In June 2008, Sweden’s parliament approved new laws allowing the country’s intelligence bureau to track sensitive words in international phone calls, faxes and e-mails without a court order. In the United States’ Patriot Act of 2001, the Bush administration authorized the National Security Agency to conduct warrantless domestic wiretaps, expanding wiretaps to Internet connections. Now, the US’s Cybersecurity Act of 2009 grants the federal government unprecedented power over the Internet, giving the president full authority to shut down Internet traffic if need be. And in Australia, the Surveillance Devices Bill of 2004 allows Australian Federal Police to obtain warrants for the use of data, optical, listening and tracking surveillance devices.

These are just a few examples of the fragile state of people’s online privacy rights around the world. There are however some initiatives taking place helping to ensure that a citizen’s basic right to privacy isn’t violated.

For instance:

Germany

Germany has been at the forefront of Internet privacy rights, doing its best to adapt German Basic Law to the demands of modern information technology. In 2008, the German Constitutional Court ruled that government surveillance of personal computers was a violation of its citizens’ privacy rights. A prior law passed in 2007 gave police and state officials the right to use Trojan horse software to scan the contents of people’s hard drives. The court acknowledged that this not only violated a citizen’s privacy rights but also a citizen’s basic right to “a guarantee of confidentiality and integrity in information-technology systems”. German law now holds that computer users have the right to trust their IT equipment.

German privacy protection officials have long now been skeptical of Google too. Their concerns are to the mass amounts of information collected by the search engine giant, all stored in servers located in the US. In 2009, several German federal and regional government officials even tried to put a ban on Google Analytics, Google’s free software tool that details search behaviour and statistics. Google’s Analytics tool remained within European Union privacy laws however, as it only aggregates anonymous user information.

Canada

When Google released its newest social networking tool, Buzz, Canada’s Privacy Office was quick to raise concerns. There was widespread alarm as to the fact that the program was automatically going through Gmail users’ emails and adding their most emailed contacts as followers. This left some users feeling more exposed to contacts they may not have wanted to share information with. Within four days of the launch, Google changed the Buzz auto-follow feature to auto-suggest.

Canada also released a report that criticized Facebook for retaining user information even after users closed their accounts. Though Facebook claimed it was willing to make necessary changes, as of yet, it has not followed through on its promises.

Canada is also a forerunner of Internet privacy thanks to its 2004 Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act. This act regulates how private-sector organizations collect, use, and disclose personal information, by instating stricter privacy policies.

Despite these steps towards privacy, this past summer the Conservative government put forth a proposed surveillance legislation in which Internet service providers would have to make it possible for police and intelligence officers to intercept online communications and get personal information about subscribers.

Switzerland

Google Maps’ Street-View, a service which allows people to view street-level pictures (including pictures of people without their knowledge or consent) over the Internet, has been highly criticized in Switzerland, a country adamant about privacy rights.  Swiss privacy watchdogs want Google to ensure that all faces and car plates are blurred; that it removes pictures of enclosed areas such as walled gardens and private streets, and that it declares at least one week in advance which towns and cities it plans to photograph and post online. Google for the most part declined to comply with the requests, prompting Switzerland’s federal data protection commissioner to take the matter to Switzerland’s Federal Administrative Tribunal.

Madrid Privacy Declaration

In November of 2009, privacy experts from around the world met in Madrid, Spain to draft an international standard for the protection of privacy and personal data. The Madrid Privacy Declaration is a substantial document that “reaffirms international instruments for privacy protection, identifies new challenges, and calls for concrete actions”. The purpose of the Madrid Standard is to become a binding international instrument.

Highlights:

Affirming that privacy is a fundamental human right set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and other human rights instruments and national constitutions;

Reminding all countries of their obligations to safeguard the civil rights of their citizens and residents under the provisions of their national constitutions and laws, as well as international human rights law;

Noting with alarm the dramatic expansion of secret and unaccountable surveillance, as well as the growing collaboration between governments and vendors of surveillance technology that establish new forms of social control;

For the time being, it seems security is taking precedence over privacy but with the help of nations striving to uphold privacy rights, there is still a chance to balance the two. Along with the Madrid Privacy Declaration, Google is also calling for international standards on Internet privacy. “The ultimate goal should be to create minimum standards of privacy protection that meet the expectations and demands of consumers, businesses and governments.”

