Road Radar for Traffic Flow

Road Radar for Traffic Flow

Posted by Sam Churchill on November 20th, 2009

New York City has acquired radar detection units for some 200 intersections in four different boroughs. It’s part of a NYC Transportation Department traffic coordination program using centralized computer control to improve traffic flow.

The Remote Traffic Microwave Sensor supplied byImaging Sensing Systems, detects and measures roadway traffic.

According to the company Web site, the G4 system is a small roadside pole-mounted radar, operating in the microwave band. It provides per-lane presence as well as volume, occupancy, speed and classification information for up to 12 user-defined detection zones, simultaneously.

A single RTMS can replace multiple inductive loop detectors and the attendant controller and provide enforcement of speed and red-light violations. It operates at high resolution in the 24 GHz band with radio modems offered as built-in option in either 900 MHz or 2400 MHz bands. Wide Area Traffic Event Reporting software provides real-time traffic measurement and data collection over a wide area.

Typically, every 30 to 300 seconds, a message containing the volume, occupancy, average speed and classification by length data in each detection zone is transmitted and/or collected in the sensor memory from the device, which draws less than 5 watts and can be solar-powered.

In other news, the town of Tiburon will be the first community in the Bay Area, and perhaps the country, to line its borders with the license plate reading cameras. Plates will be compared to databases of stolen or wanted cars, with matches triggering an immediate alert to local officers.

The license plate data will be kept for 30 days and then erased. It will not be available to the public. Officers can mine the data only in connection with crimes, according to the local police, and the program will keep a record of exactly what information police exam. The project is expected to cost from $137,000 to $197,000.

Apple killing Netbook compatibility

Apple Killing Netbook Compatibility?

Posted by Sam Churchill on November 2nd, 2009

Mac OS X Leopard 10.6.2, the forthcoming OS update, will not run on the Intel Atom processor, breaking many netbooks which have been hacked to run as Macs.

This news comes from Stellarola, a hacker who has ported the OS to many netbooks.

On January 14, 2009, the Gadget Lab site of Wired Magazine posted a video tutorial for installing Mac OS X on an MSI Wind netbook, but removed it following a complaint from Apple. Textual instructions remain that include an EULA violation disclaimer.

source: dailywireless.org

Miami Beach turns of free wifi

Miami Beach Turns on Free Wi-Fi

Posted by Sam Churchill on November 2nd, 2009

Like a blast from the past, the City of Miami Beach is offering free WiFi throughout the city (maps). Last week, the city began a soft launch by neighborhood, with a 90-day reliability testing period. The official “wire-cutting” was on Friday, October 30 in front of Miami Beach City Hall.

The City of Miami Beach contracted with IBM to install the citywide wireless network. The Wi-Fi launch was supposed to happen around 2007, but the project was delayed as IBM struggled to provide the coverage it agreed to in its contract. It covers 7.1 miles and cost some $5.1 million, under a six-year contract with IBM. IBM is working Alvarion for infrastructure.

General users will have two networks to choose from, including a content-filtered network for children. A third network is for government use.

For public safety and government use, such as laptops in police cars, it also makes the entire city a hot zone for public internet access. The contract provides that at least 95% of the City will have outdoor WiFi coverage and at least 70% of the City will have indoor coverage up through the second floor of a building.

Once you have registered and successfully connected to the City’s WiFi network, you will be redirected to the City of Miami Beach WiFi Landing page. At that point you can create a username and log in to the free WiFi network. This is a free network for all residents, visitors and businesses in the City of Miami Beach.

source: dailywireless.org

Smartphones to Outsell standard phones by 2012

Smartphones To Outsell standard phones by 2012

Posted by Sam Churchill on November 3rd, 2009

Market research firm Infonetics Research, in its biannual Mobile/WiFi report has forecast thatsmartphone sales will overtake standard mobile phones by 2012.

“Smartphones are on track to post a 14.5% increase in the number of units sold worldwide in 2009, and a 21% compound annual growth rate from 2008 to 2013, significantly better than other mobile phone segments”, predicts Richard Webb, Infonetics Research’s directing analyst for mobile devices. While smartphone revenue is expected to dip in 2009 mainly due to price erosion and lower-ARPU units coming to market, he expects it to pick up in 2010 and continue growing, easily outstripping the combined revenue of standard mobile phones by 2012.

Infonetics also predicts mobile subscribers will hit 5.9 billion in 2013, driven by China, India, Africa.

According to Infonetics, there were nearly 4 times more mobile subscribers than access line subscribers worldwide in 2008 (3.9 billion vs. 1 billion), and the number of mobile subscribers grew 17.4% in 2008 over 2007, while access line subscribers declined 5.5%.

Apple’s smartphone share rose to 9% in the second quarter of 2009 on the strength of the iPhone 3GS, but the iPhone is sure to face stiff competition from the open-source Android platform, says Infonetics.

Some 1.1 billion mobile phones are forecast to be sold in 2009 worldwide. Smartphones will account for an increasing percentage of total mobile phone revenue, driven in part by accelerating HSPA deployments in North America, Western Europe, and developed Asia Pacific countries, according to the report.

source: dailywireless.org