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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When government officials talk about information “transparency,” they don't mean augmented reality (AR). But AR will play a major role in enhancing government transparency, although it won't be welcomed by many officials.
I am somewhat addicted to the Internet, and I like visiting Finland. But the Finnish government's declaration that access to broadband Internet is a legal right waves a red flag in front of many people, including me. That said, despite the inflammatory nature of the concept, it has more merit than you might think.
T-Mobile
customers with Sidekick cellular phones might have the dubious "honor" of experiencing one of the worst-ever consumer cloud computing meltdowns in the United States -- if not the worst.
While Google introduces its new Chrome OS (which I'm hearing will be widely available in one year? Did I mishear that?), IBM announced 10 new products today to help companies using IBM System z mainframe technology.
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.
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.
A digital content market is emerging. Only two things are known about it: the first is that at some point the Internet will primarily become a paid network. The second known factor is that there are innumerable variables in the digital content market that have yet to be worked out. It’s not known, for example, exactly how users will pay for content (micropayments, subscriptions, bartering of farm animals, other).
Routesy is an iPhone application that uses the phone’s GPS to let the user know where and when the next train or bus is coming. The application’s developer, Steven Peterson, talks about why a mobile application makes sense, especially given that this transportation information is already available on the Web.
Bad news! By eliminating the world’s digital divide we’re likely to create a new divide: the information divide, where we end up creating a two-tier Internet where access to 'quality' content is controlled and charged for by mega-corporations, and the gulf between information haves and have-nots is entirely dependent on how much money they have. This is, of course, an almost exact inversion of the current situation on the Internet – where access is expensive and content is free.
Good news! The cost of Internet infrastructure, services, and access devices has been plummeting at an accelerating rate over the last 10 years and will approach a point in the next 20 years where these technologies become so fantastically cheap that ubiquitous, low-cost, high-speed networks, storage, and access devices will effectively eliminate the digital divide for most of the world's population.
The city of San Francisco is on the leading edge of using the Internet to provide government transparency. It is providing WiFi for its have-nots, and its DataSF.org initiative is putting the city's valuable data back in the hands of its citizens, with innovative results.
Industry initiatives and government stimulus funds are giving enterprise software vendors a great opportunity to help build out and manage smart grid technologies.
The problem with telepresence is that it's not universally accepted, because video calling isn't. While we can all do video calling, we also apparently worry too much about how we look. If we want HD telepresence in our future, we have to dress down, mess up our hair, and dive into our online life.
The US loses about $20 billion a year on pirated software, movies, and music. But public policy can help stem the tide of digital theft. For example, France has recently passed a 'three strikes and you’re out' law, whereby if after two warning letters an individual continues to download pirated software then his Internet access will be cut off. US policy makers should consider adopting similar policies.
Financial management planning does not need to include Voodoo economics, but it does help to tap into the knowledge base of your team through some sort of real-time system. We explore your options.
When Reiter gets incensed over incompetent Verizon FiOS order-taking and support, he broadcasts it via Twitter. Did it do any good? How should your company offer Twitter support? Watch this for all the answers.
The successor to the BlackBerry Bold 9000 – the Bold 9700 – will be available soon in the US. Is it worth upgrading? Reiter's got one, and offers advice.
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