Week 9

Bluetooth Padlock Eliminates Need for Keys

It is in development and seeking funds on Kickstart. Just think of all the security issues they will have to hurdle. 

Week 8

Lost Andy Warhol Works Recovered From Amiga Floppy Disks

Being an artist and an art history enthusiast this article was interesting to me. It is also a wonderful example of how far digital art has improved since 1985.

Week 7

IBM Synapse Supercomputing Chip Mimics Human Brain

This article and related video was interesting. Just another example of how computers are taking over the world. It will be wonderful when our smart phones can stay charged for longer than a day.

Week 6

Will the Hashtag Be the End of Humanity

Okay, this is not an article with intelligent commentary but you have to admit it's funny because it's true. The hashtag annoys me. If you haven't seen Jimmy Fallons spoof on the hashtag you need to look it up. 

Week 5

Google X and Biology

This article is so fascinating to me. I am particularly interested in how this research could change the way we treat health conditions prior to a disease showing itself in the body. Also, I am Psychology major that enjoys any of the biological aspect of Mental Illness that this could be a launching point for new Psychological experiments in the future.

     

Second Life

    Today I looked up Second Life and decided to try it out. I felt strange walking around and talking to complete strangers. Within the first 5 minutes there was talk of sex. That is not something most people would bring up as a conversation with a stranger in their "first" life.
   
      I can see how Second Life would especially appeal to someone that is more of an introvert in "first" life. Especially if you tend to be shy and don't have many friends. I also see the potential for someone to check out of "first life" and to have a virtual reality instead. I find this a bit disturbing. Maybe it is my generation gap?

     I believe people need real touch and to see someones expression when they are talking to each other. I hope that the second life does not become a world that my children would be a part of.

Week 4

US Military Study Twitter

 A direct quote from the article-

“As another example, when anti-government messages are spread in social media, government would want to spread counter messages to balance that effort and hence identify people who are more likely to spread such counter messages based on their opinions.”

   After reading about the psychological experiment that Facebook conducted without the knowledge of its users I decided to delete my facebook account. So when I came across this article about the US Military monitoring twitter accounts I knew I wanted to read it.

    I am not a doomsday-er  but these experiments scare me. I think more people need to be worried about these companies and the governments far reaching, secretive practices.