Let the river flow, but keep an eye on it

From my limited interaction with my fellow blogger Harry, I know that he's a bird nut. I'm a diving gal, myself, so I'm disposed to notice stuff about marine biology.

This story from The New York Times was brought to my attention when I reached out to one of my IBM contacts to see what's up. So here's the skinny: IBM is taking some of the stuff that it used to talk about within its "pervasive" computing unit and is creating a sensor network that will keep watch over the Hudson River. (Long a controversial body of water with environmentalists.) IBM's partner in the project is the Beacon Institute for Rivers and Estuaries. Here's the official take.

The sensors won't be fully in place for several years, but eventually they'll keep tabs on things like water temperature, fish migration activity, parasites or pollution. IBM is apparently dedicating six engineers to the work, which is being spearheaded by the Big Green Innovations group.Ultimately, the partners will look at applying the technology in other regions of the world that are highly dependent on river culture.