Tuesday, October 9, 2012

istodiaolo


Apple Granted Patent To Disable Cameras According To Location, Recording, communicating during protests, political events could be restricted

Steve Watson

Apple was granted a patent last week that will enable it to wirelessly disable the camera on iphones in certain locations, sparking fears that such techniques could be used to prevent citizens from communicating with each other or taking video during protests or events such as political conventions and gatherings.
The camera phone has revolutionized the flow of information in the digital age. Any time a major event takes place, news networks and video websites are immediately inundated with footage and photographs from the scene.
That could all change in the future however, with a flick of a switch, according to U.S. Patent No. 8,254,902, published on Tuesday, titled, “Apparatus and methods for enforcement of policies upon a wireless device.”
It states:
Apparatus and methods for changing one or more functional or operational aspects of a wireless device, such as upon the occurrence of a certain event. In one embodiment, the event comprises detecting that the wireless device is within range of one or more other devices. In another variant, the event comprises the wireless device associating with a certain access point. In this manner, various aspects of device functionality may be enabled or restricted (device “policies”). This policy enforcement capability is useful for a variety of reasons, including for example to disable noise and/or light emanating from wireless devices (such as at a movie theater), for preventing wireless devices from communicating with other wireless devices (such as in academic settings), and for forcing certain electronic devices to enter “sleep mode” when entering a sensitive area.
In other words, an encoded signal could be transmitted to all wireless devices, commanding them to disable recording functions.
Obviously, the way this will be applied will depend on what is determined to be a “sensitive area” by the relevant authorities.
To put it bluntly, the powers that be could control what you can and cannot document on your wireless devices according to their own whims.
Given that the major technology companies are set to make wireless connectivity a major feature of the latest cameras, this development does not bode well for photographers and citizen journalists who are already experiencing a major crackdown on their first and fourth amendment rights.
Michael Zhang at Tech site Peta Pixel notes:
“If this type of technology became widely adopted and baked into cameras, photography could be prevented by simply setting a “geofence” around a particular location, whether it’s a movie theater, celebrity hangout spot, protest site, or the top secret rooms at 1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino, California.”

Friday, September 21, 2012

DELTA T @ MONTAUK ET AL




and reposted from here ,


PHOENIX II(aka)THE MONTAUK PROJECT

 

SETTING UP PHOENIX II

With the cancellation of the Phoenix Project, the people involved were on the horns of a dilemma.
They had spent the better part of almost 20 years developing mind control and stealth technologies that Congress didn't want anyone to use. Undeterred, the scientists went to the one organization they knew would want to engage in further research and development of the devices the Phoenix Project had produced: the military.
Naturally, the military was very excited about the idea of a weapons system that would allow them to defeat an enemy without ever firing a shot. They agreed to continue the project, setting up the Phoenix people in a secluded area where proper experimentation could be conducted.
The military also agreed to provide the equipment and personnel the project required in order to operate.


Sage Radar system
One of the primary items on the equipment list given to the military was a Sage Radar system.
It had been discovered that radio signals in the 425 to 450 Megahertz range were required to get 'inside' the human consciousness to allow for mind control attempts. The Sage Radar systems ran at these frequencies, and could be converted into a huge radiosonde easily.
Better yet, the Sage Radar system was currently obsolete, thus the scientists would be able to use one with no detriment to national security.
Montauk Air Force Base, located within the confines of Fort Hero on Montauk Point, Long Island, New York, was perfect for the needs of the Phoenix Project scientists. It was fairly isolated, currently mothballed and was equipped with a Sage Radar system that could be converted to a radiosonde with ease.
Setting themselves up at the newly reopened Montauk AFB, the scientists named their new project "Phoenix II". Later, the undertaking became known as "the Montauk Project". Financing for the Phoenix II came not from the military, who only supplied men and materials, but from outside sources. This was because the Project itself had been ordered to disband by Congress and was now operating independently.

Montauk AFB, had been closed since 1969, and was no longer receiving any federal funding. So, the question of "where did the Project funding come from?"arises.
The actual circumstances surrounding the financing of the Phoenix II project are shrouded in a veil of mystery. Project funding seemed to come from private sources, although some evidence points to an alleged Nazi involvement. This involvement came in the form of 10 billion dollars in gold, smuggled out of Europe at the end of World War II.
Apparently, a train carrying the gold was blown up while passing though a tunnel in Allied-occupied France, killing 51 American soldiers. Even General George Patton, furious that such an act of sabotage could have occurred, was unable to determine how the train had been hit, or who had made off with the gold. Other evidence states that after the money from the gold was used up, the Krupp family financially backed the project (The Krupps owned and operated numerous munitions factories during World War I and World War II.
One of their most famous weapons is the 'Paris Gun' which shelled Paris from more than 70 miles away in the First World War.)


