Friend Requests From Fake Children?

Olla Condoms  which is a Brazillian Company is now using Facebook to advertise their products. So how does it work? The company sends requests to men, such as John Smith. The friend request will be from John Smith Jr. with a picture of a baby and a little message about using Olla Condoms in order to prevent this. This is extremely strange to me. First of all, Facebook is not suppose to have fake people on it but there is always some way that things slip through the crack. Also, I personally think it's weird and a very unusual way of advertising. If I were a man I would be very annoyed if i got a friend request like this!

possible replacement of pelvimetry?

Typically doctors use pelvimetry to measure a woman’s pelvis and predict their adequacy for giving birth. However, pelvic size is not the only factor that determines how smoothly or unsmooth a delivery will go. In France, scientists have developed a new way of predicting how the birth will go. At the Radiological Society of North America’s annual meeting, they presented their results of the study they have been working on which predicts birth outcomes. Scientists used their software on 24 pregnant women. Their software captured the pelvis and fetus and also 72 possible ways that the baby may go through the birth canal. Next, the software gives a score of the chances of having a normal birth. The results are very accurate. This new software could very likely take the place of pelvimetry. The software would help women be better prepared for what their chances are for having a normal birth.

Facebook Phone

Rumor has it that Facebook is working on releasing a new smartphone. Apparently they already tried that once and it failed. The HTC Status was the first smartphone facebook put out there. It didn't do so hot and now you can get the phone free as long as you sign a two year contract. The first facebook wasn't a hit with the public so I think the second one won't be that great either. Only time will tell if theis facebook phone rumor will come true. We'll see..

Remote Control Hacker Device

Richard Perkins and Mike Tassey have made a hacker device that is controlled by a remote control. It took them 2 years to build the device and it cost $6,200. The device is capable of creaking into WiFi networks, intercept commuications for cellphone towers and emit jamming signals. However, the device can also be used for good things.
It is capapble of providing WiFi, service for cell phones in places who have been affected by natural disaters,and  it can look for signals in devasted areas. I doubt the idea will actually catch on. But it is amazing that a remote control device is capable of doing hacking and being used in helpful ways.

eBay's new idea

eBay now has an easier way to buy online but be able to pick up in the store instead of having to wait for delivery. Users can seach for prices on various items by entering the name of the product or scanning the barcode. Instead of just showing the price of the item at different onling reatailers like before, you can now see what local retailers have the product available and but it through an app. However, you can still make your purchase through PayPal, and eBay still makes a profit from your purchase. When you go to the store to pick up your item it will be waiting at a special window for you. Not many stores are onboard with this new idea yet but eBay is hoping they will be soon. This is one of eBays new ideas to try and be more mobile friendly. I'm not sure I would ever use this though. I guess it is a more secure puchase because you'e actually picking it up from a store and not buying from random retailors online.

new sensors to target people

 

Today, Euclid Elements will start using their new product which lets them know how many people come into their store, go past the store or enter their parking lot. They believe that this will help them discover how much time people spend in the store, and how many people passed the store but chose not to enter. How do they know all this? It is all based on smart phone capabillities. There's a sensor in the store that picks up smart phone signals from up to 60 yards away. As long as you have WiFi enabled on your phone the sensor will notice you. I suppose that the sensor will help the business accomodate better the their customers. They could learn what age group is targeted the most in their store, find out if they need to advertise better and much more. 

cast your vote on Twitter

Search "X Factor" on Twitter and tons of tweets will show up about what people think about the show. Simon Cowell actually reads many of these tweets. He reads the good and the bad and bases some of the changes on the show according the what the viewers think. Now the X Factor and Twitter are getting even closer. Next week people will actually be able to cast their vote on Twitter instead of calling in to vote. It's simple, all you do is go to the shows account and and send a message with your vote. This new development may attract more people to Twitter. Also, this could be develop into a new way that viewers can vote through various television shows.

MUSE on the rise?

Standford University is working on something called Memories Using Email (MUSE). It is a software tool that allows you to look through old emails that have been deleted a long time ago. Sudheendra Hangal is one of the people working on this new software and you can actually download MUSE from her website. You log in to your email and MUSE will look through your contacts and group contacts together based on shared messages. A timeline is also shown that displays how much communication you have had with a contact over time. MUSE also can identify emotions in an email by analyzing the email context. I think that MUSE could be useful if you need to recover and old email that was deleted a while ago or even just to go back and reread an important conversation that you had with an old friend.

potential advancement for Braile users

Over the past summer at Stanford University they discovered a new and easy way for Braile users to operate on computers. They have created a touch-screen Braile writer software that has everything to do with your fingertips. Basically there are eight keys, which are simialr to the Braile keyboard, and all a person has to do is set their fingers anywhere on the screen and they eight keys will adjust to where the person's fingers are set. If the user needs to readjust their hands, or step away from the computer, all they have to do is reset their fingers on the screen and once again the keys will adjust to their fingertips. The software isin't fully developed yet, there is still no vibration yet or voice support, but the idea of this new advancement for Braile users could be very helpful and easier for them to operate on computers!

