My free, useful, cloudbased tool of choice

My cloud-based tool tutorial, embedded in a powerpoint presentation is about Rapportive, a tool made for G-mail, that provides users information about a contacts various Social Media usage. Here is the link.
https://docs.google.com/a/myedge.cc/leaf?id=0B61WE26YGpJXMTBlZGE4NjQtY2NhOS00NmNmLWExZWUtNDU2ZTQzMjQxYTA3&hl=en

Snippshot is a code collector tool. It can be accessed from any computer, and no account is needed. There are no screens or menus. Code is edited in real time. Simple to use, just click on the code and its ready to be edited.

http://snippshot.skyscarf.com/

Picnic, is an image editor tool that contains special effect for photos. You can crop, resize and rotate pictures in real time. There is no download and nothing to install.

www.picnik.com/

Google Docs, a cloud based software that deliver services that at one time had to be hosted on a local computer. The user can now save and share, create and edit RTF AND html files. File formats like Microsoft Office can also be opened and shared through the Google Docs platform

www.google.com/google-d-s/b1.html

iCloud or Cloudme is online storage for photos, movies, calendars, media player and word processors. iCloud, the free version has 3GB of drive storage. Cloudme can be accessed from your mobile phone or from your browser. Anywhere access is gained through this cloud based tool.

www.cloudme.com/en

Microsoft Security Essentials, a cloud based antivirus that installs in about four minutes. Its interface has four tabs across the top. The color codes are red if you are in danger and unprotected and turn green as you update definitions from the cloud run scans on your computer to ensure that it is protected. The cloud based service (mostly) anonymously compares file behavior across computers running various Microsoft operating systems. By default the service will run at 2:00 a.m. when most people’s computers are idle. Not the slowest full scan service, but a full scan can take around two hours

www.microsoft.com/security/pc-security/mse.aspx

Dropbox is an online file storage tool, which allows uploads and downloads of files. Software is downloadable to many devices (phones) to keep files accessible from any computer you are using. 2GB of storage space is free. Others can link into specific files if you want to share files, making Dropbox usable for projects of all types.

www.dropbox.com/


Rapportive is a tool that can enhance your social contacts. You can see other information about the e-mail address owner by exposing their Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts that are connected to the e-mail address. As a business use it can be used to personalize a business contact, making clients feel a more personal touch.

http://rapportive.com/

The eyes have it!

Remember the $6 million man, with that squint, seeing through things. Technology is catching up to him. Millions of people struggle with eyesight. Certain conditions like macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa, damage photo-receptors in the eye. Now thanks, to a biotechnology, specifically, the Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System, some people will have the chance to see again (detect light and dark).
It works like this; a digital camera is built into a pair of glasses, the glasses captures images in real time and sends the messages to a microchip that has been inserted in the brain (six-hour operation, above the ear or under eye). This microchip processes the video (to a handheld unit) into electrical impulses that are then sent to the radio-transmitter in the glasses. This radio transmitter then transmits wirelessly to the implant (microchip). The receiver in the microchip sends impulses to the retinal implant. This implant becomes the photoreceptors that receive the light patterns and pass them to the brain. An image is seen as light or dark pixels, these pixels (in the form of electrical impulses) upon reaching the retinal implant excite the electrode array (artificial photoreceptors). The receptors accept these digitally encoded patterns and send them to the optic nerves, and then the brain interprets the patterns as a tree.
Hopefully, soon the bionic legs are coming.
http://health.howstuffworks.com/medicine/modern/bionic-eye.htm

