Practical, Not Fantasy. A semi-autonomous van

What does a mailman, newspaper deliverers, water deliverer, etc. have in common?  They all get in and out of their trucks to deliver their products door to door.  What if they could deliver to one house, walk to the next house, and say "come here" and the car moves to their location?   It would create great efficiencies.  That is what VW did.  It reinvented the delivery vehicle with semi-autonomous capabilities.

It is a breath of fresh air to see an organization that applies an emerging technology in a practical fashion. VW should have their concept car available to market by second half of this decade.

Article:  Volkswagen's eT! concept reinvents the delivery vehicle with semi-autonomous capabilities

No keyboard. No Mice. No Touchscreen. Just THINK IT.

Image the ability to control computers and other technology just by thinking.  "Researchers are working with the brain's alpha waves -- neural oscillations in the frequency range of 8 and 12 Hz -- to create rich syntactic representations that can be used to communicate directly with computers".  Preliminary tests prove that it works.

Well, now image what that would do for pilots; never needing to touch anything.  A bus driver that can look, think, and drive without touching anything.  Now reactions will not be limited to physical limitations but mental limitations.  When commercial use of this technology hits the market we will be the fasting moving (thinking) society throughout time.  This disruptive technology will change everything.

Do you want to be around for this?  I think so.


Article:  Thought controlled computers may soon be a reality

A drug that stops the aging process

No makeup, creams, or herbal voodoo - taking a drug that actually stops aging has been tested on mice and is on its way to humankind.  Imagine, stopping cataract development, loss of muscle, smooth skin, and the ability to exercise like you were 20 or 30.

Mayo Clinic researchers have found the gene that creates senescent cells that cause the aging process to grow in our cells.  They have tested a number of drugs on mice that eliminate senescent cells.  The mice do not age.  The trick of the drug is to take it before it negatively impacts you - it is not a reversing drug.  In other words, if you have cataracts it will not take it away.  It is a preventative drug.

How many of you want to stop aging?

Article:  Purging Cells in Mice Is Found to Combat Aging Ills

Stop Complaining!

How often have we had those special moments (kids birthday, wedding, someone falling flat on their face, etc) where we take a picture and find that it is out of focus or we focused on the wrong thing?

For me, all the time.  Whether it is my wife, kids, parents, or myself we have to "miss the shot".  Lytro has created a new type of way of taking a picture.   No other camera does this - You can change the focus area after you take the picture!  "Unlike a conventional camera that captures a single plane of light, the Lytro camera captures the entire light field, which is all the light traveling in every direction in every point in space."

I wonder what this will do to Cannon, Sony, & Nikon.  Did Lytro just create a disruptive innovation?  Yes it did, because I will not buy any other camera product now.

Article:  http://gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/19/lytros-camera-shoots-first-focuses-later/?ref=personaltech
Lytro site:   https://www.lytro.com/camera

Lets Burn Books

Amazon negotiated an exclusive digital rights deal with DC Comics.  Superman and Batman are to be available to those who purchase the Kindle Fire.  What are competitors to do at a time like this?  BURN THEM!  Barnes & Nobles and Books-a-Million removed all the DC Comics from their stores, sending a scorching message to DC Comics. 

With this digital battle on the way consumers may need to have multiple tools to view their desired sources of entertainment and education.  Exclusive rights is nothing new, AT&T had it with the iPhone and now Amazon has it with DC Comics.  Let's remember that today almost every carrier has the iPhone.  Maybe it is not so bad to burn books.

Article:  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/19/technology/bookstores-drop-comics-after-amazon-deal-with-dc.html?_r=1&ref=technology

Chip-level advances that may change computing

The question that I ask myself is how fast do we need our computers?  According to Brian Nadel from ComputerWorld there are 5 technical breakthroughs on the horizon.  Imagine removing wires from chips and replacing them with laser connections.  A hand held phone would be more powerful than the fastest PC today.  We could be the society that under utilize technology daily.   Where would such technology be useful?  Military, research, and safety to state a few that impact everyone in today's society.

I look forward to a faster boot up time, application launches, and mathematical calculations but the area I would like to see faster responses is the human brain and physical reflexes.

Article:  http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9219723/5_tech_breakthroughs_Chip_level_advances_that_may_change_computing?taxonomyId=128&pageNumber=1

Watch out, Apple: Windows 8 could trump the iPad

Apple has been at the forefront of creating products that exceed consumer expectations; especially for personal use.  Microsoft, on the other hand, has created products that meet business needs but are loosing the customer advantage on the consumer front.  Windows 8 "boasts a very different, tile-based user interface called Metro based on Windows Phone that is touch-savvy, runs on ARM processors as well as Intel x86 chips, and will also work on traditional keyboard-and-mouse PCs and run anything that runs on Windows 7".  This product differs from the Apple's product line because tablets and PCs use the same operating systems as well as the same applications.

If Microsoft delivers on its Windows 8 promise and developers can create applications that support touch as well as keyboard/mouse interfaces then Microsoft stands a good change to give Apple a run for their money.  We may find consumers moving from the Apple products to the Windows 8 product line used in the majority of businesses.   Additionally, Windows 8 promises the use of the cloud to house application and files giving consumer the abilitiy to move from PC to tablet seemlessly.  This means no matter the Microsoft product used (desktop, laptop, tablet, or phone) all user applications and files will be available to the consumer.

Articles:  http://www.infoworld.com/d/microsoft-windows/windows-8-what-its-really-all-about-172825 & http://www.infoworld.com/d/mobile-technology/watch-out-apple-windows-8-could-trump-the-ipad-172971?page=0,0