BORGZA'S Science & Technology UPDATES

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Nasa to launch Mars polar probe
By Paul Rincon
Science reporter, BBC News

Nasa is to launch a spacecraft on a nine-month journey to Mars, where it will dig below the surface for clues to the existence of past or present life.
The Phoenix probe is scheduled to lift off on Saturday from Cape Canaveral, Florida, atop a Delta II rocket.

It will have one opportunity to launch at 0526 EDT (1026 BST) followed by a second chance at 0602 EDT (1102 BST).

Phoenix was to launch on Friday, but severe weather conditions prevented fuelling of the rocket's second stage.


The real question we're trying to answer is: 'has that ice melted', because liquid water in contact with soil may provide us with a habitable environment
Peter Smith, University of Arizona

This left little contingency time in the schedule, forcing Nasa officials to move the launch from Friday to Saturday.
If everything goes to plan, Phoenix should arrive at Mars in late May 2008.

The US space agency wants to land the probe on relatively flat terrain at a Martian latitude equivalent to northern Alaska on Earth.


On these northern plains, water ice is thought to lie just a few tens of centimetres below the surface, within reach of the lander's 2.4m (7.5ft) robotic arm.

Scientists estimate the ice content of the upper metre of soil in this region could be as high as 50-70%.

Complex molecules

The mission will aim to shed light not only on the history of this water ice but also on whether the region could support microbial life.

Crucial to this question will be tests for complex, carbon-based chemicals (organics) in the soil and signs the ice periodically melts.


"The real question we're trying to answer is: 'has that ice melted', because liquid water in contact with soil may provide us with a habitable environment," said Peter Smith, the mission's principal investigator and a professor at the University of Arizona.
He added: "For microbes, the word 'habitable' means you have liquid water, complex organic molecules of the type our bodies are made of - proteins, amino acids and so on - and it also means you have energy sources."

Mission scientist William Boynton, also from the University of Arizona, said: "One of the interesting questions is why organic molecules weren't found on the surface of Mars by Viking [Nasa Mars mission from the 1970s].

"The answer is we think there is a mechanism which can destroy organic molecules on Mars. This mechanism might not be operating in the polar regions because water and ice can decompose the oxidants that destroy the organics."

But proof of these in the Martian soil would not show that life exists, or once existed, Professor Boynton pointed out - only that it could exist.

Reaching down

On the surface, the solar-powered craft will deploy its robotic arm to dig down vertically through the soil towards the icy crust. The arm will deliver samples of soil to the lander's deck for analysis by a powerful suite of instruments.

These will check the samples for water and organics, characterise the physical properties of the soil, determine abundances of different minerals, and subject dust grains to microscopic examination.

Mission scientist Dr Tom Pike, from Imperial College London, told BBC News: "We will have the first imaging instrument to zoom in on individual dust grains. Dust is important because it cloaks the planet and has engineering and atmospheric consequences.

"The two US rovers [currently on Mars] are suffering at the moment because a global dust storm is cutting off the power from their solar panels."

The spacecraft will also conduct a study of the Martian polar atmosphere and weather.

Stationary craft

Dr Pike added: "Life is always the headline grabber, but we've got to get good science out even if we don't find life - because in all probability, we won't. So we can't make that the focus of the mission."

Unlike Nasa's roving robots Spirit and Opportunity. Phoenix will be stationary on Mars. It is due to carry out scientific operations for three months on the Martian surface.

The $420m (£206m) mission is so-named because it carries with it the legacies of two earlier failed attempts to explore Mars.

The lander was built for the Mars Surveyor mission originally planned for 2001, but mothballed by Nasa in 2000.

And many science instruments for Phoenix were built or designed for Mars Polar Lander which was lost as it entered the Martian atmosphere in 1999.

The spacecraft's launch window from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station extends until 24 August.



Robotic arm will dig trenches, position tools and deliver samples to other instruments. Camera will take close-up colour images of soil
Surface stereoscopic imager will record panoramic views of the surroundings from atop a mast on the lander
Meteorological station will track daily weather and seasonal changes using temperature and pressure sensors
Microscopy, electrochemistry and conductivity analyser will use four tools to examine soil samples
Mars descent imager will take a downward-looking picture during the final moments before the spacecraft lands
Thermal and evolved-gas analyser will characterise chemical properties of samples and look for organic compounds



Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/6926880.stm

Published: 2007/08/03 11:06:00 GMT

© BBC MMVII

 

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The Tech Lab: Lesley Gavin
BT futurologist Lesley Gavin looks ahead to a time when real and virtual worlds mix as easily as making a mobile phone call.

