iPod and Bluetooth Taking Over New Cars

The Autopia blog has a nice post on how the automotive industry has woken up to people's love of gadgets and connectivity whilst driving - so get ready for in-car entertainment as standard!

Manufacturers of aftermarket iPod adapters and cigarette-lighter speakerphones take note: Your days are numbered. Automakers have finally figured out that people love gadgets, and just about every 2009 model will have iPod and Bluetooth connectivity.

With the auto industry in a tailspin, automakers are scrambling to make their vehicles as attractive as possible. One way to do that is offer the connectivity consumers crave. iPod and Bluetooth integration, once the domain of luxury vehicles, has grown increasingly common and the 2009 model year marks the first time more than half of all new cars will be gadget-ready. The tech analysts at iSuppli say 58 percent of all cars sold in 2009 will offer iPod connectivity, while Bluetooth technology will be offered in 82 percent of all vehicles. What's more, one-third of all cars will feature USB ports — up from just 16 percent this year.

Read more at - 'iPod and Bluetooth Taking Over New Cars'

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Homeland Security's Space-Based Spying Goes Live

Following on from the UK data laws, the US are close to implementing a controversial satellite-surveillance program:

While America's attention has shifted to the economic meltdown and the presidential race between corporate favorites John McCain and Barack Obama, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) National Applications Office (NAO) "will proceed with the first phase of a controversial satellite-surveillance program, even though an independent review found the department hasn't yet ensured the program will comply with privacy laws...


It will provide federal, state and local officials "with extensive access to spy-satellite imagery--but no eavesdropping--to assist with emergency response and other domestic-security needs, such as identifying where ports or border areas are vulnerable to terrorism," the Wall Street Journal reported.

Read more at - 'Homeland Security's Space-Based Spying Goes Live'

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UK trails überdatabase plans

The UK authorities are at it again - increasing dataveillance (and losing data at the same time!). The Home Secretary has recently warned that the government 'will legislate to collect more data on internet communications because it believes it will help fight serious crime and terrorism':

Jacqui Smith trailed the forthcoming Commmunications Data Bill in a speech this morning to the Institute for Public Policy Research. MI6 and GCHQ have pushed hard for the Bill to mandate a huge central database to retain details of who contacted whom online, where and when.

Currently the major telcos have arrangements in place to provide intelligence and law enforcement with call data on request. It's been argued at Whitehall that the rise of IP-based communications services such as VoIP, chat, email and the web are eroding authorities' ability to monitor and investigate crime. New laws are needed to "maintain capability", hawks insist.

"That is not a government policy that is somehow optional. It is a reality to which the government must respond," Smith said tody, referring to the growth of internet services.

Read more at - 'Jacqui Smith trails überdatabase plans'

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Personal Pod Transport Coming Soon

Wired has a post on personal rapid transport (PRT) - the subject that inspires and never seems to go away... yet hasn't fully delivered yet either. Although take a look at Heathrow's Ultra below:

Stuck in rush hour traffic one night about ten years ago, my friend Andre turned to me and predicted that someday people would zip around above traffic in their own personal pods. I told him it was one of the dumbest things I had ever heard.

But it looks like Andre was on to something. For years transportation types have been debating the viability of what is known as Personal Rapid Transit (PRT), and now several projects are underway that indicate the age of the pod may be upon us.

PRTs are systems of independent vehicles that provide private, on-demand, nonstop travel for people or small freight, riding on small, overhead guideways. The cars run above existing roads and are powered entirely by electricity. Advocates of pod transport say it offers the convenience and personal experience of an auto without the gasoline, insurance, pollution, accidents, or congestion.

Read original post - 'Personal Pod Transport Coming Soon to a City Near You'

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MI6 pokes Facebook for new spy recruits

Well, it's nothing new but it is still good to see it being confirmed - how Facebook is fast becoming a head-hunting domain:

Britain's overseas security service, MI6, has turned to social networking website Facebook to help recruit new agents...

..."The open recruitment campaign continues to target wide pools of talent representative of British society today," a Foreign Office spokeswoman said.

"A number of channels are used to promote job opportunities in the organisation. Facebook is a recent example."

MI6 launched Facebook job advertisements a few weeks ago to try and reach a larger variety of people, she added.

Read more here - 'MI6 pokes Facebook for new spy recruits'

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Google Funds Startup to Bring Cheap Satellite Internet to 3 Billion People

Google is fundingO3B, a company that plans to bring the Internet to those people so far outside of coverage:

Now a new company is seeking to change that. The company, O3B, draws its name from the phrase "other 3 billion" to describe the world's population with no internet coverage. The company, located in U.K.'s Channel Islands, is building 16 satellites thanks to $65M USD in funding from HSBC Principal Investments, a private equity provider; Liberty Global, a service provider for phone and Internet access in 15 countries; and Google. Greg Wyler, O3B's founder and CEO states, "Usage is growing and the demand is growing, but there isn't the infrastructure to support the demand."