THE EXPERIMENTS BEGIN

Montauk Air Force Base was reopened in late 1971 (although it was still listed as a decommissioned base by the military), allowing Phoenix II to get underway. Along with many of the original Phoenix Project scientists, there were members of the military, government workers and civilian personnel brought in from various corporations.
A number of the military servicemen present were Air Force radar technicians who had worked with the Sage Radar system all through the 60's.
They reported that the general mood of the base had changed according to the frequency and pulse duration of the radar system. This seemingly trivial piece of information was considered very important to the Phoenix people, who quickly determined that by changing the rate and width of the radar pulse, they could superficially alter the way people thought and felt.
This discovery prompted a number of experiments to determine what frequencies prompted what responses. A number of people were used in these experiments, although the prime test subject was a man by the name of Duncan Cameron (more about him later). These test subjects were placed inside of a small room on the base and the Sage Radar system was focused on that room, bathing it with massive amounts of micro and radio waves.
By altering the frequency and pulse of the radar set, they could make a person laugh, cry, angry or sleepy. As a side effect, it was found the the general mood of the whole base would change to follow the signal output of the Sage Radar.
Now that it had been proved the Sage Radar could effect emotional states, the next step was to try and control a person's thoughts. Tests were conducted in the which the pulse rate and amplitude of the Radar system were changed to match various biological functions of the body. Doing so allowed the scientists to actually control what a person thought and did.
It should be pointed out that bathing a person in massive amounts of microwave radiation and intense radio waves is not healthy. Many test subjects were literally baked by radio waves causing serious internal damage to the lungs and brain. With further tests it was determined that this damage was caused by "burning radiation". "Non-burning radiation" was emitted from the opposite side of the Sage Radar reflector. So, the scientists decided to reverse the radar antenna around 180 degrees, broadcasting burning radiation up into the sky and using the non-burning radiation to conduct their tests. Much to their delight, it was discovered that non-burning radiation could alter moods and thoughts as well, and didn't damage the subject of the tests!
In 1973, the experimental process had reached a new step. The scientists wanted to experiment with large groups of people, changing their thoughts and moods en masse and monitoring the results.
Units of the U.S. Army were invited to the base for R&R, becoming the unwitting targets of mood-altering experiments. Similar experiments were also conducted on people living nearby on Long Island, as well as New Jersey, New York and Connecticut. The aim of these tests was very simple; to build a database of pulse settings and the effects they caused With time, the scientists were able to construct a control panel that allowed them to broadcast preset signals, thus allowing for consistent mind control effects.
Tests allowed the scientists to create a wide variety of effects, depending on the settings fed into the transmitter. Programs were written that would allow the researchers to do more than simply create mood swings. They found that they could increase the crime rate, incite violence and cause mass panic among animals. They even developed programs that would disable vehicles by burning out all of its electrical functions.
At this point, the Montauk people had developed a reliable method for controlling the thoughts of others. Now, they wanted to make a device that would allow for precise manipulation of a target.
The scope of the Montauk Project was about to expand beyond anyone's wildest dreams.


THE CREATION OF THE MONTAUK CHAIR

According to the writer of the The Montauk Project , the ITT World-Wide Communications corporation (which is owned by the Krupp family - see 'Setting Up Phoenix II' above) constructed a mind-reading device. The device translated the electromagnetic field, or "aura", around the body into a visible format. The primary component of this device was a Cray 1 super-computer that turned the data into something a person could understand.
The technology used to create this is device is a mystery. According to the book, some of the basic technical information was provided by aliensThese aliens were the Sirians, from the star system of Sirius. Exactly why these aliens provided the technology is not explained.
Over at the Montauk Project, the research people realized that this mind-reading device could could easily be converted into a mind control device. They hooked the device up to a series of computers, electrical coils and the Sage Radar system, creating a powerful transmitter that could be used lessen the risks to humans undergoing invisibility and time travel experiments. This new device was called the "Montauk Chair" and came online about 1974. Linked to a Cray 1 and an IBM 360 computer, the researchers would sit a psychically active person (such as Duncan Cameron) in the Montauk Chair and have them try and transmit their thoughts to a similar set up back at the ITT corporation (located in Southampton, Long Island).

