150 years of the Shipping Forecast: The magic and poetry of Dogger, Fisher and German Bight – Country Life

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The Shipping Forecast was first broadcast 150 years ago, on August 24 1867. It has been saving seafarers' lives and (since moving from the telegraph to the BBC in 1924) entrancing radio listeners for generations. Kate Green and Tim Richardson investigate its peculiarly romantic poetry and magic.

South Utsire a name from the Shipping Forecast is just as romantic a spot as youd imagine

Fisher, west or south-west 4 or 5, occasional rain, mainly good. German Bight, northwesterly 5 or 6, occasionally 7 at first, showers, moderate or good.

These poetically encoded words will catapult anyone who listens to (or grew up listening to) Radio 4 into an abstracted reverie. There are warnings of gales in Viking, Dogger Sole, Lundy, Fastnet Malin, Hebrides, Bailey.

We arent trawlermen; we dont need this information, so why dont we switch off? Fair Isle, Faroes, South-East Iceland. There is something about the rhythm and accidental beauty of the words as theyre carefully intoned in the best formal BBC tradition a weathermans haiku.

That and the sheer evocativeness of the names given to the heaving seas that surround our island nation: Forties, Cromarty, Forth. What must it be like out there, we wonder, imagining storm-tossed fishing boats and their soaking, souwestered crews, as were, incongruously, tucked up in bed or driving along a motorway.

Although we know that the forecast is important a lifesaver, potentially, for some it has no practical value for us. Yet, for many listeners, the Shipping Forecast is a soothing daily ritual, a few minutes of respite, of comparative blankness. In an average day, its the nearest thing many people experience to prayer.

We tolerate the broadcast indeed, we cherish it, in most cases because weve grown up with it. We would never want to lose it; imagine the furore if some modernising controller tried to axe it! Its often said that the Shipping Forecast is the only reason for the retention of long wave (and, therefore, the cricket commentary) because it remains the most reliable frequency.

Unsurprisingly, the forecasts lyrical nature has inspired songwriters and poets. Radioheads In Limbo has the lines: Lundy, Fastnet, Irish Sea/Ive got a message I cant read. A sonnet by Seamus Heaney opens Dogger, Rockall, Malin, Irish Sea/Green swift upsurges, North Atlantic flux/Conjured by that strong gale-warming voice/Collapse into sibilant penumbra, and Carol Ann Duffy wrote: Darkness outside. Inside the radios prayer/Rockall, Malin, Dogger, Finisterre.

Affectionate parodies include Frank Muir and Denis Nordens In Ross and Finisterre/the outlook is sinisterre/ Rockall and Lundy/Will clear up by Monday. Dead Ringers had The Archers Brian Perkins rapping it and, in 1988, Stephen Fry gave it his own take in Saturday Night Fry: Malin, Hebrides, Shetland, Jersey, Fair Isle, Turtle-Neck, Tank Top, Courtelle: Blowy, quite misty, sea sickness. Not many fish around, come home, veering suggestively. In reality, reading the Shipping Forecast is more skilled than one might think.

Broadcast four times a day, live (at 0048, 0520, 1201 and 1754), there is no room for error or faulty timing, as the forecast (not more than 370 words) must last precisely its allotted length. Youre looking at the clock all the time, although I can pretty much do one now without looking and it will be exactly three minutes, says Alice Arnold, who has been reading the forecast for some 20 years.

Alice always practises it beforehand (it comes over on the computer with 20 minutes to spare), but others, such as Rob McElwee, prefer to read it cold. And its not as simple to read as it sounds: there is a set form and special rhythm. I remember reading it as a tryout and I got it completely wrong, Alice reveals. For example, you have to say one, three, double 0, not One thousand, three hundred.

For Alice, the 0048 broadcast is the most special, a time when the natural poetry of the words can be expressed to the full. Its night-time, Ive just played Sailing By, and Im aware that some listeners use the forecast to nod off, so I do try to say it in a more restful way.

But if its stormy a busy weather day, as we call it there can be a lot in there, so you have to crack on.

Malin Head in Donegal

This last forecast comes right at the end of a shift, and Alice paints a picture of the reader left almost alone in Broadcasting House. Someone said they imagined me reading the late-night forecast, then turning the equipment off, switching off the lights and going home. And that is exactly what happens.

Writer Charlie Connelly found Shipping Forecast names so mysterious Dogger, Fisher, what are they? that he visited all 31 sites, by sea and land, for an acclaimed and humorous book, Attention All Shipping.

Some places were underwhelming: Dogger was a bit disappointing, just an awful lot of sea; the tiny strip of Danish coast at Fisher was undoubtedly the most boring place in the world. It was the longest weekend of my life. The only place to visit is Hanstholm, which means islet of the glove. Apparently, a woman once dropped a glove there, and I think that may be all that happened there.

When Mr Connelly visited the Norwegian island of Utsira, a bird sanctuary, the islanders were blissfully unaware that they lived in a place that featured daily on Radio 4.

The inhabitants of the Faroes, however, were quite pleased to be recognised going there reminded me that the Shipping Forecast is a serious and necessary business. Fastnet the seas around Fastnet Rock off the south-west coast of Ireland was another salutary reminder of tragedy; Queenstown (formerly Cobh), on the Co Cork coast in Fastnet, was the last port of call for Titanic and was where the survivors of the sinking of RMS Lusitania were brought in 1915. The museum there, with all its references to old shipping disasters, is fascinating and shows the importance of forecasts.

Mr Connellys oddest experience was Thames, and the principality of Sealand, a former military platform the size of a football pitch eight miles from Chelmsford in the North Sea, which is independent, being outside British waters.

After the Second World War, Sealand was taken over by Prince Roy Bates just a little British guy up against the world. Ive never seen anywhere like it. It took me six months to get a visa to go there, but my passports stamped Sealand, and not a lot of people can say that, says Charlie.

Other countries do have shipping forecasts, but theyre not as romantic as ours, which really emphasises our island nation. The poet Sean Street describes the names as paving the water round the isles. I liked that.

Painter and photographer Peter Collyers fellow ferry passengers would be mystified as to why he didnt disembark, assuming he was some sort of eccentric ship-spotter. But it was all research for a book, Rain later, good, which was published in 1998, the first visual record of the Shipping Forecast sites.

The seed was planted when I stopped for a sandwich in the car park beside the lighthouse at Portland Bill. The Shipping Forecast came on, and there I was, actually in contact with one of the places. I wanted to get out and wave, he recalls.

Then, working in my studio, I listened to Charlotte Green reading it, when it came to me: what are these places actually like? I wanted to demystify them for everyone. Mr Collyer admits he underestimated the difficulty and expense of his quest.

Cromarty Firth, complete with oil rigs, off the east coast of Scotland

He left the hardest one, Bailey, until last. It wasnt on a ferry route, but I had this notion that aircraft travelling from Heathrow to Rejkavik must fly over it, so I bought a day return from Air Iceland, requesting a window seat, and took my paints with me. One epic 11-day journey involved taking a ferry from Newcastle to Bergen, via Tyne, Forties, and North and South Utsire.

Then, he sailed to Iceland through Viking, Forties and South-East Iceland, spending just four hours in Iceland before going back through Shetlands, Dogger and Fisher to Denmark, and thence to Harwich through German Bight and Thames.

And that trip at least was just as romantic and beautiful as it sounds: On returning, says Collyer, getting on the Tube at Liverpool Street Station seemed like a vision of Hell after all those seas, skies and rocky inlets.

From the tragedy which sparked its inception to the modern tweaks which have had listeners up in arms.

A version of this article was originally published in Country Life in 2009.

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150 years of the Shipping Forecast: The magic and poetry of Dogger, Fisher and German Bight - Country Life

Which of These Emerging Technologies Will Be the Next Big Thing? – Singularity Hub

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We tend to think of tech visionaries as inventors with a brilliant idea that no one understands. Because the world isnt quite ready, they have to pitch their invention to anyone wholl listen.

Their ideas are either crazy or geniusno ones sure because theyre so novel.

Theres another kind of tech visionary. This person has to sort the genius from the crazy, and then quite literally put their money where their mouth is. These people are investors. And no great invention or idea gets to the next level without the support to go bigger.

