The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Fresher than ever.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 1,900 times in 2010. That’s about 5 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 4 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 56 posts. There were 11 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 8mb. That’s about a picture per month.

The busiest day of the year was December 2nd with 27 views. The most popular post that day was Blog Action Day 2009 – A (Blog)World United.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were facebook.com, iont3ch.blogspot.com, blog.si.umich.edu, fienchannel.com, and on9tvseries.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for server farm, server farms, google server farm, is google making us stupid, and google.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

Blog Action Day 2009 – A (Blog)World United October 2009
2 comments

iRespond: "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" September 2009

4 Reasons Why I Think The Gizmodo iPhone Leak Was A Deliberate Setup (Updated x2) April 2010
1 comment

U-Discuss: What Would Happen If English No Longer Became The Worldwide Language? (From A Tech Standpoint, Of Course) November 2009
2 comments

About Me June 2009

Quick intro in case you haven’t heard: On April 19th, Gizmodo put up a post fully dissecting Apple’s next iPhone (except for the software – they couldn’t turn the damn thing on (it was remotely killed by Apple)). Here’s the catch: Apple has never announced any next-gen iPhone yet. It was discovered (on March 18th – one whole month before Gizmodo broke the news) in a Redwood City, California bar disguised as a current iPhone 3GS. It seems that some Apple employee (lets just call him Gray Powell) left it behind, probably doing some field testing,  and was found by a bar patron (who, according to CNet, has been identified by police (UPDATE: His name is Brian J. Hogan). The phone eventually found its way into the sweaty palms of Gizmodo, which ran them a tasty $5000, though at this time it is not clear who exactly sold them the phone (UPDATE: Yes it is – It was the same guy who found it; see link re: Brian J. Hogan).

Last week, news broke that a criminal investigation was under way, and hours later police served a search warrant on the home of Gizmodo editor Jason Chen and seized his computers and other electronic equipment. Some are accusing Apple of launching this entire police operation.

(Want a visual aid for this whole fiasco? Check out an ingenious flow chart created by Fast Company below, after the break!)

Has Apple gotten off their game? Or is this the most brilliant marketing scheme ever devised? Here’s why I think the Apple Marketing team has seriously topped themselves.

(Continued after the break –>)

1. Apple has always been known to be one of the most top secret companies (if not the most top secret) when it comes to unreleased products (I once read that they test different parts of a product in different departments so that even their own employees do not know what the finished product of their labor is going to be).
   • They of course field test their products all the time, but how an Apple employee could forget a next-gen iPhone (even a prototype) is beyond me. I’ll bet you that’s going to be the last beer paid on Apple’s tab!
2. Some new juicy info uncovered by Wired.com states that Apple tried approaching the guy who the iPhone in the bar (who we might as well be calling Indiana Jones, because from the way tech world has reacted, it seems like this dude found the frickin’ Holy Grail) before the police did. Turns out just the guy’s roommate was there, who would not let them.
   • Apple of course took this course of action to re-obtain what was rightfully theirs, but perhaps there was something more to it?
3. Since Apple likes doing things behind closed doors, why launch a very loud and public police investigation?
   • This could only keep them in the public eye longer, and thus continue to be on people’s minds. The iPad was released a few weeks before this news broke, and over those few weeks until around the 19th Apple was in the headlines with iPad reviews and impressions. The Wifi+3G iPad is going on sale this weekend, but this debacle will definitely keep developing until Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) which begins on June 7th. At that point Apple will likely release something, perhaps even the very device that has been exposed here – expect stock prices to explode.
4. Apple’s key to marketing has been getting consumers ripe with anticipation for a product’s release. Once the thing is unleashed, the world pounces on it like leopards! (Yes, yes; that was a slight nod to Apple’s OS)
   • Some of the hardware Gizmodo uncovered answer many of worlds cries for what they have wanted to see on the iPhone for a while: front-facing camera (I’m excited for that), “much higher resolution screen than the iPhone 3GS” (though not “HD” – perhaps something better? Something alien-like?), larger back-camera (my own speculation would be a 5 megapixel cam (Update: Looks like my speculation may hold some ground: Check out this rumor via Engadget), and  camera flash.
   • Putting an iPhone out in the wild with these hardware specs is Apple telling their fanboys (and the world) that they are listening and taking their pleas into consideration. Even if this isn’t the final design we may see at WWDC, Apple just earned like a bazillion kudos points with it’s consumers.

So, now that I have imparted by knowledge onto you – what do you think? Marketing scheme or a complete screw by what may now be a once great company (ok, maybe that stretching it a bit)?

