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DRUG DRONES SWAMP BORDERS
Posted: 23 February 2012
MindBullet picture
Swarms of quadrotors overwhelm law enforcement with tons of cocaine worth billions of dollars
Dateline: 27 April 2017
More than 150 fast and high-flying aerial drones flew over the border from Mexico and crossed the Atlantic and Pacific coasts in the last 24 hours. Each carried a cargo of anywhere from 500kg to two tons of refined cocaine. They have overwhelmed US defenses. "We catch maybe 20 to 30 of them, shooting them down at the border. But, if we're over here, then we're not 1,000 miles away catching them there," says Buddy Hughes, Wing Commander at the newly-established DEA Air Force Base outside San ...
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Solar starting to shine
Posted: 6 February 2012   1 Comment
Some of my friends think I bang on about this scenario too often, but I remain firmly convinced, like Ray Kurzweil, that cheap abundant energy from the sun is in our future.

This news from India supports the scenario of a falling price curve for solar power, even as scarcity and demand push up the cost of fossil fuels. Likewise, I still believe that old-style nuclear energy will become too ...
India's panel price crash could spark solar revolution
6 February 2012
SOLAR power has always had a reputation for being expensive, but not for much longer. In India, electricity from solar is now cheaper than that from diesel ...
MindBullet logo COAL HITS US$10 PER TON AS SOLAR POWER SHINES
Nano solar films bring cheap energy to sunshine states
Dateline: 5 May 2018
It's hard to believe that a mere decade ago fossil fuels were at a premium, and everyone talked of 'peak oil' and the high prices of natural gas and coal. ...
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Big Retailer is watching you
Posted: 17 February 2012  
So you thought it was only government and Internet giants that were analyzing everything you do?

Well guess what? There's profit in knowing your intimate affairs, so that's what corporations are after. This article from Forbes proves the point!

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/02/16/how-target-figured-out-a-teen-girl-was-pregnant-before-her-father-did/ ...
MindBullet logo NO PLACE TO HIDE IN THIS BRAVE NEW WORLD
Protest grows against ubiquitous recognition
Dateline: 26 January 2017
Somehow, it wasn't supposed to turn out like this. I mean, it's a long way from George Orwell's 1984, but even so, I can't escape the uncomfortable feeling that Big Brother is really here. It's the cameras, you see. The cameras, and the incredibly powerful software and databases behind them. I know they're there to protect us. I know they're for our own good, to prevent crime and to ensure ...
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FREE APP, DOWNLOAD NOW: COMMERCIAL DESTRUCTION
Posted: 16 February 2012
MindBullet picture
It's the most dangerous malware ever developed, and it's available free to anyone
Dateline: 2 January 2013
During 2011 the Stuxnet worm targeted Iran's Natanz nuclear facility, specifically the Siemens components in it, and several other key industrial installations globally. Its origins were shrouded in secrecy and conspiracy theories abounded. Was it instigated by the US? Or Israel? Or both? Called the world's first "cyber super-weapon" by writer Christopher Goodwin, it put the entire US power grid out of action for two days last October. It's Stuxnet's simplicity that makes it scary - just 15k lines ...
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Hacking yoghurt to stay calm
Posted: 15 February 2012  
Imagine if we could use something as innocuous as bottled water or perhaps tubs of yoghurt to suppress rage and aggression and make everyone, well, just a whole lot nicer. Does that sound like a good scenario? Or maybe not?
Tuur van Balen - Hacking Yoghurt to make Prozac
15 February 2012
Do it your self bio-engineering with designer Tuur van Balen. Presented at the Next Nature Power Show 2011 in Amsterdam.
MindBullet logo DOPING SCANDAL ROCKS TURKEY AND THE EU
Protests and riots erupt over government-sponsored psycho-medication
Dateline: 25 November 2018
Turkey's accession to the EU is in doubt as rioting continues in Istanbul for the third week with red-rimmed images of the burning city beamed around the ...
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Using Apps for safer driving
Posted: 15 February 2012  
The APP economy continues to grow - and new uses emerge daily. This is a fundamental shift - software is again becoming a "home industry".
App Battles Driver Distraction but Spares Passengers - Technology Review
15 February 2012
A new approach detects when a driver is using a phone to inhibit dangerous phone use.
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Techno-optimism and conscious capitalism
Posted: 9 December 2011   4 Comments
We received this comment on our Beyond>2020 Slideshare presentation:

