Candy bar satellite phone with high-speed internet connection available

ABU DHABI, Aug. 22, 2006. — According to the company's website, Thuraya has just achieved a milestone when engineers made an high-speed Internet connection using a handheld satellite phone.



“We were able for the first time to browse the Internet and download files,” Thuraya Project Manager Mansoor Al Abd said.

His team used Thuraya’s second-generation handset, which is the world’s smallest and lightest satellite phone, to go online.

In addition to making voice calls, handset users can download information at speeds of up to 60Kbps and upload at about 15Kbps while ThurayaDSL subscribers can send or receive data at speeds of up to 144Kbps.

Thuraya will initially offer a basic GPRS service to the second-generation handset users for an additional fee. Plans are also underway for introducing a number of GPRS-based advanced features.

Too bad their "footprint" i.e. coverage does not contain any of our (Maria's and mine) current working areas: Arctic Norway (Svalbard, R) is outside, as well as NW Iceland (R+M), East Greenland(M+R), Northern and Northeastern Russia (M), and of course Antarctica (R)...




Back to Iridium, I am afraid...

12-year-old gets certified Master Scuba Diver, writes book about it

Congratulations, PADI!

Some call it "the fastest scuba certification ever".

This must be a new record...

For full story, visit New West Books & Writers or visit the PADI certifying dive store online.

Was marrying Cindy a smart move?

New research by Paul Manger of Johannesburg’s University of the Witwatersrand reveales that despite the large brains found in dolphins, size does not indicate intelligence.

Instead, their large brain size is the result of a warm-blooded animal living in a cold-water environment. Hi study argues that much of dolphins’ reputation as being exceptionally wise derives from unquestioned assumptions that intelligence correlates with brain size.

However, Manger finds that finds that cetacean brains have an unusually high number of glial cells, which provide insulation for brain functioning and account for a large amount of the brain’s mass.

As Outside Online puts it:

"Manger’s study is likely to provoke defenses of dolphin speech and intelligence, but Flipper’s crime-fighting reputation may never recover."

So, finally, scientific proof that marrying a dolphin is not a smart move!

RB stories and pics

If you are interested in a few more stories and acompanying pics of rebreather diving, check out DrMike's stuff at smugmug.

Submatix mCCR on the market - CE-approved

So time ago I blogged about my experiences with the Seaway CORA II rebreather which we were able to take for a test dive in the pool.
Unfortunately, nothing much has been heard from Seaway since, and persistent inquiries about the promised CE certification as well as the upgrade options mCCR and eCCR were not addressed by the company.

Another unanswered story was the promised CO2 sensor, all of which had been announced during the BOOT 2006 trade fair (Düsseldorf).

Well, it seems that their rival, Submatix, has made the cut in the meantime, as they have recently announced that their mCCR version of the SCR 100 ST is now both certified and available. And the best part: they also offer conversion kits to upgrade the SCR 100 ST to something they now call CCR 100 SMS.

Although their price point is not as low as Seaway's (JFGI ;-) they do offer a complete set of accessories, sensor systems, adapters to include existing ppO2 monitoring systems like the Aladin Oxy 2 and so on.

So now it will be interesting to see whether Seaway will at least manage to pull even this year, or even launch their promised eCCR model, which would be the next step up the ladder.

More on rebreather horror stories

Statement from the homepage of Deep Life Limited:

"Contemporary eCCRs carry 900 times greater chance of death per hour of use than Open Circuit SCUBA, when it should really be the converse."

Therefore, the friendly people of "Deep Life Ltd." have compiled a list of known accidents on rebreathers (also referred to as CCR's, for Closed-Circuit Rebreathers).

Find the document with the inviting title "How Rebreathers Kill People" here.

Woz to the Pole - on Hydrogen Hummer...

Following up on the subject of "strange vehicles in the wrong places" here comes another treat:

Rumour has it that Apple co-founder, Steve Wozniak, will be ditching his Segway temporarily to drive a hydrogen fuel cell-powered Hummer to the South Pole. James Cameron plans to film the expedition in 3D.

Woz will be part of a group that is driving several Hummers from McMurdo Station to the South Pole in December of 2007. In true Woz style, his co-pilot is Buzz Aldrin, one of the first humans to walk on the moon.

Now, if you wonder: why a Hummer? you should remember: this is an American news story, what else did you expect? Also, it is probably even beyond Woz's Segway skills to drive in a linked team*...

(*note to Non-Antarcticans: Antarctic ski-doo trips are often set up in pairs connected by a rope, should one of them fall into a crevasse)

French Farmer arrested for driving with bio-fuel

From The Independent:

"Olivier Lainé, 49, was arrested near his farm by French customs officers. He faces prosecution for driving a vehicle powered by an "unauthorised fuel" - namely pure vegetable oil, made from colza, or rape seed, grown on his own farm.

...

The use of vegetable oil as fuel is authorised for vehicles while operating on a farm. It is illegal to drive vegetable-powered vehicles on public roads because no tax has been paid on the fuel." (read full story here).

Why does the phrase "unauthorized fuel" make me uneasy?