July 29, 2009 | 7:13 pm

Playing with robot snakes on Sunset

Posted by Adam Wills

The best-kept secret in the Negev is not Dimona (home of Israel’s hush-hush nuclear program) but Ben-Gurion University, said Israel Consul General Jacob Dayan, who introduced robotics professor Amir Shapiro during a Ben-Gurion event that attracted several dozen people to the Luxe Sunset earlier this month.

Shapiro, who served as a visiting researcher at Caltech 2007-2008, looks to nature for inspiration when crafting his robots. For fun, he designs navigation algorithms for multi-limbed robots and locomotion methods for snake-like robots at Ben-Gurion University, where he’s a lecturer with the Department of Mechanical Engineering.

One project Shapiro is involved with features agricultural robots that can spray and pollinate date palm trees – a process that requires three people (one driver, two assistants working at heights of more than 50 feet) and which has lead to deaths due to falls on uneven terrain. With an automated system, target spraying would be handled by one driver and a robot, which could recognize dates by sight and handle straying/pollination duties with little human involvement.

A military project under development in Shaprio’s lab features a tunnel-mapping system, which resembles two remote-controlled tanks linked by a single metal bar. The robot would traverse the length of a tunnel and report back with details on slope, depth, angle, etc. This, in turn, could help the IDF determine where to strike so a tunnel couldn’t be rebuilt.

But it’s the robot snakes Shapiro designs, like his Big Ben (pictured above, wearing a smile), that capture the imagination of onlookers. Engineers turn to nature for examples – monkeys, insects, donkeys – when creating robots that can climb, fly or carry equipment. And yet it’s the snake that people want to watch slither in corkscrew fashion or pump along in waves.

The snakes, he says, are not so unusual – these search-and-rescue systems are segmented, featuring different motors that can produce their own independent motion. The snake can slowly move through small pockets in a collapsed building to find trapped survivors, or work its way through pipes to find something as mundane as a blockage.

This technology is several years old, Shapiro says, but the real twist is to eventually create the first autonomous snake, which could operate independently of humans.

The IDF snake-like robot featured recently in television news coverage is not one he was directly involved with, Shapiro said. But he did study alongside its creator, Alon Wolf of Technion, whom Shapiro says wasn’t happy with the IDF distributing video of snake, which is not ready for field use.

Copying the natural movements of animals is the current trend in robotics, but Shapiro says that the next stage in robot evolution will be the ability of these systems to act on their own. The real trick, he says, is to get the system to repair themselves and to build other robots without human involvement.

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July 15, 2009 | 3:57 pm

Did Twitter Cost Bruno Millions?

Posted by Sam Gliksman

Despite initial predictions, Bruno's opening weekend
was well short of initial $50 million predictions

We all know the power of word of mouth. Positive or negative reviews impact the success of any product. In our current age of social networking, electronic word of mouth has the ability to make a product sink or swim faster than ever. Last Friday it seemed that Sacha Baron Cohen had created another monster hit with his new film Brüno. Early ticket sales on opening day had many Hollywood insiders predicting that Brüno would gross around $50 million on opening weekend. As it turns out, sales for Brüno peaked on opening day and actually fell the rest of the weekend, finishing with “only” $30.4 million. What happened? According to Time magazine, “Brüno could be the first movie defeated by the Twitter effect”.

Although Brüno won the weekend movie battle, it fell well short of initial predictions. Brüno certainly was a hit with many reviewers but its outrageous, in-your-face humor was too much for many movie-goers to stomach.  A quick review of the thousands of “tweets” about Brüno on Twitter shows many harsh comments such as “im angry, apalled”, “Do not waste your money seeing Bruno” or “Worst movie I have ever seen”. With techsavvy moviegoers tweeting their opinions to millions of followers, Twitter trends have an instant impact on the success of a movie. In the words of Time, “Instant-messaging can make or break a film within 24 hours. Friday is the new weekend.”

