Top TechTop Tech #23: Ford slows down, Glass fights germs, police track phones
Promising products and interesting innovations
Today’s Top Tech:
• Ford will slow you down
• Glass will fight germs
• “Secret” police gadget tracks phones
Ford will slow you down
“Breaking the speed limit is not something we always do onpurpose,” car-maker Ford says here. Intelligent Speed Limiter technology “could help prevent drivers from unintentionally exceeding speed limits.”
The system monitors road signs with a camera mounted on the windscreen, and slows the vehicle as required. As the speed limit rises, the system allows the driver to accelerate up to the set speed – providing it does not exceed the new limit.
It will launch in Europe.
Glass will fight germs
Wary about touching that screen? New antimicrobial glass might make it a bit safer for germ-a-phobes.
Corning’s Antimicrobial Gorilla Glass “is now making its way into more public places,” CNet reports, such as ATMs and payment terminals. “If Corning can convince people that they want a glass that prevents the sniffles, it could expand Gorilla’s reach well beyond its base in smartphones, potentially for use on surfaces in hospitals, food storage facilities or public transportation.”
“Thousands of bacteria live on a mobile device surface,” the company says. “Every tap, swipe and phone call results in further exposure of the touch surface. With the rapid growth of touch-enabled devices, this is becoming a growing concern. Antimicrobial Corning Gorilla Glass – the first EPA-registered antimicrobial cover glass – can help.” It uses an ionic silver component to keep the glass clean of germs.
There’s more information here.
“Secret” police gadget tracks phones
More police departments are signing up to use cell site simulators — and signing a nondisclosure agreement preventing them from saying almost anything about the technology, the New York Times reports.
“Any disclosure about the technology, which tracks cellphones and is often called StingRay, could allow criminals and terrorists to circumvent it, the F.B.I. has said in an affidavit,” the Times adds.
The devices can also capture texts, calls, emails and other data. And “what has opponents particularly concerned about StingRay is that the technology, unlike other phone surveillance methods, can also scan all the cellphones in the area where it is being used, not just the target phone.”
