BBC Online recently posted on 'Your pictures of urban growth' - a project to collect pictures on urbanisation - before & after:
"The pace of change over the last 50 years has swallowed up large tracts of countryside and transformed towns into cities, cities into megacities.
The BBC is running a special season of features, quizzes, picture galleries and statistical guides starting next week and we would like your help.
Have you any pictures showing the old and the new? We're interested in images that show the 'before and after' of urbanisation. Have you photographs of rural areas before the arrival of concrete? Send them to yourpics@bbc.co.uk."
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Swarming Satellites
This just in: NASA, MIT, and the ESA are working on satellites that swarm....
Yep - according to Worldchanging:
"We're not talking about sets of multiple satellites which can all be coordinated from the ground to work together; that doesn't count, useful as it is, because it requires control from the ground. We're not even talking about the ESA's set of satellites named SWARM from 2004; they were another of the dozens of groups of ground-controlled devices launched over the last several decades (which include communications satellites, GPS satellites, etc.) We're talking about satellites that exhibit autonomous collective behavior: devices that don't have a whole lot of intelligence in each one, and don't need to communicate with each other or mission control to decide their actions, but when taken as a group they can complete complex tasks that are difficult or impossible for large single satellites (or astronauts) to achieve."
Swarming - from complex mobilities to satellites! I'll keep an eye on this...
Yep - according to Worldchanging:
"We're not talking about sets of multiple satellites which can all be coordinated from the ground to work together; that doesn't count, useful as it is, because it requires control from the ground. We're not even talking about the ESA's set of satellites named SWARM from 2004; they were another of the dozens of groups of ground-controlled devices launched over the last several decades (which include communications satellites, GPS satellites, etc.) We're talking about satellites that exhibit autonomous collective behavior: devices that don't have a whole lot of intelligence in each one, and don't need to communicate with each other or mission control to decide their actions, but when taken as a group they can complete complex tasks that are difficult or impossible for large single satellites (or astronauts) to achieve."
Swarming - from complex mobilities to satellites! I'll keep an eye on this...
Wi-Fi Meters
The Gov.tech site reports in 'Wi-Fi Meters' that the wireless network movement is joining a new generation of high-tech meters to improve data gathering and increase revenue:
"Hoping to gain efficiencies in police, utility and maintenance efforts, cities from Portland, Ore., to Philadelphia are planning wireless networks, which will also offer untethered Internet access to citizens.
One especially promising area is parking, where the wireless network movement is joining a new generation of high-tech meters to improve data gathering and increase revenue."
Although this is a US project at the moment, one wonders whether it will wander over the Atlantic in the not too distant future?
"Hoping to gain efficiencies in police, utility and maintenance efforts, cities from Portland, Ore., to Philadelphia are planning wireless networks, which will also offer untethered Internet access to citizens.
One especially promising area is parking, where the wireless network movement is joining a new generation of high-tech meters to improve data gathering and increase revenue."
Although this is a US project at the moment, one wonders whether it will wander over the Atlantic in the not too distant future?
The Guardian moves to the web
The Guardian newspaper has announced - 'The web trail' - that it will publish its stories first to the web, effectively ending the primacy of the printed newspaper:
'The Mail is moving internet staff into its newsroom, the Telegraph is stepping up its digital operation - possibly with some internal confusion about its ultimate destination - and every man and woman at News International is scurrying to satisfy Rupert Murdoch's new interest in the medium.
But for a newspaper to say that the website comes first is a big, big step. Ever since the second coming of the internet - the first coming ended around 2001, to the delight of all those newspaper executives who didn't like the look of it - there has been a given in newspaper offices: we will take the internet seriously, but we must not let it get in the way of our primary business, which is publishing a paper each night.'
Will this signal further Net-moves for other newspapers? Each newspaper nowadays employs the use of bloggers - will this signal increased importance for bloggers?
'The Mail is moving internet staff into its newsroom, the Telegraph is stepping up its digital operation - possibly with some internal confusion about its ultimate destination - and every man and woman at News International is scurrying to satisfy Rupert Murdoch's new interest in the medium.
But for a newspaper to say that the website comes first is a big, big step. Ever since the second coming of the internet - the first coming ended around 2001, to the delight of all those newspaper executives who didn't like the look of it - there has been a given in newspaper offices: we will take the internet seriously, but we must not let it get in the way of our primary business, which is publishing a paper each night.'
