More Cars or More Transportation Alternatives?

Tata Motors, one of Asia's leading automakers, is gearing up to tap into India's middle-class market by releasing the "world's cheapest car" in 2008. According to Worldchanging:

Tata plans to sell its "affordable" four-door vehicle at a sticker price of $2,500, or half the cost of the cheapest new car available in India today. As disposable incomes rise nationwide, the vehicle may lead India's 1.1 billion people closer to Western patterns of car consumption--and bring similar environmental and traffic problems, according to critics. In 2004, India had 145.9 persons per passenger car, and the United States had 2.2 persons per car.

"Can you imagine if even half of the 1.1 billion Indians owned a car?" Mahesh Mehta, an environmental lawyer based in New Delhi, noted in a recent Washington Post article. "We should not be following the Western model of car ownership. I think this will be disastrous in India." As an alternative to more cars, Mehta supports better public transportation to improve the Indian quality of life.

Read more in - More Cars or More Transportation Alternatives: What Will the World Choose?

Pentagon Future Forecasts...?

This sounds eerily similar to the US Homeland Security's failed and botched attempt to set up a future forecasting and derivatives project for potential future 'terrorist' attacks. Now the Pentagon is paying Lockheed Martin to try to predict insurgencies and civil unrest like the weather - 'It's part of a larger military effort to blend forecasting software with social science that has some counterinsurgency experts cringing' says the Danger Room Blog:

Lockheed recently won a $1.3 million, 15-month contract from the Defense Department to help develop the "Integrated Crises Early Warning System, or ICEWS. The program will "let military commanders anticipate and respond to worldwide political crises and predict events of interest and stability of countries of interest with greater than 80 percent accuracy," the company claims. "Rebellions, insurgencies, ethnic/religious violence, civil war, and major economic crises" will all be predictable. So will "combinations of strategies, tactics, and resources to mitigate [against those] instabilities."

DARPA, the Pentagon's bleeding-edge research arm, laid out the case for ICEWS this summer at its conference, held outside of Disneyworld. "Commanders will always need to have an accurate picture of enemy positions, as well as friendly units and allies," David Honey, who heads the agency’s Strategic Technology Office, told confab-goers in Anaheim, California. "But increasingly it’s social, cultural, political and economic information, foreign language capabilities and other clues – that are proving essential."

Read in full - 'Pentagon Forecast: Cloudy, 80% Chance of Riots'

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A Carbon-Free, Stackable Rental Car?

TechReview in their post 'A Carbon-Free, Stackable Rental Car' writes that:

The Smart Cities group at the MIT Media Lab is working on two low-cost electric vehicles that it hopes will revolutionize mass transit and help alleviate pollution. Next week, the group will unveil a prototype of its foldable electric scooter at the EICMA Motorcycle Show, in Milan. A prototype for the team's foldable electric car, called the City Car, is slated to follow next year.

The MIT group sees the vehicles as the linchpin in a strategy that aims to mitigate pollution with electric power, expand limited public space by folding and stacking vehicles like shopping carts, and alleviate congestion by letting people rent and return the vehicles to racks located near transportation hubs, such as train stations, airports, and bus depots.

Pics on the post will help to illustrate their point.
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'Chatty' Indians and the mobile phone

The Economist magazine has an interesting article on mobile phones in India and how 'chatty' Indians have embraced the use of the mobile phone:

The average owner of a mobile handset spends 471 minutes (almost eight hours) on the phone each month, and sends 39 text messages. Those numbers do not capture other, more ingenious, uses for the device. For example, autorickshaw drivers will tell passengers to “hit me with a missed” (ie, call my mobile and hang up before I answer) when they want to be picked up for the journey home. Such tactics dent the phone companies' revenues. They now earn under 300 rupees ($7.50) a month on average per subscriber.

Not so long ago most Indians had to confine their arguments to those within earshot. By the early 1990s the Department of Telecommunications (DOT) and the state's two operators had installed only 8m lines. Some 2.5m people were on the waiting list, where some had languished for seven years.

