The Inquisitr » technology

Let’s Stop The Nonsense, OK?

Kyle Brady — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 08:05:43 +0000

The “bleeding-edge” segment of the Internet has gone full-on crazy, so it’s time to give them their medicine… and fast.

First of all, let’s make some definitions:

“technology” does not include only the Internet
“the Internet” does not include only so-called “social networking” sites
“groundbreaking” does not include every minor change or release from X’s favorite site Y

With me so far? Good.

If you’re one of the people that goes insane and hyper-joyous over things like Twitter Lists, you need to seek medical help – these “features”, used in the loosest sense of the software term, are not something to get overly excited about. Facebook Chat opening to external clients is not “groundbreaking” or a “gamechanger”, because that IM process is used for an extremely different purpose than, say, regular instant messaging – in fact, the only real operational difference is that I can be connected to some people I don’t want to talk to via Pidgin. Twitter Lists, small changes to Google’s algorithms, and the like are included in this “excited about nonsense” category.

Furthermore, if you’re someone who claims to “love technology”, but what you really mean is that you’re a Facebook addict, a Twitter whore, and an iPhone fanboy, I have some news for you: you don’t love technology. If you really loved technology, you’d be more interested in real technological items like working space elevator prototypes, the multiple industry revolutions that are fast approaching, or even just software that has real and useful purposes. Reading a few blogs about the Internet and going to Twitter conferences do not make you a technogeek – try PhysOrg.com, almost-science-journals like New Scientist, or even some self-education on the things that make your favorite software or gadgets work.

So when you’re retweeting your favorite self-proclaimed geek pundit’s semi-legible statement about a “groundbreaking” release from “the Internet” using brand new “technology”, stop for a moment to think about what you’re saying – how often do you think Stephen Hawking, Bill Gates, or Steve Jobs cry tears of joy over the latest incremental update from FarmVille?

That’s right – never.

Kyle Brady is a contributing columnist for the Inquisitr, an entrepreneur, and has a future in science fiction. He can be found at his blog, via email, or on Twitter.

It takes an FCC study to show Canada’s falling broadband position

Steven Hodson — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 21:16:39 +0000

I have felt for some time that Canada has slowly been relinquishing the leading role it held for as long as I can remember. Granted in the medical field my home country still is well known and respected but when it comes to technology we have been heading downhill.

Some might argue the point but it only takes looking at the country’s position as a broadband provider to see that decline. It was this point that both a Canadian ISP commissioned report and a comprehensive study by researchers at Harvard University that was commissioned by the FCC (pdf report).

The FCC study led by Professor Yochai Benkler reviewed international rankings with differing policy approaches and in Canada’s case it was noteworthy because it tries to link Canadian policy with its falling rankings. The specific rankings as noted by Professor Michael Geist on his blog

On the issue of rankings, the study uses several reports to conclude yet again that Canada trails much of the developed world on broadband. The specific rankings are:

Overall – 22nd

Access – 16th

Speed – 20th (using the same Speedtest.net source that Rogers relied upon in its ad campaign that led to a lawsuit by Bell)

Price – 25th

The FCC report points out that Canada was once a broadband leader

It was a very early broadband adopter, relying primarily on facilities-based competition between cable and incumbent telephone companies. As early as 2000, broadband subscriptions were already 31% of all Internet subscriptions. As of December of 2003, Canada had the second highest level of Internet penetration per 100 inhabitants in the OECD, second only to South Korea, and third highest, after South Korea and Japan, by the per-household measure. At that time, there were 1.29 cable broadband subscribers for every DSL subscriber.

The report suggests its reasoning behind why Canada is suffering on the competitive front this way

Canada has the highest monthly charge for access to an unbundled local loop of any OECD country. Combined with the presence of strong incumbents and the Canadian regulator’s practice of promising to sunset the requirement of opening access to core facilities – originally copper loops, now fiber – it is possible that the investment environment is too expensive and too uncertain for non-incumbent entrants.

The final conclusion by the FCC when it comes to Canada and it’s place in the broadband world:

Canada has the highest monthly charge for access to an unbundled local loop of any OECD country. Combined with the presence of strong incumbents and the Canadian regulator’s practice of promising to sunset the requirement of opening access to core facilities – originally copper loops, now fiber – it is possible that the investment environment is too expensive and too uncertain for non-incumbent entrants.

