Synopsis: Domenii: Ict:

Masabi is known for its comprehensive mobile ticketing platform already in use by 22 transit agencies worldwide.

but does not have a user friendly reputation. A travel website article that provides step-by-step instructions for using the buses there is longer than most blog posts.

While the travel article points out a number of challenges, the issue of payment is one of the biggest.

The Mastercard/Masabi partnership allows riders to buy their tickets with a quick tap on their smartphone.

which allows people to store digital wallets securely on their mobile devices. Credit card and other payment information can be stored in the digital wallet

With the Mastercard/Masabi partnership, the smartphone is the common platform. The rechargeable contactless cards used by many transit systems also create two lines:

their smartphone is the kiosk. So far, the partners have announced only their joint work in Athens. On its own,

#IBM Smarter Cities Challenge is back: Could your city use some pro bono problem solvers?

But Council Lead Partner IBM has been doing just that with its Smarter Cities Challenge for the past four years.

IBM is continuing the grant program this year and is now accepting applications from local governments.

That's the idea behind IBM's Smarter Cities Challenge competitive grant program that has in the last four years helped 116 municipalities around the world solve critical local challenges.

How it works After intense preparation, six-person IBM pro bono consulting teams spend three weeks in the winning region analyzing all available data about a critical issue of the municipality's choosing for example

At the conclusion, IBM presents comprehensive recommendations for improving the delivery of services to citizens.

Past winners have seen results IBM notes that many of its past grant recipients have implemented their Smarter Cities Challenge recommendations

Nanjing, China implemented a social media program that engaged more than two-million people for the 2014 Youth Olympic games.

Syracuse, New york analyzes data to identify homes and neighborhoods that need revitalization. The effort has yielded a 69%increase in collection of delinquent property taxes and fees.

A program that works"We're extending IBM's Smarter Cities Challenge for one simple reason:

It works,"said Jennifer Crozier, IBM vice president of Global Citizenship Initiatives.""City leaders from around the world have told us how IBM's advice has helped them re-imagine how they can use data

and analytics to help them solve complex problems. We're told that IBM Smarter Cities Challenge is that rare program that brings people together

and gets long-term results --and we're proud of that. We invite mayors and regional leaders to apply with their toughest problems

Using data analysis technology from Council Lead Partner Microsoft, they are able to position officers where they will make the biggest difference.

How it works Microsoft Domain Awareness System gets most of the attention for its work in preventing crimes.

and other data so that they know where crimes are most likely to occur and assign officers accordingly.

While the analytics were built by Microsoft, New york city police officers guided the development. Police officers described their biggest pain points

and brainstormed ways that data analysis could help address them. It was built to solve real-life problems.

the system can evaluate other data sources to determine if it actually dangerous, or if it a harmless type that naturally occurring

Doesn break the budget Microsoft is quick to point out that these benefits are available to cities of any size at a very modest investment.

And they already collect crime data. It the analytics that truly make all that useful,

The panels in the $3. 7 million project are linked to smart meters that increase their output

Solar Roadways developed its first road panel in 2009 and with the help of additional grants, finished up an experimental solar-paneled parking lot last year.

It plans to use money from its successful crowdfunding to take the version of the panels it used for that project into production i

Council Lead Partner Schneider Electric outlines the importance of data analytics and other technologies in transforming a dumb water network into an efficient,

The benefits of incorporating data analysis into a water network are better performance with the possibility of improved customer service,

On the technology side, smart water networks include the integration of supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA),

meter data management solutions, advanced metering and automated meter reading and more. Those all enhance the ability to prevent the water loss prevalent in dumb systems through leak detection and control, pressure management, equipment repairs and asset management,

###Kevin Ebi is a staff writer and social media coordinator for the Council. Follow@smartccouncil on Twitter.

More resources issecting ISO 37120: Gimme shelter, please! The homeless challenge cities facehow technology is helping cities help their homelessdata sharing helps NYC improve health and human services deliver d

The city has partnered with Council Lead Partners Cisco and Microsoft in addition to Fiberco, the Technology Innovation Agency and Nunnovation Africa Foundation on the program.