Social networking sites are essentially communication spaces where you can see and talk to friends, but in a slightly different way than you would face to face, or by email or text.

The fact that these sites have become increasingly popular suggests that this "slightly different" way of communicating fills some purpose or need that we have. They give us an extra awareness of our friends and of the context or mood they are in.



WHAT IS THE TECH LAB?
The world's leading thinkers give a personal view of future technologies


They allow us to choose whether or not to interact with them at that moment or later.

In parallel, we've seen enormous interest in 3D virtual environments as communication and meeting spaces, Second Life is just one example, where people have fun creating avatars, developing role play and spending virtual money.

It's also interesting that as users become older (the original virtual world users are now in their early twenties) we are seeing a trend for real world mega-clubs such as Oceana, offering numerous different themed environments under one roof.

These are places where you can dress up and role play in a real world environment. Virtual worlds are great for meeting lots of people from around the world while sitting in your favourite comfy armchair at home.

However they don't yet meet the asynchronous communication requirement we have as provided by Facebook, Bebo and Myspace.

In the future these environments are likely to merge. Interfaces will improve, and more specifically, personalised applications will be built on top of them.

Virtual worlds will also become integrated with real environments. Buildings or public spaces may offer virtual world counterparts.

Perhaps the local cinema will offer the latest sci-fi world, or historic sites will offer us worlds where we can go back in time.


Virtual worlds will also become integrated with real environments. Buildings or public spaces may offer virtual world counterparts
Lesley Gavin, BT Futurologist

Rather than view virtual worlds on devices, in the future you could use active contact lenses .

These would of course allow you to see the real world - but you could adjust them to see the virtual world, or a mixture of the two.

For example, you may be walking along the street and get a call from someone in a virtual world, and instead of talking on your mobile phone, you instantaneously switch into the mixed reality environment.

Alongside these developments we will have fully networked homes with embedded sensors. These sensors will capture movement and speech, so that when you are travelling, and away from loved ones you could pop in your virtual contact lenses and step into your very own virtual home world.

In an instant you could be on your sofa with your kids watching Tracey Beaker. Of course as soon as your child hits teenage years you are going to be unlikely to find them, as they will be wearing some T-shirt that interferes with the houses motion capture system.

And what of the skills our children are learning in these 3D worlds? Role play means that duality is commonplace and easy to deal with.

Multi-channel communication is another skill that is becoming highly developed, as is cross cultural understanding within these truly global environments.

As new technologies integrate more closely into our real lives I'm interested in the developing social norms that go alongside this.

It is now illegal to use a mobile phone whilst driving - it is recognised that our mind is at least partially in another world, a different communication space.


My friend has created one that follows her around the virtual world complimenting her


People on mobile phones often walk a bit strangely, sometimes pacing up and down the pavement without fully realising what they are doing.

With increased use of mobile, alternate worlds this will increase. What will our pavements be like when people start waving or hugging their virtual friends?

The next stage for virtual worlds is embedded intelligence. For example, in some worlds you can create 'bots'.

These are avatars you can programme by adding behaviours or giving them tasks.

My friend has created one that follows her around the virtual world complimenting her - 'Barbara, you're looking great today' - a great boost to her confidence.

In the future these bots will be able to collect information for you, store it and process it. Perhaps your bot will go round the world making friends, so when you are next online there are a whole host of interesting people for you to meet.

As these worlds become more familiar and sophisticated, we are likely to use them as communication spaces for work as well as play, perhaps to collaborate with remote workers or encourage new kinds of creativity.

A fully functioning, easily accessible, intelligent, well hosted, knowledge based global communication space would be a great invention.

But hang on, wasn't that the Holodeck?





Imagining the future of technology

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/technology/6929201.stm

Published: 2007/08/03 09:40:07 GMT

© BBC MMVII

 

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State of Play: Killzone 2 hands on
Killzone 2 has always been about delivering on a promise. When the first trailer for the game emerged two years ago the sounds of jaws dropping to the floor reverberated around the industry.
Soon after, only the gnashing of grinding teeth was heard when it emerged that the trailer was not being run on PlayStation 3 hardware.

Two years on and Amsterdam-based Guerrilla games is working at turning the naysayers into believers. The game is Sony's Exocet missile at the heart of Xbox 360 owners; a rocket designed to convince doubters that the PlayStation 3 has the explosive power to blow away its rivals.

The first hints that Guerrilla has something very special up its sleeve have begun to emerge.

Sat down in front of a playable level it is immediately clear that Killzone 2 will be one of the most cinematic and immersive games ever produced on a console.

