British roads 'unfit for purpose'

BBCNews writes on a recent report which has stated that British roads are 'unfit for purpose':

Britain's transport infrastructure is "not fit for purpose", according to the Policy Exchange think tank.

It said Britain has the most congested roads, the fewest motorways and "some of the worst public transport" among leading industrialised countries. But in a report, it said "relatively small" road charging on congestion hotspots would soon fund improvements.

A Department for Transport spokesman said the government was making record investments in transport. The future cost of congestion is likely to exceed the current £20bn a year and the problem is now endemic, affecting not just large cities but also motorways and small towns, Policy Exchange said.

This sounds like just the excuse needed to begin rolling-out extra road charging...

Read article - 'British roads 'unfit for purpose''
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Ready for The Air Car?

TechReview has a piece on a French-designed car that's propelled by compressed air and claims speeds of more than 60 miles per hour. This air car is expected to go into commercial production as early as this summer:

Using compressed air, they argue, may mean zero tailpipe emissions, but it's unlikely to provide enough range or speed to appeal to the masses, particularly in North America. "Compressed air does not contain much energy--that's the killer," says Larry Rinek, senior research analyst for automotive technologies at consultancy Frost & Sullivan. "This is more a nice garage project for a Popular Science subscriber."

But the dream lives on. Motor Development International (MDI), based near Nice, France, has developed several prototypes of its Compressed Air Technology (CAT) car since its first engine was created 14 years ago. Now company founder Guy Negre, an aeronautics engineer who developed a high-performance racing engine for Formula 1 in the late 1980s, is counting on India's largest carmaker, Tata Motors, to bring his highly anticipated Air Car to market later this year.

Read in full - 'The Air Car Preps for Market'
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Japan to create world's fastest train

Japan's rail system is often credited to be one of the best in the world and now they are investing $45 billion in the world's fastest train:

The trains ill be maglev, which mean they'll levitate over the tracks thanks to magnetic energy. The frictionless system will help to propel the train at nearly 600mph, getting you across the small island country in a couple of hours or less. Of course, such an ambitious project won't be completed anytime soon, with plans in place to have it up and running by 2025.

Link to - 'Japan to create world's fastest train for $45 billion'
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Bus tickets go mobile

ZDNet.co.uk has an article on a leading north of England bus company called Go North East which claims to be the first in the UK to offer customers the ability to buy tickets using their mobile phones:

By texting "txt2go" to the number 60060, a passenger can receive a digital ticket on their mobile phone minutes later. The phone screen displaying the ticket information is then shown to the driver when boarding the bus.

The new system will be "competitive with any ticket system", a spokesperson for Go North East said on Monday. As "an initial offer", an all-day ticket will cost "about £4, instead of around £5, depending on exactly what kind of ticket [is purchased]", a spokesperson for the company added.

The system was developed by Go North East in partnership with IT services company Atos Origin and mobile-ticketing specialist Swiftpass. Tickets received digitally remove the need to carry cash, making it safer for passengers and improving security on buses by reducing the amount of money carried by the driver, Go North East suggested in a statement on Monday.

Read article - 'Bus tickets go mobile'
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Istanbul Gets Bus Rapid Transit

As someone who lived in Istanbul for five years, and still visits, this development is of particular interest to me. I know from experience that the traffic in Istanbul can be horrendous, and that the only way to really move around is on public transport - and the ONLY WAY to cross the Bosphorus is on one of the fantastic ferry boats (forget the car-over-the-bridge option). In this post from TheCityFix called 'Istanbul Gets Bus Rapid Transit' they mention that Istanbul is creating 6 new bus rapid transit lines:

The director of Istanbul Electric Tram and Funicular Company (IETT), Mehmet Ozdemir, announced that the city will build 6 bus rapid transit (BRT) lines (including one already underway) and that construction should be finished by the end of 2008.

Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) is a cost-effective rapid transit solution that acts like an above ground subway but with extra long articulated “accordion” buses instead of rail cars and physically separated lanes so that the buses don’t have to compete with traffic. Passengers pay at the station before they get on and the buses come frequently, just like in a subway.

