On a January evening, Anand is shelling betel nuts by the light of an electric lamp in Halliberu, his village in India's Karnataka state.
As his friends gather on the lamp-lit porch to swap stories, children play in the yard. Inside, after decades of cooking in the dark, Anand's mother prepares the evening meal while a visiting neighbor weaves garlands of flowers.
In October, Bangalore-based Simpa Networks Inc. installed a solar panel on Anand's whitewashed adobe house along with a small metal box in his living room to monitor electricity usage. The 25-year-old rice farmer, who goes by one name, purchases energy credits to unlock the system via his mobile phone on a pay-as-you-go model.
When his balance runs low, Anand pays 50 rupees ($1) -- money he would have otherwise spent on kerosene. Then he receives a text message with a code to punch into the box, giving him about another week of electric light. When he pays off the full cost of the system in about three years, it will be unlocked and he will get free power.
Before the solar panel arrived, Anand lit his home with kerosene lamps that streaked the walls with smoke and barely penetrated the darkness of the village, which lacks electrification. Twice a week, he trudged 45 minutes to a nearby town just to charge his phone.
“Things are much easier now,” Anand says, describing how he used to go through 5 liters (1 gallon) of fuel a month, almost half of it bought from the black market at four times the price of government kerosene rations. “There was never enough.”
Anand is on the crest of an electricity revolution that's sweeping through power markets and threatening traditional utilities' dominance of the world's supply.
From the poorest parts of Africa and Asia to the most- developed regions in the U.S. and Europe, solar units such as Anand's and small-scale wind and biomass generators promise to extend access to power to more people than ever before. In the developing world, they're slashing costs in the process.
Across India and Africa, startups and mobile phone companies are developing so-called microgrids, in which stand-alone generators power clusters of homes and businesses in places where electric utilities have never operated.
In Europe, cooperatives are building their own generators and selling power back to the national or regional grid while information technology developers and phone companies are helping consumers reduce their power consumption and pay less for the electricity they do use.
The revolution is just beginning, says Jeremy Rifkin, a professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and author of The Third Industrial Revolution (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011).
Disruptive to the economic status quo, the transformation opens up huge opportunities to consumers who may find themselves trading power in the future much as they swap information over the Internet today, he says. “This is power to the people,” says Rifkin, who was once best known as a leading opponent of the Vietnam War.
India has 30 gigawatts of mainly diesel generators that could be replaced by cheaper solar power tomorrow, says Tarun Kapoor, joint secretary at the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.
Within a decade, installing photovoltaic panels may be cheaper for many families than buying power from national grids in much of the world, including the U.S., Japan, Brazil and the U.K., according to data from Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
The ultimate losers in this shifting balance of power may be established utilities. They've invested billions of dollars in centralized networks that are slowly being edged out of markets they've dominated.
As it is, with big utilities also generating more and more power with alternative fuels, renewables provided 20 percent of the European Union's power in 2010, up from 14 percent five years earlier, according to the Paris-based Renewable Energy Observatory. The EU aims to raise that share to about 34 percent by 2020.
European utility stocks are already suffering as entrants using new technologies pour in to meet demand. The Bloomberg European Utilities Index touched a seven-year low in September, and German power futures contracts were in the doldrums as of March 12.
In many underdeveloped regions, it hasn't made economic sense for utilities to build the capital-intensive infrastructure required to deliver energy from traditional sources.
2012年4月12日星期四
2012年4月11日星期三
6 Glasses With Integrated Displays That You Can Buy Today
While Google’s augmented-reality glasses are receiving immense attention — and scrutiny — they’re certainly not the first pieces of eyewear to include an integrated display.
A company called Vuzix released its first pair of augmented-reality glasses, the iWear VR920, in 2009. The glasses contain two LCD displays that mimic a 62-inch screen sitting nine feet away. An add-on camera routes real-time footage of the real world to the LCDs, overlaying augmented-reality elements powered by LinceoVR software.
The Vuzix glasses were perhaps the first low-cost integrated-display glasses on the market that didn’t outright suck. Nonetheless, that distinction hasn’t translated into mass-market appeal and sales.
The same can be said for the Sony Glasstron personal video headset that was released in 1997. And even the 3-D monochromatic Virtual Boy with its powerhouse Nintendo pedigree couldn’t entice gamers to shove over-sized glasses onto their faces for a more immersive experience.
