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Island nation Vanuatu will use drones to transport vaccines
For island nations and countries without the infrastructure for reliable transportation, drones can do more than take photos or collect data: they can transport supplies to save lives. The Pacific island country of Vanuatu, for instance, has teamed up with UNICEF and two drone companies to deliver vaccines to rural areas. Vanuatu is composed of 83 islands spread over an area that covers 1,600 kilometers (~1,000 miles). To deliver vaccines to its more rural communities, health workers often have to walk for hours -- sometimes, it can even take them days by cars and/or boats. Drones could ensure that local health facilities have quick access to lifesaving supplies when needed.
Google Maps Navigation for Android makes its way to 25 more countries
Eager to go on a driving trip to an exotic locale? You'll be glad to hear that Google Maps Navigation is now available in 25 more countries. Most of the additions are in Africa, including Libya, Somalia and Tunisia. The rest of the coverage is scattered across the globe: Caribbean travelers can find their way through Guadeloupe and Haiti, while European visitors can navigate Andorra, Croatia and Serbia. There's even support for relatively remote places like Bhutan and Vanuatu. Maps Navigation still isn't a truly global service when it reaches 99 countries, but it now reaches far enough that it will be a surprise if you can't get your bearings while traveling abroad.
South Pacific's Vanuatu grabbing fiber internet connection, sidesteps 'remote' stereotype
Ever been to Vanuatu? Neither have the vast majority of the world's inhabitants -- particularly those who simply can't function off the grid. For ages, the island archipelago has relied on sluggish, unpredictable satellite connections for eBay bids and liveblog following, but it looks as if fares to the blossoming nation are about to head even further north. Around this time next year, the Pacific Island destination will be connected to the real internet, thanks to an undersea optical fiber backbone cable linking it to nearby Fiji. Interchange and Alcatel-Lucent will be working to lay and operate the 1,230 kilometer cable system, which will "link directly into the high capacity Southern Cross Cable between Sydney and Hawaii." At first, the system will be equipped to handle 20Gbis/sec -- a figure that dwarfs the country's current capacity by 200x. In time, that should creep up to 320Gbit/sec, enabling your future vacation videos to hit YouTube in record time. Total cost? $30 million, or a drop in the bucket compared to the economic boom that's bound to transpire.