Post from: Sherweb Blog

My opinion on the question is obviously tinted by my background in marketing. I understand that some individual consider privacy an absolute right and that many people are concerned about their privacy in an abstract sense. I believe that the concerns surrounding privacy and personal information gathered by websites could be largely diminished if consumers knew they were not just serving corporate interests, but receiving VALUE from “selling” their privacy. According to a Harvard quarterly business report published in 2004, customers have shown that they are willing to release personal information if they can profit by doing so¹. Furthermore, in a special report on social networking published by the Economist on January 30, 2010, Mr Zuckerberg, co-founder of Facebook, told an audience in California that he believed social norms had shifted and that people have become willing to share information about themselves more widely².

Richard Purcell, Chief Privacy Officer at Microsoft, argues that cookies are a great asset to companies and consumers. They facilitate shopping on the Web and help businesses tailor information and offerings for customers. To my knowledge and for as long as I can remember, there has never been total privacy in commerce. Companies and consumers have always exchanged information, and there has always been an assumption that organizations had to manage personal information in a responsible way. That continues today, but the flow of information has been accelerated and amplified by the spread of the Internet and other technologies. In a way, we have brought it upon ourselves! Information used to flow one way from organizations to consumers. Web 2.0 has open a bi-directional communication channel where consumers voice their opinion, critique, and ask more of what were once untouchable superbrands. These companies are now finding ways to better understand consumer trends in order to enhance their client’s browsing experience.

In turn, the need for trust has grown dramatically and I would give up my privacy in order to have easier-to-use websites as long as companies try to prevent abuse by empowering consumers, educating them on what information is being tracked, and enforcing tighter privacy regulations not buried in an obscure corner of their websites. It is of paramount importance that consumers know who is gathering information about them and that they be willing to participate. If consumers clearly understand how and why companies are using cookies, both sides can tailor the experience to fit users’ preferences without undermining the technologies being employed and without sacrificing privacy and security.

¹John Hagel and Jeffrey F. Rayport. “The Coming Battle for Customer Information.” McKinsey quarterly report 1997
²The Economist, Privacy 2.0 – Give a little, take a little, January 30th 2010 p.18

by Pierre-Olivier Descoteaux. Director of Sales, Marketing, and Communications at SherWeb, Pierre-Olivier has been with the company since 2005. He holds a bachelor of commerce from McGill University and a Master in marketing and communication from HEC. He is presently completing a Certificate in web intelligence from the University of British Columbia.

Bibliography
- Deniaud, Cedric. “Importance du web participatif pour les marques.” Le blog de Cedric Deniaud. Avril 27, 2007. http://cdeniaud.canalblog.com/archives/2007/04/25/4736686.html
- The Economist, Privacy 2.0 – Give a little, take a little, January 30th 2010 p.18
- Purcell. Richard, Chief Privacy Officer at Microsoft’s. Interview at Microsoft World Partner Conference in 2007.
- DfiAWING BY ELWOOD H. SMITH. “As consumers take control of information about themselves,companies will have to pay for it.” Harvard Business Review, January- February p.53-65
- McCreary, Lew. “What Was Privacy?” Harvard Business Review. October 28. p. 123-129
- Rotrou, Guillaume. “Web 2.0, nouvelle donne pour la publicité et le marketing.” Le Journal du Net. Octobre 24, 2006. http://www.journaldunet.com/tribune/061024‐rotrou.shtml

Post from: Sherweb Blog

How to Read the Comparison Graph

This graph will display some of the methods that are available to acquire your reading material. Top e-readers like the new Amazon Kindle, Sony Reader and the Plastic Logic Que Reader will be compared to the iPad, a converted Netbook and traditional paper reading material. These will all be given a grade ranging from low to high on certain characteristics that apply to general usefulness of the product; or in some cases a simple “yes” or “no”. Important characteristics will be scrutinized as such: how easy it is to carry around; the level of comfort and ease for reading; battery life span; durability; is there a glare and can the text size be adjusted for reading ease; is the read-to-me option available; can it play videos and; does it have a touchscreen.

