From password-free email accounts to medicine made from DNA

In the very near future there will be machines that act just like humans, doctors will be able to eradicate cancers using your DNA and the password will finally die a death. 

That’s according to predictions from tech experts at IBM. 

The firm’s annual 5 in 5 report, which looks ahead at technology trends has, this year, focused on the development of smarter computers, phones and other machines. 

It predicts that ‘everything will learn’ from the data we store online, what websites we visit, where we go and how we act - and this information will be used for good, and not just for advertising purposes.

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In its annual 5 in 5 report, IBM has predicted that in the next five years, 'everything will learn'. For example, rather than having passwords, applications will be able to talk to each other to give and learn who a person is. It can then immediately identify unusual or suspicious behaviour and prevent identity theft

WHAT ARE IBM PREDICTIONS?

According to the annual IBM 5 in 5 report, in the next five years: 

The classroom will learn you - smarter classrooms will use cloud data to learn about students and identify learning disorders immediately

Buying local will beat online -  shops will combine the convenience of online shopping in physical stores and same-day delivery will improve. 

Doctors will routinely use your DNA to keep you well -  By using advancements in DNA research, doctors will be able to uniquely identify how a certain cancer or disease will affect a person. Treatments and medications will become more tailored and waiting times will drop. 

A digital guardian will protect you online - Passwords will be replaced by devices that learn who a person is, how they behave and what sites they use. They will grant access automatically to that person, but also be able to identify unusual or suspicious activity automatically. 

The city will help you live in it - Governments will be able to use data about its residents movements, needs and more to improve cities and towns, including schools and transport routes.

The report then breaks down the predictions into five categories and predicts that each of them will happen by 2018.  

For example, in five years, IBM predicts ‘security is going to become more agile’. 

Rather than having passwords for different devices, sites and sevices, all of these applications will be able to talk to each other to give a ‘360-degree view of a person’s data and movements.’ This means these devices will just know who someone is, without that person ever having to identify themselves. 

 

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This so-called ‘digital guardian’ will be trained to focus on a person and learn how they behave to then be able to identify any unusual or suspicious activity; making identity theft a thing of the past. 

Elsewhere, IBM claims the classroom of the future will be able learn about each student over the course of their education to help them master the skills they need to meet individual goals. 

It will be powered by a system of sophisticated computers that study data about students stored in the cloud and will be able to immediately identify learning disorders, such as dyslexia, discover if any students are at risk from failing, or even bullying, and will suggest measures to help these students solve these problems. 

One of the more surprising IBM 5 in 5 predictions is that the high-street will bounce back and beat online shopping. 

According to the report, ‘buying local will become du jour once again.' 

IBM makes predictions about cyber security in five years' time

One of the more surprising IBM predictions is that the high-street will bounce back and beat online shopping. Retailers will be able to combine digital products and services with physical stores meaning shoppers can physically, or virtually touch and try on clothes before ordering them to arrive in minutes

 

IBM predicts local shops will fight back against online in 5...

Retailers will be able to combine digital products and services with physical stores meaning shoppers can physically, or virtually touch and try on clothes before ordering them to arrive in minutes. 

Services including Shutl are already making one-hour delivery a possibility, and IBM expects this to become even more popular. 

In medical terms, advancements in DNA research will help doctors understand how a tumour, for example, will uniquely affect each patient. 

Smart analysis will then be able to offer medications or treatments that can best attack that particular type of cancer in that particular individual, while reducing the time it takes to find the right treatment for a patient  ‘from weeks and months to days and minutes’. 

IBM predicts doctors will use DNA for personalised cancer care

In medical terms, advancements in DNA research will help doctors understand how a tumour, for example, will uniquely affect each patient. Smart analysis will then be able to offer medications or treatments that can best attack that particular type of cancer in that particular individual

The final prediction made by IBM is about smarter cities. The firm believes that in five years governments and councils will be able to understand, in real-time, how billions of events occur within a city or town. 

Computers will learn to understand what people need, what they like, what they do, and how they move from place to place and use this information to help develop transport routes, for example, or improve schools. 

'We know more now than any other generation at any time has known. 

Elsewhere, IBM claims the classroom of the future will be able learn about each student over the course of their education to help them master the skills they need to meet individual goals. It will be powered by a system of sophisticated computers will also be able to immediately identify learning disorders, such as dyslexia

IBM predicts that in five years classrooms will adapt to students

'And yet, we struggle to keep up with this flood of increasingly complex information, let alone make sense of the meaning that is inherent in the massive amounts of data we are acquiring at ever faster rates,' said Dr. Dario Gil, Director, Cognitive Experience Lab, IBM. 

