Google scoops up fifth company this month

Google has made its fifth acquisition since the start of August, this time scooping up SocialDeck, a company that develops games that people can play against friends using iPhones, BlackBerry devices, or via Facebook on a PC.

Most of Google's recent acquisitions have been related to social networking and games, fueling speculation that the company plans to release a new social-networking service, potentially centered on games, to compete with Facebook.

SocialDeck developed a handful of games including Shake & Spell, a word game similar to Boggle. A person can open the game on Facebook, for example, and play against friends who are using iPhone and BlackBerry apps.
The game has social-networking features as well, including a page that displays other friends currently playing the game, a leader board and statistics of friends' gaming performance. Players can also post comments in a stream similar to instant messaging.

SocialDeck, which has workers in Toronto and San Francisco, received financing from the BlackBerry Partners Fund in early 2009.
"We were very impressed with the team's talent as well as the technically advanced platform engaging mobile experiences they've built," Google said in a statement. The team will work in partnership with Google staff in Waterloo, Ontario, Google said.
"We're pleased to welcome them to Google, and we think they'll be great contributors in partnership with the Google Waterloo team as we continue to innovate in the mobile space."
At Google, SocialDeck workers will join those from Angstro, a company that built a product called Noteworthy News that delivers news about people and companies in a user's professional network. Angstro said on Friday that Google had acquired it.
Its other acquisitions this month include Slide, a social games developer; Jambool, a company that makes a platform for managing online payment for virtual goods sold on gaming and social-networking sites; and Like.com, a visual shopping engine.

Burning Man's open source cell phone system could help save the world

Today I bring you a story that has it all: a solar-powered, low-cost, open source cellular network that's revolutionizing coverage in underprivileged and off-grid spots. It uses VoIP yet works with existing cell phones. It has pedigreed founders. Best of all, it is part of the sex, drugs and art collectively known as Burning Man. Where do you want me to begin? 

The Open Source Subnet
Cell towers that blend vs. those that offend
"We make GSM look like a wireless access point. We make it that simple," describes one of the project's three founders, Glenn Edens.
The technology starts with the "they-said-it-couldn't-be-done" open source software, OpenBTS. OpenBTS is built on Linux and distributed via the AGPLv3 license. When used with a software-defined radio such as the Universal Software Radio Peripheral (USRP), it presents a GSM air interface ("Um") to any standard GSM cell phone, with no modification whatsoever required of the phone. It uses open source Asterisk VoIP software as the PBX to connect calls, though it can be used with other soft switches, too. (More stats in a minute that I promise will blow away your inner network engineer.)
This is the third year its founders have decided to trial-by-fire the system by offering free cell phone service to the 50,000-ish attendees at Burning Man, which begins today in Black Rock City, Nevada. I've posted a few photos of the set-up here. But the project is still new and mostly unheard-of.  The second-generation hardware is in beta and the project’s commercial start-up, Range Networks, won't emerge from stealth mode until September (at the DEMO conference).
Two of OpenBTS's three founders are a duo of wireless design gurus that make up Kestrel Signal Processing: David Burgess and Harvind Samra. The third is industry luminary Glenn Edens, the same Edens who founded Grid Systems, maker of the first laptop in the early ‘80s, who is also known as the former director of Sun Microsystem’s Laboratories (among his other credentials). He is Range Networks’ CEO.
Burning Man has become a brutal, but great test vehicle. "There are not too many places you can go where tens of thousands of people show up, all of them with cell phones, in a hostile physical environment – lots of heat and dust, with no power and no cell service," Edens says.
GSM operates on licensed bandwidth, so for any U.S. installation, the OpenBTS crew always obtains a FCC license and works with the local carrier to coordinate frequency use. When attendees get into range and power up their phones, the system sends them a text that says “Reply to this message with your phone number and you can send and receive text messages and make voice calls.”
Edens notes: "You can also make phone calls to any number, but you can’t receive them, except from other people at Burning Man. We don’t have a roaming agreement in place with any carriers yet. So calls from people out of range from Burning Man will go to voicemail … but you can check your voicemail." (You can follow the progress of the system setup on Burgess's blog). 
Edens jokes that Kestrel gets an equal number of compliments and complaints for making cell phones accessible at the event. You win some and you lose some.
Certainly, the potential of OpenBTS is a winner. The system is only "as big as a shoebox," Edens says, and requires a mere 50 watts of power "instead of a couple of thousand" so it is easily supported by solar or wind power, or batteries. It performs as well as any other GSM base station which has a maximum range of 35 kilometers and a typical range of 20 kilometers, depending on geography, antennae height, etc.
It can use a wireless backhaul, too. "We’re working with UC Berkeley on a really interesting project on super long distance wireless backhaul. We can also use private microwave and all the usual backhaul technologies," Edens says. A full‐power base station with software costs around $10,000. Compare that to the typical $50,000 - $100,000 investment for base station controllers, mobile switching centers and "a whole lot of plumbing" to bring in power, backhaul, etc., in a traditional cellular network.
Like other GSM cell networks, OpenBTS networks can connect to the public switched network and the Internet. Because it converts to VoIP, it "makes every cell phone look like a SIP end point … and every cell phone looks like an IP device. But we don’t touch anything in the phone … any GSM phone will work, from a $15 refurbished cell phone all the way up to iPhones and Androids."  Low cost phones are particularly important for projects in impoverished areas, where people can benefit most from better communications services.
"The UN and ITU studies show that when you bring communications services to an area, healthcare goes up, economic well being goes up, education goes up," Edens says, noting that costs and power needs are low enough that even a small village can afford to do this. Users may need to pay $2 or $3 a month.
He brags that setup is downright trivial. "After the Haiti earthquake, we sent a system that was installed at the main hospital in Port Au Prince. They had it working an hour after unpacking it from the box. The hospital PBX was down. They used it as their phone system for about two weeks."
Kestral has sold about 150 units, hardware and software, since last January, with trial systems installed in India, Africa, the South Pacific and a number of other countries. The team has also done a few private installations like oil fields, farms, and ships at sea. They are also providing a system to the Australian Base in Antarctica. Plus OpenBTS has been downloaded about 4,000 times, mostly by researchers able to build their own base stations. It is also of interest for military communications, law enforcement and DARPA projects.
Because OpenBTS relies on licensed bandwidth, the team hasn't been targeting enterprises wanting private campus-wide cell phone networks, though that’s not out of the question. Still, Edens says there's plenty of work to be done for the 60% of the world’s landmass and the 40% of the world’s population that don’t have service, he says, quoting number from the ITU. Carriers such as Telefonica to T-Mobile have expressed interest.

