Friday, December 11, 2009

Final Blog

Ah, so my final blog. Well I am not too sure how I felt about doing the poster presentation. While I was doing it, I almost felt like I was in a science fair. I felt a little bit lost but other wise I think things went really well. I was interested in my topic which was the artificial larynx. I did not know they were making a new one that was almost like a mouth piece. I was also very interested in learning about things some of the other people presented on. I felt like there was a lot of good information out there. I will say that I thought it was hard to find a technology to present on. There were a lot of things that have already been out but just modified a little bit or just are not well known becuase they are expensive. I ran into this problem a lot. All in all though, I feel like I learned a lot and really enjoyed being able to present what I had learned and created. It was good practice for if I ever have to do a presentation on an idea for a business. I realized what kind of information I need to put on the poster as well as what to emphaize the most. Well, I think that is all that I have to say, so farewell Com 435. It's been real.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Cyborgs/Children

After having to read the articles about cyborgs and having to write the paper, I really had a decided chance to think about it. I really think it is crazy interesting that they put electrodes in your brain and then you are able to move a cursor on the computer so you will be able to communicate with others effectively. For people whom are unable to speak or use their bodies effectively but their minds work perfectly fine, it must be completely frustrating not to be able to communicate, especially if they have been able to their whole life. I am even more amazed with the fact that with the electrodes they can even move a wheel chair that they are sitting in. I almost wonder if eventually they will be able to implant these kinds of things in children. I wish I would have thought about that to add into my paper. If there was a child that might benefit from these ideas I wonder if they would be able to use the electrodes on them. Something they would have to think about is the fact that the brain for a child is not fully developed so they would have to make sure they were not damaging any of the parts of their brain that still needed to grow fully for the child. But I do think eventually they would be able to make something to help children so they could start a little sooner to be able to function the way the rest of us can. It might even help them socially if they were able to communicate more effectively as well as participate in the same activities as others. I think that is really something that should be looked into.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

The Pen

So throughout the class of Com 435 we have talked about all of the different kinds of technologies that are coming through and helping us recently. I was thinking today about the pen. Pens are a crazy kind of technology that I bet no one really thinks about. We use them everyday for all kinds of tasks and there are very few people that would be able to make one. We have machines that make them. But, think about this, what would you use if we did not have something as simple as a pen? The lead of a pencil will fade as time goes on so that just does not work. A pen was invented and now has become such a staple in America that we do not even notice the impact it makes. We can make cars that will parallel park themselves and forget that back in the day, a pen had that same kind of feeling for those people. It makes life easier and I cannot wait to get older and see what other kinds of technologies will come about that will make our self parking cars seem normal and an every day kind of thing.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Thank you

So I was reading the emerging technology website that we get all of the time through our email and I must say I am pretty impressed this time. The think they might have come up with a treatment for down syndrome. I think it is insane that people can be smart enough to figure things like that out. On another level, not to get off topic or anything, but I always wonder about how and why people decided to put certain foods together. For example, who ever thought of using hops to make beer? Who also decided that moonshine, which did not taste very good, to keep drinking until they discovered that this could get you drunk. Then not even knowing why those feelings were continuing, decided to keep drinking it. Then after that, someone came along and was actually smart enough to discover what was actually going on in the brain that makes us feel the way we do and then decide what is a safe amount to drink. You never really understand all of the steps it takes to get the little things that we use everyday. Someone had to make toothpaste, and shampoo, and even all of the little spices we use in our foods. It took trial and error and I thank all of those people who put things together to make my nachos and tacos. You are amazing, and I could not appreciate you more. Congrats.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Facebook for Students

So for this post, I decided to talk about facebook. I noticed today that I check that stupid thing like 10 times a day. No exaggeration on that part either. Also, while just sitting in class I noticed that everyone that has a laptop is on their facebook the whole time. This is pretty addicting obviously. I think it is funny how even within the four years that I have used facebook, how much has changed. It now has its funny games like 'farmville' and also you can send gifts, stickers, buttons and whatever you would like, but there is still one big change that has occured. This site used to only be used for college students. It was a way to get in touch with people in your classes and also just to meet other people from your school. Now, this site is a way for my parents to check up on me. I am not going to lie, I hate the fact that my parents now have a facebook. My dad send me a friend request months ago and I still can not bring myself to accept it. Now, don't get me wrong, I love my family and will talk to them everyday if I can. But there are just some things that they do not need to see, and my facebook page is one of them. I feel that facebook should be given back to college students. There are plenty of other sites that the parents can use. In fact, we should try and make a site just for parents of children in college. It can be almost like a chat room type thing where they can meet other parents as well as talk to us. Hmmmmm that's not such a horrible idea, I think I am going to work on that.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Dancing for my coffee

So while waiting for class to start I decided to read an article about a new coffee machine that could possibly be in the works for us. The machine is by Douwe Egbert and it will be motion sensitive. They say that there could even be an option where you will have to earn your coffee by possibly jumping up and down or even dancing and the machine will know whether or not you do it. If you don't jump, then you don't get your coffee. The machine will also have the capabilities where a person can look up traffic, weather, news, and other options while they wait for their coffee to be brewed. It would even have a touch screen to move and drop the cream into the coffee as well as your sugar. This idea is crazy and I love it. I can't say that on a dull and boring morning, I would hate to see a stranger dancing in front of a machine just to get some coffee. I think this puts a light hearted feeling on a day and really could improve peoples moods. On the other hand, if I was in a rush that morning, I can't say that I would completely enjoy the idea. I would just want to get my coffee and get out of there. But no really, all in all this is quite possibly one of the greatest ideas I have ever heard of. It seems to have considered everything, except, maybe giving out bagels or other breakfast foods. Maybe, even to help make us a little healthier, the machine could offer to give bananas or apples to each customer. I know that would make me just as happy as dancing around for my coffee. In fact, I might even dance around a little more. While this idea seems amazing, I might just have to send my idea about free fruits to Douwe Egbet's and then get my name on that idea. I could use a little more money coming my way.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Holy Crap

Well in lab on Wednesday, our class did not get to watch the Milo project so I decided to check it out on my own. I cannot believe the Project Natal Milo. The fact that they can make a computer game character so realistic is beyond my belief. I found it amazing that Milo was able to sense the tones in her voice as well as have a serious conversation with her. Also, I really think the realistic ability of the character and game itself are just insane. The fact that she could see her reflection in the water and then make it seem like she was playing in the water by adding in the ripples was just crazy. As well as her drawing the fish and then putting it up to the sensor and him looking like she had given him the paper and he could tell what it looked like as well as the colors she used, was just crazy. Things are becoming so much more realistic that in time I feel like we will have a very hard time deciphering what it real and what has been man made. While I feel this is a big step in scientific terms I do think this could have some drawbacks as well. People seclude themselves now because they are just playing their games by themselves. I think something like this could really make people have a false sense of connection with a game and could cause people to become more antisocial. While this project has its own scientific merits, I feel that it will cause us to once again rely more on technology as a way to socialize rather than just going out and meeting friends in real life. I think we need to be careful with this kind of idea and technology. Eventually we could do nothing but socialize by technology and I feel that we should relax a little bit on ideas like that. We still need to make sure we can leave our house to communicate and see others instead of just secluding ourselves.