Hawaii clears land use for the Thirty Meter Telescope, construction to start in 2014

TMT Takes Step Towards Construction after Approval by the Board of Land and Natural Resources

04.13.2013

Friday marked another important step forward for the future of astronomical discovery and economic opportunity on Hawaii Island. The Hawaiian Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) announced that it has granted a permit to the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) project to build and operate the next-generation observatory near the summit of Mauna Kea.

With this approval, the BLNR has recognized TMT's goal of responsible development and environmental stewardship of Mauna Kea in close partnership with local interests. The carefully considered conditions in the permit help ensure the protection of sensitive environments in Hawaii.

"Over the last several years, the TMT project has welcomed the support it has received from all sectors of the Hawaiian community, from education to cultural to business to labor," said Sandra Dawson, TMT's Manager of Hawaii Community Affairs. "We look forward to beginning construction and becoming a neighbor of the outstanding observatories on Mauna Kea."

In February 2011, the BLNR issued a preliminary decision conditioned on the successful conclusion of a contested case. The contested hearings began later that year. The final approval followed a hearing held February 12, 2013 in Hilo, HI. At this time, the BLNR reviewed a report by the hearing officer regarding the contested case.

"We are delighted that the TMT project has now been granted a Conservation District Use Permit," said Edward Stone, the Morrisroe Professor of Physics at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and vice chair of the TMT board. "The BLNR's decision is a vote of confidence for TMT advancing science while benefitting the greater Hawaiian community."

TMT will now seek final approval of construction plans by Hawaii's Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR). The project will also negotiate a sublease with the University of Hawaii. TMT plans to begin preparing the ground for construction on Mauna Kea before the end of the year with a construction start date slated for April 2014.

TMT Board Chair and University of California Santa Barbara Chancellor Henry Yang expressed his gratitude for the support that TMT has received in Hawaii and elsewhere:

"I want to thank the Moore Foundation for its visionary support. I also want to thank our scientific colleagues and the coalition of community members, educators, businesses, unions, political leaders, and stakeholders in Hawaii who have brought us to the point of the granting of the CDUP. The TMT Board expresses our strong commitment to respect the long history and cultural significance of Mauna Kea to the Hawaiian people, and has committed annual funding for local community benefits and education in Hawaii.

We also want to reaffirm that we appreciate what we have learned about the cultural and religious significance of this sacred mountain, as well as the vital ecosystems it supports. It is extremely important to all of us that the Thirty Meter Telescope will be able to make a contribution not only to the exploration of science, but also to the connection of science with humanities, culture, language, religion, environmental sustainability, and education, especially the education of future generations of children in Hawaii," said Yang.

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By: Unknown On 9:01 PM

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NTT DoCoMo confirms successful 10Gbps wireless test, clears a path to 5G

No, it's not the world's most conspicuous surveillance van -- it's one of the first steps toward 5G data. NTT DoCoMo has just confirmed that the gear-laden vehicle above successfully conducted a 10Gbps wireless test in Ishigaki this December with the help of the Tokyo Institute of Technology. The dry run relied on frequencies and bandwidth well outside of usual cellular service, in the 11GHz band with 400MHz of spectrum, but proved that it was possible to blow past the speeds of LTE and LTE-Advanced while moving outdoors; the test used 24 antennas to maintain the link. DoCoMo ultimately hopes for similar speed in frequencies over 5GHz, and it's not shy about hoping the technology will define mobile communication as it improves. Although we're not expecting this kind of breakneck performance in a phone for years, it's good to know that 4G isn't necessarily the end of the line.

Source: NTT DoCoMo.

