If you have ever tried to get tax help from the IRS over the phone and weren’t able to get any – you are not alone.That’s because the Internal Revenue Service provided the lowest level of telephone service during fiscal year 2015 compared to prior years, with only 38% of callers who wanted to speak with an IRS assistant able to reach one, according to a report this week from the Government Accountability Office. Perhaps worse yet is that the IRS and Department of Treasury have no real plans to improve the situation, the GAO stated.+More on Network World: IRS warns yet again on scam artist trickery+To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
In its annual Most Wanted List of Transportation Safety Improvements, safety officials said they want to see more high-tech answers to car-crash prevention and operator monitoring capabilities.+More on Network World: Will your car become a mini-data center? IBM thinks that’s just the beginning+The National Transportation Safety Board’s (NTSB) annual wish list looks at what it considers to be the nation’s top transportation safety concerns. It has for years spoken out about distracted driving and the need to remove any and all items from car driver compartments that might cause crashes. And this years list included yet another call for more action.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
In the not too distant future many consumers expect autonomous, self-driving cars that repair problems without human intervention, implement cognitive computing to adapt the car to a particular driver’s behaviors and react to the vehicle’s environment.Those are at least some of the conclusions gleaned from IBM’s “Auto 2025: A New Relationship – People and Cars” research involving 16,000 global consumers who were asked how they expect to use vehicles in the next ten years.+More on Network World: 20 years ago: Hot sci/tech images from 1995+To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
In the not too distant future many consumers expect autonomous, self-driving cars that repair problems without human intervention, implement cognitive computing to adapt the car to a particular driver’s behaviors and react to the vehicle’s environment.Those are at least some of the conclusions gleaned from IBM’s “Auto 2025: A New Relationship – People and Cars” research involving 16,000 global consumers who were asked how they expect to use vehicles in the next ten years.+More on Network World: 20 years ago: Hot sci/tech images from 1995+To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
It may be time for the United States to rethink how the smallest parts of its monetary system -- the penny, nickel and dime – are made.According to a report this week from watchdogs at the Government Accountability Office, since 2006 the prices of metals used in coins have risen so much that the total production unit costs of the penny and nickel exceed their face value resulting in financial losses to the U.S. Mint. In fact such a change could potentially save between $8 million and $39 million per year by changing the metal composition of the nickel, dime, and quarter.+More on Network World: 20 years ago: Hot sci/tech images from 1995+To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
It may be time for the United States to rethink how the smallest parts of its monetary system -- the penny, nickel and dime – are made.According to a report this week from watchdogs at the Government Accountability Office, since 2006 the prices of metals used in coins have risen so much that the total production unit costs of the penny and nickel exceed their face value resulting in financial losses to the U.S. Mint. In fact such a change could potentially save between $8 million and $39 million per year by changing the metal composition of the nickel, dime, and quarter.+More on Network World: 20 years ago: Hot sci/tech images from 1995+To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
If you are a computer scientist and have any thoughts on developing human brain-like functions into a new wave of computers, the researchers at the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity want to hear from you.IARPA, the radical research arm of the of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence this week said it was looking at two groups to help develop this new generation of computers: computer scientists with experience in designing or building computing systems that rely on the same or similar principles as those employed by the brain and neuroscientists who have credible ideas for how neural computing can offer practical benefits for next-generation computers.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Unwanted unmanned aircraft in your airspace? Zap ‘em with a new anti-drone system from Airbus Defense and Space.As the drone world seems to be exploding -- along with increased reports of close calls with other aircraft and privacy invasion complaints -- the inevitable backlash against the unmanned aircraft may also be growing.Perhaps one example of that backlash came in the form of Airbus’ counter-UAV system rolled out at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The scientists at DARPA will next month detail a new program the group hopes will develop small, portable, battery-powered atomic clocks with stability, repeatability, and environmental sensitivity 1,000 times better than the current generation of atomic clocks.On Feb. 1 DARPA will detail the Atomic Clocks with Enhanced Stability (ACES) program which will aim to develop clocks that must fit into a package about the size of a billfold and run on a quarter-watt of power. “Success will require record-breaking advances that counter accuracy-eroding processes in current atomic clocks, among them variations in atomic frequencies that result from temperature fluctuations and subtle frequency differences that can occur if the power shuts down and then starts up again,” DARPA stated.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Pretty remarkable stuff here. The National Archive blog takes a look at the background of the nation’s premier defense unit’s tracking of Santa as he travels around the globe delivering his Christmas goodies.+More on Network World: The weirdest, wackiest and coolest sci/tech stories of 2015+ Some of the facts I thought were pretty cool:
This Christmas Eve will be the 60th year the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) will have tracked Santa Claus’s journey.
Colonel Harry Shoup began the tradition in 1955, after receiving a phone call from a child expecting to reach Santa Claus. The misdirected call was the result of the child reversing two numbers of a Santa Line phone number printed in a Sears advertisement, according to the National Archives.
This year, 1,250 volunteers will staff the NORAD phone lines answering questions about the trip. The volunteers are a mix of Canadian and American military personnel and Department of Defense civilians.
