technology

Elektra 1, the homemade electric car

Sophie Team Observers — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:30:58 +0100

Faraz Khan has something to be proud of. He drives around his home city of Karachi in one of Pakistan's few electric cars. And he built it with his own hands.

It's called the Elektra 1. From the outside it looks just like a Susuki Mehran, the region's most common car. Take a look under the bonnet however, and you'll see that Faraz has replaced the traditional petrol-run motor with one that runs entirely on electricity. On a "full tank", or 4-6 hours of charging, the car can run for 30km.

And up next, the Elektra 2, which is already under construction. This new model will be able to reach 110 km/h and travel for 160 km when fully charged. Faraz publishes step-by-step instructions to build both models on his blog, Elektra Automotive . For him, travelling on an electric battery brings both economic and environmental benefits. In 2006, pollution levels in Karachi were 20 times higher than the limit laid out by the World Health Organisation.

Concealing satellite dishes in China

Sophie Team Observers — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 17:52:35 +0200

Satellite dishes are banned in China in order to prevent Chinese people from watching foreign TV channels. Not that it stops them.

Digital set-top boxes are available and gaining some popularity in China, but unlike their satellite rivals, they don't allow access to channels unauthorised by the government. The only way to watch foreign channels is to get a satellite.

But the dishes are banned by the government, except in exceptional circumstances: for research purposes, for the army and in luxury hotels, for example.

Many Chinese people, however, want to receive foreign channels. The majority of them are more interested in MTV than CNN, or in renting out their apartments to expats in the country.

It's not terribly difficult to get hold of a satellite dish. Most sites that market the goods are banned in China, but not all.

The main problem is keeping the satellite dish hidden. If your dish is discovered by the authorities, the firemen will be sent round to destroy it — as illustrated below.

Source: Zonaeuropa

The best thing to do is either hide the dish — or disguise it.

Source: Zonaeuropa

Photos posted here.

The Iranian uprising seen from the future

Sophie Team Observers — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 12:52:56 +0200

Iranian blogger "Bolts" posted this commentary on her blog on Monday. It was translated into English by "Sanli". One of our Iranian Observers, Farnaz Seifi, alerted us to the post. The information has not been verified by FRANCE 24 journalists.

Originally posted in Farsi by Iranian blogger Bolts on August 3.

In the history books of the 21^st century, the first chapter will be about us.

In the introduction, they might write that important events have happened before us, events like 9/11 and war on Iraq and Afghanistan, but those were the remnants of the previous century, with an outdated dialogue and with twentieth century tools: Airplanes, bombs and bullets. And then they will write that the first chapter is dedicated to us because we have been the true children of our time and our dialogue was the dialogue of the beginning of the third millennium.

Early in the book, they will write that social movements are born out of communication technologies and at the same place they will write that we were the first movement that exploited entirely all the new communication tools that were established at the beginning of this century.

Perhaps they will write a footnote on how these tools changed the social structure and how they changed the world view on the social classes, work flow, production and distribution of wealth, social leadership and management and even changed the world's attitude about the sustainable human values.

Perhaps on the same page, there is a photograph of the inventor of the first mobile phone and the portraits of the founders of Wikipedia, Facebook, Blogger, YouTube, Podcasts, or maybe photos of their statues in the main squares of the world's leading cities, with captions like: "Figures who built the twenty first century."

Idem they will write that previously there were only one-way paths: Somebody wrote and published the newspapers and the rest of the people read them. Somebody spoke while the rest were listening. One person was on TV and the rest were watching. Somebody commanded and led and then shapeless masses followed. They will write that the community structure and distribution of wealth, power and information was pyramidal, and then they will highlight that the new communication technologies flattened the society. It empowered the bases of the pyramid such that they reached the top.

It made it possible to communicate with each other, send and receive news, exchange information, tell and listen, watch and be seen, and find new means of cooperation, thinking, criticizing and progress.

There, on top of that page they will put a picture of us with our green flags. They will write that we were the first social movement that all of us were its leader and all of us were its organizer. The name which was called the most was only the speaker of a part of our demands.

Perhaps they will open a box there to put Mirhossein's written statement as an example, where he said: because the people participate in the Friday prayer, he will accept their invitation and join them. They must also add the explanation that previously the leader of a movement used to announce his presence and invited people to join him.