Sam Gliksman
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You can follow Sam on Twitter at http://twitter.com/SamGliksman

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July 8, 2009 | 3:40 pm

Is Twitter Just for Birdbrains?

Posted by Sam Gliksman

I have this practice of jotting down my article ideas in a file and then coming back to them later when I’m ready to write. Ideas come freely. On the other hand, planting my rear down on a seat long enough to write a full article is far more daunting. As a result, the list grows progressively longer and, given the pace of change in technology, earlier ideas become dated very quickly.

In reviewing my list of article concepts today I noticed one item a few months back about an up and coming micro-blogging site called Twitter. Maybe you’ve heard of it? Figuring that it’s better later than never I thought I’d write a review for the last two of you left on the planet that don’t use Twitter. The rest of you are invited along as well.

For most of its initial, formative years the internet was comprised of websites that had static content composed by programmers. As internet technology developed we reached a platform commonly referred to as “Web 2.0” which contains a host of tools that allow anyone, with any skill level, to post web content in a variety of new formats. One such tool is the “blog” - a shortened form of the term “web log”. What you’re reading now is a blog. It’s a web page maintained by an individual that contains entries with thoughts and opinions on any topic. It’s usually displayed in chronological order and adding entries is similar to typing a word processing document.

From Blogs to Micro-Blogs
Just as we became comfortable with blogging, along came a new concept called “micro-blogging”. If blog entries are discussions on a topic then micro-blog entries are brief snippets. Twitter - www.twitter.com - is a micro-blogging website. Users sign up for free accounts and then submit micro-blog entries called “tweets” which are limited to 140 characters in length. Entries can be submitted by a variety of means - some as simple as typing a message on a cell phone. You then simply start posting entries about what you’re thinking or doing.

Users of Twitter can also “follow” other users and get access to all their updates. Prominent Twitterers amass audiences of several thousand up to a million followers. Others have a small handful of followers.

Why Twitter?
The micro-blogging sensation has grown exponentially in just the last few months. Twitter’s surging popularity has seen its membership grow from around one million members a year ago to an estimated 20 million members today and several thousand new members join every day.

Why do people use Twitter? New York Times columnist David Pogue describes it as “a complicated cross between a chat room and private e-mail”. The founders of Twitter were looking for a way that people could keep in touch often and easily. The main theme of Twitter is stated simple on its web page - “What are you doing”? Entries can be as mundane as where you’re going, what you’re eating, what movie you just saw and so on. For some, Twitter provides a feeling of connectedness with others. For others, there’s definitely a large element of ego-stroking knowing that others are “following” your words and actions.

You’d have to wonder why anyone would care about the mundane, everyday details of another’s life. Do I really care whether you ate Fruit Loops or Cherios for breakfast? I certainly don’t need to hear that you had too much to drink last night and no offense, but if I need information about a new movie then I’ll read a newspaper review before searching for your blurted 30 character tweet as you walk out of the theater.

So why then is Twitter so popular? The fact is, many people broadcast really interesting comments in their tweets. If you hook up with like minded people then you can get important information that’s pertinent to your area of interest. You can also search for tweets on any topic much as you would use google. Follow firsthand the thoughts of political leaders, historians, cultural figures and more. Discover the latest developments in your industry. Get frontline, breaking news reports from people at the scene. When the recent wildfires broke in Australia people on the ground were tweeting about the location of the fires and the directions in which they were heading. When a US Airways plane famously landed in the Hudson River a few months ago, the news was initially broken in a tweet from a person that watched the plane land. Four minutes after the crash, he tweeted, “I just watched a plane crash into the hudson river in manhattan.” There are many interesting Twitter related tools as well. Try using Twitterfall - www.twitterfall.com - and type in a search term such as “global warming”. Watch live as posts about global warming from people all around the world scroll on screen. Corprate execs have also started to wake up to the potentials of using Twitter. Companies such as Starbucks and Amazon actively use Twitter for marketing and research.

There’s no question that Twitter can be another one of those incredible wasteful activities that keep us glued to our computer screens while everything that needs to get done sits waiting for attention. It can however also be an amazing communication tool that lets you know instantly about things that you care about. Someone is online tweeting about it right now.