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By: Unknown On 10:29 PM

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FDA clears Argus II 'bionic eye' for sale in the US (video)

Second Sight Announces FDA Approval

Second Sight Medical Products Receives FDA Approval for Argus II System

Argus® II Retinal Prosthesis System is the first approved bionic eye in the US with life-changing potential for the treatment of blindness due to retinitis pigmentosa

SYLMAR, CA, 14 February 2013 After more than 20 years of research and development, Second Sight Medical Products, Inc., the leading developer of retinal prostheses for the blind, is pleased to announce that it's Argus® II Retinal Prosthesis System ("Argus II") has received U.S. market approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat individuals with late stage retinitis pigmentosa (RP). This announcement follows receipt of the European approval in 2011, and a unanimous recommendation by the FDA's Ophthalmic Devices Advisory Panel in September 2012 that this revolutionary product be made available to treat this patient population in the U.S.

"We are thrilled to be able to offer the only FDA-approved long-term therapy for people suffering from advanced RP," said Robert Greenberg, MD, PhD, President and CEO of Second Sight. "With this approval, we look forward to building a strong surgical network in the United States and recruiting new hospitals that will offer the Argus II retinal implant. This is a game changer in sight-affecting diseases, that represents a huge step forward for the field and for these patients who were without any available treatment options until now."

Argus II is intended to provide electrical stimulation of the retina to induce visual perception in blind individuals with retinitis pigmentosa and has the capacity to offer life-changing visual capabilities to those currently unable to see anything except, at best, extremely bright lights.

Although the resulting vision is not the same as when these patients had normal vision, investigators involved in the clinical trial of the Argus II are eager about the approval. "It is incredibly exciting to have FDA approval to begin implanting the Argus II and provide some restoration of vision to patients blinded from RP. In the patients that have been implanted to date, the improvement in the quality of life has been invaluable," said Mark Humayun, MD, PhD, Cornelius Ping's Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Professor of Ophthalmology, Biomedical Engineering, Cell and Neurobiology, Doheny Eye Institute at University of Southern California. "The fact that many patients can use the Argus implant in their activities of daily living such as recognizing large letters, locating the position of objects, and more, has been beyond our wildest dreams, yet the promise to the patients is real and we expect it only to improve over time."

With approval from the FDA, the Argus II is slated to be available later this year in clinical centers across the country. Second Sight will be actively adding sites to make the therapy more readily available and encourages interested facilities and patients to contact them.

"This is an exciting time for people who are blind from RP. Second Sight's prosthetic retinal device brings meaningful hope to tens of thousands of people with advanced retinal diseases," said Stephen Rose PhD, chief research officer at Foundation Fighting Blindness. He adds, "The Argus II has the potential to provide life-changing vision capabilities as well as increased mobility and independence."

FDA approval came following more than 20 years of work in the field, two clinical trials, over $100M in public investment by the National Eye Institute, the Department of Energy, and the National Science Foundation, and an additional $100M in private investments.

About Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP)

RP, an inherited retinal degenerative disease that often results in nearly complete blindness, affects roughly 100,000 Americans. The Argus II System is intended to help the worst-affected RP patients, and this approval was made under a Humanitarian Device Exemption intended to expedite market introduction of technologies intended to treat smaller, underserved patient populations.

About the Argus II System

The Argus II System works by converting video images captured by a miniature camera housed in the patient's glasses into a series of small electrical pulses that are transmitted wirelessly to an array of electrodes on the surface of the retina. These pulses are intended to stimulate the retina's remaining cells resulting in the corresponding perception of patterns of light in the brain. The patient then learns to interpret these visual patterns thereby regaining some visual function. Second Sight gained European approval (CE Mark) for the system in 2011 and FDA approval in 2013. It remains the first and only approved retinal prosthesis anywhere in the world.

About Second Sight

Second Sight Medical Products, Inc., located in Los Angeles, California, was founded in 1998 to create a retinal prosthesis to provide sight to patients blinded from outer retinal degenerations such as RP. Through dedication and innovation, Second Sight's mission is to develop, manufacture and market implantable visual prosthetics to enable blind individuals to achieve greater independence. US Headquarters are in Sylmar, CA, and European Headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland. For more information, visit www.2-sight.com.