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Border controls shake-up set out

It seems that the UK border controls are set to become a lot more stringent on people visiting the UK on visas. BBCNews reports that all visitors to Britain requiring a visa are now 'having their fingerprints taken in a bid to control illegal immigration':

Immigration Minister Liam Byrne said the new system, completed three months ahead of schedule, has already spotted 500 cases of identity swapping.

In a wide-ranging speech, he outlined 10 key changes to the UK's border controls to be implemented in 2008.

They provide a "compassionate" way of getting "stronger borders", he said.

Compassion eh?

Read in full - 'Border controls shake-up set out'
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TheCityFix

Worldchanging has a post called 'TheCityFix' that discusses sustainable transport and urbanization and a new blog on this callled TheCityFix - which I've looked at and have now linked to from this blog on the links list:

Over half the world’s population now lives in cities, with more and more people moving to them every day. Urbanization is not a new issue – a search on Worldchanging for “transportation” in the “cities” topic area alone returns 277 articles. Yet, despite all that has been written about urbanization, smart planning, and bright green technology, there’s still much more to be documented.

This is especially true when you get into the intersection of policy, technology, environmental science and urban planning. At least, until now. Yesterday, EMBARQ, World Resources Institute’s Center for Sustainable Transport, launched TheCityFix, a blog dedicated to exploring these overlapping issues. (Note: I work at WRI.)

EMBARQ is not a PR firm. It’s a robust, research-oriented organization with centers and partners around the world; it has worked and continues to work in places like Istanbul, Bangalore, Curitiba, Mexico City, Mumbai, Porto Alegre, Shanghai, and Pune. EMBARQ’s staff includes urban planners, transport engineers, policy experts, environmental scientists, geographers and sociologists. TheCityFix is this accomplished group’s effort to weigh in on the issues affecting our cities.

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French Navy Uses Second Life to Recruit

Looks like Second Life is taking on the old roll of the 'press-gangs' - rolling people into life on the sea. This article from Aviation Week describes how the French Navy is using virtual world Second Life to recruit would be sailors:

In the old days naval recruiters used to get young men drunk in bars, make them scrawl their signature on a bit of paper and next thing the young men knew they woke up not only with a hangover but aboard a ship.

Young men (and women) today spend less time in bars drinking and a lot of time in internet cafes and 11 million of them are pretending to be somebody else on Second Life. So, that's where the French Navy recruitment drive decided to go and get them, well, a few anyway. It's the first time a French armed force has used this kind of method to recruit: some say it's a world first but I couldn't guarantee that.

Read original article - 'French Navy Uses Second Life to Recruit'

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Howard Rheingold's Video Blog

Media pundit, guru and spokesman Howard Rheingold has now started a video blog to discuss life online.

The first of these video blogs is

A (re)slice of life online, part one: Introduction

Twenty years ago, I wrote “A Slice of Life in My Virtual Community”. When I thought about updating it, I realized that video is better than text for showing how I spend time online. This is the first in a series of short videos documenting my use of social media in my professional and personal life.

This is a short 4.5 minute video that talks about the evolution of participatory media and many-to-many interaction. Well worth tracking!

Watch - Howard Rheingold's Video Blog
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Cyclists' cellphones help monitor air pollution

NewScientistTech reports that mobile phones used by bicycle couriers are monitoring air pollution in Cambridge, UK, and beaming the data back to a research lab:

The technique is made possible by small wireless pollution sensors and custom software that allows the phones to report levels of air pollutants wherever they happen to be around town.

"Mobiles are everywhere, and now have a lot of computing power," says Eiman Kanjo, the computer scientist at Cambridge University, UK, leading technical development of the project. "They can provide an alternative to expensive custom hardware and report from places that otherwise aren't monitored."

Kanjo and colleagues gave local cycle couriers air-pollution sensors and GPS units that connect to their cellphones via Bluetooth. Custom software lets the phone constantly report the current air quality and location to servers back in the lab.

"They cycle around the city as usual and we receive the data over the cellphone network," says Kanjo. "We can find out what pollutants people are exposed to and where."

Read in full - 'Cyclists' cellphones help monitor air pollution'
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Airports as a Brake on Global City Growth

The Future of Cities is blogging on airports as a "Brake on Global City Growth" citing that global cities across the world are "running up against an unforeseen brake on their future growth - airport and airspace congestion":

Last Thursday, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey - a quasi-governmental body that operates, among other things, the three urban disasters we call Newark, LaGuardia and JFK Airports - announced a number of measures to relieve congestion.( Read the full report) Alone, these three airports account for one-third of the nation's flight delays. According to the New York Times, which quotes the Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A&M, the economic hit to the region is on the order of $7.4 billion annually.