You can follow Sam Gliksman on Twitter at www.twitter.com/samgliksman 

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May 15, 2009 | 3:30 pm

Anti-Semitism: The Ugly Side of Facebook

Posted by Sam Gliksman

Image posted on Facebook "We Hate Israel" group page

A Congressional briefing last week entitled “Hate in the Information Age” highlighted the fact that we’re experiencing a sharp increase in hate and terror propaganda on the Internet. To make matters worse, new interactive web 2.0 services allow extremists to leverage technologies such as blogs and video sharing to promote their agenda on popular sites such as Facebook, MySpace and YouTube.

At their core, social networking sites provide a simple mechanism for connecting with friends and like minded people across the Internet. Anti-Semitic propagandists and terror supporters however use these sites as a dynamic tool for spreading their propaganda against Jews and Israel. What should be particular cause for concern is that they are targeting the teens and young adults that form the majority of members at social networking sites such as Facebook.

Rabbi Abraham Cooper, an associate dean at the Simon Wiesenthal Center, presented the results of their Digital Terrorism and Hate Project’s annual study to the Congressional Hearing. He reported that they had observed a 30% increase in the presence of hate groups online in the last year. Most of it can be attributed to posts in blogs and discussion forums. “The Internet is a fantastic marketing tool,” Rabbi Cooper noted.

Unlike more traditional web sites, group pages on social networking sites can be harder to find and track. “You can market and train followers while bypassing traditional Web sites. It makes it very, very difficult for law enforcement to follow what’s going on,” he said. According the Wiesenthal Center report, “Extremists are leveraging 2.0 technologies to dynamically target young people through digital games, Second Life scenarios, blogs, and even Youtube and Facebook style videos depicting racist violence and terrorism.”

I discussed the various Holocaust Denial sites on Facebook in my last blog post. It does however seem that the more you dig, the uglier it gets.

How bad is it? A quick look at the page of one group called “We hate Israel” gives you an idea of what can still pass uncensored on Facebook. The main page contains the image of a large swastika made from the letters in the word Israel. There’s a poster of the Twin Towers on fire with a large caption stating “The Jews. We all know it was them.” The group blog is littered with posts such as “Kill all Israel people!!!”, “Death to Israel!” and “Hitler took the (right) decision with the Jewish people. They must all be burned at the same time”. Other posts threaten that there will be a strike in October that will wipe out all of Israel. Companies such as Disney and Pepsi are accused of being Zionist (it’s claimed that Pepsi derived its name as an acronym from “Pay Every Penny to Save Israel”!). Yes, even Facebook - the company that is allowing the group to spread this vicious anti-Semitic dribble - is supposedly “owned by a Zionist”!

I should clarify that sites such as Facebook state expressly that they do not allow objectionable groups, comments or images to appear on their web pages. They will actively search for and censor any pornographic or violent images. Their terms of service clearly state “You will not post content that is hateful, threatening, pornographic, or that contains nudity or graphic or gratuitous violence.” In addition, “You will not use Facebook to do anything unlawful, misleading, malicious, or discriminatory.” Inexplicably however, it seems that extremists espousing hatred or threatening violence towards Jews and Israel fall under their radar.

To be fair, Facebook - albeit under significant pressure - has removed a number of Holocaust Denial sites recently. The most offensive includes a cartoon of Hitler in bed with Anne Frank, posted from Lebanon. Some of the extremist groups still using Facebook however include Stormfront, National Socialist Life, Libertarian National Social Movement, Aryan Guard, FARC, Al Shabab Mujahideen, Hamas (Multiple), Hezbollah (multiple), Faloja Forum, Support Taliban, Support Taliban and scores of anti-Israel sites.

