Surface Computing Technology!

Hey fellow bloggers, Check out this link!  

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtKQNwqNLLk

I think this is really interesting yes I know the touch screen trend is becoming bonkers but I don’t feel it’s going anywhere so get with it. It’s called surface technology and I can really see this being in restaurants and all sorts of retail stores. Everything on this table is done with touch gestures. The colors are vivid and my favorite part of the video was the water touching, it was so life like! What do you guys think? They didn’t state a price tag but I could imagine it must be pretty steep, and we probably won’t see a home version until way after these become more common place in commercial environments.

Virtual Drive-In:Second Life Manual and Wiki

Hello to all,

Our group name is Virtual Drive-In and our group consist of Oladokun, Olabode, Shostak, Aliaksei, and Omar Cruz. For this group project we decided to create a Drive-In experience for Second Life Users. Weather you would like to be a spectator or join in with the experience we have created a manual that briefly explains the user how to register with second life and then we go into the main points. To create this Drive-In experience we gives steps how to secure a location, upload your movies/media to a screen and also describe the process of making cars in second life because it wouldn’t be a Drive-In experience without cars. So basically we have a social environment that is intended for users who have nostalgic interest for the Drive-In’s of old and would like to share old films even in black and white to further enhance the experience. Users who can also just want to share more modern movies and clips are welcome as well it’s not anti color media lol. It’s was hard at first for out group to grasp the concept of the manual but I believe the end result will be promising. There are some pics below and also the link to our Wiki for Virtual Drive-In, please feel free to give us feedback. http://virtualdrivein.wetpaint.com/

Soon to be Mac head!

Hey fellow blogger check this out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQT2PfpQ6K0

That is a link to a review of the new Macbook Pro that came out last month. I have been a PC user all my life and I must admit I didn’t really understand what all the fuss was about when it came to Apple. Slowly though I was curious and I started reading up on them playing with them in the Apple store etc… I was hooked. I been researching them for over a year, heres the drawback though their sort of expensive but I feel the Mac OS X Lepaord is worth it. The OS is so intutive its crazy but in a good way lol. I was actually hoping to get it this yr but money didnt quite come through, but most def next yr! Whats the major difference with this updated Macbook Pro is that it has 2 graphic cards one intergated and one discreate, So for really heavy GPU task like photo rendering, movies and games you can switch to the the NVida 9600 GT; reg web surfying stick to the NVida 9400. Ofcourse you would lose the expense of battery power going with the 9600 GT. The review basically has it all but I must insist if you have ever been curious just go into a apple store and play with these babies! Who’s knows you just might get hooked like me lol

Help me redesign the Web: Technology Review

This article discusses the initial way web pages were made when they first emerged to the present. The main goal was just to have a means to share pages of information with other users caring little of how the web page looked visually.  New Media (Which later became Netscape) was a threat to the printed page which and all the work that it showed. There then came a new emerging crowd that wanted to change this. During 1995 when the personal computer was more common place it was much more easier to work the kinks out. The web grew as users became more used to web based applications. Eventually search became the most important way to move around web sites. During that time the web began to change and it became very easy make websites with such tools as blogger and moveable type.  Adobe Flash and WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation) are now the primary tools used in most web sites and web applications.

I feel this trend is very evident in current websites I surf  Google for example. It’s so popular as a result of the concentration on the search bar and bouncing from link to link while searching the web. I know it’s the first thing I do when I’m on a site for the first time looking for something in particular.  I see how important Adobe flash is to most websites now,  most older computers are practically screaming for additional plug ins in order to play flash based content.

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Second Earth: Technology Review

This article by Wade Roush discussing the technological advances made by Linden Lab with their creation of  Second Life.  Second Life is like a virtual world where users have virtual representations of themselves as avatars and then explore a real like virtual representation of the world.  It’s mentioned how Second Life is not without its flaws and how it accurately it represents matters depends on the capability of it’s hardware and software. The pros of Second Life mentioned in the article details how its well adapt for basic representation and data modeling. A large majority of the article discusses how many many professional are predicting a integration of Second Life with virtual globe programs such as Google Earth.  Which then in 10 to 20 years their is a prediction that a metaverse will emerge which is basically like a virtual planet.  Virtual tourism, education and training are common place facets in Second Life and Google Earth. Will this Metaverse be overkill? is a question that is stated to the reader towards the end of the article.