Actually, it is more likely to turn computers OFF.

If you’re a Windows XP user and you are presented with an option today to download an update to McAfee (anti-virus software), do yourself a favor – DON’T. A seemingly routine McAfee update has caused computers running Windows XP to shut down. WORLDWIDE. Since many corporate entities operate on Windows XP, this is going to cause quite the problem. Engadget.com has reported that they know that an Intel facility as well as Dish Network call centers have been affected, but that’s only an initial report.

For the nerds among us, Engadget described the issue as being: “DAT update 5958 deletes the svchost.exe file, which then triggers a false-positive in McAfee itself and sets off a chain of uncontrolled restarts and loss of networking functionality”. Basically – the computer thinks that it is infected when it is not. Sort of like a really bad reaction to a vaccine.

Since the incident has occurred McAfee has (obviously) pulled the faulty update from their site and has released a fix for said update. A fix which only works for those who have not been affected by the bug. Yikes! Even with a fix, a McAfee tech needs to personally attend to each machine affected. Looks like we’re going to be hearing about this one for a while. The day the terminators turned on themselves.

As you would imagine, Twitter is all aflutter, as it always is when something BAD happens. Some cursing McAfee to all kinds of high heaven, others thanking G-d that they have a Mac (like me!).

So, anyone here think this might be a deliberate attack? Or some McAfee tester really screwed up (like messed with the world economy kind of screwed up)? Are we all soon doomed to a computer-less existence (at least an XP-less existence)?

From day 1, Twitter’s “business model” was split up into two parts: 1) Create a service everyone wants to use. With over 50 million registered users, I would say that part one has been fulfilled. 2) Figure out a way to make money from this service. Starting today, the wheels for fulfilling that goal have been put in motion.

Known as “Promoted Tweets”, this will be Twitter’s foray into actually making money. Since its beginning, Twitter and it’s co-founder Biz Stone have looked into different ways of monetizing the service, without pissing off its users. The model unveiled today, will follow Google’s highly successful ad model: insert ads at the top of the search results page that are related to the term being searched.

As described by Twitter:

“You will start to see Tweets promoted by our partner advertisers called out at the top of some Twitter.com search results pages. We strongly believe that Promoted Tweets should be useful to you. We’ll attempt to measure whether the Tweets resonate with users and stop showing Promoted Tweets that don’t resonate. Promoted Tweets will be clearly labeled as “promoted” when an advertiser is paying, but in every other respect they will first exist as regular Tweets and will be organically sent to the timelines of those who follow a brand.”

(Continued after the break)

The first guinea pigs in Twitter’ first foray into actually turning profit (they hope) will be Best Buy, Virgin America, Red Bull, Sony Pictures, Bravo, and Starbucks Coffee.

I’ll admit it, I don’t really care much for Twitter. There, it’s out in the open. I have an account, I’ve tweeted a little bit (most of which are just automatic when I put up a new blog post), but I still haven’t found a need/use for it in my life. The times I use it most is when it’s to participate in some sort of contest. When I first got an account I was able to connect with fellow social media enthusiasts, but that kind of tapered off.

Since I am not a hardcore Twitterer, I can’t say for sure how this will impact Twitterers as a whole. But who said I can’t speculate?

As it stands now, these ads will only show up when you search for a specific term, a la’ Google Search. Over time, according to the Wall Street Journal, these ads may make their way into the stream users see when they log in to the site, which means they will even see the ads if they are using a third party app (Tweetie, Tweetdeck, Twidroid, etc.). Also, these ads will only be seen by 2% to 10% of Twitter users in the first few days of its initial rollout. So initially, I think these ads will not be intrusive or annoying at all. When they begin to roll out into the general tweet stream, that may be another story. Though many of these third-party applications have ways of filtering out tweets from the stream, so if you find them a pain in the ass, you can just get rid of them (essentially). Will Twitter know if the ads are being filtered? Even more, will they know if specific ads are being filtered?

Well that is why Twitter has built a set of rubrics for ads they call “resonance”. If an ad is performing poorly (doesn’t work, isn’t click/viewed/shared often), Twitter will notify the advertiser and pull the ad. This will benefit both the advertiser and the user.

How will Twitter decided which ads to incorporate into your stream? Whether it be based on geographic location (somewhat easy to do, considering most of twittering is done from mobile phone, the majority of which nowadays has built-in GPS chips), tweet history, or the types of people you follow, that is a question for a little bit down the road.

