PyS60: Bluetooth GPS polling class

www.youthsprouts.blogspot.com Threaded approach for reading NMEA data from a bluetooth GPS import thread, socket class BTGPSPoller(object): def __init__(self, address): address, services = socket.bt_discover(address) self.target = (address, services.values()[0]) self.active = True self.connected = False self.lock = thread.allocate_lock() self.sentances = list() def connect(self): if not self.connected: thread.start_new_thread(self.run, ()) def run(self): print "BTGPSPoller thread activated" try: conn = socket.socket(socket.AF_BT, socket.SOCK_STREAM) conn.connect(self.target) self.connected = True except: print "Unable to connect" if self.connected: try: to_gps = conn.makefile("r", 0) except: print "Failure calling conn.makefile()" while self.active: #e32.ao_sleep(1) msg = None try: msg = to_gps.readline() if not msg == None and msg.startswith("$GPGGA"): gps_data = msg.split(",") if not gps_data[2] == "": self.lock.acquire() self.sentances.append(msg) if len(self.sentances) > 10: self.sentances.pop(0) self.lock.release() except: self.active = False try: to_gps.close() conn.close() self.connected = False print "Closed and disconnected" except: self.connected = False print "Unable to close" def disconnect(self): self.active = False print "Disconnecting from GPS" def getSentances(self): self.lock.acquire() l = self.sentances[:] self.lock.release() return l __

Networks promise 'accident-free' cars

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The sensors promise to help negotiate dangerous traffic

The risk of having an accident in a car could soon be drastically cut thanks to a new approach to wireless networks.

Embedded sensor networks are designed to replace existing networks that can only share information that has already been captured and stored.

Sensor networks instead take information from several individual nodes - potentially thousands of them in different locations - in real time, and can act on it accordingly.

This means that during a journey, vehicles could monitor each other's speed and position - and therefore dramatically cut the risk of accidents.

"I think that we may, in the future, go beyond just communication to using the network to interact with the environment," Professor PR Kumar of the Convergence Lab at the University of Illinois told BBC World Service's Digital Planet programme.

"For example, cars on a highway may talk to each other and find out each others' speeds. So a sensor in that context could just be the speedometer on a car, which could talk to surrounding cars.

"These cars could then co-operate with each other to avoid accidents and so on."

Changing speed

Most advanced networks currently work on an ad hoc basis - established through links between laptops, for example, which can share information between them.

But embedded sensor networks represent a shift away from computers communicating purely over a network, to sensors which communicate with each other.

And the next stage is an "actuator network" - where computers are able to act on the information they receive from the sensors. This could mean, for example, reducing speed in advance if slower traffic conditions are detected.

Heathrow's forthcoming driverless pods work using sensors

"What we really want to do is interact with the physical world, consisting of the cars," Professor Kumar said.

"Interaction is a two-way process, so I don't just want to know what speed it is; I want to change the speed.

"This gives rise to sensor-actuated networks, which are deployed over a wireless network. That could be the kind of system we are headed towards."

He said that these systems represent "the convergence of communication, computation, sensing and actuation."

However he conceded that a lot of issues remain to be sorted out before such a network could be put into practice on the roads.

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MICROSOFT TOCHY TABLE, COOL AND REALLY FRIENDLY

www.youthsprouts.blogspot.com

Microsoft has just unveiled a new technology called Microsoft Surface. A Surface computer is able to recognize physical objects from a paintbrush to a cell phone and allows hands-on, direct control of content such as photos, music and maps. Surface turns an ordinary tabletop into a dynamic surface that provides interaction with all forms of digital content through natural gestures, touch and physical objects.

But don’t let me spoil all the fun, there is a great Popular Mechanics video embedded below. Have a look, i think you’ll like it. As well as a couple of great promotional videos on Microsoft Surface website.

These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.

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google games, thats why no one can beet it.

www.youthsprouts.blogspot.com

Here is a list of Google-related games. If you know more, please add them in the comments!

