Helium-filled airships will provide a cost-effective way of bringing mobile phone networks and Internet connections to remote parts of the world, reports BBC News Online. Engineers at Britain’s Advanced Technologies Group (ATG) have designed an autonomous vehicle powered by solar cells and a backup diesel engine that will carry state-of-the-art technology such as transponders for mobile telephones, the Internet, television, digital radio, and surveillance services. The airship is designed to rise into the stratosphere to a height of up to 65,000 ft. and stay in position for five years. ATG says these helium-filled balloons are an efficient and flexible alternative to unsightly mobile phone masts. ATG plans to launch its airship prototype in 2003.
Gonzo Journalism Redefined
A remote-controlled reporting machine—a robot journalist—complete with solar-powered, four-wheel electric drive, global positioning system, video screen, and boom microphone, will be deployed on its first assignment: covering the war in Afghanistan, reports Wired News. The 3-by-2-ft., $10,000 device, dubbed Afghan eXplorer, is controlled remotely, has a 10Kbps, two-way voice/data satellite uplink, and has digital audio recording capabilities and an intercom system for remote interviews. The robot is the brainchild of computer engineers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Computing Culture department, who were inspired by the belief the news coming out of Afghanistan was not revealing everything (the U.S. military restricts press access in the war zone). It’s unclear where the robot stands legally, the project leader said, since it has the potential to go where (human) journalists are prohibited.
China Second in Web Use
China is now second only to the U.S. in its number of home Internet users, with nearly 57 million people logging on from home, according to Nielson/NetRatings, an Internet audience measurement service. A far higher percentage of people have Internet access from homes in Germany and the U.K., but China’s population surpasses the overall figures in those countries. The U.S. has the world’s most home users with 166 million people logging on at home. Other findings: a typical Web user in China is male, aged 16 to 34; more than half of those surveyed said home was their preferred place to log on, followed by Internet cafes (27%), and work (24%). After China, Japan has the world’s third largest number of home users (51 million people), followed by Germany (32.2 million), and the U.K. (29 million).
"As the robot runs into people, and they realize it’s on a peaceful mission, it may try to catch a ride with them, get them to introduce the robot to others—socialize like a journalist would to get people’s trust so they can then introduce him to others."
—Chris Csikszentmihályi, director of the MIT Computing Culture department
Household Appliances, Lend Me Your Ears
Pushing buttons and twisting dials to accomplish mundane tasks around the house is becoming a thing of the past as more and more household devices—clock radios, toasters, televisions, and stereos, to name a few—are produced featuring voice-control technology. Some 15 million devices containing speech recognition chips have been sold worldwide, according to an executive at Sensory, a Santa Clara, Calif., company that makes speech recognition chips. Include cell phones with voice-dialing capabilities and the estimate rises to 100 million.
GPS as Prison Guard
Satellite monitoring is the latest in the government’s longstanding problem of how to protect the public without resorting to the further incarceration of criminals. Informally called "the box," the four-pound electronic device resembles a transistor radio and lets parole officers know exactly where the offender is at all times, calculating the location using a global positioning system (GPS), a network of 24 satellites 11,000 nautical miles above the Earth. A wireless anklet worn by the offender transmits a signal; the person wearing the anklet must stay within 100 feet of the box. With a few mouse clicks, a parole officer can find out when an offender left home, whether he or she arrived at work, and the route traveled. Currently, 27 states are using some type of satellite surveillance; some provinces in Canada are considering it. There are glitches, however: GPS signals are often blocked when offenders are inside buildings or outside in areas with tall buildings. The monitoring is also labor-intensive: at $10 a day, the system costs twice as much as traditional electronic monitoring.
Newest Hack: Blinking Lights
Grabbing sensitive data from computer systems via the flickers of LED displays on some devices is the latest way hackers can steal information, according to researchers at Lockheed Martin in Denver and Auburn University. On computer devices, LEDs typically glow green or red, and their flicker may act as a sort of Morse code that transmits information about the data being processed, allowing a hacker full access to unencrypted data. The researchers were able to capture information from specific devices about 22 yards away by monitoring flickers with a high-speed photodiode light detector to measure the amount of light coming from an LED over time. Using these measurements, they could identify the transmission pattern of bits. "The result of our research is that we could obtain data by watching LEDs. If the LEDs are flashing in concert with unencrypted text, then we would get clear text," the researchers said. Security experts say the discoveries were interesting in a theoretical sense, confirming experiments conducted since the mid-1960s, but also stressed these exploits should not concern most people.
"Many states say it’s too expensive, it’s too bulky, it’s too unreliable. Until they fix some of the problems, they’re not going to consider it."
—Kathrine Johnson, criminologist who has researched GPS monitoring
Its Name Is ASIMO
The first robot to ring the New York Stock Exchange opening bell stands 4-ft. tall, weighs 115 pounds, wears a white plastic space suit, and was built by Honda. Named after the Japanese words for "leg" and "tomorrow," remote-controlled ASIMO can climb stairs, open and close doors when taking out the garbage, locate refuse, but so far it can’t lift more than a can of beer. Honda has built only 20 units, each with a price tag of $1 million; lease price is $150,000 a year.
Beware Net Spirituality
The Vatican warned of the dangers of cyberspace spirituality, saying the Internet should not be used as a "religious supermarket." The buy-and-sell ethics of the Internet have spilled over into matters of faith, according to the Vatican, saying, "some visitors to religious Web sites may be on a sort of shopping spree, picking and choosing elements of customized religious packages to suit their personal tastes." The Vatican cites the evangelical advantages offered by the Internet, enabling the Vatican to spread its message across the globe, but it is worried about a lack of moral guidance.
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