At Singularity Universitys Global Summit this week, Sequoia Capitals Roelof Botha sat down with Peter Diamandis for a conversation about the venture capital view of technology. Botha is a partner at Sequoia and was previously CFO of PayPal. Over the decades, Sequoia has helped launch the likes of Apple, Google, Oracle, PayPal, YouTube, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

Botha said theyve been in early on and followed the biggest trends in tech over the decades. In the 1980s, it was semiconductors. In the 1990s, the internet hit its stride with companies like Google and Yahoo. Since then, of course, mobile has been a big theme. So, whats next?

Id say right now were at a very interesting time because its not obvious what the next platform is, Botha said. The phrase weve come up with is interregnum.

Interregnum is the time a throne is vacant in between reigns, he explained. The formidable five of Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, Google, and Facebook are dominant and hoovering up resources. So, Sequoia is looking for pockets of opportunity that unfairly favor the startup.

Space is an interesting one[and] there are some interesting things around genomics, epigenetics, CRISPR and gene editing, cryptocurrencies, augmented reality, and virtual reality, Botha said. There are a bunch of emerging areas, and were exploring all of those. Even quantum computing these days looks like it might finally be something to our life.

Interest and even investment in a particular area or technology is no guarantee theyll succeed. He said typically only three or four companies drive the returns of a fund with 35 or 40 companies in it. Making sure you find those three or four companies is both art and science.

Well, the key question we always ask is why now? If a company cant answer that question, theres usually a reason not to invest. But sometimes something hasnt worked for 20 years for a reason, and now truly is the time where it does make sense.

Forecasting the cycles of hope and hype in technology is still incredibly difficult, and no one gets it just right. Some exciting technologies seem to be just around the corner, only to die out or hit unexpected roadblocks and get kicked ever further down the road.

Still, we live in a pretty amazing time in history, and over the decades, some emerging technologies will rise up and affect our lives profoundly. What is Botha most excited about in the next few years? What strikes his heart as Diamandis put it?

Id love to see us innovate in augmented reality, Botha said.

Im sure most of the audience has seen the movie Her. This idea of having an invisible user interface, which is voice-based, and having a different way of interacting with technology. If you look at people at lunch breaks, its kind of strange that weve evolved where were all sitting there hunched over these very small screens, all developing neck strains. Its hard for me to imagine thats the end state.

Image Credit:Stock Media provided by Pumidol Leelerdsakulvong / Pond5

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Civilization Is Breaking DownHere’s What We Need to Do About It – Singularity Hub

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I think civilization is fundamentally breaking down today. These were the opening words of Salim Ismails talk at Singularity Universitys Global Summit in San Francisco this week.

Not the most uplifting intro. But the good news is, Ismail had some pretty unique insight to share about the nature of the problems society is facing, and plenty of thoughts on how to fix them too.

Ismail is the best-selling author of Exponential Organizationsand a sought-after strategist and tech entrepreneur who built and sold his company to Google. He was founding executive director at Singularity University and has been the companys global ambassador for the last seven years.

While technology has helped civilization, according to Ismail, its also partly to blame for widespread discontent thats manifesting in the form of armed conflicts, terrorism, extremism, and nationalism.

Never before have we had a dozen technologies all accelerating in their own right, he said. Each one is doubling at a rate of anywhere between 18 to 30 months. But where they intersect, that adds a whole other multiplier to the equation.

A lot of the technological changes going on may seem like theyre confined to specific places, people, or groups. But the truth is theyre affecting us all.

Anyone with an internet connection has an unprecedented amount of information at their fingertips. Computers are not just learning to do tasks only humans used to do, theyre doing those tasks much better than us. Huge sums of wealth are concentrated in the hands of a few (thankfully, often philanthropic) entrepreneurs. Physical goods that used to cost hundreds or thousands of dollarshave demonetized to the point that theyre practically free.

And its not just physical goods whose cost is dropping. Renewable energy, DNA sequencing, and services like rides and accommodations have seen plummeting cost curves too.

In technology after technology, the cost is crashing to near zero, which means anybody has access to these technologies, Ismail said. And this is causinghuge opportunity but also massive stress, and our existing leadership has a really tough time dealing with this.

The shifting power dynamics brought about by demonetization have left governments bewildered and apprehensive, and often at a loss for how to adjust their policies to the changing times.

We invented representative democracies when information was scarce, Ismail pointed out. But today, we have an abundance of information, and every major democracy in the world is broken.

The same goes for capitalism. Theres a massive deflationary dynamic because the money leaves the system as you move from scarcity to abundance, Ismail said.

The distribution of all that wealth, though, is far from equal. Though abundance is growing, scarcity is still very realand people are reacting.

If you look at the rise of fundamentalism around the world, this is civilization saying Im freaking out, I cant take this pace of change, lets go back to an older time, Ismail said.

Even the institutions that were set up to deal with these kinds of conflicts have become somewhat irrelevant. The UN Security Council, for example, was set up to navigate conflicts between countriesbut many modern armed conflicts are civil wars. Updating institutions that have been around for decades if not centuries is a project of dizzying scale and complexity.

There is no update mechanism in many of these structures, so we have to totally re-architect them, Ismail said. Were pepper-spraying our civics and our politics, literally shredding our own future here, and the stress around the world is quite profound.

Ismail then took the conversation in an unexpected direction, saying the best way hes found to frame why this is happening is that we have two fundamental polarities in our archetypes as a civilizationmale and female.

The male archetype is competitive, risk-taking, wants to take command and control. By the way, Im really carefully saying archetype, not gender, he clarified. The female archetype is participatory, nurturing, cooperative, and network-linked. And weve ratcheted between these two polarities throughout civilization to upgrade ourselves.

Both men and women can have traits belonging to the male or female archetypes, of course. The archetypes are an overarching symbolic understanding ingrained in our psychology.

The world, he explained, used to be run on feudal systems, which had a top-down command and control structure. Then we moved to democratic systems so that power would be distributed more evenly.

Despite the fact that many societies today are based on this democratic ideology, large swaths of those societies run on a set of top-down male archetypal structures. Ismail noted traditional corporations as a prime example: theyre pyramidic structures usually with a man at the top. Judeo-Christian religions are built around male archetypal qualities, as is the military-industrial complex.

Whats happening now, though, is the rise of the female archetype. Examples Ismail gave that embody the female archetype are open-sourcing, the maker movement, and hugely popular festivals like Burning Man.

The stress were seeing in the world is that transition from the male-centric archetype to the female-centric archetype, he said.

This looks different not only because of the fundamental qualities each archetype embodies, but their particular stress-response and control mechanisms as well.

When the male archetype is under stress, it enters the fight or flight response, while the female archetype responds by tending and befriending.

The male archetype is really good at managing scarcity, command and control, search and destroy, go, grab, bring it back, designed for that world that weve been in for thousands and thousands of years around scarcity, Ismail said.

The female archetype, though, is better at dealing with abundance; when the male archetype deals with abundance, it relates to it as power and tries to hoard it. The female archetype meets abundance and shares it around.

As we move towards abundance, Ismail believes we need to move towards a social structure that embodies the female rather than the male archetype.

While somewhat abstract and, frankly, surprising, in theory this all sounds reasonable enough. But how do you actually move a civilization from one archetype to another?

For starters, Ismail said, We need to architect our organizations and institutions for flexibility and adaptability. Existing incentive models in business focus heavily on short-term indicators like quarterly earnings and are not set up for long-term changes. But the most successful companies have turned these models on their heads, with leaders like Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and Larry Page refusing to steer their companies in the status-quo direction.

Similarly, Ismail said, All of our leadership globally is set up to manage an incremental, predictable, status quo, linear worldand were entering Black Swan centraland we need to architect completely new institutions.

The Fastrack Institute, which Ismail co-founded, is a non-profit organization thats helping cities do just that. The Institute takes on a specific problem facing a city, like education or corruption, and analyzes it using a four-layer system.

Were currently at the very edge of an abundant future, and the pace of change isnt going to slow down. As Ismail put it, [civilization] is heading into a trough. I think its about a 20- or 30-year period. We need to get to abundance on the other side by creating new leaders, new projects, and new institutions.

Stock Media provided byAlexander Slutskiy / Pond5

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Technological Disruptors and not Tech Singularity will force companies to accelerate or die – Next Big Future

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Technological disruptors like Elon Musk, Google and Amazon will force industries and companies to accelerate or die. Companies will have to accelerate innovation and move to bolder innovation and attempt to shift to technological leapfrogging and shoot for far more aggressive productivity gains.

Toyota is reacting to the Tesla Electric cars with a plan to leapfrog batteries to solid state batteries in 2022 with triple the energy density of current batteries and lower costs and faster charging times.

