NEWS : TECH (NFPC)

New Jersey To Allow Voting By Email, Fax

On Saturday, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's administration announced that voters displaced by Hurricane Sandy will be allowed to vote via email or fax.

"This has been an extraordinary storm that has created unthinkable destruction across our state and we know many people have questions about how and where to cast their vote in Tuesday's election. To help alleviate pressure on polling places, we encourage voters to either use electronic voting or the extended hours at county offices to cast their vote," said Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno in a press release.

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To cast their ballot electronically, displaced voters must submit a mail-in ballot application either by e-mail or fax to their county clerk. Once the application is approved, the clerk will send a ballot back to the voter, either by email or fax. Voters must email or fax their e-ballots no later than 8 p.m. on election day.

E-voters will also be sent a "waiver of secrecy form" that essentially waives their right to privacy since election officials will have to crosscheck names on the e-ballot application with voter registration lists.

New Jersey is not expected to be a close race, as Barack Obama is currently polling approximately 10 points higher than Mitt Romney.

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Had New Jersey been a swing state, considering e-voting's vast potential for fraud, this initiative surely would have come under more scrutiny. But for now, score one for state officials making sure Sandy's fallout doesn't destroy New Jersey citizens' right to vote.

via NJ.com

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Wave Glider Robot Survives Sandy: DNews Nugget

Sea Glider Survives Sandy: A seafaring robot named Mercury, one of many autonomous Wave Gliders designed to record weather data, road out the storm unharmed earlier this week. Floating about 100 miles off the coast of New Jersey, Mercury faced winds exceeding 80 mph. It moves across the surface of the ocean by converting the motions of waves into forward thrust. Suspended below the surface is a winged platform equipped with instruments that also measure salinity, water temperature, wave motion, weather and dissolved oxygen.

ANALYSIS: Floating Drones Gather Ocean Data on Epic Journey

"Mercury now joins the fleet of other Wave Gliders that have come through Category I hurricanes to successfully fulfill their missions," Edward Lu, chief of innovative applications for Liquid Robotics told TechNewsDaily. "This is a testament to our robust and reliable technology and proof of its readiness for severe weather data collection."

via TechNewsDaily

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Donate to Red Cross with iTunes: DNews Nugget

Donate to Red Cross in iTunes: As the United States deals with the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, iTunes now allows users to donate to the Red Cross as easily as buying a song, reports The Verge.

"You can donate anywhere from $5 to $200 via iTunes, but Apple warns that it 'may not qualify for any tax deduction or other tax benefits,'" their post reads. In addition to iTunes donation, you can give directly to the Red Cross through their website, RedCross.org or through any number of other foundations.

With regard to food drives you might be seeing on television, the Red Cross would prefer cash or blood and does NOT accept food donations.

Equally important to a cash gift is blood donation. To find a blood drive near you or make an appointment at a nearby office visit their website RedCrossBlood.org. via The Verge

You can also make a quick donation by texting REDCROSS to 90999. This will give $10 to American Red Cross Disaster Relief. The $10 will then show up on your phone bill. Regular message and data rates will also apply.

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Flooding Hinders NYC Power Restoration

New York City got hit with widespread power outages in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, with some 793,000 in the metropolitan area without power, according to a Con Edison spokesperson.

Getting the power back won't be easy, largely because of the flooding. It will probably be at least a few days before power can be restored. "We're focusing on damage assessment," the spokesperson said. Con Edison Senior Vice President for Electric Operations John Miksad told CBS New York that it was the biggest storm-related power outage in the company's history.

Con Edison serves 3.2 million people in Westchester County and New York City. In Westchester, some 180 roads are closed by downed trees, so crews are going to have a tough time getting to places where trees have hit power lines.

Anatomy of a Power Outage

The utility company cut power for customers south of Wall Street at 7 p.m. on Monday. The same thing was done in parts of Brooklyn. Deliberately cutting the power was necessary as it's more dangerous to have current flowing through equipment that gets flooded -- it can cause short circuits, fires, and other damage.

Con Edison has an outage map showing areas that are currently without power.

In New York City, the water has to be flushed out of the flooded areas first before power equipment can be checked to be sure it's safe to run current through. And the current to damaged equipment has to be shut down before repairs can be made.

Odds are, if your area is served by underground lines, the power should be back in four days; it will be a week or so for those served by telephone poles. But those timelines are approximate; a lot will depend on what the situation is locally. Anyplace there is standing water and downed power lines is dangerous; there have been 10 fatalities in New York City and Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a press conference that a few were the result of people stepping into puddles near live power lines.

While it's certainly inconvenient, there is also another logic to cutting the power in certain areas. When power is suddenly cut off in one part of the system, it increases the current flowing through other parts of the grid. That can overload the system causing more damage and an even wider power failure.

Could A Smart Grid Curb Blackouts?

Another twist for some Manhattanites is losing the steam heat system. In New York, many buildings are heated by a system of steam pipes from a central plant. Con Edison had to shut down the system in some areas because if water hit the pipes, the temperature difference would weaken the metal, which could lead to explosions. The loss of the steam system means that some people will be without heat and hot water.

At about 8:30 p.m. last night a power plant explosion on the eastern shore of Manhattan was caught on video, though a Con Edison spokesperson said it wasn't clear whether it was caused by flooding or flying debris. After the explosion, power was out south of 39th street. The substation served about 250,000 people.

