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…and feels like where we sat at the beginning of smart phone revolution when the iPhone 1-3 were released between 2007-2009. Just the start.
Extremely excited for VR, which I believe is the next logical ‘screen’ to arrive at after the supersized OLED phase we are in now.
WebXR (which streams immersive experiences) / 360 videos / and the social connections enabled by things such as the Echo Zero G app and others like it illustrate what a virtual environment is capable of doing, allowing multiple users to play and chat with one another in an immersive environment.
The most important thing in my opinion are:
I see most of these happening now with the Quest 2 release (appears the Quest 3 is under discussion for release this year) and am extremely enthusiastic about the platform.
If you were to study gravity, you’d want nearly a perfect Zero-G enviroment and then introduce 2 spheres. It would give the ideal experimental result by removing all other noisy variables that you’d find in the real world.
Enter the Lemon…
If one were to think about how multiple items are produced and purchased. I suggest that the 3 citrus fruits Oranges / Lemons / Limes offer a nearly perfect study.
Just a thought but wanted to suggest… Citrus fruits to study substitution effects for producers based on demand.
**it also appears that many other fruits can be grafted onto a tree (up to 40 types from some articles) so interesting to consider**
Queen Elizabeth sends email to US Secretary of defense in 1976 to open the connnection between England and the US for the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment (RSRE)
I think of myself as long lived. Growing up in a computer store, seeing many twists and turns within the technology space – I often bounce around as a tech veteran – then you see this, the Queen of England trying email for the first time in 1976 and realize that those among us are much longer lived.. having seen more.
Her email address was hme2 (no hostname to my knowledge). The system was made redundant for military reasons (assured retaliation in case of attack) and its design is ingenious in serving that task. Something I’d like to write about one day.
Enjoy the pic
It was my first time at CES this year (2017) and was thrilled to see so many products and innovative ideas under one roof. I guess under any other year, things may be highly seasonal like fashion, but because we are changing as a society so quickly technologically, it really was a display of the next generation ahead to some extents, not just cyclical.
I have been reading the press – which just covered things according to flash/cool factor – but stepping back one, there seemed to be some inarguable themes as competition between two standards eventually leans a certain way. I’ll focus on VR because it is so much of a personal interest area.
This is forward-looking and may not play out in one-year but believe the long term advantages prove that one way of doing things is much better than the others.
Also cool but unrelated to VR was that so many smart objects were on view. Smart hairbrush, smart toothbrush, smart suitcase etc. It likely will be an option for those who can afford it. The predictions people made years ago will likely J-curve change into tangible change for the societies who are exposed to these new products.
Hi I’m not sure if anyone requires this answer, but in the interest of providing them online.
Converted .MOV file to Mp4, it is a container file difference so I just changed the file extension.
Embedded Html 5 Video. No audio in Firefox. It turns out the FF only runs with open source / free license. So needed to convert Mp4 into Webm (or Theora/Ogg would of worked as well).
After messing with FFMpg, I just ended up using VLC media player. It worked.
Thanks
Hi – just kind of throwing this out there. One of those what if ideas…Would be kind of cool to DIY bookscan. Calling it FlipperOCR. If you think you can make this, please do!
initial sketch of a method to autoscan books, back-to-front.
Between 2001-2005, It was common for a technista to be carrying around a palm pilot, an iPod and a cell phone. 3 devices in the same form factor. It was obvious to those who saw it then that these functionalities would merge eventually to create the smart phone as we know it today (given enough speed+miniaturization). First by Blackberry and then later taken over by iOS and Android.
Fast Forward to today, it becomes possible to send an audio stream over the net, convert it to text, deduce the natural language meaning and action upon (ie. Siri and its competitors).
Today, we also have wi-fi enabled nest devices, Hue (Color LED lights by Philips) and household smart-network products like Sonos speakers.
It will only be a matter of time before the 3 converge to create a ‘talk to HAL@Home’ experience likely placing mics and speakers in every room, or using a phone (or smart pin if you’re concerned about privacy).
Need to check if the stove is on? (ask HAL). Need to put the lights out after you fall asleep or tell the dog you’re coming home (ask HAL). You’ll be able to ask for a music station in any room or to change the lights or start the bath.
Today’s @home offerings seems pretty nascent but the separate technologies exist already. Seems like It is likely just a matter of time before they converge into the next killer application.
In February – I took a trip to Mountain View as a ‘3rd Rounder’ for their recruitment process. Although I didn’t get the position, it was certainly interesting to see the Internet Giant up close (and to a limited extent – to view its day to day operations from within). In preparation for my interview, I spent reams of time studying the Google topology which – to a certain extent is disclosed here, here, here – you get the idea.
**They specifically ask that I do not share any questions/secret stuff — and will certainly uphold that**
PRIMER
1. The Bay of Sf. looks like this…
2. The trails surrounding the Bay tend to look like this…
Oddly the Googleplex, is located in a mystery part of the valley along its northern ridge. The next city over is Cupertino, Redwood City and Palo Alto so literally you have Google, Apple, Yahoo, Oracle, CompanyX, right beside eachother. To understand more about the valley, please rewind to Fairchild Semiconductor | HP | and in my opinion one would be remiss to not trace the origins of the R&D industrial complex for ARPA / NASA / PARC / Bell Labs / Stanford. What Brian Eno calls ‘Scenius’.
All of this is easily available for online readers. And while you would suspect something astonishing (like the T-Rex dinosaur or Spaceship One) at the G-pex, what the mind and spirit are not prepared for is the Eng-Core aesthetic of Function First. That is what this post is about. Function first, means unpainted walls, a healthy dose of 80’s smoked glass windows and self-driving cars. It is all three: shocking, unpretentious as well as refreshing. Community-college furnished buildings with amazing things just lying around.. that is pervasive vibe across the campus from what I could tell.
*For what it’s worth. I have heard NASA research buildings are much the same way.
Here are some pics:
3. Main Dinosaur Area – Around Building 40,41,42,43. This is where the apex predatory action happens.
4. Cafe Slice, is a good spot to chill out when I was nervous. There is volleyball court and Tesla charging stations nearby. The volleyball court and the dinosaur seem not to disturb eachother.
5. The rest of mountain view can look like this. This is proof:
6. With an oasis from suburbia in the form of downtown Palo Alto / Stanford area, which looks like this:
Palo Alto = Good place imho.
7. But back to the Googleplex. Here are some more campus pics.
8. I had to take a Selfie.
9. It sits on a nice crop of land jutting into the Bay. Following the Dutch model, there are painted bikes used/abused/loved/abandoned just about everywhere sprinkled over this landscape.
Had a great time taking a peek and seeing everything. Thanks.
-AT