Hidden

In this day and age  the portable products that we buy are targets for theft.  We have devices such as laptops, smart phones, etc.  For the most part getting back stolen property can be a daunting task, but with the emergence of new technology that is a thing of the past.   There is a product called Hidden which allows for users to know the location of a stolen Mac system, gives them a picture of the thief, and screenshots of the computer in use.  The way this product works is the user installs it, configures it, and then if it is stolen the user simply logs into their Hidden account and gets the data.  After this the police may use the information given to them by the user to get back their property.  In my opinion technology like this makes people feel safer and lets them not worry as much about their stuff being stolen.  Hopefully more products like this will come about to be used on other items like I-Phones, other laptops, etc.

Applications

New applications come out everyday for the smart phones that are available.  Some of the new technology they offer range from games, business apps, and much more.  A very interesting new application is one that allows color blind individuals to see what a color truly is.  It is called the DanKam app, and it is available for the Android and IPhone.   What this product does is take the data from the camera and changes the color slightly so that the colors fall within the spectrum that color blind individuals can see.  This technology is a great tool for somebody who is color blind and is widely available since it is sold on app stores.

New Google Operating Systems

Computers now a days usually only come with either Windows Operating Systems or Apple operating systems. Tomorrow Google will show case their own operating system. Google hopes to create Chrome OS Netbooks which would create a lightweight browser-based operating system. This sort of system would run just Web applications instead of native ones. This sort of technology has some benefits and some cons to it. One of the benefits is that it should provide rather quick Internet access, it would allow for people to run web applications faster than other Operating Systems because it shouldn’t be bogged down by the usual native applications that would normally run in the background. There are quite a few cons to this sort of Operating System though, one of the main things being that it only allows people to browser the internet and use web applications. If a consumer wants something that lets you install and play games, they would have to go with a different computer. Another con would be that most likely you would only be able to use Google’s chrome browser, which is a good browser but it limits what the user may want to browse with. And we have yet to see what this operating system has to offer, so most of this is just speculation but it will be interesting to see what Google has to offer. In short most consumers would probably stay away from this sort of netbook unless they are just looking for something to browse the web with, I for certain won’t be getting this netbook or operating system.

Kinect Modifcations

Video games are a popular technology available to many consumers.  One of the popular systems for video games is the X-Box 360, which has recently released a new product called the Kinect.  This product allows for users to become the controllers due to the motion capture software and cameras within it.  Recently there has been a large surge of people tinkering with Microsoft Kinect to use it for more than just playing games on the X-Box.  The product was released nearly over a month ago, and within a week of a company named Adafruit Industries offering a reward to the first person who created an open-sourced driver for it was one released.  After it's release there was many youtube videos hitting the internet showing off people using the Kinect for 3D drawing programs, multi-touch gesture-controlled photo viewers, and much more.  This was all done using an open data channel through the Kinect's USB interface.  This simple product opened up a wave of innovative ideas and uses for the type of technology that the Kinect uses, even though it was to be used primarly for playing games on the X-Box 360.  This sort of technology allows for a tremendous amount of innovative features and uses, ranging anywhere from playing indie games to possibly being used for things like augmented reality, in which users can touch and interact with a virtual product, which would be a new tool for advertising.  This is certainly a technology for people to keep their eyeson because it offers such versatility.

IBM Chips

Recently IBM has achieved a major milestone in computer chip technology.  They have created a chip that's design uses conventional manufacturing, involves very small component parts, and will essentially allow a communication line of fiber-optic to be attached directly to the processor.  currently their technology consits of a processor that has six optical communication links.  The chip has six transmistters and receivers which are each capable of handling eight channels of data through multiplexing technology.  Each modulator within the hcips can oversee bandwith of 20 gigabits a second.  This technology is promising as far as allowing faster processors and reduces the amount of electromagnectic waves produced by high-speed electrical communications because each tiny wire ina computer acts as antenna.  This is due to the fact that it uses optical communications instead of electrical, and will allow chips to work under lower power.  Unfortunately these types are only in development stages and IBM has to focus on creating efficient, reliable manufacturing of the products and putting them into it's exascale supercomputer.  Later on this form of technology will most likely be available to the general public, only time will tell whether or not these chips will bring in a new wave of faster computers.

Microsoft

Recently Microsoft published details of a patent involving a light-induced shaped-memory polymer display screen.  It is essentially a touch screen that has a real texture and has tactile feedback, making it feel like users are actually touching an object.  It was invented by Erez Kikin-Gi.  This screen is coated with polymers that could change or hold the shape when different wavelengths of ultraviolet light hits the pixels from bbeneath it.  This sort of technology is interesting because it goes more in depth into making a user feel as if what they are controlling on the screen is real, because it could not only just display images but also specific interfaces such as a keyboard making the sure feel like they are actual typing onto one.  Unfortunately for now this technology will only initially find it's way onto large screens like Microsoft's Surface computers.  It will certainly be a technology many people will find interesting in the future.

