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!