Letter Dress

When is a dress not a dress? When it's also a letter (airmail).
Dress by Hussein Chalayan.

Internet Lamposts

In Scotland smart lampposts that could provide high-speed internet access are set to go on trial. The idea will combine lampposts with solar energy and wi-fi wireless internet access.
"Councils could use smart lampposts to provide street light while selling internet access to local residents" Calum McRae, Compliance Technology

Meanwhile Westminster City Council has struck a deal with BT to provide wireless internet access through lampposts.
Building on the council's Wireless City project (Computing, 5 May), BT will install the WiFi network in lampposts across Soho in London. Low-powered microconnect distributed antennas will also be installed, to improve mobile phone and 3G coverage.

article on BBC website and VUNet

Unfortunately all the focus seems to be on commercial revenue possibilities, not free access.

Dead letter drop

Drama in Russia over spying by British diplomats which involved 'beaming' secret information to a rock. The device was apparently used as a 21st-century version of a dead-letter drop, in which an informant surreptitiously places secret documents at a spot, such as behind a loose brick in a wall, where his handlers can later recover them.

A report stated "In the case of the dummy rock, the Russian informant would use a palm-held computer to beam the secret data to the device in the rock. The British spies could retrieve the data from the rock using their own palm device.

A man identified as an FSB agent said the spies had used "new spying technology" that could download data within one or two seconds, from a distance of up to 20 metres."

Bluetooth/ RFID gets 007 credibility.

Own Virtual Land

'Second life' is a playable virtual world or MMOG (massively multiplayer online game) where you can buy, among other things, a virtual island. Here's the description from the website:

Imagine your own island getaway in Second Life! Perhaps you have an idea for a huge project which you want to realize, and you just need a lot of open space to build. Maybe you and a group of friends and colleagues are looking for a gathering place which can expand as your community grows. Or maybe you have visions of a world under your own control, where you add land with each increase of your population.

Considering these islands don't exist in physical space, they're not cheap at US$1,250 for 16 acres, AND you have to pay mothly fees for maintenance at US$195.

Wonder how it competes with a square meter of Moon, or naming a star.

The Geospatial Web

click here for the podcast. Featuring interviews with Mike Liebhold, Senior Researcher, Institute for the Future, Christopher Allen, Founding Partner, Counts Media, Peter Morville, author of "Ambient Findability".