Tech

  Usage of facial recognition software, which identifies a person by his or her facial features, is spreading throughout the government and commercial sectors. Federal agencies and police departments are using it to identify criminals and threats to national security. Facebook, which has an enormous trove of photographs, provides it …

This month, a hotel staffed almost entirely by robots opened in Japan. The robots at the reception desk include a human-like “female” robot that bows and blinks her eyes and a likewise polite English-speaking dinosaur. Robots perform other functions at the Hann’na Hotel (which means “strange hotel” in Japanese) normally …

The recent intentional crash of Germanwings flight 9525 by a suicidal pilot demonstrated for the second time in the past year the risks associated with having humans completely in control of an airliner.  The German co-pilot of flight 9525 committed suicide and the mass murder of 149 others when he locked …

Yesterday’s crash landing of a gyrocopter on the Capitol lawn again exposed security vulnerabilities in the area of the National Mall.  The pilot, identified as Doug Hughes, claims to have flown his craft from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, about 65 miles away.  Upon his arrival in DC, he buzzed the White House and …