RACHEL BROWN
August 30, 2009
DASHBOARD satellite navigation systems may have resolved arguments about the best way around town but they are driving us to distraction.
Road safety experts warn that a GPS can increase the risk of having an accident because they distract the driver from the road.
A study by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute found that reaching for an electronic device, such as a GPS, increased the risk of collision about six times. A study by the University of Utah showed that distraction from in-vehicle technology could be the equivalent of driving with a blood alcohol level of .08.
Andry Rakotonirainy, an associate professor at the centre for accident research and road safety at Queensland University of Technology, said accidents happened when drivers took their eyes off the road to look at or adjust their GPS.
''Some GPS devices require lots of visual attention and they are the ones which are potentially dangerous. Any device in your car which requires you to take your eyes off the road to operate it significantly increases your risk of having an accident.''
GPS devices can also distract drivers with alarms, beeps or chimes to signal things such as traffic lights, speed cameras or places of interest.
The impact on the road toll of increasing numbers of electronic distractions - GPS, mobile phones and BlackBerries - in vehicles has prompted the US Transport Secretary, Ray LaHood, to organise a summit of transport safety experts, police and legislators next month.
The RTA advises drivers to always set their GPS before setting off and to pull over if they need to adjust it.
In 2002 about 10,000 portable devices were sold in Australia. Last year this figure grew to more than 1 million.
However, Dr Rakotonirainy said: ''Listening to a GPS is obviously a lot safer than trying to read a street map while driving.''
Source: The Sydney Morning Herald
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Patients to get self check in
Patients to get self check-in
Article from: The Advertiser
CALLIE WATSON
August 29, 2009 12:01am
A DO-IT-YOURSELF check-in kiosk for hospitals and doctors' clinics, similar to those used by airline passengers, should be considered, a U.S. expert says.
Dr Erica Drazen, a Massachusetts-based partner at IT services firm CSC, this week spoke to SA Health officials about how technology could further help patients take care of themselves and improve customer service.
She said the kiosk system, first used in U.S. clinics before spreading to hospitals, had been a success.
"It's basically the airline kiosk system translated into health care," Dr Drazen said.
"Patients come up and insert some sort of ID card, for example a driver's licence or credit card, and their appointment details come out. It can even print a map telling them where to go within a building or book their next appointment."
The cost of buying, installing and maintaining an Australian kiosk model was still being developed, Dr Drazen said.
SA Health chief executive Dr Tony Sherbon said the new Royal Adelaide Hospital would provide an opportunity to introduce "21st Century" technology to patient care.
"We are interested in what's going on internationally in electronic health reform," he said.
"However, it is premature at this stage to comment on what that technology might be."
Australian Medical Association state president Dr Andrew Lavender said kiosks should not replace face-to-face interaction.
"I think cutting out that initial interaction . . . is not necessarily the best idea," he said.
Article from: The Advertiser
CALLIE WATSON
August 29, 2009 12:01am
A DO-IT-YOURSELF check-in kiosk for hospitals and doctors' clinics, similar to those used by airline passengers, should be considered, a U.S. expert says.
Dr Erica Drazen, a Massachusetts-based partner at IT services firm CSC, this week spoke to SA Health officials about how technology could further help patients take care of themselves and improve customer service.
She said the kiosk system, first used in U.S. clinics before spreading to hospitals, had been a success.
"It's basically the airline kiosk system translated into health care," Dr Drazen said.
"Patients come up and insert some sort of ID card, for example a driver's licence or credit card, and their appointment details come out. It can even print a map telling them where to go within a building or book their next appointment."
The cost of buying, installing and maintaining an Australian kiosk model was still being developed, Dr Drazen said.
SA Health chief executive Dr Tony Sherbon said the new Royal Adelaide Hospital would provide an opportunity to introduce "21st Century" technology to patient care.
"We are interested in what's going on internationally in electronic health reform," he said.
"However, it is premature at this stage to comment on what that technology might be."
