Emerging technology

Emerging Technology

January 15, 2015

Google Glasses

        Although Google is ending the selling of their Google Glass eyewear product, they say that they will continue to research and develop this product further despite the current public feelings toward these smart glasses. The teams working on these projects will be divided and move to another devision instead of continue with the Google X devision. But this has been successful is the fact that during its unveiling skydivers wearing them had beamed what they were experiencing to a group in San Francisco. The glasses are also capable of receiving information that is in a tiny screen above the right eye, take videos and photos, and also navigate by giving directions.

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-30831128


February 4, 2015
Taking Video Games to the Next Level- Gunnar Optiks Eyewear
(Article about multiple products, will only be discussing the one I found to be most interesting)
By: Gregory Schmidt
        It is apparent that whenever you have to be looking at any screen for a long period of time, that it can put a strain on your eyes and also cause dry eyes and headaches. In order to alleviate the fatigue on the eyes, this line of glasses were created. They are specially made with custom tints that help to filter out the artificial as well as the ultraviolet lighting. The glasses also have a special lens shape that decreases the air currents, and a special coating that makes it scratch resistant and minimizes the glare. So if its a game, television, or on a computer, these will provide greater protection for  your eyes.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/05/technology/personaltech/taking-video-games-to-the-next-level.html?_r=0


February 19, 2015

Car to Car Communication
By: Will Knight
       Through this latest technology, cars are able to send out warnings to other cars about the condition of the car, as in the important information to cars that are within a few hundred meters radius of the car, sending out the information. This information includes the cars current position, its brake status, its speed, and the position of its steering wheel. In the system specifically discussed in this article, the warning system alerted the driver by sounding off beeping sounds and buzzing their seats, in order to warn the driver of the oncoming vehicle that they could not see themselves.

http://www.technologyreview.com/featuredstory/534981/car-to-car-communication/


February 20, 2015
Software behind "Big Hero 5" pushes envelope on computer animation
By: Daniel Miller
        The software that was used to create the recent movie hit, "Big Hero 6" is called Hyperion, which main purpose was to answer a problem they were having in making the movie. It was that there weren't any programs in existence that would be capable of making the envisioned world that the filmmakers of "Big Hero 6" wanted for the movie. With this software they were able to create the vast world of San Fransokyo that had many skyscrapers and was illuminated with neon lights. They were also able to capture the true "light and air" that can be experienced in the actual San Francisco, especially in the "twilight flying scene". In order to functionally render this movie, they had to build a supercomputer that is almost around the same size as the ones found in Japan and China.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-disney-animation-big-hero-6-20150220-story.html#page=1


February 24, 2015
Arms, Cell... Faces? How 3D Printing is Reconstructing Medicine
By: Live Science Staff
        The uses for 3D printing are gradually increasing and have made it in the medical field in allowing doctors to utilize this technology in multiple ways.  Luckily patients are able to benefit from the decreasing prices of this technology since it is extremely useful to them. It has been used for making prosthetics, planning a face transplant, and preparing for surgery with liver replicas to also help make it safer. There are people researching further to see if they are able to take 3D printing to another level in helping make stem cells, which if successful could mean the ability to create replacement organs in the future.

http://www.livescience.com/49939-3d-printed-organs-and-prosthetics-reconstruct-healthcare.html


February 25, 2015
Artificial Intelligence Goes to the Arcade
By: Nicole Twilley
        This is an interesting article about Artificial Intelligence called DeepMind, which was bought by Google. It is described how DeepMind was applied to play various arcade games such as Atari, Fishing Derby, Freeway, and Kung-Fu Master. All of which it started out as ay normal person would, but after multiple rounds it wasn't missing or making mistakes anymore. Instead the artificial intelligence program analyzes and organizes the information it collected from its previous games. So with that information it is able to critically analyze its own performance and decide which moves would be best in order to get higher scores in the future games.

http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/deepmind-artificial-intelligence-video-games


March 3, 2015
Cyborg Roached Could be used to Find Disaster Survivors
By: Tanya Lewis
        An interesting study is being done with roaches as the subject, however the purpose is to have the roaches be directed by signals given, in order to be able to navigate them through things such as rubble from natural disasters. They have been implanted with electrodes that "stimulate" its antennae, which is what allows the scientist to direct the roaches like something remote-controlled. They are able to go where ever they are directed. New technology is being created to control them so that it isn't invasive to the cockroaches, it would only be a vibrating device instead of the electrodes. With this they would be able to use them in situations where humans would be unable to reach, such as in collapsed buildings of earthquakes, in order to look for any survivors or assess the damage.

http://www.livescience.com/50024-remote-controlled-cyborg-cockroaches.html
http://www.cnn.com/videos/tech/2015/03/30/cyborg-cockroaches-find-disaster-survivors-orig.cnn


March 21, 2015
Closing the digital gap-arts and cultural organizations as centers of creativity and education
        This article describes how the Deutsche Bank is participating in supporting a program that helps New York communities of usually low/moderate income to still be able to interact and use the developing technologies. An example of who they have helped would be the Bronx Museum of Arts that made a technology location for their visitors and programs that would reach put to the middle schools in the area. An example of this would be the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in Harlem that is processing and developing the "Digital Curator" project, which enables it students to experiment with being a curator and being involved with using the digitization of the pieces that are from the museum's own collections. This program aims to expose people to the uses of modern digital technology in both a explorative and creative manner to help develop their own personal skills.

