HiTechEdge

Tag: The Washington Post

  • Honor Smartphone Brand Hangs in Balance as US Officials Weigh Ban

    Honor Smartphone Brand Hangs in Balance as US Officials Weigh Ban

    US officials are split on whether to ban the Honor brand of smartphones and tablets, a move that could have devastating consequences.

    Honor was one of Huawei’s brands, and was impacted by sanctions imposed by the US, as well as other countries. Huawei was accused of having extremely close ties with Beijing, representing a security risk as intelligence agencies around the world feared Beijing could use Huawei as a conduit for spying.

    Ultimately, Huawei sold off the Honor brand as sanctions impacted the company’s ability to produce smartphones. A consortium of Chinese companies bought the brand, leaving questions about if the change of ownership was enough to warrant a different approach.

    According to The Washington Post, US security agencies are divided on whether to ban the Honor brand. The Pentagon and Energy Department were in favor of blacklisting Honor, while the Commerce Department and State Department were opposed.

    Given the impact such measures had on Huawei, should Honor find itself on the US blacklist, it’s a safe bet it would be disastrous — just as it was for Huawei.

  • Drones May Soon Track You Using Your Screams

    Drones May Soon Track You Using Your Screams

    Scientists may be on the verge of a major breakthrough in search and rescue (SAR), training drones to track people using their screams.

    In life and death situations, such as when a natural disaster strikes, finding survivors is a race against the clock. To make matters worse, rescuers often have to proceed carefully and slowly to avoid making matters worse. For example, if people are trapped in the rubble following an earthquake, rescuers must move slowly and methodically to avoid causing any additional cave-ins.

    Scientists may have found a solution, training drones to zero in on the sound of a person screaming and track the screams back to their source, according to The Washington Post.

    Engineers at Germany’s Fraunhofer FKIE institute have already built a working prototype, and the initial results are promising.

    “[Drones] can cover a larger area in a shorter period of time than rescuers or trained dogs on the ground,” Macarena Varela, one of the lead engineers, said. “If there’s a collapsed building, it can alert and assist rescuers. It can go places they can’t fly to or get to themselves.”

    While the concept is absolutely brilliant, and the engineers are to be applauded for what they’re trying to accomplish, I for one can’t help but imagine bloodthirsty drones hunting down humans screaming and running for their lives, Skynet-style. Especially in view of recent reportswhere a military drone hunted humans down without authorization, I can’t help but wonder how long it will be until human scream-tracking is turned into a nightmarish Terminator scenario.