The raw processing power of the PlayStation 3 has been harnessed to create a level of detail seen only in a handful of games on high-end PCs.

The dynamic lighting, animation, high-definition environments and details, such as plaster flying off walls and pillars caught in crossfire, create a sense of place and reality that takes games to a new level of realism.

Cinematic scene

The level starts with a cinematic scene of airborne troop carriers swooping out of the sky and into the battlefield.

When the cutscene ends Killzone 2 moves seamlessly into the in-game action; smoke drifts across the street, lightning flashes realistically in the night sky, sparks of bullet ricochets fill the night and a soldier on fire staggers across your path.

Killzone 2 is an archetypal shooter - a futuristic action title that draws on the symbolism of World War II to create a sense of familiarity.


The game mechanics of the level I saw are not particularly innovative - it is a classic run and shoot adventure, mixing different weapon types and simple tasks to good effect.

The first Killzone title suffered from a number of glitches and bugs, poor AI and a strangely awkward control interface.

This time around, the game's control scheme is solid, the AI of the enemy troops looks on course to be first rate, while there is still some work to be done on specific combat areas, such as throwing grenades.

The violence is intense and the title is destined for an 18 certificate. It could also spark further debate over the use of photo-real violence in videogames.

The one level I played had been in development for the last six months, and with such hyper-real detail it is easy to see why the game is not due for release until 2008.

The developers behind the game I spoke to exuded a tangible confidence when talking about the game; Guerrilla and Sony know they have a special title on their hands.

The high watermark for realism and immersion in videogames could soon be about to be lifted.


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/technology/6929484.stm

Published: 2007/08/03 13:12:53 GMT

© BBC MMVII

 

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Firms withdraw BNP Facebook ads
Six major firms have withdrawn advertisements from the networking website Facebook, after they appeared on a British National Party page.
First Direct, Vodafone, Virgin Media, the AA, Halifax and the Prudential have all withdrawn ads. Virgin said it had to "protect its brand".

The advertisements appeared on a rotating basis on the BNP-related page.

A BNP spokesman said there was no reason to avoid the party. Facebook has declined to comment on the decision.

Mobile phone giant Vodafone and bank First Direct were alerted to the positioning of the ads by New Media Age magazine, while Virgin Media, the AA, Halifax and the Prudential withdrew later.

The spokesman for the BNP said: "There's nothing wrong with the BNP."

He added: "Unfortunately the media have created a bogeyman and really the fault lies with the media, who for some reason have vilified the BNP, and it has scared these people off."

'Highly controversial'

However, the firms expressed concern over the ads' positioning.

New Media Age editor Justin Pearse said: "On the internet you often have little control of where your ads are shown, something that's been highlighted by the unwitting association of some of the UK's favourite brands with a highly controversial political cause."


Our public policy principles state that we do not make political donations or support particular party political interests
Vodafone spokeswoman

First Direct spokesman Rob Skinner said: "We are obviously concerned about where our advertising appears.

"We have got to make sure that the places we advertise are consistent with our own values and identity."

Vodafone said it wanted to continue to work with Facebook while "staying true" to its policies.

A spokeswoman for the mobile phone giant said it bought bundles of advertising space across a number of websites.

'Brand protection'

"As a result we were not aware that a Vodafone advertisement would appear next to a British National Party group on Facebook," she said

"Our public policy principles state that we do not make political donations or support particular party political interests and therefore to avoid misunderstandings we immediately withdrew our advertising as soon as this was brought to our attention."

The Prudential also said its policy was not to advertise with any political party.

A Virgin Media spokeswoman said: "We want to advertise on social networks but we have to protect our brand".

She said the company was now talking to its advertising agency to find ways of giving it some control over where its adverts would be placed online.

The AA also said it booked advertising space through a specialist agency and had "strict procedures in place with its agency to ensure it does not advertise on inappropriate sites."

It said it had recently pulled ads from YouTube after the BBC Panorama programme showed that videos of children fighting were being regularly uploaded.

In a statement, the Halifax said the position of ads on the site "is such that it may appear that we support the owners of specific pages. This is not the case."


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/politics/6929161.stm

Published: 2007/08/03 17:36:04 GMT

© BBC MMVII

 

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NASA to launch Mars probe
for more info please watch video link is provided below thanks


http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/ne...0/6930786.stm?bw=nb&mp=rm&asb=1&news=1&ms3=48

 

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Whale birthing secrets revealed !
PLEASE FOLLOW LINK BELOW

http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_6930000/newsid_6930400/6930475.stm?bw=nb&mp=rm&asb=1&news=1

 

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Nissan studies drink-proof cars
Japanese carmaker Nissan has unveiled new technology designed to detect whether a driver has been drinking.
It includes odour sensors that monitor breath, detectors which analyse perspiration of the palms, and a camera that checks alertness by eye scan.

