Trucking Technology Alert - Aug. 13
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Both the online report and e-mail are sponsored by @Track Communications, a supplier of wireless communications and dispatch services.
Today's Technology Headlines:
- Wireless Networks Put Users at Risk
- Web Surfing is Major Highlight of Technology
- Cellular Connections Growing
- Smart Van Collects Data
Wireless Networks Put Users at Risk
According to security experts, business travelers who are anxious to plug their laptop computers into wireless Internet networks at coffee shops, airports, and hotels risk having their Web browsing and email intercepted.Many wireless networks use the technology known as Wi-Fi, of which MobileStar is the market leader, providing about 650 wireless network areas for Starbucks, American Airlines, and a number of hotel chains. MobileStar's networks, however, have no encryption at all, and Internet Security Systems co-founder Chris Klaus says that intercepting data off a Wi-Fi network is easy to do and takes no special software to carry out.
Web Surfing is Major Highlight of Technology
Handheld computer manufacturers offer an array of devices that serve as databases for storing and accessing information.The popular Palm Pilot allows users to edit documents, spread sheets, and Power Point presentations, in addition to providing Web access. AvantGo offers Palm Pilot users an online connection via its Mobile Internet Service. The Avantgo.com Web site offers a free account and downloadable software that enables users to store Web pages for later viewing. The Mobile Internet Service is available to Palm Pilots having a regular Palm modem, a wireless Palm modem, or no modem.
However, users of the Palm device having a Palm modem or Omnisky wireless modem can access Web pages directly without having to link to a PC. San Antonio Express-News (08/12/01) P. 2K; Bragg, Roy
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Cellular Connections Growing
Wireless communication has become a feature of everyday family life.As a result of falling prices for cellular phone service, many families now have several phones--one for each family member. Security is one of the major selling points for cell phones, and emergency services say they receive approximately 100,000 calls a day from people using mobile phones. According to Jeff Kagan, an Atlanta-based telecommunications analyst, many people are also being attracted to cell phones by the promise of being connected in multiple ways at the same time.
For example, Kagan says, cell phones now enable individuals to shop online, get information on news and stocks, receive email messages, and carry on conversations. These new services are expanding on a daily basis, often as a result of partnerships between information providers and wireless companies. The wireless industry believes that the demand for wireless Internet access devices will double or even triple between now and 2004. Much of that growth may come from upgrading existing laptops, hand-held computers, and phones. Atlanta Journal-Constitution (08/12/01) P. 1P; Holsendolph, Ernest
The so-called smart travel van--Virginia's first mobile traffic-data collection laboratory--will be used to collect information to help ease congestion and improve safety on some of the states most accident-prone and heavily used roads. The vehicle was initially created by a company that supplies the television industry, and it was subsequently retrofitted by the University of Virginias Smart Travel Laboratory, a transportation research facility that is run jointly by the Virginia Department of Transportations (VDOT) Transportation Research Council and the universitys civil engineering department.
The smart travel van, which comes equipped with video and computer technology, as well as a 42-foot-tall telescoping mast, works by taking pictures of passing trucks and cars from atop the mast and using computer software to convert the images into data providing information on such matters as vehicle flow, vehicle volume, and vehicle speed. According to Brian Smith, an assistant professor of civil engineering at the University of Virginia and the co-director of the Smart Travel Lab, the Hampton Roads area of Virginia will provide the mobile laboratory with plenty to monitor, with its military bases, seasonal traffic, and bridge-tunnels.
James Mock, operations engineer at VDOTs Smart Traffic Center, says that information collected by the smart travel van could provide transportation officials with ideas on how to ease rush-hour congestion, and it could help them understand why accidents take place at certain locations and help them develop measures to prevent them. Richmond Times-Dispatch (08/12/01) P. C6; Glass, Jon
Smart Van Collects Data
In Hampton Roads, Va., traffic engineers are using a specially-modified Ford cargo van to manage heavy traffic flow.
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