Tonga internet satellite installed at last on the islands

Télécoms Sans Frontières has sent satellite kits to Tonga to improve connectivity on the islands following the volcanic eruption.

Before the pandemic, TSF would have immediately deployed the Tonga internet satellite after it went dark, but strict quarantine rules limit what they can do.

This programme is available NOW OnDemand at the Digital Planet Page and is available now until Wednesday the 16th of February. It will also be broadcast on Sunday the 13th of February in Phuket on 91.5 FM and 102.5 FM and Online via the Internet radio portals.

As their engineers can’t go out, they’ve had to adapt the equipment they send so that it can be set up on the island.

Tonga internet satellite equipment was in quarantine.

Their kit is now out of quarantine and should be deployed imminently and will eventually bring internet connectivity to the smaller islands where people are still completely cut off let us hope that the Tonga internet satellite can be restored soon.

TSF Regional Manager Sebastien Latouille also tells us in the podcast about their latest deployment to Madagascar following Cyclone Batsirai.

Could NFT protect our health data?

If you think NFT’s (non-fungible tokens) are just the new way to buy art then think again as they could be the way to secure our medical data.

Once our medical information is digitised into an electronic health record we have no control over what is done with it.

Writing in the journal Science, Prof Kristin Konstick-Quenet, suggests that NFTs could provide a way to secure ownership over the management of digital information using blockchain technology. However, will the companies that currently monetise our medical records be willing to give up access to it?

The legislation will be necessary if we are to have any control over our own health data.

Enhanced Audio Description Reporter Fern Lulham begins her first in a series of reports into the latest disability tech looking at audio descriptions of films and TV shows. There’s plenty of evidence to show that despite the draw of social media and endless other activities, watching telly or going to the cinema remain extremely popular.

In the UK for example, figures tell us that even before the pandemic, people spent an average of just over three hours a day watching TV, And since the mid -80s, visits to the cinema had risen quite dramatically to well over 150 million a year before Covid19 restrictions kicked in.

But how accessible are these media if you’re blind or visually impaired?

The programme Digital Planet is presented by Gareth Mitchell with expert commentary from Ghislaine Boddington. Studio Manager: Bob Nettles Producer: Ania Lichtarowicz

(Image credit: Aftermath of volcanic eruption and Tsunami in Tonga. Credit: Malau Media/via Reuters)

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