Will this signal further Net-moves for other newspapers? Each newspaper nowadays employs the use of bloggers - will this signal increased importance for bloggers?
Sunday, June 11, 2006
Top politicians pay homage to king of bloggers
The Guardian has travelled to Las Vegas to see just how influential political bloggers are becoming - or have become!
In 'Top politicians pay homage to king of bloggers' they write that
"Thousands of bloggers gathered last week in the Riviera to exchange ideas, debate and plot their steady takeover of journalism and political debate from newspapers, magazines and television.
Anyone who thinks blogging is over-rated should have looked at the guest list of power players who followed the blogging herd to Las Vegas to woo and be wooed by these latest additions to the political scene. Reporters and columnists from all the main newspapers showed up, as did Democratic strategists. Even potential Democrat candidates for the 2008 presidential election pitched up to network and sell their political wares to the online community. Although the event was meant to appeal to all parties, its guest list was overwhelmingly liberal."
One of the mosy influential political bloggers - Moulitsas - now has "more readers than many large American newspapers. His website gets about 20 million unique visits each month, a figure that dwarfs many global media organisations. This has made him a genuine power in politics. His views are sought out by political journalists and he has appeared as a pundit on television."
No longer just a band of nerds, mmm?
In 'Top politicians pay homage to king of bloggers' they write that
"Thousands of bloggers gathered last week in the Riviera to exchange ideas, debate and plot their steady takeover of journalism and political debate from newspapers, magazines and television.
Anyone who thinks blogging is over-rated should have looked at the guest list of power players who followed the blogging herd to Las Vegas to woo and be wooed by these latest additions to the political scene. Reporters and columnists from all the main newspapers showed up, as did Democratic strategists. Even potential Democrat candidates for the 2008 presidential election pitched up to network and sell their political wares to the online community. Although the event was meant to appeal to all parties, its guest list was overwhelmingly liberal."
One of the mosy influential political bloggers - Moulitsas - now has "more readers than many large American newspapers. His website gets about 20 million unique visits each month, a figure that dwarfs many global media organisations. This has made him a genuine power in politics. His views are sought out by political journalists and he has appeared as a pundit on television."
No longer just a band of nerds, mmm?
Electronic 'spy in the road'
The Independent writes about new satellite technology that may be about to achieve the end of the traffic warden. A British firm has invented a system of sensors that could wipe out the infamous parking enforcers patrolling the UK's towns and cities.
Electronic 'spy in the road' may replace traffic wardens:
"Resembling a conventional cat's-eye, the aluminum road studs can be installed in the road surface in seconds. Using a tiny satellite receiver they immediately sense when a car has parked over them because the signal is blocked.
When vehicles park in no-parking zones or overstay their time limits, even by a second, a message is sent to a central computer. This could then prompt an automatic camera, similar to those used in bus lanes, to photograph the offending vehicle. The first a motorist would know about it would be when a fine turns up at their home."
Automation of all disliked services?
Electronic 'spy in the road' may replace traffic wardens:
"Resembling a conventional cat's-eye, the aluminum road studs can be installed in the road surface in seconds. Using a tiny satellite receiver they immediately sense when a car has parked over them because the signal is blocked.
When vehicles park in no-parking zones or overstay their time limits, even by a second, a message is sent to a central computer. This could then prompt an automatic camera, similar to those used in bus lanes, to photograph the offending vehicle. The first a motorist would know about it would be when a fine turns up at their home."
Automation of all disliked services?
Indian eye doctors
This is an interesting development in tele-care, or mobile technologies of care: researchers at the University of California,Berkeley,and at Intel Corporation have developed a new technology "based on "Wi-Fi" wireless networks" which,"allows eye specialists at Aravind Eye Hospital at Theni in the southern India state of Tamil Nadu to interview and examine patients in five remote clinics via a high-quality video conference.
According to the article - 'New wireless networking system brings eye care to thousands in India' -
"The information technology revolution holds tremendous potential for addressing problems in developing countries," said Eric Brewer, a UC Berkeley professor of computer science and director of the Intel Research Berkeley lab who initiated efforts to develop the technology. "Historically, though, most projects have been either too expensive or too technologically complex to be used in poor, rural areas. What we've done here is develop a simple, inexpensive software and hardware system that can provide villages with a high-bandwidth connection to computer networks in cities as far as 50 miles away."