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May 9, 2009 | 1:57 pm

Facebook urged to remove Holocaust-denial groups

Posted by Sam Gliksman

With the advent of increasingly simple, interactive web technologies anyone can now publish their opinions on the internet. For example, websites such as Facebook allow users to form social groups where they can connect and communicate with each other. Friends and family can stay in touch. Online communities can share information and opinions. On occasion however those opinions can be offensive and social networking sites such as Facebook can be used as a launching pad for establishing and expanding those offensive views.

This week CNN reported that Facebook was under pressure to remove Holocaust denial pages from its website. The issue at hand is not new. Is the right to free speech absolute or can an opinion become offensive to the point that it demands censorship?

The Holocaust Denial movement seeks to deny or minimize the Holocaust, in which Nazis killed about six million European Jews during World War II. Texas attorney Brian Cuban has been leading an effort to have Facebook remove pages of groups with names such as “Holocaust: A Series of Lies,” and “Holocaust is a Holohoax” removed from its site.

Cuban points out that Facebook is in the private realm and therefore has a clear right to review and censor content published on its website. According to Cuban, “This isn’t a freedom-of-speech issue. Facebook is free to set the standard that they wish.” Facebook’s own Statement of Rights and Responsibilities says that users “will not post content that is hateful, threatening, pornographic, or that contains nudity or graphic or gratuitous violence.”

Brian Cuban, the brother of the NBA Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, is of Russian Jewish descent and has written about his fight to have the Holocaust-denial pages removed on his site, The Cuban Revolution.

See the full story on cnn.com

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May 1, 2009 | 6:08 pm

Phishing: Don’t take the bait!

Posted by Sam Gliksman

What is it about the estate laws in Nigeria that make it so diffiicult for princes to retrieve their millions in inheritance? We’ve all received that hoax email from someone that needs your help in recovering millions in a bank account. One of the more common forms of hoax email is the “phishing” scheme. Phishing is when an email sender tries to trick the recipient into thinking the message is from someone else. The message may ask you to “update,” “validate,” or “confirm” your account information. Phishing emails typically attempt to trick people into revealing financial data, or direct you to spoof sites or phone numbers to call where they ask you to provide personal data.

The consequences of falling prey to a phishing scam can be devastating. Scammers potentially gain access to your credit card, social security number, bank account, password or personal information. Your data is traded on the black market and, in a worst case scenario, you end up becoming the victim of identity theft. Some creative scammers even use your data to defraud others of greater amounts of money. In one scenario, a scammer will gain access to your account information on an auction site such as eBay. Trading in your name they sell a fake item worth thousands of dollars. A buyer bites and you’re left explaining why don’t know anything about it.

It’s estimated that over 100 million phishing e-mails are sent ... every day! Losses are estimated at over $1 billion a year.

What does a phishing scam look like?

A phishing scam can take many forms. The scam is traditionally spread through email and might appear to come from a financial institution, company you regularly do business with, ecommerce site such as ebay or Paypal or from a social networking site. Phishing email often includes official company logos and can look convincingly like they come from legitimate websites.

The following is an example of what a phishing scam in an e-mail message (as displayed on an informational page on the Microsoft website) might look like.

Note that the graphic header is the actual logo taken from the real company’s website. The email includes a masked link to a fake website. The text of the link appears to be from the actual company’s website but if you place your mouse pointer above the link (rest it above - do not click the link) it reveals that the real address is actually a totally bogus site (203.144.234.138 ...). Scammers will sometimes also use addresses that contain minor alterations of the real company’s name (eg. wellsfagro.com) in the hope that you don’t notice. In either case, clicking on the link will take you to a spoofed site that attempts to have you submit your personal information.

There are several steps you can take to help protect yourself against phishing scams:
1. Don’t respond to emails that ask for personal, financial or account information. They are almost always scams.
2. Mouse over links in the email and read the pop-up that displays the actual address. See if looks genuine or not (then don’t click it anyway…).
3. Use anti-virus software and keep it up to date.
4. Never, ever email sensitive personal information. Even if you are sending it to a legitimate source, it will likely sit in somebody’s Inbox for a period of time where it can be read or stolen.
5. Check your bank and credit card statements for any unusual charges.
6. If you are using a Windows computer, upgrade your web browser to either Internet Explorer 7 or later or Firefox 3 or later. Both contain a phishing filter that warns you if you are about to enter a site that appears to be spoofed.