So much for the idea of a ubiquitous real time web.

Philips Lifeline, FDA Warn of Choking Hazard With Emergency Help Button

AHN — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 04:00:31 +0000

Washington, D.C. (AHN) – A safety alert has been issued for a device worn around the neck that enables users to push a button to summon emergency assistance to their homes because it poses a choking hazard resulting in serious injury or death.

Philips Lifeline has issued the safety alert for its Lifeline Pendant Personal Help Buttons, according to a statement by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

FDA officials are warning users of the device that it poses a potential choking hazard. The emergency response button, which is worn around the neck, can be used to summon help if someone falls, or has another emergency.

It was intentionally designed not to break off easily so people wouldn’t lose it. However, FDA officials warn that it can become entangled with other objects worn around the neck and cause choking.

FDA officials said in a statement Tuesday, that they were aware of at least six reports of serious injury, including three deaths in the U.S. and one in Canada, from the device between 1998 and 2009.

More than 750,000 people use the device in the U.S. and Canada and FDA officials are sending them letters warning of the hazard.

India Puts 7 Satellites Into Orbit

AHN — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 03:00:29 +0000

New Delhi, India (AHN) – India successfully put seven satellites into orbit Wednesday, including its very own remote-sensing satellite that will identify fishing grounds in the ocean.

The seven-story high, 230-ton Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) blasted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andrah Pradesh off India’s east coast at 11:51 a.m. and released Oceansat-2 and six smaller satellites from Germany, Switzerland and Turkey in 20 minutes.

The Oceansat-2 can also measure wind speed over the surface of the ocean to track monsoons and cyclones. It is the 16th of its kind launched by the country.

New Developments In Nanotechnology, Magnetism Aid In Delivery Of Medications

AHN — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 11:00:49 +0000

Boston, MA (AHN) – Researchers at Children’s Hospital Boston have developed a way to deliver medications intermittently with the use of magnetic fields and nanotechnology. The technology has the potential to provide precise, repeated, long-term, on-demand delivery of drugs for a number of medical applications, including the management of pain.

Many medical conditions, such as chronic pain, cancer and diabetes, require medications that cannot be taken orally, but must be dosed intermittently, on an as-needed basis, over a long period of time. Currently only a few delivery techniques have been developed.

At present health officials have the option of using an implanted heat source, an implanted electronic chip or other stimuli as an “on-off” switch to release the drugs into the body. However, thus far, none of these methods can reliably do all that’s needed: repeatedly turn dosing on and off, deliver consistent doses and adjust doses according to the patient’s need.

The research team led by Daniel Kohane, MD, PhD created a small implantable device, less than ½” in diameter, that encapsulates the drug in a specially engineered membrane, embedded with nanoparticles (approximately 1/100,000 the width of a human hair) composed of magnetite, a mineral with natural magnetic properties. When a magnetic field is switched on outside the body, near the device, the nanoparticles heat up, causing the gels in the membrane to warm and temporarily collapse.

This opens up pores that allow the drug to pass through and into the body. When the magnetic force is turned off, the membranes cool and the gels re-expand, closing the pores back up and halting drug delivery. No implanted electronics are required.

“A device of this kind would allow patients or their physicians to determine exactly when drugs are delivered, and in what quantities,” says Kohane, who directs the Laboratory for Biomaterials and Drug Delivery in the Department of Anesthesiology at Children’s.

In animal experiments, the membranes remained functional over multiple cycles. The size of the dose was controllable by the duration of the “on” pulse, and the rate of release remained steady, even 45 days after implantation.

Testing indicated that drug delivery could be turned on with only 1 to 2 minute time lag before drug release, and turned off with a 5 to 10 minute time lag. The membranes remained mechanically stable under tensile and compression testing, indicating their durability, showed no toxicity to cells, and were not rejected by the animals’ immune systems. They are activated by temperatures higher than normal body temperatures, so would not be affected by the heat of a patient’s fever or inflammation.

Researchers reviewing the data agree that this novel approach to drug delivery incorporating engineered ’smart’ nanoparticles appears to overcome a number of limitations facing current methods of delivering medicines.