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

ΕΦ-ΕΜ ΣΤΟ ΣΦΥΡΙ ΤΩΝ ΤΡΑΠΕΖΩΝ...ΠΑΡΕ ΚΟΣΜΕ

πηγή εδω



ΜΕ ΕΝΑ ΕΚΑΤΟΜΜΥΡΙΟ ΕΥΡΩ ΑΓΟΡΑΖΕΙΣ ΡΑΔΙΟΦΩΝΟ

Και όσο θυμάμαι που μέχρι πριν από λίγους μήνες για να αγοράσεις έναν ραδιοσταθμό ήθελες, ούτε λίγο ούτε πολύ, 3 εκατομμύρια ευρώ. Τώρα, πια, δεν χρειάζεσαι ούτε καν το 1/3 των χρημάτων. Σε λίγο θα τα βρίσκουμε τα ραδιόφωνα στα καλάθια των προσφορών. Η προσφορά ήδη είναι μεγαλύτερη από τηζήτηση.

Η τιμή πάντως ενός ραδιοφώνου τώρα παίζει στο 1 εκατομμύριο ευρώ. Αυτή είναι η τιμή έναρξης στη δημοπρασία που όρισε η τράπεζα Πειραιώς για τον«Derti 98.6», τη μεθεπόμενη Τετάρτη 26 Σεπτεμβρίου. Η δημοπρασία ορίστηκε για το απόγευμα εκείνης της ημέρας και μένει να δούμε αν θα παρουσιαστεί κάποιος αυτή τη φορά. Μία εβδομάδα πιο πριν όμως, την άλλη Τετάρτη, έχουμε δημοπρασία για το «Nitro 102.5», με το τίμημα να είναι λίγο πιο ακριβό, κοντά στο 1,1 εκατομμύρια ευρώ. Ιδού:
1) Πλειστηριασμός Nitro Radio 102,5: 19/9/12. Τιμή πρώτης προσφοράς:
1.088.102,33 ευρώ. Επισπεύδουσα τράπεζα: EFG Eurobank Ergasias A.E.

2) Πλειστηριασμός Derti 9,86 FM: 26/9/12. 1.000.000,00 ευρώ. Τράπεζα Πειραιώς Α.Ε.


Στα υπόψιν βέβαια πως οι δύο σταθμοί έχουν κάποια... βαρίδια που κουβαλούν μαζί τους, ηχολήπτες, παραγωγούς κ.ο.κ. Κάτι που δεν αρέσει στους επιχειρηματίες. Προτιμούν πιο καθαρές συχνότητες (όπως θα ήθελε και η τρόικα επίσης)...
Αυτό ήταν και το μήνυμα που ο Πέτρος Κωστόπουλος μετέφερε μέσωδιευθυντών στους εργαζόμενους. Τους είπε ότι δεν έχει την δυνατότητανα πληρώνει μισθούς, λειτουργικά έξοδα και εισφορές από εδώ και πέρα και παρακάλεσε να παραιτηθούν κάποιοι ώστε να τον... ελαφρύνουν. Και τα οφειλόμενα θα τα πάρουν εν καιρώ! Σημείωσε επίσης την προϋπόθεση πώς όσο λιγότεροι είναι οι εργαζόμενοι τόσο μεγαλύτερη ηδυνατότητα να επιβιώσει υγιώς ένας ραδιοφωνικός σταθμός!

Πληροφοριακά πάντως, η μέση τιμή ενός ραδιοσταθμού της επαρχίας είναι από 1.500 έως 3.000 ευρώ, ενώ ραδιόφωνο νόμιμο (στο Δερβένι Κορινθίας) πουλήθηκε... 400 ευρώ!


ΡΑΔΙΟΣΤΑΘΜΟΣ ΠΡΟΣ ΠΑΡΑΧΩΡΗΣΗ (ΠΡΟΣ ΜΕΤΑΚΟΜΙΣΗ) 
Ο «PLAY 88.9»



«Play 88.9» που γνωρίζαμε, φαίνεται πως μας τελείωσε. Ξεχάστε τον όσοι τον αγαπούσατε (όποιοι είστε εσείς τέλος πάντων που τον... αγαπούσατε). Γράψτε off. Κι ας μεταδίδει ακόμα τραγούδια από τησυχνότητά του στα FM. Είναι, υποθέτω, όχι μόνο λόγω κεκτημένης ταχύτητας αλλά και για πρακτικούς-νομικούς λόγους. 
Ο Γιάννης Αλαφούζος προφανώς εγκαταλείπει -ότι κι αν σημαίνει αυτό- ένανραδιοσταθμό που, άλλωστε, δεν του προσέφερε και κάτι ιδιαίτερο. Τουλάχιστον από άποψη πρεστίζ και κύρους.
Ήδη έχει καταγραφεί και η κινητή τουπεριουσία, το στούντιο είναι κλειστό, ταφωτομοντέλα που έκαναν εκπομπές εκεί σταμάτησαν, οι άνθρωποι του ομίλου που τον έτρεχαν αξιοποιούνται σε άλλα πόστα, το site κατέβηκε εδώ και δύο εβδομάδες (δηλαδή είναι under construction όπως γράφει στην πρώτη σελίδα - εδώ), ενώ έπαψε να εκπέμπει και μέσω internet. Έτοιμος για μετακόμιση με άλλα λόγια - θα σας ενημερώσουμε, πάραυτα, στα χέρια τίνος καταλήγει. Αν μέχρι την τελική υπογραφή δεν αλλάξει κάτι δραματικά...Υπενθυμίζουμε πως στον όμιλο Αλαφούζο ανήκει και ο «Freedom 88.9», ο σταθμός που υπήρχε πιο πριν στη συγκεκριμένη συχνότητα και ο οποίος, έκτοτε, εκπέμπει αποκλειστικά στο internet. Πάνε πακέτο; (Είναι και αυτός μακέτο;)...

