One of the joys of working the tech angles on an international news program is that it can really help keep things in perspective. For example, I was putting together the latest episode of my weekly technology podcast for PRI's The World this morning. It dovetails nicely with Discovery's Wide Angle on High-Speed Rail. We've been looking for ways to cover the Obama Administration's plan to use eight billion dollars in stimulus money to start building out a high-speed rail system for the United States (you can read details here, and see a map here). Naturally, there are plenty of international models out there that the United States could look to. There's Japan and the shinkansen, and of course European countries have built out extensive systems. We ended up looking into the European angle, with a report from France. So, naturally I'd give you a picture like this, of France's high-speed TGV.
But the whole discussion of high-tech, high-speed trains put me in mind of a piece I ran on the tech podcast a couple of years ago. I vaguely remembered it -- something about Cambodians constructing their own railway. I went back and looked it up: Battambang's Bamboo Railway. I always find it helpful to keep stories like this in mind when we're spending lots of time, energy and pixels on high-speed rail. By Cambodia's standards, even the Amtrak regional trains would be wicked fast. Here's a video I found of the bamboo railway:
Here's the first part of this week's podcast. Compare and contrast for yourself. You can download it, or listen on the player right here:
You may remember the horrific collapse of I-35 Mississippi River Bridge in Minneapolis on August 1, 2007. The catastrophic failure of the steel truss arch bridge during rush hour left 13 people dead and more than 140 injured. The collapse led to questions about the safety of other bridges critical to the country's infrastructure. It also caused many to rethink the way bridges are monitored and inspected. Now, a group of transportation specialists and civil engineers at the University of Michigan has begun a feasibility study for self-monitoring bridges. The program, which was launched in conjunction with Michigan's Department of Transportation and which will use federal money, plans to use of a whole range of new sensor and wireless technologies. Imagine it: cars being able to send data to bridges, which in turn can send that data to a collection point. The idea is that a bridge could be monitored not only from a distance via the Internet, but also continuously, to evaluate the stresses and strains it may be under.
In this Wide Angle podcast, I speak with Tim Gordon, who heads the University of Michigan's Transportation Research Institute. I started by asking Tim to remind us how bridge inspection is currently done:
Believe it or not, what you're looking at there is essential to your cell phone, your Playstation, and a host of other electronic products. In Africa, it's called coltan. From it, we get a blue-grey powder called tantalum...and tantalum, because it's durable and can withstand high temperatures, is great for making capacitors, which can store tiny electrical charges. That, as you can imagine, makes them handy in electronics. Unfortunately, one source for the increasingly valuable coltan is...the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo. And that's the story that leads this week's Technology Podcast (WTP 220). We speak with Jack Ewing, BusinessWeek's European Correspondent. He's been following the coltan trail to see just how much so-called "conflict coltan" actually makes it into the electronics we carry around with us all day. The answer might surprise you, so be sure to give a listen.
We move to West Africa for our second story. You have doubtless received an email which starts "I am a manager at the Bank of Nigeria," and then goes on to entice you with promises of millions. It's lovingly referred to as a 419 scam. It's named after the Nigerian law governing this kind of fraud. Despite all the warnings against answering such emails, many folks are duped into replying. West Africa has gotten a reputation for being a hotbed for Internet scams, but this week, computer experts gathered in Ivory Coast to discuss ways to the tackle the problem. We speak with the BBC's John James in Abidjan.
Then, we have an ever-so-brief item on a new Google Earth project called Virtual Rome. Too freakin' cool.
Our next story is the latest twist in the increasingly strange tale of Hossein Derakhshan, or Hoder as he's known to the blogging world. Hoder's widely regarded as the "Blogfather" of the Persian blogosphere. Back in 2000, he was one of the first to launch a blog in Persian. He even wrote a how-to guide for other would-be Iranian bloggers. His blogs, both in English and Farsi, covered a wide range of topics. His posts, however, made it clear that he was a critic of the Iranian government. Then things changed, and Hoder started siding with the Iranian government, and attacking dissidents. Not long ago, he moved back to Tehran from Canada. And now, this week, news has trickled out that he may or may not have been arrested. We get an update from Cyrus Farivar, who leads us through the twists and turns of Hoder's blogging career.
Then, we wish Happy Birthday to the International Space Station. Ten years ago this week, the first module lifted off, carrying the first module, a Russian one named "Dawn." It was soon joined by an American module called "Unity." Ten years later, it's still not finished, and it's way over-budget. Critics contend that it's not worth the money. Supporters say the ISS is proving a valuable teaching tool and training ground for future long-duration missions, possibly even to the Moon and Mars. We hear from smart people on both sides of the argument.
