Technology Getting Ahead of Us

This week we saw technology getting ahead of us in some cases quite literally with advances in medicine and taking us to Space.

(Mad) Science

We begin this week in science where we meet Surgeon Sergio Canavero who claims that full body/head transplants of humans could be just around the corner after years of similar attempts on animals. Sticking with the weird a recent scan of a statue from 1100 AD of a monk has revealed the mummified remains of what is to be believed Buddhist master Liuquan within the structure itself. If the idea of a transplanted body or keeping your own preserved within a statue doesn't appeal to you then there's always the option of eating healthy by doing it the scientific way of eating 3D printed snacks that grow their own fillings.

Digital Dealings

Back to the digital world we're confronted with a major security breach after it was discovered that Chinese computer manufacturer Lenovo had installed malware called Superfish on various computers it sold. After revelations of the Superfish malware some took into their hands to express their displeasure when hacking group lizard squad took down the Lenovo website. Speaking of hacking, the FBI has set a record $3 million bounty for the capture of Russian hacker Evgeniy Mikhailovich Bogachev who is believed to be behind the GameOver Zeus botnet. Lastly, the week wasn't all bad with the announcement that the internet would remain free after the FCC chief said he would vote for strong rules on Net Neutrality in the States.

Earth and Beyond

While there was progress in attempts to keep Earth healthy and green, such as the Eiffel Tower making use of wind turbines to generate it's own power, there was shocking news when it was revealed that the ruined Fukushima plant was leaking radiation at 70 times the normal rate.

Taking a break from it all and heading out into space we saw ISS prep for arrival of new commercial capsules expected in 2017 and making the best out of the situation ISS astronaut Butch Wilmore took probably the most epic selfie of all time. Finally we end with news that Russia will keep it's station modules in orbit when ISS goes out of service and has plans to use them to create it's own base, Death Star anyone?

What Happened? 2014 Technology News

2014 saw advances in space exploration while closer to home security online and safety in the real world came under threat.

World Wide Web

With more personal information out in the world it was the security threats that garnered the most attention with the Heartbleed attack showing major vulnerabilities in one of the internet's most critical systems, SSL. The never ending saga between the NSA and Edward Snowden continued with more releases showing the problems the NSA faced with certain security measures and scrutiny of Silk Road resulted in the cracking of Silk Road 2.0 due to vulnerabilities in the TOR network.

With safety a concern the next hurdle was net neutrality and it's impact on users with the FCC being inundated with complaints crashing their site at one point, even President Obama stepped into the debate giving his support for net neutrality. In Europe the Right to be forgotten act was introduced resulting in over 12,000 requesting information be removed from Google in the first day alone. Facebook managed to annoy it's 1 billion users when it was revealed it had manipulated the news feeds of over half a million users while some websites faced censoring with India blocking access to many and China blocking access to Gmail. Finally both the PlayStation and Xbox networks suffered outages due to attacks.

Scientists

Out in space scientists were set back when tragedy struck a Virgin Galactic test flight claiming the life of one pilot. Pushing forward the crew on-board ISS received the first ever zero-gravity 3D printer and used it later in the year to print a wrench which NASA had emailed. NASA's Orion rocket managed a successful test flight along with a successful recovery from the Pacific Ocean.

Further out in space the European Space Agency's Rosseta spacecraft managed to successfully land a robot craft, Philae, on a moving asteroid. NASA's Mars Opportunity rover suffered memory issues after more than a decade on Mars but it's younger sibling, Curiosity, managed to discover organic matter on the red planet.

The annual Nobel Prizes were handed out for excellence in the field of Physics for blue light emitting diodes, in Chemistry for capturing nano scale images and in Medicine for discovering the brains inner GPS. In other areas we weren't so lucky with the Ebola outbreak recorded as the largest to date with over 7000 people dying and the flu was declared an epidemic by the CDC after 15 deaths.

Technology Far and Near

This week technology allowed man to travel to the outskirts of our world while closer to home it was fighting for it's freedom.

Far

The ESA made history when the Rosetta spacecraft managed to successfully land it's robot craft, Philae, on the surface of Comet 67P. There was a slight hiccup when the anchoring harpoons didn't fire causing the probe to bounce and re-land technically making it both the first and second successful landing. A little further out in space scientists believe they may have figured out how Jupiter's infamous red spot got it's colour.

On the human front of space exploration, investigations into the crash of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo has revealed that the surviving pilot didn't realize his copilot unlocked the space plane's re-entry system early. 3 space station crew, one from Russia one from the United States and one from Germany, returned home after 5 and a half months on board the International Space Station landing their Soyuz capsule in Kazakhstan.

And finally when it comes to orbiting our place in the universe Elon Musk confirmed plans for his company SpaceX to launch satellites in 2-3 months to provide internet access but this was over shadowed when the Chinese revealed plans to create a satellite facility in Antarctica raising concerns of the militarisation of continent.

Near

Closer to home the worlds two largest polluters, the US and China, made progress by agreeing on cutting green house gas emissions and also agreeing to drop tariffs on a wide range of technology products.

But soon it was back to the usual debates with President Obama stepping in to give his support to Net Neutrality but while your access might be free for the time being it's also been revealed that US authorities have been snagging large amounts of data via mobile phones using fake cell towers on planes. But it's not only the American Government as we discovered when Germany's foreign intelligence agency reported that it wants to spend $375 million to spy in real time on social networks outside of Germany.

