Five Ways Technology Has Changed the Olympics

snap to viewWhen the Summer Olympics kick off in Beijing next month , they will be very different from the Olympics hold eight or even four years ago . From weather control to optical maser timing equipment , technology is have an impact on the Olympics in a unfathomed way .

Supercomputers and weather condition control – The Beijing Meteorological Bureau purchased one of the ten most powerful supercomputers in the man from IBM to help omen weather and pollution grade for all events in and around Beijing . The Chinese are also adept at control the weather condition . The Beijing Weather Modification Office ( seriously ) fires cloud seeding material into oncoming rain swarm with anti - aircraft gun , draining the precipitation before it can have problems .

Cyber war – China has take that they will “ attack ” and keep out down web site that broadcast Olympic events illegally . No one is sure if this mean they designate to attack other res publica ’ websites or secret sites host internationally . If they do , it could be the first case of open international cyber warfare .

Last Of Us 7 Ellie Crash

On demand reporting – NBC will be send Olympic issue both live and tape delayed on several of the television electronic connection they own , and will also furnish on - requirement telecasting streams of events on the connection . In total , they will present more than 3,600 hours of Olympian insurance coverage . That ’s more Olympic programing in 2008 than the sum of all the hour of Olympic TV coverage ever . Dude .

Anti - terrorism efforts – protection has been besotted at the Olympics since the 1970s , but even more so since 9/11 . In accession to metal detectors , bag hunting , farseeing inclination of nix items ( no crossbow ! ) , facial recognition computer software , bomb sniffing dogs and whatever else the Chinese can come up with , they ’ll be using particular equipment that rent official detect and describe radioactive isotopes . So strontium crossbows are aright out .

Timing – Most Olympian backwash are time to the thousandth of a second . In racecourse events , the timer is set off by the starter ’s hired gun and stop by a laser at the last . A in high spirits - speed camera at the line admit 2,000 images per second to help determine the winner if the raceway is close . swim events , held in the Water Cube ( pictured ) , are time by contact plates that determine when a swimmer leaves her mark and when she connect with the wall to cease the race . Image by : IOC .

Mission Impossible 8 Underwater