Dwarka Giant Underwater City found in India

The story of the tragic end of the fabulous city of Dwarka has long been regarded as mere legend--that is, until an ambitious archeologist, Dr. S. R. Rao, began to investigate stone ruins sunk in the sea off the Kathiawar peninsula on India's western coast. The area lies, logically enough, adjacent to the modern city of Dwarka. Dr. Rao believes those sunken ruins to be Krishna's city, destroyed by a massive earthquake and tsunami. While such a catastrophic end might have seemed far-fetched a few years ago, the 2004 South Asian tsunami demonstrated to humanity once again the tremendous power of these cataclysmic natural events. Historically, decimation of coastal cities is more common than one might think. Less than 200 years ago, in 1819, in the same region of India, an earthquake sank the fort of Sindree and its surrounding village into the ocean. In November, 1775, in just ten minutes, a 9.0 quake destroyed the greater part of the coastal city of Lisbon, Portugal; one section of the city was submerged 600 feet.

Dr. Rao's underwater exploration of the ruins off modern Dwarka (as it is spelled on maps) suggests destruction was sudden and violent, with the ocean overwhelming walls and swallowing the city whole, just as described in the Mahabharata. "Dwarka was submerged by tsunami-like high-energy waves, pulling down heavy blocks of stone used in the construction of the structures, " he told the 7th National Conference on Marine Archaeology at the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) in October, 2005. "The heavy stones and rocks used in making the forts and gateways could not be destroyed by simple cyclones."

Dr. Shikaripura Ranganatha Rao's indomitable efforts in Dwarka and later elsewhere have made India a leading force in marine archeology, even though he officially retired from the Archaeological Survey of India in 1980. The Survey, unwilling to part with Rao, enticed him back to found the now-renowned Indian National Institute of Oceanography. Among the many projects he became involved with, nothing has fired his talents and passion more than the offshore ruins in Gujarat.

The search for the lost city of Dwarka had been going on since the 1930s, but with no success. The stone ruins off Dwarka, barely discernible from above water, could not be adequately studied prior to improvements in the field of underwater research. In 1983, Dr. Rao led the work of the Marine Archaeology Unit of the National Institute of Oceanography in studying these ruins. They started by examining what lay above sea level, to better understand what would be found under the water. In the center of modern Dwarka, beneath an ancient temple, Rao discovered layer upon layer of ruins, revealing a history of construction that included two earlier temples, an entire wall and figures of Vishnu. Digging further, he found the eroded remains of a town. Reaching sea level, which he estimates to represent about 1500 bc, he recovered red pottery that is characteristic of that period. The next phase of work would take him further down, below sea level, and thus further back in time.