Clement Clears Nortel Network’s Sale Of Wireless Business To Ericsson

AHN — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 20:40:01 +0000

Ottawa, Ontario (AHN) – Despite pressure from frustrated bidder Research in Motion and Canadian lawmakers for Ottawa to block the sale of Nortel Network’s wireless business, Industry Minister Tony Clement ruled otherwise.

Clement explained to qualify for federal interview a transaction must be worth at least $312 million under the rules and threshold values of the Investment Canada Act.

Although the deal – approved earlier by a Canadian Federal Court and a U.S. Bankruptcy Court – was for $1.13 billion, Clement pointed out in a statement: “Based on materials prepared and validated by two public accounting firms and in light of the testimony presented before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology, I am satisfied that the assets being sold fall below that threshold.”

Clement added, “Based on the information presented to me, there are no grounds to believe that this transaction could be injurious to Canada’s national security.”

Blackberry-maker RIM opposed the sale of Nortel’s wireless business because Canadian taxpayers’ money was partly used to fund the development of the technology which could end up in foreign hands.

Clement said the sale protects jobs and intellectual property in Canada through the inclusion of a non-exclusive licensing agreement for some of the Long Term Evolution wireless technologies to Ericsson. But the property rights to these patents remain with Nortel, a Canadian company facing bankruptcy proceedings.

The industry minister said, “With a stellar reputation in the Canadian ICT sector – and in research – Ericsson also has the resources and customer base to bring Canadian innovation to market. This deal is beneficial to Canada and will help Canada compete on the world stage.

Clement’s decision came after Nortel sold this week its enterprise assets to Avaya Communication for $900 million. The sale was opposed by Verizon Communications because of the risk American federal agencies would face. Bid winner Avaya has indicated it will not assume Nortel’s contract with Verizon, which manages the Nortel equipment used to service U.S. federal agencies, including the military.

The sale of Nortel’s enterprise assets is also subject to U.S. and Canadian courts’ approval.

Virgin’s solution to piracy not sitting well with all record companies

Steven Hodson — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 22:45:00 +0000

Well color me surprised but not all of the record companies are happy with UK ISP Virgin Media’s planned subscription service for downloading music.

The UK company believes that consumers want to be able to download as much music as they want and without it being loaded down with DRM restrictions. It’s newly announced subscription service is built around this idea that will allow their subscribers to download as much music as they want for an additional monthly fee and allow them to keep it permanently. The fee for the service hasn’t been announced but people in the know are suggesting it will be around the £15 mark.

At this point only Universal and some smaller indie labels have signed up with the ISP’s service. The other record companies, like Warner Bros, EMI, and Sony Music aren’t too happy with the service as they believe that it will cannibalize their existing digital sales. They also don’t believe that it will do anything to convert persistent file-sharers.

A Virgin Media spokeswoman said it’s committed to launching a “comprehensive” service this year. “We’re making good progress in developing the service and are on track to launch before Christmas,” she said. “We’re in talks with both major and independent labels and are committed to launching a comprehensive service.”

However, while record labels are keen to work with Virgin because of the reach it offers via its 3.7m broadband subscribers, they argue the music download service needs to make commercial sense.

A label executive involved in the negotiations said the labels support Virgin Media’s music plans in theory, but any service must deliver both feasibility and scale.

“We want to work with Virgin Media as a partner but any deal has to sit comfortably with how we value our assets against how it values its customers,” he said. “We have to evaluate each deal as it comes in and make sure we’re happy with the overall value of the proposition.”

Source: New Media Age – Record labels cast doubt on Virgin Media’s music model

Somehow I don’t hold out much hope that the Virgin Media subscription idea will end up seeing the light of day.

Keeping Up With The Joneses. Early Tech Adopters Now The “Norm”

James Allen Johnson — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 16:52:27 +0000

The days when the “tech savvy” employee had to show their less tech friendly co-worker how to use their smartphones, computers, pagers and other technology are quickly disintegrating around us. According to a recently release study reported by the WSJ, “Early Adopters” are quickly becoming the norm in our society.

