Monday Tech Trivia : TASER

TASER stands for

Thomas A. Swift’s Electric Rifle.

It is named after a novel titled "Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle" written by Victor Appleton.

Google Tip of the Day

Type in

"do a barrel roll"

Hehehehe...

Google Tip of the Day

Type in "askew"

Hehehehe...

Thank You! Salamat! Merci Beaucoup! Vielen Dank!

I was very happy when my blog reached it's first 1000 pageviews per month.

I was very happy when it reached it's first 1000 visitors per month.

I'm now happy again to see that number almost double in all aspects since last month! :)

To the 700 new visitors to my blog, and the 200 new regulars...

Salamat!

Thank you!

Merci beaucoup!

Vielen Dank!

बहुत धन्यवाद!

Stort Tack!

Hartelijk dank!

There's Still Time!!!

To grab this month's copy of C! Magazine!

For my fellow Philippine readers... My 4th article for C! Magazine, head out and get your copy now so you have something to read over the long weekend!  Be safe everyone!

Long weekend here in the Philippines, 29 Oct until 1 Nov... 
yes, that's how we roll...

Happy Birthday Google!

Google turns 13 today!

Google in 1998

Trivia: Google is a misspelled version of googol, a term for an extremely large number.  Specifically 1 followed by 100 zeros.  (Which is why Google's search results are displayed with an increasing number of o's at the bottom.  A googolplex is 1 followed by a googol of zeros.  Googleplex is the name of Google's headquarters.

More trivia, the term googol was coined in 1938 by Milton Sirotta, the 9 year old nephew of mathematician Edward Kasner to represent a large number that was still finite.  Initially described as 1 followed by as many zeros you can write before you get tired.

A googol is officially "ten duotrigintillion" on the math short-scale (million, billion, trillion type nomenclature)

**All information is, of course, found on Google.com **

What's Your Resolution?

Today's Tech Gospel is on screen resolution.  No, not the goals we make and break every year... but your screen resolution.

Manufacturers like bragging about higher numbers... specially phone manufacturers.  4", 5", 7" screens... HD, 720p, 1080p... but what do all these numbers REALLY mean?

For example, the iPhone has a 3.5" screen.  Which a lot of the Android phones are already boasting 4" and larger.  Does this make them better?  Not necessarily.  There are 3 sets of numbers that are very confusing, if not misleading, when comparing screens.

First is resolution.  This is the number of dots or pixels you screen has in total.

Second is screen size.  This is the actual physical measurement of your screen taken diagonally from corner to corner.

And third is destiny...er... density.  This is the number of pixels/dots per inch.  Simply referred to as ppi or dpi, it's this last one that makes things a bit confusing.  Larger screens that have lower ppi are cheaper than smaller screens with higher ppi.

Just as a comparison, I've resized a photo to show the exaggerated similarities and differences between these 3 properties.

For the first example, these 2 photos have the same physical screen size: 5.5" screen

 5.5" screen at 25 ppi

5.5" screen at 100 ppi

For the next example, the next two photos have the same resolution: 100 x 100 pixels

100 x 100 resolution on a 5.5" screen

100 x 100 resolution on a 1" screen

For the last example, the two photos show the same ppi / dpi: 100 ppi / dpi

100 ppi on a 5.5" screen

100 ppi on a 1" screen

Tech Trivia: Bliss. A Windows Wallpaper Story

Few people ever wonder about the origins of their desktop wallpaper.  One of the most famous photos, viewed by billions of people around the world, is the default desktop wallpaper of Windows XP.  Simply named "Bliss" this was a beautiful photo of rolling green hills and blue skies.

I had never given it a second though until I took up photography as a hobby, since I had originally thought that it was a CG render.  But it's an actual photo.  With no manipulation either. Although named "Ireland" in the Dutch version of WinXP, it was taken in Sonoma County, CA by American photographer Charles O’Rear with a view camera.

"Bliss" taken in 1996 for Microsoft

Those beautiful rolling hills are no longer green and grassy.  Since then they have been turned into a vineyard.  Quite a far cry from the relaxing view that it originally had.

