OK, so we're living in "the worst economic environment in our collective lifetimes." Tough luck. Stop sniveling! It's the Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa Holiday Buying Season. We need to shop our way out of this financial unpleasantness! Apply for more credit cards and home equity loans, move in with your parents or kids, switch on the computer, and let's start consuming.
No fingers are required to find out if you're within range of a wireless Internet signal. Buy a battery-powered WiFi Detector T-Shirt that pulses blue when an 802.11b/g signal is present. Alas, this is sooo 2006. The t-shirt really needs to detect 802.11n, EDGE, and 3G. In addition, it should be integrated to a classy display on your personal area network via Bluetooth or WiFi. I suggest pairing it with a programable scrolling LED belt buckle that displays something like, "I Haz Netbook." The buckle is not, unfortunately, wireless, but I can hardly wait for that to happen, especially when geeks hack into it to make your pants fall down.
A WiFi t-shirt is classic, but nothing screams "View my Web profile!" more than the W-41 t-shirt or sweatshirt with its camera-phone-enabled design on the back. Shoot a photo of the design, and it will link to any Web page. Just make sure you downloaded the W-41 phone app, or you'll be shooting with blanks. Perhaps you'll get lucky and the woman (man?) of your dreams will sport BlackBerry earrings. However, any true wireless geek should be able to mod BlackBerry jewelry to make it functional.
If you've partied like it's 1929 in your new t-shirt and want to snooze going home, go ahead! Don these elegant sleep goggles to display in chic scrolling red LEDs the name of your bus or train stop. An attentive fellow commuter will wake you when it's time to disembark. For true utility, the goggles should incorporate wireless location technology that will wake you, preferably with lights flashing inside the goggles and loud sirens emanating from earphones.
Don't forget the kids! Augmented reality books, including an atlas and Aliens & UFOs, are on the way this season. Employing Metaio technology, the books require a computer with a Webcam and a software download. Hold pages in front of the Webcam, and the computer screen displays 3D graphics floating above the pages.
To ensure that all your gadgets are easily accessible, especially when flying to your next wireless Internet convention, purchase the "fashionable" e-Volve Gadget Shoulder Holster with its specialized pockets and pouches. This is a must for wearing at airline security checkpoints. Too bad it doesn't incorporate speakers and lights (LED, of course) that are set off by X-ray equipment. The perfect accompaniment to the holster is this stunning Pink Wolf luggage.
Still can't find gifts for your loved/unloved ones? Pick up a Target gift card that incorporates a camera (but, alas, no cellular) or a Best Buy gift card that includes a mini-headphone jack, cable, and speaker (what, no Bluetooth?!) for plugging into an MP3 player.
Since my columns are about the future... for your 2009 Holiday Buying Season, fall asleep under your SkyV high-definition skylight (which I hope contains wireless access). If you're having trouble sleeping, take two wireless iPills, avoid the flesh eating disease, and call me in the morning.
I agree that humans have enough problems dealing with other humans, let alone dealing with another intelligent race. Perhaps if we ever find another intelligent race we will be smart enough many years from now to be able to deal with it.
Humans already can bond with robots, as I noted in my ThinkerNET column about downloadable personalities that are being researched. So it's not just possible, but highly likely, that humans will treat robots as "friends." Perhaps that category could be in my 2020 geek buying guide....unless a robot writes it!
For software/devices that don't require a great deal of code, perhaps we can get to error-free software. But so much software is so complicated that perhaps the best we can do is "error-reduced" code.
Perhaps we will get to the point where software is able to check itself for errors.
May be one day we will really be able to see such robots e.g. emotion robot . But i doubt if it is possible to have divine effect in such robots but on the other hand their exitence would really help improving quality of life may be even emotionally.
And when we talk about creatures on other planet they have to deal with creatures of thier own kind even if they are more intelligent than humans but i just have concerns regarding human social capbities cannot be maintained in human-less interactions. Or might be i am over suspicious.
I find this article intertsing when we talk about error free coding. Although an old article but one can feel the basic problems that are haunting error free softwares.
If robots (software) can feel emotions and be self-aware, the line between humans and robots does indeed blur. It's not as if scientists aren't trying to develop A.I., as I've written.