The new decade is already poised to start off in a huge way in the tech world. Google has a press conference scheduled for Monday in which they will be releasing the Nexus One, their first foray into the world of hardware. Some say this is going to be to the first “true” Google phone. Engadget already got their hands on one. Check out their first impressions.

Also, rumors have been at all time high for Apple’s “universe-changing” tablet/ebook/large-iPhone/iSlate(?). Rumors about this device have been around for at least five years, and kind of died down with the release of the iPhone and the iPod Touch. Now some serious sources like the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Business Week, and many others seem to be pretty confident that this “God gadget” will be coming in 2010. Some have even concluded that an Apple event will be held at the end of the month and will focus on the “mobile computing space” (aka a tablet). After waiting years for a touch-screen iPod because of rumors of its release every other week, I now only believe it when I see it. Though this time, with the fever pitch of rumors, I may just believe it before I see it. Just like the iPod changed the music industry this past decade, the Apple tablet may change the print industry over the next decade. The end of the month couldn’t come soon enough. If this “iSlate” actually does come out then, you bet you’ll be hearing from me about it!

So, which of these tech news items gets you excited/hopeful for the coming year/decade? Sound off in the poll after the break!

On Christmas Day last Friday, the United States experienced its first serious terrorist scare in months. On a plane originating from Yemen, headed to Detroit, Michigan by way of Amsterdam, a man attempted to detonate an explosive device, but fortunately was unsuccessful. You didn’t come here to read international headlines, however, and chances are, you already knew about this. I bring this up because, with every new terror scare/attempt/attack, there are alway new policies put into place, new regulations implemented and new limitations put on travel, all in the hopes of improving our travel safety. These new regulations may have an effect on the technology we hold oh so dear.

In the immediate wake of the attempted attack, a rule was put into effect forbidding passengers to get up or have anything on their laps during the final hour of their respective flight. Without getting off topic, I have a serious problem with this. My problem isn’t stemming from the sheer boredom I am sure will ensue (though I’m not happy about it), it is from the absolute stupidity and uselessness of this new rule. The US’s response to terror attacks is always in direct response to the attack. Take the shoe bomber of 2001 for example. Man tries to blow up plane with bombs in his shoes; America’s response: have all passengers remove their shoes at security for scanning. And now with this latest attempt: man tries to blow up plane in the last hour of the flight; America’s response: limit passenger activity during the last hour of the flight. Why is it that no one in the government seems to think ahead? The only way we will win this war on terror is by being three steps ahead of these animals. Plug one hole and they will just dig another. There I am done rambling off topic. I just had to get that off my chest.

Now, back to the real reason you came here: technology. What Friday’s attack demonstrated is that the bad guys will always find ways to accomplish their goals. Heck, this time they even resorted to blowing up their underpants, so clearly they are full of ideas. And with the advent of the “no moving in the last hour of the flight, no excuses” rule, the government isn’t trusting any piece of technology held by anyone (at least, during the last hour of a flight). If there is another attempt at an attack, will that mean more restrictions? As the devices our enemies use get more complex, that may mean that more electronic devices may be prohibited on airlines.

If more restrictions are put into place, this will be “ironic” in two respects. First, in-flight WiFi has just begun rolling out in fleets across the globe. If laptops become a restricted item, then WiFi signals won’t be as useful as we once hoped.

Also, one of the fastest adopted technologies this year has been e-book readers. FUN FACT ALERT: This holiday season, Amazon.com sold more e-books than actual books (according to Information Week). So yes, what I’m saying is, if we eventually phase out good old fashioned paper, we won’t even be able to read on flights! This is of course a worst-case scenario and in no way a reality. Though it is not out of the realm of possibility.

Here is my plea: To all those technology security geniuses – there IS a way to discern the bombs from the authentic everyday devices, as there is always an answer to every problem. Simply scanning for metal really is not going to cut it anymore. The world isn’t moving towards a technology-centered lifestyle, it is already there. If we are going to fully embrace that lifestyle, we need to learn how to secure it without sacrifice.

How much television do you watch? Now, how much television do you watch on your television? If you’re like me you don’t have time for such pesky things as TV schedules and minutes-long commercial breaks. In this day in age the Internet is king, and the king mandated that we the people shall get some TV whenever we want it.

As of last week, change that mandate from some to all: One the world’s largest cable service providers, Comcast, has bought NBC. You know, NBC! Aka the NATIONAL Broadcasting Company, aka the parent network of CNBC, Bravo and USA (among many others). With this merger, a big, drooling, fire-breathing, Chuck-Norrising, monster, behemoth has been born.

