Counterfeit products are a huge problem – from medicines to car parts, fake technology costs lives.
Continue reading… “A future without fakes thanks to quantum technology”
Hitachi can predict where and when crimes will occur by monitoring everything from the weather to Twitter
In the 2002 Steven Spielberg movie, Minority Report, Chief John Anderton (played by Tom Cruise) says, “No doubt the precogs have already seen this.” In the movie Cruise plays the head of Washington, D.C.’s experimental “Precrime” crime-prediction department. The movie is based on Philip K. Dick’s 1956 short story (which is also now a new Fox TV series).
Denver crime rate falls over 10% after pot legalization despite dire predictions
The most dramatic decrease was in the number of homicides.
Overall crime rates in the city of Denver are down more than five months after legal marijuana sales began in Colorado, despite dire predictions by anti-marijuana activists. Rates of violent crime are down, as well as burglaries, leading to an overall decrease in crime of 10.6 percent, according to the Denver Department of Public Safety.
Continue reading… “Denver crime rate falls over 10% after pot legalization despite dire predictions”
Did removing lead from gasoline spark a decline in crime rates?
In recent decades, many Western nations have experienced significant declines in crime, but could the removal of lead from gasoline explain that?
Continue reading… “Did removing lead from gasoline spark a decline in crime rates?”
Mugshots created from DNA evidence
Some day, leaving a hair at a crime scene could be as damning as leaving a photograph of your face. Researchers have developed a computer program that can create a crude three-dimensional (3D) model of a face from a DNA sample.
Continue reading… “Mugshots created from DNA evidence”
America’s race inequality by graph
Even though African-Americans make up 50% of murder victims (they are only 12% of the population) most death sentences that are handed out for killing are for white people.
Continue reading… “America’s race inequality by graph”
Drones could be the next frontier in emergency response
Drones that can fly into some of the most dangerous crime scenes and disaster zones are coming to the aid of police officers and other first responders who put themselves in harm’s way. (Videos)
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The problems with credit and debit cards are bigger than we thought
The Target hack shows our payment systems are in big trouble.
The problems with debit and credit cards are no longer about high-tech skimmers at gas stations and restaurants. Things have gotten worse, not better. According to a December 19 update on the Target problem by security reporter Brian Krebs, as many as “40 million credit and debit card accounts may have been impacted between Nov. 27 and Dec. 15, 2013.” After first claiming that ATM PINs weren’t involved, Target later conceded they were stolen, too.
Continue reading… “The problems with credit and debit cards are bigger than we thought”
When Wasting Time becomes a Crime
Futurist Thomas Frey: Every time I delete spam from my inbox, I feel a tiny piece of my life flitter away.
Sitting needlessly at stoplights, or watching the minutes tick away as I wait in some line, or being forced to fill out yet another form, our precious time is being coopted by everyone from inconsiderate businesses, to overbearing government, to painful security checks at the airport.
Continue reading… “When Wasting Time becomes a Crime”
The world is seeing less crime, so where have all of the burglars gone?
The number of violent crimes has fallen by 32% since 1990 across America as a whole.
The capital of Estonia, Tallinn, does not look like a den of thieves. On a summer afternoon, herds of elderly tourists—American, Japanese, British—wander between the gift shops and sip lagers at pavement cafés beneath the gothic town hall. In a park, teenagers chat and smoke cigarettes in the sun.
Continue reading… “The world is seeing less crime, so where have all of the burglars gone?”
Tactics by the city of Chicago have put a major dent in the killing trend
So far in 2013, Chicago homicides outnumbered slayings in the larger cities of New York and Los Angeles last year.
Chicago has drawn a lot of attention for the soaring gun violence and gang bloodshed, creating a political test for Mayor Rahm Emanuel in President Obama’s hometown. But a year later, Chicago has Chicago has witnessed a drop in shootings and crime. Killings this year have dipped to a level not seen since the early 1960s.
Continue reading… “Tactics by the city of Chicago have put a major dent in the killing trend”
To understand new technology ask the people using it for crime
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The best way to understand new technology, according to futurist Jamais Cascio, isn’t to ask people who made it, but you need to ask the people who are using it in off-label ways to do potentially illicit things. These are the people who are going to find the most compelling ways of using things, and also unpack the ways a new tech might impact society in unpredictable ways.
Continue reading… “To understand new technology ask the people using it for crime”