Wireless operators spend up to 40 percent of their costs in developing networks, according to O3B. This is evident when problems play out, such as AT&Ts recent insufficient 3G coverage to meet bug-exacerbated demand from iPhones.

O3B's unique plan is to launch medium-earth orbit (MEO) satellites, which orbit at 5,000 miles and only have 120 millisecond latency and are less expensive compared to geosatellites which orbit at 22,500 miles, have a latency of up to 600 milliseconds, and cost more. The new satellites are predicted to cut costs down to around $500 USD per megabit per month, much more affordable.

Read more at - 'Google Funds Startup to Bring Cheap Satellite Internet to 3 Billion People'

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Sci-Fi Show Future of Travel

Now here's an interesting post - a website that shows how science-fiction has influenced artists' impressions of future travel:

Future worlds described by science fiction visionaries like Philip K. Dick, William Gibson and Robert Heinlein often included wildly inventive methods of transportation to other planets, galaxies and dimensions.

These brief glimpses into the possible future of travel were left largely to the readers' imaginations, but a flourishing group of dreamers, designers and illustrators are bringing those creations to life -- at least online.

The conceptships.org website run by Igo Tkac showcases these artists' renditions of spaceships and other fantastical creations. From retro-futuristic aerial attack machines to automated deep-sea treasure hunters, here are some of the coolest.

Read original post - 'Sci-Fi-Inspired Concept Ships Show Future of Travel'

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A Face-Finding Search Engine

TechReview has a post on new developments in face-recognition software: in other words, how to identify a person's face in a low-resolution video:

Today there are more low-quality video cameras--surveillance and traffic cameras, cell-phone cameras and webcams--than ever before. But modern search engines can't identify objects very reliably in clear, static pictures, much less in grainy YouTube clips. A new software approach from researchers at Carnegie Mellon University could make it easier to identify a person's face in a low-resolution video. The researchers say that the software could be used to identify criminals or missing persons, or it could be integrated into next-generation video search engines.

Today's face-recognition systems actually work quite well, says Pablo Hennings-Yeomans, a researcher at Carnegie Mellon who developed the system--when, that is, researchers can control the lighting, angle of the face, and type of camera used. "The new science of face recognition is dealing with unconstrained environments," he says. "Our work, in particular, focuses on the problem of resolution."

Read more at - 'A Face-Finding Search Engine'

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GM Builds a Plug-In Hybrid ... in 1969

Now here's a blast from the past: Autopia blog has a piece on how GM experimented with a plug-in hybrid... in 1969! Looks like an old Vauxhall Viva to me....

Toyota and General Motors are neck-and-neck in the race to put a plug-in hybrid in your driveway, but they're recycling an idea GM explored almost 40 years ago and tossed aside like a depleted battery.

The concept car with the cumbersome designation XP-883 was nothing more than an experiment relegated to history, but it worked a lot like the Toyota Prius and Saturn Vue plug-in hybrids the two companies are working on today. It was sufficiently ahead of its time for Popular Science to call it "radical" and ask, "wouldn't it be great to have a car that changed from electric drive for use around town to gasoline power for highway driving?"

"It makes so much sense," the magazine wrote in July, 1969, "that we feel they're missing a bet if they don't put it in production."

The XP-883 looked like an Avanti hatchback or the AMC Gremlin's prettier sister. At 122.2-inches long, 57.3-inches wide and 46.3-inches high, it was a little bigger than a Smart ForTwo and a little smaller than a Honda CRX. It had a fiberglass body for light weight, but just what it weighed has been lost to history.

See original post - 'GM Builds a Plug-In Hybrid ... in 1969'

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Big Brother tracking comes to Second Life

Here is news on a new development in ever-expanding Second Life: RFID tagging in medical environments:

Students at the University of Arkansas have created a couple of full-sized hospitals inside Second Life to experiment with the use of RFID tagging in medical environments, and ride on flying cats.

The idea of the project is to see if delivery and consumption of medical supplies can be tracked around a working hospital if everything is tagged and logged by monitors placed around the building. Two hospitals have been created - one hypothetical model and one based on Washington Regional Hospital right down to the contents of shelves and storerooms. Both models include delivery equipment and allow the placement of RFID readers with limited range.

Read more at - 'Big Brother tracking comes to Second Life'

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Google takes to the seas

The Times has a nice scoop on how Google has taken out a patent to deploy their servers not 'overseas' but 'on the seas' - that's right, on mobile 'data' barges:

Google may take its battle for global domination to the high seas with the launch of its own “computer navy”. The company is considering deploying the supercomputers necessary to operate its internet search engines on barges anchored up to seven miles (11km) offshore.

