No Internet access at rest areas -- for now

Pantagraph.com reports: State pulls plug on Internet access at rest areas:

"State transportation officials have pulled the plug on a plan to offer free Internet service at interstate rest areas.

According to the Illinois Department of Transportation, only one company submitted a proposal to offer wireless access at the rest areas, triggering officials to put the idea on hold.

'That essentially puts us back to square one,' said IDOT spokesman Matt Vanover.

Earlier this year, transportation officials had sought to add Illinois to the growing list of states that are transforming rest areas into hot spots for web browsing.

Vanover said officials envision motorists stopping to check out weather and road conditions. They also saw it as a way to help drivers find hotels and restaurants near their destinations.

Iowa, Texas and Washington are among other states that have recently installed wireless Internet capability at rest areas. Some states charge for access, but Illinois had wanted to offer the service for free."

Intelligent machines

In the field of artificial intelligence, robotics, computer simulation and control theory, SIUC's Henry Hexmoor, an SIUC computer science professor, finds "ways to make computers do what humans do."

According to the News Service Release,

Hexmoor wants to find ways to make multiple machines — called "agents" — share a single objective, but work independently and cooperatively to achieve it. [boldface added]. One such experiment, for example, replicates the sidewalk dilemma, where several robotic agents are trying to pass through roughly the same space at about the same time.
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Hexmoor has received about $2 million in research contracts over the years. Most recently, he received a $35,000 subcontract from the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory to examine human control of a 'community' of five robots. Hexmoor's SIUC students will assist in writing the software for the project, he said.

U.S. Department of Defense wants 'agents' that can "seek to identify and engage multiple 'targets" according the SIUC press release. "The current trend in military operations is to emphasize off-site control of remote equipment, like unmanned aircraft."

Hexmoor explained, We want to capture the spirit of what the humans want done and translate that to a machine.'"

In other words Hexmoor is building a T-800 model that won't bump into itself.

Here's the press release: Professor trying to add 'smarts' to computers.

"Chants of a lifetime" deal for Indians�

Reuters, Oddly Enough: 'Chants of a lifetime' deal for Indians�:

"Xavante Indians living on the southern edge of Brazil's Amazon rainforest plan to start selling ringtones of traditional chants like 'the hunt song' and 'the healing dance' to cell phone users in China and Europe.

Brazilian cell phone users can already download the tones for about $1.40 each and 100 Xavante in the remote Sao Pedro village in Mato Grosso state have been profiting from the sales for the past few months, said Gilson Schwartz, coordinator of an aide group called Cidade Movel.

His group helps riverside communities in the Amazon find alternative sources of income in a region where most people live without modern conveniences and economic growth usually depends on mining or logging the forest.

'We want to create a business model of social content for the wireless phone industry,' he said."