Australian Medical Association state president Dr Andrew Lavender said kiosks should not replace face-to-face interaction.
"I think cutting out that initial interaction . . . is not necessarily the best idea," he said.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Classics of tomorrow
Adam's Olympus trip: how the iPod got classical
The Sleeping Gamer rests after long day on the Xbox.
The Sleeping Gamer rests after long day on the Xbox.
* Atlas carries the weight of a giant iPod on his shoulders.
* Pan, the Greek god of nature, jives to the tunes of his iPod.
* The king of the gods, Zeus, calls down the thunder using his iPhone.
* The Sleeping Gamer rests after long day on the Xbox.
Asher Moses
August 21, 2009
What if Zeus called down the thunder using his iPhone, or Pan, the Greek god of nature, serenaded his nymphs with an iPod instead of a flute?
These are the questions that inspired Californian sculptor Adam Reeder, whose latest project, Socio-Technic Evolution, puts a high-tech spin on classical sculpture to examine the way technology has changed how Western culture interacts with the world.
The collection of four life-size sculptures - Pan with His iPod, Zeus with His iPhone, Atlas and The Sleeping Gamer - has already won Reeder several awards and helped him graduate with a master of fine arts from San Francisco's Academy of Art University.
Reeder, 33, said he came up with the idea after his daughter turned six and, instead of asking for a Barbie, wanted an iPod.
It highlighted for him how much technology had changed childhood and our lives.
"The Greek sculptures are my symbol for Western culture ... the Greek god Pan, he would've been dancing in the woods playing his flute, so in my sculpture he's still dancing but the music is being created from a different source," he said in a phone interview.
"So the nature of it stays the same but the context changes, and technology is facilitating that change."
One interpretation of the works is that the Greek gods represent rulers from the old world, while the gadgets are our new overlords.
Reeder's Sleeping Gamer work is a play on the Sleeping Satyr, a follower of Bacchus, the Greek god of wine, who represents unrestrained revelry.
By putting a video game controller in the satyr's hand, Reeder makes a value statement, warning people against playing too many video games.
Reeder recently sold the Sleeping Gamer to Cliff Bleszinski, the creator of the Gears of War video game franchise, for $US7900.
In his sculpture of Atlas, the figure is bearing the weight of a giant iPod, not the world, on his shoulders, symbolising how ubiquitous Apple's iconic music player has become.
"Even in 30 years people are going to look at that and say, 'Hey, I remember that iPod, I know that shape - it's almost like an old Coke bottle,' " Reeder said.
He said he was tired of seeing museum and gallery visitors struggling to engage with what he says are boring classical sculptures. By adding modern technology, anyone could immediately connect with his message.
"They'll see it and I can tell they'll be like 'oh great, another Greek sculpture wannabe', and then they see the iPod and something in their eyes just sparkles, and then they smile and nudge their friend next to them and say, 'Hey, look, he's got an iPod,' " he said.
"It just breathes life into something that's been dead for all these years."
Source: smh.com.au
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Wikipedia launches iphone application
August 20, 2009 - 11:25AM
Wikipedia says it has released an iPhone application as part of a drive to open the pages of its revered online encyclopedia to the booming ranks of smart phone users.
Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit organisation behind Wikipedia, has made free software for iPhones available at Apple's online App Store.
"Everybody recognises with the growth of mobile tools globally that this is how people access information," said foundation spokesman Jay Walsh.
"Our mission is to spread free knowledge; we want to do everything we can to meet and embrace that audience."
Wikimedia foundation is a small operation with a staff of fewer than 30 people, so it contracted a US developer that was already working on Wikipedia software for Apple's coveted iPhones.
"Our intention is to house the source code and continue to update the application through Apple channels with subsequent releases," Walsh said.
"Then, obviously, take it to other platforms like Palm and Android. We want to take the same tool and make it work in other spaces."
Wikipedia can be reached using web browsers in iPhones and other internet-linked mobile devices, but the pages are scaled-down versions of what is accessible using desktop computers.