The “water-based data centres” would use wave energy to power and cool their computers, reducing Google’s costs. Their offshore status would also mean the company would no longer have to pay property taxes on its data centres, which are sited across the world, including in Britain.

In the patent application seen by The Times, Google writes: “Computing centres are located on a ship or ships, anchored in a water body from which energy from natural motion of the water may be captured, and turned into electricity and/or pumping power for cooling pumps to carry heat away.”

A great idea!?

Read more at - 'Google takes to the seas'

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More EV and Hybrid Concepts for Paris

GreenCarCongress has reported on new developments in electric concept vehicles which carry their own renewable recharging tools:

Venturi Automobiles and Michelin are working together to produce a new-generation electric concept vehicle. The partners will unveil the concept at the 2008 Paris Motor Show, which opens on 2 October for the press.

The partnership allows Michelin to demonstrate the capabilities of its latest innovations on a high-performance vehicle. Venturi has built cars such as the Fetish electric sports car and a low-speed electric vehicle that can be recharged via roof-mounted solar panels or with a personal wind turbine (earlier post).

Venturi is also partnering with PSA Peugeot Citroën to supply electric vans based on the Citroën Berlingo First / Peugeot Partner Origin in response to a tender from the French Post Office, La Poste.

Read more at - 'More EV and Hybrid Concepts for Paris'

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Computer games drive social ties

BBCNews has this post on a recent report from a Pew Internet study about how certain video games can help young people engage with friends and community - and play 'air-guitar':

The Pew Internet study of US teenagers found that few play alone and most join up with friends when gaming. It found that many used educational games to learn about world issues and to begin to engage with politics. The report also found that gaming had become an almost universal pastime among young Americans.

The survey of 1,102 teenagers aged 12-17 revealed that 99% of boys and 94% of girls across the socio-economic spectrum play some kind of computer or video game.

The most popular title was Guitar Hero, followed by Halo 3, Madden NFL, Solitaire, and Dance Dance Revolution.

Read more at - 'Computer games drive social ties'
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Caterpillar plans 600 tonne lorry robots

In what appears a 'robotic move' too far the recent US military-funded driverless car contest technologies are finding their first real world applications:

To be precise, American droid chiefs plan soon to unleash titanic, 600-tonne automated trucks capable of squashing flimsy human vehicles like bugs.

The invincible godzilla-lorry plan is the brainchild of robotics boffins at Carnegie Mellon University, teamed with huge roaring machinery company Caterpillar. First-catch credit goes to the excellent Ares war-tech blog.

The intention is to add robo-driver mode to Caterpillar's most outrageously enormous trucks, such as the 600-tonnes-all-up 797B model.

Huge beasts...

Read original post - 'Caterpillar plans 600 tonne godzilla-lorry robots'

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Virtual Worlds Get Real About Punishment

The Washington Post reports on how a new virtual world for mobiles is meeting out justice - Ouch! We're being put behind virtual bars...the beginning of virtual jails??

Virtual worlds have often been called the digital equivalent of the Wild West, where animated alter egos can live in a fantasy frontier. But in some of these universes, a sheriff has come to town.

Slipping a four-letter word into an instant message now could land a user in a virtual timeout. Repeated attempts to make friends with an uninterested character could result in a loss of blogging privileges. And if convicted of starting a "flame war," or an exchange of hostile messages, a user may endure the ultimate punishment -- permanent exile.

A virtual world for mobile devices, called Cellufun, has established a courthouse, where rule-breakers are indicted by their peers and tried by a jury of other community members. If found guilty of a charge, such as using profanity, users must carry out varying levels of sentences, from being mute for 20 minutes to being banished.

For the duration of punishment, a user's avatar -- a cartoon version of his or her real-life self -- is pictured behind bars.

In the online community Cellufun, troublemakers found guilty by other users get their virtual alter egos placed behind bars.

Read more at - 'Virtual Worlds Get Real About Punishment'

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Tourism and the politics of culture

Tim Winter over at the Post-conflict Heritage site has done some interesting work examining post-colonial tourism in terms of post-conflict reconstruction, nation building, and socio-economic rehabilitation. The blog has also been following the dispute on the Thai/Cambodian border over the temple world heritage site of Preah Vihear:

An extract from 'Thai-Cambodian Border Spat Heats Up' in Time Magazine:

Thai soldiers take position after clashes with Cambodian soldiers at the disputed border area of the Preah Vihear temple, Si Sa Ket province, Thailand, 15 October 2008

Gunfire crackled across the border between Thailand and Cambodia on October 15, reigniting tensions between the two Southeast Asian nations over a disputed swathe of land near an ancient Hindu temple. For days, troops from both countries have flooded the area near the Preah Vihar temple, and each side claims the other fired Wednesday's first shot.

