Tech Universe: Wednesday 29 June

Internet access is Antarctica is understandably problematic. Photo / Thinkstock

BROADBAND FOR ALL: In Jalalabad, Afghanistan, the locals are building their own high-speed internet network as part of a project called FabFi. Commercial wireless routers are mounted on cheap local products such as plastic tubs and cans. If necessary the routers can run off a car battery. The total cost of a node is approximately US$60. The open source project is helping local businesses as well as hospitals and clinics to stay connected. Perhaps we can learn from Afghanistan. Fast Company has more.

SOUTHERN CONNECTIONS: Meanwhile, down in the Antarctic Internet access is quite a problem. Satellites are normally near the horizon and weather causes quite a few problems too. There's not a lot of incentive for satellite companies to provide coverage in the far south of the planet. The Antarctic Broadband consortium aim to launch their own satellites in orbits specially designed to provide the right coverage. The satellites will be in highly elliptical orbits with the apogee over the South Pole. Quirks of these kinds of orbits mean the satellites will move fairly slowly above the area where they're needed. Phase 1 of the project is to prove that the technology works. Sometimes you just have to do it yourself. More at here.

LOOK MA, NO DRIVER!: Google's automated cars drive themselves. They use video cameras, radar sensors and a laser range finder in conjunction with detailed maps of the route to make their journeys.
While they've travelled extensively in California, Nevada state has now changed the law to make it possible for them to drive there. The only accident they've suffered so far was once when a human driver rear-ended one of the automated cars. Google aim eventually to make driving safer. Well, software drives planes already, why not cars?
Daily Mail has more, video here.

CORROSION NEVER SLEEPS: The US Navy has a lot of costly warships. The USS Independence is one of them. And at only just 12 months old it has quite a big problem: it's disintegrating. It's not just rust either. Instead the problem is electrolysis. Where the ship's steel engines meet the aluminium hull serious galvanic corrosion is taking place. The electrolysis was probably sparked by electrical charges originating in the ship's combat systems. Future vessels will include a Cathodic Protection System designed to prevent electrolysis. Oops! More details here.

- Miraz Jordan knowit.co.nz