But none of these stumbles have stopped companies from dipping their toes into the dubious waters of integrated-display eyewear. From augmented-reality glasses to headsets that render movies and games, you can actually purchase a number of integrated-display products — right now, today.
So, while Google leaves us hanging with very little actual information about Project Glass, the following headsets are doing their best to entice us into a world of integrated-display eyewear.
Recon has been in the head-up display (HUD) game since 2010. The company’s first product, the Transcend, was a partnership with Zeal Optics to bring a HUD to the eyes of skiers and snowboarders. The HUD goggles use a rider’s GPS location to display elevation, speed, and time of day in a small screen that sits at the bottom-right of the user’s field of vision — and it’s all in real time. All the cumulative data from a day on the slopes can be downloaded to a computer, and the GPS information can be associated with interactive maps so users can chart their speeds against location.
Recon’s current MOD ($300) and MOD Live ($400) products augment the original Transcend goggles with features that include jump analytics, buddy tracking, music playback, navigation, and smartphone connectivity. The goggles won’t tell you that the subway is running late, but Android connectivity will alert you when you have an incoming call or text.
Of course, you might want to wait until you’ve reached the bottom of that double black diamond before responding.
Project Glass has been a pet project of Google for two years. Meanwhile, Vuzix’s Star 1200 augmented-reality glasses are the company’s third generation of AR headsets — and, at $5,000, they suggest just how difficult augmented reality is to pull off. Starting with the previously mentioned iWear VR920, Vuzix has continued to bring integrated-display glasses to the market with limited success.
Still, Vuzix was selling display glasses when Google with still trying to convince us that Google Wave was an awesome idea.
The Vuzix Star 1200 augmented-reality glasses display 2-D and 3-D visuals on transparent lenses. Two cameras — a lightweight compact camera for general applications, and a 1080p HD camera for applications that require high-definition visuals — record the world at large, and transfer this video to augmented-reality software that identifies objects and environs for interactive use.
But there’s a serious downside to the system: The glasses need to be plugged into a Windows computer or an iPhone in order to work. It’s not the self-contained unit Google is promising, but having an actual product on the market is arguably better than simply sending someone to a party with a possibly working, possibly dummy prototype.
A company called Vuzix released its first pair of augmented-reality glasses, the iWear VR920, in 2009. The glasses contain two LCD displays that mimic a 62-inch screen sitting nine feet away. An add-on camera routes real-time footage of the real world to the LCDs, overlaying augmented-reality elements powered by LinceoVR software.
The Vuzix glasses were perhaps the first low-cost integrated-display glasses on the market that didn’t outright suck. Nonetheless, that distinction hasn’t translated into mass-market appeal and sales.
The same can be said for the Sony Glasstron personal video headset that was released in 1997. And even the 3-D monochromatic Virtual Boy with its powerhouse Nintendo pedigree couldn’t entice gamers to shove over-sized glasses onto their faces for a more immersive experience.
But none of these stumbles have stopped companies from dipping their toes into the dubious waters of integrated-display eyewear. From augmented-reality glasses to headsets that render movies and games, you can actually purchase a number of integrated-display products — right now, today.
So, while Google leaves us hanging with very little actual information about Project Glass, the following headsets are doing their best to entice us into a world of integrated-display eyewear.
Recon has been in the head-up display (HUD) game since 2010. The company’s first product, the Transcend, was a partnership with Zeal Optics to bring a HUD to the eyes of skiers and snowboarders. The HUD goggles use a rider’s GPS location to display elevation, speed, and time of day in a small screen that sits at the bottom-right of the user’s field of vision — and it’s all in real time. All the cumulative data from a day on the slopes can be downloaded to a computer, and the GPS information can be associated with interactive maps so users can chart their speeds against location.
Recon’s current MOD ($300) and MOD Live ($400) products augment the original Transcend goggles with features that include jump analytics, buddy tracking, music playback, navigation, and smartphone connectivity. The goggles won’t tell you that the subway is running late, but Android connectivity will alert you when you have an incoming call or text.
Of course, you might want to wait until you’ve reached the bottom of that double black diamond before responding.
