

VAPR. It sounds like a nefarious spy agency bent on world domination, doesn't it?

Instead, VAPR stands for Vanishing Programmable Resources, and it's a new program created by DARPA -- the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency -- to develop tech that self-destructs either on demand or at a pre-scheduled time. That's not to say it isn't involved in the world of espionage. That's exactly its point. According to DARPA:

Sophisticated electronics can be made at low cost and are increasingly pervasive throughout the battlefield. Large numbers can be widely proliferated and used for applications such as distributed remote sensing and communications. However, it is nearly impossible to track and recover every device resulting in unintended accumulation in the environment and potential unauthorized use and compromise of intellectual property and technological advantage.

That's all another way of saying: "We want to send spy toys over enemy lines that we might not be able to get back, so we want to blow them up before the enemy gets them." … Read more

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Some stories make you wonder.

Some, however, make your eyeballs cease to move.






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They're different there. They're tight-lipped and generally superior.


The Sun got hold of a bookRead more

Apple's biggest problem: People might quit?

There is something slightly entertaining about the alleged crisis at the world's most famous and successful company.

Just because a bunch of greasy-haired speculators have decided that Apple's shares are worth less than Google's (this week), garments are rended and teeth gnashed.

And then there's teens. Apparently, they're all fleeing the brand and rushing toward Microsoft's Surface. Which, apparently, isn't selling well.

In times of such rampant face-contorting and mind-numbing, I always remember the words of Mitt Romney: "Companies are people, too."

And so it is that in a rather more measured discussionRead more








Best Web sites for older job seekers

The pundits can't decide whether the real unemployment problem is older people taking jobs from younger people or younger people taking jobs from older people.

Unemployed and underemployed folks in their 40s, 50s, or older just want a job that will keep the bill-collectors at bay, and maybe even provide a little fulfillment.

The recent slow decline in the U.S. unemployment rate may be misleading.'s Peter Ferrara writes that the labor force participation rate has dropped from 65.7 percent in 2009 to 63.5 percent at the end of 2011. Ferrara claims the true … Read more