The study surveyed 53,668 households in the U.S. and Canada and found that almost 50% of respondents played video games, while over 60% had a broadband connection and almost 75% owned cellphones and computers. The survey also points to nearly 10 million households with HDTV’s, a jump of 27 percent in only the last year and a half.

The study also estimates that by 2014 almost 39 million homes will be with HDTV’s, a market penetration of almost 70 percent.

Researchers also found that despite the recession online spending is still bringing in over $500 on average per spender, with many households still bringing in over $1000 in online sales.

According to the WSJ:

The study also suggests a growing reliance on the Internet for commerce, communication, entertainment and social lives, said Charles S. Golvin, an analyst with Forrester Research, and a co-author on the study.

The study also goes into further depth about increasing cell phone consumption, increased MP3 player use by varying age levels and other early adoption of electronics by various demographics. [via WSJ]

Lure of technological convenience hides a nasty side

Steven Hodson — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 21:57:55 +0000

There is no denying the fact that we all love our tech toys. Apple’s iPhone continues to sell, smart phones in general grow in popularity, GPS-based apps are just handy to have. Things like electronic swipe cards for subways, toll booths and quick payment at stores make life easier – and quicker. God knows I wouldn’t know what to do without my debit card – I hardly ever carry cash anymore.

The dark side to this though is that every time we use those ‘conveniences’ that data is collected and kept somewhere. Under the guise of aggregated data used for everything from profit projections to traffic flows this data is amassed painting a picture of where you have been and what you have done.

This collection of data has many privacy experts concerned as we are seeing cases of this type of data turning up in courtrooms. Whether it be the police using cell phone records to track people to things like E-ZPasses to show people’s travel routes at the times when crimes have occurred. Google searches have shown up in more than a few high profile murder trials.

As Adam Cohen notes in an editorial post at The New York Times this isn’t just the prevue of the police and lawyers.

Corporations and the government can keep track of what political meetings people attend, what bars and clubs they go to, whose homes they visit. It is the fact that people’s locations are being recorded “pervasively, silently, and cheaply that we’re worried about,” the Electronic Frontier Foundation said in a recent report.

Sure we might realize empirically that we are probably being watched by an increasing number of CCTV cameras as we move around but in general people don’t realize the extent to which their everyday activity is recorded. People aren’t told that using that transportation card will also allow the transportation authority to track them (or that police have used those records in criminal investigations). Cell phone users aren’t told that even though they aren’t using the phone that if it is turned the companies can track their movements.

Not all of this information is being broadcasted and collected without our knowledge as the popularity of social media services like BrightKite which is a web service that let’s you broadcast your current location and the willingness of people to tell the world where and what they are doing. Sure the typical argument that advocates of these types of services, knowing or otherwise, is that if we have nothing to hide we shouldn’t be concerned about all this data collected.

Sorry but that’s a mug’s argument in my opinion. I can understand how some of this data can be helpful but in no way does it need any type of personal information attached to it. As Cohen points out in his editorial

As much as possible, location-specific information should not be collected in the first place, or not in personally identifiable form. There are many ways, as the Electronic Frontier Foundation notes, to use cryptography and anonymization to protect locational privacy. To tell you about nearby coffee shops, a cellphone application needs to know where you are. It does not need to know who you are.

When locational information is collected, people should be given advance notice and a chance to opt out. Data should be erased as soon as its main purpose is met. After you pay your E-ZPass bill, there is no reason for the government to keep records of your travel.

While the lure of convenience is making this kind of data collection palatable that doesn’t mean that it is a good thing or that it should be being done.

Apple’s love/hate relationship with its users

Steven Hodson — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 23:05:00 +0000

Apple is an anomaly in today’s tech world.

Long the mainstay of small segment of computer users it had a loyal following who would probably leap off of cliffs if Steve Jobs asked them to, especially if asked during one of his famous keynote speeches. There is no denying that all that faith and admiration in both the man and the products isn’t well placed. The iPhone has transformed the whole smart phone industry, the iPod/iTunes has revolutionized the music industry and could have the same effect on video, and the Mac in all its variations is a beautiful and excellent computer.

When it comes to the man the loyal followers have him to thank for first bringing the company back from the brink of disaster and then making it more popular than it ever has been before. In return for this ‘fandom’ Apple and Steve Jobs continue to challenge the established ideas of how we perceive our electronic devices and provide us with some of the best designed gadgets to fill our days with – and in the process Apple is making money hand over fist. With over $25 billion cash in their war chest Apple is set to do basically whatever it wants.

