HAPPY MASHRAMANI GUYANA! Cultural Folklore; Celebrating 44! Enjoy today my fellow Guyanese. Wave “yuh” colourful flags high, have a clean entrainment.
Moscow, Russia has the largest community of billionaires in the world. Moscow is the northernmost megacity on Earth.The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXII Olympic Winter Games is a major international multi-sport event being held in Sochi, Russia in the tradition of the Winter Olympic Games. Scheduled for 7–23 February 2014, Sochi was selected as the host city. A total of 98 events in 15 winter sport disciplines are being held during the Games.

The games will test both athletes and technology. For the competitors, the nature of the competition remains much as it always has been: an extreme physical and mental challenge. But the athletes’ tools will be different, thanks to ongoing research and new approaches to the various winter sports at the games.
Sochi 2014 is the surveillance Olympics attendees are facing some of the most invasive and systematic spying and surveillance in the history of the Games.
The drones, facial recognition systems, patrol boats equipped to warn of underwater attackers and extensive network monitoring are just a few to mention.
The games themselves depend on technology, not just for timing, scorekeeping, and communication, but to assure the presence of adequate amounts of snow: The ski runs around Sochi will be targeted by about 400 snowmaking cannons and swaths of snow will preserved beneath thermal insulation blankets.
Let the games begin and let the technology do more good than harm.
Snow cannons-Let it snow
Unfortunately for the Olympic athletes, the choice to hold the winter games at Sochi-one of the warmest districts in Russia-might not have been thought through so well. To make sure there was enough powdery snow to go around, Russian event-organisers used snow cannons to generate vast amounts of the white stuff. About 230 million gallons of water turned into snow, Russian officials have stockpiled 16 million cubic feet of snow for the Sochi games. All that’s missing is flavouring and cones!

Wi-Fi at the Olympic Village
Wi-Fi is everywhere nowadays. And no more is it so than in Sochi, with an estimate 54 Terabytes per second (Tbps) of traffic flowing through its networks during the games. This is a massive increase from Vancouver’s 2010 Winter Olympics, where the network could handle just 4 Tbps. The network, powered by Avaya, will serve 30,000 athletes, staff, and members of the media.
Windows Azure

Samsung’s WOW app
Smartphone maker Samsung, not wanting to miss out (or have anyone at home for that matter) on the latest from the games, created an app that allows Galaxy phone owners to keep up-to-date with the latest breaking news and scores. The Korean electronics giant released the app in late January allowing their customers to have a customised view of the games, and get the inside track of what’s going on.

OMEGA: Official Timekeeper
Sochi is the 26th Olympic Games at which OMEGA will serve as Official Olympic Timekeeper since it was first appointed to the role in 1932. If you consider the number of people and the technology regarding timekeeping, there is no comparison between now and then. There has been a history of great development and OMEGA has played a major role in this evolution of timekeeping technology.

Aerial drones
Along with the heavy surveillance at the Sochi games, don’t be too surprised if you see a drone hovering nearby. Your flying friends will be used to film Olympic events rather than being used for surveillance, allowing the media to get very close to the action without distracting the athletes. That’s not to say the watchful eye of Big Brother won’t be looming over the event.
Saving face
Arriving at the Sochi airport and being welcomed by in Artec 3D Face Recognition System is just amazing. Installed last summer, in preparation for the crowds. the system is capable of identifying a person on the walk, in hats or sunglasses and it can also tell apart identical twins. Yep, it’s that good.
Intercepted
When Russia wants to intercept electronic communications, it relies on a system called SORM. It’s not a single device. Rather it’s a system with many different components, made by different companies. Vitok-IP, a combination of software and hardware from Norsi-Trans, is one piece of the lawful interception puzzle in Russia.
Telecommunications
Some US$580M was spent on construction and modernisation of telecommunications in the region. Again, Avaya was named by the Sochi Organising Committee as the official supplier of telecommunications equipment. Avaya provides the data network equipment, including switches, routers, security, telephones and contact-center systems. It provides engineers and technicians to design and test the systems, and works with other technology partners to provide athletes, dignitaries and fans information about the Games.

Filming
Several broadcasters are using the Games to trial the emerging ultra-high definition television (UHDTV) standard.
The other ultimate driving machine
BMW engineers have created a new two-person bobsled using lightweight materials including Kevlar and carbon fibre to maximize aerodynamic performance.
The above is just a few of the great technologies being used at the games. Technology, it’s ubiquitous, now and forever.