Check a university course catalogmicrosoft targets TV white spaces to improve education in Afric n

Council Lead Partners IBM Microsoft, andcisco and Associate Partner Siemens have been working with Chinese companies on national information security as well as technologies

and solutions to support the growth of smart cities there. Council Lead Partner Itron, meanwhile, completed installation of smart water, heat and gas meters and communication modules as well as its fixed network for Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco city in Tianjin, China.

The need is certainly realone of the primary drivers for smart city upgrades throughout the world has been an influx of people from rural and outlying areas

"I don't want to live in a place where computers run my life. You're installing a whole bunch of computers

which will do a whole variety of things but you're forgetting that cities are for people.

and a processor to run the show. The Trakür is no exception. Developed in the suburbs of Buenos aires by INTA's rural engineering division, the yellow and white robot resembles a child's Tonka truck (the chassis) with a lighthouse (the sprayer) strapped to the top.

A wireless transmitter on the robot sends camera video and sensor data such as the unit's speed,

and the amount of remaining chemical to a computer outside the greenhouse, where an operator directs the Trakür virtually.

or cameras and algorithms or satellite GPS, this is guided by a cable that emits a electromagnetic signal.

use social media, work with police and get help from the general public. The digital guide is the outcome of O'Keeffe's collaboration with Studio Thick

and wants of users and service providers taken into account. Studio Thick's co-director Damon O'sullivan explains the key difference is about getting the model right from the start."

MPAN has been accessed 6, 000 times by users in Australia, the United kingdom, the United states and Germany.

The MPAN guide has proven so effective that the police are now directing the public to the site.

"Mapping the user journey Elsewhere, Melbourne's Huddle has launched recently Smart Blocks, a collaboration with the Australian government.

This action-oriented site helps apartment owners and renters implement energy efficiency in their shared property with templates

Before creating the site, the Melbourne studio conducted design research among the user group which included in depth interviews and mapping the user journey,

to gain insight into community-style apartments, and the needs and expectations of owners and managers.

which they tested with the users before launching the service.""Customer response to the service has been extremely positive,

Tech brings project filing mentality to email For now, at least, email remains one of the most widely methods of business collaboration and communication--for sharing business intelligence in its truest form.

But, oh, the pain of keeping it organized over time and over multiple projects. Addition of search tools and folders,

Enter Recommind's Decisiv Email, an add-on for Microsoft Outlook that manages messages from a collaborative perspective.

Decisiv Email offers more than a carbon-copy of what's going on it works behind-the-scenes to analyze

and tag messages --and then to file them and archive them appropriately. After making an assessment about the content,

the software either files that message in a folder that it believes relevant on its own

That's what makes Decisiv email different from the rules that you can add to your individual email system.

whether or not you were copied on the email. How automatic that tagging process winds up being is up to your individual organization:

to make sure that critical emails are accessible to all important personnel, mainly for operational purposes but also useful from a compliance standpoint.

said the idea behind Decisiv Email is to help make it simpler for organizations to find

that you have to use Outlook for the categorization to happen. Recommind is working on tablet and smartphone integration.

What about privacy, you ask? A tool like Decisiv Email will definitely make you think twice about what you write in an email or about

what you decide to exclude.""Everything that you send in corporate email will be available for people to see

if it is relevant for the business, "Schueren said d

#When KI isn't enough, biotechs race to develop acute radiation drugs Since the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi power station,

Nearly a quarter-million KI doses (pictured) have been amassed by evacuation centers near the site. But while those guard against the long-term risks of thyroid cancer linked with chronic radiation exposure

which requires extensive efficacy data in animal models, but only demands safety testing in people.

GE's trailer-mounted gas turbine delivers on-site power using field gas at a well site in Alberta s

and what still needs to be done Can the social networking wave that is emerging help bring about more responsive government organizations?

Social networking provides governments with a new paradigm: knowledge release rather than knowledge control. This Government 2. 0 approach can harness government knowledge to improve results.#(PDF white paper available from Freebalance.