Sony Reader

Plus Side: The Reader’s sleek frame, paper-like screen and built-in LED reading light make your reading experience as comfortable as possible.   If you need to take notes or highlight important sections of text the virtual keyboard makes this process nice an easy.

Downside: Other than the ability to play MP3 and AAC audio files to listen to with a pair of headphones the Reader does not have any additional features.

Price: $199.00 – $399.00

Kindle

Plus Side: The Kindle has all of the reading comforts that makes the Reader a pleasure to use; however, it comes with the added Read-To-Me feature.  This feature makes the Kindle a useful tool for long driving trips and is a great feature for the visually impaired.

Downside: The Kindle does not have a touchscreen, therefore, a QWERTYkeyboard is required to add notes or use the search feature.  The addition of a keyboard results in less room for the screen.

Price: $260-$489

Que

Plus Side: The Que is specifically designed to target business users.  It has the ability to handle any e-book in the ePUB format as well as a document created from the Microsoft Office suite.

Downside: As Wired put it, the Que is tall and slender with a fat price.

Price: $650.00 – $800.00

iPad

Plus Side: The iPad is not just an e-reader, it comes with all of the added features that the iPhoneTouch has.  This includes the ability to listen to itunes, watch videos, browse the net and add a wide variety of apps.

Downside: It is basically just a larger version of the iPhone.

Price: $499.00 – $829.00

Netbook

Plus Side: Low cost, ultra-portable, several USB ports, webcam, LED backlit screens, integrated speakers, Wi-Fi.  Microsoft Reader can be downloaded and this program has a text-to-speech feature.

Downside:As an e-reader the Netbook is more awkward to handle than the other models.  There is also the problem of the glow from the screen tiring your eyes.  In general the tech support is the major issue.  Corners had to be cut in order to keep costs low, so you’re looking at 1 year of support for about $199, 90 minutes for $159 and 30 minutes for $59. Ouch.

Price: $299.00 -$829.00

Paper

Plus Side: Disposable or permanent. Having lots of books in your house makes you look smart. You can lend it to friends. People won’t be inclined to steal it. Your reading material won’t disappear because of technical difficulties. 

Downside: Paper is clearly not the earth-friendliest alternative for reading.

Price: Newspapers will set you back $2.00- $4.00 at most, while books can depend if you are buying them new or used. You could always do something completely archaic like head down to your local library where reading material is as free as a bird.

The top e-readers appear to be as comfortable as reading an average novel; and the amount of space that can be saved is very appealing. Similar to how news on the internet is replacing print media this may be the future for reading material.

Post from: Sherweb Blog

Watch video:

Had they seen the skit? Do women work at Apple? “Surely no women were involved in naming it the iPad” was a widely-reTweeted sentiment.  It seems completely uncharacteristic of Apple’s usually superior marketing, but then again, is any publicity bad publicity? In the spirit of “I-can’t believe-they-actually-named-it-that”, here’s a look at some other terribly unfortunate tech product names.

email Stripper

EmailStripper is a free program for cleaning the “<,>” and other formatting characters out of your emails… it can also hang upside down on a pole while twirling rubber underwear.

I.beat Blaxx

In 2007, a German company called Trekstor began selling the I.beat Blaxx MP3 player, for customers seeking a pseudo-racist alternative to the iPod. It has since been renamed Blaxx.

Verizon’s G’zOne

Finally, a phone you can drop in the toilet and use right after! It’s the nation’s first waterproof phone, so it won’t get damaged while you use it to try and find your girlfriend’s g-zone.

DigiScent iSmell

The iSmell is a computer peripheral device designed to emit a smell when a user visits a web site or opens an email. With 128 “primary odors,” which can be mixed to replicate natural and man-made odors, the iSmell is a frightening concept with an even more disturbing name…

Tonium Pacemaker

The Pacemaker is the world’s first pocket-size DJ system and mixer. Sounds like it could also come in handy for controlling abnormal heart rhythms after popping too many pills.

iMuffs Bluetooth headphones

iMuffs make your iPod experience wireless so that you can enjoy music even through a large bush of pubic hair.

Automated Box-Jenkins (a.k.a AUTOBJ)

Behold the BJApproach

Automatic Forcasting Systems developed several software products for data modeling and forecasting including the AUTOBJ, the BOXX and the AUTOBOX.