If the system thinks a driver has drunk too much, the car will not start.

Nissan, Japan's third-largest carmaker, says the technology is still being developed, but it will eventually be introduced to reduce road deaths.

The firm says it has no specific timetable, but it aims to cut the number of fatalities involving its vehicles to half the 1995 levels by 2015.

Nissan general manager Kazuhiro Doi said the sensitivity of the technology still needed to be worked out.

"If you drink one beer, it's going to register, so we need to study what's the appropriate level for the system to activate," he told Reuters news agency.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/business/6929931.stm

Published: 2007/08/03 14:37:26 GMT

© BBC MMVII

 

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Crack down on US mod chip sellers
US Customs has carried out raids in 16 states to clamp down on the sale of modification or "mod" chips.
In the largest operation of its kind to date US Customs officials raided more than 30 homes, businesses and shops.

When a mod chip is installed on a game consoles it helps circumvent copy protection systems to let owners play pirated games.

Mod chips have been made for the PlayStation 2, Nintendo Wii, Xbox and Xbox 360 game consoles.

The raids followed a 12-month investigation by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) into who was importing the chips and selling them on. Typically the chips are made overseas before being shipped to dealers in the US or other nations.

'Illicit devices'

"Illicit devices like the ones targeted today are created with one purpose in mind, subverting copyright protections," said Julie L. Myers, assistant secretary of Homeland Security for ICE in a statement.

"These crimes cost legitimate businesses billions of dollars annually and facilitate multiple other layers of criminality, such as smuggling, software piracy and money laundering," said Ms Myers.

Mod chips are also used by gamers to add functionality to their consoles or to back-up games. However, often this means breaking strict copyright laws.

Raids were carried out across many US states including California, Florida, Hawaii and New York. No details of who was arrested have been released.

Mod chips for the Nintendo Wii seem to be growing in popularity. ICE said it had helped Nintendo seize more than 61,000 Wii mod chips since April 2007.

According to figures released by ICE, counterfeiting and piracy costs the US up to $250bn (£125bn) every year.


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/technology/6928177.stm

Published: 2007/08/02 14:56:13 GMT

© BBC MMVII

 

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Britain 'failing' net speed tests
There is a huge gap between advertised broadband speeds and the actual speeds users can achieve, research has shown.
A survey by consumer group Which? found that broadband packages promising speeds of up to 8Mbps (megabits per second) actually achieved far less.

Tests of 300 customers' net connections revealed that the average download speed they were getting was 2.7Mbps.

Which? has called on regulator Ofcom and Trading Standards to launch a fresh investigation into UK broadband.

Misleading ads

The speed tests were prompted by complaints from members of the public, unhappy with the speeds of their broadband connections.

In the last 12 months more internet service providers (ISPs) have offered services, promising speeds of up to 8Mbps.


FACTORS AFFECTING SPEED
How many people are being served by your local telephone exchange
How close you are to the telephone exchange (the closer, the faster)
The length and gauge of the line from the exchange
Electromagnetic noise from other lines in a cable or wiring within your home
The modem you use

The Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) has investigated several cases of misleading promotions, most recently asking Bulldog to make it clear in its adverts that speed was dependent on how far away from the exchange people lived.

It ruled that broadband providers could use the words "up to" 8Mbps when describing services as long as customers were likely to get close to those speeds.

The average speed achieved in the Which? trials was 2.7Mbps, with the lowest coming in at under 0.09Mbps, barely at dial-up rates, and the maximum only reaching 6.7Mbps.

"It is shocking that internet service providers can advertise ever-increasing speeds that seem to bear little resemblance to what most people can achieve in reality," said which.co.uk editor Malcolm Coles.

"If it's unlikely that you'll reach the advertised speed it should be made clear up front, so that you know with some certainty what you're buying," he added.

Lack of demand?

Ofcom told the BBC News website that it was monitoring the situation.

"If we get increasing complaints we may look at what more can be done. We are working closely with the ASA and it is very important that consumers know what they are getting and what they are paying for," said an Ofcom spokeswoman.

According to a Which? survey, done in conjunction with the speed tests, only one in 10 of its members thought that a broadband service advertised as up to 8Mbps would actually deliver the top speed.

