March 11, 2013 • 3:28 pm 0
The NPR show Morning Edition recently had a clip about the way digital locks are redefinining ownership in our modern age. Turns out the Library of Congress even plays a role. What is the consequence of these digital locks?
You can’t do with your phone what you might want, even after paying several hundred dollars for it.
The Sunburned Surveyor
Filed under: Business, Openness, Patents, Technology, Digital Locks, Library of Congress, Morning Edition
March 11, 2013 • 3:25 pm 0
The NPR show Morning Edition did a short clip about the Leap Motion Controller last week. The Leap Motion Controller allows you to control your desktop computer or lap top with finger and hand gestures.
This looks pretty cool. I might even buy one later this year after I get a chance to look at the apps that support the hardware.
The Sunburned Surveyor
Filed under: Computer Hardware, Motion Control, Technology, All Things Considered, Leap Motion Controller, Motion Control
February 10, 2013 • 9:05 pm 0
Java Magazine recently published an article that describes the arrival of Java on the Raspberry Pi. The Raspberry Pi is “a tiny but powerful computer priced at US $25″. According to the article, 1 million units of the Raspberry Pi have already been sold.
The company that makes the Raspberry Pi is working with Oracle to bundle Java on the tiny computing platform. This will allow students and other inventors to write programs for the Raspberry Pi that run in the popular Java programming language.
Very cool.
The Sunburned Surveyor
Filed under: Business, Computer Hardware, Crowd Sourcing, Java, Linux, Open Source, Programming, Technology, java, Linux, Oracle, Raspberry Pi
January 1, 2013 • 3:23 am 0
The December 15th Issue of the Economist Magazine features an article about a new material called Carbomorph. Carbomorph can be used to print very basic electrical circuits using standard 3D printers. The inventors of Carbomorph have already printed video game controllers and a motion detecting glove using the material.
Popular Science also has an article about the new material and its use in 3D printing. I believe the original article about Carbomorph from the research team can be read from PLOS One.
Filed under: 3D Printing, Materials Science, Technology, 3D Printing, Carbomorph, Electrical Circuits, Popular Science, The Economist Magazine
January 1, 2013 • 3:00 am 0
The December 15, 2012 issue of the Economist Magazine has an article that introduced me to the topic of Software Defined Networking. This is a new technology that makes it easier to manage computer networks. I’m not sure exactly how it works, although I would like to learn more. The article indicates that start-ups in the software defined networking like Big Switch could start eating into the profit margins of traditional “hardware networking companies” like Cisco. The big networking players are apparently starting work on their own Software Defined Networking products and services.
The Sunburned Surveyor
Filed under: Business, Internet, Networking, Software Models, Big Switch, Cisco, Networking
January 1, 2013 • 2:46 am 0
The November 19, 2012 Issue of Bloomberg Businessweek reports that computers are starting to replace human traders of financial instruments at big banks. Why the change? The article says: “The decision to rely on computers is being driven by a desire to control costs”.
Looks like the bankers are facing the same pressures of automation that workers in other industries have been getting squeezed by. At the end of the day, this change makes good economic sense. Human elements of the workforce need to spend their time on high-value tasks that computers can’t complete.
The Sunburned Surveyor
Filed under: Automaticn, Business, Software, Software Models
January 1, 2013 • 2:38 am 0
The November 19, 2012 Issue of Bloomberg Businessweek has an article on Microsoft’s desire to increase collaboration between internal divisions of the company and also with outside partners. The article indicates this desire is one of the main reasons why Steven Sinofsky, the head of the Windows Division, was forced out of the company. Apparently he wasn’t a very good team player. The article says: “Sinofsky preferred to operate in a fiefdom of his own making”.
Good for Microsoft. I’m no lover of the company, but they’ll need greater internal collaboration and an increased friendliness to outside companies if they are going to survive.
The Sunburned Surveyor
Filed under: Technology, Microsoft, Steven Sinofsky
January 1, 2013 • 2:09 am 0
The November 3, 2012 Issue of the Economist Magazine had an article on 3D Printing’s potential impacts on the third world. It focused on the efforts of three (3) students from the University of Washington to start a company that will print water collectors and composting toilets in poor countries. (The same three [3] students won second place in a contest in which they raced a plastic boat printed from recycled printing.)
This is a cool concept because products can be designed an printed from plastic that might otherwise end up being treated like trash.
The Sunburned Surveyor
Filed under: 3D Printing
December 21, 2012 • 6:11 am 0
The November 17th Issue of the Economist Magazine has an article entitled “Deeper Thought” that describes the worlds top super computer, Titan, and how it runs on GPUs in addition to traditional CPUs. This makes the super computer very fast, and energy efficient.
There are challenges to building a super computer in this way, including the challenge of breaking problems up into chunks that are suitable for processing by suite of GPUs.
The Sunburned Surveyor
Filed under: Computer Hardware, Parallel Programming, Technology
December 21, 2012 • 5:44 am 0
In an article entitled “War of the Virtual Wallets“, the November 17th Issue of the Economist Magazine describes the fight over the future of how we pay for goods and services: digital wallets and mobile phone payment systems.
The article describes the efforts of big credit card companies like Visa and Mastercard to compete with companies like Google and Paypal. There is a lot of money at stake. The article says 15 trillion dollars were funneled through credit, debit, and prepaid cards last year.
At the end of the day, it should be a lot easier to pay for stuff as a consumer. The competition is good for the big credit card companies. As the article says when it quotes Jack Dorsey: “…This will force the card networks to up their game.”
The Sunburned Surveyor
Filed under: Internet, Mobile Devices, Technology