Heathrow officially launched its bid to add a third runway last month. Here's what The Economist has to say about flying through Heathrow: "The experience is so miserable it even has its own name: the “Heathrow hassle”.

Read original post - 'Airports as a Brake on Global City Growth'
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Taser Shock - the new mobile

A US company has now unleashed a new 'shocking' mobile gadget - the Taser that plays MP3s - and uses fashion and music to sell stun gun. At present the public can buy the device in most American states... and soon it is planned for European shelves. The Guardian writes that the iTaser - as it has been dubbed - combines a Taser stun gun ( used by 12,000 law enforcement and security forces, including the Metropolitan police) with an MP3 player and earphones:

As to which tracks anyone toting such a device might download on to the 1GB player that is integrated into the gun's holster, anything by Sparks or Frank Zappa must be fairly high on the list.

Arizona-based Taser International sells the handheld stun guns under the rather hyperbolic banner of "Changing the World and Protecting Lives". It maintains that the iTaser "allows for both personal protection and personal music for people on the go".

According to Rick Smith, founder of the company, "personal protection can be both fashionable and functionable". The company says the new device is particularly aimed at women - with red, pink and even leopard print designs intended to make carrying a stun gun fashionable.

Read in full - 'The Taser that plays MP3s'

Your new best friend??
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Ultra-mobile future beckons for PCs

BBCNews reports in 'Ultra-mobile future beckons for PCs' how the the desktop PC's days of dominance could be numbered as laptops and ultra-mobile PCs begin to reap the benefit of ever greater, and more efficient, computing power:

"We want to be mobile and not tethered to our desks anymore - we can take our computing power with us," said Mooly Eden, general manager of the mobile platform group at Intel.

"Today's laptops have more processing power than all the computers that took the Apollo rocket to the moon," he added.

Laptop sales are expected to overtake desktop sales around the world by 2009 as the shift to an untethered computer experience accelerates.

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Cheapest car on earth

India have gone and done it again - used resources and technology to leapfrog current industry. The IHT reports in 'India offers cheapest car on earth' how Tata have broken the mould:

Every now and again in business history, a disruption comes along that breaks the conventional wisdom about cost, tweaking and paring features once thought untouchable.

Likewise, the $2,500 car, scheduled for introduction Thursday by the Indian company Tata, swims against the current, with a rear-mounted engine, a trunk that fits little more than a briefcase, and plastics and adhesives replacing metal and bolts in certain nooks. (Some analysts expect the car to be priced closer to $3,000, still making it the cheapest on earth.)...

...The car is thus a triumph, not of one great invention but of a new engineering philosophy rising out of the developing world, with potential to change how cars everywhere are made, industry experts say.

More cars on India's roads me thinks....?

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News from the world's largest consumer electronics show

The Popular Science blog has news from the world's largest consumer electronics show on all the latest gadgets, photos, videos and analysis of the latest technologies - such as the 'Hot Hydrogen-powered Cadillac' and 'A Cellphone Watch to Make James Bond Proud'

Read the full analysis and pictures at Popular Science blog

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Collaborating in virtual environments

Roland Piquepaille's Technology Trends has a recent post on how engineers have been using collaborating tools in virtual reality environments for almost 20 years:

Now, South Korean and Japanese researchers have tried to compare different experiences of users working together using the Virtual Dollhouse application where two people working together have to build a virtual dollhouse using virtual building blocks, a hammer, and nails. Some of them were in 'traditional' collaborative virtual environments (CVEs) using haptic technologies. Others were working over the Internet as well as over a local area network. They've concluded that users could still work together effectively over a network...

...This application has been developed by Qonita Shahab, Yong-Moo Kwon, Heedong Ko and Maria Mayangsari, of the Imaging Media Research Center at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), Seoul, Korea. The other authors of the International Society for Optical Engineering (SPIE) are Shoko Yamasaki and Hiroaki Nishino, of the Department of Computer Science and Intelligent Systems at Oita University (Japanese page and English snippets.