Zune

Poor Zune… the device sold just over two million between its debut in November 2006 and May 2008. Apple sold roughly 76 million iPods during that same period. To make matters worse, in Hebrew, Zune means penis.

Wolfram Alpha

Though it was voted Popular Science’s greatest computer innovation of the year in 2009, it’s highly unlikely that “I’ll just Wolfram Alpha it” is ever going to replace “I’ll just Google it” in the popular lexicon.

Post from: Sherweb Blog

In reality, five and a quarter million car accidents (one every six seconds) occur each year in the US alone.

With startling numbers like this you’d expect the government to perhaps implement longer, more advanced training programs for new drivers, or stricter penalties for reckless road behaviour.  Something, anything, to lower those numbers to let’s say, four million.

Nope.  Rather than fix people’s driving, we’ve decided to fix the cars.  Manufacturers are cramming all kinds of gadgets and technology into cars so as to make complicated manoeuvres like driving in a straight line and parking in between two lines more manageable.

The following are technological advancements designed to prevent accidents and to make the roads safer.  But in the end, aren’t we just creating a new generation of crappier drivers?  You can be the judge.

Intelligent Parking Assist System

Admittedly, parallel parking is one of the toughest things for a driver to learn.  It requires a keen sense of your car’s space in relation to the curb and the two cars you’re trying to squeeze in between.  Plus you’ve got the added pressure from the drivers behind you, making you feel as if they will burst into flames of pure rage if you take one more precious second.  Well now there are cars that will do the parking for you.

In 2003, the Toyota Motor Corporation introduced their Intelligent Parking Assist System (APGS) for their Prius Hybrids and later for the Lexus.  An onboard computer hooked up to cameras and sensors would evaluate the parking space and would reverse parallel park the car into the spot, with very little effort from the driver.  Simply align your front seat with the front bumper of the adjacent car, throw that baby into reverse and the car will take care of the rest.

First of all, no computer system can recreate what spinning the steering wheel 12 times in both directions can accomplish to squeeze into tight spots.  The IPAS will only park in a spot with 3 feet of clearance on each end, which for anyone who lives downtown knows, are about as easy to find as unicorns.
Secondly, the system is extremely slow, which will only cause spontaneous human combustion from the impatient drivers behind you.  By the time you’ve aligned your car properly and engaged the IPAS, two scooters and a Smart Car have already taken your spot.

Lane-Keeping Assist System

On long road trips, a car’s cruise control feature can be extremely useful, freeing up those feet for more important tasks like heel clicking and hacky sacking.  Well now, not only do you not have step on the gas pedal anymore, but thanks to the Lane-Keeping Assist System developed by the Honda Motor Company, you no longer have to worry about that annoying steering wheel.  In order to help drivers avoid swerving, a camera installed inside the front window captures images of the lane the driver is in.  If swerving occurs, the system makes the necessary corrections through the power steering wheel.

First of all, if you’re swerving out of your lane you are one of three things: incompetent; hammered; or asleep.  If you are the first two you should have your license taken away. But if you happen to fall asleep, there should be a system in place to WAKE YOU UP should any swerving occur, and not an onboard Anti-Nap-Disturbance device.

Collision Mitigation Brake System (CMS)

Employing the same technology as the Intelligent Highway Cruise Control (IHCC…all these technologies are acronymed to spare people from saying so many words), the CMS uses a radar to detect any other vehicles within a 100 meter range.  If cars get any closer, the driver will be alerted to the increase in danger, and if an accident is unavoidable, the system will tighten the seatbelts and will activate the brakes to soften the impact.

We seem to constantly be replacing our natural instincts with technology.  When you turn your head for seemingly no reason, only to discover someone is staring at you, you are witnessing some of the last remnants of millions of years of survival instincts, warning us that a predator might be near.  When we are on the road, all our senses should be about us and heightened to the max.  If we are unable to realize that cars are getting too close, and that chances of a collision are rising, then perhaps we should not be on the road.  Good drivers should be able to evaluate situations without the help of radars, assisted steering, or assisted braking.

