Holograms

Researching for this topic, I noticed quite the interesting article about technology from the election. Apparently, during the election, CNN used “holographic technologies” to transport two people into the CNN studios. Did I grab your attention? I thought I may have
During the reports of the election last night, Jessica Yellin, a reporter for CNN, claimed she was being “beamed” from a distant location to the CNN studios and it made it appear as if they were actually in the studio talking to Wolf Blitzer and Anderson Cooper. She claims this was made possible by 35 high-definition cameras in a circular patter around her which covered her body from all angles, and these cameras made a 3-D image of her which was then put into the studio.
This sounds awesome, doesn’t it? Well, I just thought you should know that it’s not exactly what it sounds like. Wolf and Anderson never actually saw her inside the studio. Instead, her image was just placed into the broadcast image. She never actually appeared to the two men, she was just edited into the television image.
So, it’s not quite as cool as it sounds, but it still grabs my attention, and makes me wonder, when will we start using holographic images to transport people to another place. I know they did it in the Star Wars movies (yeah, I know, I sound like a nerd), so I wonder if it’s possible to implement the technology into the real world. Imagine the benefits of such a technology.
I really think the US needs to start working on a way of communicating with a holographic device. I can really see no problem with it. You can’t hurt anyone with a holographic image, so there is no risk of that, and you really are only helping the world with it. I say, go for the gold and let’s make holograms a reality.

The MAGIC WALL

When watching the presedential debate last night im sure you saw those CNN reporters go crazy with their new technology. One of the main pieces they used was the Magic Wall which they used to display which state went to who. I noticed they seemed to rub in the new technology that they get to use or at least were getting paid to "advertise" it. This wall that you saw from what you remember was able to zoom in and out of states on the map. You could then go into the state and see the different counties and how that plays out for the canidate to win the state.

This product was created by a company called Perceptive Pixel. Supposedly the guy who came up with the idea for this new kind of touch screen thought of this when he picked up a glass of water an how light reacted in the water to his hand. The sole purpose of these inventions used by these reporters is to give a better understanding to viewers about the news being reported. I did kind of enjoy the new style of how they presented this presedential race because it gave a more detailed view of how the canidate won each state that it did. It did this in a more organized fashion and it wasnt just the reporter telling us that a such canidate won this state and you move on. So if we take this into regular news reports I think this might give veiwers a better understanding for those reports as well.http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/11/04/magic.wall/index.html

My Bike

Wow, I cannot believe that just happened. I was just on my bike trying to get to class on time when my pedal fell off. I was ridding and looked down at my right pedal because it felt funny. It turned out that I had my foot resting on the metal bar that runs through the pedal but the plastic pedal itself was gone. I turned around and saw it lying on the ground. When I picked it up I notice that there was a huge crack through the thick center that surrounds the medal rod. It is not like this bike is old, actually it is brand new, and I mean my parents bought it two weeks ago. I am astonished. I hope my parents are able to get a refund or something because this is ridiculous. I have not told them yet but I am sure they are going to laugh and then ask me if I can live without it.

Even though it does not seem like it a bike is technology. The only thing I have a problem with technology is that if its new if is likely to fail at least once or twice. Other times it just does not work at all. After several failures new technology becomes older and better. The mistakes have been corrected and people no longer have to walk to class. New technology is great be it a new PS3 or a bicycle, so do not get discouraged when things do not go right the first time around. But for now I think I will be enjoying the nice walks to class.

Hackers Unite!

I am writing this entry because the topic is about something I would like to be doing in the future. Yes I would like to become a professional hacker but not to hack the government. Instead I want to help companies find flaws in their programming and security systems. I received this article from my grandmother over fall break. She knows that I would eventually like to work in the field of computer security so she collects news articles and magazines about computers to help me become more well rounded.

Ok, now to the article. The article is about a hacker’s convention that was held in Dayton, Ohio. Now these are not the people who try to hack your computer and steal all your information, these hackers hack secure systems to try to find flaws so that they can fix them. At this convention they discussed the newest security systems out there and if there were any major flaws in their coding.

Actually this is the second convention meeting for this group of elite hackers. At their first one, only a handful of people showed up and support was low. But after their successful run they were able to get more hackers and supporters. At their first convention, they predicted that it was possible for someone to hack into a secure website and steal information from it. Just imagine logging onto your bank account by putting in your password and account number. Without your knowledge, the password and account number are sent to a phony website where someone can view and copy them down. You have just had your bank account stolen and entirely without your knowledge. This is cyber terrorism. Luckily, a good hacker found the flaw in the coding and was able to help software firms and Internet providers fix it.

That was last year’s convention in a short snippet, but this year’s convention was all about vulnerabilities in visualization software and online services. These online services would be like MySpace, FaceBook, and Second Life. Yes, a college kid’s life. For as many hours as you are on it, telling people about your life, there is someone who is trying to hack your account and steal your personal information. The job of the convention is to discover new ways to protect online services since their security systems may not be top of the line like the government's. A hacker only needs a few back doors in a system to completely cripple the security protocols. These groups of hackers know this and spend their time hacking into online services to find those holes and close them for good to stop you from becoming a victim in a worldwide identity theft ring. If your identity is stolen you are done for. You cannot just recreate a new identity. You are you and if that is taken from you then life just got a shit load harder. So do everything you can to protect it, just like this hacker’s convention is doing. They are helping all of us by keeping us safe from cyber terrorism.

The convention also hacks to help the internet run more efficiently. Think about it; if everyone was online hacking the internet then there would be chaos. You would no longer be able to surf the web without running into problems with pages loading because they have been tampered with by some idiot on the other side of the world. It is also cheaper to keep internet security up to date because it costs more for companies to repair a web server than it does to just keep making improvements on its security.