Compute power increased by a trillion times over the last fifty years but the adoption of IT was generally manageable for most companies and industries. Bill Gates was more aggressive than his competitors in driving the PC age. Steve Jobs combined technologies and design to produce the smartphone and tablet.

It is the combination of technological capabilities (artificial intelligence, cloud computing, sensors, robotics etc) and aggressive and well capitalized bold business innovators that will force a shift to moonshot innovation as a mainstream part of business.

Amazon will use Whole Foods to go after market share and worry about profit later. They will use a low price halo on key products. Whole Foods will also be par to of Amazons distribution chain and the reward program will be Amazon Prime.

Walmart is teaming up with Google and Google Express to compete.

Amazon has announced plans to have a huge impact on global logistics (shipping, trucking).

Amazon will force competition and adaptation in more areas of retail and logistics.

Elon Musk has the lowest priced space launch services with Spacex. Soon with the Falcon Heavy Spacex will have the largest cargo capacity into space. Mastering reusability and higher launch rate will crush most of the space launch competition. Competitors will need massive national government support in order to get back into the game. This will be similar to the support that received in order to become a competitor to Boeing in the commercial jet business.

The rocket technologies that Elon Musk is leveraging have mostly existed since the 1970s. There is some additional computer capabilities and improved materials as well, but much of the reusability of rockets was already envisioned for the Space Shuttle. The cheap reusability that was envisioned for the Space Shuttle was killed with compromises to bureaucracy and politics.

Elon and Googles plan for a large high speed internet satellite network will bring competition to mobile and cable internet providers around the world. Mobile companies will try to respond with 5G for higher speed but the rate of innovation has been one generation every ten years and cable has made very little improvement over the last 20 years.

For electric cars and batteries and solar, Elon Musk has talked about making factories ten times better every ten years by reinventing the factory every two years.

Chinas competitive capabilities rest more with the innovation in Shenzhens smartphone technology hub and with new economy leaders like Alibaba and Tencent than with overall industry and market size. China has a section of its economy with aggressive technological leadership and innovation.

Singapore is using rapid legislative change (weeks instead of years) and targeted policy like the Smart Nation initiative to be the first to achieve smart driving cars and buses at city scale.

Chinas government supports transforming city scale and larger regions into massive factory zones.

Big bold bets on disruptive innovation at scale will transform industries to a new era of hypercompetition.

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Technological Disruptors and not Tech Singularity will force companies to accelerate or die - Next Big Future

What is Cloud Computing Technology?: Cloud Definition …

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More and more, we are seeing technology moving to the cloud. Its not just a fadthe shift from traditional software models to the Internet has steadily gained momentum over the last 10 years. Looking ahead, the next decade of cloud computing promises new ways to collaborate everywhere, through mobile devices.

So what is cloud computing? Essentially, cloud computing is a kind of outsourcing of computer programs. Using cloud computing, users are able to access software and applications from wherever they need, while it is being hosted by an outside party in the cloud. This means that they do not have to worry about things such as storage and power, they can simply enjoy the end result.

There are three types of cloud computing:

- Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

A third party hosts elements of infrastructure, such as hardware, software, servers, and storage, also providing backup, security, and maintenance.

- Software as a Service (SaaS)

Using the cloud, software such as an internet browser or application is able to become a usable tool.

- Platform as a Service (PaaS)

The branch of cloud computing that allows users to develop, run, and manage applications, without having to get caught up in code, storage, infrastructure and so on.

There are several types of PaaS. Every PaaS option is either public, private, or a hybrid mix of the two. Public PaaS is hosted in the cloud and its infrastructure is managed by the provider. Private PaaS, on the other hand, is housed in on-site servers or private networks, and is maintained by the user. Hybrid PaaS uses elements from both public and private, and is capable of executing applications from multiple cloud infrastructures.

PaaS can be further categorized depending on whether it is open or closed source, whether it is mobile compatible (mPaaS), and what business types it caters to.

When choosing a PaaS solution, the most important considerations beyond how it is hosted are how well it integrates with existing information systems, which programing languages it supports, what application-building tools it offers, how customizable or configurable it is, and how effectively it is supported by the provider.

As digital technologies grow ever more powerful and available, apps and cloud-based platforms are becoming almost universally widespread. Businesses are taking advantage of new PaaS capabilities to further outsource tasks that would have otherwise relied on local solutions. This is all made possible through advances in cloud computing.

Traditional business applications have always been very complicated and expensive. The amount and variety of hardware and software required to run them are daunting. You need a whole team of experts to install, configure, test, run, secure, and update them.

When you multiply this effort across dozens or hundreds of apps, its easy to see why the biggest companies with the best IT departments arent getting the apps they need. Small and mid-sized businesses dont stand a chance. The affordability of cloud-hosted data makes it an essential tool for these types of situations. Here are some other benefits of cloud computing.

- Adaptable

Cloud computing allows for adaptable programs and applications, that are customizable, while allowing the owners control over the core code.

- Multi-tenancy

Cloud software provides the opportunity to provide personalized applications and portals to a number of customers or tenants.

- Reliable

Because it is hosted by a third party, businesses and other users have greater assurance of reliability, and when there are problems, easy access to customer support.

- Scalability

With the Internet of Things, it is essential that software functions across every device and integrates with other applications. Cloud applications can provide this.

- Secure

Cloud computing can also guarantee a more secure environment, thanks to increased resources for security and centralization of data.

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With cloud computing, you eliminate those headaches that come with storing your own data, because youre not managing hardware and software that becomes the responsibility of an experienced vendor like salesforce.com. The shared infrastructure means it works like a utility: you only pay for what you need, upgrades are automatic, and scaling up or down is easy.

Cloud-based apps can be up and running in days or weeks, and they cost less. With a cloud app, you just open a browser, log in, customize the app, and start using it.

Businesses are running all kinds of apps in the cloud, like customer relationship management (CRM), HR, accounting, and much more. Some of the worlds largest companies moved their applications to the cloud with salesforce.com after rigorously testing the security and reliability of our infrastructure.

As cloud computing grows in popularity, thousands of companies are simply rebranding their non-cloud products and services as cloud computing. Always dig deeper when evaluating cloud offerings and keep in mind that if you have to buy and manage hardware and software, what youre looking at isnt really cloud computing but a false cloud.

Salesforce can provide a comprehensive solution to all of your cloud computing needs. Using a wide array of tools and services, Salesforce can be a one stop shop for businesses looking to manage customer relationships, sales, marketing, and application development. Using artificial intelligence, Salesforce applications can also provide predictive analytics that allow for all around better decision making.

The best way to get to know Sales Cloud is to get your hands on the actual product. The free trial also comes with unlimited access to our Sales Community, a group of sales thought leaders sharing ideas about sales for salespeople.

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The Cloud Computing Era Could Be Nearing Its End | WIRED – WIRED

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Fasten your harnesses , because the era of cloud computings giant data centers is about to be rear-ended by the age of self-driving cars. Heres the problem: When a self-driving car has to make snap decisions, it needs answers fast. Even slight delays in updating road and weather conditions could mean longer travel times or dangerous errors. But those smart vehicles of the near-future dont quite have the huge computing power to process the data necessary to avoid collisions, chat with nearby vehicles about optimizing traffic flow, and find the best routes that avoid gridlocked or washed-out roads. The logical source of that power lies in the massive server farms where hundreds of thousands of processors can churn out solutions. But that wont work if the vehicles have to wait the 100 milliseconds or so it usually takes for information to travel each way to and from distant data centers. Cars, after all, move fast.

Jeremy Hsu is a science and tech journalist based in New York.

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That problem from the frontier of technology is why many tech leaders foresee the need for a new edge computing networkone that turns the logic of todays cloud inside out. Today the $247 billion cloud computing industry funnels everything through massive centralized data centers operated by giants like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google. Thats been a smart model for scaling up web search and social networks, as well as streaming media to billions of users. But its not so smart for latency-intolerant applications like autonomous cars or mobile mixed reality.

Its a foregone conclusion that giant, centralized server farms that take up 19 city blocks of power are just not going to work everywhere, says Zachary Smith, a double-bass player and Juilliard School graduate who is the CEO and cofounder of a New York City startup called Packet. Smith is among those who believe that the solution lies in seeding the landscape with smaller server outpoststhose edge networksthat would widely distribute processing power in order to speed its results to client devices, like those cars, that cant tolerate delay.