And speaking of the ISS...there was a spacewalk on the station that went, well, slightly awry this week. Here's the video I promised, and bear in mind...this HAS happened to you, too, just not in space.
We then switch into "science mode" for a bit, and hear about an amazing medical breakthrough in Spain. Doctors in Spain removed the windpipe of a woman with respiratory disease, and replaced it with a new airway created, in part, in the laboratory using adult stem cells. Read the write-up in The Lancet. See a video depiction of the process here. We hear from Barcelona, where the surgery took place.
And we end...with a tribute to that incredible piece of Eastern European automotive technology -- the Yugo. Didn't you know that it's production run is ending? I'll miss the jokes.
Great, the travel card in my wallet comes preloaded! But wait, how easily can the information on it be unloaded?
Yes, one thing you won't find in the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority's promotional material for the Charlie Card, its much-touted automated fare card system, is just how easy it seems to be to hack. And the computer security folks at this year's DefCon hacker's conference in Las Vegas didn't get to hear about it over the weekend, either.
A group of three MIT students had planned on giving something of primer on how to generate fake fare cards. In a presentation entitled "The Anatomy of a Subway Hack," they intended to show that the magnetic stripe on the back of the Charlie Card could be reverse engineered, and that the RFID tags embedded in Charlie Cards were hackable and readable. And yes, they were going to release the hacking software to prove it.
But the MBTA filed a complaint in federal court on Friday, alleging that the students were going to share the hacks before MBTA officials had the chance to fix them. A judge agreed, and issued a temporary restraining order that stopped the MIT students from showing their stuff. Judge Douglas P. Woodlock ordered: "That the MIT Undergrads are hereby enjoined and restrained...from providing program, information, software code, or command that would assist another in any material way to circumvent or otherwise attack the security of the Fare Media System."
The MBTA's Fare Media System is not too different from one used by the London Underground, called the Oyster Card. I wrote that last month that a Dutch judge found that a group of Dutch students could go ahead with plans to publish details about how to hack the Oyster Card.
Not that my Charlie Card is necessarily safe.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which is representing the three MIT students, noted in a press release that the deficiencies of these kinds of RFID-based systems are "generally known." EFF Civil Liberties Director Jennifer Granick called the restraining order a violation of the First Amendment. She also said that
"...security and the public interest benefit immensely from the free flow
of ideas and information on vulnerabilities. More importantly,
squelching research and scientific discussion won't stop the attackers.
It will just stop the public from knowing that these systems are
vulnerable and from pressuring the companies that develop and implement
them to fix security holes."
For their part, the students received an A for their project from their professor, and said they were disappointed that they couldn't give their presentation. They're fighting the restraining order with the help of EFF.
Oh, by the way. I wouldn't be surprised if you can find a copy of the hacking presentation floating around out there somewhere on the Interwebs. The MIT students gave out CD copies of their presentation a day before DefCon started last week.
UPDATE on 8/19/08: The gag order on the three MIT students has been lifted, and they are free to publicly discuss their hacks of the MBTA's Charlie Card.
These must certainly be the salad days for the online, armchair astronomer. Making the rounds today was news that Microsoft has just launched WorldWide Telescope. The program, still deemed to be in beta, can be downloaded free of charge, and allows for some serious virtual zooming around the heavens.
According to Microsoft, users can choose from any number of telescopes trained on the sky, be they on the ground, or flying in space. That includes the Hubble Space Telescope, the Chandra X-Ray Observatory Center, the
Spitzer Space Telescope or others. They can view the locations of
planets in the night sky — in the past, present or future. They can
view the universe through different wavelengths of light to reveal
hidden structures in other parts of the galaxy.
There are also a number of "tours" designed by top astronomers from which you can choose. Or, you can simply create your own tour, and record it to your computer.
As Bill Gates himself put it: “The WorldWide Telescope is a powerful tool for science and education
that makes it possible for everyone to explore the universe. By combining terabytes of incredible
imagery and data with easy-to-use software for viewing and moving
through all that information, the WorldWide Telescope opens the door to
new ways to see and experience the wonders of space. Our hope is that
it will inspire young people to explore astronomy and science, and help
researchers in their quest to better understand the universe.”
Microsoft, so you know, isn't the only tech outfit that NASA has teamed up with. Last year, Google announced the launch of Google Sky, an add-on to Google Earth that also allows for some serious star-gazing. Google also has specific programs for Mars, and the Moon.
As I said, the salad days.
Ah, one drawback, and I bet you're ready for it. WorldWide Telescope, being a Microsoft product, only runs on Windows. Mac users -- Starry Night makes a widget for the Dashboard you can try for free. If you want to try a free, open source product that works on a variety of operating systems, you might take a look at Stellarium.
Happy hunting!
photos courtesy of The WorldWide Telescope project.
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