Read in full - 'Chatty Indians have embraced the mobile phone, but many still shrug at the PC'

Thanks to Mobile-Society (and RL)

'Semantic' website promises to organise your life

NewScientistTech reports in ''Semantic' website promises to organise your life' how making sense of an ever-increasing number of emails, web pages, feeds, and social networking contacts is 'a tough job for even the most organised person' - But now a new website can organise your life like a personal assistant... (so say its developers!):

Radar Networks, a company based in San Francisco, US, is betting it can make sense of your information, by getting its website to learn to tell the difference between people, places, companies, and more.

Its website called Twine, which is currently in beta testing, harnesses the philosophy at the core of a discipline called the "semantic web".

The semantic web is an extension of the current web, but where information is stored in a machine-readable format. It should allow computers to handle information in more useful ways, by processing the meanings within documents instead of simply the documents themselves. To an extent, some web tools, such as tags, already tap into this philosophy.

New Mappings - bringing hyper-local information to its users

A new startup called YourStreet is bringing hyper-local information to its users by collecting news stories and placing them on its map-based interface:

While there have been many companies that combine information and maps, YourStreet is novel in its focus on classifying news by location...

...When a user opens the site, it detects her location and shows a map of that area, stuck with pins that represent the locations of news stories, user-generated content called conversations, and people who have added themselves to the map. The user can zoom in or out of the map or look at another location by entering a place name or zip code into a search bar. CEO and founder James Nicholson says that what sets YourStreet apart is its extensive news service: the site collects 30,000 to 40,000 articles a day from more than 10,000 RSS feeds, mostly from community newspapers and blogs.

Read full article from TechReview - 'Mapping News'

101 gadgets that changed the world

The Belfast Telegram has developed a list of 101 “gadgets” that have changed the world. The mobile phone and SMS are among them, alongside aspirin, barbed wire, bras, easers, fire, toilet flushing, microchips, floppy disks, light bulbs, laptops and iPods.... an interesting menagerie!

For example, No 33. Floppy disk, 1971: did you know that the first floppies, invented in 1971 by IBM geek Alan Shugart, held just 100 kilobytes; modern disks can store 1.44 megabytes. Today, the largest iPod can store the same amount of data as 113,778 floppy disks, which in a stack, would match the height of London's BT Tower. Factoid!

Read more in '101 gadgets that changed the world'

Thanks to Mobile-Society

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Broadband Internet access for high-speed trains

To follow-up from one of my earlier posts on Internet access for trains from Wednesday, October 10, 2007 where I discussed access for 2008, I now post some further developments.

A UK high-tech company that specialises in broadband Internet access on board high speed trains is to deliver the first ever true broadband Internet access to passengers travelling between Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam and Cologne.

21Net, as part of a consortium lead by Nokia Siemens Networks, will combine satellite, mobile phone technologies (GPRS and UMTS) with wireless networks similar to Wi-Fi Hotspots to provide a continuous Internet connection on board trains travelling at the speed of 300 km/h. The service is expected to be in full operation by 2008. According to a press release:

Next generation: jet-fighter technology enabling to equip any high speed trains

The 21Net system combines low-profile tracking antennas on the train with two-way “Ku-band” satellite transmission to deliver high bandwidth (2Mbit/s by 512kbit/s) connectivity to a master server on the train.

This unique system puts 21Net in an entirely different class to existing competitor systems, which rely on narrowband (56kbit/s) GPRS connections which are then shared between the simultaneous users on the train.

This high bandwidth can be shared by simultaneous users. On the train, WiFi (wireless LAN) connections are used between the master server and customers with WiFi enabled laptops and PDAs.

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Post-PC Era?

Are we heading towards a Post-PC Era? Apparently the PC’s role in Japanese homes is diminishing, and being superceded by gadgets such as smart phones, advanced Internet-connected game consoles, and digital video recorders. Smart Mobs writes that:

The Associated Press reports:

Japan’s PC market is shrinking, leading analysts to wonder whether Japan will become the first major market to see a decline in personal computer use some 25 years after it revolutionized household electronics — and whether this could be the picture of things to come in other countries.

“Consumers aren’t impressed anymore with bigger hard drives or faster processors. That’s not as exciting as a bigger TV,” Masahiro Katayama, research group head at market survey firm IDC said. “And in Japan, kids now grow up using mobile phones, not PCs. The future of PCs isn’t bright.”