Government 2. 0 enabled through social networking tools provides benefits such as reduced cost of engagement through more productive tools and processes, simplified knowledge creation and retention though usable applications, easier knowledge sharing,

and enhanced information discovery through transparency and data mashups. It all sounds like good mom-and-apple-pie stuff,

but is it actually being put to use? The Grant Thornton report says yes, and cites some examples:

To help government better take advantage of social networking technologies, Grant Thornton suggests that government organizations better incorporate design thinking#(Government 2. 0 mindset) as a supplement to management thinking#(Government 1. 0 mindset).

#Change Management in the Web 2. 0 era is more peer-to-peer, viral#change is pulled by participating constituents, employees, customers.#

and now there's a website to find nearby 3d printers for quick turnaround on printing jobs. makexyz. com is a simple website that allows anyone with a 3d printer to rent out their services to anyone with printing needs.

The site shows all the 3d printing options nearby with the cheapest showing up first with all the details of the printer.

Need to print with full color sandstone? This is your place. The closest printer to me, for example, is a Prusa Mendel I2 that uses#ABS Plastic in numerous colors.

The price: 50 cents per cubic centimeter. If this worked for my design, I would upload the design to the website where it gives me a price that

I pay right there (no money is exchanged between printer owner and designer). Then, once the printing is complete

I can pick it up or have shipped it to me. Zak Stone reports for Fast Company that people with 3d printers have been eager to sign up:

Already, more than 500 printers around the United states have signed up--with everything from homemade printers, to Makerbots, to $30, 000 professional machines.

It's a fantastic resource. Stone calls it a Kinko's for 3d printing. And he could be on to something.

(or other printing service chains) become the Kinko's of 3d printing? With widespread stores already in place, a forward-thinking chain could make 3d printers available and more accessible.

but 3d printers in big cities and college towns, at least to start, could really help evolve their printing chain's brand.

#Which city is getting Google's ultrafast Internet? Congratulations denizens of Austin, Texas, Google Fiber--the company's blazing fast gigabit broadband service--is coming to your city.

After some speculation, Google officially announced today that Austin would indeed become the second metropolitan area to get the service after the company first built up the infrastructure in Kansas city and surrounding communities,

where homes are already enjoying Internet speeds that are 100 times faster than the average broadband service.

Google will offer the same service to Austin as it does for Kansas city residents. They have the option for gigabit Internet

or a combination package that includes Google Fiber TV. Slower Internet service is also available with no monthly fees

only a onetime installation charge. Google plans to begin installing the service in Austin homes next year.

Public institutions will also get connected to the super-fast Internet free of charge. And while it is developed only fully in one city

and planned for another, the Wall street journal says cable companies have reason to be worried. By offering Google Fiber,

which costs $120 a month for high-speed Internet and TV and $70 a month for just Internet, the company may show cable operators it can work around them, if needed.

It could also get Google greater say in future industry regulation including issues of net neutrality,

or the idea Internet providers should treat all data equally. Also among Google Fiber's offerings is slower Internet access that is free after a $300 fee.

With an aspirational service, Google could be trying to demonstrate how the Internet would look in an ideal, consumer-focused, world.

At least one other company is up for Google's challenge. Not long after the Google announcement, AT&T also announced an investment in a gigabit network in Austin.

Why are drawn these companies to Austin? It s a mecca for creativity and entrepreneurialism, with thriving artistic and tech communities,

as well as the University of Texas and its new medical research hospital, Google said in a statement.

We re sure these folks will do amazing things with gigabit access. Google Prepares for Fiber Warfare Wall street journal Photo:

Flickr/atmtx Related on Smartplanet: Silicon Prairie: Google broadband spurs Kansas city startup village Silicon Prairie now prime startup territory Can Kansas city transform into#Silicon Prairie?

Google Fiber: the big gigabit reveal and what it means New theory on Google s fiber experiment-a utility revolutio t

#White house launches nationwide broadband testbed The White house made two big announcements yesterday in an effort to boost broadband development in the United states. The first was an executive order by President Barak Obama calling

on federal agencies to simplify the process for allowing private companies to lay new network infrastructure.

With a dig once approach, the executive order also aims to help carriers conduct broadband deployments in conjunction with other road construction projects.