And just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water…

SMS Smishing
“Smishing” is the growing practice of sending phishing scams via SMS text messaging. Email filters have become more proficient at recognizing and blocking phishing schemes. This has pushed scammers to search for alternative digital delivery methods for their spoofed messages. SMS texts avoid filters normally associated with emails. Very few SMS messages are blocked and it can be difficult to determine if a message is real. Smishing text messages will prompt you to call a phone number. When you call, a phony operator will ask for your personal or financial information in order to complete some bogus financial transaction or account change.

The solution here is crystal clear. No legitimate company or financial institution will send you a text message asking you to call them and submit personal information. Do not reply. It’s that simple.

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April 10, 2009 | 6:15 pm

Communications Technology and the Ability to Concentrate

Posted by Sam Gliksman

Newsweek recently ran an article describing President Obama as our nation’s first “Blackberry President”. The article relates how we have all become dependant on communications technology and confirms what most of us already knew – this flood of new technology is having a huge impact on the way people think and interact. From texting and instant messaging to email alerts and telephone ring tones, a constant barrage of technology based “interruptions” is eroding our ability to concentrate.

As a result, our performance on tasks that require steady focus and attention deteriorates. In its most severe form, interruption generated errors have been thought to be a major cause of several plane and train accidents. On a more everyday level, our children and students find it increasingly difficult to read their required chapter for homework or complete that five paragraph essay they were assigned this morning. They can often stay on task only by interacting with their friends via computer video chat, instant messaging or the newest fad, Blackberry Based Messaging (BBM). Instant communication with your community requires just a few simple clicks.  Silent, uninterrupted contemplation is fast becoming a lost art.

Interruptions have become so commonplace that we also don’t think twice about interrupting each other either. One study stated that the average worker only spends around 11 minutes on any given project before being interrupted. We’ve even become conditioned to welcoming the interruptions. What’s the first thing most people do when they get a new cell phone?  They customize their seductive call to action – the ring tone.  When we’re not being interrupted we’re still so conditioned to thinking in short bursts that it’s difficult to maintain concentration for any length of time. How many of us check for messages and email every few minutes even when there isn’t any indication that one has arrived?

What can we do and what can we suggest for our children and students? Some simple recommendations include:

1.  Know when to turn off your ring tone. If you have a meeting or need to read something that requires attention, start by turning off the ring tone on your phone. If your child has homework, suggest that they either turn off their cell phone altogether or at least place it somewhere where they won’t be tempted to use it.
2.  Turn off automatic audible alerts and pop ups for emails and instant messages. Check them when it’s convenient for you rather than allowing them to constantly divert your attention.
3.  Establish a pattern of using your technology at “coarse breakpoints”. These are defined as natural breaks in concentration – the completion of a task, the end of a paragraph etc. Interruptions that fall right in the middle of a thought or task make it difficult to return and continue that process. Research shows that it’s far easier to return to your task if your interruption falls in a more natural breakpoint.

Asking kids to just “turn everything off” may yield results … if it can be accomplished. Speaking as someone that uses technology at every turn, going “cold turkey” certainly can make you feel like Odysseus tied to the mast. A solid recommendation is simply to take control. Manage your use of technology. Use it at times that are convenient for you and don’t allow the technology to constantly redirect your attention. Turn off alerts and decide when you will check your messages. Technology will make us more productive and improve our quality of life if only it is used appropriately.

Sam Gliksman
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April 3, 2009 | 3:02 pm

UCSD Sends 28,000 Acceptance E-mails in Error

Posted by Sam Gliksman

It has happened to all of us. You compose an email and click the Send key ... only to instantly realize that you sent it to the wrong person. Your next step is to frantically scramble for your email Outbox to try and stop the transmission. You open the Outbox just in time to see the email disappear from your pending list, spread wings and fly out into the cyber universe.

