The Queen’s Speech: What it means for technology

Another year, another Queen’s Speech. In this hyper-traditional ritual, Her Royal Highness heads to the House of Lords to say a few words scripted by the current government. It is integral to the State Opening of Parliament, and lays out the general legislative agenda of the government for this year’s session. The speech covers everything our leaders hope to achieve in the near future, so let’s take a look at all the important tech-related to-dos.

Spaceport

“Legislation to enable the future development of the UK’s first commercial spaceports.”

The new law would form part of the Modern Transport Bill. The UK’s desire to build a spaceport on British shores isn’t new, however. In the summer of 2014, the government revealed eight locations that it was considering for the landmark project. Six of these were in Scotland, leaving Wales and England with one apiece. Slowly but surely, these sites have been whittled down — if reports are to be believed, a spot in Newquay, Cornwall is now the frontrunner. The hope is that such a site will, one day, enable commercial spaceflight and attract investors in spaceplane operations.

Drones

“New rules to bring safe commercial and personal drone flight for households and businesses a step closer.”

Most drone flights in the UK are regulated by the Civil Aviation Authority. Pilots are restricted by a number of laws, which the organisation has broken down into a “drone code” for beginners. These rules are extensive, but various incidents in the UK — which include filming football matches and smuggling contraband into prisons — have called them into question. Today’s speech could be a reference to this ongoing debate, or the discussions that are taking place at the European level, between the European Commission and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). Regardless, the “new rules” will form part of the Modern Transport Bill.

Driverless cars

“New laws to make the UK ready to pioneer driverless cars.”

“Ensuring appropriate insurance is available to support the use of autonomous and driverless vehicles.”

The government is desperate for Britain to become a leader in autonomous transportation. It’s funded a number of research projects that cover driverless pods, simulators and modified jeeps. Most tests are being conducted on private tracks, however, rather than the open road. While a Code of Practice exists for public testing, there’s a clear need for new, updated legislation that would allow driverless cars to be integrated into society. Part of that discussion is figuring out how they should be insured — a matter that, according to the Queen’s Speech, will soon be addressed.

Broadband for all

“Measures will be brought forward to create the right for every household to access high speed broadband.”

By this, Lilly means the introduction of a “Universal Service Obligation” that makes fast (10 Mbps) broadband a legal right. This is intended to compliment the Broadband Delivery UK program by requiring internet providers offer a minimum connection standard for the hardest-to-reach. Ofcom will also be allowed to redefine the minimum speed when it sees fit. But, since the idea was first introduced by government some time ago, the finer details have become more complicated. Instead of being an automatic right, it’s likely communities will need to collectively request an upgrade to faster infrastructure, and may also be expected to contribute to the cost beyond a certain threshold.

The Universal Service Obligation forms part of the Digital Economy Bill, which will apparently lower the cost and simplify the rules for improving broadband infrastructure. Consumers will also be granted a new right to automatic compensation when their broadband isn’t working as it should, and the relatively recent change to a provider-led method of switching supplier will be enshrined. Similarly, the UK’s requirement that porn sites must implement age gates and various rules keeping cold callers and spam emailers in check will be included in the bill.

Human rights

“Proposals will be brought forward for a British Bill of Rights.”

While it’s not directly related to technology, the government is working towards replacing the current Human Rights Act with a “British Bill of Rights.” This would allegedly “restore common sense to their application.” As the Conservative Manifesto puts it, the new bill “will break the formal link between British courts and the European Court of Human Rights, and make our own Supreme Court the ultimate arbiter of human rights matters in the UK.”

You’ll need your tin-foil hat on for this bit, but it’s institutions like the European Court of Human Rights that can become annoying for governments trying to push, say, a controversial new piece of surveillance legislation like the Investigatory Powers Bill. You see, laws that may violate fundamental rights to privacy and data protection can be challenged in the European Court of Human Rights. The European Union can be called upon too, but in a near-future dystopia where we disconnect our human rights legislation from European influence and leave the sanctuary of the EU, the UK will become the sole lawmaker, overseer and challenger of human rights for its citizens.

Jamie Rigg contributed to this report.

Source: Queen’s Speech 2016, Gov.uk

There’s a new world record for solar cell efficiency

In a major leap for photovoltaics, scientists at the University of New South Wales in Australia announced that they’ve developed a solar cell array that’s 34.5 percent efficient at converting unfocused sunlight into electricity. That’s a 44 percent improvement over the last record holder, which only reached 24 percent efficiency with a larger solar array. The key here is that the scientists were testing normal sunlight without any complex concentrators. The same UNWS team, led by Dr. Mark Keevers and Professor Martin Green, also broke the record for concentrated solar power in 2014, reaching over 40 percent efficiency.

