iLingual App for Iphone

Language for everybody has a high importance, this is our means of communicating our emotions, ideas, etc. Without language, the human race will just be a muted community of people walking around with ideas just waiting to be released to everybody else, I might not even be able to write this blog and react to my topic. Although this is true for a certain race, a different race might have a different tongue. We still need something that will eventually connect everybody as one, not just by images, but also by speech.

The wait is over, iLingual app is available through iPhone that will finally let us communicate to anybody without studying a different language for 5 years. Traveling to different countries will be easier. You wont have worry about carrying dictionaries in your purse, taking classes before you leave your native country.If something happens to you in a foreign country, it'll be easier for you to communicate with their police, and explain what had happened.

From this we could go to the next level and develop a far more better advance app than this. What if we can hear what other people are saying too in foreign language, but translated to our native language, not only we can communicate with them, we can understand other foreign people surrounding us.

Saturn's Aurora Captured

Back then, we were so curious of what's out there. We've always wondered what the planets look like, what's happening to them as I'm typing this blog, but in the digital age, everybody is connected, everybody is able to see what's happening anywhere, even in outer space, all you need to do is Google "space video", and you will get millions of results.

The unknown isnt unknown anymore, instead, its publicly viewed by eveyone everyday, through you tube, hulu, and people sharing videos of anything.

In the future could it be possible to look into the FUTURE once we discover and see everything unknown to us? Perhaps it will be, the cavemen back then didnt know anything about the internet and what was outside their caves, now we know everything through the internet. Perhaps the internet will be able to give us insight as to what our future will look like, or maybe the million dollar question we've been wanting to answer on the universe was made.

ProForma

ProForma ( Probabilistic Feature-based On-line Rapid Model Acquisition) is a software that uses a regular cam in instantly transforms it into a 3D scanner. Usually scanning in 3D requires a purpose-made gear and time . ProForma lets you rotate a model in real time and scans the model building a fully 3D texture mapped model as fast as you can turn an object.

What does this mean for us? Well now we can scan a 3D model of ourselves and include ourselves as a Mii avatar instead of using the preset avatars the Wii provides us. We can even play as ourselves in mario kart. Augmented reality will be a step closer to being better. Viewers at home can also include themselves in a movie. Immersion will be taken to a higher level.

WiTricity

We could actually be using wireless electricity today, if only Nikola Tesla (yes he also invented a Death Ray) didn't lose his key financial in the late 1890's. If that was the case then, we would actually be ahead of the game.

WiTricity isn't entirely new to us, it was developed back then but now its been finished. I discussed in my recent post about the Powermat how we can convert the EMF waves into useful enrgy and throw away wire. With WiTricity, that conversion of EMF waves isn't really the case but the concept was the same. I discussed how every electronic gadgets we have in the house (a certain range) can be charged without the messy wires. In WiTricity, there's a main coil and it detects other gadgets with these coils and automatically charges them. For this to happen, we need electronic companies to agree that they will automatically include the coils needed to the products they sell, which should be made into a standard in order to use this technology. Sorry Powermat, but you're still behind.

Solar Power, let's embrace it

So okay, imagine our regular street lamp posts smarter. Philips was inspired by sunflowers, and used that concept to create a smarter way of using energy. Philips' Lightblossom follows the sun and stores the energy it gathers during daylight. What happens to that stored energy? It's used to light the streets at night when there's no sun.

The concept of gathering solar power in order to run machines isn't a new concept, there are people who use solar panels on the roof of their house, people who has bagpacks with solar panels to charge phones, etc. Its just that the way we use it so so limited. I know we can come up with a billion ways to manipulate solar power. The sun is a huge ball power supply which has an unlimited supply of energy, compared to the fossil fuels we use today.

Some doesn't like alternative fuels because it doesn't pack a lot of puch the way fossil fuels do. Its true, solar panels doesn't a 100% absorption rate, but that's fixable. How? I reserached and found that "Nanocoat" can absorb 96.2% (near perfect) of the sun's rays and can be absorbed in every angleso there's no need for panels to waste energy by mechanically tracking
the sun in the sky.. Problem solved, from there we could move forward towards a 100% absorption rate. We could just replace fossil fuel power plants with solar power plants. How about jobs? Some say alternative fuel could cause unemployment. Actually, it will increase the job rate from 1.9 million to 6.9 million according to Consumer Enrergy Report. If people could just realize that we don't have to settle for the given, and find a way to to solve problem, we could be moving forward faster, and more will be happier. Oh, it will be more expensive, well if companies cooperate and make these more affordable to the consumers. They might lose some at first but at the end, the rewards will be great.

From lamp posts to powering houses, we should let solar power replace fossil fuel.

