Google Auto?

Google has over 70 different companies in all different industries and businesses. And now, they want to take on the automobile industry. Google is currently developing an automobile that basically drives itself. I have watched a couple videos on YouTube featuring a Toyota Prius mounted with a bunch of cameras and other sensors, speeding around a track in an empty parking lot. Another video shows the vehicle in action on city streets. The technology is still in the early stages, but I think it will be revolutionary in the next 10 to 20 years.

From the information I could gather watching a couple videos, the car drives itself by using cameras to look for traffic lights, signals and other objects, and a scanning laser mounted on top of the vehicle that also tracks nearby objects like cars or pedestrians. Basically you tell the car where you want to go and its computer, powered by Google of course, plans the route you will take. The car is aware of speed limits, traffic conditions and even objects that suddenly come in your path. This technology will definitely be the future of driving. But I don't think that it will replace drivers altogether. Google is developing this technology to make driving safer, not so people can drink and "drive" or be asleep at the wheel. But that's exactly why I want this technology.

Eventually, I can see the driver-less car being so common that we can send it to the airport to pick up a relative, or have it drive itself to the mechanic. Imagine living in a big city and driving to work, but your late and can't find parking. No problem, just send your car back home and program it to come back and pick you up at a certain time. What if Google put a sort of breathalyzer in the car so if you blow a certain limit, the car won't let you drive, and it drives itself home? Instead of sitting in traffic wasting time, you can be working on schoolwork or reading a book. This technology can save thousands of lives a year by reducing the number of car accidents. Here is a cool info-graphic I found that has some interesting information regarding driver-less cars.

Driver-less car Infographic

Another Google development is Google Art. This probably wont be a major source of revenue for Google, but it is a very cool project nonetheless, especially if you are into art. Google has partnered with the most prestigious art museums all around the world to put their painting online. You can choose which museum you would like to visit, and view all the painting they have. You can zoom in to get a close up that is so high definition, you can see the individual brushstrokes. Another cool feature uses Google's Street Maps technology, where you can take a virtual tour of museums where you can walk the corridors and feel like you are inside the museum itself. You can pan the camera 360 degrees and click on the painting you want to see up close. You can even start and art collection where you save all your favorite works of art. If you are into art I would definitely check out Google Art.

Cyber Spies

So I read a couple articles today about cyber warfare. It is a lot more common than one might think, and can range from a simple computer virus on a laptop, all the way to a network of computers working simultaneously to hack a military network to steal information. We live in a digital age where almost every single piece of information that exists, does so on some sort of computer network. We like to think that this information is safe, protected and couldn't possibly fall into the wrong hands. That is a very naive thought. With the right personal information, a half decent hacker can hack into your bank account and transfer your entire life savings into the account of his choosing.

Now imagine if an expert hacker or cyber criminal, who is being funded by a foreign government agency and given the best technology possible, decides he wants to have some fun and turn off power to a region of the United States. This is very possible seeing how almost any network can be hacked into, and everything from natural gas to electricity to the water supply is controlled by government computer networks. Obviously these networks have very sophisticated security and are monitored 24/7. But they are also vulnerable and an attack can't always be stopped, never mind if they even know its happening in the first place. A virus named Operation Shady RAT has done just that. Here is a quote from a Vanity Fair Magazine article describing Shady RAT:

"Operation Shady RAT has been stealing valuable intellectual property (including government secrets, e-mail archives, legal contracts, negotiation plans for business activities, and design schematics) from more than 70 public- and private-sector organizations in 14 countries. The list of victims, which ranges from national governments to global corporations..., demonstrates with unprecedented clarity the universal scope of cyber-espionage and the vulnerability of organizations in almost every category imaginable."

There is no need for conventional spies anymore if this sort of espionage is relatively easy to accomplish. If a foreign country that we aren't on good terms with manages to get a hold of U.S. military or government secrets, it could spell disaster. Even worse would be having hackers destroy or compromise systems that control what we take for granted every day, like water or electricity. If the U.S. was to have its power cut and was put into the dark, I believe it wouldn't be more than a few days before people start to panic. Can you imagine not having your phone, or television, or internet, or anything else that uses a power source taken from you for a prolonged period of time. We would be thrown back into the stone age and cities would be in chaos. The movie Live Free or Die Hard comes to mind. Bruce Willis has to take on an evil genius hacker who hacks into government networks and cuts off power to parts of the U.S., blows up natural gas pipelines, and messes with traffic control systems. Even just the traffic lights not working puts people into a confused frenzy.

This brings up the issue of cyber security. If even the most secure government networks can get hacked, then most of us don't stand a chance. Cyber warfare is very difficult to be stoppped. The government needs to step in and see what new measures can be put into place to stop cyber warfare, since the ones we have now obviously are not very effective. The U.S. has way too many assets, and I'm sure way to many secrets that need to be protected at all costs.

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2011/09/operation-shady-rat-201109?

http://www.wired.com/beyond_the_beyond/2011/08/operation-shady-rat/

http://arstechnica.com/security/news/2011/08/operation-shady-rat-five-year-hack-attack-hit-14-countries.ars