Project Glass has been a pet project of Google for two years. Meanwhile, Vuzix’s Star 1200 augmented-reality glasses are the company’s third generation of AR headsets — and, at $5,000, they suggest just how difficult augmented reality is to pull off. Starting with the previously mentioned iWear VR920, Vuzix has continued to bring integrated-display glasses to the market with limited success.
Still, Vuzix was selling display glasses when Google with still trying to convince us that Google Wave was an awesome idea.
The Vuzix Star 1200 augmented-reality glasses display 2-D and 3-D visuals on transparent lenses. Two cameras — a lightweight compact camera for general applications, and a 1080p HD camera for applications that require high-definition visuals — record the world at large, and transfer this video to augmented-reality software that identifies objects and environs for interactive use.
But there’s a serious downside to the system: The glasses need to be plugged into a Windows computer or an iPhone in order to work. It’s not the self-contained unit Google is promising, but having an actual product on the market is arguably better than simply sending someone to a party with a possibly working, possibly dummy prototype.
2012年4月10日星期二
Geographic information systems demonstrate links
The neighborhoods in which children and adolescents live and spend their time play a role in whether or not they eat a healthy diet, get enough exercise or become obese, concludes a collection of studies in a special theme issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
Each of the six studies uses the latest concepts and methods in geographic information systems (GIS)-based research to determine how the geographic location affects physical health. A study titled “Spatial Classification of Youth Physical Activity Patterns” shows, for example, that while rural youth get the largest proportion of their physical activity while at school, urban and suburban youth are most active when commuting. Not only does this finding suggest that the walk to school might be just as important to some children’s health as is the physical education they receive as part of the school curriculum, it is also important given that adolescent health behaviors are predictive of behaviors in adults.
Another study by researchers in the United Kingdom concludes that adolescents in rural areas ate fast food more often when fast-food outlets were easily accessible, whereas the opposite was true for adolescents living in urban areas. The researchers, led by Lorna J. Fraser of the University of Leeds, conclude that although the need continues to exist for nutritional education regarding fast food, placing restrictions on the location of fast-food outlets may not decrease consumption of fast food in the same ways in all areas.
Brian E. Saelens and Lawrence D. Frank, along with their colleagues, authored two papers for the theme issue. “Obesogenic Neighborhood Environments, Child and Parent Obesity: The Neighborhood Impact on Kids Study” evaluated child and parent weight status across neighborhoods in Seattle and San Diego and ultimately found evidence that GIS-based definitions of obesogenic neighborhoods that consider both physical activity and the availability of healthy food options were strongly related to childhood obesity.
In a second study, the researchers used GIS-based measures to determine the ‘walkability’ and proximity to healthy food of certain neighborhoods in the San Diego and Seattle regions. The study recommends that such measures be used to study physical activity, nutrition and obesity outcomes.
In a paper titled “Obesogenic Environments in Youth: Concepts and Methods from a Longitudinal National Sample,” Janne Boone-Heinonen and colleagues describe the challenges inherent to longitudinal neighborhood environment research, as well as the insights they gained and the advances and remaining gaps in study design. The researchers note that understanding which neighborhood environment features influence weight gain in various age groups is essential to effectively prevent and reduce childhood obesity.
Two commentaries included in the theme issue examine the ways that computer-based GIS systems—which transform geospatial data into visual representations of the real world—can help prevent childhood obesity. “Thinking About Place, Spatial Behavior, and Spatial Process in Childhood Obesity” by Stephen A. Matthews, outlines the content of the theme, concluding that although GIS is not a panacea, it “offers an important means of better understanding and dealing with some of the most pressing problems of our time, and provides valuable tools for researchers and policymakers alike.”
Each of the six studies uses the latest concepts and methods in geographic information systems (GIS)-based research to determine how the geographic location affects physical health. A study titled “Spatial Classification of Youth Physical Activity Patterns” shows, for example, that while rural youth get the largest proportion of their physical activity while at school, urban and suburban youth are most active when commuting. Not only does this finding suggest that the walk to school might be just as important to some children’s health as is the physical education they receive as part of the school curriculum, it is also important given that adolescent health behaviors are predictive of behaviors in adults.
Another study by researchers in the United Kingdom concludes that adolescents in rural areas ate fast food more often when fast-food outlets were easily accessible, whereas the opposite was true for adolescents living in urban areas. The researchers, led by Lorna J. Fraser of the University of Leeds, conclude that although the need continues to exist for nutritional education regarding fast food, placing restrictions on the location of fast-food outlets may not decrease consumption of fast food in the same ways in all areas.