Now do not think that these people are lame and just talk about computers the whole time. They actually have a computer security war. Everyone splits up into groups and work on trying to hack each other’s computers while defending their own from being hacked. They also will have a surprise guest from Japan. He is only known as Yamada Taro, meaning “John Doe” in Japanese, but he is one of the best hackers in the world and instead of being in a group, he will work alone to defend off attackers.

Thanks for reading this entry and hopefully it was not too boring for you.

Google Earth

You’re doing your homework, and you suddenly ask yourself, what is there in this world that I can use to entertain myself for hours, and prevent me from having to do my homework? Well my friends, the answer has come to me once again, as I bring to you my newest discovery, Google Earth.
Google Earth was a program created in 2004 originally called Earth Viewer. The idea is quite simple. Basically, Google Earth is a collection of millions of photographs taken by satellites that orbit the earth. After several years, the satellites have gained enough information and pictures to be able to combine them all and create the entire earth.
What’s so neat about this? Well, I’ll tell you. There is a search bar in the upper left corner. In this bar, you can type any location in. For example, I typed in Purdue University. The screen then began to zoom in and the Earth spun. The image that resulted was the center of campus at Purdue. It was pretty cool for the software to be able to find something so small (in relation to the Earth, of course) so quickly. I was pretty impressed with this, but I decided to take it a step further. I come from a town in Indiana that is not large by any means. My house is also nothing to stare in awe at. My house is average sized for suburban Indiana. So, imagine my surprise when I typed in my address, and immediately, the Earth spun and zoomed in to a picture of my house. I looked down, and saw my car in my driveway, and all of the trees, and anything else that is at my house.
So, you’re pretty interested, right? Well I do have one small complaint about it. The pictures need to be updated. When I look at my house, I see a tree that my father and I cut down a year or two ago, so I realized that it is not possible for the pictures to be all new. But still, am quite pleased with the software, and hope it continues to get better.
Now, what I have just described is the old Google Earth that I used a year or so ago. Recently, I have downloaded the newest version of Google Earth (available free when you search for Google Earth) and it has grown exponentially better. While the picture of my house is still a bit outdated, the new features more than make up for it.
In the new version, there are several new modes, including street mode, sky view mode, and 3-D mode.
Street mode is just as it sounds. It is a view of the actual street you want to see. Imagine you were looking for something on Northwestern, and you couldn’t find it. Perhaps you can get onto Google Earth and search Northwester and find it.
3-D Mode goes along with Street mode, a little bit. 3-D mode is a mode where you can change the view of the image, and see a 3-D image of something. My first idea was to search the Swiss Alps. So, I found the mountain range, and switched to 3-D mode. The mountains rose above me, and I desperately wished I could be at the top. So you know what I did? I moved the camera to the top. I had free view within the mountain range. Now, here is the coolest part. I noticed something that looked like a timer with a sun on it. I clicked it, and the sun set, I clicked backwards, and the sun rose. Google Earth allows you to find the most recent sunset/rise of that area, and watch it over and over again. Now, you don’t have to spend a ridiculous amount of money to watch a romantic sunset. You can do it cheaply, while sitting at your computer desk.
The last mode that I am quite fond if includes the Sky Mode. Sky Mode is also just as it sounds. Google partnered with the Hubble Telescope, and got images of the night sky. Now you can constellation search throughout the vast universe and find what you are looking for. Constellations not your thing? How about searching for a certain planet that we know of, or galaxy. Google will take you there. Another very neat thing is the ability to watch a planet move in its orbital path. For all of you amateur astronomers out there, I can practically see you drooling.
Overall, Google Earth is the greatest break from homework there is on the planet. Don’t believe me? How about you search the world for something greater, while using Google Earth. Oh, and did I mention that its free?

At Home Apps Going To Work

In recent news reporters have said that all of the different apps used at home on your personal computer are migrating to the work computer. People have always said the phrase "why can't I do that at work whenever they are at home. One example of the things that are going to shift is the way you use your instant messanger. You will be able to do video confrences and with much clearer quality. This makes it easier for people to converse around the world with each other.

Now the new thing that people are trying to bring into work is facebook. Now I beg to wonder why people would need this at work but I guess there could be some benefits. With someone not online at the moment you need them you could send them a message so they can get it later but what gets me is why couldnt e-mail work just as well as that. Most of what facebook has to offer is to converse with people that e-mail can already take care of.

Now if you modify facebook a bit and make all that information about you to differnt updates and schedules people can see and what not then I could see it being quite usefull for the work place. What would be interesting is to see if the addiction of facebook that we see right now in people will cause an addiction in the work place and people can't get things done.

The New Generation's Brain Function's

It seems that in this new generation, Internet searching and text messaging has claimed victory over us all. It seems like all of us cant seem to put that phone down or get off that computer. You also have your mother voice saying get your lazy ass of the comp or stop texting at the dinner table. Well I say stick with it. Study's have now said that all of these things have helped with the brains ability to filter information and make snap decisions.

Now I do agree that people who do these things all the time will only be stuck with virtual friends and thats it. The people doing these studies have also said that in this new generation the people coming out on top of the world is the people with the mix of technological and social skills. They do say that the world is becoming increasingly more technological obviously and that the brain needs to be exposed to it more for it to take control of the that technology trying to control us.

I do agree with all they have to say 100 percent. Its very straight forward to everyone of what the world is going to change to. But the best part of the deal is that we still get to keep using that computer and texting on that phone we know and love everyday.