Remote Touch Navigation Controller

The 2010 Lexus RX is stuffed to the rafters with technology.  The interior looks more like a traveling entertainment centre than a luxury automobile.  Taken from the Toyota.com pressroom, is the following passage which we will examine a little more closely:

“Both the Bluetooth AVP and the USB/iPod connector allow the driver to control their music by using the onboard audio controls found on the steering wheel, dashboard and on the navigation screen allowing the driver to focus more on the road ahead. The RX also features an available Dual-Screen, Rear Seat Entertainment system with a 12-speaker audio system.”

This sentence should read, “We’ve removed the Bluetooth AVP, the USB/iPod connector, the navigation screen, the dual-screen rear seat entertainment system, along with half a dozen speakers, allowing the driver to focus more on the road.”

An onboard GPS system is one thing, but a navigation system complete with a computer mouse-style joystick where you can move a cursor around the screen is getting a little out of hand.  Laws are being implemented to prevent people from texting while driving, and yet Lexus is adding a dash-top computer for people to scroll through.  By placing the screen high up on the dash, and by adding a navigation joystick next to the driver, Lexus feels they are “Freeing the eyes and mind for more important tasks.”  Well, if you truly want to free the eyes and minds of drivers on the road then you should think about freeing the cars from computer screens and videogame controllers.

The truth is, driving is not very complicated or difficult, but as crash statistics indicate, driving just isn’t for everyone.  So while onboard technology is certainly exciting for those who’ve mastered the pedals, the mirrors, and the steering wheel, perhaps we should be making sure this technology doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.

Post from: Sherweb Blog

Motivations

There are many types of hackers out there. The more traditional ones hack in order to uncover and understand the ins-and-outs of a technology, tweaking and breaking codes to discover new possibilities. Many of these guys (and yes they are often male) are committed to the open source scene, developing and sharing code with the purpose of improving the IT infrastructure. Unfortunately, these types of vigilante hackers are increasingly outnumbered by those hacking for monetary gain. In 2007, it was estimated that 67% of those who engage in web attacks are profit-motivated.

The motivations of hackers can be subdivided into four categories:

1. Money

As stated above, 67% of hackers get into cyber crime for monetary gain. Whether it’s stealing people’s bank account information, fraudulently obtaining money or property by altering computerized information, money is the primary motivation behind cybercrime.

Famous money hungy hacker: Albert “Soupnazi” Gonzalez

Albert Gonzalez was a former informant for the US Secret Service who helped the agency hunt hackers. That is, until they found out that he was also working alongside criminals and feeding them information on ongoing investigations. Gonzalez was the mastermind behind the combined credit card theft and subsequent reselling of more than 170 million credit cards and ATM numbers from 2005 through 2007—the biggest such fraud in history. In addition to the card numbers- counterfeit passports, drivers’ licenses, Social Security numbers, birth certificates, college student identification cards, health insurance cards, were also sold at auction.

2. Freedom

Many hackers believe that the Internet should be free and that all computers should be completely accessible. They could also have a political or social agenda where their aim is to vandalize high-profile computers to make a statement. These types of hackers are also known as hacktivists, or Neo Hackers. In general, most hacktivism involves website defacement or denial-of-service attacks. In more extreme cases, hacktivism is used as a tool for cyberterrorism.

Famous Freedom Hacktivist: Gary Mckinnon

Gary Mckinnon is a British hacker who went unnoticed for years hacking NASA, the US Army, US Navy, Department of Defense, and the US Air Force. Considered the biggest military computer hack of all time, Mckinnon was looking for evidence of UFOs, antigravity technology, and the suppression of “free energy”. US authorities claim he deleted critical files from operating systems, which shut down the US Army’s Military District of Washington’s network of 2,000 computers for 24 hours, as well as deleting US Navy Weapons logs, rendering a naval base’s network of 300 computers inoperable after the September 11th terrorist attacks. They claim the cost of tracking and correcting the problems he caused was $800,000.

McKinnon has denied causing any damage, arguing that, in his quest for UFO-related material, he accessed open, unsecured machines with no passwords and no firewalls and that he left countless notes pointing out their many security failings. He adamantly disputes the damage and the financial loss claimed by the US as concocted in order to create a dollar amount justifying an extraditable offense.

Watch interview with Gary Mckinnon:

3. Love

Love is a many splendored thing… until you become suspicious of your partner’s fidelity. There are lots of spying and hacking resources on the web for those trying to catch a cheater. So, for those weary that a boyfriend or girlfriend, wife or husband might be two-timing, what better way to use computer hacking knowledge than to tap into your suspect’s computer!

