The practical uses for unmanned aerial vehicles are proving limitless. Once used for espionage and photography, these airborne spy bots just fell victim to a role reversal: they’ve gone from spy to medic. Well, while they don’t exactly heal wounds out on the battlefield, they do provide air transport for supplies needed in dire situations. Think of them as carrier bots.

The South African National Health Laboratory Service has been testing prototype UAVs designed to transport testing materials and medical supplies to communities that are too much of a burden for ground delivery.  These robotic carrier pigeons are pre-programmed using GPS and microelectronic gyroscopes to guide them to their destination and can even handle themselves in windy conditions. After all, a little turbulence never hurt any blood mid-transit.

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Live in pixelated New York, use T-Mobile and own a UMTS-enabled device unlike your dinky F1 phone? Starting tomorrow, Big-T is rolling out its long overdue 3G network in the US. NYC is the first city to get it and as you can read on this employee e-mail sent to T-Mobile stores across the US. Bitchin’ data transfer speeds, bitchin’ reception. This is the T-Mobile you’ll know as of tomorrow.

Other cities due for a 3G rollout? Austin, Las Vegas, Minneapolis and Miami all make the cut, though no specific dates are given.

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