Tag: mobile technology

Mobile technology system used to issue landslide forecasts

| September 4, 2015

A new system has been created by the Geological Survey of Bangladesh and the Geotechnical Institute of Norway.

The Geological Survey of Bangladesh (GSB) and the Geotechnical Institute of Norway have come together to create a new mobile technology based system that has been designed to forecast landslides.

A new forecast machine issues a signal to cell phones to alert users of an increased risk of landslides.

This new mobile technology alert system has already been implemented in a number of hilly areas and it has deemed to be successful. Heavy rainfall can cause both loose rocks and soil to absorb a considerable amount of water. As this continues the pressure from this absorption increases in the soil and rocks. Finally, the pull of gravity and the rising pressure causes the ground to crack and the soil and rocks to become dislodge, beginning a landslide. As the landslide progresses down the incline, it can pick up a great deal of additional material and force and it presents a massive threat to anyone or anything that is in its way.

The new forecast machine sends alerts through mobile technology based on several weather and geological factors.

Mobile Technology - Landslide WarningThe machine calculates the risk based on overall statistics of the amount of rainfall, the types of soil, and the length of time that the rain has been falling. The GSB entered into this partnership in order to be able to create a system of alert and prevention in response to the 2007 landslide in Chittagong, which killed 127 people.

The first testing of the forecast machine was conducted in 2010, and the data produced through that testing was the foundation of a research paper on the technology that was published by Springer in 2012 and presented at the World Landslide Conference in China.

The study revealed that if there is 100 mm of rainfall within a span of three consecutive hours, there is a striking increase in the landslide risk within hilly landscapes. Moreover, the risk also increases when 200 mm of rainfall occurs within a 24 hour period, or when 350 mm falls within 72 hours. The data is recorded into a computer which conducts an analysis of the risk and sends that information to a server which then alerts the applicable officials and designated mobile technology devices so that timely action can be taken to bring threatened residents to safety.

Amazon Fire mobile phone may be discontinued

| September 3, 2015

This could follow a string of engineer layoffs from the Lab126 research and development lab.

Amazon recently let dozens of its Lab126 engineers go from its research and development facility, located in San Francisco, and it now looks as though its mobile phone will be the next thing on the chopping block.

The announcement of the discontinuation of the Amazon Fire Phone has not yet been made official.

That said, considering the direction of their R&D, many have speculated that the company’s in-house consumer electronics efforts may be going the way of the dodo, as well. The mobile phone released by the company has been facing considerable struggles ever since it was first launched in 2014. The Wall Street Journal cited “people familiar with the matter” in a recent article in which it stated that the online marketplace had “dismissed dozens of engineers who worked on its Fire Phone.”

This makes it clear why there is considerable speculation involving the cancellation of that mobile phone.

Mobile Phone - Amazon FireThose are the first layoffs that Lab126 has experienced since it first opened its doors 11 years ago, said the WSJ report.

Even though the Amazon Fire Phone did receive some very positive reviews when it was first released in July 2014, it never managed to scoop up a very large portion of the smartphone marketplace. Its initial launch price was $449.00, though that price tag dropped after the first few months. The operating system was a type of branch of Android, and it did receive some criticism based on the proprietary mobile apps that it contained that were clearly focused on the Amazon experience.

Despite the fact that the focus of the mobile phone on linking itself to Amazon in several different ways through its proprietary apps was supposed to provide the device owner with a considerable advantage when shopping, it turned out to be a primary obstacle. People started to view the device as being meant for a “single-purpose”, which was to continually direct shoppers back to Amazon in order to buy both physical and digital products. This criticism was one of the primary barriers to acceptance by many consumers who might otherwise have considered buying it.