Standalone Apps for iOS and Android

Google has unveiled standalone apps for Docs, Sheets and Slides.

iOS and Android users can download Google Docs and Sheets.

Although all of the functionality in each standalone app is already available in Google Drive, creating dedicated apps and giving Google the chance to compete with Microsoft Office, whose productivity apps remain popular among iPad users.

The new apps look and feel just like Drive, the main variation being the color scheme, but will allow Google to work on each product independently in order to create the best experience for any type of work.

Source:

Google Docs and Google Sheets Are Now Standalone Apps for iOS and Android. (n.d.). Entrepreneur. Retrieved May 3, 2014, from http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/23356

Vhoto

Vhoto, A new app that was launch for the iPhone and iPad, uses the power of video to capture the perfect photo by combining computer vision with machine learning. This tool lets the application begin to understand user preferences. The app evaluates over 20 dimensions, including blur, contrast, action/movement, faces, smiles, novelty and user intent to automatically pick the best frames or the perfect moment from the video. The app is free through the App Store in the U.S. and worldwide.

The new app, which was launched by the co-founder and CEO of Seattle-based Vhoto, Noah Heller said that the app solves two fundamental problems with traditional mobile cameras: 1) hitting the button at the right second to get the perfect shot and 2) choosing between photo and video during life’s most precious moments. The current act of smiling and posing for pictures will soon become outdated.

Source:

Will This App Fundamentally Change the Way We Take Photos?. (n.d.). Entrepreneur. Retrieved May 3, 2014, from http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/23354

Embedded Technology

Embedded Technology

From smart watches to health-tracking wristbands and beyond, the market for wearable tech is heating up. The rise of technology has it's pros and cons, and although there may be more pros, we live in a technological world and we need to keep up with the changes.

The opportunity to use technology to really change and improve our lives is by putting smart technology directly inside of our bodies. One example could be placing RFID chips under you skin that store passwords or hold other data.

Google has filed a patent application for a micro camera component that could work in conjunction with the smart contact lens, which has already been developed for people with diabetes. The chips and sensors in the lens are built to track the glucose levels in a person's tears.

While embedded technology can be of great benefits to our health industry and possibly save lives, there are some major concerns that comes with it.

Source:

"The Next Big Thing: Embeddable Tech? | Video." Entrepreneur. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2014. <http://www.entrepreneur.com/video/2332

Video Games

Video Games

While video games can be fun and entertaining, there are some positive attributes that some games contributes to our every day lives. Video games can teach business leaders and other professionals within their respective field some important lessons.

The different genre of games enhances certain business skills. For example, Farmville, one of the most popular game on Facebook, can enhance your management skills. Another, Candy Crush, Popular game that can develop strategic and problem solving skills. In the business world, problems and challenges arise that you aren't always prepared for. Sometimes the most obvious solution isn't always the right one and you have to look around and find a better way of doing things to be competitive and stay on top. The same goes for when playing video games.

What are your thoughts on this?

Source:

"3 Things Video Games Can Teach You About Being a Better Business Leader | Video." Entrepreneur. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2014. <http://www.entrepreneur.com/video/233

10 Tech Tools Startup Essentials

Thinking about starting your own business?  No matter the size of your company or capital, there are some essential tech tools that will be vital to your establishment, especially if you hope to compete in this new age of wireless networks, mobile devices and next-gen displays. While these products have the potential to help you make money, as a startup your budget plays a major factor in selecting these tools, keeping value, quality, time and style in mind.

Aspire TimelineX 14-inch 4820T

1. Aspire TimelineX 14-inch 4820T notebook computer: A startup computing weapon of choice. Black-brushed aluminum, 1-inch thick and weight 5lb. Intel Core i3 processor, 4GB of memory and 320GB hard drive. The TimelineX can handle even power-hungry, graphics-intensive apps. 2. Samsung BX2050 20-Inch 50 series LED backlit monitor: Samsung is the choice for monitor. 19mm thick, 1000-to-1 contrasts ratio, fast 2 MS response time and two HDMI inputs.  3. Belkin MAX Play Wireless Router with Apps: Best way to connect across your growing office. It offers state-of-the-art MIMO coverage for unparalleled connectivity in radio-wave-polluted areas. 4. Western Digital WD TV Live HD Media Player: Full-HD, 1080p-resolution video, but it is also a network media device fully compatible with Windows 7. 5. KODAK ESP Office 6150: scanning, faxing and copying functions,  affordable ink, Wi-Fi and Ethernet are built in, with direct printing support for BlackBerrys, iPods and iPhones, Documents print at 32 black-and-white or 30 color pages per minute, and the machine

Apple iPhone 4 16G

can copy 27 pages per minute in black and white. 6.

