Computers | Society

Saturday 30 March 2013

Canadian Text Message Privacy

In the past, police were able to get a full history of every text message you’ve ever sent with a general search warrant. Typically, search warrants are issued by court order based on an argument suggesting some “probable cause” for committing some crime.

Obviously, to have someone go through all your text messages ever is a huge invasion of privacy, even if there is some “probable cause” saying that you may have committed an entirely unrelated crime. But now, thanks to a ruleing from The Supreme Court of Canada, police will need to get a special Wiretap order- one which is tougher to get, and is taken more seriously.

I for one, am grateful to see that our Canadian justice system does take privacy seriously!

Check out the full story here.

sources:

Tuesday 26 March 2013

If Nobody sees a Tweet, Does it Still Make a Sound?

More and more in today’s society, social media is being used by businesses. A startup creates its very own facebook page. A company’s mascot has its own twitter account. etc. The typical purpose of any company to cross into the realm of social media is for promoting themselves, but this has the side effect of establishing a platform for end users to connect and share ideas.

This side effect is profound. It creates a way for end users to give feedback, ask questions, and more. But this also means that the company’s responsibilities have grown, and their quality of service now encompases this new platform. For example, if we have company XYZ and they create a facebook page for promoting themselves. All of a sudden, there’s a thousand people posting comments on this page, some negative, some positive, and many which require a response. If the company refrains from monitoring this page, any end users who post may feel ignored.

But how can any company keep track of an overwhelmingly vast populace of social media? How is any company expected to know what millions of people accross dozens of platforms might be saying about their product or service? Well, there’s software for it. That’s right, specially designed software which listens to social media- listens to what people are saying.

When i first heard of this software, i got the feeling of “big brother is watching”. It seems crazy and a little scary that there’s software out there which is searching; reading messages across all of social media, and it could include the messages I might have posted on my brother’s social media page.

Marketing Cloud is just one of these softwares, and it is used by companies to listen in on what might be said about their product. Below I put a little piece that I got off of their website

“Once you start listening on the social web, you want to be assured you’re not missing any important conversations. Marketing Cloud collects real-time social data from over 400 million sources, adding approximately five million new sources each week. Our historical archive includes more than 55 billion posts, and dates back to May 2008.

Marketing Cloud listens to conversations on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, forums, blogs, mainstream news, LinkedIn, image sites, and we’re adding new sources all the time.”

So what is my stake in all this? It’s to inform you that nobody knows exactly who is listening to social media. Software is out now, and it’s evolving rapidly. As the tools for analysis become more deep, new ways of listening to social media will be born, and it’s tough to judge what ways we might be listening for trends on social media in the future.

sources:

Monday 11 March 2013

Like Handing Candy to a Baby

The technology that was around when I was an infant is worlds apart from what the technology will look like when I have my own kids (within the next 10 years, going by average age of young parents in Canada). In the early 1990’s- when I was a baby, there was no thought given to letting your toddler interact with touch screens, simply because they didn’t exist.

Today, there’s lots of publications about the effects of touchscreens on early child development. Some say that letting your young infants use touchscreens could cap their social development, resulting in a kid who can’t make eye contact with people, and has an online avitar as a girlfriend. Other extremes of these publications say that children with no experience in technology will be far behind the rest of their group in terms of their ability to interact with these technologies and navigateing them in a productive manner.

The fact of the matter is parrenting is tough. While it’s easier to hand your kid a cellphone for a few minutes of peace and quite, do you really have a good idea of effect this might have on the kid? While reliable sources indicate that people of age less than 2 years should not be exposed to touchscreens, the long-time toy maker Fisher Price has just recently released an iPhone case which is rated for ages 6 months+.

The new inivative case is called the ‘Apptivity Case,’ and an image of it can be seen below.

This specialized case has a few unique function when compared to other cases on the market. First off, it doubles as a rattle. Moreover, it locks the iPhone so that it is stuck in 1 app, and the app can’t be changed without removing the iPhone from the case. This allows the case to be used by anyone, without worry of accidentally sending gibberish text messages to your boss.

I personally feel very unsure about how my kids(when i have them) will interact with technology at a very young age, and this view is not uncommon. I’m glad to say that I will have a lot more time between now, and when i have kids for more studies to be done. I’m interested to see the future implications of these studies, and how the relationship between modern technology and infants progresses.

sources:

Friday 1 March 2013

3D Printer - Paper Jam

3D Printers.