"Bliss" in 2006 taken by Simon  Goldin

Upsetting the Apple Cart

This week has been quite busy in the world of tech...  not in terms of new and exciting products, but more on the business side of things.  Following the demise of HP's webOS, and Globe Telecom's scandal with Tonino Lamborghini, The Big Apple, Steve Jobs, has announced his resignation as CEO of the world's most valuable company.

It has been no secret that Steve Jobs' health has been on the decline, and no doubt the main reason behind this announcement.  And I think it's admirable that he has decided to step down in a proper manner and hand the reigns over to COO Tim Cook, rather than waiting for a less ideal time.

Whether you love Apple, or hate them, they have steered the course of technology in the past 30 years.  With either successful products, or flops, they have influenced every aspect of computing and consumer electronics.

Now, the main question on everyone's mind is, will Apple fall far from the tree?  Tim Cook has a long history with Apple, and will still have Steve Jobs on the board for the near future.  I think Apple, as a company, has more than enough capable people at the helm (unless the hire HP's Leo Apotheker who will probably bring Apple shares back down to $20 by closing down iOS) who understand his philosophy.  And I believe it can continue in a manner that he'd be proud of.  It would be a matter of whether or not the public trusts  the new leaders of Apple to continue the heritage and keep true to Jobs' vision.

With the iPad3 and iPhone 5 just around the corner, this will be interesting times for Apple.  I for one, am looking forward to what lies ahead!

Happy Father's Day! (Tech Trivia)

Charles Babbage, an English Mathematician in 1860, invented the first computer. Called the Difference Engine.  He had also designed a printer for it.  He is credited to being the Father of the Computer.

Happy Father's Day!

Check Out C! Magazine For June!

C! Magazine gave my article & photos a Full 3-page spread in this month's issue!

Grab your copy today!

Printed Matters: My 2nd Printed Review

Just sharing that my 2nd printed review came out last January in C! Magazine.

Challenge IBM's Watson

Think you can beat Watson? 

Give it a shot with this interactive trivia game!

NYT IBM Watson Trivia Challenge

Congratulations Skyne...er... Watson!!!

Another small step towards the singularity, IBM's Watson has bested 2 of Jeopardy's all-time champions.  Although personally, I feel that buzzer reflexes played a bigger part of the game... and towards the end, Ken and Brad figured out the latency of Watson's clicking abilities.  This is a huge hurdle in technology.  The fundamental patterns for learning (with Deep Blue) and now, for cognitive thinking have been mapped.

The ability for computers to now learn from experience has now been set in motion.  I can now see people around the world heralding this as both the beginning and the end.  Perhaps so... but it doesn't always have to signal a giant fiery ball of death or some great war.

The Jeopardy match was actually fun to watch.  Specially when Watson gets something wrong, or isn't sure... it's REALLY wrong.

So, ya... apparently Toronto is now a U.S. City.

I think the next step for Watson is to have a Facebook page, solely managed by it.

And the cool thing about all this?  Look who visited my blog as well!!!

Now, I don't know if this is someone from IBM, (or actually Watson just Googling itself...hahahaha)

If it was someone at IBM, congratulations!!!

If it was Watson,

01000011 01101111 01101110 01100111 01110010 01100001 01110100 01110101 01101100 01100001 01110100 01101001 01101111 01101110 01110011 00100001

Watson's TV Debut!

I was wondering when this would actually take place.  I think it's great that the same rules apply to Watson... no Internet connection... can't call Google for help... can't wait to see the next few days!

Day-1 of the IBM Watson / Jeopardy! Challenge

My Mobile Office

Seeing as how most of you have Android or iOS devices,  I'd like to hear from all of you.  Take a photo of your mobile office IN ACTION... no "gadgets lined up on my desk at home" photos.  In a cafe, while walking, at the beach, in the woods, on a boat, by the pool, strapped to your MTB ... any place except at home or a traditional office.

Photos can be taken with any camera.  Hi-res is preferred but not required.

I want to post photos of how people use their gadgets around the world.

Photos will not be used for commercial purposes or sold, just for fun.  By submitting, you give me permission to post the photo on my blog for entertainment purposes only.  (No obscene photos please)

Please indicate the gadgets in use in the photo, type of internet connection if any, and how you use them.   And let me know if you'll allow me to use your name and country when I post the submitted photos.

ONE PHOTO ONLY!  So make it a good one.