"jjwakeford:
Most MindBullets and also much of this presentation present a 'techno-optimistic' vision of the future. I am wondering how you envisage the pathway from where the world is now (mired in debt crises, facing an increasing number and severity of resource constraints, sliding down the path to global-scale conflict, ...
Image
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Cloud Wars?
Posted: 14 February 2012  
Fascinating to see how the game is lining up...with a data tsunami about to explode how prepared are we for what lies ahead and who will tomorrow's winners be?
Let the cloud wars begin
14 February 2012
FORTUNE -- Take that, SAP. Oracle just announced it is buying Taleo, maker of cloud-based talent management software, for $1.9 billion. The move comes just ...
MindBullet logo SERVER FARMS IN THE CLOUDS
A whole new understanding of business computing
Dateline: 1 February 2013
Almost all of IBM's server business now comes from just four customers - Google, Microsoft, Tata and Amazon - these are the companies that dominate ...
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Mastercard a tech Co?
Posted: 14 February 2012  
What could a credit card business be without a credit card? It seems that Mastercard are quite open about what their game plan is...and it's different! In an age of innovation, commoditization, turbulence and uncertainty, the quality of strategic thinking is paramount. Incremental change will often not be enough to ensure survival, not to even mention step change success! WIll Mastercard ...
MasterCard Changes Its Culture To Be A Tech Company
14 February 2012
CEO Ajay Banga says MasterCard is transforming into a global tech company focused on providing electronic payments via smartphones, other digital devices.
MindBullet logo IT'S SKYPE CREDITS VS VODACASH IN THE NEW VIRTUAL BANKING WAR
Taxman loses in the race to dominate the online payments market
Dateline: 9 February 2010
Since eBay and PayPal allowed users to charge and pay with Skype credits, the banks and credit card companies have been running scared. That was until ...
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The myth of state capitalism
Posted: 10 February 2012  
The Economist recently carried a feature on State Capitalism, and we have written on the scenario for a new capitalist model, which we call Conscious Capitalism.

The somewhat acerbic free-market champion Ivo Vegter takes a hard look at the Chinese model and declares it morbidly obese. As seductive as the apparent success of China's economic growth might be, it's a grand illusion, he says. ...
The Chinese model is morbidly obese
10 February 2012
South Africa wants to adopt 'the Chinese economic model', President Jacob Zuma is expected to announce this week. This would be a very grave mistake. The ...
MindBullet logo THE GREAT FALL OF CHINA
China's ghost cities stay empty as the artificial bubble bursts
Dateline: 8 August 2018
It was as inevitable as China's rise to the position of the most powerful economy in the world. Now it looks as though that title will return to the United ...
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We're all connected now
Posted: 9 February 2012  
I was recently reminded how difficult it is to forecast the future. Take this quote from this 2006 story:

"Economist Lin Yifu is even more optimistic. 'By 2020, 80 out of 100 people in China will own a mobile phone,' he said, adding total mobile phone subscription would hit 1 billion by 2020."

Well, in fact China's mobile phone subscribers were at 975 million in December and will top 1 billion ...
Telecom industry on a roll - China Daily
9 February 2012
A recent report by a Beijing-based research house Analysys International predicted unit sales of mobile phones in China could grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.38 per cent during 2006 and 2010. In 2010, 138.2 million handsets would be sold in China, it said.
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NO PLACE TO HIDE IN THIS BRAVE NEW WORLD
Posted: 9 February 2012
MindBullet picture
Protest grows against ubiquitous recognition
Dateline: 26 January 2017
Somehow, it wasn't supposed to turn out like this. I mean, it's a long way from George Orwell's 1984, but even so, I can't escape the uncomfortable feeling that Big Brother is really here. It's the cameras, you see. The cameras, and the incredibly powerful software and databases behind them. I know they're there to protect us. I know they're for our own good, to prevent crime and to ensure the rule of law. And to make business more 'personal'. But I'd give a month's salary just to be able to wander ...
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A new industrial revolution
Posted: 8 February 2012  
Although I don't agree with all of Jeremy Rifkin's prognostications, I find it interesting that he lays the blame for the Financial Crisis at the door of peak energy prices, and predicts that we will have another collapse when we reach those levels again.

