San Jose cops unveil interactive crime map
Looking for a new house or apartment in San Jose? The city’s police department has unveiled one more tool to help in the hunt: new crime-mapping software on its Web site that pinpoints reports down to the city block. The software, developed by the firm Public Engines of Salt Lake City and launched this weekend, replaces a service that was much less comprehensive. Previously, citizens could access some crime data, including dates and times of reports, but they could view only broad maps of the city, divided by patrol areas.
Source: Connie Skipitares, San Jose Mercury News, September 18, 2007
Revelations from Pandora’s music box
What will it take to create the middle-class musician? It’s an idea Pandora founder Tim Westergren thinks about a lot.
Pandora uses the Music Genome Project, a tool that compares musical genetic codes of songs, to create personalized radio stations. You tell it what you like; Pandora plays those artists and others that have songs with similar musical qualities. With music from both big record labels and independent artists, listeners get more selection and increased knowledge about music.
Source: Candace Lombardi, CNET News.com, September 18, 2007
Startup lets public test conversational Web search
Powerset, an ambitious start-up that aims to let people search the Web using conversational speech instead of just keywords, began opening up its site on Monday for public testing of the technology. Powerset wants to leapfrog the current generation of search services from established providers Google Inc, the market leader, and Yahoo Inc, Google’s closest rival.
Source: Eric Auchard, Reuters, September 17, 2007
Digg Goes Deeper with Social Networking
On Sept. 19 [Digg] is launching a host of new features that might seem more at home on Facebook or News Corp.’s (NWS) MySpace than on a Web site where users post links to online articles and other media. The intent is to make it easier for users to find others who share their passions by enabling them to form small groups of “friends” and create fuller personal profiles. “This is really the first time that we have enabled communications between users,” says Kevin Rose, [one of the Digg founders].
Instead of submitting stories for review by the larger Digg community, users will be able to send — “shout” in Digg terms — story links along with messages to particular Digg friends. Friends, or small groups of friends, also will be able to chat or discuss stories on their personal pages with posts to a message board, a feature akin to the “wall” on Facebook.
Source: Catherine Holahan, BusinessWeek, September 19, 2007
Clock to tick down U.S. privacy
A “Surveillance Society Clock” created by the American Civil Liberties Union will symbolize the encroachment of government spying on private citizens as part of the war against terrorism — and the ticktock is fast approaching midnight. “The extinction of privacy is a real possibility,” said Barry Steinhardt, director of the ACLU’s Technology and Liberty Project. “We believe that privacy is not yet dead — it is a patient on life support.”
Source: Audrey Hudson, Washington Times, September 18, 2007
U.S. Airport Screeners Are Watching What You Read
International travelers concerned about being labeled a terrorist or drug runner by secret Homeland Security algorithms may want to be careful what books they read on the plane. Newly revealed records show the government is storing such information for years.
Privacy advocates obtained database records showing that the government routinely records the race of people pulled aside for extra screening as they enter the country, along with cursory answers given to U.S. border inspectors about their purpose in traveling. In one case, the records note Electronic Frontier Foundation co-founder John Gilmore’s choice of reading material, and worry over the number of small flashlights he’d packed for the trip.
Source: Ryan Singel, Wired News, September 20, 2007
‘Wiki City’ Creates Real-Time Maps
While drivers are accustomed to using traffic reports to assess road conditions, pedestrians who navigate cities are typically left without aid to determine the best route. But researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology using wikis and the Semantic Web look to change the way people map and navigate their cities.
The Wiki City project, run by MIT’s SENSEable City Laboratory, aims to apply wiki technology to the map-making process. The project’s ultimate product will permit anyone to upload content to a map and utilize Semantic Web principles to cross search multiple layers of information.
Source: Fred O’Connor, IDG News Service, September 22, 2007
