Discover Nature from your Laptop

Imagine a place where you could view nature from your laptop.  That is fast going to become a reality thanks to Google’s new advanced “Trekker” backpack.  The Trekker is a backpack mounted camera system used by google employees to map hard to reach spots where cars cannot go.  Trekker can map national parks, mark out trails and then sent them to Google’s all-powerful maps database. “For the past year, the Trekker has journeyed to ever more improbable locations, from the bottom of the Grand Canyon to the top of Mount Fuji. In recent months the device visited Venice, Italy; the Galapagos Islands; and dozens of national parks in the United States and Canada. While Google Search crawls the web, "we crawl the physical world, taking pictures," says Luc Vincent, engineering director on the project. "And try to make sense of them, try to make them useful." (Newton, 2013) An interesting piece of technology, that is helping us discover our beautiful planet.

Bibliography

Newton, C. (2013, November 22). The Verge Trekker. Retrieved from TheVerge.com: http://www.theverge.com/2013/11/22/5132754/the-holy-trail-using-trekker-googles-edge-in-the-next-mapping-war

Playstation 4 sales off to a good start

        The next-generation of console gaming is finally upon us with the release of the Playstation 4.  It is no doubt an impressive machine, but I’m more impressed by how well it has sold in only 24 hours.  Furthermore, it is currently being sold in North America. “Sony’s next-gen PlayStation 4 console is off to a good start. The company announced today that it has sold over 1 million consoles in just 24 hours. Sony’s PlayStation 4 only launched on Friday in the US and Canada, so it's an impressive start for just two regions.”  (Warren, 2013).  No doubt Sony has to be happy about these sales considering it lost the last generation console war to Nintendo and Microsoft.

Bibliography

Warren, T. (2013, November 17th). The Verge News. Retrieved from The Verge: http://www.theverge.com/2013/11/17/5113704/sony-playstation-4-1-million-sales

The End of an Era

An essential part of my childhood experience has come to the end with the announcement that Blockbuster will close all remaining stores.  Video rentals were once a huge fabric of our entertainment experience, but the rise of digital content has all be wiped out the business. “Tomorrow will be your very last chance to rent a movie from a Blockbuster store. After confirming the closure of its remaining stores and disc-by-mail service, Blockbuster has tweeted that Saturday, November 9th will mark the end of in-store rentals at all locations.” (Welsh, 2013).  The move was unsurprising, given that online streaming services like Netflix and Hulu have taken over the video rental genre.  Still it is a little bit sad to see such a well-known company be shut down after many years of service.  This just speaks to the power of the internet and the ability to access media content from your own computer.

Bibliography

Welsh, C. (2013, 11 8th ). The Verge. Retrieved from TheVerge.com: http://www.theverge.com/2013/11/8/5081134/blockbuster-ending-in-store-movie-rentals-november-9

Motorola Project Ara- The future of the smartphone?

Imagine a phone you would never have to replace, but still remain on the cutting-edge.  That vision could be a reality if Project Ara comes to fruition.  The project aims to create a modular smartphone build in blocks where everything is up gradable.   The phone is assembled in blocks and once one block, say the camera, becomes obsolete, you can take it off and put on a new camera. “Having your handset made up of a variety of modules means you’ll be able to purchase specific parts for your device as and when needed, one piece at a time. Scratched screen? Just buy another one. Dead battery? Click in a replacement. Faulty flash? Swap it out.” (Mogg, 2013).  The project was only recently announced so it could be a while before products come to the market, but nevertheless, this is an exciting development in the world of smartphones.

Bibliography

Mogg, T. (2013, October 29th). digital trends mobile. Retrieved from digital trends: http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/motorola-project-ara/

Introduction

Hello, this is Keiran Venumbaka.  Over the next few weeks this blog will be devoted to new highly technical systems that aim to aid humanity in the future.  As an introduction, the first "high technology” I wish to discuss is that of graphene, a crystalized form of carbon.  “Graphene is transparent but it is also extremely flexible yet still rigid and a very good conductor. It could be used to create products that are lighter, more robust, transparent, flexible and stretchable. And to make novel electronic and photonic devices possible. Key potential applications are, for instance, fast electronic and optical devices, flexible electronics, functional lightweight components and advanced batteries.” (King, n.d.).  Imagine a world with super strong materials, batteries which charge in seconds, and large energy storage capacity.  Graphene can make this all possible.  “Examples of new products that could be enabled by graphene technologies include fast, flexible and strong consumer electronics such as electronic paper and bendable personal communication devices, and lighter and more energy-efficient airplanes. In the longer term, graphene is expected to give rise to new computational paradigms and revolutionary medical applications, with one possibility being artificial retinas. It also has potential in spintronics, an emerging technology exploiting both the intrinsic degree of freedom of electrons, called spin, and its associated magnetic moment.” (King, n.d.)

At the moment Graphene is still in development and research is ongoing, but it is definitely a material to keep an eye on in the future.  Thanks for reading.

Bibliography

King, A. (n.d.). Phys. Retrieved from Phys.org: http://phys.org/news/2013-10-graphene-potential-carbon-atom-thick-material.html