This strategy will purportedly reduce deployment costs by up to 90 percent. The second White house announcement was the launch of U s. Ignite.

U s. Ignite is a new nonprofit public/private partnership convened to help bring together network providers

software developers, and Internet users to create next-generation broadband applications. The partnership includes 25 cities around the country,

as well as research universities, and major companies such as Verizon, Comcast, Juniper Networks, and Cisco. While the executive order is fairly simple to parse,

the launch of U s. Ignite is more difficult to conceptualize and assess, and that's because it's got a lot of moving parts.

For example, while the goal of the venture is to develop a national testbed of high-speed communities,

Not surprisingly, among the regions hoping to pilot U s. Ignite efforts are some of our favorite gigabit sites,

Sue Spradley, the executive director of U s. Ignite confirmed in a conference call yesterday that the organization is working closely with the new Gigabit Neighborhood Gateway Program to engage additional high-speed communities.

However, long-time broadband reporter and analyst Om Malik says he's feeling a little blase about the news. He notes out that many of the best inventions (Youtube

Facebook, Twitter) come from turning resources over to everyday users, rather than directing them toward big, possibly unwieldy partnerships.

he would likely be dazzled by the smartphone, high definition video, and digital storage for music and movies--all#decedents#of technologies that he pioneered

Use information technology to infuse intelligence and visibility into the power grid. This will enable utilities to better monitor

and recycling electronic products such as televisions, refrigerators and computers. A tax will be added to the price tags of electronic products to help pay for e waste disposal.

In California, there is a $10 fee added to the price of electronic products with viewable screens,

#Who will control the Internet?(Who will pay for it? And you thought SOPA and PIPA were bad.

Representatives of more than 190 governments, telecommunications companies and Internet groups will gather in Dubai next week for the 12-day World Conference on International Telecommunications,

the future of the largely free and open Internet we enjoy today. The last time this group assembled was 1988,

when the consumer Internet was nascent at best. Today, the Internet is the backbone for economies, connected technologies of all kinds and free speech.

The many stakeholders that will be in attendance are scheduled to discuss the future of Internet services, specifically around how they are paid for.

Who will pay to maintain the Internet as traffic continues to surge? What about razor-thin margins in Europe?

And what of network neutrality, when many U s. companies enjoy monopolies in their markets?)But the elephant in the room is the potential for one major player--Russia,

some suggest--to insist on changing the fundamental oversight of the Internet, thus possibly threatening its unfettered, decentralized, apolitical growth with censorship and regulation.

Member states,#Russia proposed, shall have equal rights to manage the Internet, including in regard to the allotment, assignment and reclamation of Internet numbering, naming, addressing and identification resources.#

#It's no different than China or Iran, both of whom limit Internet access in their countries.

Fundamentally, the Internet is the world's first global infrastructure problem, no different than a city's public transit system or a nation's network of highways:

The global Internet, 2012. Telegeography r

#Who will fill the Google Reader vacuum? Google Reader retires next week, and the Great RSS Gold rush of 2013 is reaching fever pitch.

Bloomberg Businessweek reports. An RSS reader pulls in feeds of articles from various websites. Created six years ago,

Google Reader had taken over the market. When the company announced the decision to power down Reader,

they gave two reasons: usage has declined, and they want to pour all their energy into fewer products.

For Google, RSS was small beans. Reader had several million followers, but the company is focused on obvious markets that serve hundreds of millions of people,#according to Reader creator Chris Wetherell.

This is a perfect way to avoid the risk of creating entirely new markets which often go through a painful not yet-serving-hundreds-of-millions period and

#Some might interpret the fact that one of the Internet s largest, richest companies abandoned this idea as a red flag.

which are quickly developing their own readers to fill the Google Reader vacuum. It s not that they believe everyone wants to immerse themselves in an endless sea of headlines.

and distilling down any pile of Internet content, big or small, into the things that are most interesting or important to you.#

Social sites like Linkedin and Facebook are building news products. And for an increasingly large portion of internet users, Twitter is personalized a news wire.