Brian E. Saelens and Lawrence D. Frank, along with their colleagues, authored two papers for the theme issue. “Obesogenic Neighborhood Environments, Child and Parent Obesity: The Neighborhood Impact on Kids Study” evaluated child and parent weight status across neighborhoods in Seattle and San Diego and ultimately found evidence that GIS-based definitions of obesogenic neighborhoods that consider both physical activity and the availability of healthy food options were strongly related to childhood obesity.
In a second study, the researchers used GIS-based measures to determine the ‘walkability’ and proximity to healthy food of certain neighborhoods in the San Diego and Seattle regions. The study recommends that such measures be used to study physical activity, nutrition and obesity outcomes.
In a paper titled “Obesogenic Environments in Youth: Concepts and Methods from a Longitudinal National Sample,” Janne Boone-Heinonen and colleagues describe the challenges inherent to longitudinal neighborhood environment research, as well as the insights they gained and the advances and remaining gaps in study design. The researchers note that understanding which neighborhood environment features influence weight gain in various age groups is essential to effectively prevent and reduce childhood obesity.
Two commentaries included in the theme issue examine the ways that computer-based GIS systems—which transform geospatial data into visual representations of the real world—can help prevent childhood obesity. “Thinking About Place, Spatial Behavior, and Spatial Process in Childhood Obesity” by Stephen A. Matthews, outlines the content of the theme, concluding that although GIS is not a panacea, it “offers an important means of better understanding and dealing with some of the most pressing problems of our time, and provides valuable tools for researchers and policymakers alike.”
2012年4月9日星期一
They're Lazy. Here's How to Fix Mobile Privacy
Beware the evil zombies! Location-based apps are grinding the bones of your privacy and sucking the marrow of your personal data! Certainly that’s what you might think if you’ve been following the flap about Girls Around Me. You know, the “creepy” stalker app for rapists in shopping malls?
This is all overstated, of course, but the hyperbole points to the very real vulnerabilities that some users feel about how much of their personal information they are transmitting in public and with what consequences. Some intrepid users, like our own Kashmir Hill, are more interested in how to transmit in public than in limiting their visibility. As Josh Constine wrote yesterday on TechCrunch, whipping up paranoia about privacy fears deters users from the actual, useful innovations that location-based apps can provide.
It’s beholden on the app maker to convince us of that utility, but, like it or not, some app you use on a daily basis has, or will soon have, a location-based execution. Facebook and Foursquare, sure, their public data was the basis of Girls Around Me. But they have been joined by AroundMe, Yelp, Banjo and a host of others.
The secret to the adoption of location-based or ubiquitous apps is what Scott Jenson has identified as the value vs. pain equation. Apps need to demonstrate their usefulness and minimize the pain, not only of using the app, but of worrying about it’s privacy implications.
We judge apps by the number of downloads and, eventually, by the number of active users. The more useful metric, perhaps, is the number of active users per download. That would tell us how well the app is communicating its value proposition and how positive that value/pain ratio turns out to be. Location-based apps are not really evil, for the most part, but in the attempt to be fast and painless they have been lazy about making sure users know what they are exposing and when. it’s just easier to expose everything, all the time, and not have to futz with different scenarios.
But what am I suggesting, that responsible app makers be penalized for being responsible to their users? No, of course not. I’ve talked to enough first-rate mobile developers to realize that speed is the lifeblood of mobile.
What I want to propose (and I realize this is a tall order comparable with my request to the digital universe for unstrippable content attribution tags) is a dead simple, device level function for managing private data on devices. In order not to put app makers at a disadvantage for incorporating this functionality into their app in a one-off way, what I imagine is a universal standard that would operate on all platforms and be interoperable with any app on those platforms.
The goal is for users to be aware and in control of their mobile data in real time. These setting should be able to be applied app-by-app or globally at any time. Think of something as simple as a traffic light.
This is all overstated, of course, but the hyperbole points to the very real vulnerabilities that some users feel about how much of their personal information they are transmitting in public and with what consequences. Some intrepid users, like our own Kashmir Hill, are more interested in how to transmit in public than in limiting their visibility. As Josh Constine wrote yesterday on TechCrunch, whipping up paranoia about privacy fears deters users from the actual, useful innovations that location-based apps can provide.
