London to test 'smart city' operating system
An operating system designed to power the smart cities of the future will be put through its paces in London. Living Plan IT has developed its Urban OS to provide a platform to connect services and citizens. With partners including Hitachi, Phillips and Greenwich council, it aims to use the Greenwich peninsula as a testbed for new technologies running on the system. The OS aims to connect key services such as water, transport, and energy.
Urbanisation
David Willetts, Minister for Universities and Science, was among the signatories to the partnership.
"The development of smart cities in future is a crucial commercial opportunity for Britain, and London is the right place to be doing it," he said. "London was the largest city in the world by the end of the 18th Century. Britain has more historical experience than most of being urbanised." The Greenwich peninsula is an area of London earmarked for regeneration.
New homes and offices will sit alongside a dock for cruise ships while a cable car, due to be opened in time for the Olympics, is already being put through its paces.
"We are entering a phase when everything becomes connected, from healthcare to transportation," said Living Plan IT chief executive Steve Lewis.
"This is about connecting things that previously never did."
Urban OS is different from traditional operating systems in that it is designed to be extremely robust.
"If my email is down for 1o minutes, it doesn't matter, but if the network is linked to my insulin pump, then that is different," said Mr Lewis.
In one newly built office block, Living Plan IT plans to implant thousands of sensors that will monitor external and internal conditions to create smart lighting and heating systems. It also plans to test smart lamp posts on the roads.
"They will be talking to each other, producing their own energy, raising lighting levels when cars are coming, and monitoring the movement of traffic," said Mr Lewis.
Investment
Other technologies to be tested with the platform include smart vests that have microsensors embedded in them to monitor heart rate and other vital signs. The idea of smart cities has become the latest hot topic in the tech industry. By 2050 it is estimated that 70% of the world's population will live in cities. Living Plan IT estimates that £13tn will be spent in developing and regenerating urban spaces between now and 2020.
Child online safety plans unveiled by Brussels
The European Commission is considering setting up an age-based authentication system that limits where children can visit online. The system is part of
a series of proposals Brussels has put forward to make the net safer for children.
It says children are in danger of finding inappropriate material because ways to control where they can go are "fragmented".
More details of the authentication scheme will be published on 30 May. In its draft proposals, the commission warns that neglecting protections for children could have a "profound impact" on European societies. It says children's particular needs and vulnerabilities must be addressed so the net becomes a place of opportunities for them. It also notes that a uniform set of protections would help European businesses aiming services at children.
"Young people are particularly at ease with the use of the internet but they are still vulnerable to online threats," said Cecilia Malmstrom, European Commissioner for Home Affairs. "It is our duty as parents to keep our children safe - and this includes on the web."
'Dearth' of children's sites
Current child safety measures taken by member states covering parental controls, rating content and reporting illegal content are "insufficient", according to the report.
Many controls, such as filters for web pages, only work well for English, it says, and in some sectors - such as mobile apps - rating, filtering and control systems are almost non-existent.
The report also says there is a dearth of sites specifically aimed at children where they can go to learn and play, or ones which stimulate creativity and critical thinking.
It proposes a plan - via legislation, self-regulation and research grants - to create an online "ecosystem" that keeps children safe but does not make going online too dull.
The commission plans to spend more on efforts in schools that tell people how to stay safe online and educate them about ways to use the net. It will also fund research into sites designed to stimulate children.
Active protection systems have to go alongside this, it says, and Brussels expects net firms to bring in "transparent default age-appropriate privacy settings".
It also wants industry to create a system that can electronically authenticate and identify children to ensure they do not stray onto inappropriate sites or see material unsuitable for them.
To back this up, the commission will later this year unveil a framework for the electronic authentication system that is based around age. This will help with both data protection and child safety, it says. More details of the proposals are expected to be published at the end of May. The draft proposal comes as the UK starts a consultation on how to stop children viewing pornography online.