Packets scattered micro datacenters are nothing like the sprawling facilities operated by Amazon and Google, which can contain tens of thousands of servers and squat outside major cities in suburbs, small towns, or rural areas, thanks to their huge physical footprints and energy appetites. Packets centers often contain just a few server racksbut the company promises customers in major cities speedy access to raw computing power, with average delays of just 10 to 15 milliseconds (an improvement of roughly a factor of ten). That kind of speed is on the must have lists of companies and developers hoping to stream virtual reality and augmented reality experiences to smartphones, for example. Such experiences rely upon a neurological processthe vestibulo-ocular reflexthat coordinates eye and head movements. It occurs within seven milliseconds, and if your device takes 10 times that long to hear back from a server, forget about suspension of disbelief.

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Immersive experiences are just the start of this new kind of need for speed. Everywhere you look, our autonomously driving, drone-clogged, robot-operated future needs to shave more milliseconds off its network-roundtrip clock. For smart vehicles alone, Toyota noted that the amount of data flowing between vehicles and cloud computing services is estimated to reach 10 exabytes per month by 2025 .

Cloud computing giants havent ignored the lag problem. In May, Microsoft announced the testing of its new Azure IoT Edge service, intended to push some cloud computing functions onto developers own devices. Barely a month later, Amazon Web Services opened up general access to AWS Greengrass software that similarly extends some cloud-style services to devices running on local networks. Still, these services require customers to operate hardware on their own. Customers who are used to handing that whole business off to a cloud provider may view that as a backwards step.

US telecom companies are also seeing their build-out of new 5G networks which should eventually support faster mobile data speedsas a chance to cut down on lag time. As the service providers expand their networks of cell towers and base stations, they could seize the opportunity to add server power to the new locations. In July, AT&T announced plans to build a mobile edge computing network based on 5G, with the goal of reaching single-digit millisecond latency . Theoretically, data would only need to travel a few miles between customers and the nearest cell tower or central office, instead of hundreds of miles to reach a cloud data center.

Our network consists of over 5,000 central offices, over 65,000 cell towers, and even several hundred thousand distribution points beyond that, reaching into all the neighborhoods we serve, says Andre Fuetsch, CTO at AT&T. All of a sudden, all those physical locations become candidates for compute.

AT&T claims it has a head start on rival telecoms because of its network virtualization initiative, which includes the software capability to automatically juggle workloads and make good use of idle resources in the mobile network, according to Fuetsch. Its similar to how big data centers use virtualization to spread out a customers data processing workload across multiple computer servers.

Meanwhile, companies such as Packet might be able to piggyback their own machines onto the new facilities, too. I think were at this time where a huge amount of investment is going into mobile networks over the next two to three years, Packets Smith says. So its a good time to say Why not tack on some compute? (Packets own funding comes in part from the giant Japanese telecom and internet conglomerate Softbank, which invested $9.4 million in 2016.) In July 2017, Packet announced its expansion to Ashburn, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, and Seattle, along with new international locations in Frankfurt, Toronto, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Sydney.

Packet is far from the only startup making claims on the edge. Austin-based Vapor IO has already begun building its own micro data centers alongside existing cell towers. In June, the startup announced its Project Volutus initiative, which includes a partnership with Crown Castle, the largest US provider of shared wireless infrastructure (and a Vapor IO investor). That enables Vapor IO to take advantage of Crown Castles existing network of 40,000 cell towers and 60,000 miles of fiber optic lines in metropolitan areas. The startup has been developing automated software to remotely operate and monitor micro data centers to ensure that customers dont experience interruptions in service if some computer servers go down, says Cole Crawford, Vapor IOs founder and CEO.

Dont look for the edge to shut down all those data centers in Oregon, North Carolina, and other rural outposts: Our eras digital cathedrals are not vanishing anytime soon. Edge computings vision of having thousands of small, regional and micro-regional data centers that are integrated into the last mile networks is actually a natural extension of todays centralized cloud, Crawford says. In fact, the cloud computing industry has extended its tentacles toward the edge with content delivery networks such as Akamai, Cloudflare, and Amazon CloudFront that already use edge locations to speed up delivery of music and video streaming.

Nonetheless, the remote computing industry stands on the cusp of a back to the future moment, according to Peter Levine, general partner at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. In a 2016 video presentation , Levine highlighted how the pre-2000 internet once relied upon a decentralized network of PCs and client servers. Next, the centralized network of the modern cloud computing industry really took off, starting around 2005. Now, demand for edge computing is pushing development of decentralized networks once again (even as the public cloud computing industrys growth is expected to peak at 18 percent this year, before starting to taper off).

That kind of abstract shift is already showing up, unlocking experiences that could only exist with help from the edge. Hatch, a spinoff company from Angry Birds developer Rovio, has begun rolling out a subscription game streaming service that allows smartphone customers to instantly begin playing without waiting on downloads. The service offers low-latency multiplayer and social gaming features such as sharing gameplay via Twitch-style live-streaming. Hatch has been cagey about the technology it developed to slash the number of data-processing steps in streaming games, other than saying it eliminates the need for video compression and can do mobile game streaming at 60 frames per second. But when it came to figuring out how to transmit and receive all that data without latency wrecking the experience, Hatch teamed up withguess whoPacket.

We are one of the first consumer-facing use cases for edge computing, says Juhani Honkala, founder and CEO of Hatch. But I believe there will be other use cases that can benefit from low latency, such as AR/VR, self-driving cars, and robotics.

Of course, most Hatch customers will not know or care about how those micro datacenters allow them to instantly play games with friends. The same blissful ignorance will likely surround most people who stream augmented-reality experiences on their smartphones while riding in self-driving cars 10 years from now. All of us will gradually come to expect new computer-driven experiences to be made available anywhere instantlyas if by magic. But in this case, magic is just another name for putting the right computer in the right place at the right time.

There is so much more that people can do, says Packets Smith, than stare at their smartphones and wait for downloads to happen. We want our computation now . And the edge is the way well get it.

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Marketo decides to go all-in on cloud computing, and picks Google as its home – GeekWire

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Diane Greene, senior vice president for Google Cloud, speaks at Google Cloud Next this morning. (Google Photo)

One of the bigger marketing software companies, Marketo, has decided its ready to ditch its servers and move into the cloud, and Google is getting the business.

The two companies announced a multiyear collaboration strategy Thursday that will see Marketo move its business onto Google Cloud Platform over the next couple of years, and Google will do some work to integrate Marketos products into G Suite. Forbes noted that Google provided migration incentives in order to sweeten the deal, which will further the notion that a lot of Googles major customer wins have come at the cost of steep discounts for its services.

Still, the multiyear agreement provides Google with another long-term customer that could help it woo others, especially other marketing companies. Marketo told Forbes that one of the main reasons it choose Google was because of its in-house marketing savvy as one of the biggest advertising brokers in the world, and that might be an interesting niche for Google to pursue as other software-as-a-service marketing companies plot out cloud strategies.

Marketos software is used by a lot of companies to manage their marketing operations, from lead generation to campaign measurement. It might have decided that it needed some IT assistance earlier this year when it somehow forgot to renew its domain name registration and went down for several hours until it could fix the problem.

Google has been making slow but steady process in its cloud efforts, as it tries to shed a reputation for lacking the enterprise sales touch that Amazon Web Services and Microsoft enjoy. It has stepped up its support of hybrid cloud strategies through deals with Nutanix and just this week lowered prices on networking costs for customers that dont require all the performance that Googles fiber network provides.

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Marketo decides to go all-in on cloud computing, and picks Google as its home - GeekWire

The Benefits of Multi-Cloud Computing Architectures for MSPs – MSPmentor

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Multi-cloud computing architectures are the next step up from cloud computing.

If you're an MSP, it may no longer be enough to have just one cloud.

Here's why a multi-cloud strategy can helped managed services providers.

As the term implies, multi-cloud computing refers to the use of more than one cloud.

A multi-cloud architecture could involve multiple public clouds -- such as AWS, Azure and Google Cloud Platform.

Multi-cloud could also take the form of a mixture of different types of clouds -- a public cloud, a private cloud and a managed cloud, for example.

In the latter sense, there is some overlap between multi-cloud architectures and hybrid architectures, which mix public and private clouds together.

Think of hybrid cloud as one form of multi-cloud computing.

Multi-cloud is a broader category, because it involves mixing clouds of many different types.

What do businesses -- and MSPs in particular -- have to gain from a multi-cloud strategy?

Consider the following advantages of a multi-cloud architecture:

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Biz Cloud Computing – Four States Homepage

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JOPLIN, Mo. - "It's just like I'm there at the office," says Wendy Brunner-Lewis.