It’s beholden on the app maker to convince us of that utility, but, like it or not, some app you use on a daily basis has, or will soon have, a location-based execution. Facebook and Foursquare, sure, their public data was the basis of Girls Around Me. But they have been joined by AroundMe, Yelp, Banjo and a host of others.
The secret to the adoption of location-based or ubiquitous apps is what Scott Jenson has identified as the value vs. pain equation. Apps need to demonstrate their usefulness and minimize the pain, not only of using the app, but of worrying about it’s privacy implications.
We judge apps by the number of downloads and, eventually, by the number of active users. The more useful metric, perhaps, is the number of active users per download. That would tell us how well the app is communicating its value proposition and how positive that value/pain ratio turns out to be. Location-based apps are not really evil, for the most part, but in the attempt to be fast and painless they have been lazy about making sure users know what they are exposing and when. it’s just easier to expose everything, all the time, and not have to futz with different scenarios.
But what am I suggesting, that responsible app makers be penalized for being responsible to their users? No, of course not. I’ve talked to enough first-rate mobile developers to realize that speed is the lifeblood of mobile.
What I want to propose (and I realize this is a tall order comparable with my request to the digital universe for unstrippable content attribution tags) is a dead simple, device level function for managing private data on devices. In order not to put app makers at a disadvantage for incorporating this functionality into their app in a one-off way, what I imagine is a universal standard that would operate on all platforms and be interoperable with any app on those platforms.
The goal is for users to be aware and in control of their mobile data in real time. These setting should be able to be applied app-by-app or globally at any time. Think of something as simple as a traffic light.
2012年4月8日星期日
Time To Augment It
I spend a good portion of my day thinking, researching, and analyzing our industry, our world, consumer habits, and the technology products that enhance and cause fundamental change within it. My job is quite literally to see where the puck is going and get there first. My goal is to gain insight into the direction before the shot is hit, before the trajectory is set, and if possible, before the puck is even dropped into play.
Over the past months I’ve been mentally mulling over the profundity of Real Estate. Throughout history, real estate has been the most coveted, fought-over, and valuable resource to humanity. Entire civilizations were created, and wiped out, on their level of success in securing it and the access it provided for their people. In the modern age, this has meant the creation of vast amounts of wealth for those who control and monetize it according to their needs, for both countries and individuals alike.
In our lifetime we’ve had the spectacular fortune of playing a part in the creation of an entirely new dimension of real estate – the World Wide Web. Like it’s analog counterpart, those who are able to amass surface area and provide enough value to users are rewarded with tremendous wealth. As I look ahead with the eyes of an investor, I ask myself what is the next dimension of real estate and how can it be most opportunistically exploited?
The rapid advancement of mobile technologies over the past ten years has created a paradigm shift in user behavior, and thus consumer technology products. “Mobile First” is the strategy of the day, and the inclusion of location-aware data layers is the new fabric of real estate – one that blends physical and digital – resulting in a final product that is much greater than the sum of its parts.
We’re at the very beginning, the opportunity is fast upon us to create and own this new Augmented Real Estate, where digital landmarks exist in our physical world. There are a number of companies approaching the landscape with different perspectives, here are a few:
Companies like Goldrun and Ogmento create branded augmented reality experiences in our physical world. They’re focusing on enabling brands and media companies to reach their potential customers in a rich, more engaging way. They turn the mobile device into the viewing portal to see unique experiences. Leveraging location data, Goldrun is most famous for it’s 24-hour augmented reality pop-up stores for Airwalk that appeared in Washington Square Park and Venice Beach. Here, users could purchase limited edition shoes only available in these “invisible” AR stores. Ogmento is focused on enriching experiences with media content and most famously released an AR app that coincided with the launch of the Paranormal Activity film in 2010. This location-based mobile game turns the real world into the set for supernatural conflicts, where the user battles “demonic forces” interacting in the areas surrounding the user.
While these campaigns are lighthouse examples of the creation of new Augmented Real Estate, it’s clear that they are high-touch engagements with the brands. While they’re clearly leveraging strong technology, they may want to consider how to more productize their offering to enable AR across a mass of mobile application developers in a more self-serve model.