It really is ........a superchicken

Yes, Americans love chicken, so much that 11 billion pounds of industry waste is produced annually. A team at the University of Nevada has developed a process that will take this waste and produce storage for biofuel. The chicken feather meal that is used as a fertilizer and animal feed, contains a fat content of 12% that is extracted with hot water. When the feather is heated the feathers develop nano sized caverns that are capable of storing hydrogen. The keratin that is produced when heated makes the feathers strong and porous. This porousness increases the surface area and its capacity to store hydrogen gas.
“Carbonized chicken feather fibers have the potential to dramatically improve upon existing methods of hydrogen storage and perhaps pave the way for the practical development of a truly hydrogen-based energy economy,” says Richard P. Wool, Ph.D., professor of chemical engineering and director of the Affordable Composites from Renewable Sources program at the University of Delaware in Newark. – Renewable Energy World
The problem with using hydrogen as a fuel is that storing the fuel in the car is a dangerous and expensive proposition, the more you store in a small space will increase the chance of an explosion. Scientist first looked at carbon nanotubes as a solution, but not a practical solution because this would have added $5.5 million(really,$5.5 million) to the price of a car. University of Delaware scientists also studying chicken feathers, but for the effect of the keratin in building microcircuits, noticed that the structural strength was similar to those of carbon nanotubes.
A carbon nanotube is any nanostructure, a member of the fullerene family, having graphene layers wrapped into perfect cylinders and are very expensive.
Hydrogen is the most plentiful element in the universe. It is considered to be clean alternative to fossil fuels. Wool has estimated that a 75-gallon tank could go about 300 miles.
http://sciencecastle.com/sc/index.php/home/chicken_feathers_hydrogen_fuel
http://www.alternative-energy-news.info/fuel-from-chicken-feathers/

The car may drive itself, but you still got to pay for the hot wings

The things that can be done with software code are amazing. Researchers from the University of Berlin have created a system that will allow driving without hands. Called the EyeDriver, a converted bicycle helmet equipped with two cameras and an infrared LED will autonomously steer the car in the direction the user looks. It works with one camera looking outward and the other camera trained on the driver's eyes. The information is sent to a laptop computer and relayed to an onboard computer in the car. There are two modes, "free ride" and "routing," in the first, the car will go exactly where the eyes move, in the latter, the system is automatically steering the car,at intersections the system asks the driver the direction that is desired, requiring the driver to hold a stare for three seconds, even going backwards with the driver turning his head around.... I know what you may be thinking though, attractive people everywhere will be mowed down continuously with this type of technology,looking at a sign would be out of the question, so there's some kinks to work out. But the car does have some autonomy, during a demonstration a pedestrian jumped out in the car's path and the car stopped just fine (OK, it was only going 10 m.p.h.).

But that's not all, Apple smart phones have technologies that will operate the car remotely.
And there's more, Google is developing cars that drive themselves similar to the above mentioned routing mode. This is obviously the safer method excluding software error. There are other benefits like decreasing fuel consumption as it allows cars to drive closer together with the computer software's instant reaction times and perfected techniques. The latter making the cars safer than humans by taking distraction and emotion out of the driving equation. Again an advantage would be allowing the driver, or should I say the "would be driver" to be productive or entertained on the go.OK, this is my dream car,now if it could just pay for the chicken wings and other miscellaneous items I need.

http://mashable.com/2010/10/09/google-cars/#

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36737137/ns/technology_and_science-innovation/

No dipping into the stream

There is a new trend in software that appears to be gaining traction in today's app happy market that goes by a variety of names like "anti-distraction" or "no-distraction" software utilities. They also show that when the pendulum swings so far in one direction, money can be made by simply swinging back the opposite way. Computer and many consumer electronic devices pride themselves on the many tasks that can be handled continuously, and simultaneously, but that is not always a good thing for users who need to get things done, not twiddle around with Twitter or checking faces on Facebook.
These programs go by such names as LeechBlock and Isolator. Some fill up the screen to keep alerts that users loose focus with. Others turn off the internet or disable specific websites, with the difference being that users impose these restrictions on themselves.
Some word-processing packages such as Scrivner and Writespace have incorporated some of these programs by offering a "no distraction mode," that takes all unnecessary menus off the screen, or disables them. Other programs hide or blur everything except the active program.
For $10 a program called Freedom (Windows and Macs) will ask you how long you want to disable internet access by entering your system password and severing the feed. LeechBlock gives you the customization options that will disable some websites and allow others for those of us that need access to complete certain tasks.
Freedom designer Fred Stutzman, a graduate student in information science from the University Of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, comments, "Just being on-line means you have this continuous partial attention, or this sense that at any point in time, you can dip into the stream." The plethora of ways to be connected, also potentially causes a lot of distractions.
Is it interesting with so many devices touting their connectivity that there's a demand for items that disable so many features we pay money to have.
http://www.economist.com/node/16295664

Hopefully soon they'll create something like that for drivers!