According to the article - 'New wireless networking system brings eye care to thousands in India' -
"The information technology revolution holds tremendous potential for addressing problems in developing countries," said Eric Brewer, a UC Berkeley professor of computer science and director of the Intel Research Berkeley lab who initiated efforts to develop the technology. "Historically, though, most projects have been either too expensive or too technologically complex to be used in poor, rural areas. What we've done here is develop a simple, inexpensive software and hardware system that can provide villages with a high-bandwidth connection to computer networks in cities as far as 50 miles away."
Pentagon sets its sights on social networking websites
A NewScientist post titled 'Pentagon sets its sights on social networking websites' looks at how sites such as MySpace and Friendster could be the latest target of the US National Security Agency as it gathers personal data for counter-terrorism:
"New Scientist has discovered that Pentagon's National Security Agency, which specialises in eavesdropping and code-breaking, is funding research into the mass harvesting of the information that people post about themselves on social networks. And it could harness advances in internet technology - specifically the forthcoming "semantic web" championed by the web standards organisation W3C - to combine data from social networking websites with details such as banking, retail and property records, allowing the NSA to build extensive, all-embracing personal profiles of individuals."
No sites are free from information collection: mobile identities for immobility of the individual?
"New Scientist has discovered that Pentagon's National Security Agency, which specialises in eavesdropping and code-breaking, is funding research into the mass harvesting of the information that people post about themselves on social networks. And it could harness advances in internet technology - specifically the forthcoming "semantic web" championed by the web standards organisation W3C - to combine data from social networking websites with details such as banking, retail and property records, allowing the NSA to build extensive, all-embracing personal profiles of individuals."
No sites are free from information collection: mobile identities for immobility of the individual?
Thursday, June 08, 2006
Cosmobilities Newsletter
Hot off the press! The brand new second issue of the Cosmobilities Newsletter.
This time it basically provides information around the upcoming Air Time-Spaces conference in September in Lancaster. Also included is a portrait of some of the projects going on at the CeMoRe centre at Lancaster -
For the Air Time-Spaces - Please, register quickly! A small number of places is still available. All information necessary for registration you get from the cosmobilities website.
And, please feel free to circulate this newsletter as widely as possible - available as a pdf-file here.
This time it basically provides information around the upcoming Air Time-Spaces conference in September in Lancaster. Also included is a portrait of some of the projects going on at the CeMoRe centre at Lancaster -
For the Air Time-Spaces - Please, register quickly! A small number of places is still available. All information necessary for registration you get from the cosmobilities website.
And, please feel free to circulate this newsletter as widely as possible - available as a pdf-file here.
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
The Week in Sustainable Mobility (6/4/06)
This week in sustainable mobility is discussed:
LIGHT-DUTY HYBRIDS and PLUG-IN HYBRIDS
Ricardo, QinetiQ and PSA Peugeot Citroën presented the results of their Efficient-C two-year collaborative research project: a parallel hybrid-electric diesel demonstrator vehicle emitting just 99 g/km CO2 (equivalent to 3.75 liters per 100km or more than 63 mpg US) based on a fully featured Citroën Berlingo Multispace family car. (GCC.)
Plus more on bio-fuel hybrids and news on battery vehicles.
Via Worldchanging
LIGHT-DUTY HYBRIDS and PLUG-IN HYBRIDS
Ricardo, QinetiQ and PSA Peugeot Citroën presented the results of their Efficient-C two-year collaborative research project: a parallel hybrid-electric diesel demonstrator vehicle emitting just 99 g/km CO2 (equivalent to 3.75 liters per 100km or more than 63 mpg US) based on a fully featured Citroën Berlingo Multispace family car. (GCC.)
Plus more on bio-fuel hybrids and news on battery vehicles.
Via Worldchanging
MySociety Travel Maps
MySociety is a project that has created a tool to help individuals and communities to travel, in terms of cost and time, and offers what some other online trip-planning map services don't:
'Essentially, rather than find travel routes based upon known destinations, you can find out how long it takes to get to certain places using various modes of transit, and choose your destination based upon that information (useful in making decisions about where to work, where to live, or where to enjoy leisure travel).