She says it's hard to imagine not being able to tap into the Cloud. "How many times have you woken up and your kids are sick and you think, 'Oh gosh, all my stuff's at the office.' You know it's nice that you don't have to try to remember everything you need the night before and bring home," Brunner-Lewis says.

A study by IDG Enterprise says almost seven out of ten offices are doing at least part of their work remotely, or on the Cloud. And it predicts it will be 100% within three years.

John Motazedi with Joplin IT company SNCSquared says that's likely due to advantages like reduced maintenance. "Most of those things are already done by the vendor. So you don't spend time backing it up, you don't spend time patching it doing updates," he says.

He also points to the flexibility; you aren't limited by the size of your hardware on site, kind of like electricity. "Most people don't have a generator in their house. They use electricity whenever they need it, they have wires that come to their house," Motazedi says.

He adds security is a high priority, so new users should check out the Cloud service before signing up. "There is a difference in data centers and how secure access to those data centers are," Motazedi says.

SNC Squared is holding a seminar on Cloud computing next month.

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Why 2017 Is The Year To Understand Cloud Computing – Nasdaq

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The Cloud has become a major buzzword in business for very good reason. Small businesses and large enterprises alike cantake advantage of cloud computingto build and expand the computer based infrastructurebehind the scenes. Follow this guide to better understand what cloud computing is, how it works, and how you can take advantage.

In the old world of web servers and internet infrastructure, websites and other online assets were typically limited to one main server, or a few linked servers using tools called load balancers, to process and send data, whether it be acustomer facing websiteor internal facing application. The advent of content delivery networks (CDNs) powered up those servers to host and serve data from the edge of the network for faster serving and sometimes lower costs.

As computing demand exploded with the rise of the smartphone and high-speed internet, consumer and business needs downstream of those servers continues to creep upward. Cloud computing has emerged as the best option to handle an array of computing needs for startups and small businesses due to the ability to start at a low cost and scale, almost infinitely, as demand grows. Advances in cloud technology at Amazon, Google, Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, and other major cloud providers is making cloud computing more desirable for all businesses.

When cloud computing first emerged, large enterprises were the only businesses able to afford the cost of elastic, flexible computing power. Now, however, those costs are more likely a drop in the bucket for small businesses.

For example, I use the cloud to store and serve videos forDenver Flash Mob, a side hustle business I run with my wife. Our monthly bill is typically around a dollar or two, and heavy months lead to a bill around five bucks. No big deal! Mylending startup Money Molais also cloud based, with costs to run both a development server and public facing server running us around $30 per month.

The first time I logged into Amazon Web Services (AWS) it seemed like I needed a computer science degree to use it! I had a hard time doing even basic tasks outside of uploading and sharing videos. Thankfully Amazon has made using AWS much easier, though it is not without its challenges.

Im a pretty techy guy, so my skillset is a bit more advanced than the average computer user. I have setup AWS to send outgoing transactional emails,automatically backup websites, and more on my own. If you are willing and able to hire a cloud expert, the possibilities of the cloud are endless. Anything from web hosting to artificial intelligence and big data analysis can run in the cloud.

The most basic way to get started with cloud computing is website and computer backups. If you use WordPress for your website, setting up cloud backups is simple with one of a handful of plugins likeUpdraft Plus. If you can use the WordPress dashboard, you can setup cloud backups with Updraft plus. It is quick and easy and includes out of the box support. Easy from companies like AWS, Drobox, Google Drive, Rackspace Cloud, and other services. The paid plugin version adds access to Microsoft OneDrive and Azure, Google Cloud Storage, and other options.

I runseveral backups of both my laptop and my web based assets. If my home were to be burglarized or burned down, the cloud has me covered. If my laptop is stolen, I have a backup at home and in the cloud. Redundant backups are not optional, they are a must in 2017.

In addition to safe, secure backups, the cloud can reach far corners of the planet. Utilizingcloud based CDNs, you know your customers will get every video and web page they want with near instant speeds.

Lets say your business has a popular video you want to share around the world. With acloud CDN, you upload your video once to the web. Then the CDN takes over and creates copies of that video file in data centers around the world. Whenever a customer clicks to view that video, they are served a copy from the closest data center to their location.

Thanks to the power of a CDN, you dont have to send viewers in Australia, London, Bangkok, and Buenos Aires a video from your web server in Texas. Each one gets a local copy so they get their video even faster, offering a better customer experience. App based businesses can even run multiple versions of their app in data centers around the world. This will nsure every user has the same great experience.

It doesnt matter what your business does, there is some way the cloud can help you achieve better results. The cloud is only going to grow and become more prominent in business. Older computer methods will go the way of the fax machine. If you want serious computing success with scalability and flexibility, the cloud is your best option.

This article was originally published on Due.com.

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

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Cloud Computing Confirmed for Travers | TDN | Thoroughbred Daily … – Thoroughbred Daily News

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Cloud Computing at Saratoga | Sarah K. Andrew

After some deliberation by trainer Chad Brown, Klaravich Stables and William Lawrences GI Preakness S. winner Cloud Computing (Macleans Music) will compete in Saturdays GI Travers S. at Saratoga, the Eclipse Award-winning conditioner confirmed Monday morning. The latest addition to the expected full field augments an already competitive race that is expected to also draw GI Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming (Bodemeister) and GI Belmont S. hero Tapwrit (Tapit) from the Todd Pletcher barn.

Second in the Mar. 4 GIII Gotham S. and third in the Apr. 8 GII Wood Memorial S. prior to his win in the Preakness May 20, Cloud Computing returned from a two-month layoff with a disappointing last-of-five finish as the 6-5 second choice in the July 29 GII Jim Dandy S., the traditional prep for the Travers. He was asked to stay closer to a decidedly moderate pace that day and came up empty in the stretch, despite being beaten just 4 3/4 lengths by Good Samaritan (Harlans Holiday). The colt has worked twice since then, most recently posting a five-furlong move in 1:01.65 Saturday.

He couldnt have worked any better, said Brown. I was very happy with the work and Javier was pleased, and he came out of his work well.

Brown said recently inducted Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano will ride Cloud Computing in the Traversa race he has won a record five times.

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Google Unveils Custom Hardware Chip for Cloud – Investopedia

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Investopedia
Google Unveils Custom Hardware Chip for Cloud
Investopedia
subsidiary Google is planning to unveil technical details of the Titan chip its custom chip for hardware security for its cloud computing division today. The Mountain View, California-based company had already announced the chip at its Google Next ...

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VMware to surge more than 20 percent because the Amazon cloud … – CNBC

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Wall Street rarely talks about its mistakes, but Deutsche Bank admitted it overestimated the Amazon Web Services threat to VMware's business.

The firm raised its rating for VMware shares on Monday to buy from hold, saying the company's server virtualization software can continue to thrive in a cloud-computing world.

"We've spent much of the last two years worried about VMware's on-premise core server business given its maturity and the threat from AWS/Cloud adoption [Amazon Web Services]," analyst Karl Keirstead wrote in a note to clients entitled "Overcoming our AWS fears."

"This upgrade should be seen in the context of growing evidence that large enterprises are embracing a hybrid model, materially lowering the out-year risk profile of VMware shares."

The hybrid model is defined by companies using both local servers on-site and cloud-computing servers off-site. Keirstead said he realized the staying power of VMWare's on-site server market was more "durable" than he originally forecast.

"We believe that large enterprises are migrating IT workloads to the public cloud model at a slower-than-expected pace and are electing to ramp spending to modernize their on-premise IT infrastructures," he wrote. "Our recent checks agree that VMware technology is proving to be more durable than they would have thought 12-18 months ago."

As a result, Keirstead increased his VMware price target to $120, which is 24 percent higher than Monday's close. His previous price target was $110.

VMware shares are outperforming the market this year. Shares have risen 23.2 percent year to date through Monday compared with the S&P 500's 8.5 percent gain.

The analyst said he is also cautiously optimistic about the VMware and Amazon AWS strategic partnership announced in October, which enables access to AWS computing power for the company's customers.

"We are positive on the deal for both parties. It is hard to imagine how this could end up being a net negative for either party," he wrote. "We conclude that the stock can still work even if the initial lift from VMware Cloud on AWS is modest."

VMware will report second-quarter earnings on Thursday after the market close. Its stock traded up 1.8 percent short after Tuesday's market open.

CNBC's Michael Bloom contributed to this story.