Comcast is the largest ISP (internet service provider) with nearly 20 million subscribers, and NBC, is well, NBC. So what’s so special about this merger? I’ll put it this way: Not only does Comcast not control the tubes that connect us all, they can control what flows through those tubes (in terms of digital entertainment).

Now, there are two camps probably forming at this point. On one side we have the “WTF Comcast?! Way to go and destroy my Net Neutrality dreams!” camp, and on the other side we have the “Woohoo! I’m so pumped because now I will have more access to all my favorite hit NBC shows like Community, The Office and 30 Rock (it’s comedy night done right, starting tonight at 8:30! Am I right NBC? That pitch was free, the next one won’t be)!

The latter camp has good reason to be excited. Today, no one pays attention to the schedules TV stations set up because God gave us things like TiVo and Hulu. When we want our entertainment, we get it. This Comcast-NBC deal will make this even more true than it already is.

Though this is exciting, I do also sympathize with the “WTF?!” camp. Comcast controlling what entertainment you consume means that it is the decider. Want to catch some Leno? No problem! “Here you go”, Comcast will say, “watch as much Jay as you want!” Now should you have the nerve to watch Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC, well Comcast may very well be to say “You want Kimmel? OK. As long as you pay us, not a problem.” I think I just got a shiver down my spine, because that could be one dark future.

Having to pay to watch Jimmy Kimmel, may be a scary notion, but you could come out from under the covers for a little bit, because nothing has actually been set yet. Thankfully you live in the United States of Insanely-complex-government-system-rica, and it likely will not be another year until you actually see the full effects of this merger. There’s the FCC, the FTC, the Justice Department and who knows who else that needs to approve this merger. This merger will be a hot topic in parts of Washington over the next year, and could seriously shake up how we get our Conan in a year’s time. Speaking of Conan, check out his take on this merger in a clip from The Tonight Show!

One problem that plagues all tech devices today is the learning curve that one is required to learn in order to use any piece of hardware. Because, honestly, who wants to learn? As humans in the technological revolution, we’ve been bred to skip right on past the manual and teach ourselves how to use any given technology. What is an instruction manual but a complimentary coaster with every purchase?

Enter Pranav Mistry, who plans to do away with instruction manuals and the usual method of “guess-and-check” learning as we know it. His vision, called SixthSense which actually exists but still appears to be in its design phases, fully integrates a wearable computer with your natural hand motions. For example, say you want to take a picture, but you are either to lazy to take out a camera, or you simply don’t have the time to. Simply hold up both of your thumbs and pointer fingers like a director making a frame, and that shot is saved to the hard drive. Want to view, edit and/or email the pictures you took? Find a wall, draw a circle in the air with your fingers and the interface is projected onto the wall, just like that. All of these manipulations are made possible by a small camera that is part of the wearable ensemble. This camera tracks your fingers and interprets their motion as actions. Magic? That’s what it appears to be. But this is the future. Actually, no, wait. This is the present.

SixthSense has nearly limitless applications, including a computer on a piece of paper. Ya, I know, that seems a little beyond ones own imagination. Don’t believe me? See this and other examples of SixthSense in action in the video after the break.

This post can also be found at The Gadget 411!!

You’re probably wondering”Part 3??” What about 1 and 2? I can assure you, they do exist:  here and,  here.

So, now that you’re up to speed, it is finally time for the stunning conclusion of this special segment of augmented reality. And I saved the best for last. After education, tourism, marketing and medicine, it’s time for some augmented garages and video games!

Automotive Repair (The cheater’s DIY)

Sick of having to pay hundreds, maybe even thousands of dollars to take your car into the shop for a simple repair? Too scared to do it yourself? Well does BMW have the thing for you (or your BMW repairman)! They have developed a pair of slick AR glasses (currently just a concept) which would lead the wearer through a step by step process of how to complete the repair task at hand. It’s actually quite nifty, but when you think about, shouldn’t auto mechanics, who these are being developed for, know how to do their job, without a computer leading them each step of the way? I would most certainly hope so. If the computer already knows what the problem is and exactly how to replace it, the only other step would be to connect the computer to a robotic arm. And that’s the easy part (it’s called an “assembly line”). To BMW’s vision, quite literally, of AR in the garage, check out their video.

After the break: AR Video games!

