Tech of Everest Protest in the NY Times

Our use of technology for the Everest protest is covered in a story from today’s New York Times titled Conquering the Peak Test of Technology.

Mr. Sjogren speculated that a climber could use the phone to shoot a brief video clip, process it with a P.D.A. (laptops fail at Everest heights) and then beam it directly to a Web site.

“The threshold is so low, it is very possible that someone has done it,” Mr. Sjogren said.

In late April, protesters at the base camp worked with the same kind of equipment to broadcast the unfurling of a banner against China’s control of Tibet. As described on an activist Web site, realitysandwich.com, the protesters recorded the event and at the same time transmitted it to a MacBook 20 feet away. The file was compressed, sent via satellite to another computer run by Students for a Free Tibet, then uploaded to YouTube and other sites. The protesters were spotted and detained before being expelled.

“Because we knew we were probably going to be arrested, we needed to get the footage out live,” said one of the protesters, according to the activist Web site.

Our inclusion in the article came from the reporter reading about the protest in the Reality Sandwich article I blogged about previously.

You can read the full NYTimes article here



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