3-D Images

In recent years 3-D technolgoy has become more affordable and is starting to break into the homes with the invention of TVs cable of displaying 3-D. Although we still need to wear 3D glasses soon that may not be the case with upcoming technology. Physicists at the University of Arizona are taking steps toward that direction. What they have done is create a new technique which displays images in 3 dimensions, basically taking objects from one location and then showing them in another location in 3-D. This technique would allow viewers to see an object from different perspectives using a type of material called photorefractive polymer film. It is a type of film that 3-D images can be recorded and erased, and then replaced in nearly real time. This sort of technology will allow people to be more creative with projects, allowing advertisements to be shown in 3-D, more realistic 3-D movies, and more realistic games. In my opinion although this technology is a long way from becoming mainstream it is a very promising and useful technology. It's usefulness could stretch far beyond just commerical use. Maybe in the near future we may see some of this technology in use, but only time will tell.

Graphene

                Recently scientists have discovered a new material known as Graphene.  This material is a made up of tightly packed carbon into a two-dimensional honeycomb lattice.   This is a breakthrough because it is only an atom thick and is stronger than steel.  Scientists have also recently developed a new method for using water to tune the band gap, allowing for the development of graphene-based transistors and nanoelectronics.  This material conducts electricity extremely well and it is believed that it will revolutionize microprocessing, since it allows data to flow faster than their silicone counterparts.  Graphene also allows for carbon-based integrated circuits which could be powered with less energy.  In my opinion it seems that graphene has a lot of potential, but the transition between computers using silicon to graphene is a long way from occuring.   It really seems that this sort of technology will grow by leaps and bounds in the coming years and time will tell if this material will be as productive as scientists believe.   

Spammers and Bots

In recent years there has been an increase of spammers and bots on the internet. Since then we have had a new rise of web security known as captcha's to figure out if the user is a real person or a bot. This type of technology allows real people to input the characters that are displayed on an image, including letters and numbers, into a box to show they are a real person. Now a new startup called NuCaptcha has found a way to incorporate video ads into this sort of security. The concept creates the ability for an ad to be watched by a user, and during the ad there will be letters and number shown, and then the user has to input that to show that they are a real person. This technology is more effective than the average captcha's on the net because of use of image recognition software employed by bots and spammers, which has caused the older captchas to start using distorted images with characters in it. To me this seems to be a much safer way to secure a website, and it also allows for more ads to be shown on sites, which will increase revenue to both the website and the ad being shown.

Robert W. Taylor

    Robert W. Taylor was born in 1932 and is a computer scientist. He is a very important figure in the development of the Internet. During the 1960's he contributed in the development of the ARPAnet. The ARPAnet is an Advanced Research project that gradually progressed the Internet. He was a director there. ARPAnet stands for Advanced Research Project Agency. Some of the ongoing research projects for technology that Robert had started is computer graphics, time-sharing, networking and so much more.
    In 1968 Robert worked with J.C.R Licklider to publish an article about computers being used as communication devices. He left ARPA and shortly after he joined another research center and help founded the Computer Science Laboratory. Computer Science Laboratory (CSL) was the first local area network created in the 1970's. His work eventually lead to computer systems as the Mac and Windows.               In 1984 he joined  the Digital Equipment Corporation which progressed to an on-going research facility called Systems Research Center. He continued to work with them until he retired in 1996.
    His achievements will never be forgotten, in which he had received awards for all of his accomplishments.  In 1999 he received an award of the National Medal of Technology. This particular award is given by the president of the United States to many inventors or many people who have played a major role in developing of technology that is important in the world. In 2004 he won an award from the National Academy of Engineering. Without him technology would not be the same today.

Self Driving Cars!

    Self driving cars has always been science fiction until recently. Google has recently had success with test driving a "robot-car". This sort of technology allows for people to be driven around autonomously. This is done by the use of radar sensors, video cameras, and a type of laser ranger finder that senses traffic.  According to Google this would be safer, help reduce traffic, and make the cars more lightweight to pave the way for more fuel efficient cars. So far the only accident that has occurred was when one of them was rear ended at a red traffic light. 
   In my opinion this sort of technology would definitely help all drivers to be safer and more convenient. This would help drivers who are busy doing lots of things and allow them to talk, text, or do business while on their way to work.  Commuters would have more time to work on projects especially on those long trips to the office during rush hour.  One problem with this is the fact that traffic laws would have to be changed considering the fact that they were written with only human drivers in mind. Another problem would be if this sort of car will be effective against reckless drivers whom may try to cut off the robot-car or may be swerving.  We will have to wait and see because it seems that it won't be until almost a decade from now when we will see these cars on the road.

