There’s no doubt that it’s getting easier to access the Web on a mobile device. Thanks to the iPhone and Apple’s Web browser, Safari, millions of people feel as though they finally have the Internet in their pocket. But there’s still a lot of work that needs to be done in order to allow for the kind of innovation on the mobile Web that is possible on the traditional Web, says Mitchell Baker, chairman of Mozilla, maker of the Firefox browser. [...] Technology Review’s information technology editor, Kate Greene, caught up with Baker at the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco last week to ask about her vision of the mobile Web.
Source: Kate Greene, Technology Review, April 28, 2008
Some U.S. soldiers in Iraq are already equipped with wearable computer systems. But the lack of efficient input devices restricts their use to safer environments, such as the interior of a Humvee or a base station, where the soldier can set down his weapon and use the keyboard or mouse tethered to his body. Now RallyPoint, a startup based in Cambridge, MA, has developed a sensor-embedded glove that allows the soldier to easily view and navigate digital maps, activate radio communications, and send commands without having to take his hand off his weapon.
Source: Brittany Sauser, Technology Review, April 28, 2008
Virtual reality: Chief blogger title catching on with corporations
To blog or not to blog? It’s a question marketers are still grappling with years after the first wave of corporate blogging flooded the Web. For better or worse, it seems corporate blogging — and the title of chief blogger — is beginning to hit its stride. Companies such as Coca-Cola, Marriott and Kodak have recently recruited chief bloggers, with or without the actual title, to tell their stories and engage consumers.
Source: Financial Week, April 29, 2008
Microsoft device helps police pluck evidence from cyberscene of crime
Microsoft has developed a small plug-in device that investigators can use to quickly extract forensic data from computers that may have been used in crimes. The COFEE, which stands for Computer Online Forensic Evidence Extractor, is a USB “thumb drive” that was quietly distributed to a handful of law-enforcement agencies last June. Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith described its use to the 350 law-enforcement experts attending a company conference Monday.
Source: Benjamin J. Romano, The Seattle Times, April 29, 2008
English village to be invaded in spybot competition
A village in south-west England will shortly be swarming with robots competing to show off their surveillance skills. The event is the UK Ministry of Defence’s (MoD) answer to the US DARPA Grand Challenge that set robotic cars against one another to encourage advances in autonomous vehicles. The MoD Grand Challenge is instead designed to boost development of teams of small robots able to scout out hidden dangers in hostile urban areas.
Source: Ceri Perkins, New Scientist, April 29, 2008
Idaho lab develops a quicker way to catch a thief
Federal researchers say they’ve developed a human identification test that’s faster and possibly cheaper than DNA testing. It would be a handy new weapon in the arsenal for detectives, forensic experts and the military, though no one expects it to replace DNA analysis - and its promoters say it is not intended to. The new method analyzes antibodies. Each person has a unique antibody bar code that can be gleaned from blood, saliva or other bodily fluids. Antibodies are proteins used by the body to fend off viruses or perform routine physiological housekeeping.
Source: Todd Dvorak, The Associated Press, April 28, 2008
D.C. Forging Surveillance Network
The D.C. government is launching a system today that would tie together thousands of city-owned video cameras, but authorities don’t yet have the money to complete the high-tech network or privacy rules in place to guide it. The system will feature round-the-clock monitoring of the closed-circuit video systems run by nine city agencies. In the first phase, about 4,500 cameras trained on schools, public housing, traffic and government buildings will feed into a central office at the D.C. Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency. Hundreds more will be added this year.
Source: Mary Beth Sheridan, The Washington Post, May 1, 2008 (Free registration)
