In the past several decades, militaries have worked hard to develop technologies that simultaneously protect infantry soldiers’ hearing and aid in battlefield communication. However, these advanced Tactical Communication and Protective Systems, or TCAPS — earmuffs or earplugs with built-in microphones allowing active hearing protection — don’t help if a soldier takes them off to assess…
AERONet Prototype Could Provide Combat Insight to Allies
A tiny team at Hanscom Air Force Base is developing a prototype combat system capable of providing video, voice, chat and command and control to partner nations for under a half-million dollars. The Airborne Extensible Relay Over-Horizon Network, or AERONet, digitally links friendly forces, providing them with their own location, the location of other friendly…
Android to Offer More Location, Usage Controls
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (AP) The Latest on Google conference in California (all times local): noon The next version of Google’s Android operating system will include more features to help people prevent mobile apps from shadowing them. Location-tracking by Google and other digital services have become a hot-button topic as people have become more aware about…
Op-Ed: 5G Has Arrived
The next generation of wireless technology—5G—is now moving from concept to reality. Using millimeter wave spectrum, Verizon is offering commercial mobile 5G in 22 cities. AT&T has announced that it has hit peak speeds of 2 gigabits per second on its Atlanta commercial mobile 5G network. T-Mobile announced in its most recent earnings call that…
Bots Exploiting Blockchains for Profit
Blockchains have been hailed as fair and open, constructed so a single user can’t falsify or alter records because they’re all part of a transparent network. The reality is not so simple, according to new Cornell Tech research. Like high-frequency traders on Wall Street, a growing army of bots exploit inefficiencies in decentralized exchanges, which…
Samsung’s 1Q Profit Slides on Falling Chip Prices
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Samsung Electronics Co. said Tuesday its operating profit for the last quarter declined more than 60% from a year earlier because of falling chip prices and sluggish demands for its display panels. The South Korean technology giant said its operating profit for the January-March period came in at 6.2 trillion…
Greek Researchers Enlist EU Satellite Against Aegean Sea Litter
Knee-deep in water on a picture-postcard Lesbos island beach, a team of Greek university students gently deposits a wall-sized PVC frame on the surface before divers moor it at sea. Holding in plastic bags and bottles, four of the 5 metre-by-5-metre (16 foot-by-16-foot) frames are part of an experiment to determine if seaborne litter can…
Wire-to-Board RF Coaxial IDC Connectors
AVX Corporation has released the first wire-to-board RF coaxial IDC connectors for industrial and automotive applications. The initial release of the new 00-6791 Series RF Coaxial IDC Connectors is comprised of two small, single-piece solutions suited to different types of coaxial cable and features a patented one-touch coaxial cable termination mechanism that both simplifies the connection…
California Approves Free Phones, Internet for Foster Youth
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Young people in California’s foster system will get free cellphones and internet access under a unique program approved Thursday that supporters say will bridge a digital divide. The California Public Utilities Commission passed the $22 million pilot program that will provide smartphones to more than 30,000 current and former foster youth…
Nokia Books Surprise Loss Amid Tough Competition in Networks
HELSINKI (AP) — Telecoms gear maker Nokia reported Thursday a surprise first-quarter loss amid tougher competition for the new, superfast wireless 5G networks that are expected to increase in business this year. The company, based in Espoo, Finland, said its net loss for the January-March period was 116 million euros ($130 million), against profit of…