There is an article in today’s Globe and Mail about a GPS enabled technology being tested by the Canadian government. They are testing a device that can be installed in automobiles using GPS and traffic maps to determine if a car is speeding. If the car is speeding the device makes it difficult for the driver to press down on the accelerator. The Canadian government is looking at this as a safety device, and as a method to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (the slower you go the less emissions). It does not sound like the Canadian government is considering requiring these devices in all cars, but possibly allowing insurance companies to offer discounts to those who do have them. The article includes discussion of a similar device that does not forcefully prevent the driver from accelerating further, but gives a visual and audible warning. The Otto Driving Companion is already commercially available for drivers in Winnipeg and Ottawa with plans to expand to other Canadian cities in the near future. For more information on Intelligent Speed Adaptation (ISA) visit the Department of Technology and Society at Lund University.
Following up on a post I made two years ago on how mobile phones are changing the way teenagers organize house parties, see this article from CBC Calgary (my home town). My original post was about changes in the ability of local police to surveil and control suburban teens. Reduced surveillance, or an inability to control the rapid diffusion of information through new media may have negative consequences for teens as well. It is unclear just how big a roll cell phones played in this tragedy, but this may be an example of how mobile phones played a role in an unplanned house party growing quickly, and beyond expectations resulting in the death of a young man.
About a month ago I changed cell phone providers to Verizon. As part of my new package I purchased Verizon\’s \”BroadbandAccess\” service (also called EV-DO – evolution-data optimized). EVDO is currently the country\’s fastest 3G data service, providing access at 400-700 kbps with bursts up to 2.0Mbps. Now that I am experiencing true anywhere anytime broadband access, I have some questions about the long term viability of city WiFi projects. Both Philadelphia and San Francisco have proposed free or low cost WiFi networks of roughly the same or slower speeds than EVDO. Why invest in a WiFi infrastructure that requires many small, overlapping nodes with limited geographic range, that are susceptible to interference, and presumably have higher maintenance costs, when mobile phone companies already provide comparable wireless data services without the new infrastructure costs? I assume it has something to do with the cost of access and the perceived ubiquitous availability of WiFi devices. However, the cost of the card required for EVDO access was less than $30 and Dell and Lenovo/IBM both plan to integrate EVDO wireless access into future laptop models, much like WiFi and bluetooth. As the cost of 3G access comes down and as speeds go up it seems likely that cell phone networks will replace the current dominance of WiFi. Will this lead to another chapter of the digital divide? With those who can afford it using mobile phone networks, while those who cannot being relished to a slower, outdated, less reliable WiFi infrastructure?