Tim Johnson from analyst firm Point Topic believes that people are generally resigned to the fact that they are not going to get super-fast broadband any time soon.

"There is currently small demand for 8Mbps and we are in the early days for things that need that kind of bandwidth. The fact is that video generally is not served at those speeds even if you could receive it," he said.

A BT spokesman confirmed that 8Mbps would be a rarity for users.

"Virtually no-one will get it. The laws of physics start applying as soon as it leaves the exchange and you would have to live on top of the exchange to get the full 8 megabits," he said.

BT is currently upgrading its exchanges as part of its 21st Century Network (21CN) programme. It will allow for broadband speeds of up to 24Mbps and will start to be made available from early 2008.

Are you happy with your broadband connection? Is it fast enough for your needs? Let us know your experiences using the form below


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Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/technology/6924866.stm

Published: 2007/08/02 02:04:03 GMT

© BBC MMVII

 

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Robot fins to propel submarines
The robo-fin is based on the bluegill sunfish's movements
Robo-fin in motion
The distinctive swimming technique of a bony fish is being used to develop agile, propellerless submarines.
US researchers have created prototype mechanical fins that mimic the movements of the bluegill sunfish.

The robo-fins could recreate the fish's powerful forward thrust and its manoeuvrability, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology team said.

Further work is being carried out to see how other sunfish movements could help to improve underwater vehicles.

The hope is that in the future propellerless, fish-like submarines could carry out a range of tasks, such as mapping oceans, surveying shipwrecks or sweeping for mines, with more agility and speed than current autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) controlled by propellers.

James Tangorra, a researcher at MIT's Bio-instrumentation Laboratory and a professor of mechanical engineering at Drexel University, said: "If we could produce AUVs that can hover and turn and store energy and do all the things a fish does, they'll be much better than the remotely operated vehicles we have now."

'Cupping motion'

The bluegill sunfish ( Lepomis macrochirus ) moves with great efficiency; its pectoral fins are able to propel it creating very little backwards thrust.

Where most fish move by flapping their fins back and forth, the bluegill sunfish uses a "cupping and sweeping" motion.

Its fin sweeps forwards then curls at its lower and upper edges to create a cup-like shape. This produces a thrust that propels the fish with very little water resistance.


To see how they could recreate the movement with a robotic fin, the MIT team broke down the pectoral fin's motion into 19 different components.


"We then worked out the parts that were most important for propulsion," said Dr Tangorra.

The researchers created several prototypes; the first two were constructed using urethane plastic webbing and electric motors to control the nylon tendons.

These prototypes were able to recreate the cupping and sweeping motion but the motors made them too bulky, if scaled up, to be used on AUVs.

So the researchers turned to a thin, flexible polymer material that could also conduct electricity for their third prototype.

This meant that the fin was able to mimic the highly controllable, shape-morphing fish fin, but through electrical signals that swept through the polymer rather than motors.

The result, said the researchers, was a powerful thrusting motion, although they added that some adjustments would be needed to increase its speed and agility.

More movements

Dr Tangorra said the team was now looking in even more detail at the bluegill sunfish to create propellerless AUVs.

He told the BBC News website that to gain all of the benefits of the fish's motion, you also had to look at how the pectoral fin interacted with the dorsal and tail fins, as well as the rest of the movements within the fish's body.

The result, he said, would be a fully flexible, fish-mimicking, underwater robot vehicle that could operate at high and low speeds, hover and have excellent manoeuvrability, in calm or rough seas.

He said a prototype of this new style AUV was expected within the next two years.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/technology/6924057.stm

Published: 2007/07/31 16:34:42 GMT

© BBC MMVII

 

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Robots battle for military prize

By Jonathan Fildes
Science and technology reporter, BBC News
For two weeks during the summer of 2008, an army of autonomous robots will march across the Wiltshire countryside.
The machines will compete in the UK Ministry of Defence Grand Challenge, a competition to find new technology to support ground troops in urban areas.

Fourteen teams have now been picked as finalists to go head to head in a range of trials next year.

Winning designs include a swarm of miniature helicopters and a host of sensor-laden unmanned aerial vehicles.

"Technology plays a huge role in our forces, It often makes the difference between success and failure - and sometimes life and death," said Defence Procurement Minister Lord Drayson on announcing the winners.

"The challenge is to produce a semi-autonomous system that can detect, identify, monitor and report a range of physical threats in an urban environment."

The winner of the competition will win the R J Mitchell Trophy, named after the "father of the Spitfire" WWII fighter plane and also funding from the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

Target lock

In total, the challenge received 23 proposals from firms and research institutions.