Website Redesign

Before

After

I definitely think there was a really big jump from the old design to the new one. The old website was trying to create a 3D effect, but it wasn't working. The use of bevel frames are not the way to go. Instead in the 2nd one, different 3D aspects are used, like perspective, shadow, and blur. Also if someones is looking for a wedding photographer and ends up in the first website, they would leave. They wouldn't even think twice about browsing the site. Why?

a) It's gray. Gray doesn't represent wedding, its a very mournful color. Its not a color that celebrates the beginning of a new life.

b)The website lacks organization. Its like everything the website contains is in the home page.

The second website on the other hand, still contained aspects that are similar to the old website. The content is center aligned, and the 3D effect was improved

Although the 2nd website is a big jump from the old one, its still looks very ordinary. Nowadays everyone wants to be immersed, websites also need to be more immersive compared just clicking.

Virtual Girlfriend

In the digital age, we want everything virtual, virtual reality is starting to be more popular today. Just look at the augmented reality apps that Android and IPhone has been producing. Although this is a step closer to the cyberworld, there are some technologies out there that could be viewed unorthodox depending on how much you take this virtuality seriously.

LovePlus is a game for Nintendo DS. Here's how you play it.

a)The first part of the game is standard fare: players court three girls, trying to get them to fall in love with the player. That's where most dating sims end; Love Plus is just getting started.

b)The second half is open ended. You've already got the girl, now what do you want to do? Want to touch her on her forehead, cheeks, arms, etc. via the touch screen? You can email her, call her via the DS mic, and study together.
Players can set how they want their girlfriend to address them, and over time she changes to match the players' likes and dislikes. The way she speaks will even change slowly over the course of the game.

Some players take this seriously. Here is an article about a man who married his virtual girlfriend in real life.

"This week a church in Guam pronounced a man and his copy of dating sim Love Plus husband and, well, wife, and the happy couple will be hosting a reception in Japan that you are cordially invited to view tomorrow.
The unnamed man took his DS and the game to Guam where he said vows with to Nene Anegasaki, one of three virtual girlfriends featured in Love Plus. Tomorrow, the couple will have a reception held on Niconico Douga at around 12 p.m. (no time zone given, check local listings on the site, if you can read Japanese.) The media has been invited to attend; slides will be shown from their time dating up through the wedding.
I've heard of dudes marrying a mannequin before so, this not in fact the most weird-slash-creepy-slash-pathetic thing I've ever heard. But my forced nonjudgment about this really needs its own word. Begrimaced? Bittersad?"

Could this be a problem in the future? Virtuality might be so powerful in the future that we can't identify between real and virtual.

Android’s Invading, IPhone’s Reign is Over.

Last year the IPhone took us by storm. Everybody wanted one, young or old. You have to get it to be in the in crowd. We all watched the news and saw people camping outside AT&T stores nationwide to get their hands on the IPhone. Since when did consumers go crazy over a phone?

Move aside IPhone, Android is taking over. Since T-Mobile’s G1 came out, there was a glimmer of hope for Android to succeed, and by golly Q4 of 2009, more came. The telecommunication companies are backing up Android. T-Mobile’s My Touch 3G, Sprint’s HTC Hero and Verizon’s Droid, etc. So why is Android so much better? Well, one thing that developers love about it is that its an open platform for all kinds of mobile devices - Android. Leading this development are Google Inc, T-Mobile, Intel, HTC, Qualcomm, Motorola along with many other companies under the umbrella of the Open Handset Alliance - a global alliance between technology and mobile industry leaders. This gives developers a chance to develop apps that will be more user friendly.

Evidence is clear, a lot of companies are jumping i n the Android wagon. Even Dell is releasing an Android based phone. Dell, isn't that a company famous for producing computers? Yes. Here are the current predictions for Android:

1. Many more phones to choose from (I personally can't wait for the Sony Ericsson Experia)
2. App development will take off and Iphone apps will cross over
3. Android will show up on many other devices
4. A more polished and stable Android OS
5. Android hardware will improve faster than Iphone
6. More exclusive content from Google
7. No more multi-touch hesitation
8. Ramped up Android marketing
9. Expect converts from the Blackberry and the Windows Mobile camps
10. More custom interface tweaks.

Christmas Guide: E - Readers

From books to ebooks, life will be paperless. So this is just one of the few really cool gifts this Christmas. Book lovers will no longer have to store books in storages that they might not remember after several years. Having an e-reader gives you the power of carrying your all -time favorite novels. Although that may sound cool, there are kinks here and there that need to be fixed to make e-readers last and be part og the digital game. First off, the black and white screen. We should be given the choice to use black and white screen or colored. Because there are people who prefer to read their newspaper in black and white and others in color. Also, we've been seeing many gadgets that are multi/touch screens. Kindle isn't a touch screen, Nook decided to give us half, but sony on the other hand came up with the pocket edition and touch edition.

E - readers could also replace textbooks I need to carry in school, however, there aren't enough E-book websites out there that offer textbooks. Also, using Sony's touch edition, you can go paperless through college, because you can now write your notes on the e reader to take notes.