Radioisotope batteries

Researchers at the University Of Missouri are working on a new battery that will utilize a liquid semiconductor that is more resistant from the attacks by radioactive elements. Conventional batteries use solid semiconductors that are not as resistant. The researchers believe that their battery has the potential to make a phone charge last a couple of months.
Jae Kwon, a assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at U.of M. said the battery can provide power density that is six orders of magnitude higher than chemical batteries(a million times the charge of a normal battery).
Problems to be overcome in its development is the size of the battery, which of course needs to be small to fit the many consumer devices that it will be used. The prototype is the thickness of a penny, but the researchers still want to reduce the size and test other materials to improve the battery. Kwon believes that the final product that will be used in commercial gadgets can be thinner than a human hair. The research team has a provisional patent.

Human Beat Box

Hopefully none of us will need to have an artificial limb, but now companies, well a company is combining a need for a prosthetic device with other aspects of a user's life. Upper extremity amputees can now enjoy an emerging technology, that's truly a merging technology also, with Reverb Arm. Advanced Arm Dynamics, the nations leading prosthetic rehabilitation service provider has integrated their prosthetic arms with MP3 playing capability.
According to Bernie Diamond, a patient that used the device on a ski trip; "the sound quality was crystal clear and the device itself was light and small, not bulky at all. I was able to hold onto the ski poles and still enjoy listening to my iPod. The sound was so loud, it could be heard up to seventy yards away."

The bass was optimized by the speaker placement so the sound would echo through the socket.

Who was that masked man?

The AV310 Widescreen
If you like video and movies, this may be for you, a 4 oz. wearable display that transforms your movie or gaming experience into a widescreen event. Not any widescreen, but the equivalent of a 52 inch screen viewed from 9 feet. Not only that, you’ll look like a superhero as well, you know the one with the tight fitting outfit and that superpower coming out of his glasses. This product can independently focus each eye, comes with high-quality stereo earphones and a single AA battery can give you 11 hours to view or game.
This product supports iPod and other media players, laptop computers, game consoles and video cameras. The independent +2 to -5 diopter focus adjustments (like binoculars), help you compensate for the weak eye(s) some of us have, can be worn with or without eyeglasses , has an on-screen menu display, removable earphones and an optional lightshield.
So get your buff on, buy some tight shirts and spend around $250 and look like a superhero while you enjoy a movie or a game.
http://www.vuzix.com/consumer/products_av310w.html

Look Ma, No Hands
The traumatically brain-injured, quadriplegics, and nonverbal persons now have a way to communicate, recreate, contribute to society and even pursue happiness. Technology that interfaces with brainwaves and physical movement, may let impaired persons play video games, adjust lightning, and communicate using an on-screen keyboard. This hands-free computer access solution uses a headband and special software. Introducing Brain Fingers, a trademark of Brain Actuated Technologies. Here’s how.
Facial muscles, brain waves and eye movements are transmitted using electrical signals; the headband has sensors that detect these movements from your forehead. Using a special software that decodes these signals, and recodes them to virtual fingers (hence the name Brain Fingers), allows a keyboard or mouse to access third-party software, gives people with severe disabilities the capability to enjoy computer access.
The headband amplifies and decodes these signals from the forehead using algorithms that separate channels (3) of information. These signals are captured by three plastic sensors and are sent to an interface box that contains a bio-amplifier and signal processor. This box connected to the PC, digitizes, amplifies and translates (by a patented decoding algorithm) into multiple commands which then create a hands-free control interface.
The lowest channel detects eye movements called ElectroOculoGraphic (EOG) signals, the left-right movements of the eye are mapped to left-right movements of the cursor.
The second channel is called the Electroencephalographic (EEG) signal; these frequencies are a reflection of internal brainwave activity. Tensing and relaxing certain facial muscles give users the ability to control these frequencies and are used for vertical and horizontal cursor control.
The third channel is the Electromyography (EMG) signals, which also reflect from facial muscle activity, and is used for keyboard commands, left and right mouse buttons and on and off program commands.
The CyberTrainer software is included and configures the system to the individual users. Certain actions, such as raising an eyebrow, will be different for each user, sensitivity adjustments are then made.
In some studies users were successful at using the BrainFinger system to pick randomly appearing targets in under 4 seconds, all done without using a hand.

