Feathered Heroes of D-Day

On D-Day, June 6, 1944, the Allied forces invading Nazi-occupied Normandy made use of the latest electronic technology. So how did the Allies learn of the invasion’s progress? Carrier pigeon.

Gustav (pigeon ­NPS.42.31066) flew 230 miles across the English Channel from a ship off Normandy to carry home the first D-Day news. Paddy (pigeon number NPS.43.9451), an Irish-born RAF messenger pigeon, flew 230 miles across the Channel in four hours and fifty minutes with updates. Both birds were later awarded the Dinkin Medal for bravery, the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross. 32 birds received the Dinkin, an indication of the importance of these sturdy birds to the war effort. Try and remember that the next time their civilian cousins decorate your car.

Et Tu, Skype? Yipe.

“Skype is being investigated by Luxembourg’s data protection commissioner over concerns about its secret involvement with the US National Security Agency (NSA) spy programme Prism, the Guardian has learned.

The Microsoft-owned internet chat company could potentially face criminal and administrative sanctions, including a ban on passing users’ communications covertly to the US signals Intelligence agency.

Skype itself is headquartered in the European country, and could also be fined if an investigation concludes that the data sharing is found in violation of the country’s data-protection laws.”

— “Skype under investigation in Luxembourg over link to NSA,” Ryan Gallagher The Guardian

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Earphones

“In the 1890s, a British company called Electrophone created a system allowing their customers to connect into live feeds of performances at theaters and opera houses across London. Subscribers to the service could listen to the performance through a pair of massive earphones that connected below the chin, held by a long rod. The form and craftsmanship of these early headphones make them a sort of remote, audio equivalent of opera glasses. It was revolutionary, and even offered a sort of primitive stereo sound. However, the earliest headphones had nothing to do with music, but were used for radio communication and telephone operators in the late 19th century.”

–“A Partial History of Headphones,” Jimmy Stamp, Smithsonian blog [link added]

Budapest’s long-running Telefon Hírmondó (“Telephone Herald”) phone newspaper preceded Electrophone. It often featured live opera performances, and seems to have used stock telephone ear speakers.

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Syria Shuts Off the Internet

“Syria: Internet and mobile communication ‘cut off,'” BBC News

“Syria Has Disappeared From the Internet,” Arik Hesseldahl, AllThingsD

“Internet down nationwide in Syria,” AP via USA Today

UPDATE:

“How Syria Shut Down the Internet,” Ben Weitzenkorn, TechNewsDaily via Discovery News

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East Village Recovery Efforts Look Like This

New York’s Alphabet City, Wednesday (Photo: Sean McPhillips, Salon).

Further downtown, bucket brigades carry diesel fuel up to a 17th floor generator to keep a data center online:

“After Sandy Knocks Out Power, Rescue Keeps Data Center Alive,” Gerry Smith, Huffington Post

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7 Billion People, 6 Billion Cell Phones

“There are seven billion people on earth, and six billion cell phone contracts …. China and India each have about one billion cell phone subscriptions. Twice as many people have access to the Internet via cell phones, as those with fixed connections.”

“Six Billion Cell Phones In World Of Seven Billion,” Worldcrunch

The figures are from the annual report of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations agency for information and communication technologies.

More:

“ITU releases latest global technology development figures,” ITU press release

Measuring the Information Society 2012 — download it from this webpage.

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Image (“Young Beauty With iPhone, after Kikugawa Eizan”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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Adieu, Minitel

On June 30th, its 30th birthday, France Télécom is hanging up on the Minitel videotexting system, whose monitors have been a fixture in French homes, offices, and post offices since 1982. The “France-Wide  Web” text-over-phoneline system replaced phone directories, displayed online news and information, and allowed electronic bill payments and other transactions (even virtual sex). Cellphone MSM texting and e-commerce on the Web now serve many of the same functions. Still, there is some mélancolie as the French say “Adieu Minitel, ami fidèle.”

Adieu Minitel

France Télécom is hanging up on the Minitel videotexting system, whose monitors have been a fixture in French homes, offices, and post offices since 1982. It’s a text-over-phoneline system that also replaced phone directories, displayed online news and information, and allowed electronic bill payments and other transactions (even virtual sex). Cellphone MSM texting and e-commerce on the Web now serve many of the same functions. Still, there is some mélancolie as the French say “Adieu Minitel, ami fidèle.” FT will keep Minitel service running until its 30th birthday, June 30, 2012.