• Google Image Quiz Guess what was being searched for by looking at Google Image result
• Tripods A multiplayer Google Maps Game
• 55 Ways to Have Fun With Google My book contains different Google games and more
• Guess the Place You will be presented Google Maps spots and need to guess the location’s name
• Battleship Google Earth Google Earth as platform for mobile gaming
• Google Earth Game “The earth’s biggest game”
• Montage-a-Google About the same as the Google Image Quiz
• Goggles Fly over Google Maps satellite images (and shoot the scenery)
• The eBay Ad Search Game aka EBads Get points for finding funny Google ads
• The Google Face Game Just goofy faces via Google Images
• Google Adventure Play a text adventure taking place inside the Googleplex
• Google Wildcard Search Game Enter a phrase with a wildcard, and the missing word is shown
• What’s Searched for More? A Google Trends game
• Googlewhack Find a two-words search query with exactly 1 result
• The Google Snake Game A group game with Google results
• Capture the Map A strategy game
• Google Blackjack Game Guess whose page count is higher
• Google Caricatures Shows caricatures of celebrities via Google Images
• Google Rotated View Google... rotated (needs Internet Explorer)
• Theorybot Shows a randomt theory with a little help from the Google API
• Egobot Chat with the web
• What am I searching? Guess what was being searched for just by looking at a Google result page
• Gwigle Like above game
• The Google Maps Risk Game This one got Cease & Desisted by Hasbro, so it’s offline now
• Egogoogling game Enter your name followed by the word “is”, and put the search into quotes. Now look at the result snippets...
• Find Skull Island A game for the King Kong movie utilizing Google’s maps
• Google Earthing Locate the image on Google Earth
• Brewster Jennings Protects America A “Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego” spin-off on Google maps
• Needle in a Haystack, Pick a Number, and In Other Words Three different games proposed by Scott Kim
• Google Personalized Homepage Games Games you can play on the Google homepage
• Google Fight Pitch two search terms against each other
• Google Battle Similar to above
• Guess the Google Also like above
• Endgame Play world war on Google Maps
• The Gmail Memory Chain Game Tests the memory of players

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WiFi Q&A EXPLAINED BY BBC WORLD

www.youthsprouts.blogspot.com Wireless hotspots are spreading across the world's cities, with blanket wi-fi zones now being rolled out in many city centres. Operators are promising wireless surfing at the touch of a button from the park, the bus or the street corner. So what does the wireless future have to offer and will it live up to the hype?

What is wi-fi?

Wi-fi is the acronym for Wireless Fidelity, essentially a set of standards for transmitting data over a wireless network.

Wi-fi allows you to connect to the net at broadband speeds without cables, as long as you have the right equipment and, in most cases, a regular internet service provider and a wi-fi account.

To understand the technology behind wi-fi, imagine using a walkie-talkie. Your voice is picked up by a microphone, encoded onto a radio frequency and transmitted with the antenna to another walkie-talkie, which decodes your voice.

Wi-fi works in broadly in the same way, but using a better radio that is capable of handling a lot more data per second.

HOW DOES WI-FI WORK? 1: Wi-fi uses antennas around which wi-fi "hotspots" are created. The hotspots are outlets equipped to receive the radiowaves that power wireless networking. Until recently, wi-fi has been confined to more than 10,000 hot-spots in cafes, bars and airport lounges. But various projects are under way to set up city-wide zones, where a series of antennas are installed in the streets, on lampposts or street signs. The hotspots around them together create a much wider area of coverage. Norwich has a mesh network which links each lamppost antenna to the next creating a seamless wi-fi hotspot around the centre of the city. 2: The source internet connection is provided by a PC or server to which the antennas are connected either wirelessly or via a cable. 3: Some mobile phones and personal digital assistants (PDA) now have wi-fi chips installed. With mobile phones, this means conventional networks can be bypassed and inexpensive long-distance calls made over the web (using Voice over Internet Protocol, VoIP). 4: Many laptops and handheld computers now come with built-in wi-fi connectivity; it is also possible to add wi-fi to your computer with a special card that plugs into a port on your laptop.

How do I use a giant wi-fi zone?

In the UK, there are already more than 10,000 wi-fi hotspots in public places such as restaurants, hotels, cafes, libraries and airports.

Wi-fi-enabled laptops and phones can be set up to connect to these hotspots automatically; usage is generally paid through a credit card at a login page on a web browser. Frequent users may even have accounts with service providers such as T-Mobile, BT Openzone, O2, SkypeZones and Nintendo wi-fi.

Will it catch on?

So far, wi-fi has been a service that is most useful for business people who need to work on the move; but operators want to make it available to all.

However, some analysts warn that wi-fi could be the "next dotcom crash", mainly because of patchy hotspot coverage, lack of enabled hardware and uncertainty over how to make money.

There are still a few big challenges ahead for wi-fi. Finalising interoperability and standards is one, and the concern over security is another.

