Adam Clark Estes

One of the World’s Best A.I. Computers Is as Smart as a Four Year Old

Computers are good at a lot of things. Thinking like a grown-up human being is not one of them. Not yet, at least. A team of researchers from the University of Illinois Chicago recently set out to discover just how advanced our artificially intelligent computers have become. Like they’d do with any food-eating human, they…

It’s a Cinch for Hackers to Break Into Your Verizon Network

Although they probably didn’t maintain any pretense of security, Verizon customers will be bummed to know that a duo of security experts have discovered how to hack into the carrier’s network extending base stations and turn them into little spy centers. The news comes just a couple of months after the world learned that the…

BlackBerry’s Rumored A10 Is a Departure, At Least

While me and you and everyone we know weren’t paying attention, BlackBerry invented a nice big shiny new phone, the A10. It’s definitely different! And at this point, that might be just what BlackBerry needs. There aren’t many details available from the video other than that the A10 is a decidedly bigger phone than the…

Scientists Think Cavemen Painted While High on Hallucinogenic Drugs

There’s something undeniably surreal about early cave paintings, something otherworldly or even psychedelic. And according to a team of international scientists, that’s because the cave painters were doing mind-bending drugs while painting them. Researchers Tom Froese, Alexander Woodward and Takashi Ikegami from Tokyo recently published a comprehensive study of over 40,000 years worth of cave…

AT&T just agreed to acquire Leap Wireless, the company behind the Cricket brand. The acquisition includes Leap’s spectrum which will be absorbed into AT&T’s network and should offer AT&T customers more 4G coverage in more cities.

Let’s Talk About FAIRVIEW, the NSA’s Plan to “Own the Internet”

At this point in time, everyone is properly upset about the National Security Agency’s PRISM program and the seemingly endless surveillance it enabled. But guess what? It’s not the only one. Sprinkled in the NSA files leaked by Edward Snowden are some details about FAIRVIEW, a sort of international version of PRISM. Along with a…

Your Fuelband Knows When You’re Having Sex

Everybody loves these Fuelbands and other activity trackers because they supply you with troves of data about your everyday life. Sometimes, however, it’s a little bit too much information. Your fitness wristband knows when you’re having sex. If it’s sensitive enough to detect minute movements while you’re sleeping, it can certainly pick up on the…

How America Is Fighting Back Against Chinese Hackers

This week, United States and Chinese leaders sat down for a special cybersecurity working group, a rare but increasingly necessary opportunity to clear the air of rumors and untruths about each country’s hacking practices. The talks went fine but also served to illustrate further how difficult a challenge the Pentagon and Department of Homeland Security…

For Just $250 a Week You Can Rent Your Very Own Satellite

On August 4, a resupply mission is scheduled to take off for the International Space Station carrying a satellite for hire with it. It’s actually a nanosatellite, since it’s only 10 centimeters wide, and it’s yours to use if you’ve got the cash. Dubbed “ArduSat,” the soon-to-be-launched satellite will connect with the servers at NanoSatisfi,…

Report: Microsoft Gave NSA Access to Emails, Video Calls, and More

Bad news, Outlook users: While you weren’t looking, Microsoft gave the National Security Agency access to its email, chat and cloud storage products as part of the infamous PRISM program. That goes for SkyDrive and Skype, as well. This looks… not good. The Guardian just published its latest update to the NSA-is-watching-you scandal and cites…

The Best Search Engine You’re Probably Not Using

Do you like privacy? Do you shun surveillance and eschew spam? Do you like simplicity? If you answered yes to any of those questions, you’ll love DuckDuckGo. DuckDuckGo is the brainchild of everyday American Gabriel Weinberg, and until news of the National Security Agency’s widespread spying program broke last month, it was a baby brainchild.…

Hackers Just Banned the Feds from Attending DEF CON This Year

The Obama administration’s big push for improved cyber security just hit a roadblock after the organizers for the hacker conference DEF CON banned feds from attending. Maybe next year? In a letter posted on the event’s website late Wednesday night, DEF CON founder Jeff Moss said very plainly that “it would be best for everyone…

To Avoid Cyber Espionage, Russia’s Switching Back to Typewriters

Hackers aren’t going anywhere any time soon, so Russian spies are wising up and taking their most sensitive intelligence offline. Not offline like off the internet. Offline like off computers altogether. The Russian state procurement agency FSO recently announced that it was interested in spending up to 486,000 rubles (about $14,800) on at least 20…

The Mastermind of 9/11 Kept Sane in Jail by Designing a Vacuum Cleaner

Besides being waterboarded and kept awake for 180 hours, there’s not an awful lot to do when you’re in the custody of the CIA for orchestrating the biggest terrorist attack in American history. So after he spilled all the secrets he could spill, 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed did what anyone in his position would…

This Concrete-Recycling Robot Devours Entire Buildings

Demolishing a building is a big, messy pain in the neck. Dynamite is loud and dangerous. Wrecking balls are heavy and dangerous. Why not just get a robot to do the work? That’s exactly what Omer Haciomeroglu was thinking when he designed the ERO Concrete Recycling robot, one of the winners of IDSA’s International Design…

First Video of the Navy’s X-47B Drone Landing on an Aircraft Carrier

One of the most sophisticated drones the world has ever seen landed on an aircraft carrier Wednesday afternoon, wowing the socks off the top brass and changing war as we know it. The U.S. Navy just posted a video of the historic happening. It’s oddly chilling to witness a robotic plane traveling hundreds of miles…

The X-47B Drone Has Landed on a Carrier, And War May Never Be the Same

It’s not often that we get to witness aviation history being made, but when we do, it’s often awesome. Such is the case with the U.S. Navy’s X-47B which just became the first unmanned aircraft to land on an aircraft carrier. Landing a drone on an aircraft carrier was not a cheap or easy task.…

Japan Provides Best Reminder Yet to Check Your Google Privacy Settings

Everybody’s done it. You upload some potentially incriminating photos to the internet, forget to uncheck a box or two in the privacy settings, and the next thing you know your mom is staring at pictures of your friends doing bong rips. It’s a funny mistake to make—until it becomes a matter of public safety. That’s…

It Takes $5 Million and a Cornell Scientist to Create Perfect Broccoli

Swedish horticulturalist and Cornell professor Thomas Bjorkman is getting excitingly close to the end of a years-long quest to perfect one nature’s most perfect vegetables. And when he’s done, you may never have bad broccoli again. Okay, so he’s not so much perfecting the vegetable as he’s perfecting a series of strains that can be…

Apple Wants to Redesign Your Car’s Dashboard

While all the fanboys were freaking out over a font change in iOS 7 on Tuesday morning, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted Apple patent that could dramatically reshape how the inside of your car looks (and works) in a few years. Crediting Canadian Tim Pryor as inventor, the patent takes on the sweeping…