“What’s remarkable is that this level of efficiency had not been expected for many years,” Green said. “A recent study by Germany’s Agora Energiewende think tank set an aggressive target of 35% efficiency by 2050 for a module that uses unconcentrated sunlight, such as the standard ones on family homes.”

To reach the record breaking result, the scientists used a 28 centimeter-square, four-junction mini solar module which was embedded in a prism. The prism split the sun’s rays into four bands, which allowed it to extract more electricity than usual. It also wouldn’t be difficult to scale the setup to a larger 800 centimeter-square array. “There’ll be some marginal loss from interconnection in the scale-up, but we are so far ahead that it’s entirely feasible,” Keevers said.

Source: University of New South Wales

Saab built a robot to stop underwater terrorist bombs

The US isn’t just worried about terrorist bombings above-ground — it’s concerned about bombs below the waves, too. To that end, it’s working with Saab on a remotely-controlled underwater robot, the Sea Wasp, that’s designed to deal with improvised explosives. The machine (a smaller take on the existing Seaeye) uses a mix of sonar and a manipulator arm to find, move and sometimes disable explosives. Its party trick is its sheer maneuverability. It can hover in virtually any position, helping it dispose of bombs even when they’re attached to a ship’s hull.

This isn’t just a far-off concept. Saab has delivered Sea Wasp prototypes to the FBI, South Carolina’s counter-terrorism operations and the US Navy, and all three are conducting tests over the next 10 to 12 months. Underwater bombs aren’t exactly a widespread problem at the moment, but this robot could easily justify its existence if it spares divers from swimming into harm’s way.

Via: AUVSI

Source: Saab (1), (2)

The FAA just tested an FBI drone-finding system at JFK

Airports are getting more worried about civilian drones wandering into commercial airspace. While the one that struck a plane at Heathrow last month didn’t do damage, an unmanned aircraft could get sucked into an engine and bring down the whole plane. After multiple near-misses at JFK in the last two years, the FAA borrowed an FBI drone detection system and field-tested it at the international airport last week.
Beginning May 2nd, the FAA deployed five different rotor and fixed-wing unmanned aircraft systems in about 40 trials to evaluate the FBI’s detection technology. Academics and staff came from a host of agencies, including the FBI, Department of Justice, the Queens District Attorney’s office, and Port Authorities of New York and New Jersey. Basically, anyone interested in safeguarding air travel and prosecuting local offenders.

The drone-detecting tests expanded on research done earlier this year at Atlantic City International Airport. The FAA must continue these evaluations as part of the FY 2016 Appropriations law. The agency hasn’t nailed down a strategy to detect civilian drones and their operators, but least we can rest easy knowing we can knock them out of the sky with a net bazooka or trained hawk when the time comes.

Source: FAA

‘WhoApp’ Provides Users With Detailed Unknown Caller Information for Free

A new iOS app launching today, called WhoApp, plans to provide its users with detailed information about unknown callers soliciting their smartphones. Created by developer TelTech, WhoApp promises to recognize calls from telemarketers, wrong numbers, and potential scammers by returning information about the unknown dialer’s name, picture, address, and even a Google Street View image of their location.

The app works through a two-step process: when users receive an undesirable call from a number not stored in their iPhone, they hit the decline button to send the call to WhoApp. Next, the app dials back the number to your phone with all of WhoApp’s promised data points, allowing you to make a better decision about whether or not the call needs to be answered or ignored.

“For nearly a decade, we have focused on building innovative privacy and security apps that help people take control of their phones, and WhoApp will be another game-changer for iPhone users constantly wondering, ‘Should I take that call?’” said Meir Cohen, WhoApp’s CEO. “Turning caller ID into a name, face, and even a person’s front lawn was never before possible, and will change the way we use our iPhones.”

TelTech created a similar app before, called TrapCall [Direct Link], but WhoApp notably differs from the company’s previous unknown caller ID creation in that it’s free to download and requires no subsequent in-app purchases or paid subscription services.

WhoApp has a few other features as well, including its own phone dialing pad that lets users look up information on a phone number to find more information about someone before hitting the dial button. TelTech also says that the app “learns and grows with every call,” getting smarter with age in determining between different types of calls, from scams and telemarketers, to someone potentially important not yet stored in your smartphone.

Privacy and information gathering may be an issue for some users interested in WhoApp (the setup process requires access to an iPhone’s address book, and it’s heavily encouraged for users to connect to Facebook), but TelTech has launched a suite of call-related apps that have encouraged individual privacy. One of its previous creations, RoboKiller, won the FTC’s anti-robocall competition last year, and another encourages identity protection by spoofing a user’s real name and number on other smartphones to ensure anonymity.

WhoApp is currently available exclusively on the iOS App Store [Direct Link], but TelTech is additionally planning to launch the app on Android sometime this fall.

Tag: WhoApp
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