Third Chinese Bloggers Conference

The Third Chinese Bloggers Conference was held in Beijing on Saturday, Nov, 3. According to the Virtual China site:

The Third Chinese Bloggers Conference was held in Beijing yesterday, Nov, 3. Around 200 people took part in the first day event. In the two-day conference, they are going to discuss and share different opinions about various topics, such as: SNS and the First Life; Wiki in Mainland China; The Chinese Bloggesphere in western scholars' eyes and why they are wrong; Art 1.5, etc. There are many other interesting topics, which can be found here.

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Champion Robot Car

So the verdict is in! Carnegie Mellon's computer-laden Chevy Tahoe wins the Urban Challenge and takes home the $2 million prize:

Boss successfully drove around an urban environment, avoiding other cars, and covering 60 miles (85km) in less than six hours, all without any human control.

The modified Chevrolet Tahoe was one of six cars that crossed the finish line, from a pack of 11 robotic vehicles which set off at dawn. The others had to pull out after crashes or other problems...

...Boss navigated around a simulated town, created on a disused US Air Force base in Victorville, in the Californian desert.

It had to deal with single and dual carriageway roads, junctions, buildings and car parks. As well as the 10 other driverless cars, Boss shared the road with more than 30 professional human drivers to simulate busy traffic.

Read:

- Robot cars race around California - BBC

- Champion Robot Car Declared - TechReview

E-patients' going online

This article 'Doctors more accepting of e-patients' going online' points towards a study released this month by the Pew Internet & American Life Project which confirmed what most doctors already know: The number of e-patients is growing:

About 51 percent of those living with a disability or chronic disease go online, compared with 74 percent of the rest of the population, according to the study. But once those with illnesses get online, they become some of the most avid Internet users.

Three-fourths of e-patients say information they found on the Web affected decisions about their treatment, according to the study. Nearly 69 percent said something they found on the Internet led them to ask their doctors new questions or get a second opinion.

The health-care industry, which once discouraged people from doing Internet research, is beginning to take notice of the e- patients' rise, said Susannah Fox, associate director of the Pew project, a Washington-based nonprofit group.

Via Roland’s Sunday Smart Trends #187

The Semantic Web - a smarter way to find information?

Another piece from TechReview, this time looking at how a company - Radar Networks - is releasing a free Web-based tool, called Twine, that it hopes will change the way people organize their information:

Twine is a website where people can dump information that's important to them, from strings of e-mails to YouTube videos. Or, if a user prefers, Twine can automatically collect all the Web pages she visited, e-mails she sent and received, and so on. Once Twine has some information, it starts to analyze it and automatically sort it into categories that include the people involved, concepts discussed, and places, organizations, and companies. This way, when a user is searching for something, she can have quick access to related information about it. Twine also uses elements of social networking so that a user has access to information collected by others in her network. All this creates a sort of "collective intelligence," says Nova Spivack, CEO and founder of Radar Networks.

Read in full - The Semantic Web Goes Mainstream

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Zipcar and Flexcar to Merge

GreenCarCongress has picked up the merger between the two big US car-share companies Zipcar and Flexcar:

Car-sharing providers Zipcar and Flexcar will merge. The combined company will operate under the Zipcar brand and be headquartered in Cambridge, MA, led by Zipcar Chairman and CEO, Scott Griffith.

Zipcar and Flexcar currently operate car sharing programs, providing members with on-demand access to a diverse fleet of vehicles located throughout major metropolitan areas. To use the service, members reserve a vehicle online or via a mobile device, use a smartcard to open the doors, take their trip, and then return the car at the end of the reservation. An hourly or daily fee covers gas, insurance, maintenance, parking and 24-7 emergency service.

The merger comes at a time when car sharing is increasingly acknowledged as a smart urban lifestyle choice and transportation alternative. With growing competition within the industry, and more than 30 independent car sharing companies operating in the US alone, the combined Zipcar will have a stronger base from which to compete—particularly against leading car rental firms’ product introductions targeted at the car-sharing industry.

Read - Zipcar and Flexcar to Merge

Apartment Building Social Networks

Smartmobs has a discussion on 'Apartment Building Social Networks' that engages in the debate elsewhere on the web:

Fact of the matter, Apartment Building Social Networks like LifeAt.com are also good for local search marketing - because they create contextually relevant local real estate content to advertise on. In fact, I predicted the rise of local social networks will call for most local businesses, that still don’t have websites, will want to once they have places nearby to advertise on.