Bottom line, this might just be a one time hit like the eight track and be obsolete, or it just be worth your money.

Augmented Reality Game

Since there are so many apps out there, from useless to must have of the week, us new comers need to stand out from the competition. We need to have ideas that will STICK right away, and from there, a new idea will sprout.

For example, I just thought of this earlier while i'm looking for some cool games to play on my droid. And I found a game that lets the user use the phone as a racket. The user can hit the ball and just watch it bounce, and hit it again. Well there's nothing exciting about a ball bouncing inside a made up room for the ball to bounce on. Instead I came up with a better more exciting pass time. Since augmented reality is popping up everywhere, and the phone acts like a Wii-mote, why don't we combine those two technologies and make an augmented reality game.

The game will use the phone's camera and scan its surroundings, not only that, but also the depth and the user's distance from objects surrounding him or her and the distance of the objects from each other and the walls. It will take in the information it scans and outputs on the screen a duplicate of the user's surroundings, but is still happening in real time. The ball will remain inside the screen, but the effects are there, so now if you want to bounce a ball, you won't be afraid to break something because it'll break inside your phone. If you point your phone to your 60" plasma tv, and bounce the ball there, your dad won't yell at you.

Although these kind of games are still stuck in the screen, the screen plays an important role between the players' reality and the interactive environment inside that screen, it becomes the window, we are able to peek out, we can't step out yet, we're going to crash and fall, we need a ladder to finally bridge the gap between our world and the cyberworld.

Apps Report : BioWallet

Finally, those James Bond movies could be a reality for regular people like us. BioWallet fulfills the hunger for our future cravings. Imagine protecting your phone with not a password, a fingerscan, not even your voice.

Our phone is basically our life, everything from secret messages from your friends to controlling our home security, our identity is encrypted in our phones. Phones nowadays are becoming more and more and more personal. A random stranger can browse your phone, and find out 75% about you. Your birthday, parents, relationships, what you buy, the type of cuisine you eat, your favorite genre of music, passwords, bills, your personal style, etc. One might say, "well if your not stupid, you wouldn't put everything in your phone". The problem is, we want access to everything without diggin through all the clutter to get to what we need. We want to control everything, from our houses to our families, our phone is our ONE STOP SHOP to our life, although it won't walk your dog.

What is BioWallet basically? It's an app that uses the camera installed in your phone to scan your iris and it becomes the lock to your phone. As we all know, new media is always broken, it has bugs, it needs new features to serve everyones petty needs and it needs to be fixed.

Well how do we fix this? First off, the FCC (Federal Communications Commisions) should set a camera standard. A phone cannot be distributed without having at least a 5 megapixel camera. The higher the resolution is, the better results we're going to get from using an app like the BioWallet. Plus who wants a junk camera on their phone. This is the major problem they're faced with right now, that's why sadly they couldn't release the app just yet, because not everybody has 5 megapixel camera on their phone. It might be expensive, but we have to sacrifice even an extra $100.00 because it will definitely benefit a user in the long run.

PowerMat - Not as Great

Yes its revolutionary, but it's another broken new media device. The PowerMat compared to the regular charger that comes with our phone could be seen two ways. It could be a step forward to charging devices, or it could be just as bad. Yea, a few kinks here and there, but we want something that will really click to everybosy, something that will fuel everyone else, something that will make us hungry. The Iphone did that, now Droid is catching up,then Pre, and telecommunication companies WANT to have it, to rise above other challengers. I know we really can't serve the needs of everybody, but we have to fix it.

The PowerMat compared to the regular charger is flat. Its a mat that charges just about everything, NOT everything. It gets rid of all the tangling wires, overloading your wall plug, and getting a 50/50 chance of your phone being fully charged or ending up with a dead phone the next morning. It charges other devices too, so its universal. We could finally get rid of the wires that ends up being trashed after a year or two.Yay, for environementally friendly, hmm maybe.

Although it has decent pros, the cons we're faced with need to be addressed. The electronics that we have at home emit harmful EMF waves. Many people see this as an issue and some people are sensitive to EMF waves. What if the PowerMat can convert EMF waves to usable non - harmful waves to charge our devices. It could scan a limited area, like one's house, maybe 2100sq ft of searchable area to find a device thats low on battery and needs to be recharged. The EMF waves floating around the house could then be useful. This way if we want to use our devices while they're charging, we're free to roam around the house and do whatever with it, instead of waiting for it to charge on a flat mat where I can't do anything.

I myself, use my phone at night, I fall asleep with it, thats why I prefer my regular charger. Although the wire isn't that long, I'm still able to talk on the phone while it's charging.

This kind of technology isn't just limited to our house, we can expand to this to our outer environment, just imagine how mush EMF waves are floating around busy city streets. We can then install EMF wave converter in cities and everyone's devices would be charged.