Σημειώστε πως αυτό το διάστημα γίνονται πολλές συζητήσεις για πωλήσεις καιεξαγορές συχνοτήτων. Το team λόγου χάριν του Επενδυτή και του Ελεύθερου Τύπου, υπό την καθοδήγηση του Αλέξη Σκαναβή προσανατολίζεται ήδη προς ταFM. Και άλλοι επιχειρηματίες ψάχνονται, πολλοί εκ των οποίων δεν διέθεταν ιδιαίτερη σχέση έως τώρα (ή και μέχρι πριν λίγο καιρό) με τον χώρο των media.
Οι τιμές, φυσικά, είναι... «σκοτωμένες». Λογικό. Αν η τράπεζα προσπαθεί να ξεφορτωθεί τον «Nitro 102.5» με 1,5εκ ευρώ στη δημοπρασία και δεν βρίσκεται καν ενδιαφερόμενος να ψελλίσει μία προσφορά, καταλαβαίνετε πως τα ποσά που απαιτούνται είναι πλέον σαφώς μικρότερα. Μιλάω, φυσικά, για τις «καθαρές» συχνότητες... 
Και είναι πάρα πολλά τα πωλητήρια. Ήδη μου έρχονται στο νου πέντε-έξι...

Friday, June 22, 2012

TESLA UPDATE : S MODEL LAUNCH




Almost one month ago to the day we announced one of the biggest milestones in Tesla’s history…our first customer deliveries of Model S. Over the past four weeks we have enjoyed welcoming you into the birthplace of Model S and sharing with you a collection of images highlighting each segment of the Model S manufacturing process. This week we share with you the final video of our Inside Tesla series. Watch as we infuse soul into your Model S on the Final Assembly line.
FINAL ASSEMBLY
After a final coat of paint and clear coat, Model S is transported to the assembly center on automated SmartCarts that follow magnetic tape strips on the floor. Along the way, robots use high-definition 3D cameras to accurately position the panoramic roof. The interior seats, center console, and instrument cluster are all installed as SmartCarts continue to move Model S through the assembly line. Then the drivetrain and battery modules are precision-lifted and secured. After the final exterior components, such as tires, wheels and emblems are added, your car is powered up for the first time.
Before leaving the factory, every Model S undergoes stringent quality tests on a uniquely designed final inspection platform with premium quality bamboo flooring and LED lighting. The car is inspected by Tesla associates for perfect body fit and appearance. Your Model S then enters the industry’s first all-glass water test booth, where it is sprayed by water from 360 stationary nozzles to ensure your car has perfect water tightness. Tesla’s water test booth holds 1,500 gallons of water that is purified and re-used for each test to minimize wasted resources.
As a final quality test before Model S is ready to be shipped, every car is tested on Tesla’s indoor confirmation track – North America’s first. Though most confirmation test tracks are outdoors, Tesla’s zero emissions powertrain makes an indoor test track possible.