All faces of people and plate numbers will be blurred out for privacy purposes (unless you want your face seen, then indicate that in your email as well)

Submit your photo to techgospel@johnlacson.com with the subject MY MOBILE OFFICE

Keeping up with the iPad...

How do e-readers keep up with tablet technology?  The promise of longer battery life may not be enough.  Thankfully, the guys at e-ink, have come up with the next gen of e-paper... in COLOR.

As LCD tech reaches its full maturity, and flexible screens come into the picture, colored e-paper is a very promising tech for extremely low-power, semi-static displays.

I wonder when Amazon's Kindle will adopt this display...

Elementary, my dear Watson

A phrase mistakenly credited to the fictional character Sherlock Holmes... may now be given a new meaning by the blue boys at IBM.

"Watson", is the next generation of 'Deep' AI computers from IBM, creators of Deep Blue, the first AI computer to successfully beat World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov in 1997.

Watson's task is to compete (and eventually beat) the World's best Jeopardy champions.

Now, most people might be thinking that chess is a more difficult game than Jeopardy, considering that a computer can access all the information that it could need to compete in Jeopardy.  True... but access to information isn't the goal of Watson.

It's understanding human language.  For those of you who have been using voice-recog apps, you know how frustrating this can be...even through Google's network, it doesn't quite understand simple queries.  And usually, only key-word speech is understood well.

Unlike Deep Blue that had a human operator tell it what moves Kasparov made, and in return Deep Blue told it's human operator what moves to make in return, Watson will have to listen, understand, buzz in (yes, buzz-in), and give the correct question (using the proper syntax) in order to be awarded the points.

The fact that Watson has to listen, buzz, and speak is a big step forward for computer evolution since it effectively makes the machine adapt to the human, rather than the other way around like typing, gesturing, clicking, swiping, etc.

Consider what this means in principle.  Currently, when we do a search, we are presented with hundreds of thousands of results.  In the end, we still have to sort through it all and select the answer that is relevant to our search.  Ask.com (or Ask Jeeves for those that reached him) was the first crude attempt at automated language comprehension.  Although not much more than a keyword analyzer, it was an important step in computer-human interaction.

In Jeopardy, Watson will have to understand the topic, then the Jeopardy answer, before sorting through all its information, then giving its final response.  And take note, even for humans, recognizing context isn't as easy as it looks... hehehehe...

It's Not Too Late...

...To grab a copy of C! Magazine's October issue!!!  I was given the great opportunity to be a guest writer.  This is my first printed article, and I had a lot of fun writing it.  Thank you again to C! Magazine for allowing me to be a contributor!

Tech Trivia: Transparent Aluminum? That's So Yesterday!

Today's Tech Gospel is about Graphene.  Made up of carbon... you know... that thing that makes up all known living things... diamonds... and your #2 pencil?

I don't know how many geeks actually read my blog, but to the few that do... I'm sure you all know the famous scene in the 1986 movie, Star Trek IV, that shows Scotty 'inventing' the formula for "Transparent Aluminum".  A fictional future material that is supposedly as transparent as glass, but as strong as aluminum.

Fast forward to 2008 when the US Military was experimenting with ALON, a transparent aluminum ceramic that is used as military armor and can withstand 50 cal anti-tank rounds.  Due to cost restrictions (I think it costs about $20,000/m²), the military has decided against this amazing armor plating.  ALON exhibits very similar properties to the fictional "futuristic" material in the Star Trek movie.

Fast forward a little more to 2010, when Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov win the Nobel Prize in Physics for Graphene.  (It was actually discovered in 2004, but the recent breakthrough was in its fabrication process.)

This wonder material is hundreds of times stronger than steel... 97% transparent... exhibits better electrical and heat conductive properties than copper... is flexible... and is virtually indestructible (although this is a slight exaggeration, it has a Velcro-like property that allows it to pseudo-heal itself on a molecular level so quickly that it appears to not be damaged at all) ... and unlike the former ALON, Graphene is cheap to produce.  And this is not a It-will-be-cheap-sometime-in-the-future... it's actually cheap to produce NOW.

It's applications include everything from military armor, low-cost/high capacity batteries, computers, solar cells, flexible touchscreens, high-strength windows, and recyclable lighting.