WATCH: Otters!
An important public service announcement.
ZSL – the Zoological Society of London, which runs London Zoo, has recently started streaming OTTERS direct to YouTube. This isn’t just about watching Otters though – it is actually part of a new wireless trial led by Ofcom, the telecoms regulator and Google.
You can watch the Otters here:
Apparently to transmit the pictures, Ofcom is testing “white space” – transmitting pictures in the gaps between existing frequency bands. The white space tech could conceivably not just be used for transmitting pictures, but also for everything from wireless sensors in flood defences to providing internet connectivity on ships at sea.
In the press release Ofcom explained why they’re testing it:
“Compared with other forms of wireless technologies, such as regular Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, the radio waves used by TV white space devices can travel longer distances and more easily through walls.
The on-going trials are testing the operation of white spaces devices, white space databases used to identify what spectrum is available, and the processes needed to minimise the risk of interference to current spectrum users.
Ofcom will explore in future whether the white space in other spectrum bands could be used for similar innovation.”
But more importantly, there’s Otters. If the Otters on the live stream are sleeping, here’s another video of London Zoo’s Otters:
And no post about Otter videos can surely be complete without including the viral hit “Otters holding hands”.
Otters!