Steve Jobs

On Wednesday, October 5, Steve Jobs died at the age of 56. He co-founded Apple in a Silicon Valley garage and changed technology forever. He introduced the iPhone, iPad,  iPhone, and many more devices into technology. Most think that Jobs was the mastermind behind Apple. Now that Jobs has resigned and passed away, we'll see how Apple survives without him. I think that Apple will do just fine because they are so established and everyone knows about their company and what they have to offer.

elevators 40 MPH?

Everybody loves elevators, right? They help us get up and down in buildings without taking the dreaded stairs. Well Mitsubishi Electric is constructing an elevator for the Shanghai Tower in China, which is 119 stories tall! The elevator is said to move 59ft/sec, which is a little over 40MPH! There will be 106 elevators in the building after the consturction is finished, 7 of these elevators will be the highspeed ones moving at more than 40 MPH. The building is supposed to open to the public in 2014. If China can have them so can we, right? Maybe after the building opens up to the public these fast speed elevators will become popular and come to the U.S. This would let us get scale the building at an extreme rate!

week 5. Apple will have TV's!?

Rumors have come out that Apple will introduce a TV late in 2012. Steve Jobs hinted about Apple coming out with a TV at the All Things Digital Conference last year. There isin't much info about the expected release of an Apple TV out yet, but I'm sure that if Apple really does release a TV it will probably be able to do more things than any of the TV's out now can do. I guess we'll just have to wait and see if Apple pulls through with the TV or not. And if it does, I'm sure people will be going crazy during Christmas time trying to get ahold of the new Apple Television!

week 4. Robots taught to think like humans

At Cornell University's Personal Robotics Lab scientists are working to make robot computers think like humans. They are trying to teach robots to learn new things by using what they are already programmed to know. They basically want robots to be able to generalize about things instead of having to program each and every thing individually. For example, instead of programming a robot to know that a specific kind of cup is a cup, they are trying to program the robots with general info about cups so that they will be able to recognize various types of cups. Also, it is easier for a robot to pick something up than put it down. When a robot sets something down they have to make sure that the surface they are putting it on is stable. It is easy for a robot to pick a plate up, but, to put it in the dishwasher upright is a bit more challenging. Cornell is working on making robots work as efficiently as they can without having to spend large amouts of time programming every task. I think that if they can basically perfect what the robot does then maybe some day in the future people will have robots in their house to clean and pick up after them. Humans are pretty lazy after all and a robot would be able to help out.

week 3. apps are taking over!

Apple comes out with new apps all the time. Here's one that's new. You can download an app called Postcard on the Run. All you do is take a picture of whatever you want to be on your postcard, write whatever you want to be on the postcard and the app turns it into a real postcard for you! It actually makes your postcard and will sent it to whoever you want! Maybe in the future noone will be postcards because everyone will be maing their own!

week 2

Will Apple Ever Learn?


One of apples employees took the iphone 5 prototype out and actually lost it! The employee left it at a bar in San Francisco. Apparently, the iphone 5 was sold on Craigslist for $200. Somehow apple traced the iphone to a house in San Francisco but the homeowners said they knew nothing about the phone. Last year the iphone 4 prototype was lost and now the iphone 5. You would think that apple wouldn't make the same mistake twice but they did! The iphone 5 is supposed to be released in October. I guess we'll see if that still happens now that the prototype is missing. We could be impacted because the lost prototype could cause a late release of the phone. I'm sure the iphone 5 will be able to do more things on a phone than any other phones out there and probably at a faster rate.

week 1

http://gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/01/hidden-app-lets-you-find-and-observe-burglars/

Hidden Apps!

Joshua Kaufman owned a MacBook that someone stole on March 21. However, because technology is so advanced today, Joshua was actually able to take a picture of the man who stole his MacBook through an app on his computer. The app he had on his computer is called Hidden. Joshua was also able to find out exactly where is MacBook was through this app. The app helped the police find and arrest the man who stole Josh's Macbook.  The picture above is actually the picture that was posted with the article when I found it. It is a picture that was taken through the app and it is of the man who stole the MacBook. I thought this was crazy that you can track a computer through an app ! I think that this story truely shows how technology has come a long way! I think that having apps that can track where an item is is extremely useful. I think that it could help a lot of other people who have technology related items stolen from them. This app could help many people get their stolen items back, just like Joshua.