We’ve included more photos of the Assembly Center in our Tesla Gallery.
GET AMPED MODEL S TOUR UPDATE
We sent out invites this past weekend to our first stop on theGet Amped Model S Tour. All test drive slots for the Fremont, California event have now been filled. We are looking forward to seeing 700 smiling faces this weekend. We will start sending out invitations later this week for the Los Angeles tour stop.
We learned a lot from the first set of invitations, and will be making a few changes in response to suggestions we received this past weekend, after our first set of invitations went out. Invitations will continue to go out exactly as previous described, in sequence number order to Model S Reservation Holders who did not sign up for a test drive this past weekend. However, we will be including three RSVP options going forward. We heard from numerous Reservation Holders that they do not need a test drive, and others who would prefer to wait until the Get Amped Tour comes to their area. With that in mind, there will now be three RSVP options to choose from going forward:
  1. RSVP yes and choose a test drive time slot for the current tour stop
  2. Decline the current invitation, but stay on the invite list for future tour stops
  3. Decline the current invitation and all future invitations because you prefer not to test drive
Having these three options will make it easier for us to know how many invitations to send out for each tour stop, and will prevent emails from going to people who prefer not to test drive. Thanks to everyone who sent us these suggestions. We appreciate your input and always try to accommodate them when possible.
We are looking forward to this weekend as we get you behind the wheel for the first time. I can hardly wait!
OPPORTUNITY CONSOLE
Last week we announced that all ten colors of Model S will be at our first two Get Amped Tour stops and I can’t wait to hear what you think of them. In fact, I’m also looking forward to hearing your thoughts on something else we have been working on for the past several months.
There have been a lot of suggestions about what could be done with the area between the two front seats. It was initially designed to be an open area for you to easily store everything from a backpack to a purse, and many people are looking forward to doing exactly that. However, we have received several requests to add compartments, shelves or phone holders to make this area more organized. This seemed like a great opportunity to make Model S customizable to be what YOU WANT it to be. So, we have officially dubbed this area the “Opportunity Console,” and set out to design exactly the type of functional enhancements you have requested.
This weekend, we will be displaying the first prototypes of our Opportunity Console elements for you to see. These are not yet finalized, so we look forward to hearing your feedback and suggestions. The prototypes we will be showing this weekend are not for sale, but are being shown to you, our customers, to get your input so we can focus our effort on functionality that is most important to you. After your test drive, let us know what you think, or feel free to leave a comment on the Tesla Motors Club forum. We’ve created a thread on the forum to gather your input.
As I said above, many people like the area between the front seats exactly the way it is, so we will continue to offer this area as originally planned. The additional Opportunity Console options are in response to customer requests, and will be made available as soon as we finalize designs based upon your input.
FRIDAY, JUNE 22, 2012 at 3:30 p.m. PDT
It’s really happening. In three days, we will be delivering Model S. I've heard from many of you that you would like to be a part of this incredible occasion, and we definitely want you to be there. In order to make this happen we will be providing a live webcast of the event on our Inside Tesla page. Join us from your home, office, or mobile device at around 3:30 p.m. PST this Friday to watch some of our very first Model S customers receive their keys. For many of us, this is something we have been looking forward to for a long, long time. We hope you join us to share this incredible moment.
I look forward to seeing many of you this weekend at the Fremont test drive event and look forward to your recommendations on the Opportunity Console. Next week will be the final installment of Inside Tesla. It will be filled with lots of images and anecdotes from our delivery event.
The countdown is now almost complete and it’s time for you to drive Model S. See you on the road!
GeorgeB

Saturday, April 7, 2012

DARWIN 4







The CGI or computer animated drama/documentary takes place on Darwin IV, a planet 6.5 light years from earth, with 2 suns and 60% of Earth's gravity. Having identified Darwin as a world that could support life, Earth sends a pilot mission consisting of the Mothership Von Braun and three probes: Balboa, Da Vinci, and Newton. This robotic fleet is responsible for finding and assessing any life forms on Darwin IV. Initially, the expectation is to find microscopic life, but the probes soon find themselves in the middle of a developed ecosystem teeming with diversity of life of all sizes. The drama on Darwin IV is motivated by real science missions, such as the NASA Origins Program and the NASA / JPL Planet-Finder Mission, as well as the European Space Agency's Darwin Project. "Alien Planet " is a cosmic expedition along side Stephen Hawking, Michio Kaku, Jack Horner, Craig Venter, and George Lucas...

Friday, March 2, 2012

F104 : ΤΑ ΙΠΤΑΜΕΝΑ ΦΕΡΕΤΡΑ ΚΑΙ ΟΙ ΜΙΖΕΣ ΤΗΣ ΕΠΟΧΗΣ...



...Εκατοντάδες F104-Starfighter πέφτουν στην εποχή του ψυχρού πολέμου απο τον ουρανό σαν κουνούπια και τα φέρετρα γεμίζουν πιλότους του ΝΑΤΟ... 
 Ο  Γερμανός υπουργός άμυνας Franz Jossef Strauss (στο 38:50/46:47) πρωτοστάτησε στην επιλογή του προβληματικού αεροσκάφους, μιά απόφαση της εποχής που η κατασκευάστρια εταιρεία Lockheed Martin φρόντισε να εξαγοράσει με πολλές βαλίτσες μαύρου πολιτικού χρήματος πρός όλες τις κατευθύνσεις συμπεριλαμβανομένων φυσικά  και των γερμανών πολιτικών. Η Λουφτβάφε μόνο έχασε 270 αεροσκάφη και πάνω απο 100 πιλότους της, μία τραγωδία χωρίς προηγούμενο...