Grand Challenge judges have now chosen to fund six of them to compete in the finals; a further eight teams have entered the challenge with private funding.


The competition, carried out in August 2008, will focus on the urban environment and will be carried out at Copehill Down, an army training centre on Salisbury Plain.

Built during the Cold War and modelled on an East German village, the mock-up settlement will be swept by the teams for possible threats.

"There are going to be four categories of targets: an improvised explosive device; a sniper; some kind of four-by-four vehicle with a gun on it; and bunches of 'hoods' dressed in semi-military uniform carrying arms," Mike Martin, chief judge of the challenge, told the BBC News website.

The winner will not necessarily be the team that identifies all of the targets correctly, according to Mr Martin.

For example, a remote-controlled vehicle will lose points for needing input from a human operator.

"Something that is completely autonomous - you just launch it; it goes off, does its own thing and comes back and says unequivocally X, Y and Z are targets - would score maximum points," said Mr Martin.

Urban challenge

The Grand Challenge will deliberately focus on robots that can aid troops in the urban environment, an increasingly common battle arena.


"Urban operations are both very important and they're becoming more difficult to carry out safely," said Lord Drayson. "The challenge of the urban environment is the degree to which you have this unstructured clutter and the unexpected."

Major General John Cooper added: "The threat you are facing is not only small arms, in terms of direct fire, but also potentially anti-tank [weapons]... and increasingly complex improvised explosive devices.

"This is an environment which is growing in density and complexity on a daily basis."

As well as dealing with the sheer complexity of having to differentiate between a sniper and an innocent civilian leaning out of a window, the vehicles will also face a number of environmental hazards.

Of particular concern to the teams, which have been allowed to map the Copehill site, are the wind, trees and the near-invisible overhead cables that criss-cross the site.

"They could be a problem for us because we might be flying quite low, but we should be able to pick them up on the cameras," said Jeremy Old of team Dragonfly.

The privately funded group has proposed a 2m-long, lightweight, hovering vehicle equipped with a zoom lens and with thermal or infrared imaging.

"We can fly quite slowly which will give us time to react, but it all needs thinking about."

Numbers game

The teams now have 12 months to build their prototypes.

Some have relatively simple designs, based around a single vehicle.


Barnard Microsystems, for example, plans to adapt an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV ) it has designed to survey oil pipelines in remote areas.

Others, such as team Stellar has proposed a multiple vehicle approach. Its Saturn (Sensing and Autonomous Tactical Reconnaissance Network) proposal consists of two different UAVs and an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV).

"The platforms have got autonomous threat detection sensors on them based on visual, thermal and radar," explained Dr Julia Richardson, head of the team.

One of the most innovative designs was proposed by a team from Swarm Systems.

Its proposal consists of eight to 10 "dinner-plate sized" quad-rotor helicopters which would be able to fly in and out of buildings.

"There is only so much information you can capture from one vehicle," Stephen Crampton, the head of the team, told the BBC News website.

Equipped with high-resolution cameras, the swarm will use numbers to its advantage.

"You can get images from different points of view, which is often very important because something you can see from one angle, you can't from another," said Dr Owen Holland, another member of the team.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/technology/6919271.stm

Published: 2007/07/31 12:30:53 GMT

© BBC MMVII

 

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Teachers in websites closure call
Teachers have called for websites such as YouTube to be shut down as part of efforts to prevent pupils and staff being bullied.
Delegates at the conference of the Professional Association of Teachers (PAT) said bullying can continue outside school and work hours.

They said bullies can send abusive text messages or e-mails to victims.

A spokesman for the website YouTube said the vast majority of people used the site responsibly.

At the PAT annual conference in Harrogate, delegates heard that bullies have posted mobile phone videos on websites, showing teachers as well as pupils being attacked or humiliated.


Nobody should be subjected to such humiliation anywhere, let alone in their place of work
Catriona Tait
Teacher

They backed a motion demanding that such websites be closed down.

It was proposed by Kirsti Paterson, from the PAT's Highland and Western Isles Federation, who said one teacher had been the subject of a death threat which was posted online.

She said a pupil posted a doctored picture of the teacher, headless, with the caption 'You are dead'.

She added: "In the short term, confronting this problem must be the closure of sites encouraging cyberbullying."

Catriona Tait, a newly qualified primary teacher from Dundee, said one in four pupils had experienced online and text bullying at some time.

She said: "Not only are the children and young adults in our care subjected to such torment, it would now appear that members of the profession are becoming victims of cyber-bullying.

'Important issues'

"Nobody should be subjected to such humiliation anywhere, let alone in their place of work."