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Disney Cruise Line celebrates the spooky season with Halloween … – Inside the Magic

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Inside the Magic
Disney Cruise Line celebrates the spooky season with Halloween ...
Inside the Magic
Disney Cruise Line will be preparing their ships for a ghoulishly good time with their "Halloween on the High Seas" event. All four Disney ships will see a.

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Disney Cruise Line celebrates the spooky season with Halloween ... - Inside the Magic

Edward Allcard, Solo Sailor on the High Seas, Dies at 102 – The … – New York Times

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After reaching Gibraltar, Mr. Allcard spent the winter making repairs to Temptress before setting off for America.

During the crossing, which took 81 days, he survived fierce gales and squalls, one of which capsized his boat; a near-collision with a whale; and encounters with sharks.

Sharks never came too near me when I was bathing, he wrote. However, several times in the calm, a shark came to scratch its back on the topsides, whereupon I would hold my revolver to its head and fire.

A thousand miles before reaching Sandy Hook, N.J., he began to feel joy about soon reaching his goal. But he also wondered if leaving the comfort of the water would not suit his loners personality. What was there to celebrate?, he remembered thinking. Getting near to the artificialities and impurities of civilization, where money was God?

The voyage from Gibraltar ended in the Bronx, at City Island, on Aug. 9, 1949. His brown hair had been bleached white. He had lost about 20 pounds. And without a visa, he was temporarily detained by the immigration authorities.

Mr. Allcard stayed in the United States for about a year as he made more repairs on Temptress. On his lengthy return to England, he wrote in his log: Hurricane. Impossible to differentiate between wind and water 60 feet high. Boat vibrating on beam ends rolled over 100 degrees.

Six weeks later, on Oct. 21, 1950, he wrote: Overwhelmed by gigantic sea. Upside down. Mizzen and stern mast dismantled.

While leaving Fayal, an island in the Azores, where the boat again needed repairs (and he needed to heal from broken toes and cracked ribs), he found a young woman, Otilia Frayao, stowed away in his cabin. They had met ashore several times, and she had been on the boat in the company of others.

Miss Frayao, who was described as a poet, told reporters that she had been bored and seeking a more intellectually stimulating life and that reading Single-Handed Passage, which he had lent to her, had inspired her to sneak onto his boat.

She became, in effect, his crew for a few weeks before they parted in Casablanca, where he denied rumors of a romance between the two. He continued on to Plymouth, England.

Their lives intersected decades later; she was living in Zaragoza, Spain only hours from his home in Andorra, between France and Spain and visited him on his 95th birthday.

When his book about his voyage home, Temptress Returns, was published in 1953, the marine engineer and author William McFee wrote in The New York Times: Mr. Allcard should not be disappointed if his readers show more interest in his stowaway than in his struggles with the elements. It is no reflection on his storytelling talent.

Edward Cecil Allcard was born on Oct. 31, 1914, in Walton-on Thames, a suburb of London. His father, Rupert, was a stockbroker; his mother, the former Helen Whitmore, was a homemaker.

By age 6, Edward was sailing; when he was 12, his grandfather gave him a 15-foot sailing dinghy, which he plied the length of the tidal Thames two years later.

He graduated from Eton College and later, while continuing his studies at Chillon College, on Lake Geneva, Switzerland, he was coxswain to a winning racing boat.

After apprenticeships in shipbuilding yards, he became a naval architect. Poor eyesight disqualified him from serving in the Royal Navy during World War II, so he went to work in the Air Ministry, supervising the building and testing of air-rescue craft. He seriously injured a leg during a bombing in London.

Mr. Allcard began his seafaring life in earnest after the war, setting sail whenever he pleased, earning money over the years as a writer, charter skipper, hotel maintenance manager and rehabilitater of old wooden boats, which he sold for a profit.

Im not looking for something, he told the British newspaper The Sunday Express in the late 1960s. Im just living. In fact, Im a steady, home-loving type. My boat is my home. Ive been at home longer than most people stay in one house.

He began his solo around-the-world odyssey in 1961, a leisurely adventure that took him about a dozen years, on a 36-foot ketch called the Sea Wanderer. The trip included a 2,800-mile race against his friend Peter Tangvald from the Canary Islands to Antigua in the Caribbean Mr. Allcard lost and paid Mr. Tangvald a $1 prize and a long trip around Cape Horn, the subject of his final book, Solo Around Cape Horn, published last year.

He was out to see the planet, his wife, the former Clare Thompson, said in a telephone interview. He wasnt out to prove anything. He was living on the boat. If he liked a place, hed stop there.

He stopped for six months near Cape Horn. He stayed for a year in New Zealand. He didnt want to have any records.

Indeed, he had stopped his trip to meet and marry her.

Clare Thompson had been a patient in a psychiatric hospital when she read The Sunday Express article about Mr. Allcard, taking particular note when he was quoted as saying that the ideal for him would be to find a woman who would sail with him.

She wrote to him; they met in 1967 in Hove, on the south coast of England, started traveling together soon after and married in 1973.

He continued his solo journeys. On one, in the Indian Ocean, he had been heading for Mombasa, Kenya, on he East Coast of Africa when he went off course and landed in the Seychelles instead. For three months he lost contact with his family. (He and wife had a year-old daughter by then.)

A belated telegram from Mr. Allcard told her, Delete Mombasa substitute Seychelles have found love nest come soonest. They bought 17 acres on a coconut plantation and lived there for several years.

Later, after hiring a small crew they agreed to only room and board in exchange for their work he and his wife wandered the world in a 69-foot trading vessel called the Johanne Regina.

Mr. Allcard stopped sailing, at 91, when he realized he could no longer perform strenuous onboard tasks.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by his daughters, Kate Krabel and Dona Mackereth; four grandchildren; and one great-grandchild. A previous marriage ended in divorce.

The success of Mr. Allcards first trip across the Atlantic established him as one of the worlds foremost mariners, as well as a deft chronicler of seafaring.

In Single-Handed Passage, he wrote about leaving Gibraltar. He started the engine. He cast off his lines. And he thought to himself: My last line with the shore was severed at least for the rest of the summer and possibly for all time. Only the final reckoning would prevent me from reaching the other side of the Atlantic.

A version of this article appears in print on August 19, 2017, on Page D6 of the New York edition with the headline: Edward Allcard, Said to Be First to Crisscross the Atlantic Alone, Dies at 102.

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Editorial: Another collision on high seas – The Providence Journal

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Another terrible collision involving a Navy ship raises a question of what in the world is going on. In little more than two months, American military vessels have twice collided with huge ships, with the loss of sailors lives and at a huge cost to taxpayers.

Given that cyberwarfare is rapidly advancing, the collisions make many Americans wonder: Has an adversary somehow managed to tamper with our extraordinarily complex and expensive navigation systems? And what does that mean for our national security? If there were such a problem, would the public even be informed, given the implications?

But technology is far from the only possible explanation. Few of us are expert in the challenges of moving ships in narrow straits amidst other vessels, while dealing with strong currents. And it is proverbially difficult to turn a battleship or a massive cargo vessel.

For its part, the Navy quickly responded to a crash Monday off Singapore involving the guided-missile destroyer John S. McCain named after the father and grandfather of U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. and an oil tanker three times its size. Divers Tuesday found missing sailors in flooded compartments of the destroyer. Our heart goes out to the sailors and the families involved.

Navy Adm. John Richardson, chief of naval operations, ordered a one-day operational pause in Navy fleets across the world to try to make sure vessels are operating safely. He also announced an investigation into equipment and how the Navy prepares its forces to operate in the Pacific.

The latest disaster follows the June 17 collision of the destroyer Fitzgerald with a container ship off the coast of Japan. Seven sailors who were sleeping drowned in that mishap. On May 9, the guided-missile cruiser Lake Champlain collided with a South Korean fishing vessel. And on Jan. 31, the guided-missile cruiser Antietam ran aground in Tokyo Bay.

Clearly, a thorough investigation is welcome. Is training sufficient? Are Naval personnel expected to do too much given the resources available to them? Are leaders doing their job? Given that large vessels have multiple ways to avoid collisions, it seems extraordinary that four serious accidents have occurred since the start of the year. The collisions are alarming, too, given that the Navy must contend with the threat of terrorist attack by other vessels.

The review will include, but not be limited to, looking at operational tempo, trends in personnel, material, maintenance and equipment. It will also include a review of how we train and certify our surface warfare community, including tactical and navigational proficiency, Admiral Richardson said.