http://www.brainfingers.com/

Solar powered portable devices...you still may be out of luck

Instead of carrying around another device for charging a battery, Apple is trying to integrate solar cells directly into the device. To make the device as unobtrusive as possible, electricity generating cells are placed under the device’s display (a semitransparent display with a solar cell underneath). The device's cover is connected to the solar cell layer to enable solar powered charging. This integration allows charging from sunlight without having to plug in a separate solar panel.
Apple patent applications also describe the use of multiple solar panels that connects the data processing system and memory. On the back of some devices a solar panel could be placed to feed a rechargeable battery.
Motorola is also attempting to build displays that allow sunlight to charge devices. These devices are most-likely to include AC adapters for standard charging. Of course these charging methods will rely on the sun shining, so if it’s dark out, you’re out of luck.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-9952341-54.html

Forget plastic surgery....print a new face

Researchers’ rights here in NC are developing a system that is capable of printing skin on top of burn woods. Using a laser scanner to determine width and depth, then converting those scans to three-dimensional images and calculating the number of layers of skin that's needed, this system has successfully printed skin patches on pigs. It is hard to imagine that this is all contained within one device, which is also portable. Professor James Yoo, from the institute of Regenerative Medicine at Wake Forest University has a group working on just that. Using 3-D printers that deposit material layer by layer and expanding the range of materials capable of being fabricated to include biological materials, his group has printed skin directly on top of burn wounds.
3-D printing has also been demonstrated by a Cornell University professor who used a computer file containing three-dimensional coordinates and a scan of a human ear to print a silicon gel human ear.
This technology could really be helpful to burn victims and others who have been dis figured, there may one day be systems that can "print" organs and bones. I wonder will there be cosmetic applications available so people could.....forget plastic surgery, just have a new face printed.
http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-02-3d-bio-printers-skin-body.html

Use your powers for good

On a side note, this guy and his gang used a mp3 player to hack into several ATM machines. They would unplug the phone line that was connected to the ATM, and plug it into a two-way adapter. The mp3 player would then be plugged between the ATM and the phone socket to record the noise made by the ATM machine. This noise contains data, which was then deciphered using computer software (not identified). This information was used to clone credit cards and make fraudulent purchases. So, use your powers for good ….he got 32 months in jail.
http://www.hiptechblog.com/2010/01/31/atms-hacked-using-mp3-player/

Nanowire batteries

Enable IPC is now working on a battery that will utilize wires that are 1000 times smaller than a human hair. The fact that these wires are small is essential to this new technology. These wires allow for less waste and greater efficiency. The energy produced by a battery is determined by the amount of mass of the cathode (more cathode material, more atoms means more electrons available to produce energy). A typical battery consists of a cathode (+) and an anode (-) and a electrolyte, power is created by the electron flow from the cathode (+) to the anode (-), then out through an external circuit.

The surface area of the cathode material is the opening that these electrons use to get to the anode area of the battery. Nanowires, due to their small size greatly increase the surface area of the cathode material and allow for more power to be released. The anodes in conventional batteries are made from carbon. The nanowires made from silicon have a capacity to absorb ten times more energy than carbon. Silicon is a material that changes little at the nanoscale level.

One approach to creating nanowires is to use a CVD (Chemical vapor deposition), a group of processes where solids are formed from gas. Catalysts are deposited on a base, called a substrate. The substrate is placed in a gas chamber with silicon, the atoms in the gas attach to the catalyst atoms, which creates a chain. This chain of atoms is the nanowire.


The advantages of this technology will create batteries with increased life expectancy and safer environmental effects. These improvements are expected to improve the performance of batteries in iPods, laptops, digital and video cameras and other electronic devices.
http://www.enableipc.com/technology.html
http://ezinearticles.com/?Nanowire-Batteries---The-Most-Exciting-Technological-Advancement-In-Recent-Years&id=4996317

Nano-imprintlithography

LED lights have been around for a long time. There benefit is that they use less power and have a longer life span. A disadvantage of LED lighting is low output. Now there is the technology of nano-imprintlithography. This process can make millions of microscopic holes on the surface of a LED light bulb, increasing the output of light.

http://www.google.com/search?q=nano-imprintlithography+in+LED+lighting&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

A nano particle is an aggregate of particles banded together within a radius between 1 and 100 nm. Nano-technology is the engineering of products at the molecular or atomic level. Nanoimprinting is based on mechanical embossing (stamping process) technologies and can achieve pattern resolutions on nanostructures. A mold containing the nanoscale patterns is embossed on a polymer material that is cast on a wafer substrate. This polymer material is applied at a thickness that allows a fluid to form between the mold’s protrusions and the substrate surface. This creates a cushion that protects the nano features on the mold. This is removed by anisotropic etching, and then pattern definition can be completed.
http://www.nnin.org/doc/2004NNINreuFroelich.pdf

It will also be used for pattern imprinting on microdrives for Iphones and MP3 players.

http://www.electroiq.com/index/display/nanotech-article-display/260007/articles/small-times/volume-6/issue-4/features/cover-story/pushing-the-limits-of-light.htmlyers.

