Microsoft Vendors Win a $7.6 Billion Deal for Pentagon Software

Vendors led by General Dynamics were awarded a contract for as much as $7.6 billion to provide Microsoft office software for the Pentagon, the Defense Department and General Services Administration said. From a report: While the Microsoft 360 productivity software is cloud-based, the contract isn’t related to the hotly disputed “JEDI” cloud project that the Pentagon has yet to award. Amazon.com…

Space Command set to open, will defend US interests in space

Mindful of President Donald Trump’s intense interest in space, the Pentagon is declaring U.S. Space Command open for business as part of a broader effort to better defend American interests in space. Source: https://phys.org/news/2019-08-space-defend.html…

Oracle Files New Appeal Over Pentagon’s $10B JEDI Cloud Contract RFP Process

You really have to give Oracle a lot of points for persistence, especially where the $10 billion JEDI cloud contract procurement process is concerned. An anonymous reader shares a report:For more than a year, the company has been complaining across every legal and government channel it can think of. In spite of every attempt to find some issue with the process,…

Amazon, Microsoft Are ‘Putting World At Risk of Killer AI,’ Says Study

oxide7 shares a report from International Business Times: Amazon, Microsoft and Intel are among leading tech companies putting the world at risk through killer robot development, according to a report that surveyed major players from the sector about their stance on lethal autonomous weapons. Dutch NGO Pax ranked 50 companies by three criteria: whether they were developing technology that could be…

Pentagon Conducts First Test of Previously Banned Missile

The U.S. military has conducted a flight test of a type of missile banned for more than 30 years by a treaty that both the United States and Russia abandoned this month, the Pentagon said. The Associated Press reports: The test off the coast of California on Sunday marked the resumption of an arms competition that some analysts worry could increase…

The US Army Wants To Microwave Drones in Midair

“The U.S. Army, as part of a broad counter-unmanned aerial systems strategy, is pushing forward with the U.S. Air Force to develop a high-powered microwave weapon,” reports Popular Mechanics: Microwave radiation can disrupt or destroy electronic equipment exposed to them, “cooking” internal circuits much in the same way a fork or other metal objects placed in a microwave oven will cause…

Pentagon is testing mass surveillance balloons

According to FCC documents, the US military has been experimenting with a new type of mass surveillance. Offering the option of a cheap monitoring pla… Source: https://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/news/329476/pentagon-is-testing-mass-surveillance-balloons…

NYT Publishes Anti-Google Rant, Doesn’t Mention Author Is Facebook Board Member

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Gizmodo: The New York Times published an anti-Google screed by billionaire Peter Thiel last night but failed to mention a fun fact that readers might find relevant: Thiel sits on the board of Facebook, one of Google’s largest competitors. Thiel first blasted Google as “treasonous” last month, saying that the FBI and CIA should…

Trump Says He’s Looking Into a Pentagon Cloud Contract For Amazon or Microsoft

President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he’s seriously considering looking at a Pentagon contract that’s said to be worth up to $10 billion for Microsoft or Amazon. From a report: “I never had something where more people are complaining,” Trump said, adding that he’s going to take a close look at it. “We’re getting tremendous complaints from other companies,” Trump…