....Υπάρχουν και τα σημερινά όμως παρατράγουδα, και απ'ότι φαίνεται τα πράγματα είναι χειρότερα. Το F35, απόγονος του F104, το καινούργιο καμάρι της Lockheed Martin για τον 21ο αιώνα, με πολλά όμως και σοβαρότατα προβλήματα, πού διεκδικεί κι αυτό την θέση του στο οπλοστάσιο του ΝΑΤΟ. 



Αναδημοσιεύουμε μια λίστα απο αυτά όπως έχουν δημοσιοποιηθεί εδω :
[...]
 In 2011, Canadian politicians raised the issue of the safety of the F-35's reliance on a single engine (as opposed to a twin-engine configuration, which provides a backup in case of an engine failure). Canada had previous experience with a high-accident rate with the single-engine Lockheed CF-104 Starfighter with many accidents related to engine failures. Defence Minister Peter MacKay, when asked what would happen if the F-35’s single engine fails in the Far North, stated "It won’t".[108]

In November 2011, a Pentagon study team identified the following 13 areas of concern that remained to be addressed in the F-35:[109][110]

  • The Helmet mounted display system does not work properly.
  • The fuel dump subsystem poses a fire hazard.
  • The Integrated Power Package is unreliable and difficult to service.
  • The F-35C's arresting hook does not work.
  • Classified "survivability issues", which have been speculated to be about stealth.[109]
  • The wing buffet is worse than previously reported.
  • The airframe is unlikely to last through the required lifespan.
  • The flight test program has yet to explore the most challenging areas.
  • The software development is behind schedule.
  • The aircraft is in danger of going overweight or, for the F-35B, too heavy for VTOL operations.
  • There are multiple thermal management problems. The air conditioner fails to keep the pilot and controls cool enough, the roll posts on the F-35B overheat, and using the afterburner damages the aircraft.
  • The automated logistics information system is partially developed.
  • The lightning protection on the F-35 is uncertified, with areas of concern.

In December 2011 the Pentagon and Lockheed came to an agreement to assure funding and delivery for a fifth order of early F-35 aircraft of yet undefined type in spite of general national austerity measures affecting the program.[111]

Απ'όλα αυτά τα επίσημα , αλλά και άλλα πολλά αρνητικά στοιχεία, φαίνεται οτι οι πιλότοι θα πρέπει να έχουν και άγιο και γερές ασφάλειες ζωής για τις οικογένειές τους. 

Καλή τύχη σ'όλους (και στους ανατολικούς μας καλούς γείτονες) που το έχουν επιλέξει μαζικά... (Τουρκία 100 τεμάχια...)

Monday, February 27, 2012

ΕΡΧΟΝΤΑΙ ΚΑΙ " Ι.Χ." ΙΠΤΑΜΕΝΟΙ ΡΟΥΦΙΑΝΟΙ...





reposted from here



Tiny spy planes could mimic birds, insects

Logo of the Defense Advanced Research Projects...
JULIE WATSON, Associated Press
SAN DIEGO (AP) — You’ll never look at hummingbirds the same again.
The Pentagon has poured millions of dollars into the development of tinydrones inspired by biology, each equipped with video and audio equipment that can record sights and sounds.
They could be used to spy, but also to locate people inside earthquake-crumpled buildings and detect hazardous chemical leaks.
The smaller, the better.
Besides the hummingbird, engineers in the growing unmanned aircraft industry are working on drones that look like insects and the helicopter-like maple leaf seed.
Researchers are even exploring ways to implant surveillance and other equipment into an insect as it is undergoing metamorphosis. They want to be able to control the creature.
The devices could end up being used by police officers and firefighters.
Their potential use outside of battle zones, however, is raising questions about privacy and the dangers of the winged creatures buzzing around in the same skies as aircraft.
For now, most of these devices are just inspiring awe.
With a 6.5-inch wing span, the remote-controlled bird weighs less than a AA battery and can fly at speeds of up to 11 mph, propelled only by the flapping of its two wings. A tiny video camera sits in its belly.
The bird can climb and descend vertically, fly sideways, forward and backward. It can rotate clockwise and counterclockwise.
Most of all it can hover and perch on a window ledge while it gathers intelligence, unbeknownst to the enemy.
“We were almost laughing out of being scared because we had signed up to do this,” said Matt Keennon, senior project engineer of California’s AeroVironment, which built the hummingbird.
The Pentagon asked them to develop a pocket-sized aircraft for surveillance and reconnaissance that mimicked biology. It could be anything, they said, from a dragonfly to a hummingbird.
Five years and $4 million later, the company has developed what it calls the world’s first hummingbird spyplane.
“It was very daunting up front and remained that way for quite some time into the project,” he said, after the drone blew by his head and landed on his hand during a media demonstration.
The toughest challenges were building a tiny vehicle that can fly for a prolonged period and be controlled or control itself.
AeroVironment has a history of developing such aircraft.
Over the decades, the Monrovia, Calif.-based company has developed everything from a flying mechanical reptile to a hydrogen-powered plane capable of flying in the stratosphere and surveying an area larger than Afghanistan at one glance.
It has become a leader in the hand-launched drone industry.
Troops fling a four-pound plane, called the Raven, into the air. They have come to rely on the real-time video it sends back, using it to locate roadside bombs or get a glimpse of what is happening over the next hill or around a corner.
The success of the hummingbird drone, however, “paves the way for a new generation of aircraft with the agility and appearance of small birds,” said Todd Hylton of the Pentagon’s research arm, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
These drones are not just birds.
Lockheed Martin has developed a fake maple leaf seed, or so-called whirly bird, loaded with navigation equipment and imaging sensors. The spy plane weighs .07 ounces.
On the far end of the research spectrum, DARPA is also exploring the possibility of implanting live insects during metamorphosis with video cameras or sensors and controlling them by applying electrical stimulation to their wings.
The idea is for the military to be able to send in a swarm of bugs loaded with spy gear.
The military is also eyeing other uses.
The drones could be sent in to search buildings in urban combat zones. Police are interested in using them, among other things, to detect a hazardous chemical leak. Firefighters could fling them out over a disaster to get better data, quickly.
It is hard to tell what, if anything, will make it out of the lab, but their emergence presents challenges and not just with physics.
What are the legal implications, especially with interest among police in using tiny drones for surveillance, and their potential to invade people’s privacy, asks Peter W. Singer, author of the book, “Wired for War” about robotic warfare.
Singer said these questions will be increasingly discussed as robotics become a greater part of everyday life.
“It’s the equivalent to the advent of the printing press, the computer, gun powder,” he said. “It’s that scale of change.”

