Four short links: 28 June 2019

Heartbeat Identity, Seam Carving, Q&A Facilitation, and Secure Data in Distributed Systems

1. The Pentagon Has a Laser That Can Identify People From a Distance By Their Heartbeat (MIT TR) -- A new device, developed for the Pentagon after U.S. Special Forces requested it, can identify people without seeing their faces: instead, it detects their unique cardiac signature with an infrared laser. While it works at 200 meters (219 yards), longer distances could be possible with a better laser. [...] It takes about 30 seconds to get a good return, so at present the device is only effective where the subject is sitting or standing.
2. Real-world Dynamic Programming: Seam Carving -- nifty explanation of using dynamic programming (which has a reputation as a technique you learn in school, then only use to pass interviews at software companies) to implement intelligent image resizing.
3. How to Facilitate Q&As (Eve Tuck) -- People don’t always bring their best selves to the Q&A—people can act out their own discomfort about the approach or the topic of the talk. We need to do better. I believe in heavily mediated Q&A sessions.
4. Project Oak -- a specification and a reference implementation for the secure transfer, storage, and processing of data in distributed systems. From Google.

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