Did you just get sweaty palms reading that? If you’re lucky your gaffe was an innocuous little message inadvertently sent to the wrong friend. No harm, no foul. If you’re unlucky it was an email that will end up insulting someone or damaging a business relationship. However if you’re really, really unlucky, you mistakenly sent the email to an entire list of the wrong people. Maybe 28,000 people?? Yes, that’s what some unfortunate fellow at UC San Diego did earlier this week. In what has been an exceptionally difficult college admission year in California, 28,000 applicants to UC San Diego received an acceptance email earlier this week. The e-mail began, “We’re thrilled that you’ve been admitted to UC San Diego”. Their jubilation quickly turned sour however when they later received a second email stating that a mistake had occured. They had actually not been accepted. According to UCSD admissions director Mae Brown the email was sent to the entire list of 46,000 applicants instead of only the 18,000 who had been accepted.

Oops ... sorry.

We live in an age of instant communications. Email has already replaced “snail mail”. That debate has long been officially concluded. Unfortunately the tortoise had no real fighting chance against the hare. In fact, email itself is now being scorned for being too slow and is being superceded by texting and instant messaging. People want and expect to receive information immediately. Not so long ago we had to wait days or weeks to receive information sent by mail. Today, critical data regularly traverses the globe in seconds.

Part of my working life is spent in the IT world. Rarely does a week pass without someone asking if they can retrieve an email that was sent in error. There are systems aplenty to recover deleted files. As a general rule however, you cannot recover an email once it has been sent. Speeding on the information super-highway can be a little dangerous at times. I know of at least one administrator at UC San Diego that is longing for the good old days of the tortoise.

The full LA Times story is at http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-ucsd-reject1-2009apr01,0,7943711.story

Sam Gliksman
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April 3, 2009 | 1:22 pm

Proposed Senate Legislation Federalizes Cybersecurity

Posted by Sam Gliksman

Having lived in Israel for many years you become accustomed to checking for stray bags and suspicious people. Life in the US however has traditionally been safer and simpler. All that changed dramatically on the morning of 9/11. We’re on heightened security alert - from government all the way down to private citizens. And recently a new threat has started to emerge. The threat of a cyberattack. This is not the simple virus that attacks your personal computer and destroys your data. The nation’s economy and infrastructure are dependant upon computers. A cyberattack would potentially threaten our electricity grid, banking system, water supply, air traffic and more. It could quickly cripple our economy and cause sweeping chaos.

The Pentagon and National Security Agency have been protecting government and military networks from intrusion by hackers for a number of years. In recognition however that our national security demands far reaching security measures, several lawmakers are proposing new legislation that will empower government to create cybersecurity standards that extend to private industry for the very first time. The proposed Senate legislation, co-sponsored by Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.) and Sen. Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine), promises to dramatically escalate U.S. defenses against cyberattacks.

“People say this is a military or intelligence concern, but it’s a lot more than that,” Rockefeller said. “It suddenly gets into the realm of traffic lights and rail networks and water and electricity.”  Acknowledging that defense against cyberattacks would require an ongoing effort, Rockefeller said that the proposal would call for an ongoing, quadrennial review of the nation’s cyberdefenses. “It’s not a problem that will ever be completely solved,” he said.

The legislation calls for the appointment of a White House cybersecurity “czar” who would have unprecedented authority to shut down private computer networks that were under cyberattack. The Office of the “National Cybersecurity Adviser”, reports directly to the president. It would require establishment of “measurable and auditable cybersecurity standards” that applies to private companies as well as government.

For the full article, please refer to the Washington Post.

Sam Gliksman
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April 1, 2009 | 7:57 pm

First humans, now trees will text you

Posted by Adam Wills

A new device under development in Israel would take some of hassle out of determining if fruit trees or grape vines are getting enough water. The monitor, tapped into a stem, would measure the plant’s electric conductivity, a parameter of water stress. If the stress gets to be too much, the device can send a text message or e-mail to the farmer. And if the plant continues to bake in the sun without water, the device can also turn on the water itself.

