Hyperlinking Reality via Phones
A Nokia research project could one day make it easier to navigate the real world by superimposing virtual information on an image of your surroundings. The new software, called Mobile Augmented Reality Applications (MARA), is designed to identify objects viewed on the screen of a camera phone.
Source: Kate Greene, Technology Review, November 20, 2006
Networks could self-organise sooner than we think
Almost unknown three years ago, autonomic communication has exploded onto the networking scene. The field’s growing popularity owes much to ‚Äòself-organisation’, a radical new approach to solving problems associated with today’s overly complex networks. Recently explored by a European project, self-organisation has also given birth to the ACF, an independent body driving forward related research.
Source: IST Results, November 21, 2006
Researchers at Purdue University’s Envision Center for Data Perceptualization have transmitted what may be the largest movie ever streamed over the Internet.
The two-minute animated video, which was a scientific visualization of a cell structure from a bacterium, was streamed at a rate of 7.5 gigabits per second with a peak transfer rate of 8.4 gigabits per second. At that speed, the researchers could have transmitted approximately 12 movie DVDs in the same two minutes.
Source: Purdue University News, November 16, 2006
Erasing divide, college leaders take to blogging
Some university presidents are vaulting the digital and generational divide and starting their own blogs.
Veterans of campus public-relations disasters warn that presidents blog at their peril; “an insane thing to do” is how Raymond Cotton, a lawyer who advises universities and their presidents in contract negotiations, describes it. But these presidents say blogs make their campuses seem cool and open a direct line, more or less, to students, alumni and the public.
Source: Diana Jean Schemo, The New York Times, via CNET News.com, November 22, 2006
‘Big Brother’ cameras listen for fights
In U.K. public places, smarter closed-circuit TV cameras have been given the ability to listen for disturbances and also keep an eye on citizens.
The aggression detector has been fitted to CCTV cameras on the streets of Groningen and Rotterdam in the Netherlands. In the U.K., London police also are considering installing the system, said Derek van der Vorst, the director of Sound Intelligence, the company that created the technology.
Source: Gemma Simpson, Silicon.com, via CNET News.com, November 22, 2006
London gets ready for contactless payments
An extension to the existing Chip and PIN EMV network, Maestro / MasterCard’s PayPass and Visa’s contactless system will allow users to pay for small goods such as rail tickets, newspapers and beers by waving their card in front of an RFID sensor on a point of sale or vending machine.
While, initially, this might sound open to wide scale abuse, with robbers able to swipe the card and pay for things without challenge, the maximum transaction size of £10 will help to minimise the risk, and each card will come with built-in counters that will only allow a certain number of contactless payments to be made before a PIN must be entered.
Source: Chip Mulligan, The Inquirer, November 25, 2006
These shoes are made for talking
In the cutthroat shoe manufacturing industry, two companies in particular–Nike and Adidas–are banking on sensors and other technology to pump up profits and change the notions of high-performance footwear forever.
In the last 12 months, both manufacturers have introduced footwear that communicates wirelessly with other technology to provide information about a run. The Nike shoe, called Nike Plus, delivers data on distance and pace. The Adidas product, called adiStar Fusion, offers the same information as well as data about heart rate.
Source: Matt Villano, The New York Times, via CNET News.com, November 25, 2006