Over the past months I’ve been mentally mulling over the profundity of Real Estate. Throughout history, real estate has been the most coveted, fought-over, and valuable resource to humanity. Entire civilizations were created, and wiped out, on their level of success in securing it and the access it provided for their people. In the modern age, this has meant the creation of vast amounts of wealth for those who control and monetize it according to their needs, for both countries and individuals alike.
In our lifetime we’ve had the spectacular fortune of playing a part in the creation of an entirely new dimension of real estate – the World Wide Web. Like it’s analog counterpart, those who are able to amass surface area and provide enough value to users are rewarded with tremendous wealth. As I look ahead with the eyes of an investor, I ask myself what is the next dimension of real estate and how can it be most opportunistically exploited?
The rapid advancement of mobile technologies over the past ten years has created a paradigm shift in user behavior, and thus consumer technology products. “Mobile First” is the strategy of the day, and the inclusion of location-aware data layers is the new fabric of real estate – one that blends physical and digital – resulting in a final product that is much greater than the sum of its parts.
We’re at the very beginning, the opportunity is fast upon us to create and own this new Augmented Real Estate, where digital landmarks exist in our physical world. There are a number of companies approaching the landscape with different perspectives, here are a few:
Companies like Goldrun and Ogmento create branded augmented reality experiences in our physical world. They’re focusing on enabling brands and media companies to reach their potential customers in a rich, more engaging way. They turn the mobile device into the viewing portal to see unique experiences. Leveraging location data, Goldrun is most famous for it’s 24-hour augmented reality pop-up stores for Airwalk that appeared in Washington Square Park and Venice Beach. Here, users could purchase limited edition shoes only available in these “invisible” AR stores. Ogmento is focused on enriching experiences with media content and most famously released an AR app that coincided with the launch of the Paranormal Activity film in 2010. This location-based mobile game turns the real world into the set for supernatural conflicts, where the user battles “demonic forces” interacting in the areas surrounding the user.
While these campaigns are lighthouse examples of the creation of new Augmented Real Estate, it’s clear that they are high-touch engagements with the brands. While they’re clearly leveraging strong technology, they may want to consider how to more productize their offering to enable AR across a mass of mobile application developers in a more self-serve model.
2012年4月5日星期四
Train tracking system on trial to check mishaps
According to a Railway Board official, the GPS device which will cost about Rs 70,000 to Rs 1 lakh each would be fitted in about 100 trains on a trial basis. The greatest advantage of the device would be prevention of any collision or mishaps on tracks as it would give details about train movement to the nearest railway control room, he said, adding the railways intends to implement it successfully by 2013 end across the country.
Under the new system, passengers can easily know exact location of trains as the CRIS is working to integrate the GPS application with Google maps. Besides, ISRO's INSAT-3C satellite would also provide assistance in locating train position, a Board official said, adding success of the GPS-based system could also help the railways in running high speed trains.
According to sources, the railways had earlier introduced the 'real train information system' ( RTIS) in the first phase. It was based on the satellite imaging for rail navigation. However, it proved that information being transmitted under this system about train movement was not correct, sources said.
Thus, the railways has decided to launch the new system to fulfill the needs of passengers across the country. "Much would depend on the success and efficacy of the new device which is being taken up under a pilot project of the railways," a Board official said, adding the new system is completely based on ultra high frequency (UHF) communication system.
According to sources, the Indian Army, has of late, shifted to this device to keep a close vigil on the Navy warship and Coast Guard vessels in the country to get accurate information about movement of ships in the sea. Besides, the new system has been adopted in other wings of the Army to assist Navy's submarines, torpedoes, ground-based vehicles, ships and aircraft under any emergency, sources said.
According to East Central Railway (ECR) CPRO Neeraj Ambastha, the new technology would prove to be a boon for the railways during foggy weather condition. The Delhi-Patna-Howrah mainline route is the most vulnerable during winter as visibility becomes zero due to dense fog. Besides, passengers would get the exact information about train movement, particularly long-distance mail and express trains, during foggy weather condition, he said.
Under the new system, passengers can easily know exact location of trains as the CRIS is working to integrate the GPS application with Google maps. Besides, ISRO's INSAT-3C satellite would also provide assistance in locating train position, a Board official said, adding success of the GPS-based system could also help the railways in running high speed trains.