All this goodness and light however isn’t without its spots of tarnish – spots that are increasing both in number and size.

As hard as Apple tries to clean up those spots they aren’t going away. No longer will people blindly sign NDA’s over their iPhone exploding, no longer will they be silent about Apple’s heavy-handedness. Now even the little things like Apple breaking developer reference links or the silence about the removal of something like the ZFS file system are getting attention.

Attention that Apple continually ignores as it sits behind its wall at Cupertino. However this is the age of the social web and the empowerment of the consumer where even the most loyal Apple consumer has a voice – and aren’t afraid to use it. After all it’s pretty easy – set up a blog, join Twitter, add friends on Facebook. The avenues for expression of dissatisfaction are all there and people are using them with increasing frequency.

Except Apple for the most part isn’t listening, or at least even if they are they are not responding. They chose to ignore the very people who have dedicated much of their computing life to advocating the Apple way of life. They have believed enough in Steve Jobs and the company to add their portion to that $25 billion war chest.

In a world where, especially the tech part of it, where social media is becoming the powerhouse of consumer interaction Apple’s silence is excruciatingly loud. As Tom Foremski writes

This is strange. This means Apple must have a company policy to not engage in social media at all. There can be no other explanation.

This company directive must come from the top. Steve Jobs has a reputation as a micro-manager and control freak.

And on the social web there is no control over your message. It will be “annotated” by thousands, potentially millions of people. It takes balls to put yourself in front of people on the social web.

Apple seems to be lacking the balls.

For all the life long fans have given to Apple there will be a breaking point as dissatisfaction with this silent treatment from the company that many of them love reaches a breaking point. It might not be a breaking that will turn that fan base away from the company but it is one that may seriously discourage any new people from taking up the Apple mantra.

People in this new social media world have the power to change things a lot more than they may realize but definitely more than companies realize. Apple may have once benefited from its autocratic, elitist, “we know best” attitude but as we are finding with every other business that holds that same attitude that world is gone. Once again Tom phrases it well when he says

The other thing people will remember is when you show you aren’t listening, you aren’t interested, you come across as arrogant. You have $26 billion in cash earned from your customers and you don’t care about your customers, what they are saying about you, what problems they are having. That’s memorable.

Very memorable.

High tech bed heaven

Steven Hodson — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 18:45:00 +0000

Our bedrooms are our sanctuary, a place to relax and chill and perchance to sleep. With the ever rising adoption of laptops they have also become just another extension of our workspace and entertainment center albeit with a lot more comfort.

Yoo-Pod Ltd wants to take that idea and expand on it just a little bit with their Somnus-Neu project. A project that is bound to make every geek out there drool just a little bit. The project aims to bring us all the bed of the future, which with the high tech features they have included in this creation it is easy to see why. Combining a really cool design and some pretty nice technology the Somnus-Neu bed is intended to let you relax and connect from one place or at least that’s what their promo blurb says – I’ll leave it to you to decide.

The list of goodies that comes with the bed goes something like this

An internet connection, either through wifi or ethernet
An entire audio-visual system with an HD video projector and 5-point audio system that includes drivers mounted beneath the mattress—hook up an iPod, watch cable TV or DVDs or stream media online.
Mechanized curtains and a drop-down screen that can be used to completely enclose the mattress.
LED lighting under, above and around the bed

hat tip to Freshome.com

Could radio and newspapers save each other?

Steven Hodson — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 21:36:28 +0000

There is no denying the fact that both terrestrial radio (and probably satellite as well) and the newspaper industry are facing some dire times as they try to find their way in this new media world. A lot of talk has been floating around lately about the online versions of newspapers moving to a paywall subscription type of thing. As well you have the Associated Press seriously thinking of committing hari kari by killing off links and quoting unless you pay for it.

Radio on the other hand is facing a growing pressure from the entertainment industry to change the rules of the game and as a result make playing music on the radio prohibitively expensive. Satellite radio may not survive just out of plain economics and the rapidly changing technology of the web.