Explorations between 1983 and 1990 revealed a well-fortified township, extending more than half a mile from the present shoreline and now mostly lying from 9 to 50 feet below sea level. Dr. Rao reasons that the submerged ruins date to 1700 or 1800 bc. His underwater explorations yielded large bastions, fort walls, two gateways and three-holed anchors, which he says demonstrate an evolution from earlier, single-holed anchors he previously found in Lothal and Mohenjo-daro. Dr. Rao is convinced that the underwater ruins match the Dwarka of the Mahabharata. "You see, " he begins, his energy and vigor belying his 85 years, "when Krishna comes with Arjuna to see the city, there is mention of the fort walls and the antahpuras, citadels, describing a fully equipped, fortified town. We have found these structures, six sectors and fortified parts of the city. The plan and certain details described in the Mahabharata match the archeological findings." Dr. Rao goes on to describe a submerged area covering at least 2,000 by 5,000 feet, or 235 acres, with houses, a temple, public buildings and semicircular bastions that had been designed to divert the waters and protect the city from sea storms. The city's walls were erected on a foundation of boulders, showing that the land was reclaimed from the sea. The layout of the city is in alignment with the temples onshore in modern Dwarka.

It was the discovery of a seal (photo, right) that convinced Dr. Rao he had found Krishna's city. The seal is engraved with the images of a bull, a goat and a unicorn in an unmistakable style--a motif he says is no doubt of Indus origin and goes back to the 16th or 17th century bc. It is a small, flat artifact, no bigger than the palm of your hand, carved from a conch shell. This, Rao believes, is a seal of free pass: only those carrying it were allowed to enter the fabled city. "There is a reference in the Mahabharata, " he explains, "that when Dwarka was attacked by king Shalva, Krishna was not there. Upon his return, Krishna takes certain measures to defend the city. One of them is described to be a mudra seal, an identity that every citizen of Dwarka must carry. It was the duty of the gatekeepers to make sure that absolutely nobody without this seal would have entered the city. This gave us reliable evidence to identify these ruins, where we found the seal, as Krishna's Dwarka. Finding this mudra was very exciting." Skeptics point out, however, that the discovery of a single seal, which could even have come from another area, is not irrefutable evidence of the city's identity.

Dr. Rao contends that a scripted piece of fired pottery found underwater provides further dating evidence. Using thermoluminescence analysis (useful on any object that has been heated, but having an error of plus or minus several hundred years), he dates it to the late Harappan period, about 1,700 bc. Using his own system of translation of the Harappan script, he believes the shard reads, "Mahagacha-sha-pa, " or "Sea God protect." Dr. Rao's translation system, while regarded as a step in the right direction, is not accepted by some linguists.

Critics also point out that only the Mahabharata describes the destruction of Dwarka as being "a matter of a few moments." The Harivamsha and the Matsya Purana state that it took seven days to vacate Dwarka before it was submerged by the sea. Dr. Rajiv Nigam, head of the geological division of the National Institute of Oceanography, and some other scientists believe in this more gradual submergence of the city.

Another issue is that Dr. Rao's dating of 1700 bc does not agree with the traditional dating of this event. Based on the Indian calendar, some Indian historians hold that the destruction of Dwarka took place around 3200 bc. This event marked the beginning of the Kali Yuga, our present age when ignorance and darkness prevail in the world.

In spite of the objections, Dr. Rao's evidence is exciting and compelling. It is difficult to dispute that he has found an ancient submerged city; the question is whether or not it is Krishna's Dwarka. In either case, it is an enchanting doorway to an important part of India's history. Dr. Rao wants the ruins preserved, protected and available. He proposes, "In my concept, tourists or even scientists could go around the structural remains of Dwarka, in the sea, inside a giant acrylic tube to see the ancient city. Let us hope that some day the project will be taken up." The State Government of Gujarat and the Travel & Tourism Department are working on his proposal, which could give rise to the world's the first underwater museum. Rao's work with Dwarka is part of growing international interest in near-shore archeology which has turned up remarkable discoveries, as in Mahabalipuram, In this growing field of research, the future might reveal much more of India's fascinating and still hidden past.

Top Ten Unexplianed Phenomena

1.The Taos Hum

 

Some residents and visitors in the small city of Taos, New Mexico, have for years been annoyed and puzzled by a mysterious and faint low-frequency hum in the desert air. Oddly, only about 2 percent of Taos residents report hearing the sound. Some believe it is caused by unusual acoustics; others suspect mass hysteria or some secret, sinister purpose. Whether described as a whir, hum, or buzz and whether psychological, natural, or supernatural no one has yet been able to locate the sound's origin.