A blog of great interest to readers of Tourism issues especially - Post-conflict Heritage

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Planning Post-Oil Towns

Worldchanging, as part of a month-long retrospective, are re-publishing some of their excellent past posts. And here is an example of a worthwhile one from October 2006 about the beginning of the Transition Town movement:

The story of the Kinsale Energy Descent Action Plan is an extraordinary one. A mid-thirties Englishman with a penchant for permaculture and an interest in peak oil moves to rural Ireland, starts teaching at the local further education college, and ends up writing, with his students, a ground-breaking document: the first timetabled strategy for weaning a town off fossil fuels. And what is more, that small Irish town actually adopts the action plan and starts to implement it.

Kinsale is a seaside town of 7000 inhabitants renowned as Ireland’s gourmet food capital, as well as the home of a well-known jazz festival. Kinsale 2021 is the title of the document: Rob Hopkins is the man, who persuaded Kinsale Further Education College to start the first full-time two year course in Europe training in people in Practical Sustainability.

He had a simple idea for his students: to ask them to think practically about all the aspects of a town that would need to be changed if a low-energy future was to happen, and how they could do so over a fifteen-year period.

Read original post - 'Planning Post-Oil Towns'

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CAN YOU GO CAR-FREE FOR THE BBC?

Here's an opportunity worth taking up - anyone??

CAN YOU GO CAR-FREE FOR THE BBC? BBC ONE are looking for a vibrant village, town or area of a city to take part in a new series called "Dom on the Case of Cars" with presenter Dominic Littlewood. The series is seeking residents of all ages who are ready to take on the challenge of living car free for 5 days to explore the alternative modes of travel on offer in their area. The successful place will be the first in Britain to undertake this amazing mission with participating residents taking centre stage in this high profile documentary. The BBC is looking for a street, district or whole village willing to experience the joys and frustrations of car-free living and in return we'll show you how your area could be made safer, how you could save money and how easy it could be to live without your car. The BBC will of course be providing lots of help and information to those who take part. What is really important is that the community is ready to embrace the challenge and lead the way for the rest of the country. So are you ready to take on the Car-Free challenge and get your village on BBC ONE? Please contact: Mish Evans Assistant Producer, Dom's on the case of cars E: mish.evans@bbc.co.uk

Place Your Bids: Airline Tickets on eBay!

Photo by Flickr user procrastinet.

Now here's a novel way to increase sales of airline tickets - auction them! That's exactly what US carrier JetBlue have been doing lately. According to Autopia:

JetBlue's opened an eBay store to auction tickets and vacation packages to some of its 50 destinations, and early bidding has been strong despite a technical glitch that shut the store down for a few hours.

The store features seven-day auctions for more than 300 one- and two-person round-trip flights. Bidding starts at a nickel and there is no reserve, but it's tough to say how much shoppers will save -- or JetBlue might lose. Still, it could be a smart move for the airline.

"It's a way for the airline to bolster its direct sales, and it's different from a traditional fare sale in that other airlines can't simply match it," Henry Harteveldt, an analyst with Forester Research, tells us. "From that standpoint it's a very smart idea."

This afternoon the high bid on a flight from Chicago O'Hare to Long Beach was $202.50 versus $300 when booked on the JetBlue website, but with six days left in the auction, it's anyone's guess how much higher the bidding will go. Round-trip tickets for two from New York to Vegas on Sept. 26 were going for $620, compared to a maximum of $349 through the airline's website, further proving the best deals aren't always on eBay.

Read original post - 'Place Your Bids: JetBlue Auctioning Tickets on eBay'

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Maps from mobiles to alert multitudes

Smartmobs has a post on new technology applications that are being used to mitigate human crises - 'Mobile local information gathering and digital mapping are collaborating':

A post at iRevolution titled Flood Warning, Mobile Phones and Dynamic Mapping of India describes the goals and methods being tried in the Monsoon Project:

In Mumbai and Ahmedabad, we will see what kind of qualitative data people have reported. The next step is to to expand the data collection exercise to discreet objective data points that may expedite rescue and response in real-time. Can farmers sitting atop roofs in the flooded villages of Orissa use their cell phones to transmit simple, discreet, data points that would help plot a real-time map of events as they unfold? Can such a platform be created? How far are we in terms of technology and collaboration? At HHI, the Crisis Mapping Project is well underway, with small projects at multiple locations in different stages of development. . . .

The Conflict Early Warning and Crisis Mapping projects at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative is supporting these smart mob era endeavors that are essentially brand new opportunities of the 21st century

Read original post - 'Maps from mobiles to alert multitudes'

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