They may make a subsection to describe how a movement without a command centre was acting so well-orchestrated. How its ideas, desires, and slogans were suggested, criticized, and completed so well, and then one day they were expressed in such a harmony as if all these millions, have practiced together for years. Perhaps there, at least in the electronic version of this history book, they will make a link to a clip of us, where the speaker shouts from the loud-speaker: "death to the U.S." and we all respond "death to Russia". Without anybody been preparing for this response, without being coordinated, we shout as if we are all one mouth and one voice.<

They will write that we were the first party that had no central council, no secretary general, and no political branches. They will write that our party was one of complete anarchy that behaved quite systematic. They may presumably point their sarcasm toward anarchist parties of decades before us that were built systematically to behave as anarchists. They will write that our party had no party organs, but all its strategies were clear and its programs were all set correctly. Our demands were also summarized, reviewed, completed, and expressed in the clearest form of expression.

In the same chapter they will write that we lived the last days of guns and bullets and we showed that wherever the awareness, information and enough communication channels for human connection exists, the bullet is pointless. There may put a picture of a single bullet somewhere in our Freedom Museum and will write for its caption "the last bullet that was pulled out of the magazine".

A delicate person will calculate the total weight of the electrons that construct our blogs and websites, and will show that it was not even a thousandth of a bullet weight. He may estimate the weight of all the air molecules in our chants, our "death to dictators", our "all political prisoners must be released" and show that they altogether weigh less than the weight of a single wall of the Evin prison.

Next they will write that we suggested a new definition for the human society, the human relations, for globalization and for living in the global village. Each of these historians will give us a name. Their simplest may write the "Green Revolution", another will call us the "Silent Revolution", somebody will call it the "Smile Revolution", and at last there will be someone to write the "Awareness Revolution".

Military man-eating robots soon to be let loose?

Sophie Team Observers — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 13:11:26 +0200

Image taken from the Cyberpunk Review: "Hungry, Hungry Robots".

Web users managed to convince the world that a corpse-eating robot was about to be let loose last week after a robotics company announced the release of an android that was fuelled by biomass. Infuriated by the outrageous embellishment, the company released a sarcastic press release, maintaining that "This robot is strictly vegetarian".

Calling the robot the Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot or "EATR" for short, was perhaps not the best idea. But creators Robotic Technology - which supplies the US Army - certainly didn't expect the online hullabaloo that took place after releasing news of their self-feeding robot on July 7. It was the following paragraph that seems to have been taken out of proportion:

"The system obtains its energy by foraging - engaging in biologically-inspired, organism-like, energy-harvesting behavior which is the equivalent of eating. It can find, ingest, and extract energy from biomass in the environment (and other organically-based energy sources)."

Nine days later and following dozens of headlines such as "Corpse-eating robot" (Wired), "Robot... to eat all life on Earth" (The Register), and "Sniper Bot Refuels by consuming human bodies" (OhGizmo!), the company was forced to release another statement in response to "Rumors about ‘Flesh Eating' Military robot":

"Cyclone Power Technologies Inc. and Robotic Technology Inc. would like to set the record straight: This robot is strictly vegetarian.(...) The Public can be assured that (...) the Eatr runs on fuel no scarier than twigs, grass clippings and wood chips. (...) Desecration of the dead is a war crime under Article 15 of the Geneva Conventions."

Cheating their way into uni, Bond style

Sophie Team Observers — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:19:24 +0200

Cheating is as old as exams themselves. In China however, cheating involves a cunning blend of technology, innovation, and acting. Rubbers with miniature screens, rulers with inbuilt cameras, earpieces... we're a long way from cheat sheets and writing on the inside of your pencil case.

Each June more than 10 million students pass their gaokao exam in order to get into university. It's a crucial test for degree hopefuls - 40% of those who take the test fail, and the remaining are chosen by institutions depending on their results.

The secret to passing the test has been discovered in Songyuan College in Jilin province, north of the country. As revealed by daily paper China Youth, the students in the exam hall transmit the questions to those on the exterior using mini cameras or mini microphones implanted in a rubber or a ruler. They then receive the answers through an earpiece or a mini screen built into a piece of stationary.

The extent of the phenomenon is difficult to determine. According to the local press, the Songyuan police identified 33 college students who cheated during their exam and subsequently arrested 34 people suspected of fitting stationary with equipment.

Left, the rubber which shows the answers, right, one that transmits the candidate's voice. Source: Xinhuanet.

A ruler fitted with a screen for displaying answers. Source: Xinhuanet.

An earpiece used for passing the answers to the candidate. Source: Sohu.

This is an illustration of how the system works: students who need help in passing the exam obtain an earpiece, which they then hook up to the airwaves of a "cheat gang" who send the answers in return for money.

Wall Street Journal says Siemens-Nokia helps Iran tap Internet users: exaggeration?