Talk, Text and Web in NYC Subway!

                Technology in this day and age allows people to check e-mails, text, and do many things using their smartphones, laptops, phones, etc.  There are very few places now that don’t allow you access to wi-fi technology or cellular technology, one of them being the NYC Subway System.   Soon this will change, due to T-Mobile and AT&T signing into a 10 year agreement with Transit Wireless.  Commuters shall gain access to cellular and wi-fi technology allowing them to do everything from talk, text and connect to the web.  This kind of technology will give freedom to the commuters to actually enjoy subway rides with the ability to use their smartphones, laptops, or other devices.  On a downside this might also add to noise pollution that has already plagued MTA Bus routes.  Also this sort of freedom of use of technology would somewhat be limited by the number of passengers on the train, you wouldn’t be able to really check e-mails or surf the web on your laptop with a packed train.   In my opinion this sort of technology will be a hindrance, unless rules of conduct are set, due to the fact that commuters might take advantage of this technology and become nuisances.  This is much like on MTA Bus Routes when you try to relax on the bus going to work, and the only thing you hear is a bunch of people talking on their cell phones or listening to music.  The way everything will work out is dependent on the actions of the individual commuters and how they use the cellular or wi-fi access.

3-D Printing!

Technology has made leaps and bounds in the recent years and one such technology is called 3d printing.  It is a form of additive manufacturing technology where a three dimensional object is created by laying down successive layers of material. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_printing) This sort of technology can be used for a variety of things stemming all the way from jewelry and footwear to architecture, automotive, or even dental and medical industries.  This sort of technology may allow us to make more intricate and detailed products in the near future.  This has been proven by companies making life like prosthetic limbs.  Soon companies may even expand this to create entire buildings just using 3d printers.  This has both advantages and disadvantages. Some advantages would be it could be cheaper than actually paying workers to create products, allow products to be created faster, and products can be more intricate.  Also 3d printing technology is currently being studied so that it will be possible in the near future to replace organs and body parts.  The disadvantages of this is that this sort of technology would cause many people would lose their jobs to these 3d printers, if an error happens it is harder to fix, and that not everyone can afford a 3d printer and the technology is far from perfect. Personally even though this technology has some disadvantages in the long run 3d printing will allow companies to save money, build things faster, and make things generally cheaper since the cost of making products would be lower.

What e-reader Should You Choose?

        Technology today people have so much of a variety to choose from. There are so many people who are memorized by advertisements/websites and impulsively buy new products at their fingertips. This blog is a detail description of some of the new e-readers out there that buyers have to choose from.
     The Nook which is distributed by Barnes and Noble which has just recently came out has it's pros and cons.  First the pros are that it has a color touchscreen like any other e-reader, but what makes this feature more special that it has a smaller color screen right underneath the reading screen.  There you can look through your collection and it also features a keyboard for navigation. Another positive to the nook feature is that it is the first e-reader that lets you share books to other users who have the nook using the WI-FI.
   Another pro that makes this e-reader different from other e-readers is that it has an Android operating system and it allows you to access apps for the android device. One of the major cons to the nook is the battery life is much shorter than other e-reader devices.
    The kindle is one of the first e-readers to come out. The battery life of the kindle is much better than most e-readers there are many cons because the kindle is limited to do so many things. First con is that when you buy a book, you can not share with anyone else or resell it either.  There is also the fact that there is only a limited amount of books that the kindle offers. Last but not least the kindle does not have full web access as other e-readers do.
   Third lets talk about the Apple iPad. It has many cool features but also many cons as well. One of the first pros is that the iPad has a built in speaker and microphone, the interfaces is much like the iPhone and iPod touch. You can read any newspaper, ebook and magazines you want. Wi-Fi is a definite plus for users, and it also supports third party applications without having to do any modifications. You can check your e-mail, store your photos, you can view videos on youtube and the list just goes on. Last but not least the cons of the iPad the camera and flash is not support in the iPad. There is no USB support, and there is no drag or drop file management. There is no SD card reader built-in. There is only about 10 hour of battery life before you have to charge it again.  The iPad features so much more than the other e-readers but it is also the most expensive out of all them and is still limited to what it can do.
      After reading all the pros and cons of the some the e-readers out there, it sometimes makes you think if putting your money into these devices or simply just waiting for something new and better to come out after they have fixed the cons and kinks of the first generation e-readers.