Neurosphere

The Human-Human Interface

Hi – We’re Earthcats


Wholeness and Virtual Communities

Steven Rockefeller of all people extolled the virtues of “The Earth Charter” in a recent publication of the American Teilhard Association.

“The Earth Charter is a declaration of fundamental principles for building a just, sustainable, and peaceful global society for the 21st century. Created by the largest global consultation process ever associated with an international declaration, endorsed by thousands of organizations representing millions of individuals, the Earth Charter seeks to inspire in all peoples a sense of global interdependence and shared responsibility for the well-being of the human family and the larger living world.”

http://www.earthcharter.org/

So in my community I’m trying to do things on a small scale (think global, act local), but networks and software slowly stitch together disparate efforts (nobody likes to feel they’re fighting a losing battle alone), and make possible ways to monitor progress that don’t require wading through mounds of data.

“The Earth Charter Community Action Tool is your guide to developing and implementing a community sustainability plan. Using EarthCAT, you will be able to learn from the experiences of other communities as you set goals and targets, develop strategies to achieve them, and select indicators for monitoring your progress towards a more sustainable future.”

http://www.earthcat.org/cgi/earthcat/index.html

“The [Santa Monica] Plan includes eight Goal Areas which, taken together, present a vision for sustainability in the community.”

http://santa-monica.org/epd/scp/goals_indicators.htm

Wireless Environmental Monitoring


The World Right Now

This reminds me, technology can mitigate its own impact.

“The global spread of wireless networks brings a great opportunity for their use in environmental studies. Weather, atmospheric conditions, and constituents cause propagation impairments on radio links. As such, while providing communication facilities, existing wireless communication systems can be used as a widely distributed, high-resolution atmospheric observation network, operating in real time with minimum supervision and without additional cost. Here we demonstrate how measurements of the received signal level, which are made in a cellular network, provide reliable measurements for surface rainfall. We compare the estimated rainfall intensity with radar and rain gauge measurements.”

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/312/5774/713?etoc

Return to Alexandria


Wholeness and Virtual Communities

Old news, but still a mythic dream. And some more recent follow-up.

“As part of its effort to make offline information searchable online, Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) today announced that it is working with the libraries of Harvard, Stanford, the University of Michigan, and the University of Oxford as well as The New York Public Library to digitally scan books from their collections so that users worldwide can search them in Google.”

http://www.google.com/press/pressrel/print_library.html

“Three months after undertaking an ambitious project to digitize thousands of books, Harvard University Library (HUL) and the Google Print project are facing scrutiny from publishing organizations, who claim the project may infringe copyright law.”

http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=506429

Always On


Network Infrastructure for the Neurosphere

Bruce Schneier is one the smartest thinkers about security, so his observations are purposefully scary, but check out that quote – “There seems to be no way to disconnect the Internet”

According to the specs of the new Nintendo Wii (its new game machine), “Wii can communicate with the Internet even when the power is turned off.” Nintendo accentuates the positive: “This WiiConnect24 service delivers a new surprise or game update, even if users do not play with Wii,” while ignoring the possibility that Nintendo can deactivate a game if it chooses to do so, or that someone else can deliver a different — not so wanted — surprise…We all know that, but what’s interesting here is that Nintendo is changing the meaning of the word “off.” We are all conditioned to believe that “off” means off, and therefore safe. But in Nintendo’s case, “off” really means something like “on standby.” If users expect the Nintendo Wii to be truly off, they need to pull the power plug — assuming there isn’t a battery foiling that tactic. There seems to be no way to disconnect the Internet, as the Nintendo Wii is wireless only.

http://www.schneier.com/crypto-gram-0605.html#5

Who Watches the Watchmen?


Personal Infrastructure

Here’s another real world deployment of biometrics combined with video monitoring. It shows the short step from terrrorism concerns to monitoring anyone who disagrees with current Administration policies.