And lastly the FBI was busy after it managed to uncover and arrest the creator of under world website Silk Road 2.0 causing the TOR project member to figure out where they went wrong but while the FBI may have had success on one front they lost out when a judge said the public had the right to know about the FBI's facial recognition database.

Tech Keeping Tabs

It was revealed this week that all your private information is there for Facebook's amusement and Government perusal.

Internet

It was revealed this week that Facebook had manipulated the news feeds of over half a million users in an experiment on "emotional contagion" for 1 week in January 2012. Naturally the backlash was swift but Facebook addressed the issue stating that they "care about the emotional impact of Facebook" however this hasn't quelled the masses with the UK data regulator probing the experiment.

In Google news, Google chair Eric Schmidt reportedly visited Cuba. It was announced that Google would shut down it's other social network Orkut, no word on Google+. Google will face claims of spying on WiFi networks after the supreme court refused to hear it's street view appeal.

After one year the UK's porn filter now blocks 1 in 5 sites most of which aren't related to pornography. Speaking of a bit of naughty, a music industry site was hacked and redirected to the file haring site The Pirate Bay.

Bitcoin had a busy week when the entire haul confiscated from Silk Road was auctioned off to one bidder but California was left embarrassed and had to update it's laws after it was revealed that Bitcoin was illegal in the state.

Space

NASA successfully tested a new "flying saucer" vehicle which could be used in future missions to Mars. In closer to earth news 2 Astronauts had their heads shaved on board the ISS after losing a soccer bet and finally pictures have also been released from the ISS of Hurricane Arthur growing along the US Eastern seaboard.

Security

While there are serious threats in the world with the energy sector facing attacks from Russian hackers it was Government overreach that raised the most concern's with the FBI and CIA having joined the NSA in so called "backdoor" searches of Americans while the new NSA chief downplayed fears claiming Edward Snowden's leaks are "manageable". New reports on the NSA spying scandal have revealed that the NSA was allowed to spy on all but 4 countries but never fear because an "independent privacy board" says it's alright for the NSA to do what it does.

Science

And if all that security news doesn't make you paranoid, the World Health Organization called for more drastic measures to stop the recent deadly outbreak of Ebola. But that's not all because the CDC are trying to retrace events to see how several scientists came into contact with Anthrax. Never fear if it all comes to an end we can always rebuild you after it was announced that scientists have figured out how to grow blood vessels in 3D printed organs, as long as we don't run out of ink.

What Happened? 2013 Technology News

The world of technology kept it's pace with more start-ups making waves with valuations in the billions.

Wares, both soft and hard 

Twitter had a busy year when it finally exercised it's exit strategy by launching it's IPO on the Nasdaq.

Snapchat, the little photo app that could turned down billions from both Facebook and Google.

The consoles wars kicked into full swing with the release of Sony's Playstation 4 and Microsoft's XBox One.

Several tech watches from the Samsung Galaxy Gear to the Pebble smartwatch were released adding to the years wearable tech fad started with Google Glass.

4K TV, also known as Ultra HD, made its appearance instantly making people groan after having splurged on 3D and HD TV's.

Apple kept it's turn around time on track launching the next incarnation of the iPhone in 2 flavors, the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C.

Governments behaving badly

The Chinese were busy hacking away at everyone from the Wall Street Journal to the US Government.
 
Edward Snowden opened the worlds eyes to the NSA's spying on both American's and foreigners through electronic systems.

Space

Astronaut, Chris Hadfield, kept the world entertained with his social space updates leaving the ISS singing the David Bowie song "Space Oddity".

The ISS (International Space Station) ran into issues when a leak was detected requiring shutting down of various elements. 3 space walks were scheduled to replace the faulty pump.

China became the third country to successfully complete a "soft landing" on the moon with Jade Rabbit.

And in an "about time" moment, the US government finally acknowledged the existence of Area 51. Space related? You decide.

Space, it's been busy up there

Attention was focused towards the heavens with space agencies going above and beyond.

Jade Rabbit hops into history

China became the third country to successfully make a "soft landing" on the surface of the moon. The Jade Rabbit mission, designed to conduct scientific experiments, was declared a success by China. China has said they plan to launch another in 2017 to collect soil samples to return to earth followed by a mission in 2020 to land a Chinese astronaut on the moon.

Gaia's billion star mission

The ESA (European Space Agency) launched the Gaia mission aboard a Soyuz rocket to "decipher the history of the milky way". The mission is designed to accurately measure the positions and motions of roughly 100 billion stars.

A stroll, at 8km/s, through space

Astronauts on board the ISS will get 3 space walks to do essential repairs to the International Space Station replacing a malfunctioning pump which required emergency procedures leaving some experiments offline.

All talk?

A new robot companion, Kirobo, has taken up residence on the ISS to talk with Japanese astronaught, Koichi Wakata. The robot is designed to process questions and construct answers instead of a pre-programmed response.

Like new

NASA reactivated NEOWISE,the Asteroid-Hunting Probe, after 2.5 years of hibernation. The probe has sent back it's first images in an attempt to find potentially dangerous asteroids or some for exploration.