The act of 3D printing (also known as additive manufacturing) is to create a new object of virtually any shape. The shape is determined by a 3D-model file which acts as a sort of blueprint. 3D printing is achieved using an additive process, where successive layers of material are laid down in different shapes. When these successive layers are combined, the output is a realization of the desired object. In short, 3D printers work much the same as 2D printers- except they use materials like plastics, carbon fiber, or titanium to print in 3 Dimensions. Typical test-prints range from teapots to dragon sculptures.

The Declining Cost. The Increasing Popularity.

In the past couple of years, the concept of low-cost 3D printing has captured the hearts and minds of everyone in the industry, and even more. While low-cost 3D printing is still just out of reach, the fact is that it’s on it’s way; the demand is here, and it’s only growing. In line with this increase in demand, the cost of 3d printing is coming down considerably, and the implications are far reaching and profound.

What Does this mean?

Well, as 3d printers get cheaper, and more common, the range of things that people will print is going to broaden. With this in mind, there’s talk of how new laws will have to be placed to keep contraband under control. After All, what stops anyone from just printing a gun in 3D? The fact of the mater is that they will never be able to ban the production, and this causes a large problem to society. Essentially, the laws should hold for any contraban that is going to be produced within the comfort of your own home. These laws should not differentiate between having a gun you acquired off the street, from one you may have printed yourself. But how far will they take these laws? will the laws take root in a similar fashion to the music industry, making it illegal to give anyone a copy of proprietary goods.

Truly, only time will tell.

sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_printing
http://www.scribd.com/doc/123724205/Fabricated-The-New-World-of-3D-Printing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_3D_test_models
http://media.salon.com/2013/01/3d_printer_guns3.jpg (image)

Friday 22 February 2013

Crowdfunding; the Win-Win Senario

So what is crowdfunding, you might ask? The idea is simple, but it’s power is far-reaching. Essentially, the internet is being used as a tool to allow people who have similar ideas to get together in a way that they never have been able to before. But with this newfound power to bring people together, comes the power to create positive change. Now we are seeing the implications of crowdfunding; When a truely great idea pops up, people are willing to support it. Crowdfunding a way to achieve large financial funding via small donations by posting your idea on the internet- if everyone who believes in the cause gives just a little bit of money, than huge, seemingly unthinkable goals can be achieved.

Take for example the popular crowdfunding site - Kickstarter. They tag their services, saying “Kickstarter is a funding platform for creative projects.” This company is widely popular, and has funded over 90,000 projects since it’s conception. An astounding 38,285 projects have been deemed successful, and this number continues to grow. Kickstarter allows anyone to start a project and ask for funding. These projects are typically accompanied by a short video created by the project’s team, and spotlight’s their idea. Anyone can donate any amount to any of these causes, but it is typical for the project starters to offer some kind of a bonus for people who donate different amounts. (i.e. rewards for spending more)

So why does something like crowdfunding work? By skipping over the “middle man,” it allows backers to directly support their cause. This new idea seems to create win-win scenarios, where the amount of money cut out by the middle man is minimized. After all, who likes to “support a cause” and find out that any portion of their money is not actually going to the cause at all? This attractive new model can be (and is) used for anything from art projects to films and music, to technological and scientific research!

3 awesome kickstarters:

AirQualityEgg - a sensor system designed to allow anyone to collect very high resolution readings of NO2 and CO concentrations outside of their home. These two gases are the most indicative elements related to urban air pollution that are sense-able by inexpensive, DIY sensors.

3Doodler - The world’s first pen that can draw/print in 3D in realtime.

Oculus Rift - Oculus Rift is a new virtual reality (VR) headset designed specifically for video games that will change the way you think about gaming forever.

Who profits most?

Currently, the largest area of interest within crowdfunding are consumer electronics and video games. But needless to say, there are other great ideas and causes which are being taken up! For example, there’s tons of websites available where you can help crowdfund scientific research. Another example is the micro-lending based site KIVA, which allows you to loan your money to a cause and get paid back in full.

Implications.