The Wikipedia application for iPhones is an open-source, first version that the foundation hopes to incrementally upgrade with input from software savants worldwide, according to Walsh.
"In a perfect world you would be able to do everything on a mobile you could do on a personal computer," Walsh said of using Wikipedia on smart phones.
"It is a platform we are going to build on. The sky is the limit; we can do whatever we want."
Wikipedia envisions people eventually being able to use smart phones to edit entries and upload pictures or other digital content to the website.
Wikipedia says it has released an iPhone application as part of a drive to open the pages of its revered online encyclopedia to the booming ranks of smart phone users.
Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit organisation behind Wikipedia, has made free software for iPhones available at Apple's online App Store.
"Everybody recognises with the growth of mobile tools globally that this is how people access information," said foundation spokesman Jay Walsh.
"Our mission is to spread free knowledge; we want to do everything we can to meet and embrace that audience."
Wikimedia foundation is a small operation with a staff of fewer than 30 people, so it contracted a US developer that was already working on Wikipedia software for Apple's coveted iPhones.
"Our intention is to house the source code and continue to update the application through Apple channels with subsequent releases," Walsh said.
"Then, obviously, take it to other platforms like Palm and Android. We want to take the same tool and make it work in other spaces."
Wikipedia can be reached using web browsers in iPhones and other internet-linked mobile devices, but the pages are scaled-down versions of what is accessible using desktop computers.
The Wikipedia application for iPhones is an open-source, first version that the foundation hopes to incrementally upgrade with input from software savants worldwide, according to Walsh.
"In a perfect world you would be able to do everything on a mobile you could do on a personal computer," Walsh said of using Wikipedia on smart phones.
"It is a platform we are going to build on. The sky is the limit; we can do whatever we want."
Wikipedia envisions people eventually being able to use smart phones to edit entries and upload pictures or other digital content to the website.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Trouble with twittering?
Hackers using Twitter to control infected PCs
August 17, 2009
Twitter's been having a rough couple of weeks.
A researcher looking into the attacks that knocked Twitter offline last week discovered another, unrelated security problem.
At least one criminal was using a Twitter account to control a network of a couple hundred infected personal computers, mostly in Brazil. Networks of infected PCs are referred to as "botnets" and are responsible for so much of the mayhem online, from identity theft to spamming to the types of attacks that crippled Twitter.
Jose Nazario with Arbor Networks said he found a Twitter account that was used to send out what looked like garbled messages. But they were actually commands for computers in a botnet to visit malicious websites, where they download programs that steal banking passwords.
The affected Twitter account was taken down. Twitter didn't immediately respond to e-mails for comment.
Nazario said what appeared to be the same person was doing the same thing on an account with a Google service called Jaiku, which is similar to Twitter.
Google said the affected account was shut down.
The technique Nazario described isn't sophisticated, and a couple hundred infected computers is small when some botnets contain hundreds of thousands of infected PCs.
But it shows how criminals are finding inventive ways to exploit legitimate social networking services to help with their dirty work. One reason social networks are an attractive target for crooks is because their content is hard to monitor, and because people click on lots of links inside their accounts, which is a key way computer infections are spread.
"I wouldn't call it rocket science, but it's effective," Nazario said. "This is the problem with free social media that people need to be aware of."
The revelation comes on the heels of a destructive "denial-of-service" attack that brought down Twitter at stretches last week. Those attacks appear to have targeted a lone blogger in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, but affected the entire Twitter service.
Denial-of-service attacks consist of flooding a website with so much traffic that its servers buckle under the strain. That's either done by pounding it with an immense volume of traffic (which can be easy to thwart), or increasingly, hammering a site with lots of harder-to-detect computing-intensive requests, like trying to log in or do searches, which can also bring a site to its knees. Botnets, or networks of zombie computers, are the main weapon in both attacks.
August 17, 2009
Twitter's been having a rough couple of weeks.