A spokesman for the website YouTube said: "YouTube is a community site used by millions of people in very positive ways.

"It's also used by organisations such as Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth to reach people on a range of important issues.

"Sadly as with any form of communication, there is a tiny minority of people who try to break the rules."

He said YouTube had joined the UK government's bullying task force, working closely with teachers unions and others.


It seems to be easier to type something hateful to a school friend rather than say it to their face
Emma-Jane Cross, Beatbullying

Emma-Jane Cross, chief executive of the charity Beatbullying, rejected the idea of closing down websites.

She said: "Calls for social networking sites like YouTube to be closed because of cyberbullying are as intelligent as calls for schools to be closed because of bullying.

"Cyberbullying is flourishing for two reasons. First, society is not adequately preventing bullying behaviour. Instead we celebrate it on television programmes.

"And secondly, it seems to be easier to type something hateful to a school friend rather than say it to their face."

A spokesman for the Scottish Executive said: "Bullying of any kind is unacceptable. The executive is committed to supporting schools, authorities and communities to prevent and tackle bullying whenever and wherever it occurs.

"As part of this support, we fund Scotland's anti-bullying service Respectme, which offers specific advice to parents and teachers on cyberbullying."

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/6925444.stm

Published: 2007/08/01 12:24:05 GMT

© BBC MMVII
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[genmirajborgza786]

Cautious welcome for BBC iPlayer
The BBC's iPlayer online video service has won a cautious welcome from the first people to download and use it.
On chat forums triallists complained about technical problems but others were complimentary about the content on offer and download speeds.

The BBC began a limited sign-up period for the service on 27 July.

The iPlayer lets people in the UK download BBC programmes broadcast in the last seven days and watch them any time in the following 30 days.

Teething troubles

Since 27 July, the message board set up for triallists has been busy logging praise and problems from those who downloaded it soon after it became available.

As might be expected many of the problems people posted messages about were to do with installing the software.


SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Operating system: Windows XP SP2
Browser: Internet explorer 6.0 or above
Media Player : Windows Media Player 10 or above
Net connection: Broadband

iPlayer managing editor's demo

Many reported being confused by an error message which told them that the iPlayer needed Internet Explorer 7, Windows Media Player 10 and some components of Windows XP even though all were present.
In many cases updating to the latest release of these components, such as the Windows Media Player, cleared the problem.

Some saw "security errors" caused by the Microsoft security system used to prevent piracy of downloaded programmes.

Once triallists had the iPlayer installed, early experiences differed widely. Some reported very fast download speeds but others waited hours to get only a small percentage of the show they wanted to see.

On the message boards, BBC support staff said experiences might vary because of the peer-to-peer technology used to distribute the programmes. Generally, the more people who download a show, the faster it tends to get distributed to others.

The iPlayer makes about 400 hours of programming available but some said more should be forthcoming and dismissed the current line-up as "silly froth".

Many of those posting on the message boards had suggestions about how to improve the service.


BBC iPLAYER
iPlayer will allow viewers to catch up on TV programmes for seven days
Some TV series can be downloaded and stored for 30 days
Viewers will be able to watch shows streamed live over the internet
Users cannot download programmes from other broadcasters
Classical recordings and book-readings are excluded from iPlayer

Video download players compared

Some called for the BBC to throw open its archive to get at classic shows but others wanted new features such as a "series stacker" that automatically downloads the latest episodes of favoured programmes.
The BBC ran a small-scale trial of the iPlayer for some time. About 15,000 people are thought to have taken part in this with about one-third being regular users.

The BBC has not revealed how many people it plans to sign up for the beta, or trial, but numbers are expected to grow significantly in 2007 and beyond.

Critical mass

The iPlayer is one of several download services run by the UK's broadcasters. For instance, Channel 4 runs the 4OD service that lets people download and watch programmes broadcast by the channel.

The BBC's iPlayer has faced criticism from some quarters. In particular, many critics have taken issue with the decision to, so far, restrict its use to PCs running Microsoft Windows XP. Versions for Windows Vista and Mac are expected to follow soon.

Many of the comments sent in to the BBC in the wake of the launch called for the iPlayer to work on computers that did not run Windows.

Open source advocates want the corporation to produce a version that works on the popular Linux operating system.

The BBC Trust, which oversees the corporation, has said the broadcaster must open up the iPlayer as soon as possible and plans to review progress every six months.

The iPlayer has been hailed by Mark Thompson, the corporation's director general, as a development as significant as the start of colour TV.


