NASA technology (6)

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Engine Test With a Cyclonic Twist
NASA – Water forms an interesting cyclonic twist as it is intentionally sucked into the test engine of a U.S. Air Force C-17 transport aircraft during the VIPR project engine health monitoring tests conducted by NASA Dryden. The water was contained on a special platform built by NASA Dryden’s Fabrication Branch for the tests.

NASA’s Aviation Safety Program is developing technology for improved sensors to help spot changes in vibration, speed, temperature and emissions which are symptomatic of engine glitches. These advanced sensors could alert ground crews to problems that can be eliminated with preventive maintenance before becoming serious safety concerns. Ultimately, the sensors could alert pilots to the presence of destructive volcanic ash particles too small for the eyes to see, giving more time for evasive action to prevent engine damage in flight. Image Credit: NASA / Tony Landis

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Dump Your Social Media Strategy

By Christine Crandell – Companies of all types have jumped on the social bandwagon.

But, social media is not a destination; it is an enabler of business strategy. In and of itself, social media will not drive customer satisfaction, robust collaboration, or revenue. It’s like putting a toy sailboat in a pond and huffing and puffing into the sail to make it go.

For the past year “the pundits” and thought leaders like Brian Solis have been calling for social technology vendors to rethink how they deliver on the social promise.   Lithium heard them and delivered a compelling vision at today’s (May 3, 2012) LiNC conference. more> http://tinyurl.com/6peo9ox

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Signal lost for telecommunications bill

Network map of combined Qwest and CenturyLink assets (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

By Patrick Malone – A feeding frenzy over funds for broadband expansion damned a proposal to modernize telecommunications in Colorado for the first time in 25 years.

Sponsors hailed SB157 as the most important bill of this year’s legislative session when they introduced it almost two months ago. On Friday (May 4, 2012), they withdrew it with a bitter whimper.

“I think the fact that it sat between March 21 and May 4 means that legislators recognize that the bill as written has some fatal flaws,” Jim Campbell, regional vice president for CenturyLink, said. “From CenturyLink’s perspective, we think the winners were our consumers, especially our rural consumers, who would have been severely impacted if this bill had passed.” more> http://tinyurl.com/6n6cye8

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Angry Greeks reject bailout, risk euro exit

By Dina Kyriakidou and Harry Papachristou – Greek voters enraged by economic hardship caused by the terms of an international bailout turned on ruling parties in an election on Sunday (May 6, 2012), putting the country’s future in the euro zone at risk and threatening to revive Europe‘s debt crisis.

“My vote was a protest vote because they cut my pension,” said 75-year-old pensioner Kalliopi, her fists clenched in anger. “I live in a basement but pay the same (property) tax as someone who lives in a penthouse,” said Kalliopi after voting. more> http://tinyurl.com/blwa5j4

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• Markets could stumble after France, Greece votes (miamiherald.com)
• Next up to take on Europe’s debt crisis: Democracy, Henry Chu, latimes.com
• Greek, French voters reject German-led austerity, Reuters/EurActiv.com
• Anti-austerity vote heralds instability in Greece, Reuters/EurActiv.com
• Socialist Francois Hollande elected in France, Steven Erlanger, Boston Globe
• Merkozy End Means Franco-German Gulf; Greek Voters Rebel, Leon Mangasarian and Tony Czuczka, Bloomberg
• Left gets historic chance to pull Greece out of limbo, Dina Kyriakidou, Reuters

FBI: We need wiretap-ready Web sites – now

By Declan McCullagh – CNET learns the FBI is quietly pushing its plan to force surveillance backdoors on social networks, VoIP, and Web e-mail providers, and that the bureau is asking Internet companies not to oppose a law making those backdoors mandatory.

The FBI’s proposal would amend a 1994 law, called the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, or CALEA, that currently applies only to telecommunications providers, not Web companies. The Federal Communications Commission extended CALEA in 2004 to apply to broadband networks. more> http://tinyurl.com/856ba6o

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• FBI renews push for ready-made Web wiretaps (zdnet.com)
• FBI Pushes Legislation to Make It Easier to Wiretap the Web (reason.com)
• FBI: We Need Wiretap-Ready Web Sites – Now (yro.slashdot.org)