I certainly agree that, in the future, we have to find another cheap source of energy, and that will ultimately be the sun. It's just a ...
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Better than reality!
Posted: 8 February 2012   1 Comment
Augmented reality devices are getting closer and closer, through services like Layar and Google Goggles. Here's what this technology has in store for us. Fascinating!
The Future Of.... Browsing | SmartPlanet
8 February 2012
View video: Today, we browse the web by typing or tapping, pointing and clicking. Tomorrow, we'll point our mobile devices at an object t
MindBullet logo IS SEVENTH SENSE HEAVEN ON EARTH?
Augmented reality makes the real world really useful
Dateline: 16 June 2018
Remember when five senses were enough to understand what was going on around you? Then MIT introduced 'Sixth Sense' technology, and you could get ...
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Self-driving cars
Posted: 6 February 2012   1 Comment
Reading tech news leads me to believe that Google is at the forefront of development of autonomous vehicles, unless the military are keeping things very close to their chest. Soon Google will be in the driver's seat on the busiest highways.
Let the Robot Drive: The Autonomous Car of the Future Is Here
6 February 2012
The object, vaguely pink, sits on the shoulder of the freeway, slowly shimmering into view. Is it roadkill? A weird kind of sagebrush? No, wait, it’s … a ...
MindBullet logo GOOGLE ROBOTS BREAK UP TRAFFIC
Driverless vehicles to ease rush-hour congestion
Dateline: 15 April 2015
"I'm still getting used to it," says Cath Roberts as we sit in rush-hour traffic together. Three cars in front of hers is an empty electric vehicle ...
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3D Printing in practical medicine
Posted: 7 February 2012  
Another example of the wide front on which this spectacular technology is being applied. See also the link to our 2004 (!) MindBullet on the subject.
World's first 3D printer-created jaw fitted to 83-year-old
7 February 2012
The titanium jaw was built by Belgian company LayerWise in collaboration with scientists from the University of Hasselt, based in the same country.
MindBullet logo PRINTING - THE FUTURE OF MANUFACTURING
No more paper or ink, but everything else goes
Dateline: 17 June 2012
I spent a frustrating few days at the World Printing Industry Showcase in Beijing this weekend. As an old-timer of the printing industry, I simply didn't ...
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MindBullet logo SOCIAL MEDIA BECOMES THE NEW 'BOBBY ON THE BLOCK'
Governments drop plans to block social media as PeoplePower takes to the streets
Dateline: 27 January 2014
Two years ago the threat that governments as ideologically diverse as Britain and China would seek to control and even shut down social media during times of unrest seemed inevitable. The world had seen the power of social media to connect and organize people, for good and evil. On the one hand, we watched with approval the role of Facebook and Twitter in overthrowing Middle Eastern ...
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Creativity knows no bounds!
Posted: 4 February 2012  
Sometimes you have to admire smart criminals - take a look at this example. Would you know if you are being 'had' right now?
SpyEye 'trojan horse': New PC virus steals your money and creates fake online bank statements
4 February 2012
The 'trojan horse' software steals your card details - then when you log into your online bank, it adjusts your balance so you don't realise anything is wrong. It's already been found in the U.S. and the UK.
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Why Facebook remains relevant
Posted: 3 February 2012  
Mark Zuckerberg's letter filed in the IPO documents reveals fascinating insights into what drives FaceBook (as he claims) and why it should remain relevant for the future. Love it or hate it, we can't deny that is connects people who choose to be connected really well. From building new relationships to sharing more with existing friends, we all feel closer to those we choose to invite into ...
Facebook's letter from Mark Zuckerberg - full text
3 February 2012
The social networking site's founder published this statement of intent as the company held an IPO announcement
MindBullet logo FACEBOOK TIME-SHARES HUMAN BRAINS
First AI computer relies on sleeping students
Dateline: 18 May 2017
Hermann Goethe is asleep at home. A dense network of electrodes is attached to his head and neck. It may look like some bizarre behavioral psychology ...
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Will the world turn against sugar?
Posted: 2 February 2012  
We published a MindBullet on this topic eight years ago, and now the war against sugar appears to be reaching tobacco proportions. What will be the impact on your business and/or lifestyle?
Sugar should be controlled 'like tobacco and alcohol'
2 February 2012
Experts warn sugary foods and drinks are responsible for illnesses including obesity, heart disease, cancer and liver problems. And they claim it ...
MindBullet logo SUGAR AND FAT ARE THE NEW TOBACCO
Coca Cola, McDonalds, Unilever and Nestle in the firing line
Dateline: 15 November 2008
In a surprisingly quick and controversial judgement the food industry has been served the most dangerous curved ball in its long history. The fast-food ...
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