Early Edition

1. GPS Warrants
Seriously, this made it all the way to the Supreme Court? Is this not an easy answer? Of course the police shouldn’t be allowed to attach a GPS device to your vehicle (private property) without a warrant! It doesn’t matter whether the car is on a public road, for crying out loud! Even under the current law police are only allowed to search your vehicle under a specific set of circumstances without a warrant or consent, and that is a one-time search and not a days- or even months-long surveillance operation. Good lord.

2. Never Trust a Microphone
Every politician gets caught being honest when a mic is accidentally left on at some point in their careers. Apparently Presidents Obama and Sarkozy had their moment yesterday when a private conversation between the two leaders was overhead by the media after their mics were left on. Sarkozy was reportedly overheard to call Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “liar” and say that he “can’t stand” him, to which Obama replied, “You’re fed up with him? I have to deal with him every day!” Cue the trombone: wah waaaaaaah.

3. Death Row Inmate Recieves Stay of Execution For DNA Testing
Yet another case of a man literally within minutes of being killed by the state without the benefit of DNA evidence. Fortunately for him the state of Texas granted him a temporary stay until DNA testing that may prove his innocence can be conducted.

4. Scientists Seek to Create Cellular “Operating System”
I don’t understand the mechanics of this exactly, but if this endeavor proves successful it sounds like synthetic biology would enter an “industrial era” in which mass production of programmable cells and organisms could bring the field into the mainstream and, in all likelihood, a more commercial realm.

5. ASIMO Is Back (without the stairs…)!
As much as I view robots as largely impractical curiosities in their current forms (and in some cases nothing more than grant-funded fulfillments of deviant Japanese masochistic fantasies), I do hold out hope that this private and military R&D will continue without discouragement until they at least manage to refine the current powersuit prototypes into fully functional battle-mechs. I mean anytime I see a robot the first question I literally always ask is "Yes, but have you thought about mounting miniguns, mortars or maybe even a bank off hellfire missiles on it?"

6. Yup, Cyberwar Will Destroy Us All
Dire assessment from America’s top national and cybersecurity experts saying America is woefully unprepared to protect its infrastructure from cyberattack.