Big brother is definitely here, well, there

I like to think that it couldn’t happen here. The fact is that cameras are on their way to becoming as common in the USA as they are in Britain. Did you know that there’s one camera for every four families in Britain? Can they even go to the bog without being watched?

The Daily Mail precently osted an article on a new development in people-watching by the British government with the addition of loudspeakers that allow the watchers to start talking as well as watching.

The Mail on Sunday watched as a cyclist riding through a pedestrian area was ordered to stop.

‘Would the young man on the bike please get off and walk as he is riding in a pedestrian area,’ came the command.

The surprised youth stopped, and looked about. A look of horror spread across his face as he realised the voice was referring to him.

He dismounted and wheeled his bike through the crowded streets, as instructed.

Law-abiding shopper Karen Margery, 40, was shocked to hear the speakers spring into action as she walked past them.

Afterwards she said: ‘It’s quite scary to realise that your every move could be monitored – it really is like Big Brother.

‘But Middlesbrough does have a big problem with anti-social behaviour, so it is very reassuring.’

I certainly don’t have much complaint with methods that reduce crime, but the Big Brother of 1984 is definitely settling in to stay over there.

How much time will pass before the cameras start appearing in people’s homes? How often do the operators, or even more likely hackers, record video from those cameras and post them on the internet? What sort of controls are in place to keep the operators from behaving as though they can dictate lawful behavior?

I also wonder how long it will take before people who live and work in high traffic areas get sick and tired of the disembodied voice interrupting their lives. It’s bad enough having to listen to people going by, talking loudly on their cell phones. What’s it going to be like having to listen to a government loudmouth shouting at people all day?

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2004 election stolen?

I don’t know what their journalistic reputation is these days but the article recently published by Rolling Stone is one that should really get everyone thinking.

And then it should get everyone mad. Republican, Democrat or Independent. Hopping MAD.

The article starts out with the simple question of "Was the 2004 election stolen?" and then makes the case that, yes, it was.

Republicans prevented more than 350,000 voters in Ohio from casting ballots or having their votes counted — enough to have put John Kerry in the White House.

I can’t possibly do it justice even in summary. Get comfy and go read the article.

How many people do you know that voted for Bush? Maybe it’s just the circle I run in but I only know one person that helped put him in office.

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Color prototype laser projector demonstrated

Unfortunately the picture is of their monochrome "cigarette pack" system but Light Blue Optics has recently demonstrated their color system to the editors of Electronics Weekly.

The device uses an active LCD to modulate the three laser beams and generates several images in each color per frame to reduce the "noise" (speckle?) produced.

The image actually leaves the modulator with a narrow divergence angle which is broadened by anything up to 115 degrees by a two-lens group.

A considerable amount of number-crunching goes into driving the LCD, using algorithms developed by the firm.

These algorithms allow the image to be: pointed in any direction within its angular limits, and altered in geometry.

For example, imagining the projector like a small camera standing on a desk, the image could be computed for a vertical screen sitting on the desk, or for the desk surface in front of the projector. Both would be neat, rectangular and focused images, and no change in the optical path would be required to switch between the two.

Retail versions are probably still a few years away as their prototype is at the breadboard stage and they’ve got more work to do in order to reduce the amount of laser speckle to acceptable levels. Continue reading Color prototype laser projector demonstrated

2006 Denton ceili pictures and video

Some pictures and video from the September 16, 2006 Denton Ceili are available in the gallery.

It was a fun ceili hosted by the Denton Celtic Dancers and played by the Lone Star Ceili Band and I’m definitely looking forward to the next one.

Continue reading 2006 Denton ceili pictures and video

Slingshot with a laser sight

SlingshotShop.com has released a new sling shot for the aiming impaired.

It’s powered by a decent sized power band, has an arm brace to make things easy on your wrist and is aimed with, you guessed it, a laser.