2.Bigfoot

 

For decades, large, hairy, manlike beasts called Bigfoot have occasionally been reported by eyewitnesses across America. Despite the thousands of Bigfoot that must exist for a breeding population, not a single body has been found. Not one has been killed by a hunter, struck dead by a speeding car, or even died of natural causes. In the absence of hard evidence like teeth or bones, support comes down to eyewitness sightings and ambiguous photos and films. Since it is logically impossible to prove a universal negative, science will never be able to prove that creatures like Bigfoot and the Loch Ness monster do not exist, and it is possible that these mysterious beasts lurk far from prying eyes.

3.Intuition

 

Whether we call it gut feelings, a 'sixth sense,' or something else, we have all experienced intuition at one time or another. Of course, gut feelings are often wrong (how many times during aircraft turbulence have you been sure your plane was going down?), but they do seem to be right much of the time. Psychologists note that people subconsciously pick up information about the world around us, leading us to seemingly sense or know information without knowing exactly how or why we know it. But cases of intuition are difficult to prove or study, and psychology may only be part of the answer

 

4.Mysterious Disappearances

 

People disappear for various reasons. Most are runaways, some succumb to accident, a few are abducted or killed, but most are eventually found. Not so with the truly mysterious disappearances. From the crew of the Marie Celeste to Jimmy Hoffa, Amelia Earhart, and Natalee Holloway, some people seem to have vanished without a trace. When missing persons are found, it is always through police work, confession, or accident never by 'psychic detectives'). But when the evidence is lacking and leads are lost, even police and forensic science can't always solve the crime.

5.Ghosts

 

From the Shakespeare play "MacBeth" to the NBC show "Medium," spirits of the dead have long made an appearance in our culture and folklore. Many people have reported seeing apparitions of both shadowy strangers and departed loved ones. Though definitive proof for the existence of ghosts remains elusive, sincere eyewitnesses continue to report seeing, photographing, and even communicating with ghosts. Ghost investigators hope to one day prove that the dead can contact the living, providing a final answer to the mystery.

6.Deja vu

 

 

Deja vu is a French phrase meaning 'already seen,' referring to the distinct, puzzling, and mysterious feeling of having experienced a specific set of circumstances before. A woman might walk into a building, for example, in a foreign country she'd never visited, and sense that the setting is eerily and intimately familiar. Some attribute deja vu to psychic experiences or unbidden glimpses of previous lives. As with intuition (see #3), research into ,human psychology can offer more naturalistic explanations, but ultimately the cause and nature of the phenomenon itself remains a mystery.

7.UFOs

 

There is no doubt that UFOs (Unidentified Flying Objects) exist - many people see things in the skies that they cannot identify, ranging from aircraft to meteors. Whether or not any of those objects and lights are alien spacecraft is another matter entirely; given the fantastic distances and effort involved in just getting to Earth from across the universe, such a scenario seems unlikely. Still, while careful investigation has revealed known causes for most sighting reports, some UFO incidents will always remain unexplained.

8.Near-Death Experiences and Life After Death

 

People who were once near death have sometimes reported various mystical experiences (such as going into a tunnel and emerging in a light, being reunited with loved ones, a sense of peace, etc.) that may suggest an existence beyond the grave. While such experiences are profound, no one has returned with proof or verifiable information from "beyond the grave." Skeptics suggest that the experiences are explainable as natural and predictable hallucinations of a traumatized brain, yet there is no way to know with certainty what causes near-death experiences, or if they truly are visions of "the other side."

9.Psychic powers and ESP

 

Psychic powers and extra-sensory perception (ESP) rank among the top ten unexplained phenomena if for no other reason than that belief in them is so widespread. Many people believe that intuition (see #3) is a form of psychic power, a way of accessing arcane or special knowledge about the world or the future. Researchers have tested people who claim to have psychic powers, though the results under controlled scientific conditions have so far been negative or ambiguous. Some have argued that psychic powers cannot be tested, or for some reason diminish in the presence of skeptics or scientists. If this is true, science will never be able to prove or disprove the existence of psychic powers.

10.The Body/Mind Connection

 

Medical science is only beginning to understand the ways in which the mind influences the body. The placebo effect, for example, demonstrates that people can at times cause a relief in medical symptoms or suffering by believing the cures to be effective - whether they actually are or not. Using processes only poorly understood, the body's ability to heal itself is far more amazing than anything modern medicine could create.