Video Games (Get’s your butt off the couch and into the mean streets)

Nintendo has the Wii, Microsoft will have the Natal (an Xbox accessory due out at the end of next year), and Sony has the Eye-Sight(?). These are all great (especially the Natal, I am pumped for that), but they just get you up, not out. I look forward the day when games aren’t only awesome, but get you back outside, bringing “playing outside” into the modern age. Well, that day may already be here.You can thank a team of researchers at the Mixed Reality Lab at the National University of Singapore for that. They’ve developed a real life Pac-Man. Could you have asked for a better game to be implemented into your everyday life?

How have they pulled off such a mind-blowing feat? By merging a wearable computer, headset and goggles, with GPS, WiFi and infrared mechanisms of course! Slip on the goggles, and the computer automatically knows where you are, which direction you’re facing, and can distinguish between ghosts and real, live people (by detecting other wearable computers). The computer overlays digital floating yellow balls along various paths in front of you, and turns other players into ghosts. The objective? No, I am not going to tell you because that would mean you’ve been under a rock for the last 20 years. Can’t fathom the idea of Pac-Man being “real”? Check out this video and BELIEVE….

This innovation has opened up the possibility of just about any time of augmented reality game. Some may not get you out into the streets as much, but they still do get you moving (which is always a step up in my book). One such example? “ARhrrrr!”, a zombie shooter by your pals at the Georgia Tech Augmented Environments Lab and the Savannah College of Art and Design. I like their take on gaming, because instead of the game playing around you, you play around the game. You are not just shooting “3D” zombies on your TV set, the zombies are in actual 3D right there in your living room!

And that’s it for this segment on augmented reality! It was 4 months in the making, and I cannot believe it is over (cue tear). I have a feeling this won’t be the last time you hear me talking about it. If there is any news in the world of AR, you can bet that you will read about it here!

Augmented reality will return….

]]> http://iont3ch.wordpress.com/2009/11/14/augmented-reality-theres-always-more-to-see-part-3/feed/ 0 iont3ch ZombieAR http://iont3ch.wordpress.com/2009/11/05/what-if-english-was-no-longer-the-standard/ http://iont3ch.wordpress.com/2009/11/05/what-if-english-was-no-longer-the-standard/#comments Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:01:28 +0000 Jake http://iont3ch.wordpress.com/?p=144 Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. Wait, you didn't already know that?) that non-Latin characters are now fair game in website domain names. You heard correctly, all of your favorite Russian, Japanese, Greek, Macedonian, and (insert vague rarely used language here) are now usable on the Internet! World peace is now plausible! Cancer can now be cured! World hunger is a thing of the past! This is great and all, but brought back something I was thinking about during a programming class about a year ago. ]]>

Ya, that’s probably a really big if. Or is it? Not after some recent news out of the ICANN (that’s Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. Wait, you didn’t already know that?) that non-Latin characters are now fair game in website domain names. You heard correctly, all of your favorite Russian, Japanese, Greek, Macedonian, and (insert vague rarely used language here) are now usable on the Internet! World peace is now plausible! Cancer can now be cured! World hunger is a thing of the past!

This is great and all, but brought back something I was thinking about during a programming class about a year ago….

(Continued after the break)

Let’s face it, America isn’t her old self. The Yankees may still be the World Champs (Go Yanks!), but our economy is not what it once was. The recent focus has been on China and their economy, and how they may be the next “it” country (as if it were a trend). For years English has been the accepted language worldwide. That of course is (was?) due to our economy and strength as a nation. Though our economy seems to be recovering ever so slightly, what if it doesn’t recover to the level it once was? What if, at some point down the road, we are not the center of the global economy, a nation upon all others look up at? What if a country, like China, takes our mantle? Will the worldwide accepted language begin to shift towards Chinese? Worst case scenario, yes, but a scenario, nonetheless

To me, I see it as a programmer’s (and plenty of others’) worst nightmare! All the underlying code that is letting you see this very information, and whatever information you consume next, or whatever program or function you run later, it is all programmed in English. Would all computers need to be reprogrammed in Chinese? Or has English claimed the throne as the standard programming language for all eternity? For everyone’s sake, I only hope the latter is true. The few people I brought this question up to were unable to answer it.

Think about it this way. Would you want the image on the right (code that solves simple math calculations, like a 4-function calculator), to become the image on the left?:

Didn’t think so.

Every time I think about all of this, I fear I am being too pessimistic. I am just trying to be a little realistic, and want to preempt this issue before it becomes one (unless it already has). Is that such a crime? Here’s another question for you: What do YOU think? Is English here to stay in the programing world, or will our nightmares be realized at some point in the future? Will we all go from Google-ing to 谷歌-ing?