Macworld Expo 2011: Vito Technology updates the Walk apps

Russian company Vito Technology was in one of the booths around the Mobile App Showcase at Macworld 2011 last week, and they kindly sat down to show off new versions of their apps, all coming up in the next month or so as free updates on the App Store. Popular astronomy app Star Walk was first. It's getting a visual enhancement in the next version, with a brand new sky and a new look to the stars that's more visually interesting than the current setup. The other feature that will be added is a "calendar of celestial events," where things like meteor showers or lunar eclipses will be tracked (per your location) so that you can see when something interesting is coming up.

Later on, Vito wants to add other cultural displays to the app, including constellation charts and other star maps from Hawaiian, Arabic and Native American viewpoints. Star Walk is also going to be integrated into some of Macmillan's science textbooks, so students will be able to work directly with the app as they learn.

We also got to see updates for the other Vito apps, including Solar Walk and a very different Geo Walk.

Solar Walk is probably the slimmest of the three updates. It's also sporting a visual upgrade, though it's not as sweeping as the update to Star Walk. There's a new "galaxy view" featuring a zoomed-out view of the entire Milky Way, with stars aplenty shining all the way across the galaxy. There are also some interactive "movies" to view, which automate the app to show various heavenly bodies in motion. There's a size comparison in the app as well, so you can compare various stars.

Geo Walk is by far the most updated app in the latest beta; it's been completely redesigned. The globe is now placed in a classroom setting, and it's much more dynamic and colorful than the current version. There's a brand new view that lists points of interest from around the world in a browsable circle, so users looking for information have an easier method than just randomly wandering the globe. There's also a trivia mode, with information about POIs turned into a nice and casual trivia game. From what I saw, there aren't a lot of extras to trivia mode (it doesn't penalize for wrong answers or even keep score), but it's another interesting way to get at information in the app.

Vito is definitely keeping up on all of their apps, and customers are benefiting. All of these upgrades will be free to app owners, and we should see them on the App Store within a few weeks.

In future, cars might decide if driver is drunk

WALTHAM, Mass. – An alcohol-detection prototype that uses automatic sensors to instantly gauge a driver's fitness to be on the road has the potential to save thousands of lives, but could be as long as a decade away from everyday use in cars, federal officials and researchers said Friday.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood visited QinetiQ North America, a Waltham, Mass.-based research and development facility, for the first public demonstration of systems that could measure whether a motorist has a blood alcohol content at or above the legal limit of .08 and — if so — prevent the vehicle from starting.

The technology is being designed as unobtrusive, unlike current alcohol ignition interlock systems often mandated by judges for convicted drunken drivers. Those require operators to blow into a breath-testing device before the car can operate.

The Driver Alcohol Detection Systems for Safety, as the new approach is called, would use sensors that would measure blood alcohol content in one of two possible ways: either by analyzing a driver's breath or through the skin, using sophisticated touch-based sensors placed strategically on steering wheels and door locks, for example.

Both methods eliminate the need for drivers to take any extra steps, and those who are sober would not be delayed in getting on the road, researchers said.

The technology is "another arrow in our automotive safety quiver," said LaHood, who emphasized the system was envisioned as optional equipment in future cars and voluntary for auto manufacturers.

David Strickland, head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, also attended the demonstration and estimated the technology could prevent as many as 9,000 fatal alcohol-related crashes a year in the U.S., though he also acknowledged that it was still in its early testing stages and might not be commercially available for 8-10 years.

The systems would not be employed unless they are "seamless, unobtrusive and unfailingly accurate," Strickland said.

The initial $10 million research program is funded jointly by NHTSA and the Automotive Coalition for Traffic Safety, an industry group representing many of the world's car makers.

Critics, such as Sarah Longwell of the American Beverage Institute, a restaurant trade association, doubt if the technology could ever be perfected to the point that it would be fully reliable and not stop some completely sober people from driving.

"Even if the technology is 99.9 percent reliable, that's still tens of thousands of cars that won't start every day," said Longwell. Her group also questions whether an .08 limit would actually be high enough to stop all drunken drivers, since blood alcohol content can rise in people during a trip depending on factors such as how recently they drank and how much they ate.

"It's going to eliminate the ability of people to have a glass of wine with dinner or a beer at a ball game and then drive home, something that is perfectly safe and currently legal in all 50 states," she said.

LaHood disputed that the technology would interfere with moderate social drinking, and said the threshold in cars would never be set below the legal limit.

In Friday's demonstration, a woman in her 20s weighing about 120 pounds drank two, 1 1/2 ounce glasses of vodka and orange juice about 30 minutes apart, eating some cheese and crackers in between to simulate a typical social setting, said Bud Zaouk, director of transportation safety and security for QinetiQ.

Using both the touch-based and breath-based prototypes, the woman registered a .06 blood alcohol content, Zaouk said, so she would be able to start the car.

Laura Dean Mooney, president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, said the technology could "turn cars into the cure."

While she did not foresee the alcohol detection system ever being mandated by the government, Mooney, whose husband died in an accident caused by a drunken driver 19 years ago, said she could envision it someday becoming as ubiquitous as air bags or anti-lock brakes in today's cars, particularly if insurance companies provide incentives for drivers to use those systems by discounting premiums.

PTCL establishes free PCOs for IDPs

Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) in an effort to connect the displaced families from Swat with their loved ones and missing family members has established PCOs at five different relief camps. These PCO’s will provide free communication services to the IDP’s. Besides the company has also established medical teams and has donated medicines. PTCL doctors and paramedical staff will visit all the major relief camps on a rotation basis.