Pressure builds for civilian drone flights at home


WASHINGTON (AP) — Heads up: Drones are going mainstream.
Civilian cousins of the unmanned military aircraft that have tracked and killed terrorists in the Middle East and Asia are in demand by police departments, border patrols, power companies, news organizations and others wanting a bird's-eye view that's too impractical or dangerous for conventional planes or helicopters to get.
Along with the enthusiasm, there are qualms.
Drones overhead could invade people's privacy. The government worries they could collide with passenger planes or come crashing down to the ground, concerns that have slowed more widespread adoption of the technology.
Despite that, pressure is building to give drones the same access as manned aircraft to the sky at home.
"It's going to be the next big revolution in aviation. It's coming," says Dan Elwell, the Aerospace Industries Association's vice president for civil aviation.
Some impetus comes from the military, which will bring home drones from Afghanistan and wants room to test and use them. In December, Congress gave the Federal Aviation Administration six months to pick half a dozen sites around the country where the military and others can fly unmanned aircraft in the vicinity of regular air traffic, with the aim of demonstrating they're safe.
The Defense Department says the demand for drones and their expanding missions requires routine and unfettered access to domestic airspace, including around airports and cities. In a report last October, the Pentagon called for flights first by small drones both solo and in groups, day and night, expanding over several years. Flights by large and medium-sized drones would follow in the latter half of this decade.
Other government agencies want to fly drones, too, but they've been hobbled by an FAA ban unless they first receive case-by-case permission. Fewer than 300 waivers were in use at the end of 2011, and they often include restrictions that severely limit the usefulness of the flights. Businesses that want to put drones to work are out of luck; waivers are only for government agencies.
But that's changing.
Congress has told the FAA that the agency must allow civilian and military drones to fly in civilian airspace by September 2015. This spring, the FAA is set to take a first step by proposing rules that would allow limited commercial use of small drones for the first time.
Until recently, agency officials were saying there were too many unresolved safety issues to give drones greater access. Even now FAA officials are cautious about describing their plans and they avoid discussion of deadlines.
"The thing we care about is doing that in an orderly and safe way and finding the appropriate ... balance of all the users in the system," Michael Huerta, FAA's acting administrator, told a recent industry luncheon in Washington. "Let's develop these six sites — and we will be doing that — where we can develop further data, further testing and more history on how these things actually operate."
Drones come in all sizes, from the high-flying Global Hawk with its 116-foot wingspan to a hummingbird-like drone that weighs less than an AA battery and can perch on a window ledge to record sound and video. Lockheed Martin has developed a fake maple leaf seed, or "whirly bird," equipped with imaging sensors, that weighs less than an ounce.
Potential civilian users are as varied as the drones themselves.
Power companies want them to monitor transmission lines. Farmers want to fly them over fields to detect which crops need water. Ranchers want them to count cows.
Journalists are exploring drones' newsgathering potential. The FAA is investigating whether The Daily, a digital publication of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., used drones without permission to capture aerial footage of floodwaters in North Dakota and Mississippi last year. At the University of Nebraska, journalism professor Matt Waite has started a lab for students to experiment with using a small, remote-controlled helicopter.
"Can you cover news with a drone? I think the answer is yes," Waite said.
The aerospace industry forecasts a worldwide deployment of almost 30,000 drones by 2018, with the United States accounting for half of them.
"The potential ... civil market for these systems could dwarf the military market in the coming years if we can get access to the airspace," said Ben Gielow, government relations manager for the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, an industry trade group.
The hungriest market is the nation's 19,000 law enforcement agencies.
Customs and Border Patrol has nine Predator drones mostly in use on the U.S.-Mexico border, and plans to expand to 24 by 2016. Officials say the unmanned aircraft have helped in the seizure of more than 20 tons of illegal drugs and the arrest of 7,500 people since border patrols began six years ago.
