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Dvice's Voting Machines Map Shows Us Just Where the Election Will Be Stolen
Posted by Adam Frucci at 2:00 AM on October 21, 2008
With the election coming up in a mere two weeks, our friends over at Dvice decided to take a very in depth look at the technology behind all of the states voting machines and just how susceptible they are to both malicious hacking and human error. What results is a beautiful interactive map showing the different machines used in each state and a rundown of every type of voting machine used in the entire country. You'll definitely want to spend some time playing around with this and then worrying about how the election is going to be hijacked by a combination of hackers and bumbling old people in Florida (again). [Dvice]
Researchers are using a technique called simultaneous location and mapping (SLAM) to develop helmets that rescue workers can use to navigate through heavy smoke. The helmet features an infrared laser scanner and software that bounces signals off walls and uses that data to create a map of the surrounding area. 
Android is here, and as to be expected with a Google-made mobile OS, there's a bit of Google App fanciness going on. In fact, it's designed with Google Apps in mind so much that whether or not you're a user of Gmail and other services might determine how useful the phone will be to you.
According to the company, the GeoEye-1 satellite is the highest resolution commercial satellite orbiting the planet right now. It reached orbit yesterday, but in reality, it's not an ordinary commercial satellite: it's fully controlled by the Department of Defense's U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. And two guys named Larry and Sergei.
Not content to just capture houses 
Google StreetView has been a peculiar bird since its inception earlier this century. It's been blamed for voyeurism, the trampling of privacy rights, and other infractions, but then again it's also been known to capture a few nose pickers or two--so it's a wash as far as I'm concerned. Today, we received word it has some hot new imagery on its hands, literally. As in, this burning house on Eagle Point Drive in sunny Sherwood, Arkansas. [
Until I loaded up this realtime Global Disaster Alert Map operated by the International Disaster and Risk Conference, which tracks biological hazards, chemical spills, fires, volcanoes, earthquakes and epidemics, I earnestly thought that it had been a pretty good day. I was wrong, and I will not be so naive as to drop my constant cynicism again. [
If you drive a car in certain cities, you're dumb. There, I said it. But that's how Google Maps assumed everybody locomoted to their destination, until now. Yep! Google Maps finally has an option for step-by-step walking directions. Accounting for the speed difference between your kicks and four-wheeled gas-guzzlers, it estimates covering a mile will take about 19 minutes. And it says to use caution in dicey areas (I guess you'll be routed around them as it's updated?). Hopefully this gets added to the iPhone's maps in the next update, dodging cars on the BQE is exhausting. [