With this as the backdrop it was rather interesting to read Doc Searls this morning where he was talking about the conversation that had developed around his earlier post that talked about the sale of WQXR radio station to WNTC, a public radio station in New York. One of the points Doc made was that for much of history of both industries newspapers owned radio stations. This all changed however when the FCC changed the regulations and prohibited that kind of ownership.

That however was back in a time when both industries were more the most part in their golden era as businesses. The idea was that it was wrong to let one buy out the other and as a result consolidate all the news distribution. It was felt that if such a consolidation of news providers did happen it would be detrimental to the public as there would be less choice of where we got our news, and to a certain extent – entertainment in general as well.

But a lot has changed since those FCC regulations were created. The Internet didn’t even exist let alone the growing number of ways that we can get our news. In this new media world those old regulations could actually turn out to be one of the nails in the coffin of old media.

Competition for news delivery to the public is like it has never been before. It is that very competition that is the biggest threat to traditional news distribution like newspapers and radio. It is also the same competition that if they were allowed to merge could see radio and newspapers turn into a smaller better combination of previously separate dinosaurs.

It’s not like it hasn’t happened in the past as Sean Reiser commented on one of Doc’s posts

One of the unique things about the QXR was it’s relationship with the Times. The Times owned QXR before the FCC regulations prohibiting newspapers ownership of a radio station were enacted. Because of this relationship, QXR’s newsroom was located in the NY Times building and news gathering resources were shared. In a precursor to newspaper reporters doing podcasts, Times columnists and arts reporters would often appear on the air doing segments.

There is no reason why something like this couldn’t happen again and who knows maybe it would be the best thing to happen to both of those dying industries.

100 things your kids will never know about, old man

Kim LaCapria — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 19:02:15 +0000

Wired has an interesting list up today of all the things your children will probably never know about or understand.

It’s likely familiar ground for those of us that came of age with technology of a different sort- those of us who were bowled over by the technological wizardry that was the original Lemonade Stand or Oregon Trail. Or those who sometimes get nostalgic for video games that were the size of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

The list is full of things that will definitely bring you back to the days when new gadgets and advances were fewer and further between, and much harder to come by. (I never had a Commodore 64, and I only got to play Summer Olympics and Winter Olympics at a friend’s house. And I liked it! I was happy to get it at three week intervals.)

Making the list are universally loved memories such as “blowing the dust out of a NES cartridge in the hopes that it’ll load this time.” “swimming pools with diving boards,” roller skates and just plain “privacy.” Also making the list are some “don’t let the door hit you” items such as writing checks, posting letters with a stamp and waiting for the hour and a half a week when the bank was actually open to get money.

Either way, you’re old, dude.

[100 Things Your Kids May Never Know About, Wired]

Let’s see … iPhone or less harm to the environment – which would you pick?

Steven Hodson — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:00:00 +0000

Technology is a driving force in our world, however if that world is facing environmental problems which do you think the majority of people would choose?

The Shelton Group wondered the same thing which lead to a recent study using a sampling group of 1,006 and asked them the the following question – "If these things were harming the environment, which of the following would you be willing to give up?," The percentages of those who would be willing to do without some gadget or modern convenience broke down like this:

iPod – 38 percent
Dishwasher – 35 percent
Microwave – 25 percent
Cellular phone – 21 percent
Air conditioning – 14 percent
TV – 13 percent
Computer – 7 percent
Car – 6 percent
None of the above – 21 percent
All of the above – 6 percent

In other words says market researcher Suzanne Shelton, “Consumers don’t want to give up the modern conveniences of life. We’re all basically saying, ‘I’ll be green as long it doesn’t make me uncomfortable or inconvenienced.’”

This doesn’t surprise me one little bit.

hat tip to EcoGeek.org

The Able Bodied get a voice in the blogosphere

Steven Hodson — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 18:33:45 +0000

There are an estimated 54 million Americans alone that are considered to be physically or mentally disabled. In other words 19 percent of the American population who have a hard time wandering the byways of the Internet and technology.

AbledBody is a new consumer tech focused site geared towards this segment and officially launched Thursday. The site covers not just hardware and software of interested to the disabled community but also carries information on how the disabled can modify general gear to make it more accessible to them. As well it will cover news of trends and gadgets that can help the disabled at work and at home. The site will also post sourced news, personal commentary and contributors’ expert opinions.