Several police departments are experimenting with smaller drones to photograph crime scenes, aid searches and scan the ground ahead of SWAT teams. The Justice Department has four drones it loans to police agencies.
"We look at this as a low-cost alternative to buying a helicopter or fixed-wing plane," said Michael O'Shea, the department's aviation technology program manager. A small drone can cost less than $50,000, about the price of a patrol car with standard police gear.
Like other agencies, police departments must get FAA waivers and follow much the same rules as model airplane hobbyists: Drones must weigh less than 55 pounds, stay below an altitude of 400 feet, keep away from airports and always stay within sight of the operator. The restrictions are meant to prevent collisions with manned aircraft.
Even a small drone can be "a huge threat" to a larger plane, said Dale Wright, head of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association's safety and technology department. "If an airliner sucks it up in an engine, it's probably going to take the engine out," he said. "If it hits a small plane, it could bring it down."
Controllers want drone operators to be required to have instrument-rated pilot licenses — a step above a basic private pilot license. "We don't want the Microsoft pilot who has never really flown an airplane and doesn't know the rules of how to fly," Wright said.
Military drones designed for battlefields haven't had to meet the kind of rigorous safety standards required of commercial aircraft.
"If you are going to design these things to operate in the (civilian) airspace you need to start upping the ante," said Tom Haueter, director of the National Transportation Safety Board's aviation safety office. "It's one thing to operate down low. It's another thing to operate where other airplanes are, especially over populated areas."
Even with FAA restrictions, drones are proving useful in the field.
Deputies with the Mesa County Sheriff's Office in Colorado can launch a 2-pound Draganflyer X6 helicopter from the back of a patrol car. The drone's bird's-eye view cut the manpower needed for a search of a creek bed for a missing person from 10 people to two, said Ben Miller, who runs the drone program. The craft also enabled deputies to alert fire officials to a potential roof collapse in time for the evacuation of firefighters from the building, he said.
The drone could do more if it were not for the FAA's line-of-sight restriction, Miller said. "I don't think (the restriction) provides any extra safety," he said.
The Montgomery County Sheriff's Office, north of Houston, used a Department of Homeland Security grant to buy a $300,000, 50-pound ShadowHawk helicopter drone for its SWAT team. The drone has a high-powered video camera and an infrared camera that can spot a person's thermal image in the dark.
"Public-safety agencies are beginning to see this as an invaluable tool for them, just as the car was an improvement over the horse and the single-shot pistol was improved upon by the six-shooter," said Chief Deputy Randy McDaniel, who runs the Montgomery drone program.
The ShadowHawk can be equipped with a 40 mm grenade launcher and a 12-guage shotgun, according to its maker, Vanguard Defense Industries of Conroe, Texas. The company doesn't sell the armed version in the United States, although "we have had interest from law-enforcement entities for deployment of nonlethal munitions from the aircraft," Vanguard CEO Michael Buscher said.
The possibility of armed police drones someday patrolling the sky disturbs Terri Burke, executive director of the Texas chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.
"The Constitution is taking a back seat so that boys can play with their toys," Burke said. "It's kind of scary that they can use a laptop computer to zap people from the air."
A recent ACLU report said allowing drones greater access takes the country "a large step closer to a surveillance society in which our every move is monitored, tracked, recorded, and scrutinized by the authorities."
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which focuses on civil liberties threats involving new technologies, sued the FAA recently, seeking disclosure of which agencies have been given permission to use drones. FAA officials declined to answer questions from The Associated Press about the lawsuit.
Industry officials said privacy concerns are overblown.
"Today anybody— the paparazzi, anybody — can hire a helicopter or a (small plane) to circle around something that they're interested in and shoot away with high-powered cameras all they want," said Elwell, the aerospace industry spokesman. "I don't understand all the comments about the Big Brother thing."