“With practice, you can recognize the video spies in the city of Washington, DC. To a casual observer, they resemble lampposts. Some of the cameras have a 360 degree view and magnify by a factor of 10-17. Some are equipped with night vision and can zoom in on a target well enough to read text on a written page or look into a building. Most are placed at locations that would not come to mind as primary terrorist targets: Smithsonian Castle, the U.S. Department of Labor, Dupont Circle, Union Station, Wisconsin Avenue, the Old Post Office, and the Banana Republic in Georgetown. Though the targets they view may not stand out as particularly vulnerable to terrorism, the cameras are placed strategically for the purpose of monitoring demonstrations and protests.”

http://zmagsite.zmag.org/Jan2005/kalukin0105.html

Biometrics and Mass Transit


Personal Infrastructure

Biometrics coming to a bus stop near you.

“The Regional Transportation District (RTD) of Denver, Colorado has adopted 3D facial recognition for physical access control to secure its Treasury. RTD is using A4Vision’s Vision Access 3D Face Readers raise security levels. The new readers verify that RFID access cards used with the Lenel access control system for access to the Treasury are being used only by designated, authorized holders. RTD also uses A4Vision’s Vision Enrolment Station to enroll authorized individuals in a 3D facial recognition database that stores and manages identity information and access parameters. Jim Hawver, A4Vision VP of Sales, said, “Denver RTD’s investment in A4Vision’s 3D facial recognition products marks a significant adoption, considering the potential of 3D facial biometrics for mass transit security.”

http://www.biometricwatch.com/BW_26_YWM_124976841_641002/BW_26.htm

Self Awareness


The World Right Now

Awareness of the world right now’s awareness of America.

WatchingAmerica reflects global opinion about the United States, helping Americans and non-Americans alike understand what the world thinks of current issues that involve the U.S. This is done by providing news and views about the United States published in other countries.

http://www.watchingamerica.com/index.shtml

Must Be in the Front Row


The World Right Now

Imagine a TV remote control as easy to use as the iPod interface. Marry it to a processor that’s powerful enough to find all the cable channels snaking into your television or browse through all the music on your iPod. You can find all your stuff through one interface, but the problem is, you don’t _view_ or listen to the same stuff through the same display. So, can the interface travel with you. Can the iPod be your control for every device you walk past or sit down in front of?

“Remote Possibilities

The new Apple Remote makes it as easy to navigate through all the cool stuff on your computer as it is to navigate the songs in your iPod. A minimalist six buttons is all you really need. Play. Pause. Skip. Rewind. Crank up the volume. Whatever your pleasure, wherever you sit. Tip: you can use the Apple Remote to put your iMac to sleep. Simply press and hold the pause button for three seconds, just like iPod. Then, press any button to wake it up again.”

http://www.apple.com/imac/frontrow.html

Bigger and Better Interfaces


The World Right Now

The wider and deeper availabilty of information from the world around us is outstripping our ability to keep it all useful and close at hand. Nobody thinks a single computer screen is the best place to bring it all together – here’s an example of someone experimenting with what is possible merely by increasing the size.

“Stuart Card, a senior research fellow at Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Center, said the other thing that’s getting bigger is computer displays. Dr. Card has evidence of that in his own office in California, where he has six large computer screens attached to each other. “It has the surface area of a 5-foot table,” he said. He can use the screens as one large screen or several smaller ones and can easily move information from one area to another. Research suggests that having more information arrayed in front of them can actually help people have “bigger ideas,” Dr. Card said.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06113/684425-96.stm

Tip of the NeuroHat to FUTUREdition from the Arlington Institute.

Mobile Power


Personal Infrastructure

Battery power duration and energy levels are one dimension of limits on portable devices. There appears to be a lot of upside in this area.

“Despite their high energy density, lithium batter-ies are not used in cars

and other transportation applications because they cannot deliver power at

a sufficiently high rate. Kang et al. (p. 977) report a combined

theoretical and experimental exploration of a class of battery electrodes

with a layered transition-metal structure that permits much faster lithium

ion transport. The results suggest a general strategy for improving

lithium-battery power delivery.”

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/vol311/issue5763/twis.dtl#311/5763/913d