'By creating technology that is explicitly designed to learn and enhance our cognition we will usher in a new era of progress for both individuals and for society at large.'

IBM believes that these changes will be fuelled by 'a new era in computing’ that will lead to 'breakthroughs that will amplify human abilities, assist us in making good choices, look out for us and help us navigate our world in powerful new ways.'  

In five years governments will be able to understand, in real-time, how billions of events occur within a city or town. Computers will learn to understand what people need, what they like, what they do, and how they move from place to place and use this information to help develop transport routes, for example, or improve schools

IBM predicts that in five years cities will help you live in them

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2525770/The-death-passwords-rise-high-street-treating-cancers-DNA-level-IBM-reveals-predictions-five-years.html#ixzz2nqNp4izw 

Chinese Admiral threatens to block US Navy

On Dec. 5, the U.S. missile-carrying cruiser Cowpens almost collided with a Chinese ship in international waters. The Cowpens was observing the maiden voyage of China's new aircraft carrier, the Liaoning (pictured above), when a vessel accompanying it cut across the Cowpens' bow less than 200 yards away, forcing it to change course. Chinese and U.S. sources agreed that this was the most serious incident between the two countries' navies since 2009, when Chinese ships harassed a U.S. vessel about 75 miles away from southern China's Hainan island -- but Chinese officials are speaking louder about it than their U.S. counterparts. After the story was first reported on Dec. 13, an unnamed senior U.S. defense official told the New York Times that the Chinese ship had been "particularly aggressive" and "unhelpful in trying to increase cooperation between the two navies;" other major U.S. media reports cite unnamed officials as well. But Chinese were willing to go on-record with their side of the story: Rear Admiral Yin Zhuo told the state-run People's Daily that the Cowpens had provoked the confrontation.

On Dec. 16, an article in People's Daily Online, a website affiliated with the prominent Communist Party newspaper People's Daily, quoted Yin stating that the Cowpens had been "carelessly sailing" in an area where Chinese ships were conducting a drill, seriously affecting their safety in what Yin called a "severe violation of regulations." Because China had reported to international authorities that it would be carrying out a drill in that space, Yin argued, the U.S. ships should have stayed out of the way. "You can sail freely and we can too, but your freedom to sail cannot impact our freedom to sail," he said, according to the article. "The instant you interfere with our sailing, sorry, but we will block you." (A Pacific Fleet spokesman declined to comment on Yin's remarks.)

These words come amid efforts by China to assert its claim over a number of disputed territories in South China Sea and East China Sea. On Nov. 25, Chinese authorities established an Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), in which China requires all foreign aircraft to report their presence, that extended over an island chain which the Chinese claim and call the Diaoyu, and which the Japanese administer and call the Senkakus. Through repeated confrontations with Japan and the Philippines, China has taken stronger stances in its territorial claims than it did in years past.

Yin's words also seem to show a more assertive China. But while the somewhat hawkish Yin is a credible high-ranking official, he is also actively engaged in China's domestic propaganda efforts, as is the People's Daily. The article featuring his quote was likely intended for a Chinese rather than international audience -- it is not available in English. It is also telling that Chinese media only commented on the incident after U.S. authorities publicly acknowledged it on Dec. 13. Still, that's more than a U.S. official was willing to say publically, even if Yin is preaching to the choir.



- See more at: http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/12/16/china_america__near_miss_pacific_cruisers#sthash.HZU0E4iO.dpuf

‘Satan’ Rocket Could Step in to Launch More Russian Satellites

The Dnepr, which is based on the RS-20 intercontinental ballistic missile (NATO codename SS-18 “Satan”)


MOSCOW, December 18 (RIA Novosti) – Russia could convert more of its RS-20 ballistic missiles to launch domestic satellites in place of other less reliable rockets, the commander of Russia’s Strategic Missile Force said on Tuesday.

Nineteen RS-20 missiles, known in the West as the SS-18 Satan, have been converted for use by ISC Kosmotras to launch mostly foreign satellite payloads since 1999. The converted missile is known as the Dnepr rocket.

“There have been recent proposals for the use of the Dnepr for launching our satellites in light of the problems with our other launchers,” Karakaev said. He added that while the decision was not his to make, the Strategic Missile Force was ready to meet the task.

A Russian Proton rocket exploded shortly after launch at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in July, showering the surrounding Kazakh countryside with 600 tons of blazing, highly toxic rocket fuel.

