Technology Category Archive

Nanotechnology Lecture Invitation

2 Replies Jonny Hankins

On Tuesday I am participating in a lecture about nanotechnology at the Bocconi University in Milan.

Nanotechnology Lecture Poster

Nanotechnology Lecture Poster

This is not a subject that is new to this website as a quick search demonstrates. In May of 2011 Hayley asked the question of whether nanotechnology research is safe. It is a well written and commented post that raises some critical questions about the ethics and practices surrounding technology that is already changing our lives and has incredible potential in many walks of life.

Hayley continued her thread in January of this year with an article about nanobots, the future of nanotechnology. Here she describes the bottom up approach that the technology is taking on, underlining the importance of self replication.

In March I followed up on these articles with a post about how nanotechnology procedures are regulated, based upon the National Research Council’s report of the same month. Many similar issues are raised in the report about environmental damage, possible risks to health and governance.

On a lighter note in April I posted about nano-art and again in May about how nanotechnology is making waterproof electronics a reality.

So all of this leads me on to Tuesday’s lecture. The main speaker is Michael Bruch, the Head of R&D and Risk Consulting at Allianz Global Corporate (the insurance company). He is going to talk about the role of insurance in innovative technologies, with a focus upon nanotechnology.

If we read the articles linked above we understand that this research is fraught with risk, and so development companies have to take out insurance against losses, but how can the level of risk be calculated with such an unknown and potentially powerful product? What might the implications be for the global financial system if something goes catastrophically wrong?

Well if anybody can tell you Mr Bruch can.

The proceedings will be streamed live through the Bassetti Foundation website, but I am travelling half way round the world to be there in person. It will also be available later on podcast, and I think will be a very interesting debate.

I will let you know next week how it all goes. Invitation enclosed.

Commercial Drones and Privacy

8 Replies Jonny Hankins

A couple of years ago I wrote an article on the Bassetti Foundation website about the use of drones and other robot devices in warfare. Times have moved on however, and now drones are much smaller and cheaper, so you do not need a multi-billion dollar budget to buy one.

a quadcopter drone

A commercial quadcopter drone

To give you an idea, $600 US will buy you this quadcopter. Perfect for the beginner, plate already mounted for the camera and can also carry a small payload.

If you want something that resembles an aeroplane why not take a look at  the CropCam (before it takes a look at you). $6999 I grant you but a fine machine. Hand launched it is guided by its GPS navigation system, automatically lands and takes pictures, flies at 60 Km an hour and can be fitted with a video. You set up the GPS and the autopilot does the rest.

As the name suggests, this vehicle is aimed at the commercial market, look at your crops, find your animals and catch your daughter in a haystack with the boy next door.

The haystack incident might sound like a joke but it is really a serious problem. There are no regulations about where you fly your new machine in the USA. The market for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) is in massive expansion as farmers, security companies, private detectives, news organizations, traffic and transport management companies and many others see the potential in such snooping power. The machines can be fitted with face recognition software, thermal imaging and license plate readers, and many see this as problematic.

A couple of months ago the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) launched a code of conduct for the industry, in the light of a new law in the USA that allows anyone to operate one of these systems (see the Federal Aviation Administration Modernization and Reform Act of 2012).

Privacy groups are up in arms however, claiming that the mass use of this type of technology will lead to massive infringements upon personal liberty, and they take no comfort from the code of conduct. Voluntary as it is, the code is extremely general, has no enforcement mandate, contains no discussion at all about the myriad potential privacy and safety issues raised by unrestricted drone use over U.S. airspace, and there is nothing about the intended audience or user.

One US Senator however is trying to take action. Sen. Rand Paul has introduced a bill that aims at protecting Americans against unwanted drone surveillance. Read about it here.

The present regulations state that 400 feet above your house you enter neutral territory, a bit like international waters off the coast, so anyone has the right to fly their drone 401 feet over your house. These machines are small so you probably wouldn’t notice it, but as we know cameras are good nowadays. At a few hundred dollars for a vehicle they are becoming available to almost anyone, and certainly any business or organization.

Do you think this could become a problem? Is it yet another invasion of privacy or a justified use of technology? I am all ears.

Sponsored: A look at the Aspire S7 Ultrabook

Leave a reply Christopher Roberts

This is a sponsored post on behalf of Acer. To find out more about sponsored content on Technology Bloggers, please visit our Privacy Policy.

Two weeks ago today I wrote a post which explored the rise of the Ultrabook – a new compact, portable and superfast variation of the laptop. Yesterday I wrote about Windows 8 and how it is changing the way we use our gadgets. Today I want to take a look at a laptop which I feel is a great example of how Windows 8 is changing the way we use out PCs.

The Acer Aspire S7 is a new, top of the range Ultrabook, which is even better than the Acer Aspire S5 that I talked about two weeks ago.

The Aspire S7 is designed to work seamlessly with Microsoft’s new Windows 8 operating system. How you may wonder? What makes the Aspire S7 so perfect for Windows 8?

The Technical Spec

The first feature which is primarily aimed at Windows 8 is the amazingly thin, extremely strong, easy clean scratch resistant Gorilla Glass. To find out more about Gorilla Glass, check out this Wikipedia page. The glass is a great way to take advantage of Windows 8’s touch screen capabilities.

The laptop is also the thinnest and lightest laptop that Acer have ever made, meaning that definitely it fits the criteria of an Ultrabook – super portable.

Being so thin, keeping cool is a problem. Acer use a very cool technology to get over this issue though. It uses two fans, (located at the back of the laptop) one to pull cold air in, and another to push hot air out.

Acer Aspire S7 air ventsA cool new feature the Aspire S7 is its electroluminescent backlit keyboard. Quite a mouthful that! What does it mean though? Well basically the laptop works out what the light level is, (where you are) and then it adapts the glow it places under the keyboard accordingly, so that you can see the keyboard and the laptop looks really cool, but it doesn’t create a nasty glare on the screen.

Take a look at Acer’s promo video which stars Megan Fox for more.

%CODEUMACERC2%

Okay maybe it can’t help us speak to dolphins, but it is a pretty cool new Ultrabook, which is a prefect example of the sort of technology that Windows 8 was designed to run on.