The state-run China Daily took the opportunity of the tragedy to bash U.S. naval efforts in the South China Sea, complaining that the Navy is becoming a dangerous obstacle in Asian waters. The United States has long taken a position, quite rightly, of ensuring open navigation of the high seas, concluding that its interests and the safety of the world depend on free trade. China, ominously, has been resisting that, insisting it has full sovereignty over the sea.

It is absolutely essential that our Navy personnel have the proper training and technology to avoid collisions. Let's hope the Navy gets to the truth of what is going on here.

Note: This editorial was updated online to include later news.

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Editorial: Another collision on high seas - The Providence Journal

Adventure on the High Seas – Somers NY News – TAPinto – TAPinto.net

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Last week my friend Dave took me and a couple of other friends out for a very pleasant tour of the Long Island Sound on his boat. He has a peppy little bowrider that he tows over to the Norwalk boat launch at Veterans Park. The term boat launch brought back some vivid memories of when Dave and I owned a boat together. Dave taught me everything I know about how to pilot a boat. However, no one whos boat has been hit by mine should hold that against him, since he taught me a lot more than I learned. One thing that did sink in is that a boat is not something to sink in. When properly launched, it should not go straight into the air like a rocket ship.

Do you know why its called the Long Island Sound? Neither do I, because whatever the Sound sounds like, I couldnt hear it over the roar of the engine once we got out of the channel. We aired that baby out to the tune of about 40 miles per hour after we cleared the no-wake zone. Do you know why they call it a wake? Well, we flew over a big one and went airborne for what seemed like a few minutes, and when we landed it woke me right up from a nap I was planning two days in the future. We were out of the no-wake zone, but there should be a no-fly zone posted there instead.

We cruised around for a while and took in the sights. There are extensive oyster beds in the area, but I doubt they got a whole lot of sleep. You can tell where they are by flags that stick up above the water, which makes the place look like a golf course made up entirely of water hazards. We motored by Westport, Sherwood Island and turned around near Fairfield.

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By this time everyone was getting hungry so we taxied into shallow water near what looked like a deserted island so we could eat our lunch. Get ready to drop the anchor, Dave called, and try not to scratch the paint with the anchor chain. Tony grabbed the anchor while I held the chain, and through a carefully coordinated effort we were able to scratch most of the paint off the bow, but to our credit we didnt scratch any off the anchor chain. It was a beautiful day, and we had a bite to eat, drinking in the natural beauty of the area since no one remembered to bring beer. Here the quiet was interrupted only by the chatter of the herring gull and the call of the double-crested cormorant, which I took on my cell phone. Life on the deserted island didnt look like it included dessert, which was disappointing.

But soon the cove started filling up fast with other boaters. People jumped in the water and began floating around on inner tubes, outer tubes, inflatable floaties and paddleboards, which are the new craze. Every time I see somebody on a paddleboard they look as if they mistakenly thought that they would be having way more fun than they presently are, standing around on a surfboard. One guy looked at my sandwich forlornly, and then started paddling away in the general direction of Domenicks Deli.

If Ive learned anything at all from Gilligans Island, its to prepare for every eventuality before you board the boat. Sure, everyone made fun of the Howells for bringing a trunkful of cash with them on an island tour, but there are no ATMs at the sand bar and I doubt they will take a personal check. Also, that transistor radio is going to be invaluable if we get shipwrecked and the Yankees play a day game. Im guarding that radio with my life, because if somebody busts a transistor in it, I have no idea where get another one.

As the afternoon wore on and the shadows started getting longer, it was time to weigh anchor and get back to the boat launch. Dave hopped onto the bow to retrieve the anchor before Tony and I could volunteer, and we powered up and headed toward shore. It was a short ride at top speed until we got to the channel, where you can only go 5 miles per hour, and I was expecting the guy on the paddleboard to pass us.

I have a friend who has a giant sailboat, and I cant imagine what happens if you get all the way out past the bay and the wind dies down. Well, actually, I can imagine it, that happens to be my strong suit. I picture me and two other couples drifting out from Long Island for a few days, and now were somewhere near the Galapagos Islands. Im pretty sure I can get us back home, if youll just let me generate some wind by telling a few stories about how I got kicked out of my high school math class for not baking cookies. Thats OK, I think the wind is about to pick up, they all reply, almost in unison, though weak from lack of food and water...

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Adventure on the High Seas - Somers NY News - TAPinto - TAPinto.net

Neurotechnology and the Future of Hope – Robotics Tomorrow (press release)

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If researchers can use implanted BCIs to allow people to bypass their muscles, indeed, if these scientists can find a cost-effective, reliable way to work around a damaged or compromised nervous system, people suffering paraplegia, amputation, multiple sclerosis, Lou Gehrig's, and a host of other diseases that rob them of their independence, may soon find that the frustrations of daily life are lessened.

Richard van Hooijdonk | Richard van Hooijdonk

Bill Kochevar wears a bright red shirt and what looks like a cast on his right arm. As he raises a fork to his mouth, his movements are awkward and slow, supported by a gravity defying brace mounted on the floor next to his wheelchair.

Hes got a fork full of mashed potatoes, and as he raises it to his mouth, the joy on his face is unmistakable.

It was amazing...I thought about moving my arm and it did!

That may seem unremarkable to you, but since a bicycle collision with a mail truck, Kochevar has been paralysed from the neck down.

Just imagine being paralysed.

Its the stuff of nightmares--wanting to flee and finding your legs rooted in place, unresponsive.

And weve all slept on an arm for long enough to render it dead. Think about that experience now. When you woke up, your limb was just meat, just dead weight that wouldnt move at your beck and call as it should.

Now imagine knowing that no amount of waiting will summon the pins and needles that mean your arm is coming back from the dead, that instead, itll hang lifeless at your side for the rest of your life, and that far from being indispensably useful, youll instead spend every waking moment trying to compensate for this new obstacle, adjusting everything you do from brushing your teeth to driving a car to typing at work--if, indeed, you can work.

Now extend that to multiple limbs or remove them altogether.

You can start to see what its like to live in a body that refuses to cooperate.

Paralysis affects far more people than you might realise. For instance, the Reeve Foundation recently found that 1 in 50 Americans struggle with paralysis caused by stroke, spinal injury, and muscular sclerosis. Nearly a majority are unable to work, a staggering 41.8%.

For them, independence is a dream, something they might remember but no longer experience. But now, advances in neurotech may help them live fuller, more self-sufficient lives.

Mind-controlled wheelchairs and the next step

To help those whove suffered a profound loss of motor control, researchers have been exploring mind-controlled wheelchairs. Rodrigo Quevedo, a Chilean engineer, has developed a design in his Idea factory. His motivating passion, he says, is to do something so [paraplegics] can move. Rodrigos current designs steer the chair by subtle head movements, but hes hoping to make the move to neural control soon.

Diwakar Vaish beat Rodrigo to the punch. This young Indian tech guru has developed the first commercially available wheelchair that features a brain computer interface (BCI). The user need only wear a headset that collects information from her brains electrical impulses, the neural storm that accompanies thought. The BCI translates these minute electrical signals into a language a computer can understand, something like a sophisticated google translate of thoughts. Now that the computer can grasp what a particular thought looks like, it can react and obey.

In Vaishs system, the non-invasive headset connects the users brain to the chair via Bluetooth, and augmented by proximity and terrain sensors, this has allowed even the most stricken patients a measure of autonomy. All thats demanded of the user is a healthy brain, so even those trapped by Locked-in Syndrome can use the new chair. As Vaish told The Sunday Guardian, We have tried it on patients who are in a vegetative state, but their brain is functional and it was successful.

The next steps are to move beyond motorised chairs and into the world of exoskeletons. Miguel Nicolelis, a Brazilian neuroscientist, has been working together with colleagues at Duke University as part of the Walk Again Project to design a wireless system that allows control of a wheelchair with thought alone. By implanting a tiny BCI in the brain of two rhesus monkeys, chosen for their similarity to human beings, they were able to demonstrate that it could control the movements of the chair. Hes pursuing this method because, as he explained to the Mirror, In some severely disabled people, even blinking is not possible. For them, using a wheelchair or device controlled by non invasive measures like an EEG, a device that monitors brain waves through electrodes on the scalp, may not be sufficient. To provide the control they need, invasive measures are necessary.