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Tracking the California Fires

TechReview has been discussing how the National Interagency Fire Center has called on NASA to use its unmanned aerial vehicle equipped with a new thermal-imaging sensor to help track the fires:

The sensor is much more sensitive in the thermal range than are the line scanners that are normally used to map fires. The new sensor can also track a fire with greater accuracy, says Everett Hinkley, the National Remote Sensing Program manager at the U.S. Forest Service and a principal investigator...

...Capturing the images in real time is a major advance. Previously, images captured by a sensor had to be put on a "thumb drive" and dropped out of the aircraft through a tube as it flew near a command station, or the aircraft had to land so that the data could be given to a colleague to perform the analysis.

Read - Tracking the California Fires

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Generation Mesh: Working at Wi-Fi Hotspots

The blog over at Institute for the Future mentions Laura Forlano's new published piece in Vodafone's Receiver, which provides a view on her ongoing dissertation research into how public Wi-Fi is reshaping work and collaboration:

Here are some excerpts:

For Generation Mesh, Starbucks – as well as independent cafés, parks and other public spaces where it is possible to access the wireless internet – is a vital site for social interaction, professional support, collaboration and, even, community. I use this term in reference to mesh networks, sometimes called ad hoc networks, which are decentralized wireless networks in which every node can both send and receive information. They are dynamic, flexible and self-organizing.....

Seeking to create an officelike atmosphere – in contrast to the prospect of working at home in their pajamas – pioneers have founded collaborative office spaces... In essence, these new, ad hoc organizational forms that rely on clustering, in a "smart mob"-like fashion, around WiFi hotspots are simulating the office environment that they lack as remote workers, telecommuters, freelancers or self-employed workers.....


Read full article at - Vodafone Receiver » #19 | Generation Mesh
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Green Mobility Futures

Jamais Cascio over at Open the Future takes a look at a green future full of photovoltaic clothes and smart walls:

What does a future world of photovoltaic material look like? How do smart walls, "Watt Torrent" power-sharing networks, and electric hyperbikes sound to you? In Metropolis' latest issue, these scenario fragments come to life -- or, at least, show up in a 2017 version of Craig's List. I wrote the piece a few months ago, and it was easily the most fun I've had building a scenario in quite some time...

I went with the Craig's List conceit because it gave me a chance to play with some different manifestations of this future, and to hint at some of what it might include. Not just in terms of solar power and materials, but little bits of plausible surreality, like carbon quota checks in apartment applications.

Read more at Green Leap Forward

Greener travel

Two posts here from Roland Piquepaille's Technology Trends worth mentioning:

1) Toward greener jet fuels:

Researchers at Princeton University are currently working on two projects to reduce jet travel's role in global warming. The first one, a major project funded by the U.S. Air Force with $7.5 million, is focused on developing computational models that accurately simulate the burning of jet fuel, a complex process not well understood today. The second one, funded by NetJets, a company providing business jets, will help to develop new jet fuels with near-zero net greenhouse gas emissions.

2) The world's biodiesel potential:

Two researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-M) have ranked 226 countries according to their potential to make large volumes of biodiesel at low cost. Their evaluation of the world's potential to produce biodiesel shows that Malaysia, Thailand, Colombia, Uruguay and Ghana are the developing nations most likely to attract biodiesel investment for several reasons including agricultural and political factors. The researchers have estimated that 'a grand total of 51 billion liters of biodiesel could be produced annually -- enough to meet roughly 4-5 percent of the world's existing demand for petroleum diesel.'

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Biometrics testing at Gatwick Airport

Gatwick airport is the latest UK airport to trial biometric fingerprinting technology to boost immigration security:

The BioDev pilot has been running in the airport's North Terminal since 18 September and is due to end in April next year. At present only arrivals from Sierra Leone who have been issued with biometric visas in the capital Freetown will be included in the trial....

A Home Office spokeswoman explained that Sierra Leone was chosen because the main flight into Gatwick from the country arrives at a quiet time with a low number of passengers. This makes it logistically easier for immigration staff to trial the tech.

Read full story - 'Biometrics wing their way into Gatwick' - via Roland’s Sunday Smart Trends #184

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