Photo, top: The Brooklyn Battery Tunnel floods after a tidal surge from Hurricane Sandy (Allison Joyce/Getty Images); bottom: Downed trees in lower Manhattan block streets (Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis)

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NYC Subway Stations Eerily Empty: DNews Nugget

NYC Subway Stations Eerily Empty: In anticipation of the flooding from Hurricane Sandy, New York shut down its public transportation last night at 7 p.m. The MTA has posted images of their preparations on their Flickr page, including photos of empty subway stations. If you've ever ridden the subway in the City, you know that there is never a time a day when stations like those servicing Times Square or Grand Central Station are devoid of people. But these images have a post-apocalyptic, "I Am Legend" vibe that will give you the heebie-jeebies. via Gawker

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Credit: MTA

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Techie Ways To Weather 'Frankenstorm' Sandy

As Hurricane Sandy -- aka Frankenstorm -- winds up to wallop the East Coast, many people are bracing for absolute chaos. With wide-spread blackouts, flooding and wind damage all on the menu, millions of people are being advised to take caution and be vigilant.

Compliments of Fast Company, here are a few ways Sandy has disrupted and prompted the world of tech to help people weather the storm.

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So people can monitor Sandy, Google has created an interactive crisis map, complete with weather updates, evacuation routes and other useful information for those stuck in the storm.

Unfortunately Google had to cancel an event in New York where the company was expected to launch a new 10-inch tablet alongside the Nexus 4 smartphone. Facebook also had to cancel an open engineering day, plus a Gifts event at FAO Schwartz.

However, both the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times have lifted their online paywalls during the storm so that anyone can use their websites to stay informed. Typically, online digital and print subscribers can view extended online content.

ABC's Johanna Stern put together a useful list of apps that help people stay on top of the storm's developments. The list includes Apple's Dark Sky, a $3.99 app that monitors the storm in HD and gives users minute by minute information. Also on the list are disaster information apps from FEMA and the Red Cross.

Finally, for an arty, filtered perspective of Hurricane Sandy, check out Instacane, as well as MTA's Flicker stream.

BLOG: 'Fankenstorm' Sandy Lashes East Coast

If you're like me -- bunkered down and waiting for the you-know-what to hit the fan -- good luck. If you're out of harms way, feel free to send a care package. 

via Fast Company

Credit: Google Crisis Map

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New York Times Lifts Paywall for Hurricane Sandy

With the potentially damaging Hurricane Sandy on the move, The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal are temporarily lifting the subscriptions paywalls on their websites to give everyone access to information about the weather event. All content on both sites, include apps for all mobile devices and all sections will be available starting today.

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Usually the paywall at the NYT limits readers to 10 articles, but with it lifted, everyone has unlimited access to news. It's like 2005 again! The New York Times says their paywall will remain lifted until "the weather emergency is over."

This isn't the first time the paper has forgone its restrictions to content in the wake of a national event. As CNET points out, it also lifted the paywall, briefly, when Osama Bin Laden was killed and during Hurricane Irene last year. Good to know that when the situation is dire and news is necessary, even big names will let down their monetary guard to give everyone the most up to date news on what's going on.

Then again, you can always check out our always-free hurricane coverage here at Discovery News.

via CNET

Credit: Robert Such/Arcaid/Corbis

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FEMA Launches Disaster Preparedness App

FEMA Disaster Preparedness App: Free

Being that last month was rife with natural disaster discussions and more on the way, FEMA’s release of a disaster preparedness app seems to be coming at the right time. The Federal Emergency Management Agency developed this app to give users information about how to prepare for a natural disaster or recover from one after it has happened.

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The app works with or without cell phone service and gives the user different ways to prepare, like a checklist of items that should be in an emergency kit and shelter locations nationwide. It also has safety tips on what to do before, during and after a disaster and ways to specify family meet-up areas. The FEMA blog often has up to date information about upcoming or ongoing disasters and can also be accessed from the app. Versions for Blackberry 6OS and iPhone will be released in the coming weeks, just in time to get through the rest of hurricane season.

Photo: Monika Graff/Getty Images

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Could Submarines Subdue a Typhoon?

You may have heard of geo-engineering. It describes any number of global-sized schemes designed to alter some earth-sized phenomenon, typically global warming.

Well now a Japanese hydraulic manufacturing firm wants to get into the act with a plan to alter typhoons, or as we in the Western Hemisphere called 'em, hurricanes. Ise Kogyo was recently awarded patents in India and Japan for water-pumping submarines that could be used downgrade the force of typhoons and hurricanes.

The idea is simple: Typhoons gain strength from warmer ocean waters. In fact, the storms need an ocean surface temperature of between 77 and 78 degrees Fahrenheit to develop and 80 degrees F to keep spinning.

Now imagine a fleet of about 20 submarines stationed out in front of the typhoon, each vessel equipped with eight pumps designed to shoot 480 metric tons of cold water per minute to the ocean's surface. In just one hour, the fleet could lower the water's surface temperature by three degrees, snuffing out the typhoon.

The big challenge is accurately predicting the path of the typhoon.

An application in the United States could be approved soon. It's a crazy, big idea and I wonder just how smart it is to tamper with Nature on such a big scale. Maybe typhoons and hurricanes are necessary on some global scale that we just aren't aware of. What do you think?

Credit: iStockphoto

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