Broadband Internet Becomes a Legal Requirement in Finland

October 15, 2009

While those of us in the United States are arguing over whether health care is a legal right, the folks over in the Northern Europe are ensuring that all citizens have access to broadband Internet. The law, the first of its kind in any country, forces Internet providers to offer Internet connections that run at speeds of at least 1 megabit per second to all of the country's 5.3 million citizens.

I have two thoughts.

1) Sure the United States is a huge country and it would be a challenge to offer broadband to all of its citizens. But you'd think that our country, which invented the Internet and is a major leader in the industrialized world, would at least have broadband available to a large portion of its people. But it didn't even make the top 10 list of countries offering broadband.

2) And this gets back to my point about healthcare. If you have to argue and fight for universal healthcare, good luck with universal broadband. 

Photo: Digital Vision/Getty

Floh Club is IT Support for Older Adults

October 13, 2009

There are more than 76 million people in the United States that are between the ages of 45 and 63 -- Baby Boomers! Many of those people didn't get any real hands-on computer use until they were in their 20s or even their 30s! Can you imagine? And for those who are even older, using a computer, even in today's ubiquitous email, text messaging, and chatting, is a bit confusing.

For that reason and probably because these folks represent a huge piece of the economy and have a good chunk of disposable income (provided they didn't lose it all in the recession), a new web site has been launched to appeal to them. It's called the Floh Club, named after Florence Henderson (Carol Brady on the Brady Bunch TV show). It's a telephone-based technical support service for older adults who may have questions about setting up, configuring and using computer hardware and install software or who may need a computer repaired or de-virsued. Members can also ask questions about digital cameras, MP3 players.

The service is available seven days a week between 8 a.m. and 2 a.m. Eastern Standard Time by subscription.

• annual subscription: $250/year
• monthly subscription: $25/month
• repair, tune-up and protect which includes anti-virus: $60 flat
• one-time educational package: $50 flat

I'm not a baby boomer, but I'm also not the go-to gal if a computer a breaks down. I mean, sure, I can fix a paper jam in the printer and restart my Mac when once a year it acts up. But where do non-Baby boomers/non-Mac user take their computers? (I just go to the Genius Bar at the Mac store and Voila my problems are solved!)

I guess there's Geek Squad, right? I checked their web site and prices start at $49.99. You do the math, old timer.

Generate Your Own Barcode

October 07, 2009

Today marks the 57th anniversary of the first patent of the barcode. It was patented by Norman Woodland and Bernard Silver, who sold the patent before the industry standard UPC ever took off. The Telegraph has a nice history piece here as does HowStuffworks.

Personally, I couldn't believe that the bar code was invented soooo long ago and that it's still in such wide use today. And what's more, the concept for the bar code has been adopted by modern technologies, such as RFID tags, pet microchipping and location-tracking technology for streamlining supply chains.

To mark the anniversary, Google's search page has it's name in bar code type. You can do the same and generate your own barcode by clicking on the link.

Where Oh Where Art Thou, Digital Image?

August 27, 2009

I’m one of those. I immediately upload my digital images to a photo-sharing website and send the link to all of my friends and family. To date, I have 53 albums and probably thousands of images going back to 2004.

The sharing part is great. But the archiving and then finding part is a royal pain in the arse. It’s difficult to search the stack and locate the exact image, unless you rename each individual image. And frankly I, and lots of other people out there, don’t have time for that. Wouldn’t it be great if your camera and computer would work together to automatically handle some of that tedious archiving?

I Talk to My GPS Device, Even Though it Doesn’t Talk Back

August 21, 2009

His name is Tim. He has a British accent. And unlike many men I have known in my life, he knows where he’s going. Unfortunately, he’s not a person. He’s the voice of a GPS device.

“Aftah two hundred yahds, turn roight,” Tim says.
“What would I do without you, Tim?” I ask.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t, like the guy in this commercial, have a crush on a GPS device.

But I do interact with it. I talk to it. Ask it questions. And make general commentaries, even though the machine cannot understand me or talk back.

