A smartphone app gives information about open parking spots.
The most agonizing everyday experience the urban driver must face? The search for an empty parking place.
It is part sleuthing and part blood sport. Circling, narrowly missing a spot, outmaneuvering other motorists to finally ease into a space only to discover that it is off limits during working hours.
Continue reading… “Smartphone App Finds Empty Parking Spaces for Drivers”
Traffic congestion
A first-of-its-kind system is being developed by IBM and other California collaborators, that will help detect road congestion in real time in an effort to predict and manage traffic flow.
Continue reading… “IBM Developing System that Will Predict Traffic”
An atomic clock in Berlin. Scientists have developed an ‘optical lattice’ clock so sensitive it can detect changes in Earth’s gravity
Professor Hidetoshi Katori and his team at the University of Tokyo with the help of Professor Victor Flambaum have conceived a state-of-the-art atomic clock, which is actually so sensitive that it can detect changes in Earth’s gravity and will allow scientists to measure time to a whopping 17 digits! Not only that, the ‘optical lattice’ clock is also touted to remarkably improve GPS tracking systems and will be able to detect insignificant height differences to the range of 10cm.
This crisis map, created using Ushahidi software, is keeping track of unfolding events in Libya.
From Libya to Japan, a Web-reporting platform called Ushahidi has helped human rights workers and others document and make sense of fast-moving crises. The platform allows reports from cell phones and Web-connected devices to be collected and displayed on Web-based maps.
Continue reading… “Ushahidi: Crisis Mapping Software Meets Check-in”
A student holds his hand-held GPS, which will help track his whereabouts and will help him stay in school.
Frustrated by students habitually skipping class, police and school officials in Anaheim are turning to GPS tracking to ensure they come to class.
Continue reading… “Kids Who Skip School in California Are Tracked by GPS”
The systems are still five to 10 years from being deployed into America’s car fleet.
Could “talking cars” save lives? A group of car companies is developing safety systems using advanced Wi-Fi signals and GPS systems that could allow vehicles to communicate with each other on the road. The cars could then send messages to warn their drivers about potential crashes.
Continue reading… “‘Talking Cars’ Someday May Save Lives”
Electromagnetic Railgun
In 2025, how does the Navy envision it’ll be combatting insurgents and terrorists in hostile regions? By shooting them down from over 100 miles away with electromagnetic railguns that can approach targets in six minutes.
5,000 road deaths each year blamed on cellphones.
Could 5,000 road deaths be avoided each year if the motoring industry were forced to put cellphone-blocking equipment in every car?
Continue reading… “U.S. Transportation Secretary Considering Blocking Cellphones in Cars”
Coyote in Chicago
Most of the time when a city has a rodent problem, they call in human exterminators. But Chicago seems to be testing out something slightly more… natural. After spotting a coyote running down State Street in Chicago, residents became aware of a project the city is testing out that includes allowing GPS-fitted coyotes to run free in the city specifically for them to gobble up problematic pests like rats, mice and rabbits. (Video)
Continue reading… “GPS-Collared Coyotes to Control Rodents in Chicago”
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAqzkyZPPhs&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
Aiming to help people who can’t see find a simpler way to get around, designer Noam Klopper has introduced the Visually Impaired Assistant (VIA).
“Read Ayn Rand”
One man drove 12,238 miles and across 30 states in the U.S. to scrawl a message that could only be viewed using Google Earth. His big shoutout: “Read Ayn Rand.”
Continue reading… “Man Creates World’s Biggest Writing with His Car and a GPS ‘Pen’”
U.S. Army soldiers with the 1-320 Field Artillery Regiment, 101st Airborne Division.
Smartphones could become the next weapon in the United States’ battlefield arsenal, as defense companies seek to cash in on the rapidly growing use of sophisticated mobile applications.
Continue reading… “Smartphones Could Become the Next Weapon on the Battlefield”