PTCL President and CEO Walid Irshaid, has stated that the PTCL will do its utmost to provide relief to the IDPs especially PTCL employees affected by this crisis. PTCL stands by the government of Pakistan to ensure that we fulfill our responsibility to help these war affected people, he said.

Around 300 PTCL staff families have been displaced on account of the confrontation going on in Swat. The management has decided to provide financial assistance to each of these families. The company has also arranged accommodation facilities for fourteen of these families and this number is growing on a daily basis as more and more staff families contact for accommodation.

PTCL has always played a proactive role during all difficult times to provide help to the people in the camps. It had generously donated during the 2005 earthquake in Kashmir, during the Baluchistan earthquake and for Benazir Income Support Fund created for assisting poor families.

PTCL with its growing concern and empathy is certainly pulling all the strings to make things easier for the IDP’s, and its efforts are being highly acknowledged and applauded by people from all walks of life.

Microsoft counters Google with Hotmail overhaul

Windows Live Hotmail will get new online editing capabilities for Office documents as well as other enhancements for business users

Microsoft is trying to counter Google by overhauling Windows Live Hotmail with new online editing capabilities for Office documents, and more than two dozen other enhancements for business and home users.

Microsoft's refresh of Hotmail is being announced Tuesday, less than a week after the release of Microsoft Office 2010.

[ Take a look inside Office 2010, Microsoft's newest suite. | Discover what's new in business applications with InfoWorld's Technology: Applications newsletter and Killer Apps blog. ]

Microsoft strikes blow against Google with Office 2010

"The moment you receive an Office document as an attachment in Hotmail -- Word, Excel, or PowerPoint -- you can open and view the attachment online in any popular browser, on PC or Mac and even if Office is not installed," Microsoft said in its latest announcement. "This results from the seamless integration between Hotmail, SkyDrive [Microsoft's free online storage service] and the Office Web Apps, so you can send, receive and work on a document with others."

Google, of course, offers online editing of documents through Gmail's integration with Google Docs, and the ability to import Microsoft Office documents into Google's online office suite.

Microsoft is increasingly adding to its lineup of Web-based office tools, while offering integration with existing on-premise software installations of Microsoft Office.

New Hotmail features announced this week will be incorporated into the service over the next few months, Microsoft said.

Microsoft promised improvements in the visual quality of Office documents displayed in web browsers, and said it will be easy for users to move back and forth between the Web-based version and the Office software installed on their PCs.

The announcement acknowledges that users may still need to use the packaged software version of Office for "intensive editing tasks."

"If you need to perform intensive editing tasks, you can go from editing the document in your browser with the Office Web Apps to editing it in an Office application on your PC," Microsoft said. "When you're finished, any edits you made to the document on your PC will be automatically saved back into the cloud where you can then keep the document stored for only you to see or share it with others."

Hotmail and Gmail are locked in a battle for second place in the webmail market. Each have more than 40 million users in the United States, with Hotmail claiming a small lead over Gmail. Yahoo still has more than twice as many users as its nearest competitors.

In addition to further Office integration, Microsoft said the new Hotmail will have enhanced security with full-session SSL; smarter junk mail filters; and a "Trusted Senders" feature making it easier for users to distinguish between legitimate messages and scams.

Hotmail will also have conversation view -- a feature Gmail already has -- making it easier to view a single conversation that is spread out over many emails.

Hotmail users will be able to send up to 10GB of photos per message, and Microsoft, not surprisingly, is rolling out new mobile features to take advantage of the expanding smartphone market. For example, Microsoft said Hotmail will be optimized for rich mobile browsers and touch screens, while supporting "filters, in-line message previews, HTML messages, offline email viewing, conversation threading, the ability to flag messages, the option to turn header details on or off, and more."

Users will be able to synchronize email, calendar, and contacts between their phone and the Web using Exchange ActiveSync, and download new mobile Hotmail apps. Microsoft said Hotmail mobile apps will be unveiled on "BlackBerry, Nokia, and many other phones," but did not mention the iPhone or Google's Android platform.

Armed, Autonomous Robots "A Threat to Humanity"

Noel Sharkey of the University of Sheffield said that military leaders in several countries "are

quite clear that they want autonomous robots as soon as possible, because they are more cost-effective and give a risk-free war."

Unmanned surveillance aircraft have been used for years and are currently deployed by the U.S. military in Iraq, along with 4,000 military robots on the ground. Some of these robots are armed with large-caliber machine guns. Armed robot border guards are also used by South Korea and Israel, and other robots are in use by China, India, Russia and the United Kingdom.

To date, none of these machines are able to fire without a human pushing a button or pulling the trigger in some other deliberate way. But such robots are already under development, with the U.S. planning to invest $4 billion in research by 2010 and $24 billion by 2032.

"I have worked in artificial intelligence for decades, and the idea of a robot making decisions about human termination terrifies me," Sharkey said.

Even non-autonomous robots would be easy for terrorists or other unauthorized personnel to capture, reverse engineer and then use for their own purposes, Sharkey warned. Such robots could provide an attractive alternative to suicide bombers.

"I don't know why that has not happened already," he said.

Technical obstacles to the development of autonomous killer robots include imbuing a machine with the ability to properly distinguish between appropriate and inappropriate targets, especially in a changing battle situation. This does not even take into account the ethical questions posed by abdicating decisions about life and death to a machine.

According to Ronald Arkin of the Georgia Institute of Technology, the U.S. Department of Defense's $230 billion Future Combat Systems Program calls for three classes of aerial and land-based robots, "but nowhere is there any consideration of the ethical implications of the weaponization of these systems."