Smart Cars: Smart Than Us

Technology in cars can go both ways. Internet phone services might not be as useful as braking assist in terms of saving your life and others. The technology in cars has improved and been added in at an exponential rate. Some of the collision preventive tech is adaptive cruise control which eases off the accelerator if it senses a car in front that is going more slowly as well as a sensor that engages the breaks which stops the car before you plow into another car that just came out of nowhere. Other alerts include blind spot indicators and lane correction that will let you know if you are changing lanes unexpectedly, such as a sleepy driver, and some model will even nudge the car back into the lane. The catch here being that the features are going to cost you several more thousands that you were going to spend but in many cases it is very much worth it. In time the features will become standard and the prices will inch on down. For example, the rear-view cameras are going to be required on every new car built starting in 2018. Car will become much more than just transportation.

Virtual Reality

The Electronic Entertainment Expo where the gaming industry giants showed off their latest toys and software development advancements has recently ended. It was certainly impressive to say the least. No wonder teens are addicted to their consoles. If I didn’t have to work for a living, I’d join them. A VR headset contains two small displays, with their imagery slightly offset to give the illusion of three dimensions. These mini TVs are strapped to your forehead, along with tracking technology that determines your head position and orientation inside the virtual environment. The virtual reality is still more virtual than reality but the developments are constantly improving and it is starting to look more and more like real life. It is definitely the next big thing in gaming when these systems will be available for consumers. This type of technology is also going to be great in other fields, not just gaming.

Mobile Applications

Over the past few years, there has been an explosion of applications, particularly in mobile. Everything from instant stock quotes, to weather forecasts and GPS navigation are now available with a touch of your finger on your cell phone. Surgeons can scroll through years of patient history in minutes. Smart meters bring instant feedback to consumers, reducing energy waste and saving money, without any sacrifice to lifestyle. You can also waste plenty of time on gaming applications of just fill your time while you are standing in line. Hopefully you do not open any applications while driving, save for the GPS, or even while at a red light. It is amazing just how many people still text and drive even after several states have passed laws against it. One of the challenges being that it is hard to enforce. Even talking on the phone or using phone services that are connected to your car can be a major distraction. I can say that I am guilty of talking on my phone while driving as well but I have made a real effort to put driving a priority and set a great example for the kids for when they finally get their license. Yes, that day is very much dreaded.

Skype Translator

It will soon be possible to talk with someone over internet phone services such as Skype that speaks a different language. The VoIP services is intent of breaking all kinds of language barriers. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Gurdeep Pall, the vice president in charge of Skype, demonstrated the technology Tuesday night in California at the Code Conference, sponsored by tech-news site Re/Code. After a short delay, the system posts one user's translated comments as text onscreen to the other user while a synthetic voice speaks them aloud. Pall said Skype Translator will be available first as a Windows 8 beta app by the end of this year. This new technology is taking social media and communications to a whole new level. There are less and less barriers to break down. In the beginning of the century, it was about mails and telephones that made the world smaller and brought people together and now the languages are not an issue. Another idea is that this technology could be used in everyday life and not just on communication devices, but that would raise a whole slew of new issues.

Technologies to Disrupt the World

Two hundred times stronger than steel and light as a feather; tougher than a diamond, but stretches like rubber; able to conduct electricity and heat better than a copper wire, graphene, ladies and gentleman -- the very ingredients in the substance of your No. 2 pencil is changing the world. Electronics is becoming a hotter topic these days with electric cars and such along with communication services and devices.  Doctors in the Netherlands did, printing a lower jaw for an 83-year woman. And its success only makes this trillion-dollar technology even more appealing for both doctors and patients around the world. And if that weren't enough, the technology could be used to print out skin, ears, bones and organs. We already know 3D printing is primarily used with industrial design, aerospace and engineering, but its revolutionary applications are changing the medical space.

The iPhone 6

There have been recent rumors that the iPhone 6 will be coming out this August which is about a month or two before the usual date. If the release date rumor comes true, Apple might be trying to stem the slowdown in iPhone sales that happens every summer. Smartphone shoppers have become conditioned to Apple’s yearly cycle; typically, iPhone sales crater in the summer months as everyone waits for the newer model. The Economic Daily News also says that the display on the iPhone 6 will increase to 4.7 inches on the diagonal, and that an even bigger iPhone, with a 5.5-inch screen, will follow in September. In order to compete with Samsung, Huawei, and others in the massive Asian market, Apple needs to come out with a bigger screen for its iPhone which many companies in software development are looking at anyway. Of course, there needs to be confirmation of these rumors. Are you going to get the new iPhone when it comes out?

Technology

What is technology doing to us? Between the digital skeptics and the wide-eyed utopians sit the authors of The Second Machine Age, two MIT scholars with an interest in consensus and moderation. Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee, both at the university’s Center for Digital Business, realized that things were moving way faster than even they would have predicted. Just as the Industrial Revolution saw machines replacing human brawn, the second machine age sees them replacing our cognitive faculties. These two, whose previous book, Race Against the Machine, took a cautionary look at the way computers, software development, and artificial intelligence were making human beings obsolete, now describe themselves as cautiously optimistic.