A new kind of spy

Anyone who has gone to the International Spy Museum has seen all the different was the Intelligence Community has tried to cleverly spy on its adversaries. Flying objects have been tried before but none like this before. "The Nano Hummingbird navigates by changing the angle and shape of its paper-thin wings—which beat 20 to 40 times per second—and can hover in place for up to 11 minutes. It is also small enough to fly through windows or other small openings, strong enough to carry a microphone or camera, and stable enough to maintain a highly controlled hover, even in gusts of wind." I mean, it will still it's limitations....it's
not like a hummingbird could come hovering into a cocktail party inconspicuously. Well, at least not without the chance of some timid party attender afraid it is a big bug swatting at it with her jeweled clutch. There would go who knows how many million of dollars of tech.

Siri-like voice recognition coming to cars

CNET NEWS | NOVEMBER 9, 2011
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/cnet/WSAE/~3/JMevdtUzqw8/

I am an early adopter...if something new comes out, I must have it. I am just going nuts waiting for Dec 2 to arrive so I can get the new iPhone at the discounted rate...I keep telling myself it is worth $300 to wait a few weeks but it has not been easy. The commercials every night showing off the Siri capability does not help matters. Now cars are going to upgrade to this tech. My car is pretty cool but have to admit the voice recognition is not exactly perfect...when I ask it to call my mom and it thinks I say call Tim Thomas...I mean really...they don't even sound alike. How am I going to convince my hubby I need a new car though just because I can have a better conversation with it. That one is going to take some work.

Crowdsourcing for Cancer

http://www.ted.com/talks/jay_bradner_open_source_cancer_research.html?utm_source=newsletter_weekly_2011-11-01&utm_campaign=newsletter_weekly&utm_medium=email)I

This week I wanted to share with you a TED video watched about a new way of curing some types of cancer.  Though the cure itself is remarkable, it is the method to which this lab came to discover the cure that I was most moved by.  I don't have cancer and hope I never get it.  I do have a chronic illness that I would give anything in the world for some lab to find some drug that would cure it...this is why this video moved me so. 
Now I understand why drug companies act the way they do...it is all about money...but wouldn't it be great if we lived in a world where the result was more important...where what this lab did - sharing their research and tapping in to the power that is crowdsourcing - was how we cured disease? I often cannot believe how much my medicine costs...I luckily have great insurance but know there are so many who don't.  Wouldn't it be great if the greater good - saving people's lives - was more important than the bottom line?
I know...that is a utopia that is unrealistic...but you can always hope...and that was what this video did.  It gave me hope - hope that there are people out there who just want to solve these problems and want to use the power of the community to do it.  To me, that would be truly emerging, disruptive technology.

How connected do you really want your car to be?

In my search for articles this week, I stumbled on an interesting on about how connected cars are becoming.  http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/13/the-next-boom-in-mobile-devices-is-the-car/.

One of the things I love most about my car is all the technology built into it.  It is like one big toy to me.  All those features make it a pleasure to be in my car...and there are so many more that I know they can move towards.  One of the ones discussed in the article is having your text messages read to you while you are driving...now that is all great but will it in turn send a message back using voice translation?  I mean, for tech toy geeks like me, the more features, the better.

However, all these features do have consequences...I want tech to make my life easier but I am also very private.  So....where is the right balance between my toys doing all the cool things I want them to do and yet the consequence not being having to give up privacy?  I guess it becomes degrees of acceptance.  Some privacy for some really cool new capability.

Privacy is not the only concern too...security it one to think about too.  The more connected you are, the more vulnerable you make yourself to potential cyber threats.  One of my friends is actually writing a book about how the technology in your car can be used against you.  

Lots to consider...but knowing me, I will have to try it.  I just cannot resist.

A "bright" solution to our oil problems?

I don't read too many things and think, holy cow - this is frickin cool!  I mean...who thinks up this stuff?  So in my perusing of the masses of information on emerging technologies this week, I tripped across this story - http://www.marketwatch.com/story/chevron-technology-ventures-launches-worlds-largest-solar-enhanced-oil-recovery-project-2011-10-03.  I don't quite count myself an environmentalist, but I am surely not oblivious to these issues.  Having spent some time over in the desert...yes, that big sandbox in hell...I happen to have some pretty strong emotions when it comes to our country's reliance on foreign oil.  So, any intiative that offers some potential solution is at least worth my time reading and considering.  I also happen to be a huge ocean lover so the whole offshore drilling makes me uneasy, especially after the disaster in the Gulf.  Knowing nothing about oil or how to get it, all I can do is think about how ridiculous it is to me that our gas prices go up and down like a yo yo based on a bunch of factors I don't understand...but seem to be on whether people overseas are going to give us oil or not.  How frustrating is that when you are paying through the nose to drive down the street?  Both my husband and I even traded in our cars for hybrids just so we would at least "feel" like we were doing something to change things...foolish as that is - we know we aren't but dammit, it made us feel better at the time (and we do buy much less gas which helps too). 
So enough jammering on from me...onto this great article...who would have ever thought that you could throw a bunch of mirrors in a field, point them at the sun, and in return, increase oil production??  I mean really...how do these people come up with these crazy ideas - brilliant ideas - and dammit, why could I not have thought of that :o).  I am all about any emerging technology that is creatively looking to solve this problem and my hats off to the oil companies who, though they are raking in the dough off our $4/gallon gas prices, at least they are using some small fraction to change the world...wish it was more but we have to start some place! 

The beauty of having smart co-workers

So this week I had some great conversations with some of the really smart people.  The one that I just learn every day from is my partner in crime Mike.  This week he has been helping me to understand what are the best options for our Capstone. There are just so many things out there but just not one that does exactly what we are looking to do.  So how do you bring the best of these things together to make your vision a reality? 
There are many teams out there looking for opportunities to do just that.  Mike had the opportunity of going out to the REN-ISAC yesterday to see what they have been doing to at least automate the ingestion and analysis of data...a necessary first step I think if you are going to get to the point of predictive analytics - you need lots of data and time for that data to start showing trends that can then translate into predictions. Now I can use the knowledge he gained as another tool in our toolbox for our project. 
The REN-ISAC is using the crowd-sourcing approach to solving the network defense, incident response, and analysis problems.  They have moved away from the traditional structured reporting process to a more collaborative, federated approach of ingesting data from multiple sources and letting trends over time and the level of interest in the data direct action - severity, confidence, and do other people care factors.  Hopefully, as their project continues to develop, this paradigm shift will catch on across the cybersecurity community