Gavin
Culture of the Multitool
A tool is something we use in order to complete a specific task. Thus it follows that any tool that can be used for more than one task is a better tool and more suited to survive the test of time. There are many famous examples of this like the Swiss Army Knife which has typically came with five to ten tools in it. Other, more crazy versions, have sought to include as many as absolutely possible. One of the higher end versions includes 85 different tools. The process becomes a debate on where usability becomes an issue of design. As in the case of these tools, electronics have slowly performed a similar process. As time has gone on, different…
Picking Up the Pace
With Mark Zuckerberg pushing out internet as far as he can to bring more people into having the ability to access it, we are experiencing a large increase in the number of users we encounter. This is both important and nearly crisis inducing as infrastructure we have made and rely on slowly buckles under the new additional weight. Telecommunications companies struggle as it is to slowly upgrade their networks as competition and standards climb. Several countries, like that of South Korea, have announced in recent times their own initiatives to dramatically increase their network speeds and bandwidth. The main goal of their recent initiative is to raise their speeds by up to 1000x what it is now, bringing it into…
The Slow Trudging Advance of Robotics
As time marches on, so does the presence and ability of machines and computers marching with us. Many people fear the day when computers and machines begin to walk on their own, but whether it is due to science fiction or actual issues present in the progressing system, they still have a far way to go before then. Despite the distance to these possibilities, many people wish to push the envelope further and bring self sufficient robotics around even sooner. Among the dozens of robotics competitions held annually all over the world there are many that stand out. One that is particularly eye catching is that of the DARPA Robotics Challenge. This challenge is specifically meant to usher developers towards…
A Different Reality but Still the Same
Many people have had some sort of experience with virtual reality. Whether in a game, on the internet, or any other way to show information electronically, these are all just different ways of presenting the same information. Virtual reality is more than just a supplement to video games and the internet though. More and more often, virtual reality is getting funneled in alongside physical reality in a form called augmented reality. This means that features of both areas can be used and, taking the best from either, make something better as a whole. Microsoft’s Hololens is a prime example of the applications of this as a whole. While not completely game changing yet, the Hololens allows for information to be…
Our security blankets have a few holes in them
Take a moment and see if you can get a friend to tell you their mothers middle name. This might be done by asking them if the name was such and such and having them reply with what it actually is. Such a simple trick and you have one of the answers to what might be one of your friends recovery questions. If the scenarios were to work out in such a manner, you might even be able to simply pull that information off of said friends Facebook account. Too often we put the keys to our accounts in plain sight and expect nobody to test them on the doors of our accounts. One insecure question and an attacker might…
Translating the World, One Word at a Time
Anywhere you go and to anyone you talk, people will agree that there are many problems in the world in which we live. One of the biggest happens to be communication. I know that this sounds a bit far fetched but think about it. We are humans. We are separated by insurmountable barriers that keep us from truly understanding each other. No matter we do,there are certain things that we can not explain to each other. The Youtube channel Vsauce does a great job in describing this barrier in their video “Is Your Red The Same As My Red?”. As described in the video, there are certain Qualia that we can not explain. Something such as “Red” is an experience…
Net Neutrality and Expanding the Internet to Everyone
I’m sure that most of you reading this have heard of the battle that has continued on for years now over Net Neutrality. While the FCC hearing on February 26th struck a major blow for those in favor of a neutral practice, we are still seeing the fighting and bickering that accompanied any altercation before the hearing. The ruling that was established by the FCC dictated that Telecommunications companies would change from Title I (Information Service) to that of Title II (Common Carrier). This was partially due to a court case in which the FCC was forced to admit that it did not have the proper authority to back its rulings. The other reason was due to the fact that…