Today Google officially announced that it will be bidding for wireless spectrum in an FCC auction in January. The 700 MHz spectrum is going to be up for auction, and if Google is able to snag a part of it, it could mean a truly open wireless network. It doesn’t seem to be any coincidence that this announcement comes right on the heels of Google’s Android announcement. With the development of a mobile OS created for open development and communication, the ability to back it with an open wireless network would be a huge boost for Android’s success, and make Google even more appealing as a wireless provider.
Today the freshmen had a meeting with Capt. Rozak, Capt. Bushy and the other staff and cadet officers involved with Sea Term. They addressed the key times we need to know, making sure we bring important documents like a passport and school ID, and the basic rules and regulations. The medical staff talked about how to handle medication and injuries at sea. We also got to talk about some of the details of the sweet trips and excursions we’ll be able to take while in port, such as white water rafting in Costa Rica and canopy tours of the rain forest.
In January and February I will be shipping out on the T.S. Enterprise, Mass Maritime’s training ship, for Sea Term. Sea Term is Mass Maritime’s hands-on training period, where cadets gain practical experience in working and living on board a commercial ship. Depending on your major, you will do between one and three Sea Terms. For example, a Marine Transportation (deck license) major will do three Sea Terms, but an Emergency Management major will do only one.
The Mass Maritime Green Club took a tour today of the solar power system the school has installed. The system cost about $1 million to purchase and install, and will provide a peak of 81kW to the school. It should complement nicely the 660kW wind turbine that the school put up in 2006.
One of the members of the club put some pictures of the solar installation online, which you can check out below.
In the past few days since the official Android announcement, the Internet has been exploding with speculation, debate, and excitement over the new OS’ potential, and its significance in the mobile phone industry. Most people seem to think that it looks cool, and it does: touch screens, 3G support, freedom to create and add whatever apps you want…what’s not to love? Plus, with the backing of more than 30 major technology and telecom companies, it’s sure to get good placement in the market.
Skribit is a new blog widget created by Startup Weekend Atlanta to allow readers to suggest topics to bloggers to write about. You simply place it on your site, and readers can post ideas for topics. It’s currently in closed beta (it was only created this weekend, brainstorm to product), but I’m anxious to be able to try it out.
Skribit was officially launched this morning, and as stated in the FAQ section of their site, it’s still in “closed beta” so it’s unavailable to the general public.
I take a lot of pictures, and I like to upload them to my blog. My camera takes large resolution photos though, so preparing the pictures for upload can be annoying. I used to open up each photo I wanted to upload individually in GIMP, resize it, and once all the pictures were resized I’d upload them one by one. I then decided I would go looking for a batch resizer, and found a very basic one that got the job done.
Hurricane Noel (technically no longer a hurricane once it reached us) came through Cape Cod on Saturday, bringing winds in excess of 50 MPH, a couple of inches of rain, and 25-30 foot seas offshore. Mass Maritime had its fair share of issues as a result of the storm, including minor flooding and power outages. I took some pictures and videos during the storm, which I’ve posted below.