A researcher looking into the attacks that knocked Twitter offline last week discovered another, unrelated security problem.
At least one criminal was using a Twitter account to control a network of a couple hundred infected personal computers, mostly in Brazil. Networks of infected PCs are referred to as "botnets" and are responsible for so much of the mayhem online, from identity theft to spamming to the types of attacks that crippled Twitter.
Jose Nazario with Arbor Networks said he found a Twitter account that was used to send out what looked like garbled messages. But they were actually commands for computers in a botnet to visit malicious websites, where they download programs that steal banking passwords.
The affected Twitter account was taken down. Twitter didn't immediately respond to e-mails for comment.
Nazario said what appeared to be the same person was doing the same thing on an account with a Google service called Jaiku, which is similar to Twitter.
Google said the affected account was shut down.
The technique Nazario described isn't sophisticated, and a couple hundred infected computers is small when some botnets contain hundreds of thousands of infected PCs.
But it shows how criminals are finding inventive ways to exploit legitimate social networking services to help with their dirty work. One reason social networks are an attractive target for crooks is because their content is hard to monitor, and because people click on lots of links inside their accounts, which is a key way computer infections are spread.
"I wouldn't call it rocket science, but it's effective," Nazario said. "This is the problem with free social media that people need to be aware of."
The revelation comes on the heels of a destructive "denial-of-service" attack that brought down Twitter at stretches last week. Those attacks appear to have targeted a lone blogger in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, but affected the entire Twitter service.
Denial-of-service attacks consist of flooding a website with so much traffic that its servers buckle under the strain. That's either done by pounding it with an immense volume of traffic (which can be easy to thwart), or increasingly, hammering a site with lots of harder-to-detect computing-intensive requests, like trying to log in or do searches, which can also bring a site to its knees. Botnets, or networks of zombie computers, are the main weapon in both attacks.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Monday, August 10, 2009
got to love google maps
Spy tricyles map Paris streets for Google
Arthur Poirier, a French student employed by Google France, rides a tricycle fitted with cameras as part of the Google Street View project. Photo: AFP
August 10, 2009 - 10:06AM
Parisians and tourists, relax. That goofy-looking tricycle equipped with loads of high-tech equipment roaming the streets is not some mad scientist's invention on the rampage.
The three-wheeler is quite a sight with its long pole holding nine cameras, a GPS, a computer and a generator. But the contraption tooling around the French capital needs all that gear to do its job - adding three-dimensional images to Google's Street View Maps.
The U.S. company has hired two young cyclists to ride through gardens, historical sites and other pedestrian-only areas to take thousands of digital photos.
"The idea is to be able to offer 360-degree images of places that were inaccessible before," Google spokesperson Anne-Gabrielle Dauba-Pantanacce said in an interview.
The riders, wearing Google tee-shirts and white helmets, are visiting well-known sites such as the Chateau de Versailles, west of Paris, the Jardin du Luxembourg on the city's Left Bank and Les Halles, in the busy center of the French capital.
Google is to map Paris until Aug. 20, then head to the north of the country. In the fall, the tricycle goes south, Dauba-Pantanacce said.
The company plans to add new photos to their Street View option in all French cities with tourist areas.
Similar tricycles already combed the streets of Britain and Italy in June and July, said Dauba-Pantanacce. Google plans to make 3-D maps of streets in other European countries, but the schedule has not yet been set, she said.
Since its launch in 2007, Google's Street View has expanded to more than 100 cities worldwide, and not everyone is happy about it.
Last month, Greek officials rejected a bid to photograph the nation's streets until more privacy safeguards are provided. In April, residents of one English village formed a human chain to stop a camera van, and in Japan the company agreed to reshoot views taken by a camera high enough to peer over fences.
Google's European Public Policy blog says the company is in contact with a group of representatives from all 27 European Data Protection Authorities. The group has asked, among other things, that Google set a time limit on how long unblurred copies of photos are kept, which it has not yet done.