Invisibility,...sort of

Yes invisibility does exist. There is technology that can make things invisible by relying on metamaterial and nanotechnology (metamaterial, an emerging technology will be discussed here later in the semester). These materials required a lot of finessing and if made exact enough and at certain angles and light wavelengths, objects behind them disappear.
Now there is a new technology that does not rely on this fabricated material. Researchers from MIT (University of Birmingham, London's Imperial College and Denmark's Technical University also) are using a natural occurring material called calcite to build a carpet cloak. The cloak refers to a device that makes an object invisible. The bottom of the calcite is notched with triangles, or made into two triangles and glued together, which from some angles will appear as a flat plane, but is actually more like a bent mirror. The light enters the calcite and is actually going in different directions at different speeds, resulting in the object being rendered invisible. The optical quality of the calcite will hide any object that is behind the notch or behind the triangles. As you know objects are seen by light being reflected off their surfaces, the calcite has properties that bend light waves. The cloak itself can be seen, but the object behind it is not.
http://factoidz.com/invisibility-cloak-scientists-make-objects-disappear-from-view/http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/02/invisibility-calcite-crystals/

driving technology

QinetiQ North America has developed a system for cars that measure the amount of alcohol that’s in a driver’s blood. Sensors that test breath are installed in the cabin and take respiratory samples from the air, and sensors on the steering wheel and door locks analyze whether a drivers BAC from skin samples will allow the driver to start the car.

While the politics of this type of technology may be explosive, I believe most Americans agree that drunk driving is a bad thing. Its most promising attribute is that it can keep a person from developing a driving habit that becomes a way of life. For a moment let’s extend the logic. Since alcohol usually involves all sorts of bad decision-making, what about bicycles or roller-skates that can’t be used when the BAC is above a certain level. These items and others that benefit from this type of technology don’t have to be mandatory, but could be an option for parents and others wanting this type of assistance. Blaming things on the” ac, a a ac  alcohol” doesn’t always need to be an option. For more on this type of technology, go to http://www.popsci.com/cars/article/

The ability to produce a prototype of a design, something that can be seen and touched would be an enormous benefit to designers and manufacturers of products. Well thats exactly whats now possible with 3D printing. 3D printers actually build a model of your design using ABS plastics. The costs of products can be drastically reduced because flaws can be detected early in the design phase before lots of money is spent on creating prototypes.  One company needed to outsource a design that would build products for the disabled, spending around $23,000 to a machine shop to build a metal movable arm prototype, using the 3D printer the company made 8 prototypes for around $3000.
3D printing uses ABS plastics to produce a model one layer at a time from computer files. Repeating this process until all layers are constructed.
A company called Desktop Factory is planning to bring a 3D printer to market for under $5000. This is probably going to be big. Lots of 3D printers that need to be maintained and repaired, sounds like a job for someone with a computer background.
 http://www.outputlinks.com/html/Columnists/Basiliere/Basiliere_061008.shtml
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article1839765.ece

about "me"

Hi, My name is Terry Boone and this is my emerging technology blog. First I would like to thank everyone who's visiting and encourage everyone who participates. Let me share some background information about myself. I am from a small town in North Carolina named Enfield, where I graduated from the local high school. From there I matriculated to N.C. A&T State University, then transferred to UNC-Charlotte where I obtained my degree in Criminal Justice. Then moving to Atlanta, Ga. I worked for a airline catering service, specifically catering international flights out of Hartsfield Airport, but the area I have worked the most would be in automobile manufacturing where I was involved in rear seat building primarily as a employee of Lear Corporation, a first tier supplier for Ford Motor Company. I was able to make a good living, and even invest in a few houses for supplemental income, but in 2006 Ford shut down its Atlanta operations putting thousands out of work.Upon moving back to North Carolina, I entered Edgecombe Community College to pursue a skill set in computers and information technology. I am interested in a computer career, but also in making technology useful to those of us that are not technically proficient, so as you post, keep this in mind. The learning experience is better served by bridges rather than fences.