I personally find Google Earth interesting and fun especially when I was able to find my home and other building in the vicinity.  So I was more caught off guard by metaverse that is  discussed in the article.  A virtual planet might be hard to imagine but when I considered just how advanced Second Life and Google Earth are it didn’t seem as far fetched of an idea. I could see the advances of this, for example say for a history course in college we took a trip to the Grand Canyon from just the computers in the classroom! I don’t find a future Metaverse to be intimidating at all.

Exploring Human Factors in Virtual Worlds

“Exploring Human Factors in Virtual Worlds” is an in-depth article that delves into the details that virtual worlds have on humans as well as informing and enlightening people on just what this virtual world trend entails. The article defines virtual reality technology as a computer generated display that compels the user into feeling that they are part of the virtual world themselves. Which the article states as one of the primary key factors on what the differences are between basic multimedia user interfaces vs virtual worlds. Virtual worlds are stated as being more popular because it gives users the feeling that they are learning and interacting in real time at such environment. The virtual world that is the main focus discussed through out the article is called “Second Life”.  The article also brings up the extreme opinions people have the pros and cons of virtual worlds. Cyber pranks, stalking and even cybersickness are mentioned; as additional worst case scenario people also can become addicted.  On the opposite end virtual worlds are labeled at bringing much needed vigor to companies training and job aid kits. How company meetings can be held in virtual world as well; via the users avatars is also discussed as an advantage for using virtual worlds like second life.

I thought this article was very interesting, informative and surprising. I was aware of virtual worlds or having virtual meetings used by companies. I also noticed the increased reliance upon technology in the majority of career fields nowadays. Though I would much rather mentioned just what really surprised me thus giving me the inspiration for this critique. I was not aware of the negative effect virtual worlds can have on people and the human factors that come in to play with that. “Cybersickness”?? I have never heard of the term in my life! I heard of people getting addicted but wow to actually hear reports from studies saying that people have actually gotten headaches, induced vomiting (brought on by certain scenarios) and even seizures! This are in extreme situations I’m assuming but the article didn’t state that this were rare occurrences; which means there’s some commonality in terms of how often it does happen. “Creepy much”, people getting stalked or how the article brought up this term of virtual world crimes was surreal. Though despite the cons I still feel overall the pros outweigh the cons, Just the advances one can make in the virtual world in terms of ones learning for example was something that no one would have expected much in the 90′s. People will learn in fast new efficient ways because of virtual worlds like second life. I mean if we have advanced this far cant they get like virtual world policemen to lessen the cons?

Technology Review: Una Laptop por Niño.

“Una Laptop por Niño” is about bringing educational help to poor children in very poor countires in Peru. The ministry of education in Peru is brings this help by buying laptops for the children. The laptops go to the most remote poor countres where even electristy is scarce. The laptops have wi-fi and come pre loaded with games, edcational software and books pre installed in digtal format. OLPC is non-profit and the ministry of education in Peru pays to train the teachers on using the laptops to then instruct their students. The article also mentions how if Peru is sucessful with OLPC they can be the first country to lead the way to bringing about educational reform in other poor remote countires.

I thought the article was intresting and thought provoking. I also didn’t feel as optimistic about the sucess of OLPC, primarly for the initail rollout. There seems to be a lot of room for politcal red tape to get involved thus preventing OLPC from reaching it’s full potential. I mainly feel this way because they have to pay teachers to train students in addition to buying the laptops. There was also mention how, as is always the case with something new; is the working out the bugs with the laptops. I thought the most important aspect was that OLPC is not just giving poor children laptops to play tetris or draw; but Peru’s real goal is for the children to realize how they can better themselves with eduacaton. The laptops would mainly serve as tool to hopefully bring about the educational potential in each child.