Google did recently accede to German demands to erase the raw footage of faces, house numbers, license plates and individuals who have told authorities they do not want their information used in the service.
When the camera snaps a photo, everything - faces and license plates included - is in focus. Special software then blurs the picture.
Spotted Friday at La Defense, the tricycle looked decidedly out of place at the modern high-rise business center on Paris' western edge.
A clunky white pole in the back holds an octagonal platform with eight cameras on the sides and one on top. Every minute, the cameras take bursts of high-definition photos to allow online users to get a virtual tour of the area.
"I rode two hours this morning," said 25-year-old Gregory Landais, who was taking a break after cruising through La Defense, France's touch of Manhattan. "For a site like this, it can take up to five hours."
The photos of Paris and other major French cities to follow were expected to be available online by the end of the year.
One curious sightseer was 46-year-old Jose Mountinho of Portugal.
"I've already seen Google Maps but I had no idea how they did it," Mountinho said.
AP
Source: smh.com.au
Arthur Poirier, a French student employed by Google France, rides a tricycle fitted with cameras as part of the Google Street View project. Photo: AFP
August 10, 2009 - 10:06AM
Parisians and tourists, relax. That goofy-looking tricycle equipped with loads of high-tech equipment roaming the streets is not some mad scientist's invention on the rampage.
The three-wheeler is quite a sight with its long pole holding nine cameras, a GPS, a computer and a generator. But the contraption tooling around the French capital needs all that gear to do its job - adding three-dimensional images to Google's Street View Maps.
The U.S. company has hired two young cyclists to ride through gardens, historical sites and other pedestrian-only areas to take thousands of digital photos.
"The idea is to be able to offer 360-degree images of places that were inaccessible before," Google spokesperson Anne-Gabrielle Dauba-Pantanacce said in an interview.
The riders, wearing Google tee-shirts and white helmets, are visiting well-known sites such as the Chateau de Versailles, west of Paris, the Jardin du Luxembourg on the city's Left Bank and Les Halles, in the busy center of the French capital.
Google is to map Paris until Aug. 20, then head to the north of the country. In the fall, the tricycle goes south, Dauba-Pantanacce said.
The company plans to add new photos to their Street View option in all French cities with tourist areas.
Similar tricycles already combed the streets of Britain and Italy in June and July, said Dauba-Pantanacce. Google plans to make 3-D maps of streets in other European countries, but the schedule has not yet been set, she said.
Since its launch in 2007, Google's Street View has expanded to more than 100 cities worldwide, and not everyone is happy about it.
Last month, Greek officials rejected a bid to photograph the nation's streets until more privacy safeguards are provided. In April, residents of one English village formed a human chain to stop a camera van, and in Japan the company agreed to reshoot views taken by a camera high enough to peer over fences.
Google's European Public Policy blog says the company is in contact with a group of representatives from all 27 European Data Protection Authorities. The group has asked, among other things, that Google set a time limit on how long unblurred copies of photos are kept, which it has not yet done.
Google did recently accede to German demands to erase the raw footage of faces, house numbers, license plates and individuals who have told authorities they do not want their information used in the service.
When the camera snaps a photo, everything - faces and license plates included - is in focus. Special software then blurs the picture.
Spotted Friday at La Defense, the tricycle looked decidedly out of place at the modern high-rise business center on Paris' western edge.
A clunky white pole in the back holds an octagonal platform with eight cameras on the sides and one on top. Every minute, the cameras take bursts of high-definition photos to allow online users to get a virtual tour of the area.
"I rode two hours this morning," said 25-year-old Gregory Landais, who was taking a break after cruising through La Defense, France's touch of Manhattan. "For a site like this, it can take up to five hours."
The photos of Paris and other major French cities to follow were expected to be available online by the end of the year.
One curious sightseer was 46-year-old Jose Mountinho of Portugal.
"I've already seen Google Maps but I had no idea how they did it," Mountinho said.
AP
Source: smh.com.au
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