Proton launches were suspended for three months following the accident and Kazakhstan – which leases the Baikonur launch facility to Russia for $115 million annually – remains concerned about reimbursement for the costs of the cleanup effort.

Russia’s new Angara rocket, slated to provide launch services in multiple weight classes, has suffered a string of delays. Its first launch is currently scheduled for mid-2014.

The RS-20, first launched in 1973, is the most powerful ICBM in the world. The Strategic Missile Force is phasing out the weapon by 2018-2020, when it will be replaced by the new Sarmat heavy missile, Karakaev said yesterday.

The Dnepr is launched from Baikonur as well as a site in Russia’s Orenburg region.

Karakaev said the rocket’s use of highly toxic propellants was its only drawback. A Dnepr rocket crashed in Kazakhstan following an onboard failure in 2006.

A Dnepr rocket last month successfully delivered 32 satellites from 18 countries into orbit, breaking the previous world record for the number of satellites in a single launch, according to space industry analysts.

Credit to RIA Novosti

Spanish Bad Loans Jump To New Record As Banks Come Clean Over Mortgage Defaults

Spanish loan delinquencies as a percentage of the total have risen for the 8th straight month to a new record high of 13.00% (even as sovereign bond spreads continue to plunge to multi-year lows signaling all is well). With unemployment rates stuck stubbornly high, however, reality is starting to dawn in the Spanish banking system as mortgage defaults are rising following the Bank of Spain's order for lenders to review their portfolios. As Bloomberg reports, the default rate for Banco Santander alone jumped to 7% (from 3.1%) following its "reclassification" of loans that it had refinanced (never expecting to be repaid) and with home prices still falling, "there is an urgency to come clean" as regulators see the need for banks to cover a further EUR5 billion shortfall in provisions.

The slow-and-steady rise in deliquencies smacks of an industry that is dripping out there problems - hiding facts from reality and the spike for Banco Santander is merely highlighting the mis-statement...

Via Bloomberg,

With Spain’s persistently high unemployment rate now at 26 percent, the couple is among the 350,000 homeowners who may be foreclosed upon by lenders in the next two years as the housing crisis worsens, according to AFES, a Madrid-based association that advises on restructuring debt. Since 2008, about 150,000 families have been hit with a foreclosure.

“We refinanced three years ago, but now the noose is around our necks,” Males, 42, said. “Not only do we still owe more than the original loan. We’re losing our home as well.”

...

As mortgage defaults rise, lenders will have to set aside money to cover losses, hurting profits, according to Juan Villen, head of mortgages at Spanish property web site Idealista.com. Spanish banks absorbed 87 billion euros ($120 billion) of impairment charges last year after Economy Minister Luis de Guindos forced them to record more defaults on loans to developers. The government took 41 billion euros in European assistance to shore up its failing lenders.

...

Defaults are rising partly because of changes required by the Bank of Spain that force lenders to book more soured mortgages.

“When the real estate bubble burst in 2008, banks used refinancing en masse to cover up non-performing residential mortgage loans,”

Which led to a broad loan review...

In April, the Bank of Spain ordered lenders to review their portfolios of refinanced loans, including mortgages, to make sure they’re classified in a uniform way. Lenders had 208 billion euros of loans on their books that they’d restructured or refinanced as of the end of 2012, according to the regulator.

The review led the regulator to the preliminary conclusion that classifying all refinanced loans correctly would cause a 21 billion-euro increase in defaults.Lenders would need to generate a further 5 billion euros of provisions to cover the losses.

The default rate for Banco Santander SA (SAN)’s Spanish mortgages jumped to 7 percent in September from 3.1 percent in June as it reclassified loans that it had refinanced.

“As a bank this will be the main focus area, whether you are properly recording your non-performing loans, especially the refinanced ones,” said Alexander Pelteshki, an analyst at ING Financial Markets in Amsterdam. “There is an urgency to come clean.”

But it's not going to get better any time soon...

“Until Spain starts creating jobs and credit starts flowing again, house prices aren’t going to recover,” Beatriz Toribio, head of research at Fotocasa, said. “We expect further price declines, albeit smaller than in previous years, in 2014.”

Credit to Zero Hedge 

State can seize your assets to pay for care after you’re forced into Medicaid by Obamacare

My, this is an unpleasant consequence of Obamacare. I’m not going to call it unintended because in its current form, it potentially earns a bunch of money for states, so I’m pretty sure that’s intentional. What I think is unintentional is anyone noticing this is what they’re up to.