The product – created by Israeli researchers Eran Raveh and Arieh Nadler at the Volcani Institute of Agriculture—is still about three or four years from store shelves, reports Karin Kloosterman at Green Prophet/Israel21c.

“We have a water crisis here in Israel and need a way to irrigate more accurately,” says Raveh.

The device, still without a name, will save farmers up to 30 to 40 percent in water use, he calculates. “The idea is that we were trying to find a way to give water more accurately to the trees. Usually [devices today] measure soil water content.”

Measuring tree water content this way, says the plant and soil specialist, is “complicated and takes a lot of time until you get a ‘true’ measurement, because there are many varying parameters involved.”

Cheap, simple, accurate
To get a true estimate of the moisture level in a plant or tree, a farmer must make a grueling check of 26 points in the ground around the plant.

“We’ve found a different way for measuring a tree’s water status: by sticking probes—three simple nails—into the main stem of the tree, we measure electric conductivity of the stem, and analyze the data to tell people if the tree is under good water conditions. It’s important to be able to do this in a simple and cheap way,” says Raveh, who came about the idea by accident: “Our solution is cheap, it can be automated and is very accurate.

“We were doing some other work, and realized that the data that came out of it reflects tree water status,” he says.

This data is the intellectual property that the future company will revolve around. Whether the information collected will be transmitted by SMS, e-mail message, fax, or sent to switch on an automated tap, is a matter of simple programming.

For tomatoes and potatoes too
For now, the team will continue refining the first product, shaped like a small hammer — for trees — and will continue fine-tuning it to apply it in farm produce as well. Raveh envisions the cost will be very affordable for most farmers, about $250 per orchard: only one probe will be needed to reflect the water content in about every 500 trees.

“It can work on every stem and doesn’t matter what kind of plant material,” he says. “Olives, palm, banana — at the moment we are working with big trees, but it’s a matter of calibrating [the device] to move it to younger and smaller plants.”

Orchard farmers everywhere, and the planet, will be saying thank you. “In big orchards, water use is a problem,” says Raveh, who estimates that an orchard with thousands of trees could cut its water use by almost half. It could also spare trees and plants from being over-watered.

He doesn’t expect the device will be that useful for the homeowner with a few trees on a lot, because in this case it’s not difficult to see if a tree is water stressed. A “smart” tree that can send text messages, however, could be used a novelty item to entertain and teach the kids about water, plants and the environment.

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March 26, 2009 | 2:53 pm

A Road Map for the Digital Immigrant

Posted by Sam Gliksman

Welcome to my new blog for the Jewish Journal. Technology reviews have become very commonplace and it isn’t my intent to add one more column to the already long list that report on the latest techno-gadgets. In debating whether to write a blog for the Journal I decided it would only be worthwhile if I could write it from a “different” perspective.

Personally, growing up in Australia in the 60’s and 70’s, the closest I came to technology was using one of those yo-yos that lit up at night. Years later I found myself owning a growing software development company at the center of the personal computer revolution in the 1980’s and 90’s. We marvelled at everything that could be done with our new devices and took tremendous satisfaction in developing new ideas into products. Technology became my passion. Much like the immigrant that comes to a new country, I could appreciate things that natives took for granted ... while also maintaining the perspective of what life was like before technology overtook every aspect of our daily existence.

Textbooks talk about groups of “technology natives” and “technology immigrants”. Natives grew up using technology at every turn whereas technology immigrants have had to adapt and integrate technology into their everyday lives. If you’re a digital immigrant you may be overwhelmed by the constant flow of new gadgets. You’re always yelling at your kids to get off their devices and go outside and play. There are times it feels like pushing water uphill. Technology is taking over everything in your life but you struggle with how and where to use it at work and play.

This column is for you - the digital immigrant.