The colour scale is in hours of total travel time. Warm colours indicate short travel time—red for four hours or less, orange and yellow for four to eight hours—and cool colours longer journeys...Areas with no colour at all...cannot be reached at all by rail and a taxi journey of up to one hour.' (Via Worldchanging)
'Essentially, rather than find travel routes based upon known destinations, you can find out how long it takes to get to certain places using various modes of transit, and choose your destination based upon that information (useful in making decisions about where to work, where to live, or where to enjoy leisure travel).
The colour scale is in hours of total travel time. Warm colours indicate short travel time—red for four hours or less, orange and yellow for four to eight hours—and cool colours longer journeys...Areas with no colour at all...cannot be reached at all by rail and a taxi journey of up to one hour.' (Via Worldchanging)
5th annual mobility roundtable
For mobility news - The 5th Annual Mobility Roundtable was held in Helsinki from 1-2 June 2006,hosted by the Helsinki School of Economics the ITU Strategy and Policy Unit Newslog reports.The 6th roundtable will be held in Los Angeles (California) in June 2007,hosted by the University of Southern California.The programme,and all final papers can be found on the link above.
Via Smartmobs
Via Smartmobs
Smartmobbing disaster relief
More on social networks and disaster relief: a blog called WorldWideHelp is for a "General newsgroup and rallying point for power bloggers, wiki experts, database adepts, etc., for calls to action and volunteers to provide information post-disasters."
According to a post on Smartmobs - 'This blog was started by several founders and members of the SEA EAT (South East Asian Earthquake And Tsunami) blog, wiki and database, which gained worldwide attention at the time of the earthquake and tsunami on 26th December, 2004. The group, now The World Wide Help Group, has since remobilised to aid in other relief efforts.'
This is a great example of the blogosphere and collaborative cooperation working for disaster relief.
According to a post on Smartmobs - 'This blog was started by several founders and members of the SEA EAT (South East Asian Earthquake And Tsunami) blog, wiki and database, which gained worldwide attention at the time of the earthquake and tsunami on 26th December, 2004. The group, now The World Wide Help Group, has since remobilised to aid in other relief efforts.'
This is a great example of the blogosphere and collaborative cooperation working for disaster relief.
Digital Planet - disaster management
This week's Digital Planet - 05/06/06 Digital Planet - has a useful look at the use of communications in disaster recovery - a hot topic:
'This week we look at the role software can play in disaster management. How do NGOs and governments keep track of missing people or work out where to send food aid? A unique system developed in Sri Lanka following the Tsunami is now providing the answer. We hear from Malaysia about the country's faltering dream of becoming the IT hub for Asia. Huge investment went into the development and construction of a cyber corridor ten years ago, but the project has been dogged by incompetence and a prescriptive approach from the developers. The programme also examines forgery of online data. The British library has responsibility for collecting all works published in Britain, including web pages. But with the huge range of image altering tools available it?s far easier to change digital images than printed ones.'
'This week we look at the role software can play in disaster management. How do NGOs and governments keep track of missing people or work out where to send food aid? A unique system developed in Sri Lanka following the Tsunami is now providing the answer. We hear from Malaysia about the country's faltering dream of becoming the IT hub for Asia. Huge investment went into the development and construction of a cyber corridor ten years ago, but the project has been dogged by incompetence and a prescriptive approach from the developers. The programme also examines forgery of online data. The British library has responsibility for collecting all works published in Britain, including web pages. But with the huge range of image altering tools available it?s far easier to change digital images than printed ones.'
Monday, June 05, 2006
Proposal to Implant Tracking Chips in Immigrants
LiveScience.com has a story - Proposal to Implant Tracking Chips in Immigrants
- whereby Chairman of VeriChip proposes, on television, to implant immigrants with RFID tags:
"Scott Silverman, Chairman of the Board of VeriChip Corporation, has proposed implanting the company's RFID tracking tags in immigrant and guest workers. He made the statement on national television on May 16.
Silverman was being interviewed on "Fox & Friends." Responding to the Bush administration's call to know "who is in our country and why they are here," he proposed using VeriChip RFID implants to register workers at the border, and then verify their identities in the workplace. He added, "We have talked to many people in Washington about using it...."
Another scary sign of where RFID technology could be heading...