But the Seattle Times noticed:

It wasn’t the moonlight, holiday-season euphoria or family pressure that made Sophia Prins and Gary Balhorn, both 62, suddenly decide to get married.

It was the fine print.

As fine print is wont to do, it had buried itself in a long form — Balhorn’s application for free health insurance through the expanded state Medicaid program. As the paperwork lay on the dining-room table in Port Townsend, Prins began reading.

She was shocked: If you’re 55 or over, Medicaid can come back after you’re dead and bill your estate for ordinary health-care expenses.

The way Prins saw it, that meant health insurance via Medicaid is hardly “free” for Washington residents 55 or older. It’s a loan, one whose payback requirements aren’t well advertised. And it penalizes people who, despite having a low income, have managed to keep a home or some savings they hope to pass to heirs, Prins said.

So, here’s the deal. There used to be a provision whereby the state could recuperate funds spent on a Medicaid patient post-55 years old from whatever assets he owned. So, a low-income individual in nursing home care after age 55 might pass away and his kids would find out the family home or car of whatever he had to his name had to be bought back from the state if they wanted it. It’s called estate recovery, and sounds pretty shady if it’s not boldly advertised as the terms for Medicaid enrollment, which is most definitely is not.

Before the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion, there weren’t that many people in Medicaid who had much in the way of assets for seizing. But now that Medicaid enrollment requirements have been relaxed, more people with assets but low income are joining the program or being forced into it. For instance, a couple in their 50s who, say, retired early after losing jobs in the bad economy may have assets but show a very low income. Under Obamacare, if their income is low enough to qualify for Medicaid, they must enroll in Medicaid unless they want to buy totally unsubsidized coverage in the now-inflated individual market. As teh Times notes, this is no small difference:

People cannot receive a tax credit to subsidize their purchase of a private health plan if their income qualifies them for Medicaid, said Bethany Frey, spokeswoman for the Washington Health Benefit Exchange.

But they could buy a health plan without a tax credit, she added.

For someone age 55 to 64 at the Medicaid-income level — below $15,856 a year — it’s quite a jump from free Medicaid health insurance to an unsubsidized individual plan. Premiums in King County for an age 60 non-tobacco user for the most modest plan run from $451 to $859 per month.

The couple in the Times story was able to marry, combine their incomes, and get out of the Medicaid trap. Others will not be so lucky, and may not even read the fine print:

Prins, an artist, and Balhorn, a retired fisherman-turned-tango instructor, separately qualified for health insurance through Medicaid based on their sole incomes.

But if they were married, they calculated, they could “just squeak by” with enough income to qualify for a subsidized health plan — and avoid any encumbrance on the home they hope to leave to Prins’ two sons.

For no one else in the world is it a-okay to give low-income people a loan that might endanger their family’s assets and not even clearly inform them they’re getting a loan.

This Daily Kos diarist has a nice write-up (I know) on the toll this could take on lower and middle-class people looking for relief and getting what amounts to a surprise predatory loan instead:

We haven’t had lots of people younger than 65 on Medicaid, because in most states simply earning less than the Federal Poverty Level did not qualify one for Medicaid.

And we haven’t had many people with lots of assets on Medicaid, because in most places you have to have less than around $2400 to your name before Medicaid will cover you. You can keep your house and your car, but Medicaid reserves the right to put liens on them and take them when you die.

But now we have the Affordable Care Act, and its expectation that everyone in the lower tier of income will end up in the Medicaid system. To accomplish this, they have dropped the asset test. So now we will have lots of people ages 55-64, who have assets but not a lot of income right now, for whatever reason, on Medicaid.

The kicker of it is, if you make the right amount to qualify for a subsidized health insurance plan, your costs are going to be shared and subsidized by the government. But if you go on Medicaid, you owe the entire amount that Medicaid spends on you from the day you turn 55…

How will this play out? No one knows, as far as I can tell. But it is easy to see how this could become a real problem. If someone is low income and goes on Medicaid, will Medicaid put a lien on their house? If they need to sell their house and move, will they then lose all their equity in paying off the lien? Will people get hit with bills and liens for many thousands of dollars, even if they were healthy and hardly ever went to the doctor?

The fact that this is being treated with seriousness at Kos is an indication of how large a liability it could be for this government program. Washington is scrambling to change the law. No doubt other states will start looking at their implementation of this part of Obamacare. But there will be people caught unaware that their houses effectively belong to the government because the government forced them into Medicaid coverage. You’re welcome!

Credit to Hot Air

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