Read original post - 'Collaborating in virtual environments'
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Age of digital senses

The way people interact with computers is going to dramatically change in the next five years - according to Bill Gates.

A BBC News article states that Gates

predicted that the keyboard and mouse would gradually give way to more intuitive and natural technologies.

In particular, he said, touch, vision and speech interfaces would become increasingly important. Mr Gates made his comments whilst answering questions from BBC News website readers. "This whole idea of what I call natural user interface is really redefining the experience," he said.

"We're adding the ability to touch and directly manipulate, we're adding vision so the computer can see what you're doing, we're adding the pen, we're adding speech," he told BBC News.

During the interview Mr Gates showed off the Microsoft Surface computer, a large table like machine with a multi-touch interface.

Read in full - ' Gates hails age of digital senses'

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Watching the Watchers: Why Surveillance Is a Two-Way Street

An article from Popular Mechanics looks at how the recent boom in video monitoring—by both the state and businesses—means we're all being watched. Glenn Harlan Reynolds writes that:

It's like something out of George Orwell's 1984. Except that, unlike Orwell's protagonist Winston Smith, we can watch back—and plenty of people are doing just that. Which makes a difference.

The widespread installation of recording devices is not all bad: ATM cameras helped prove that Duke students accused of rape couldn't have committed the crime. And we all sympathize with the goals of preventing terrorism and crime, though it is not proven that security cameras accomplish this.

Nonetheless, the trend toward constant surveillance is troubling. And even if the public became concerned enough to pass laws limiting the practice, it's not clear how well those laws would work. Government officials and private companies too often ignore privacy laws. (In a notorious recent case, Hewlett-Packard executives were caught spying on the phone records of reporters covering the company.) Besides, the technology of surveillance is becoming so advanced—biologists are now attaching tiny cameras to crows' tail feathers to observe the birds' tool use in the wild—that in reality there's not much we can do to ensure privacy anyway. Maybe that doesn't matter. Privacy is a recent phenom­enon. For most of human history, people lived in small tribes or villages where everyone knew everyone else's business. Ubiquitous surveillance may be just a case of the past as prologue.

Read in full - 'Watching the Watchers: Why Surveillance Is a Two-Way Street'

Five Innovations that Will Change Our Lives

IBM has revealed what they consider to be 'Five Innovations that Will Change Our Lives' including the connectivity of drivers:

The way you drive will be completely different: In the next five years, a coming wave of connectivity between cars and the road is going to change the way you drive, help keep you safe, and even keep you out of traffic jams. Technology is poised to keep traffic moving, cut pollution, curb accidents, and make it easier for you to get from point A to B, without the stress. The cities you live in will find a cure for congestion using intelligent traffic systems that can make real-time adjustments to traffic lights and divert traffic to alternate routes with ease. Your car will have driver-assist technologies that will make it possible for automobiles to communicate with each other and with sensors along the road -- allowing them to behave as if they have 'reflexes' so they can take preventive actions under dangerous conditions. Your car will automatically tell you where traffic is jammed up and find you an alternative route to take.

Read - 'IBM Reveals Five Innovations that Will Change Our Lives Over the Next Five Years'

Soon New Year may be celebrated in Space

Perhaps in a few years time New Year could be celebrated in Space, if you had a spare £100,000... as flights launched in Arctic will be first to take people inside the northern lights.

This article from GuardianUnlimited talks of Richard Branson's 'Virgin Galactic' plans to fly passengers into the aurora borealis - the northern lights - something that no human has done before:

The operations room of the Esrange space centre near Kiruna in the far north of Sweden is one of a handful of places in the world that perform space launches. The facility, 200 kilometres north of the Arctic circle, is used by the European Space Agency and others to launch rockets and balloons for studying the upper atmosphere and the effects of microgravity. It also serves as a monitoring station for numerous satellites that orbit between the north and south poles.

In three years, if all goes to plan, Esrange will act as mission control for the European outpost of Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic.

The company hopes to begin commercial space flights from a purpose-built spaceport in New Mexico in 2010, but flights from Kiruna should follow soon afterwards. Once they are up and running, Virgin Galactic expects to be flying about 5,000 passengers a year.

Now thats a new type of tourism...!

Read in full here
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