Editor in chief Suzanne Robitaille–who lost her hearing at age 4 due to meningitis and now has a cochlear implant–has covered disability topics for The Wall Street Journal and is the author of a forthcoming book, "The Illustrated Guide to Assistive Technology." Other stories currently appearing on AbledBody cover a new touch technique that lets blind consumers use smartphones; Bookshare rebuilding its talking books library; and a new Apple iPhone app that manages diabetes.

The site isn’t just about informing the disabled about their options, but also about the growing disability market. Many companies make their money on health care products, and disabilities are a big part of that. AbledBody tracks the innovations from both sides, which is interesting.

Source: Crave Blog – CNET News

This is a great addition to the tech blogosphere and one we all should make sure to pass around as we all probably have some-one close to us who suffers from one type of disability or another.

No related posts.

A rocking chair Hannibal would like

Steven Hodson — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 02:06:11 +0000

When you say the word rocking chair we most likely have visions of grandparents sitting in wooden rocking chairs on the front porch. Well like everything else in our world not even rocking chairs seem to be safe from a re-boot as evidenced by the picture above. The chair is named the Ruby Rocking Chair and is designed by Pouyan Mokhtarani.

This is an anatomic rocking chair. The main idea is taken from a magnificent super human body. This chair is designed in a way that when ever an individual sits on it, he or she will experience the sense of power. This feeling is synonymous to that of a super metaphysic human who can control every surrounding matter. There are 8 liquid pillows in the back which resemble the formation of 8 abdominal muscle packs in human anatomy and two larger liquid pillows in the bottom that resemble the hunkers muscles in the human body.

Source: Street Anatomy

The more I look at this leftover from an Aliens movie set the more I think I would really like to have one.

Canada lost ground in the International ICT Development Index

Steven Hodson — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 06:15:03 +0000

In a new report titled Measuring the Information Society the ITU (International Telecommunication Union) shares with the world its findings for 150 countries and their place in the International ICT Development Index. Needless to say I am not at all surprised to find out that Canada has slipped from 9th place in 2002 to 19th place in 2007. While the country’s absolute number increased over the five years (ie. ICT use increased) it was at a slower rate than many other countries.

During that five years no other country in the top 50 declined as rapidly as Canada as the country was passed by the US, Australia, New Zealand as well as a number of Asian and European countries. As Michael Geist reports in his post on this disappointing news

The decline in a sub-index on ICT use is even more dramatic. The sub-index measures Internet user penetration, fixed broadband penetration, and mobile broadband penetration. Canada ranked 4th worldwide in 2002. By 2007, we dropped to 21st worldwide. While the survey also includes data suggesting that Canada has relatively inexpensive fixed broadband (2nd worldwide), the declining numbers are consistent with other studies that indicate that any advantages that Canada had in the late 1990s have long since disappeared.

And people wonder why I get cranky when I talk about Canada and its place in a broadband world.

Excuse me but you have a text message from your car’s parking meter

Steven Hodson — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 18:27:56 +0000

Isn’t technology wonderful?

We do so many incredible and world changing things with it. Lives can be forever changed as newer and newer technology comes along. Then like a full face smash into a brick wall we get this.

Ring .. ring .. (your mobile phone) “You have just received a parking ticket. Thank You.”

Yes folks a company by the name of Technolia has developed a system that can detect the presence of vehicles and will alert the police if the said vehicle overstays it’s allotted time in the parking spot.

“We are revolutionising parking with the individual monitoring of spaces,” said Claude Zandona, the company’s managing director.

The meters create magnetic fields capable of registering the metal mass of vehicles. They have a direct computer link to a police station.

Source: Times Online

Already 60 French councils have installed the system around their towns. Under a mechanism adopted by towns such as Issy-les-Moulineaux on the outskirts of Paris, cars are allowed 20 minutes of free parking. Should they commit the heinous crime of overstaying the smart meter sends a message to the police control room. The police can then alert officers via mobile phones that they need to get issuing some tickets.

The company envisions a point with the system where the motorists would get a five minute warning text message and allow the person to pay for additional time with their phone. then if they still don’t pay they would get their fine sent to their homes.