The PS-52 is small enough to slide into your back pocket or can be carried in your fishing box. Using the laser sight, you can accurately, quickly & effectively strike a target. Simply point the laser at your target & shoot.

Sounds to me like they’re encouraging all kinds of mischief but with a laser sight at least the target will get some warning.

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Quantum dot lasers

Fujitsu and Mitsui have launched a new company to market quantum dot lasers. From their press release

Quantum dots, from which the new venture takes its name, are semiconductor particles that are a single nanometer (one billionth of a meter) in size. Quantum dots and technology utilizing quantum dots were developed through an academic-industrial research collaboration by Fujitsu Limited, Fujitsu Laboratories, and Professor Yasuhiko Arakawa’s laboratory at the University of Tokyo. Quantum dot lasers, which use this technology, are revolutionary lasers that are significantly superior to conventional semiconductor lasers in that they feature higher performance in such aspects as temperature-independent operation, low power consumption, long-distance transmission, and high speed. It is anticipated that quantum dot lasers will become a core technology to realize high-performance light sources for optical telecommunication, for which data traffic is continuing to increase rapidly.

Their primary market in the beginning will be telecommunications.

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Crowd navigating robot

Hitachi in collaboration with Tsukuba University has announced that it has developed a robot called EMIEW which stands for Excellent Mobility and Interactive Existence as Workmate and is capable of navigating crowds using laser ranging.

MIEW is fitted with a "collision avoidance" function; that is, on detecting surrounding objects while in motion by means of mounted sensors, it confirms their location and movement, and then calculates the route it should take to avoid a collision with those objects. In contrast to technologies used in conventional types of "humanoid robots", this new technology gives robots the necessary functions for coexistence and cooperation with humans in real life.

It also balances on two wheels and can interact vocally (somewhat) with people through its limited vocabulary of about 100 words.

I for one am ready to welcome our new robot overlords.

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Laser nanoantenna

Are terabyte optical disks headed our way? It sounds like it.

Engineers and applied scientists from Harvard University have demonstrated a new photonic device with a wide range of potential commercial applications, including dramatically higher capacity for optical data storage. Termed a plasmonic laser antenna, the design consists of a metallic nanostructure, known as an optical antenna, integrated onto the facet of a commercial semiconductor laser.

"The optical antenna collects light from the laser and concentrates it to an intense spot measuring tens of nanometers, or about one-thousandth the width of a single human hair," says Ken Crozier of Harvard. "The device could be integrated into optical data storage platforms and used to write bits far smaller than what’s now possible with conventional methods. This could lead to vastly increased storage capacities in the terabyte range (a thousand gigabytes)."

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Ft Lauderdale laser park

It won’t be long before tourists to Ft Lauderdale will be dazzled by laser light as they walk through Huizenga Park

By years end they should have a new installation in place that will

soon turn one downtown Fort Lauderdale park into an interactive art display, with lasers bathing trees in sequences of color and transforming grass into a sea of almost translucent reeds of light.

The laser-light project is expected to be installed in Huizenga Park by the end of the year and will include motion sensors that will set off light displays on 34 trees along the perimeter as well as across the lawn between the park’s fountain and its performance stage.

The artist, Seattle based Dan Corson had originally envisioned lighting up the nearby New River but discovered that the river is so murky that even lights similar to those used in the movie Titanic barely worked.

Residents and businesses near the fountain pictured above originally weren’t thrilled with the music that went with the fountain but are pleased with the light show and are looking to additional lighting from the laser project.

The trees in the park will be cast in white light until people walk by or activate one of five motion sensors in the sidewalks. The tree lights will change either as the person moves by or as part of a 3-to-5-minute programmed sequence. With the lawn, green lasers will be activated by people sitting on or walking by a bench near the fountain and will run through a variety of programmed sequences.

"It will be a real unique experience," Downtown Development Authority board member Jack Loos said. "All great downtowns involve art and involve interesting and unique things. To the extent we can, we should bring more art that can draw people and make it a more attractive place to be."

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