Is Iran blocking international news broadcasts to the Middle East?

Is Iran blocking international news television from being broadcast in the Middle East and Europe? At least one news channel is claiming that it is, with others condemning the jamming efforts of some unknown body.

Multiple international news organizations are complaining about what they claim is the deliberate jamming of television and radio news broadcasts inside the Middle East, with at least one organization naming Iran as being responsible for the blockage.

Organizations including the BBC, German state broadcaster Deutsche Welle and Voice of America have reported that satellite signals across the Middle East and parts of Europe are being jammed, in what is being termed a “blatant violation of international regulations.” The jamming of signals from multiple broadcasters was confirmed earlier this week by Eutelsat, a French-based satellite provider responsible for the broadcasting of the jammed channels, which reported that the “deliberate and intermittent interference that began earlier this week” originated from Syria.

The BBC issued a statement yesterday about the jamming, saying that “The BBC, together with a number of other broadcasters, is experiencing deliberate, intermittent interference to its transmissions to audiences in Europe and the Middle East. Impacted services include the BBC World News and BBC Arabic television channels and BBC World Service radio services in English and Arabic. Deliberate interference such as the jamming of transmissions is a blatant violation of international regulations concerning the use of satellites and we strongly condemn any practice designed to disrupt audiences’ free access to news and information.”

While the BBC refrained from identifying Iran as the source of the signals, Deutsche Welle director general Erik Betterman didn’t hold back, not only naming Iran as the source, but going on to say that the jamming was an act of censorship by the Iranian government, going on to say that his channel would join with others to issue a protest resolution.

It’s not entirely clear how the signals are being jammed, but one suggestion is that the Syrian source is transmitting another signal on the same frequency as the jammed programming, aimed directly at the Eutelsat satellite sending the original programming. Such a move would essentially made the original signal unavailable to all viewers.

Perhaps not coincidentally, on Monday of this week, Eutelsat dropped nineteen Iranian state television channels from its “Hotbird” service. The move was made following not only the blocking of news programming, but also the European Union tightening its sanctions against Iran in response to the country’s nuclear program (Reportedly, the French broadcasting authority also asked the satellite company to consider dropping one particular channel from the line-up, “Sahar 1 TV”). Amongst the channels dropped was the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting’s own international news channel, Press TV. At the time, Iran officially protested the decision, describing it as a way of “prevent[ing] a dissenting voice to the broadcasting of Western thinking,” and adding that “the Islamist Republic reserves the right to take legal action against these measures.”

(Via.)

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Do it yourself: Middle Tennessee State working on inexpensive retrofitting plug-in hybrid kit

A group of students at Middle Tennessee state are working on a plug-in hybrid electric kit that could cost as little as $3,000 and boost the fuel economy of your current vehicle by up to 100 percent.

We love electric vehicles, but with many battery-powered and plug-in hybrids sporting sticker prices north of $30,000, they have a tendency to be pretty darn expensive and out of reach for the average consumer. Throw in limited availability in many states and a growing but sparse network of charging stations, and so far the adoption of the modern EV has been slow to spark.

But while we wait for manufacturers to figure out how to drive production costs down and a more robust infrastructure begins to take shape, a group of students led by Dr. Charles Perry, a former IBM employer, at Middle Tennessee State University are taking matters into their own hands. That’s right; the industrious group is hard at work developing a plug-in electric hybrid kit that could ultimately cost consumers far less to convert their existing vehicles than it would to purchase a native EV and boost fuel economy by as much as 100 percent.

The entire system is currently being tested on a 1994 Honda station wagon and involves a trunk-mounted lithium-ion battery feeding power to an electric motor. In turn, this motor supplies power to both rear wheels while alleviating the gasoline engines workload up front, which, thanks to the aforementioned electric motor, is only tasked with sending power to the front two wheels of this veteran Honda.

According to the university, Perry and his students are currently pitching the idea to various companies in the hopes of getting additional funding for a production version of the plug-in hybrid kit that could cost as little as $3,000. In 2009, Perry won a green energy competition from the Tennessee Technology Development Corp., and was the recipient of a $50,000 grant along with a matching investment to spur the project forward.

Could utilizing a plug-in hybrid electric kit really take off and resonate with consumers looking to explore alternative drive trains? We think so. For that kind of money and boost in fuel economy, the idea of retrofitting your existing car becomes more than just attractive — it becomes possible.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com