISPs to distinguish the content of the message. Under the Home Office proposals, once the Gmail is sent, the ISPs would have to route the data via a government-approved "black box" which will decrypt the message, separate the content from the "header data", and pass the latter back to the ISP for storage. Dominic Raab, a Conservative MP who has criticised the bill, said: "The use of data mining and black boxes to monitor everyone's phone, email and web-based communications is a sobering thought that would give Britain the most intrusive surveillance regime in the west. But, many technical experts are raising equally serious doubts about its feasibility and vulnerability to hacking and other abuse."

A representative of the ISPs Association said: "We understand that government wants to move with the times, and we want to work with them on that. But this is a massive project. We'd rather they told us what they want to achieve, then sit down with us to work out how. Our other main concern with this is speed. If you're having to route all traffic through one box, it's going to cut down on connection speeds. The hardware can only look at a certain amount of traffic per second - if lots of streams from the BBC iPlayer are going through it, for example, how is it going to handle the traffic?"

A Home Office spokesman said - "We have not issued any hardware or software specifications. The communications data bill is designed to allow the police to maintain their capability to catch criminals and protect the public as technology changes and people use more modern communications. Under this programme the emphasis is to work with industry to determine the best way to achieve this. The legislation is currently being scrutinised by parliament. Once it has been passed will we work with companies on how to best collect and store communications data, but not the content."

'Leap Second Bug' Causes Glitches for Major Websites, Airlines

from datacenterknowledge.com: Computer problems with the Amadeus airline reservation system caused long lines and traveler delays at airports across Australia this weekend, as the outage wreaked havoc with the check-in systems used by Qantas and Virgin Australia. The outage appears to be related to the "Leap Second Bug” in which the addition of a single second to the world’s atomic clocks caused problems with IT systems.

More than 400 Qantas flights around Australia were delayed by at least two hours as staff switched to manual check-ins. The outage at Amadeus, one of the world’s major reservation systems, lasted about an hour but had a longer impact on air travelers and airline staff.


Media reports say Qantas has blamed the leap second bug for the issues at Amadeus. A leap second is a one-second adjustment that is occasionally applied to Universal Time (UTC) to account for variations in the earth’s rotation speed. The Qantas problems were the most visible business impact of the problems the adjustment created or IT systems.

The leap second bug is a time-handling problem that is a distant relative of the Y2K date issue. The leap second bug bug caused problems for a number of popular web sites, including LinkedIn, Reddit, Mozilla and The Pirate Bay.

Amadeus says it handles more than 3 million airline bookings a day through its huge data center in Erding, Germany, where more than 5,000 servers process 1 billion transactions a day across its many travel businesses (see video overview and infographic for more). In a media statement, Amadeus said it is investigating the cause of the systems crash and will “take any appropriate steps to avoid this reoccurring.” The outage was the second this year for Amadeus’ reservations systems, following an incident in January.