Sentinel
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California gang members to sport GPS trackers
Things just seem to be going downhill ever since the courts ruled that dodgy GPS tracking wasn't unlawful, and here again we're seeing Big Brother tactics being used to keep a sharp eye on ex-criminals. While no variety of console is being handed out to folks who rat out San Bernardino County gang members, officials are hoping to get several Senate Bills and an Assembly Bill passed which would divvy out "harsher punishments and monitoring standards for gang members." Essentially, ex-gang members would be required to sport GPS tracking devices so The Man can "track adult gang members currently on probation," which certainly would give them a reason to ponder whether jumping at the next temptation is really worth it. Currently, the pilot program is up and running in Apple Valley and Victorville, and so far "35 adult probationers have been fitted with GPS devices," but if you mischievous ones are counting on a lack of funding to dry this initiative up real quick like, you should probably know that Sentinel is providing the devices for the current program "at no cost."[Via TheRawFeed]
iRobot announces "Sentinel" robot army project
Cheeky folk that they are, the engineers at iRobot have chosen Halloween to take the wraps off their latest super-secret project, codenamed "Sentinel" -- it won't clean your floors, but should it fall into the wrong hands, could make crumbs the least of your worries. Funded by the U.S. Army's Small Business Innovation and Research program, the project allows for multiple semi-autonomous robots to be controlled from a single touch-screen computer. While the intended uses for the project are mostly non-hostile at the moment -- like conducting surveillance and mapping in hostile environments -- it seems only a matter of time before the bots get outfitted with some pint-sized weaponry. Lets just hope they're restricted to fighting each other.
