Author Topic: Not just an actor  (Read 3192 times)

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BT

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Not just an actor
« on: April 25, 2007, 10:26:50 AM »
Black and White Decisions

Some time ago, I was watching an old Humphrey Bogart detective movie and it struck me that the fictional jobs of Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe would have been a lot easier if they had cell phones. In fact, a lot of those great old plots don't make any sense at all in the age when you can reach just about anybody at just about any time. It used to be that filmmakers could keep characters in the dark and build dramatic tension just by taking them away from telephones. An actor could pick up a phone and say, "The line's been cut," and you knew that ominous music would follow automatically.

 

Cell phones, of course, have made that staple scene a joke, but that doesn't mean that we've all learned to use this new technology to its best advantage. For example, we know that criminals who commit home invasions routinely lift the receiver off the first telephone they come across, preventing anybody who might be in the house from using another extension to call the police. So if you're serious about home security, you should sleep with a cell phone on the nightstand.

 

The response by Virginia Tech authorities to the shootings last week makes the point even more clearly. The proof is that, minutes after the shootings began, blogs started posting information sent by eyewitnesses who used "text messaging" cell phones and other mobile devices. Many students, however, didn't learn about what was happening until hours later, and then through a less modern technology -- the bullhorn. This was, sadly, a crisis response from the era of black and white movies, not the age of the Internet and IM.

 

It's not just about technology though. When the first two shootings took place earlier in the day, the university decided to go on with business as usual. After the fact, critics are saying there should have been a campus-wide lockdown. But that reasoning frames the administration's decision in "top-down" terms -- the authorities making decisions for the people instead of letting the people make decisions for themselves.

 

At the very least, everyone should have known that a double homicide had taken place and that the killer's whereabouts were unknown, so that every individual could have decided what was the appropriate response to that kind of danger. There are various technologies that could have been used to get that information out, from mass e-mails and automated phone calls to instant messaging.

 

This lesson should be applied to homeland security, and now more than ever. Al Qaeda, intelligence sources are reporting, is intensifying efforts to strike Western targets. The West is going to be facing this problem for a long time to come.

 

After the 9/11 attacks, plans were put in place to create a system that should allow citizens to receive local emergency information via messaging, and to report suspicious or terrorist activities. These plans will have benefits in situations such as the Virginia Tech incident, as well.

 

However, it’s not just security technologies that need to change, but also the old black and white era attitudes of those who administer them.

http://abcradio.com/article.asp?id=396005&SPID=15663


kimba1

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Re: Not just an actor
« Reply #1 on: April 25, 2007, 02:39:14 PM »
actually we`re not quite that advance yet
i personally still only get 70% of my calls
I work in a copper building inside a park
so signal strength will be minimul
and it`ll be doubtful cell companies will spend money installing repeaters in low population areas.
the money don`t justify it.
so dead spots will be around for awhile.
but it confounds me people are surprised when they get dropped calls.
no cell company gaurantee 0% dropped calls
even in star trek their commicators don`t always work and thats fiction.

Amianthus

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Re: Not just an actor
« Reply #2 on: April 25, 2007, 02:44:27 PM »
and it`ll be doubtful cell companies will spend money installing repeaters in low population areas.

Satellite based wireless will become more ubiquitous.
Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight. (Benjamin Franklin)

Plane

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Re: Not just an actor
« Reply #3 on: April 25, 2007, 02:53:55 PM »
and it`ll be doubtful cell companies will spend money installing repeaters in low population areas.

Satellite based wireless will become more ubiquitous.

I lost money on Irridium , I am sure you are right , but I timed it very poorly .

kimba1

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Re: Not just an actor
« Reply #4 on: April 25, 2007, 03:03:04 PM »
doesn`t sate phones have limits also?
I think it gets effected by weather or something
it`ll still get blockage from buildings and stuff

Amianthus

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Re: Not just an actor
« Reply #5 on: April 25, 2007, 03:12:14 PM »
doesn`t sate phones have limits also?
I think it gets effected by weather or something
it`ll still get blockage from buildings and stuff

Of course they do. However, in more urban areas, where the buildings are going to be a concern, you have traditional cellular service. Many buildings are putting repeaters inside the buildings as cellular use becomes more main-stream. In our building, we don't even lose the signal in the elevator (metal box inside a metal building). Many tunnels and commuter trains also have repeaters nowadays, and there are a number floating on buoys in the Chesapeake Bay. As 802.11 also becomes more ubiquitous, you'll see cell phones that can do VoIP on 802.11 start springing up more commonly. Eventually, all the various digital services will start to merge, forming one huge data net that handles everything - TV, radio, phone, wireless computing, etc. - with a variety of different signals, depending on your location.
Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight. (Benjamin Franklin)

Plane

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Re: Not just an actor
« Reply #6 on: April 25, 2007, 03:13:59 PM »
doesn`t sate phones have limits also?
I think it gets effected by weather or something
it`ll still get blockage from buildings and stuff

Of course they do. However, in more urban areas, where the buildings are going to be a concern, you have traditional cellular service. Many buildings are putting repeaters inside the buildings as cellular use becomes more main-stream. In our building, we don't even lose the signal in the elevator (metal box inside a metal building). Many tunnels and commuter trains also have repeaters nowadays, and there are a number floating on buoys in the Chesapeake Bay. As 802.11 also becomes more ubiquitous, you'll see cell phones that can do VoIP on 802.11 start springing up more commonly. Eventually, all the various digital services will start to merge, forming one huge data net that handles everything - TV, radio, phone, wireless computing, etc. - with a variety of different signals, depending on your location.


What will we do when this huge data net becomes self aware and demands a vote?

Amianthus

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Re: Not just an actor
« Reply #7 on: April 25, 2007, 03:17:56 PM »
What will we do when this huge data net becomes self aware and demands a vote?

Give it one; after all, it can hold us hostage.

 ;D
Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight. (Benjamin Franklin)

kimba1

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Re: Not just an actor
« Reply #8 on: April 25, 2007, 03:36:56 PM »
I`m not sure we can even put up a fight.
do you think we`ll become the binaires like in star trek
and be completely symbiotic to computers ?

Amianthus

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Re: Not just an actor
« Reply #9 on: April 25, 2007, 03:38:32 PM »
I`m not sure we can even put up a fight.
do you think we`ll become the binaires like in star trek
and be completely symbiotic to computers ?

Nope.
Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight. (Benjamin Franklin)

kimba1

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Re: Not just an actor
« Reply #10 on: April 25, 2007, 03:40:08 PM »
oops wrong spelling

The Bynars are a highly intelligent species who have become almost machine-like due to a constant connection with their homeworld Bynaus's master computer.
The Bynars are asexual beings roughly the size of regular Human adolescent. They have over-sized heads to make up for a large brain. The Bynar skin-tone is purplish in color. The Bynars are an official member of the United Federation of Planets. Due to the Bynars' total dependence on their master computer they have become so machine-like that their speech is essentially a form of binary code. Hive-like in nature, disconnecting a Bynar from the master computer or each other is near fatal. Due to this total interconnectivity, and their ability to speak in machine language, they are able to communicate at a rapid rate. So fast in fact that they require the aid of data buffers to be built into their clothing. It should be noted that, not surprisingly, the Bynars are known throughout the Federation for their skill with computers.

When a Bynar is born, a surgeon removes the infant's parietal lobe and replaces it with a synaptic processor.

I would mind a implant for faster processing though

Plane

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Re: Not just an actor
« Reply #11 on: April 26, 2007, 01:13:49 PM »

kimba1

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Re: Not just an actor
« Reply #12 on: April 26, 2007, 02:05:31 PM »
resistance is futile