• Surveillance tech developers capture Breakthru venture capital

    Three academics from the University of New Brunswick were awarded $285,000 in cash, the richest entrepreneurship competition in Canada, to continue developing better surveillance camera technology

  • Missouri City seeing significant rise in IT job market

    Nine years ago, the metropolitan region of Springfield, Missouri had 280 computer support specialists. In 2009 there were 1,300; despite the bust of the dotcom bubble in the early 2000s, information technology remains an attractive and growing sector in the local economy

  • Monitoring Mexican trucks operating in the U.S.

    The U.S. plan to equip Mexican trucks with electronic recorders for driver logs would be a limited, temporary program undertaken because it is the only way the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FCMSA) can ensure that the Mexican trucks will be monitored, the U.S. government says; under (NAFTA), the United States cannot require Mexican carriers to do anything that U.S. carriers are not required to do, but the government still must provide a way to monitor Mexican carriers for compliance with both the hours of service rules and the cabotage rules that restrict freight hauling between points in the United States

  • Shock absorbers making buildings earthquake-proof

    An upstate New York manufacturer has developed dampers, or shock absorbers, which increase the earthquake resistance of a building by threefold; the patented dampers are based on technology first developed by the military to protect U.S. missile silos against Russian attacks during the cold war

  • China overwhelming U.S. with counterfeit goods

    U.S. companies are losing hundreds of millions of dollars a year in sales from products that are counterfeited overseas and shipped to America; since most fake products are never seized by authorities, the federal government cannot get an accurate measurement of the economic loss; according to CBP, these fake goods “threaten America’s economic vitality and national security, and the American people’s health and safety”

  • Biometric ATMs appearing in Poland, U.S. lags far behind

    More banks around the world are installing biometric ATMs that use finger vein scanning technology to authenticate a customer’s identity before they can withdraw cash; unlike current fingerprint scanners, the finger vein scanner uses infrared light to analyze the micro veins beneath the surface of the finger; banks around the world including Japan, Mexico, and Africa have begun installing these new ATMs, but they have yet to appear in the United States; critics worry that the ATMs are too invasive and a study last year found that 50 percent of Europeans would not use them; banks in the United States lack the financial incentive to install these devices

  • Dignity preserving undies under development

    New undergarments aim to protect air travelers’ privacy and dignity; the underwear is covered with a special paint made from a mixture of barium sulphate, aluminum, ground glass, and other materials that work to reflect and scatter X-rays; the undergarments block out passengers’ privates, while still allowing operators to see dangerous objects such as guns, knives, and explosives

  • The problems with major disasters

    There are three problems with major disasters: small miscalculations of probabilities can have large effects on outcomes when dealing with large events; our reward structures do not encourage spending the time or the money to deal with low-probability disasters; the very complexity of modern life — including our transportation and communication systems, our economy and our social interactions — is directly implicated in the severity of catastrophes; in more complex systems, even small changes or perturbations can have disproportionate and unpredictable effects

  • The problem nuclear power generation faces: wary investors

    The Japanese disaster, in which four nuclear reactors were damaged, is important for the future of nuclear power generation not because it demonstrated the inherent risks of nuclear power (so far there are no reported death attributed to the damaged reactors); rather, the problem of nuclear power is the reluctance of investors to invest in it; experts say it was clear that the situation in Japan would further erode enthusiasm and may even affect applications for continued use of existing plants

  • ISC West panel to focus on cloud computing security threats

    As businesses increasingly turn to cloud computing solutions, security professionals have become concerned with the challenges of securing data that is stored off-site in light of growing numbers of cyber security attacks; while cloud networks offer smaller businesses low cost technology solutions and remote access to data anywhere, this also leaves data beyond a company’s span of control; To discuss securing data on cloud computing networks, a panel at the upcoming ISC West conference will focus on security solutions and risk management plans; the ISC West panel will be held on 6 April 2011

  • Supreme Court ruling renders vaccine manufacturers immune to lawsuits

    The Supreme Court ruled in favor of vaccine manufacturers declaring that they could not be sued in state court for damages as a result of design-defects in their products; the court found six to two that the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act protects vaccine manufacturers from design-defect claims; the law was passed in response to a massive increase in litigation against vaccine manufacturers that led to a shortage of vaccines; Justice Sotomayor and Ginsberg dissented; the two argued that the decision leaves a regulatory void and insufficient oversight over vaccine manufacturers; proponents say that this helps stabilize the vaccine market and protects children

  • Audit finds DHS dramatically improved its acquisition process

    A recent audit by the DHS Inspector General found that the department had dramatically improved its oversight of contracts and reduced the number of noncompetitive contracts awarded by 60 percent last year; in 2010 DHS awarded $1.3 billion in no compete contracts compared to $3.4 billion in 2009 and $3.5 billion in 2008; the inspector general reviewed forty noncompetitive contracts worth roughly $100 million dollars and found that the rate of deficiencies was only 7 percent; while the report found marked improvements, it also recognized that there were still gaps in DHS’ acquisition process

  • Using DNA to track down criminals and fight counterfeiting

    Applied DNA Sciences, based in Stony Brook, New York, works with banks, governments, and businesses across the globe to detect and prevent fraud in areas that range from textile fibers, casino chips, and cash; Applied DNA has worked with authorities in the United Kingdom to insert DNA markers in currency to help track down money stolen from bank heists and other robberies; the company has helped solve thirty-five cases; the company also embeds plant DNA in casino chips to fight fraud and counterfeiters by making unique markers that are impossible to duplicate; its technology can also be used in virtually anything to fight counterfeiters or authenticate products

  • Identifying the criminals among multiple DNA samples

    Providing certainty without a reasonable doubt is not possible when the DNA at a crime scene comes from multiple sources; this happens in about one in ten cases, meaning that important evidence for putting a criminal behind bars is lost; a new technique takes the uncertainty out of DNA samples, when more than one person’s DNA fingerprint is in the mix

  • Vallon showcases innovative mine detector

    German company Vallon unveiled its latest mine detection system; one of its advantages is that it can detect mines made with no metal parts (the device can detect metal-free particles at a depth of 40 cm, and metal objects at greater depths); the UN is already deploying the device in mine-clearance operations in thirty countries