Just because there are more than 10,000 wi-fi hotspots in the UK does not mean that a pass to use one means you can use all of them. Currently wi-fi hotspots are divided by who controls them.

In Norwich the local authority and regional development agency are pioneering a free wi-fi service. This model could catch on, if successful. More than 3,000 connections are being made to the city's wi-fi network each week

Logging on to the internet via wi-fi in different locations brings the risk (just as it does at home or in the office) of your computer being infected by computer viruses and worms. Experts advise you to install security software and update it regularly.

Who stands to profit?

Some critics argue that wireless hotspots can be a rip-off - the price of installing a wireless router in, say, a coffee shop, involves a one-off cost of a few hundred pounds but customers may be charged upwards of £5 an hour.

Users of the new city-wide wi-fi networks will be required to pay access charges to an account provider, such as BT Openzone or T-Mobile.

The revenues will be shared between the owners of the street furniture on which the equipment is installed (usually local councils), wi-fi hotspot suppliers and the internet service providers.

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Probabilistic Chips- COMPUTER SCIENTISTS ARE GREAT

www.youthsprouts.blogspot.com By Erika Jonietz

Computer scientist Krishna Palem explains how permitting a small amount of error in computation could result in computer chips that consume much less power than today's designs, without compromising user experience.

Krishna Palem Credit: Brent Humphreys

Krishna Palem is a heretic. In the world of microchips, precision and perfection have always been imperative. Every step of the fabrication process involves testing and retesting and is aimed at ensuring that every chip calculates the exact answer every time. But Palem, a professor of computing at Rice ­University, believes that a little error can be a good thing.

Palem has developed a way for chips to use significantly less power in exchange for a small loss of precision. His concept carrie­s the daunting moniker "probabilistic complementary metal-oxide semi­conductor technology"--PCMOS for short. Palem's premise is that for many applications--in particular those like audio or video processing, where the final result isn't a number--maximum precision is ­unnecessary. Instead, chips could be designed to produce the correct answer sometimes, but only come close the rest of the time. Because the errors would be small, so would their effects: in essence, Palem believes that in computing, close enough is often good enough.

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www.youthsprouts.blogspot.com

TR10: Modeling Surprise

M. Mitchell Waldrop

Eric Horvitz, head of the Adaptive Systems and Interaction group at Microsoft Research, talks about surprise modeling.

Combining massive quantities of data, insights into human psychology, and machine learning can help manage surprising events, says Eric Horvitz.

Much of modern life depends on forecasts: where the next hurricane will make landfall, how the stock market will react to falling home prices, who will win the next primary. While existing computer models predict many things fairly accurately, surprises still crop up, and we probably can't eliminate them. But Eric Horvitz, head of the Adaptive Systems and Interaction group at Microsoft Research, thinks we can at least minimize them, using a technique he calls "surprise modeling."

Credit: Photo: Bettman/Corbis; Graphics: John Hersey

Multimedia • Eric Horvitz talks about surprise modeling.

Who: Eric Horvitz, Microsoft Research Definition: Surprise modeling combines data mining and machine learning to help people do a better job of anticipating and coping with unusual events. Impact: Although research in the field is preliminary, surprise modeling could aid decision makers in a wide range of domains, such as traffic management, preventive medicine, military planning, politics, business, and finance. Context: A prototype that alerts users to surprises in Seattle traffic patterns has proved effective in field tests involving thousands of Microsoft employees. Studies investigating broader applications are now under way.

Horvitz stresses that surprise modeling is not about building a technological crystal ball to predict what the stock market will do tomorrow, or what al-Qaeda might do next month. But, he says, "We think we can apply these methodologies to look at the kinds of things that have surprised us in the past and then model the kinds of things that may surprise us in the future." The result could be enormously useful for decision makers in fields that range from health care to military strategy, politics to financial markets.

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Google Maps for mobile gets native on UIQ

www.youthsprouts.blogspot.com

There you go, now all you UIQ3 types can finally raise your mobiles and celebrate a bit of native love by way of Google Maps for mobile designed specifically for your devices. For those that don't know -- or don't care -- the native app will likely be able to take advantage of your device's touchscreen, full screen mode, and will support My Location. Sure, we know that Palm, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Symbian S60, and iPhone have had this for just about forever in mobile terms -- since months is this biz is like years in others. Though, we feel that the UIQers left out in the cold deserve their day in the sun. So, go forth, install, and get properly oriented Google-style. __