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By: Unknown On 8:15 PM

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Haze for iOS launches, clears the visual clutter of weather apps (hands-on)

RoboCat and Taptanium aren't fans of the typical weather app, which tends to bombard the user with numbers when they just need a heads-up as to whether it's warm or likely to rain. Its newly launched Haze, then, is the potential antidote. The iOS app initially shows just the core temperature, humidity and hours of sunlight in different sections, with its namesake haze effect giving a clue as to whether conditions are trending up or down. If you need to know more, a tap expands the details, and a swipe down shows a 5-day forecast. There's also a handful of elements that we seldom see in these apps, such as a direction-relative wind indicator, optional motion-driven navigation and visual themes. RoboCat hints to us that an iPad version might be on the way, although ports to Android and other platforms are more likely to depend on the early response.

We had the chance to give Haze a spin ahead of launch. It's at least a refreshing take: there's an appeal to exposing only the weather we want to see, and in a colorful way that never needs more than one hand to navigate. Compared to Apple's default app, though, it's at once providing more information and less. Haze is much better at supplying the current day's conditions, but its forecasts don't always reveal what's happening -- you'll know the humidity is shifting on Tuesday, but not the likelihood of snow. Consider the app more of a single-day weather specialist in its current form and the 99-cent price ($3 after a promo period ends) is easy to justify. Haze for iOSSee all photoswhen.eng("eng.galleries.init")

Source: Haze, iTunes

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U.S. clears way for wider in-flight Internet deployment

By Jim Wolf

WASHINGTON | Fri Dec 28, 2012 4:01pm EST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has cleared the way for wider adoption of in-flight Internet services, aiming to cut by as much as 50 percent the time needed for regulatory approval.

Newly adopted rules should boost competition in this part of the U.S. mobile telecommunications market and promote "the widespread availability of Internet access to aircraft passengers," the FCC said in a statement Friday.

Since 2001, the commission has cleared companies on an ad hoc basis to market in-flight broadband services via a satellite antenna fixed to an aircraft's exterior.

Under a newly adopted framework, the licensing procedures will be simpler, the commission said.

Airlines will be able to test systems that meet the commission's standards, establish that they do not interfere with aircraft systems and then get approval of the Federal Aviation Administration, the FCC statement said.

The FAA, a Labor Department arm responsible for operating the nation's air traffic control system, said in response that the FCC's effort to establish standards "will help to streamline the process" for airlines to install Internet hookups on planes.

The goal is to speed the processing of applications by up to 50 percent, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said in a separate statement.

The FCC drive to promote broadband aboard planes does not change a ban on the in-flight use of cell phones, which is tied to concerns about interference with ground stations.

Genachowski earlier this month urged the Federal Aviation Administration to allow more electronics on aircraft.

The FAA announced in August that it was forming a government-industry group to study aircraft operators' policies to determine when portable electronic devices may be used safely during flight.

(Reporting By Jim Wolf; Editing by Claudia Parsons)

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By: Dilusha On 10:03 PM

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Samsung ATIV Smart PC Pro tablet with LTE clears the FCC

By Donald Melanson posted Nov 14th 2012 3:39PM

It's been increasingly tough to keep all of Samsung's Windows 8 tablets straight recently, with changing names adding to the confusion, and it looks like you can add one more variation to keep track of. A new Series 7 model, the ATIV Smart PC Pro 700T, has turned up at the FCC today boasting some hereto unannounced LTE connectivity -- although that doesn't come as a huge surprise considering Samsung's already delivered a non-Pro ATIV to AT&T. Of course, that "Pro" designation means you'll be getting an x86 processor and the full-fledged version of Windows 8 instead of RT, but it's not clear what other changes this version might have in store compared to non-LTE model.

Correction: As some have pointed out below in the comments below, the non-Pro model does also come with the full-fledged version of Windows 8, not RT.

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By: Dilusha On 9:45 PM

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