KODAK ESP Office 6150

Microsoft Windows Live Desktop: The newly launched service offers decent versions of Microsoft Word, Outlook and PowerPoint, as well as updated versions of Hotmail, MovieMaker and other media tools online. 7. Apple iPhone 4 16G:  One of The latest model sets the new bar for touch-based smartphones startups. High-quality screen, HD image output and, work tool when complemented by the right apps. 8. Samsung SP-H03 Pico Projector: Palm-sized, 6-ounce pico projector, 1 GB of internal memory, up-to-16-GB microSD slot and a Windows friendly operating system.  9. Duracell Powerhouse USB Charger: This Powerhouse Charger can charge two devices at once and offers something on the order of 60 extra hours of usage.

Cue Acoustic Radio r1

10. Cue Acoustic Radio r1: Hospitality Edition: Now it's time for some fun: injecting the right musical vibe into that business atmosphere. It offers high-quality audio with impressive low-end sound quality, great touch-based control system, particularly for the retail shop.

Is there any item/items missing from the list?

Reference:

"10 Tech Tools Every Startup Needs." Entrepreneur. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2014. <http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/217

Giant Crab

You've heard of the unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV), also known as a combat drone, we've also seen the quadrupedal military robot Cheetah and also the bipedal humanoid robot. It seems like every other day some sort of new technology makes us scratch our heads and say, "What's next?" 

KRISO Crabster

A team of researchers from the Korea Research Institute of Ships and Ocean Engineering, ledby Bong-Huan Jun, designed the 1,400-pound autonomous robot crab three years ago. They successfully put the Crabster’s white sea legs to the test for the first time last August to test its maximum underwater depth of 656 feet. From May 12 to June 10, it will be in the Yellow Sea off western Korea with a group of archaeologists to dig its “claws” into 12th-century shipwrecks.  

The Crabster’s creators claim that it’s the biggest ocean-crawling bot in the world. With six-six-foot-long jointed fiberglass “skin” coated aluminum legs jutting out from its bright red and yellow, egg-shaped glass and carbon fiber frame with a radar-based navigation system.

Attach is an animated video illustrating how it operates.

Reference:

"Giant Crab-Like Robot to Plumb the Ocean for Shipwrecks and Treasure." Entrepreneur. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2014. <http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/2331

Computer Vs. Teacher

Are computers replacing teachers?

Soon they day would come, when you can sit at the comfort of your home and attend classes. Change is inevitable and so is technology. Online schooling is already being introduced by universities and colleges where you can earn as much as a postgraduate degree. Classes are taught through various web application and apps to help develop learning. for example animated or recorded videos are uploaded on YouTube channel to illustrate some kind of math problem. Although there are pros and cons to computers, soon enough software and/or web applications will be programmed to mimic teaching and illustrate some sort of teaching to students.

From a futuristic stand point, shouldn't university and schools be skeptical about expanding campuses for facilitating in class teaching ;  because of the development with new technology and the World Wide Web? Although teachers have that extra nurture to teaching that a computer can not offer there are schools that successfully facilitate teaching through computers. For example Sandvika High School in Norway packed away exercise books, textbooks and stationery and made laptops, blogging and social media the center of learning. In conclusion, how soon will teachers become obsolete or less dependent upon to facilitate learning?

Reference:

"Could computers replace teachers in the classroom?." BBC News. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2014. <http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-26722092>.

"THE Journal." Teacher vs. Computer. Where Educators Stand in the Technology Revolution --. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2014. <http://thejournal.com/articles/2002/08/01/teacher-vs-computer-where-educators-stand-in-the-technology-revolution.aspx>.

30-Second Phone Charging

No one likes reaching for their mobile phone and it alerts "emergency calls only" due to low battery power. This can be such an inconvenience when you need to check your emails, social messages or make a really important phone call. This however can be really frustrating especially to professionals on the go who most of their day out of office. 

According to a BBC news feed, the attached image displays a Samsung S4 smartphone that went from a dead battery to full power in 26 seconds in a Microsoft's Think Next Conference from StoreDot. The battery is currently only a prototype and is predicted to be commercially viable within the next three years. The bio-organic battery utilities tiny self-assembling nano-crystals that were first identified in research being done into Alzheimer's disease at Tel Aviv University 10 years ago.

Dr Myersdorf, owner of StoreDot, said that the batteries are likely to be 30 to 40% more expensive to manufacture compared to traditional ones and will have great influence on the final market retail price.

I think its an excellent break through with battery life, not only for cell phones but other electronics. For futuristic advancement, mobile phones and electronics should be capable of being solar charged,either by mounting or integrating Tiny solar photovoltaic modules onto or embedded into their housing. This and the new StoreDot technology advancement will be perfect for disaster prone areas when all power is lost.

Reference:
"Battery offers 30-second phone charging." BBC News. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Apr. 2014. <http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-26934932>.

<http://www.store-dot.com>

Wireless Electricity

We are affected yearly by natural disasters like Earthquake, Hurricanes and tornadoes in the different parts of the world which sometimes leaves us without electricity. I am a victim of being without electricity for months after hurricane "IVAN" which hit the tri Islands Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique in 2004. I have been  thinking about possible ways the service providers on the island can provide electricity island wide without the use of lamp posts and electrical wires. My thoughts were leading towards some advancement with digital signals or radio waves transmitting electrical charges or satellite dishes that convert signals or waves to electrical power which can be further distributed to  different homes and/or buildings. 