It all comes down to the idea of cognitive surplus, a term coined by Clay Shirky. It’s the idea that everyone has free time in their life- but more specifically, free time that could be used productively but instead is being used to lets say, play on some iphone app. If somehow all the unproductive time of everybody in society could be aggregated into a huge resource, this is what is referred to by the term cognitive surplus. Typically, we say that cognitive surplus is an untapped potential to implement positive change- but crowdfunding is a way to get ideas heard, thoughts shared, and things done. Crowdfunding has become a call to action. As members of society, I believe we all have a responsibility to inspire positive change in this world. And while we aren’t obligated to do all the work that must be done, neither should we refrain from it.

In short, i think crowdfunding should be adopted by everyone- and if it was, who knows what could be accomplished?

Sources

http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/1azr7w/why_isnt_there_a_kickstarter_for_scientific/

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/edborden/air-quality-egg?ref=yir2012

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/MexicoSings/oceanic-verses-an-opera?ref=yir2012

http://thechrisvossshow.com/how-crowdfunding-works-infographic/

http://www.kiva.org/start

http://www.kickstarter.com/help/stats

Friday 15 February 2013

Alpha Beta

In today’s fast pased soceity, people expect products to be released often, and to be of high quality. A big part of developing any product is quality assurance; the way that products are tested, and the way feedback shapes a product is crucial. From where i stand, the best products use feedback as a two way communication- interacting with the consumer, and having their input shape the product is as much a part of the development, as sitting in a room as a design team and making decisions is.

For sake of interest, let’s take video games as an example.

Alpha testing.

The goal of the alpha phase is to improve the quality of the product, and ensure that the product is going according to schedule. Essentially, ensure beta readiness.

Beta testing.

The goal of the beta phase is to improve the quality of the product, integrate consumer input on the nearly-complete product, and shape/introduce the features which truly make the product shine.

So why are “Alpha” and “Beta” testing such well known buzzwords?

Exclusivity

They give exclusivity to games. People love the exclusivity of new things. If there’s a game that only one quarter of people who have interest can get actually their hands on, it suddenly gains a ‘cool’ factor because it’s exclusive. This helps develop ‘hype’ for the game, and is just as important from a marketing perspective (getting the name out) as it is from a development point of view.

Leaving your mark

Another major reason why people are so fond of their Alpha and Beta tests is to “leave their mark” on it. People like to get their hands dirty, and they like to get their ideas heard. When someone plays your game, they generally give great feedback- and they do so because they want to contribute to making your game better! It is fair to say that people are the only true representation of the consumer within the stages of development, and listening to their advice is crucial.

sources:

Friday 8 February 2013

Closing the Gap Between Technology and Real Life.

As technology and design continue to grow and innovate, the best designs typical provail. It can be argued that the best designs are the ones which are intuitive to use- the ones which help bridge the gap between tech. and real life. By this I mean that our gadgets should help us to interact with the world around us, rather than distract. I personally think that society will continue to select the most inherently intuitive designs, and help elevate and inspire toward the limelight.

Do people need buttons? More and more today, we see touchscreens becoming the norm, but it can be argued that people don’t get the necessary tactile experience that they subconsciously expect when interacting with a flat surface. This begs the question- do we (as people) need buttons on our devices? I personally think we do. In my personal experience, when I’m texting on a phone which has tactile buttons, the task does not require as much attention as if I were to text on a flat touch-screen phone. I don’t think it’s a matter of getting used to touch screens, and i don’t think that we (as society) are getting better at using flat touch screen devices.

Case 1 - cell phone buttons

I’d like to point to Tactus Technology’s recent showcasing of its next-gen mobile tactile tech at SID Display. The display physically morphs to provide tactile buttons on a touchscreen display. In my opinion, this is without a doubt the direction that innovation will take our devices in the next few years. check out a cool video about it on the link below

vimeo.com/6376466

Case 2 - The Eyewriter

The eyewriter is one idea of how we can bridge the gap between real life and technology. It allows the user a way to write on their screen by only using the conscious movement of their eyes! check it out at the link below.

http://www.eyewriter.org/

Conclusion.

I personally think that society will continue to select the most inherently intuitive designs, and this will push technology more towards the way it interacts with real life.

Sources

http://www.eyewriter.org/
http://www.tgdaily.com/mobility-features/63829-mobile-tactile-tech-gets-physical
http://www.futurity.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/robot_greeting_1-210x143.jpg ( image )