Nicolelis goal, then, isnt to duplicate Vaishs design. Instead, he wants eventually to develop robotic exoskeletons that are nothing less than an extension of their users mind, a dream he thinks is within reach given the data from these early experiments. For his test monkeys, the chair became something more than a means to get from one place to another; in fact, the wheelchair is being assimilated by the monkeys brain as an extension of its bodily representation of itself. If Nicolelis is right, he might be taking the first steps toward real mobility for paraplegics and others with profound motor impairment. We are not focused on the wheelchair, he promises.

Until now, if you lost an arm--but still had enough of one to be fitted for a prosthesis--doctors could fit you with an artificial arm that you could learn to control by moving the muscles left in your stump. These cumbersome systems are hobbled on a lot of these ifs: if the patient has enough remaining tissue, if the tissue still allows muscle movement, if the prosthetic arm can work well enough outside the lab.

These ifs fall on patients live like a thick blanket of snow, quickly obscuring the way forward. Thats why as many as half of these patients find their new arms collecting dust.

But scientists are well aware of these technological limitations, and their working to overcome them. One example of promising research comes from Johns Hopkins. Working with an epilepsy patient who needed his brain mapped to help him combat his seizures, a process wherein doctors implant tiny electrodes to stimulate the brain at precise--and unique--points, a research team led by Nathan Crone was able to implant a tiny BCI as well. 128 sensors in an areas about the size of a credit card were attached to the part of the mans brain that controls the arm and hand. After mapping exactly how the patients brain worked with a special glove, this interface allowed the Hopkins team to bypass the patients body and use only his thoughts to control the individual fingers of a robotic hand.

Initial results were promising; after mapping his brain, the test patient was able to control the robotic hand with 76% accuracy. By refining the control of the prosthesis--pairing the ring and pinky fingers together, that number rose to 88%. Thats no small feat!

The advantage of a system like this is not only that it can allow functional independence to people who had given up on caring for themselves, but also that it isnt artificial. Patients need merely think about what they want to do--and the artificial limb, chair, or robotic appendage does what its supposed to do. Case Western Reserve University is experimenting with implanted BCIs that have returned a measure of control to Kochevar. Now able to feed himself, hold a cup, and manipulate a fork, he explains, I think about what I want to do and the system does it for me. Its not a lot of thinking about it. When I want to do something, my brain does what it does. The researchers working with him think this is only the beginning.

With further development, we believe the technology could give more accurate control, allowing a wider range of actions, which could begin to transform the lives of people living with paralysis, Bolu Ajiboye, the lead scientist for this study told The Guardian.

Ajiboyes optimism is bolstered by the success of patients like Kochevar, who can slowly raise a mug to his lips and drink from a straw. For someone with quadriplegia to gain even this limited mobility is life-changing, and this advance charts the course for future innovations and provides powerful new tools to help those in need.

If researchers can use implanted BCIs to allow people to bypass their muscles, indeed, if these scientists can find a cost-effective, reliable way to work around a damaged or compromised nervous system, people suffering paraplegia, amputation, multiple sclerosis, Lou Gehrig's, and a host of other diseases that rob them of their independence, may soon find that the frustrations of daily life are lessened. For futurists and trendwatchers, the promise is clear.

This new breed of BCI, powered by advances in neuroscience, isnt just technology.

Its hope.

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Neurotechnology and the Future of Hope - Robotics Tomorrow (press release)

Technology Key to Fighting Neurological Disease – R & D Magazine

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New technologies may be on the way to better help doctors diagnose and treat patients with neurological diseases.

Researchers from the National Neuroscience Institute (NNI) and Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU) have come together to develop several new technologies, including an artificial intelligence system that can accurately identify types of traumatic brain injuries from computed tomography (CT) scans.

Innovation occurs at intersections of disciplines, knowledge and expertise, associate professor Ng Wai Hoe, Medical Director of the National Neuroscience Institute, said in a statement. Doctors have a deep understanding of clinical needs from their everyday interactions with patients.

Our unique collaboration brings these medical needs to engineering laboratoriesan environment where imagination is encouraged in the form of technological advances and capabilities.

The researchers also plan to develop a computer algorithm for more precise identification of tissues during brain surgeries, which aim to restore the neurological functions of patients suffering from various conditions including Parkinsons disease.

A new fellowship programmanaged by NTUs Institute for Health Technologieswill see up to two neurosurgical residents at NNI work full-time with NTU professors on campus, with each resident receiving $100,000 to complete and commercialize these projects.

The program was designed to foster a relationship over the next three years between medical practitioners and engineers through annual fellowships and student attachment programs.

The rapidly ageing population will lead to a significant rise in neurological diseases globally, Hoe said. By harnessing the power of the human brain, neurotechnology can provide solutions to revolutionize the treatment of brain disorders.

This partnership has great potential to be an innovation launchpad for neurotechnology.

A student attachment program aimed at grooming multidisciplinary scientists will also be introduced, giving students an opportunity to widen their engineering knowledge into medical practice, gaining first-hand exposure to various aspects of clinical medicine by interacting with neurosurgeons.

Professor Lam Khin Yong, NTU's Chief of Staff and Vice President for Research, said the new technology will assist the next wave of doctors.

This collaboration creates a unique multidisciplinary research environment by integrating healthcare with both medical and engineering expertise from NTU's Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine and College of Engineering, Yong said in a statement. This will not only nurture next-generation doctors armed with a multidisciplinary skillset to meet Singapore's healthcare needs, but also enhance medical technologies to diagnose and treat neurological conditions more effectively.

In Switzerland, additional technological advancements are making an impact in the treatment of neurological disorders.

Researchers from the National Centre of Competence in Research Robotics at cole Polytechnique Fdrale de Lausanne (EPFL) and at the Lausanne University Hospital in Switzerland, have developed an algorithm to help those paralyzed by a neurological disorder or injury. The algorithm helps a robotic harness facilitate the movements of patients, enabling them to move naturally. This new technology could help patients regain their locomotor skills

A variety of neurological disorders including stroke, multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, can lead to paralysis. Currently, people with motor disabilities rehabilitate by walking on a treadmill with the upper torso being supported by an apparatus. However, this can be either too rigid or does not allow the patient to move naturally in all directions.

Locomotor rehabilitation requires helping the nervous system relearn the right movements, which is difficult due to the loss of muscle mass in patients, as well as train the neurological wiring that has forgotten correct posture.

The researchers designed the algorithm to overcome these obstacles. The robotic rehabilitation harness was tested on more than 30 patients and markedly and immediately improved the patients locomotor abilities.

The harnesscalled the smart walk assistis a body-weight support system that manages to resist the force of gravity and push the patient in a given direction to recreate a natural gait and movement that the patient needs in their everyday lives.

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Technology Key to Fighting Neurological Disease - R & D Magazine

Canaccord Genuity Keeps Rating And Raises Price Target On Stryker Corporation (SYK) – Modern Readers

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Stryker Corporation (NYSE:SYK).

On June 30 analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald starting coverage on the stock giving it an initial rating of Neutral. On May 16, 2017 Goldman Sachs released its first research report on the stock by announcing an initial rating of Neutral.

In the market the company is trading down by -0.12% since yesterdays close of $138.36. Additionally the company recently declared a dividend which will be paid on Tuesday the 31st of October 2017. The dividend will be $0.425 per share for the quarter which is $1.70 annualized. The dividend yield will be $1.17. The ex-dividend date will be on Wednesday the 28th of June 2017.

The stock last traded at $138.19 which is marginally lower than the 50 day moving average of $144.81 and which is slightly above the 200 day moving average of $136.90. The 50 day moving average was down by -4.54% and the 200 day average went up $1.34 or +0.98%.

Stryker Corporation (Stryker), launched on February 20, 1946, is a medical technology company. The Company offers a range of medical technologies, including orthopedic, medical and surgical, and neurotechnology and spine products. The Businesss segments include Orthopaedics; MedSurg; Neurotechnology and Spine, and Corporate and Other. The Orthopaedics segment includes reconstructive (hip and knee) and trauma implant systems and other related products. The Businesss MedSurg segment consists of instruments, endoscopy, medical and sustainability products. The Neurotechnology and Spine segment includes neurovascular products, spinal implant systems and other related products..

Stryker Corporations P/E ratio is 30.86 and market capitalization is 51.71B. As of the last earnings report the EPS was $4.48 and is projected to be $6.50 for the current year with 374,063,000 shares outstanding. Analysts expect next quarters EPS to be $1.95 with next years EPS anticipated to be $7.11.

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Canaccord Genuity Keeps Rating And Raises Price Target On Stryker Corporation (SYK) - Modern Readers