Have I lost it?

Why are Speech Recognition and Natural Language Neither of Those?

August 17, 2009

The other day/week/month (it doesn’t matter) I was calling my bank/credit card company/a customer service department at a retail store (it doesn’t matter) because I had a question about my statement/using the card in Europe/why the flowers I ordered hadn’t been delivered to my mother on her birthday (it doesn’t matter) and I did what I always do after dealing unsuccessfully with the electronic operator for more than 10 seconds: I pressed 0. Because listen, electronic-operator-whoever-you-are, you can’t get to the heart of my problem with your rigid line of questioning and your suggestion to check for my answer online at www.youignoramous.com. Give me a human!

After getting my problem solved by a real, live, breathing person with an accent of questionable origin, I got to wondering why speech recognition and natural language technologies still kind of suck. So I decided to ask Jeff Bilmes (University of Washington) and Alex Acero (Microsoft Research).

This Email Will Self-Destruct in 8 Minutes

July 22, 2009

One of my first jobs in journalism was as an editorial assistant at Astronomy magazine, located in Wisconsin. One of my responsibilities was to read and answer reader letters and emails. Back in 1999 there was a big controversy about the Cassini spacecraft doing a flyby of Earth, to gather up some gravitational energy and slingshot out to Venus. The rockets are nuclear-powered and lots of people were nervous about that, thinking that some radiation could find it's way to Earth.

The magazine had a story about the controversy coming up in a future issue. We advertised that upcoming story in the magazine and someone wrote a letter railing against us for even thinking about publishing such a piece. And also criticized the article and the author.

Video Sums Up Cool Tech Jobs Wide Angle

June 25, 2009

Wide Angle: Technology to Save the World

May 04, 2009

Scientists are harnessing computing systems such as the Internet and embedded sensing networks to keep tabs on the world. What they learn could help us observe ecologies we've never seen before, identify endangered species and even see health trends that could adversely affect large populations. In this wide angle, we'll take a look at the technologies on mission to save the world.

• Podcast: Vodafone Wireless Innovation Project
  Vodafone operates in 25 countries, some of them developing nations, where things like infectious diseases and sudden natural disasters take heavy tolls. In response, it sponsored the Wireless Innovation Project. One hundred applicants submitted ideas that harnessed new and existing wireless technologies in pursuit of social good. Clark Boyd talks with the top three winners.

• Blog: Will the Internet Say "I Told You So"?
  The Internet is being eyed as a way to warn us about ecological catastrophe. Our current ecological monitoring systems just aren't fast enough -- looking for key words and patterns online from scientists, government officials, and casual observers could be more effective.

• IEEE Spectrum Feature: How To Master A Seismic Disaster
  When the next big earthquake strikes Tokyo, an early-warning system could help save lives and property.

• IM Interview: Curing the Mosquito to Stop Malaria
  Malaria is a complex disease that involves the interactions of three organisms: human, parasite, and mosquito. If scientists can interrupt any of these interactions, they could control the disease. Tracy Staedter chats with George Dimopoulos about the methods researchers are developing.

• Blog: Tech for the Developing World, Stat! Malaria
  Dr. Robert Malkin is a professor of bioengineering at Duke University and director for the Engineering World Health program. He recently spoke with me about key problem areas in the developing world and emerging solutions.

• News: Technology Saving the World
  From tagging to Twitter, researchers are developing and using new technologies to track endangered species, population growth and even diseases like the recent swine flu outbreak. Read how they do it and how it's helping people all over the world.

• Blog: Surgery Light, MacGyver-Style
  Periodic power outages are more than just annoying. They're dangerous, especially if one happens in the middle of surgery. Enter the pie-plate-bike-part-LED-battery lamp, designed by a University of Michigan student group.

• Blog: Tracking The Spread of the H1N1 Flu Virus
  People are going out of their way to track the H1N1 influenza virus (that's the swine flu) in real time over the Internet. HowStuffWorks explores how and why.