https://www.db.com/cr/en/concrete-art-and-technology.htm


March 24, 2015
Contact lens with built-in telescope could help people with blinding disease
By: Meera Senthilingam
        Scientists are working to create Smart Contact Lens that have extremely small mirrors and filters in them that would help to enhance/ magnify one's vision about 3 times as the object normally is. They work when light hits off of them and is increased on the mirrors increasing the image you are looking at. The scientists are hoping that these lens will be able to help even if a bit the sight of those who have to live with age-related macular degeneration, which happens to be one of the greatest cause of blindness all around the world.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/17/tech/contact-lens-telescope-blindness/index.html


March 31, 2015
11 Things you need to know about Microsoft's new Surface 3
By: David Goldman
       Microsoft has enhanced their already modern tablet by making it less expensive, thinner, and smaller. The Surface 3 is able to act like a tablet but also has the working capabilities of a laptop. Some things that this article points out is that there are many good aspects about this new Surface such as its price and since it is geared towards students, t has bright attractive colors. It also has other good points such as that it weighs less than the new MacBook but more than the MacBook Air and that it also has a compatible charger a your phone so long as it isn't an iPhone.

http://money.cnn.com/2015/03/31/technology/surface-3/index.html

Fired Over Facebook

1.  What is your initial reaction to this story?I was initially shocked by this story especially considering that the employee was just expressing his opinion and not being rude or anything. I personally do not feel that he deserved to be put through that kind of treatment for expressing himself. But I was also shocked that he had said for others who didn't agree with others to shoot each other. So I feel 50/50 that he was, fine with expressing his opinion yet wrong for that other comment. I feel that if the employer was unhappy with his post that they should have just confronted him and reprimand him, not immediately fire him.

2.  What reason did the employer provide for firing this person?The employer's reasons for firing this person was that they felt that it was a very important rule for their employees to not get into what they would consider "public controversy". Also that they didn't want their employees to either support or even oppose the issue, which this employee did when he was commenting on the shooting.

3.  Was the firing legal?  Why?
According to the lawyers, the firing was legal since it is apparently in their right to snoop around their employers pages especially if they were able to access them.  Anything they find that they consider "objectionable" would give them the means to fire their employees. Then they say that people in the "private world" misinterpret their range of freedom of speech, meaning that they really can not say what they want to even on their social media pages, without being check on by their employers.

4.  What do you think is meant by the term Digital Footprint?
To me Digital Footprint sounds like when you post something online, then even if you go to delete it that it will still leave its "imprint" on the world web database. So it would never truly disappear and will always be there, so then you should be careful with what you put online since it will always be out.

5.  Are the things you post on Facebook and Twitter really private, even if you set your privacy settings to maximum?I feel that even if you have your privacy settings on that nothing is ever private especially if it is online. So while it might be "private" against other people, I still feel that the people who control the system have their ways of getting around the rules and invading on people's pages that are supposed to be "private".

6.  It is clear the man in the video did not think the comments he made on Facebook would get him fired. If you were his friend and he told you what she was planning to post before he actually made the post, what would your advice have been to him? Why?My advice would be for him to continue with saying his opinions. However, one thing I disagreed with is that he had said "SHOOT PEOPLE YOU DISAGREE WITH". To me it seemed that he was advocating the shooting other people, which is certainly not right at all. But I do feel that he had every right to say what he wanted to. I would warn him to be cautious with what ever he wished to post online, even if he or she felt that the comment was harmless. Since I have always heard warnings from others to be careful with what you put online so that you won't regret it in the long run in the distant or near future. 

http://fox8.com/2014/12/12/vegan-teacher-fired-over-facebook-post/

1.  What is your initial reaction to this story?
My reaction was still shocked, thinking that people could be fired because of what their Facebook post might say. However, it thinking about in our modern society it is starting to make sense that everyone must be careful with what they say, as to not offend others or cause conflict especially in this teachers situation. Now while I felt bad for the teacher, I felt that the school took reasonable actions since the school heavily relied on the community's support.

2.  What reason did the employer provide for firing this person?
The reasons that the employer gave for firing the teacher was that he had received a call from the owners of the farm, that the teacher had taken a picture of, expressing their concerns of being frightened for their safety if the teacher was a strong advocate. So the superintendent of the school said that they did not want to cause any problems between the school and the community since they rely on the money that comes from the community. So he did not want to create any friction, that would put the school at risk so he resorted to firing the teacher because of his Facebook post. 

3.  Was the firing legal?  Why?
To me I felt that firing was partially legal since the teacher's Facebook post was brought to the superintendent's attention and so since that situation was not in the school's favor and they wanted to keep peaceful terms with the members of the community it was reasonable in that aspect. While then again I felt that considering it was a post he had made on his private time, that it should not have affected his job by resulting in him being fired. I fell that he should have been let off with a warning and told that the consequences if it were to happen again.   

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