Ain’t technology grand?

Has hard work gone the way of the Dodo bird?

Steven Hodson — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 23:37:15 +0000

When I was growing up hard work was the accepted norm. From the age of eleven I have been working with by first experience of hard work being that of working on a dairy farm every summer and much of the winter on the weekends. Slugging bales of hay that could weigh more than I did at the time was hard work. Cleaning out calf pens in the spring from a winter of them being in a 10×10 pen was hard work.

As I got older my work history was one of delivering furniture, managing warehouses and hot tar roofing. That was hard work and much of my generation believed the same as I did – you got ahead in life by working hard. That was our ethos that we were raised with. It was the same with our parents and their parents. Working hard got you the good things in life and was something to be proud of.

Even the early days of the computerized workspace was built around hard work. We didn’t have the advantage of mass produced software products with much of what we used the machines for we had to program into them. The paperless office ended up being nothing more than a pipedream as we struggled to come to terms with how our work was changing.

The fact is that as the information age has become the driving force of our world our ideas of what hard work is has changed. Whether the change is for the better or not is open to debate but the fact is that the hard work ethic of even my generation is disappearing. In its place we are finding ourselves dealing more and more with having to manage our distractions. As Mike Elgan wrote a couple of days ago at IT Management

Distractions mask the toll they take on productivity. Everyone finishes up their work days exhausted, but how much of that exhaustion is from real work, how much from the mental effort of fighting off distractions and how much from the indulgence of distractions?

Pundits like me are constantly talking about Facebook, Twitter, blogs and humor sites, not to mention old standbys like e-mail and IM. One gets the impression that we should be "following" these things all day long, and many do. So when does the work get done? When do entrepreneurs start and manage their businesses? When do writers write that novel? When to IT professionals keep the trains running on time? When does anyone do anything?

The need for "attention," rather than "hard work," as the centerpiece of the new work ethic has arisen along with the rise of distractions carried on the wings of Internet protocol. In one generation, we’ve gone from a total separation of "work" from "non-work" to one in which both work and play are always sitting right in front of us.

I know from my experience as a blogger writing about this new age of distraction that it is all around us.It is also getting worse with each day that goes by and more people become sucked into the black vortex of being a part of the cool web. From Twitter to Facebook and every social media service in between it is all about being a part of some ever growing conversation. Where once we may only have had to deal with the distractions of things like email and instant messaging we are faced with a deluge of never ending messages. Some are important and others are just the nattering of a 1,000 monkeys used to fill up every nanosecond of our attention.

In some ways I’m pretty lucky in that being a blogger much of these distractions are an integral part of my work but I’ve never stopped wondering as I have seen tweets go by and links posted on FriendFeed – when are people getting any actual work done. It doesn’t matter what social media service you look at there are always people talking.

I’ve also noticed this change of work ethic among the newer generations – especially in the tech sector.For this generation it is all about managing distractions and the expectation that everything will come to them as long as they are a part of the conversation. No more is it about hard work as it is as much about making your presence known everywhere possible. sure a lot will say that they put in long hours of working but long hours doesn’t always equate to hard work – especially in this day and age of distractions.

No related posts.

CNN shuts Tech news division as O’Brien leaves network

Steven Hodson — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 23:14:42 +0000

Miles O’Brien might have been irriating some times to watch as he reported on things like NASA, technology and science but I always like watching his reports. It was nice to be able to get some tech news; or at least tech angles, mixed in with the rest of the disaster news that CNN loves to pump out.

Unfortunately though the head honcho’s at CNN have decided that technology related stuff is news worthy enough to merit its own news division. As MediaBistro is reporting Miles O’Brien is leaving CNN and they are shutting down its science, environment, space and technology unit

O’Brien’s departure comes as the network dismantles its science, space, environment and technology unit in Atlanta. That includes O’Brien as well as six producers. O’Brien has been CNN’s chief technology and environment correspondent since being replaced as anchor of American Morning in April 2007.

Personally I am really sorry to see this happen and I think it is really short-sighted of CNN to integrate the science and tech into their general editorial schedule. As we move forward in an increasingly tech oriented world and the environment is becoming even more of an issue not having a specific focus on them is disappointing.