• Puzzle: Tracking the World
  Secret surveillance cameras and Internet maps are used to track everything from animals to flu outbreaks.

• Video: Text Messages Save Lives
  A text messaging-based program, called Mobiles in Malawi, is saving lives by connecting rural communities to hospitals. Kasey-Dee Gardner explain how it works.

• Top 10: Ways Cell Phones Help People Living in Poverty
  Cell phones are becoming ubiquitous, even in underdeveloped countries. This unprecedented penetration by a communications technology is clearly changing the face of the developing world for the better -- in some cases, in ways that not even the most visionary leaders anticipated.

• Top 10: Innovations for Impoverished People
  Two billion people in the world don't get enough to eat, approximately one billion live on less than a dollar a day and every year 1.4 million children die because they lack sanitary conditions and access to clean water. Some humanitarians think these numbers can be lowered with simple technologies. Here are 10 that are making a difference.

MORE DISCOVERY TECH WIDE ANGLES

Green Roofs, Warp Engines and Cheap Solar Power

August 01, 2008

These are the coolest stories I read this past week.

July 25 / Scientific American
Urban Roofscapes: Using "Wasted" Rooftop Real Estate to an Ecological Advantage
How a green roof can minimize run-off and mitigate the urban “heat island effect.”

July 25 / BBC
HP's Plan to Fix Ailing Planet
Trillions of sensors deployed worldwide will monitor the state of the planet and pick up ailments (wildfires, hurricanes, bacteria, hazardous chemicals) that may need to be warded off or remedied.

July 26 / The New York Times
China Surpasses U.S. in Number of Internet Users
Is anyone surprised? I'm so not surprised that I almost didn't put this on the list. You're right. I'm taking it off. 

July 28 / Discovery News
Warp Drive Engine Would Travel Faster Than Light
Gather 'round Trekkies. Your time has come. Two physicists have figured out warp drive works without breaking the laws (of physics, that is).

July 28 / Scientific American
Engineering Silicon Solar Cells to Make Photovoltaic Power Affordable
One company is on a mission to get the cost of solar cells down to a buck a watt. Those are light bulb prices that would make energy from the sun competitive with that from coal-burning power plants.

July 28 / The New York Times
Former Employees of Google Prepare Rival Search Engine
This company pronounces their name, Cuil, as "cool." That, and the fact that they are trying to upstage Google, makes me narrow my eyes with skepticism.

July 30 / Nature
Energy: Upgrading the Grid
What it takes to make a stupid power grid super smaht.

July 30 / Wired
Project to Rebuild Internet Gets $12M, Bandwidth
There's a project dedicated to rebuilding the Internet's underlying architecture? Whoa. I didn't even know about that.

July 30 / BBC
Olympic Link to Early 'Computer'
A closer look at an ancient Greek timepiece discovered in 1901 reveals that it has dials that record the dates of the original Olympic games.

July 31 / Technology Trends
OmegaTable, A 24-million Pixel VR Display
This virtual reality display is a multi-sensory touch tabletop that gives people a 3D experience without looking like a giant dork in those special glasses.

July 31 / Technology Review
3-D Printing for the Masses
This printing service takes orders from customers and turns ideas into three-dimensional prototypes at an affordable cost. If you're an artist, architect, designer, or general hobbyist, you might want to read this article.

July 31 / The Guardian
Sweet Peas Make a Second Skin
Didn't know this, but an enzyme in sweet pea pods and seeds can cause floppy skin in grazing animals. That's totally weird. But that same enzyme, when used in a polymer gel wound dressing, could relieve shrinking or lumpy skin grafts on burn victims.

July 31 / Economist
Genetically Modified Olympians?
You can detect performance-enhancing drugs, for the most part, but how do you detect gene therapy?

July 31 / New Scientist
Solar-Cell Material Can Soak Up More Sun
The sun cranks out a ton of energy, but conventional solar cells are only able to absorb the visible light part of the sun's spectrum. A new material that absorbs the infrared could, in theory take energy absorption from 30 percent to 63 percent.