However I saw such technology as some futuristic advancement. But according to CNN Dr Katie Hall, The Chief Technology Officer at WiTricity, a start-up developing wireless "resonance" technology, is developing ways to transfer power without wires. It involves putting a magnetic field in the air with a "Source Resonator" that is coiled with electrical wires and is connected to some source of power. This then generates an electrical charge with another device that is also electrically coiled in close proximity.

With this technology, I see advanced ideas being stemmed for greater supply of wireless electricity. As Dr. Katie Hall said, wireless homes will become a realty. No longer will we have to worry about attaching charges and cords to power electronics and appliances. This new technology may lead to cheaper electrical rates and contribute to a greener environment.

What health hazard in your opinion can this new technology cause? What impact (positive/negative) will it have on the environment?

Reference:

and, Nick. "Wireless electricity? It's here."CNN. Cable News Network, 28 Mar. 2014. Web. 2 Apr. 2014. <http://edition.cnn.com/2014/03/14/tech/innovation/wireless-electricity/index.html?iid=article_sidebar>.

An IT degree

What does an I.T degree mean to you? What do you want from it? 

Being an I.T student means a lot to me and my contribution to the I.T arena . I think for us students, graduates and I.T professionals in the different geographical locations, especially the countries where resources and opportunities are limited, should be leaders. We need to STANDOUT from our peers and not be complacent with just having a degree. If knowledge is power, utilize it. Be innovative and creative in your thinking and apply what you've learnt. We are all intelligent in our own way. If you are good at programming, write programs, develop apps etc. Too many times new ideas and technologies are stemmed from the professionals in the developed countries and yet we use the same programs, skills and knowledge learnt. We should ask ourselves, what is it that they are doing that puts them on the pinnacle of new technology? We need to push limits, set standards, be creative, work hard and be IT giants as well. 

Bill Gates said,"When I was thirteen, my school (Lakeside School) installed a teletype machine that connected in downtown Seattle. From that point on, my friends and I spent most of our free time writing programs and figuring out how to make the computer do interesting things.” 

How many of us will spent our free time doing things to enhance our skills and knowledge. We all have equal rights to be generic in our thoughts and ideas. Its not only intelligence, It's takes initiative and passion for what you desire.

In conclusion, there are talents that are not put to work and as IT professionals/students especially in the undeveloped countries, we need to set aside the small way of thinking and show the world that we are ingenious in our own way no matter our limitations to resources.

According to Richard Branson "Believe in yourself and back yourself to come out on top. A fulfilling career is waiting for those brave enough to find it."

What are some of the limitations we face as an undeveloped/developed country to become  IT Icons? What measures can be taken to avoid them?

Reference:

"Bill Gates' Life and Success." Bill Gates' Life and Success. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Apr. 2014. <http://greatleaders.freewebspace.com/ind

"Bill Gates becomes the richest person in the world yet again." Sri9com Sri Lankan Youth MobileEntertainmentTechGossips more. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Apr. 2014. <http://www.sri9.com/bill-gates-becomes-richest-person-world-yet/>.

Denial of Service Attack (DoS Attack)

In computing, a denial of service (DoS) or distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack is an attempt to make network resources unavailable to users. Although the means of intent may vary, it consists of efforts to temporarily interrupt or suspend services of a host connected to the Internet. DoS attacks are usually sent by one person or system while DDos attacks are sent from more than one person or system. they both target

DDoS Attack Diagram 

websites or services hosted on high profile web servers like, banks, root name servers, credit card payment gateways.

One of the many attack includes saturating a targeted machine with an abundance of external communications requests, that it cannot respond to legitimate traffic, causing server overload leading to unavailable service or request.

This attack is common among businesses as a means of trafficking disgruntle customers or users to other website to complete what ever transaction, task or intentions, gaining advantage over competitors.

According to www.cnet.com " A massive distributed-denial-of-service attack on February 12, 2014 which reached more than 400Gbps at its peak, about 33 percent greater than last year's Spamhaus attack, the previous DDoS record-holder". There also went along to say that "The attack was apparently directed at one of the customers of content delivery network and security provider CloudFlare ................" The attackers leveraged a flaw in the Network Time Protocol (NTP), a network protocol used to synchronize computer clock times. It was said to have been felt particularly in Europe.

Similarly I was a victim to such attack. On the 18 of march 2014, Elance announce to have be attacked by a denial-of-service attack on their servers. The attack caused an influx of traffic to they website making it unavailable to all users. Elance is an online staffing platform based in California, United States.

Denial of service attacks are considered violations of the Internet Architecture Board's Internet proper use policy, and also violate the acceptable use policies of virtually all Internet service providers.

Question:
1.Can we still say the internet can;t be shut down?

Reference:
http://www.cnet.com/news/record-breaking-ddos-attack-in-europe-hits-400gbps/

http://www.cse.wustl.edu/~jain/cse571-11/ftp/cyberwar/

http://www.cert.org/historical/tech_tips/denial_of_service.cfm