The Santa Tracker hotline can be reached at 1(877)446-6723 starting at 3AM MST on December 24th and continuing through 3AM MST on December 25th.
Official NORAD Tracks Santa apps are available in the Windows, Apple and Google Play stores. Tracking opportunities are also Continue reading
The FirstImage by Reuters/Joe SkipperThey have talked about it for years and had a couple failures but SpaceX this week did what no one has done before – they launched a multi-stage rocket into space, delivered 11 satellites into low-Earth orbit and landed the first stage of the spacecraft back on the launching pad. The Falcon rocket becomes the first of what SpaceX hopes will become a family of reusable launcher systems. Take a look.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The airspace of the future could get messy, what with drones, aircraft and suborbital spacecraft -- and NASA wants the public’s help in developing technology that will help manage that mélange.
+More on Network World: The weirdest, wackiest and coolest sci/tech stories of 2015+
The space agency this week announced a $15,000 public contest -- called the “Sky for All challenge” -- to develop technologies that could be part of what it calls “a clean-slate, revolutionary design and concept of operations for the airspace of the future.” The challenge opens Dec. 21, and participants may pre-register now. The deadline for submissions is Feb. 26, 2016 and is being administered by crowdsourcing site HeroX.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
WackyImage by Reuters/ Toby MelvilleIt’s that time of year again when we take a look at some of the most interesting and sometimes silly sci/tech stories of the year. This year we have flame-throwing drones, wicked cool pictures of Pluto and quantum computing advancements to name just a few topics. Take a look.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The diversity and capabilities as well as a lack of security found in the multitude of devices in the Internet of Things world is making people at the US Department of Homeland Security more than a little concerned.This week it put out a call for “novel ideas and technologies to improve situational awareness and security measures for protecting IoT domains, as well as technologies that will help DHS operational and support components gain comprehensive and near continuous knowledge of IoT components and systems that affect their operations and assets.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The diversity and capabilities as well as a lack of security found in the multitude of devices in the Internet of Things world is making people at the US Department of Homeland Security more than a little concerned.This week it put out a call for “novel ideas and technologies to improve situational awareness and security measures for protecting IoT domains, as well as technologies that will help DHS operational and support components gain comprehensive and near continuous knowledge of IoT components and systems that affect their operations and assets.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The former US Department of State man accused of hacking into hundreds of victims’ e-mail and social media accounts, stealing thousands of sexually explicit photographs, and threatening at least 75 victims that he would post those photos and other personal information unless they agreed to his “sextortionate” demands has entered a guilty plea to the nefarious attacks.+More on Network World: 20 years ago: Hot sci/tech images from 1995+Michael C. Ford, 36, of Atlanta, was indicted by a grand jury in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia on Aug. 18, 2015, with nine counts of cyberstalking, seven counts of computer hacking to extort and one count of wire fraud.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The U.S. Marshals Service today warned of a telephone scam that has some scamster calling random victims and alleging they or their family members have an active federal arrest warrant and demanding payment of fines.From the US Marshals office: “On December 7, 2015, the fraudster identified himself as a Deputy United States Marshal and informed the potential victims they or their family member had active federal warrants for their arrest. The caller then gave the potential victims a contact number and information to pay the fine. The phony law enforcement officer threatened the potential victims with arrest if the fine was not paid. The fraudster then tells the victim to buy a prepaid money card from a local grocery store in the Cincinnati area. The victim is then instructed to give the access account code for the prepaid money card to the phony law enforcement officer. “To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The U.S. Marshals Service today warned of a telephone scam that has some scamster calling random victims and alleging they or their family members have an active federal arrest warrant and demanding payment of fines.From the US Marshals office: “On December 7, 2015, the fraudster identified himself as a Deputy United States Marshal and informed the potential victims they or their family member had active federal warrants for their arrest. The caller then gave the potential victims a contact number and information to pay the fine. The phony law enforcement officer threatened the potential victims with arrest if the fine was not paid. The fraudster then tells the victim to buy a prepaid money card from a local grocery store in the Cincinnati area. The victim is then instructed to give the access account code for the prepaid money card to the phony law enforcement officer. “To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
IBM today got a multi-year grant from the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) to build key components of what it calls a universal quantum computer.
+More on Network World: Intelligence agency wants a superconducting, super cool, supercomputer+
You may recall that IARPA operates as part of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Big Blue award was granted under the auspices of the group’s Logical Qubits (LogiQ) program which is looking to develop technologies that overcome the limitations of current quantum systems by building a logical qubit from a number of imperfect physical qubits.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
IBM today got a multi-year grant from the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) to build key components of what it calls a universal quantum computer.
+More on Network World: Intelligence agency wants a superconducting, super cool, supercomputer+
You may recall that IARPA operates as part of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Big Blue award was granted under the auspices of the group’s Logical Qubits (LogiQ) program which is looking to develop technologies that overcome the limitations of current quantum systems by building a logical qubit from a number of imperfect physical qubits.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Michael Cooney