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/technology/6922024.stm

Published: 2007/07/30 11:59:01 GMT

© BBC MMVII

 

[genmirajborgza786]

BBC online video service launches
The BBC's flagship online TV service is being launched, offering viewers the chance to download their favourite programmes from the last seven days.
For director general Mark Thompson, the launch of iPlayer is as big a milestone as the arrival of colour TV.

But others have questioned how technically reliable it will be and whether it is late to a crowded market.

At launch, a fixed number of people will be able to sign up, with the numbers increasing throughout the year.

Programme selection


BBC iPLAYER
iPlayer will allow viewers to catch up on TV programmes for seven days
Some TV series can be downloaded and stored for 30 days
Viewers will be able to watch shows streamed live over the internet
Users cannot download programmes from other broadcasters
Classical recordings and book-readings are excluded from iPlayer

Video download players compared

The iPlayer allows viewers to download a selection of programmes from the last seven days and watch them for up to 30 days afterwards.

In the UK, Channel 4 offers a similar service, called 4OD, for programmes across its portfolio of channels.

Viewers interested in the iPlayer can register for the service on Friday and will then be invited to join. The number of users will increase over the summer, before a full launch in the autumn.

The iPlayer began life in 2003 as the iMP (Integrated Media Player), and some believe it should have been launched in that format.

"At the time, it was remarkably innovative. For the BBC to use peer-to-peer technology was revolutionary," said Simon Perry, editor of online magazine Digital Lifestyles.

"If it had just launched it then it could have blown the whole broadcast world away. Who knows what the impact would have been if it had come out before the rise of YouTube," he said.

Instead YouTube had driven a whole generation away from TV altogether, to get their entertainment and news from social networks, he added.

A BBC spokeswoman said the iPlayer, like any other new BBC service, went through a Public Value Test (PVT). The nine-month test was overseen by the corporation's regulators.

She said: "There is always going to be a trade-off between rigour and speed in a regulatory process like this.

"The rigour of the PVT has actually forced us to scrutinise every aspect of the service, from design to value for money."

Controversy

Arash Amel, an analyst with research firm Screen Digest, said "technical glitches" were inevitable when iPlayer launched, partly because rival applications experienced them and partly through his own experience of the BBC's offering.


"I have supposedly been on the trial for the last two weeks but there has just been technical fault after technical fault," he told the BBC News website.

The iPlayer has already courted controversy from open source advocates, angry that, at launch, it will only be compatible on PCs with the Windows XP operating system.

Other services such as ITV's broadband media player and Channel 4's on-demand offering also rely on Microsoft software but, critics argue, the BBC's remit is to serve licence-payers, which includes Mac users and those who favour cheaper alternatives to Microsoft, such as Linux.

The BBC Trust has told the corporation it must widen the access to iPlayer as soon as possible and has ordered a review every six months.

The trust met with Mark Taylor, the head of the Open Source Consortium and one of the more vocal critics of the Microsoft-only launch, earlier this week.

"They reiterated their commitment to platform neutrality, specifically mentioning Linux, and welcomed our offer of help to establish a cross-platform approach," Mr Taylor said.

The OSC is due to meet BBC management to discuss the issue further.


SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Operating system: Windows XP SP2
Browser: Internet explorer 6.0 or above
Media Player : Windows Media Player 10 or above
Net connection: Broadband

iPlayer managing editor's demo

According to Screen Digest data, online TV services are set to explode in the UK. In 2006 it estimates that 520.2 million pieces of content were streamed, of which the vast majority were free-to-view.

It forecasts this will leap to 2.3 billion by 2011.

The BBC currently dominates the free-to-view content market with 80% of clips originating from the corporation, according to Screen Digest. This will fall to about 62% by 2011, as video content becomes more widely available from alternative sources such as Sky.

Mr Amel thinks there is a more general problem with the way the BBC and its rivals have decided to make content available.

"Having to download a separate application for each service is a big problem and is a bit like having to buy a set-top box for every channel you want to watch. If you download all the applications that are available then that is using a lot of processing power," he said.

He thinks providers might have been better to follow the model US networks have favoured where content is downloadable directly from their websites.

Content currently available on PCs would also need to migrate to the TV, he said. Freeview boxes with internet connections are coming on the market in the next six months and could go some way to solving this problem.

"The real holy grail in the UK is one platform, like the iPlayer, that brings all the content in one location - a kind of Freeview concept for downloads," he said.

The BBC has said it is working with Virgin Media to launch on cable later this year.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/technology/6916164.stm

Published: 2007/07/27 03:09:20 GMT

© BBC MMVII

 

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