Bangalore gets six free Wi-Fi spots.

BANGALORE: The Karnataka government on Friday launched free Wi-Fi connectivity in six commercial hotspots in Bangalore. This is said to be the first free, public Wi-Fi service of its kind in India. Some airports and confined retail spaces offer free Wi-Fi. The service will be extended to 10-15 more locations over the next few months.

Public Wi-Fi will enable you to access the internet on your mobile devices even when you are on the road. You then do not need a 2G or 3G connection.

Many applications can be built using free public Wi-Fi. Bangalore is looking at using it for high-definition traffic surveillance, and parking management. Cameras have already been installed at Wi-Fi hotspots, and you can view the traffic conditions on those roads. There are plans to install sensors on road sides, which will then help people to use mobile devices to know where parking is available.

At these six spots, one can access Internet at a speed of up to 512kbps and the usage will be limited to three hours per day or up to 50MB data.

Around the world, many governments and cities are beginning to provide free Wi-Fi connectivity. In the US, at least 57 cities now have free Wi-Fi. Many European and Asian cities too provide free public Wi-Fi.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation plans to provide free Wi-Fi network across the city. The service will enable anyone with a PC or a laptop to access Internet anywhere in the city, including in cars and trains, without the need for cable connections.

Mumbai Mayor Sunil Prabhu said the project proposal is still at a nascent stage and the civic body was working on the security aspects. "We have appointed consultants who are studying how all security concerns can be addressed before kickstarting the project," Prabhu said.

Black Holes Misunderstood According to Stephen Hawking.

Black holes are misunderstood, according to Stephen Hawking, who released a new paper titled Information Preservation and Weather Forecasting for Black Holes on January 22. Physicists have been grappling with the apparent paradox of no energy or information being able to escape the pull of a black hole while quantum physics suggests they can.

Hawking attempts to settle this issue by redefining the classical theory of the event horizon, traditionally the point of no return when even light is no longer able to escape. Previously it was thought that things caught in the gravitational pull of a black hole were gradually stretched into long spaghetti strands as the increasing gravity begins, to exert more force on the portion of the object nearer to the core, than that farther away, causing the stretching phenomenon. Quantum physics states a contradictory result however, as the massive radiation emanating from the black holes core would likely cause anything caught to be reduced to atoms by the immense gravitational force.

These conflicting theories has led to the claim that black holes are misunderstood according to Stephen Hawking. Since energy cannot be destroyed, Hawking proposes that the mass-energy of things trapped and pulled into the core of the black hole return to our universe in a mangled unintelligible state. He goes on to suggest that the event horizon is not as sharp a line as previously thought, saying instead that an “apparent horizon” is more likely.

The apparent horizon is more of a gray area that Hawking proposes shifts and morphs according to quantum effects. The changing boundary would allow some light to escape, but the unpredictable areas of high gravitational force would make black holes less stable that previously thought. This does away with the conflict of radiation and spaghettification since without the event horizon there is no firewall of Hawking radiation. Although the new theory clears up some conflicts, it introduces new ones. Removing the event horizon and changing the nature of the boundary from a single point to a variable area is what Hawking proposes causes the damage to information escaping from a black hole, leading to anything being pulled in coming out unrecognizable.

The new theory is already being challenged by physicists and other scientists, mostly because it was released without peer review, a staple in the scientific community. Although it is unlikely that a complete understanding of the inner workings of black holes will ever be reached, this new way of looking at them may well lead to a more thorough understanding than any previously held. By proposing a solution to the conflicting theories of matter being crushed at the core of a black hole or incinerating by a field of radiation at its event horizon, Hawking has opened the door for discussion of other unknown traits of the space phenomenon.

Determining exactly how matter or energy caught in a black holes gravitational field is affected, how things react once they reach the core, or exactly how they are damaged should they escape are all fascinating questions. Throwing his chips into saying that black holes are misunderstood according to Stephen Hawking has created a buzz in the astronomy circles that will no doubt generate many more interesting theories and clashing ideas.

Chinese Theme Park Announces Plans for Life-Size Titanic Replica

It’s been more than a century since the Titanic sank beneath the surface of the North Atlantic, claiming more than 1,500 lives after colliding with an iceberg during its maiden voyage in April 1912. But the passage of time has done little to dampen interest in the doomed ocean liner, as record-breaking sales for films, television specials and books have shown. Now, a Chinese investment group is hoping to claim its share of the market with a new Titanic theme park, slated to open in 2016.

In a press conference earlier this week, executives from the Seven Star Energy Investment Group revealed additional details for the park, officially known as the Romandisea Seven Star International Cultural Tourism Resort. Expected to cost 1 billion yuan ($165 million), it will be situated in Sichuan Province, a landlocked region more than 930 miles from the nearest coast—a perhaps unlikely location for a maritime-themed tourist spot. While the resort will also include recreations of European castles, a man-made beach and even ancient Turkish baths, its prime attraction is certain to be the life-size replica of the Titanic. Built to spec using blueprints for Titanic’s sister ship, RMS Olympic, the ship will be permanently moored along the nearby Qi River.

It’s not the first attempt to cash in on the public’s seemingly endless fascination with Titanic. Traveling exhibits of artifacts recovered from the wreck site do big business, and museums dedicated to the tragedy can be found in the most likely (Belfast, Ireland, where Titanic was built) and unlikely (Branson, Missouri) of places. But the Romandisea resort hopes to lure visitors with a unique—and controversial—twist. Their Titanic will feature a high-tech shipwreck simulator—dubbed a “6D” experience by the investment group—that will allow hundreds of visitors at a time experience Titanic’s fateful collision with an iceberg.

According to Su Shaojun, Seven Star Energy’s CEO, upon “impact,” the ship will shake and tumble, while sound and light effects will “let people experience water coming in…They will think: ‘the water will drown me. I must escape with my life.” While some may question the idea of recreating one of history’s worst maritime disasters, Su went on to say that the company thinks “its worth spreading the sprit of the Titanic. The universal love and sense of responsibility shown during the Titanic shipwreck represents the spiritual richness of human civilization.”

The next few years are shaping up to be competitive ones in the Titanic tourism landscape. Months after the Romandisea resort opens, Australian billionaire Clive Palmer is expected to launch Titanic II, a full-size, seaworthy replica of the ship. First announced in 2012 to commemorate the centenary of Titanic’s sinking, it will be the flagship of Palmer’s new Blue Star Line—a callback to the White Star Line that Titanic, Olympic and other ocean liners once sailed under. And while Titanic II will lack the collision “experience” China’s theme park will offer, it won’t lag far behind in an attempt to provide authenticity. Passengers departing from Southampton, England, just as Titanic did in 1912, can book a ticket in posh first-class berths (with the highest prices rumored to be in the six figures) or choose to stay in tiny, cramped lower deck cabins—bunk beds included—and dine communally on a simple menu of meat and potatoes, as Titanic’s 700 third-class passengers did. Titanic II will, of course, make one key concession to modern-day standards: Unlike its predecessor, it will come fully equipped with ample lifejackets and lifeboats for its more than 2,200 passengers.