Many people believe humans have a "divine spark" that comes from God or Gods, and no robot or software is "touched by God." Frankly, doesn't that put a limit on a supreme being's capabiilties? Perhaps a God could imbue software with a "spark."
With possibly millions of billions of planets in the universe (who really knows?), should we say that human "intelligence" is the only "real" intelligence. It seems incredibly egotistical to me!
I'm afraid, however, that none of my "Geek Buying Guide" suggestions include an emotional or self-aware robot. Maybe next year!
Although I hesitate to use the word "never," I don't know if we'll ever get great -- or even good -- customer support from many companies. Good customer support is expensive, and companies either can't afford it or want to use the money for other purposes.
As for hope for error free coding? I wouldn't bet on it!
I fear if robots are going to wipe out the human being as social entities then it will hit the very root of the existence of human beings. Will it not impede the basic social qualities of man ? Fro example if mercy care love etc etc are taken away then what would be the difference between a man and a robot?
Sorry fo rlate reply. In fact my senester just ended and was very hectic. Anyways nice and insightful comments. Thanks!
As far as costumer support is concerned it is more of a headache than a solution. Getting good(reasonable) response from costumer service agent is itself an art :). Sepcially when it comes to the bugs in software that is not mentioned in any manual(as they can simply refer to the manuals and they are non-technical), is ofcourse questionable.
While increased complications in programmaing and related bugs for more sophisticated electronics and increased storage capabilties, I wonder if there can be any hope for error free coding?
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It is difficult to underestimate the value of wireless data in Haiti in aiding relief workers and residents in wake of the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that hit the country on January 12. Quite literally, wireless data has been a life-saving technology.
I'm cautiously optimistic that Apple's iPad will be successful because it's Apple-like and non-Apple-like. Those characteristics have major advantages and disadvantages that affect the value of the iPad. UPDATED 12:25 PM
May the gods be praised! Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) has finally unveiled what appears to be its online file storage capability -- a so-called Google Drive or GDrive -- for consumers and businesses.
Hysteria has reached fever pitch as techies around the world can hardly contain themselves until January 27, when Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) is rumored to be announcing its new tablet computer. Also, during the past several months, interesting tablets and concepts for tablets have been unveiled by other manufacturers. The New York Times has called 2010 "The Year of the Tablet."
In Charles Dickens's classic story A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge asks the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come about scenes he will be shown from his future: "Are these the shadows of the things that will be, or are they shadows of things that may be, only?"
Smarter Collaboration: How to Thrive in a Challenging Business Environment Market conditions are changing faster than ever, and organizations need to improve their agility and adaptability in order to provide better service and improve processes. The ability to work with customers, business partners, and employees as effectively as possible - while at the same time holding down costs - is a key to success. READ THIS eBOOK
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As enterprises leap into the Web 2.0 world of blogging, commenting, and social networking, just 'being there' won't deliver ROI. You may want a 'Web Evangelist' to systematically harvest the feedback in order to polish your product or service.
Saunders is wrong on Hulu, Fritz thinks. By most measures it's been
a success, and there's no reason this model won't become even bigger in the next three years. Oh, and he hates Steve's hat.
It’s Alvi and the chipmunks! Eduify CTO Rafat Alvi talks about how distance learning can help entitled Bay Area prepsters learn remotely using their iPhones.
Meet Leo Prieto, the "anti-Murdoch" of Latin America, and founder of www.betazeta.com, one of the region's largest and most exciting social networks and content aggregators.
Cellular operators, netbook manufacturers, and, of course, techies, have been eagerly awaiting a hands-on experience with Nokia's new netbook, the Booklet 3G. Reiter's got his hands on one, and tells you whether it's worth the wait.
YouTube launches 'YouTube Direct' to give 'citizen' journalism a better platform and in so doing may just ensure that 'quality' journalism soon becomes a thing of the past.
Evidence shows that you can tweet too much. Sites and services like Twitter and Facebook are a good place to reach your audience, but think quality over quantity.
Research shows that the youth of today like Facebook – but not blogging or Twitter. Does that mean Facebook has won, or just that it's not yet out of favor? Will all the services we see today fade into Ovaltine-or-Wheaties status in just a few years?
What kinds of companies are doing the most innovation in the data center? Turns out it's midtier enterprises that are taking the "Just Right" approach.
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