Julien — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 19:08:31 +0200

According to the Wall Street Journal, a joint venture between mobile phone companies Nokia and Siemens built a "monitoring centre" within the Iranian government’s telecom monopoly enabling authorities to inspect and intercept Web traffic.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article reported that Nokia-Siemens' system uses "deep packet inspection" technology, which allows cyberpolice to open packets of information sent online to censor or supervise Web users. The respected US broadsheet quoted a Nokia-Siemens spokesman as confirming that the company provided this technology, adding that "if you sell networks, you also, intrinsically, sell the capability to intercept any communication that runs over them".

The Wall Street Journal article was cited by dozens of US media outlets, and has begun making waves on social networking websites. Several groups on Facebook have begun calling for a Nokia and Siemens product boycott.

FRANCE 24 contacted Ben Roome, the spokesperson of the joint venture also reached by WSJ. He categorically denies that his company provided Iran with any type of technology enabling authorities to intercept or filter Internet content. According to Roome, Nokia-Siemens sold Iran a system which solely provides the capability to conduct voice monitoring of local calls on its fixed and mobile network. However, Roome remained evasive when asked whether Nokia's technology enabled Iran to intercept and block SMS messages.

The sale of a phone-tapping technology to Iran by Nokia and Siemens is therefore confirmed. It doesn't seem, however, that the European companies participated in the creation of an internet surveillance centre, as the WSJ seems to imply.

Solar-powered tankers ready for 2010

Sophie Team Observers — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:00:21 +0100

An Australian company has just signed a deal with major Chinese cargo company COSCO to provide tankers powered by sails that are fuelled by sunlight.

Petrol and goods are set to fare the seas by sail once more, with a new technology that harnesses sunlight and wind power through solar-panel sails. They haven't been built yet, but ships like the ones in these images are planned to take to the seas within two years. Solar Sailor, an Australian company specialised in renewable energy, has just signed a contract with shipping giant COSCO. Perhaps a gesture in the hope of improving their reputation - the cargo company is better known for the 2007 San Francisco Bay oil spill and the controversial Zimbabwe arms deal with Mugabe.

The new ships will reduce oil consumption by 20 to 40% through wind energy and 5% through sun. The sails, managed by a computer that calculates the angle by exposition to wind and sun, become profitable after four years of use. Next up, Solar Sailor plans to target gas-guzzling luxury yachts owned by the rich.

The "Jewberry" and the "Muslim mobile" – making a business out of religious handsets

Sophie Team Observers — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 14:14:51 +0100

One of our Observers in Indonesia has alerted us to the launch of Hidaya, a Muslim-certified mobile phone. Meanwhile, over in the US, the "Jewberry" - a Blackberry on which you can read the Torah - is selling like hotcakes.

Faulty voting machines pick the wrong candidate

Sophie Team Observers — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 12:36:58 +0100

Early voters for the presidential election have reported that when they tried to vote for one candidate, their touch screen machine selected another. Could these "faulty" machines decide who's the next US president?

After the vote counting fiasco in Florida in 2000, US polling stations were ordered to update their systems to avoid inaccuracies under the Help America Vote Act 2002. But six years and $3 billion dollars later, new touch screen machines, used in around a quarter of polling booths, are causing even more trouble than the old hole-punchers.

This year has seen record numbers of early voters, expected to amount to a third of the total electorate, who choose to make their decision before the 4 November deadline. But in West Virginia, where the booths opened on 23 October, voters have emerged from polling stations complaining that the machine didn't respond to the choice they made, but selected another. Whether the machines are being rigged; or defective technology is at fault, Americans are terrified that after eight months of decision making, their vote will go to the wrong candidate. Campaigners for democracy are spreading the message: check your screen to make sure you've voted for the right person.

"The world's largest self-made video game"

Julien — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 16:50:28 +0200

From the age of 10, Robert Pelloni dreamed of an “ideal” video game. Whilst having coffee with friends one day, he began scribbling ideas on napkins. Five years later he’d created what he suggests is possibly the world’s largest self-made video game. In those five years Bob hardly left home, working night and day on his project, with no internet connection and virtually no social life, his bedroom floor strewn with papers.

Bob is basically a self-taught game designer. In High School he took an introductory class on C++ programming, though he had no previous training of graphics or game design. He first got a dot to move on a screen, then designed a character and got it to move. Soon Bob had his basic story ready. His 65-song soundtrack was recorded using sound waves, while sound effects were produced with objects and recorded with a microphone. Hence, the sound of footsteps was created using a real shoe. He reckons the whole thing cost him less than $10,000, whereas the average game today costs about $500,000 to make.