According to sources, the railways had earlier introduced the 'real train information system' ( RTIS) in the first phase. It was based on the satellite imaging for rail navigation. However, it proved that information being transmitted under this system about train movement was not correct, sources said.
Thus, the railways has decided to launch the new system to fulfill the needs of passengers across the country. "Much would depend on the success and efficacy of the new device which is being taken up under a pilot project of the railways," a Board official said, adding the new system is completely based on ultra high frequency (UHF) communication system.
According to sources, the Indian Army, has of late, shifted to this device to keep a close vigil on the Navy warship and Coast Guard vessels in the country to get accurate information about movement of ships in the sea. Besides, the new system has been adopted in other wings of the Army to assist Navy's submarines, torpedoes, ground-based vehicles, ships and aircraft under any emergency, sources said.
According to East Central Railway (ECR) CPRO Neeraj Ambastha, the new technology would prove to be a boon for the railways during foggy weather condition. The Delhi-Patna-Howrah mainline route is the most vulnerable during winter as visibility becomes zero due to dense fog. Besides, passengers would get the exact information about train movement, particularly long-distance mail and express trains, during foggy weather condition, he said.
2012年4月4日星期三
Governor Quinn announces new employment system
In his latest effort to boost the Illinois economy, Governor Pat Quinn today announced a new “help-wanted” system that connects job-seekers with jobs and makes hiring easier and more cost-effective for businesses. Illinois JobLink, developed by the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES), allows businesses to post job ads and individuals to post multiple resumes for free. Currently, there are nearly 92,000 total statewide job postings and more than 51,000 resumes posted on the system.
“We can increase economic growth in Illinois by connecting people who are looking for a job with employers who are looking to hire,” Governor Quinn said. “During this difficult economy, Illinois JobLink is helping workers market their job skills and allowing employers to successfully find the help they need at no cost.”
“Hiring is time-consuming and expensive for employers. Illinois JobLink makes hiring easier by allowing employers to focus in like a laser on job seekers that possess the unique skill sets that they need,” IDES Director Jay Rowell said. “It also helps our working families identify what job best fits their needs and puts them in a better position to pitch themselves to multiple employers at one time.”
While the Illinois JobLink service is available to everyone, including those who are currently employed, individuals collecting unemployment insurance are required to participate in Illinois JobLink. It also serves as another tool to connect veterans to jobs when they return home.
"We in the veteran advocacy community are excited by what Illinois Job Link offers to veterans,” Illinois Veterans Affairs Director Erica Borggren said. “Helping employers find veterans is one of the most difficult pieces of the veteran unemployment 'puzzle,' and all job-seeking veterans can benefit from this powerful tool which allows the State's Veteran Employment Representatives to match veterans and employers."
Illinois JobLink replaced the previous Illinois SkillsMatch system and individuals and businesses with SkillsMatch accounts are encouraged to update their profiles, which were automatically transferred to the new system. IDES encourages job-seekers to set their resumes to public to ensure maximum exposure to businesses.
“We can increase economic growth in Illinois by connecting people who are looking for a job with employers who are looking to hire,” Governor Quinn said. “During this difficult economy, Illinois JobLink is helping workers market their job skills and allowing employers to successfully find the help they need at no cost.”
“Hiring is time-consuming and expensive for employers. Illinois JobLink makes hiring easier by allowing employers to focus in like a laser on job seekers that possess the unique skill sets that they need,” IDES Director Jay Rowell said. “It also helps our working families identify what job best fits their needs and puts them in a better position to pitch themselves to multiple employers at one time.”
While the Illinois JobLink service is available to everyone, including those who are currently employed, individuals collecting unemployment insurance are required to participate in Illinois JobLink. It also serves as another tool to connect veterans to jobs when they return home.
"We in the veteran advocacy community are excited by what Illinois Job Link offers to veterans,” Illinois Veterans Affairs Director Erica Borggren said. “Helping employers find veterans is one of the most difficult pieces of the veteran unemployment 'puzzle,' and all job-seeking veterans can benefit from this powerful tool which allows the State's Veteran Employment Representatives to match veterans and employers."
Illinois JobLink replaced the previous Illinois SkillsMatch system and individuals and businesses with SkillsMatch accounts are encouraged to update their profiles, which were automatically transferred to the new system. IDES encourages job-seekers to set their resumes to public to ensure maximum exposure to businesses.
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