How can you tell if you’re a “digital immigrant”? I’ve come up with a list of 10 simple signs that will let you know:

10. You use phrases such as “When I was a kid..”. If you’re already nodding in agreement then please do us both a favor and stop here. There’s really no point in wasting time reading the rest of this article. Life is too short ... especially in your case.
9. You think “Flash” is an obscene gesture.
8. You keep complaining that the keys on your cell phone were made for people with “smurf fingers”.
7. You’ll text on occasion but you simply can’t bring yourself to type abbreviated phrases such as “how r u” and “lol”.
6. You have at least one digital clock in your house that has been flashing “12:00am” for the past few months.
5. When encountering a technical problem you flee in panic searching for the nearest 10 year old.
4. You curse while trying to type simple text messages on your cell phone. Anyone looking over your shoulder would see phrases such as “whga5t ar3we 7yplo” on your screen ... clearly you don’t have smurf fingers.
3. When your friend tells you that he has a new Blackberry in his pocket you warn him that the stain will never come out.
2. When told that your computer needs new memory chips you request “barbecue flavored”.
1. You’re over 25 years old.

If you’re over 50 years old - which I am - then technically speaking you’re an “Illegal Digital Immigrant”. Apparently nobody checked your digital citizenship status when you bought that computer or cell phone. You managed to gain entrance into the digital world but let’s be honest - you’re likely to hurt yourself and really shouldn’t be there.

So come back often and join in our discussion. We’ll try and navigate through the many ways that technology might improve your life and warn you about the ways that it might potentially intrude and cause harm. Used appropriately, technology can be your best friend ... but with the perspective and wisdom that comes with being a digital immigrant we’ll see that technology isn’t always the solution. There will still be those days when you want to dust off that old yo-yo and give it another spin.

Sam Gliksman
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March 25, 2009 | 4:55 pm

Fun with homeland security robots

Posted by Adam Wills

Amir Shapiro, 37, has a youthful attitude that makes his job seem like child’s play. For fun, this father of four designs navigation algorithms for multi-limbed robots and locomotion methods for snake-like robots at Ben-Gurion University, where he’s a lecturer with the Department of Mechanical Engineering.

His latest project indulges his interest in locomotion of mechanisms in unstructured complex environments. In other words, he’s building a robot that will map tunnels for the Israeli army.

“[The IDF] can find the entrance, but they want to track the entire tunnel,” Shapiro said. “Underground there is no GPS and no orientation system.”

It’s difficult to map smuggling tunnels (see “Best (and bizarre) in tunnel sniffing”). So it would be up to a robot like the one Shapiro’s developing – which looks like two remote-controlled tanks linked by a metal bar (see photo) – to traverse the length of the tunnel and report back with details on slope, depth, angle, etc., which could help the IDF determine where to strike so it can’t be rebuilt (the tunnel, not the robot). 

Another piece of homeland-security technology Shapiro is working on is based on a suggestion from two students who served in the Israeli navy.

“When something hits a ship, they want to see if there’s damage. They can’t necessarily put a diver in the middle of the ocean, since it’s too dangerous,” he said.

Hull inspection robots exist, but most are expensive swimming ROV systems. Shapiro’s idea is to have a camera mounted a 10-inch wide robot, which could be sealed in a watertight case and sent off to roll along the hull with its magnetic wheels looking for damage. But the system wouldn’t just be limited to ships. Shapiro also sees potential in using it for bridge inspection.

Shapiro is one of about 60 researchers at BGU’s Robot Lab, which was established in 1988. Current projects include military, medical, agricultural and search-and-rescue systems.

The robot snakes Shapiro designs, like his Big Ben, are not so unusual – these search-and-rescue systems are segmented, featuring different motors that can produce their own independent motion. The snake can slowly move through small pockets in a collapsed building to find trapped survivors. This technology is several years old, but Shapiro’s twist is to create the first autonomous snake, which could operate independently of humans.

In fact, Shapiro believes the evolutionary stage in robot development will be the ability of these systems to act on their own—to repair themselves and to build other robots without human involvement. And right after that Skynet will become self-aware and before you know it—Judgement Day.

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