- whereby Chairman of VeriChip proposes, on television, to implant immigrants with RFID tags:
"Scott Silverman, Chairman of the Board of VeriChip Corporation, has proposed implanting the company's RFID tracking tags in immigrant and guest workers. He made the statement on national television on May 16.
Silverman was being interviewed on "Fox & Friends." Responding to the Bush administration's call to know "who is in our country and why they are here," he proposed using VeriChip RFID implants to register workers at the border, and then verify their identities in the workplace. He added, "We have talked to many people in Washington about using it...."
Another scary sign of where RFID technology could be heading...
Get a weather warning by text: 'Head4shelter'
In Sunday's Observer newspaper an article - Get a weather warning by text: 'Head4shelter' - describes how a new website is to offer an SMS service to warn mobile users of location-specific weather:
"You plan to spend the day watching tennis at Wimbledon. Before setting off, you type 'SW19' into a website, which, while you are on your way, sends you a text message: 'Rain coming your way.' You decide tennis is not such a good idea and go to the Tate instead...The website netweather.tv is to offer subscribers SMS text warnings of imminent downpours, sensitive to within a few miles and updatable every quarter of an hour.
'If you're putting the washing out to dry, or thinking of having a barbecue, an SMS rain warning will make your life a lot easier,' said Paul Michaelwaite, managing director of netweather.tv."
Yes - but lets remember Michael Fish's prediction of calm weather before the hurricane struck!?
"You plan to spend the day watching tennis at Wimbledon. Before setting off, you type 'SW19' into a website, which, while you are on your way, sends you a text message: 'Rain coming your way.' You decide tennis is not such a good idea and go to the Tate instead...The website netweather.tv is to offer subscribers SMS text warnings of imminent downpours, sensitive to within a few miles and updatable every quarter of an hour.
'If you're putting the washing out to dry, or thinking of having a barbecue, an SMS rain warning will make your life a lot easier,' said Paul Michaelwaite, managing director of netweather.tv."
Yes - but lets remember Michael Fish's prediction of calm weather before the hurricane struck!?
Web users to 'patrol' US border
In a BBCOnline post - 'Web users to 'patrol' US border' - the issue of webcam surveillance is discussed, here in relation to the Mexican border:
"A US state is to enlist web users in its fight against illegal immigration by offering live surveillance footage of the Mexican border on the internet.
The plan will allow web users worldwide to watch Texas' border with Mexico and phone the authorities if they spot any apparently illegal crossings."
Again - the collaborative effect of utilising web-networked individuals. However, this time it's in a more Foucauldian sense of self-regulation & 'technologies of the self': the people survey themselves as if in a digitised neighbourhood watch - a multitude of little brothers...
"A US state is to enlist web users in its fight against illegal immigration by offering live surveillance footage of the Mexican border on the internet.
The plan will allow web users worldwide to watch Texas' border with Mexico and phone the authorities if they spot any apparently illegal crossings."
Again - the collaborative effect of utilising web-networked individuals. However, this time it's in a more Foucauldian sense of self-regulation & 'technologies of the self': the people survey themselves as if in a digitised neighbourhood watch - a multitude of little brothers...
Manchester - Top satellite town!
According to the Times - in a post called 'Top satellite town' - the 'drivers of Manchester appear to have dispensed with their maps and embraced the satellite revolution'.
More GPS on British roads...read the article to find out which other cities are hot on using GPS road travel.
More GPS on British roads...read the article to find out which other cities are hot on using GPS road travel.
Thursday, June 01, 2006
Wireless Networking in the Developing World
I've recently come across a new book - co-authored by SeattleWireless pioneer Rob Flickenger - called Wireless Networking in the Developing World.
It's aimed at communities and activists in developing countries - to roll out their own telcos using Wi-Fi and other unlicensed wireless networking technologies.
And its available free as a Creative Commons-licensed PDF download.
It's aimed at communities and activists in developing countries - to roll out their own telcos using Wi-Fi and other unlicensed wireless networking technologies.
And its available free as a Creative Commons-licensed PDF download.
Top 15 Countries in Mobile, January 2006
Follow the link here to see a graph that "shows the 15 countries with the largest number of mobile subscribers.China is by far the overall leader with 393.4 million subscribers,almost twice as many as the United States in second place with 201.7 million".Russia (120),Japan (94.7) and Brazil (86.2) make up the top five.
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