With Google out of the way, RSS might finally develop to its full potential. Via Businessweek Image:

Matt Galligan via Wikimedi i

#Who wins in the battle of genome sequencers? Desktop sequencers promise to democratize genomics, but it s difficult for researchers who aren t experts in sequencing technology to sort through the overheated marketing claims made in this fiercely competitive industry.

people looking for comparisons have had to depend on blog posts, which can be useful but hard to find,

The Personal Genome Machine vs Miseq videos played off the Mac vs PC ads. People are crying out for independent analysis,

#Why (and how) retailers should embrace'showrooming'More evidence emerged this week suggesting the power of smartphones to reshape how retailers stock,

New research from Deloitte suggests that more than 5 percent of store sales during 2012 will be influenced by smartphones.

For the purposes of the survey, Deloitte defined influence to include activities such as product research conducted by shoppers with their mobile device,

price comparisons and other mobile application usage. By 2016, that influence will grow to 19 percent of sales,

and some retailers have banned actually Wi-fi in their stores in an effort to prevent the activity

and our research indicates that smartphone shoppers are 14 percent more likely to convert and make a purchase in the store than non-smartphone users.

This means that mobile is an important tool for retailers to incrementally drive traditional in store sales,

strengthening the relationship between retailer and consumer to increase engagement and loyalty. Smartphone Users Are More Frequent Shoppers Deloitte's research suggests that smartphone users aren't only becoming more common,

they are more likely to make a purchase than those who aren't using them.

48 percent of smartphone users said what they saw on a mobile application affected an in store purchase decision.

The other thing to consider is that smartphones aren't just influential in store. More than half of the smartphone users surveyed by Deloitte said they started doing research on the way to the store.

I'm hoping they weren't driving while they were doing that, but that's a whole other story.)

Retailers that do not engage shoppers through specialized mobile applications or targeted smartphone-based promotions leave the door open for competitors to reach a customer who is standing in the retailer's store and at the point of purchase.

To make the connection with consumers, retailers need to understand how mobile shoppers are willing to interact with their specific store category, format and merchandise, both inside and outside the store,

No Shortage of Emerging Technologies Last week, Motorola announced a major mobile technology push intended to help retailers become more savvy about showrooming

Microsoft is also hoping to benefit from the phenomenon. Its Microsoft Tag mobile scanning technology supports both 2d barcode formats (including QR Codes and the Tag format) as well as Near Field Communications.

This month, Procter & gamble are running a month-long test in the Chicago and New york areas of pop-up stores,

Mirror image Internet is using geolocation to help retailers get smarter with mobile advertising, allowing them to serve up coupons for items that customers might be near in an aisle,

if someone decides to price shop with their smartphone while shopping in a store. The company allows retailers to attach technical support and service offerings, like installation,

One example is Goodzer, a local shopping search engine that covers inventory from more than 500,000 stores in the United states s

The fact that a firm that produces mobile devices is now more valuable than an oil company is the most powerful repudiation of the sprawling, exurban, oil-dependent old economy

mobile devices are suited uniquely to the urban environment. They are such powerful connectors of people that they are literally replacing their need and desire for cars.

and use other technology instead, such as smartphones and tablet computers. It's not merely that the two trade off economically;

so to their mobile devices and always-on connectivity that they would sooner give up driving. Pendleton continues:

A recent survey of college students in Colorado (where sending messages from smartphones while driving is not illegal) found that

while 75 per cent of users said they often used their phones while travelling by bus, train or as a passenger in a car,

Gen Y housing preferences are the subject of at least two panels at this week s convention.

who are making decisions every day to buy an ipad instead of a new car, or to move closer to work

they like Facebook more than having a big back yard! --it's worth recognizing that the ability to maintain our always-on connectivity,

and to be close enough to the job opportunities represented by America's urban cores,

and reducing reliance on backup power systems. Apple describes the benefits of the system within the patent application,

How might this kind of technology relate to ipad and iphone maker Apple? The patent application is not a huge indicator,

880m euros'worth of wind power orders since July Google invests $75 million in U s. wind far r

#Why more U s. companies are generating their own power From technology companies like Google and Apple powering their data centers with solar panels

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