The World Right Now

Those crazy post-modern theorists are always seeking ways around mass media presentation of their world. Here is a technology for microcasting in which the productions emerge from multiple participants focused on a common subject in the world right now.

“Mobicasting is a new platform of media technology developed by Adam Hyde and Luka Princic for “Capturing the Moving Mind”. It is at once two ideas. The first is technical: build a system to deliver ‘pseudo-live’ video from any device capable of delivering

images by email. The second is tactical: build a system that enables the

production of video reports positioning the mobile phone as a networked ‘outside

broadcast’ studio. The first goal is an exercise in developing models of

‘broadcasting’ that employ the simplest technologies possible… That’s the tech, but the pay-off is the tactical side, for which the tool was built. With this mechanism it is possible from any device capable of sending email to make collaborative online video content. This can be used for capturing moving minds, or it can be directly used as a device for reporting on events that are normally out of the reach of wired or wireless internet connections.”

http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.culture.internet.rekombinant/912

Tip of the NeuroHat to the nettime email list.

Their market capitalization is around $100 billion, and their ambition is even bigger. You can already manually assemble links to various real-time space missions, but a Google interface can only help.

“Google and NASA share a common desire to bring the universe of information to people around the world,” said Eric Schmidt, the company’s chief executive officer, in a statement. “Imagine having a wide selection of images from the Apollo space mission at your fingertips whenever you want it.”

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/09/29/GOOGLE.TMP

When it comes to Astroblogging, turns out I spoke too soon.

Take a look around.

http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/postlist.php/Cat/0/Board/EarthTourism

Even the professionals running our space mission are doing it from the ‘hood.

http://www.honeybeerobotics.com/press.html

And then take a walk around. Global satellite networks can be accessed at any time from anywhere to tell you exactly where you are, and how to get anywhere else. Access starts around a hundred bucks.

http://www.magellangps.com/en/index.asp

And the reach of our grasp of the world around us extends into outer space. The array of telescopes and satellites surveying the universe grows every year – the challenge is in personal access and understanding of all the data available to us. It may be a while, however, before there are many bloggers in space…

“Using AstroGrid an astronomer can request sets of observations of the same area of sky taken by several different telescopes and combine the data; perform the same analysis on all the data simply by setting up a set of commands in the AstroGrid system. Previously each data set would have to be processed individually, taking much longer to get results.”

http://www.astrogrid.org/

The world of mapmaking collides with the world of blogs. We increasingly have access to the world right now in more and more detail. Geoblogging adds pictures to maps, or is it adds maps to pictures. Either way, our ability to be aware of the world around us grows in the dimensions of both richness and geographical reach. The use of blogs adds distributed intelligence to the sensory data available to us.

“The group is for discussing tips and methods of adding “geotags” aka location metadata to flickr images, Discussing locations on the geobloggers map worth checking out, Discussing the Geobloggers.com website and features etc.?”

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ice5nake/48844998/in/pool-geotagging/

Experienced the latest in x-ray technology on my dental visit last week. ViperRay captures the dental x-rays and displays them direct to personal computer. Runs on Windows XP, Pentium IV. Health care cost pressures are pushing the technology to uncover greater efficiencies, but the result here is patient access to more and deeper information about their own bodies. And once it’s on the computer, well, I don’t think anyone wants a BLOG of x-rays of my slowly decaying body, but… (Bonus points for naming the song and band that the header quote came from.)

“The end result is quicker diagnosis, enhanced patient communication, and the financial savings from eliminating the on-going use of film and chemicals.” The dental assistant said less x-ray exposure for the patient, but I’m not sure that’s right.

http://www.vipersoft.com/Products/ViperRay/Reviews.asp

NOAA Weather Radio has made possible access to state-of-the-art government weather tracking information in a bewildering variety of consumer formats. You can also get the Weather Bug on your PC desktop, cellphone, or eventually that tattooed integrated circuit just under the watch on your left wrist. Bringing you the world right now, and the world a couple of hours from now as well.

“NOAA Weather Radio is a service of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the U.S. Department of Commcerce, and is the ‘voice of the National Weather Service.’”

http://www.warnings.noaa.gov/aboutrad.html

And there are competitors. I have their “bug” on my laptop’s system tray – it starts blinking when there’s a local forecast update.

“WeatherBug, the leading provider of weather information services, owns and operates a proprietary network of 8,000 WeatherBug Tracking Stations and more than 1,000 cameras that are strategically placed at schools, public safety facilities and television stations throughout the U.S.”

http://www.weatherbug.com/

Storm Hawk is the first hand-held weather device with GPS moving map technology for use on land and sea. Get real-time and forecast weather information on demand, displayed in graphics and text, for your specific location.

http://www.storm-hawk.com/

In the wake of Katrina, I found these older items.

“Plans were announced today to expand the U.S. tsunami detection and warning capabilities as a contribution of the Global Earth Observation System of Systems, or GEOSS—the international effort to develop a comprehensive, sustained and integrated Earth observation system. The plan commits a total of $37.5 million over the next two years.”

http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2005/s2369.htm

The above announcement followed by a day UNESCO’s announcement of a global system that includes more than U.S. participation. Upon questioning, Bush Administration officials said GEOSS was “compatible” with UNESCO’s approach, but their concern seemed limited to American victims of the tsunami.

“UNESCO is working towards the establishment of a global tsunami warning system that would be operational by June 2007, said UNESCO Director-General Koichiro Matsuura. Speaking at a press conference at the Mauritius International Meeting on Small Island Developing States on Wednesday, Mr Matsuura said that assessment missions are already being undertaken to concerned countries as a step towards the creation of the first regional component of the global system, in the Indian Ocean, foreseen for June 2006.”

http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=24502&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

Below I wrote, “Currently, RFID tags are stapled to the ears of cattle in big ranching operations for “inventory control”. You’re next.” Well, it’s that time.

Joseph Feldman, MD, Chairman of the Department of Emergency Medicine, Hackensack University Medical Center, said “We look forward to using the VeriChip System to assist in patient identification and access to medical information. Particularly beneficial to patients with chronic illnesses…”

http://www.adsx.com/content/pdf/pr/pr_17.pdf