Famous Love Hacker: Lorenzo Tucker

Lorenzo Tucker is a certified computer forensic examiner (CCFE) and certified hacking forensic investigator (CHFI) who helps suspicious partners catch love rats. Even if they have deleted an incriminating e-mail or text message from a computer or cellphone, it can still be retrieved. Moreover, he follows specific procedures that make the evidence he gathers admissible in a court of law.

4. Personal gain

In hacker culture, a script kiddie or skiddie is often assumed to be a juvenile using scripts developed by others to attack computer systems and networks either to impress friends or gain credit in computer-enthusiast communities.

Famous script kiddie: Jeffery Lee Parson a.k.a. T33kid

Jeffrey Lee Parson was an 18-year-old high school student from Minnesota who was responsible for spreading a variant of the infamous Blaster computer worm. Parson only modified the original Blaster worm, already prevalent, using a hex editor to add his screen name to the existing executable, and then attached another existing backdoor, Lithium, and posted it on his website. By making this subtle modification, authorities were able to trace the name back to him. The program was part of a DoS attack against computers using the Microsoft Windows operating system. The attack took the form of a SYN flood which caused only minimal damage. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison in 2005.

Post from: Sherweb Blog

10. 3M/Littmann Electronic Stethoscope Model 3200 With Zargis Cardioscan

The stethoscope hasn’t undergone many significant breakthroughs until now. 3M’s new stethoscope listens to a patient’s heartbeat, captures the sound for later playback, lets you transmit sounds real-time to your PC, which can then be further analyzed, attached to medical records, or reviewed online with colleagues.
The sound-amplifying 3M Littmann Electronic Stethoscope 3200 will not only be able to catch dangerous murmurs and heart defects but will also eliminate more than eight million unnecessary echocardiograms and cardiologist visits a year, saving some $9.4 billion.

9. Android Phone

The Android has proven itself a force to be reckoned with, offering a legitimate alternative to the all-mighty iPhone. If you haven’t heard, Android is a Google-backed operating system for cell phones. The code is free, open-source and easy to alter. Users can create their own interfaces and control many kinds of hardware, plus it has over 10,000 Android apps.

8. The Smart Thermostat

Called one of Time Magazine’s “best new gadgets” and “breakthrough ideas of the year”, the EnergyHub Dashboard is a device that lets you know exactly how much electricity (or gas) you’re using in your home and how much it’s costing you. It also turns appliances on or off and raises or lowers temperatures within your house depending on use. EnergyHub will be available direct to consumers in early 2010.

7. Robotic Exoskeleton

Still in its developing stages, powered exoskeletons are very clunky body suits designed to provide mobility assistance for aged and infirm people, giving them 10 times their normal strength. Similar to an Ironman suit, the military has also been working on their own version in order to assist and protect soldiers. Other possibilities for the exoskeleton include rescue work, such as in collapsed buildings. The device would allow a rescue worker to lift heavy debris, while simultaneously protecting the individual from falling rubble.

6. Microsoft Project Natal

Microsoft’s prototype system dubbed Project Natal is giving a whole new meaning to gaming: gaming with no controller at all. Your movements and voice control the game. The hardware component of the Natal system includes a color video camera, an infrared emitter and sensor that give it depth perception, a mic that figures out where you are, and a microprocessor to crunch all that data. The software component digests data in real time from 48 points on the body, plus audio input and delivers perfectly smooth game control.

5. XM25 Counter Defilade Target Engagement System (i.e. The Smart Bullet)

The XM25, currently under development for the U.S. military by Alliant Tech systems, allows soldiers to measure the distance to a target using a laser range finder, dials in exactly where the bullet should explode (over or past walls, the corner of buildings) at precise distances. At a cost of $30/round, the bullets are equipped with microchips capable of registering distance according to the number of times they’ve rotated.

4. Teleportation

Okay, so we won’t be seeing teleporting machines on the market for a while, but scientists at the University of Maryland’s Joint Quantum Institute successfully teleported data from one atom to another in a container a meter away. Atom-to-atom teleportation has major implications for creating super-secure, ultra-fast computers. Maybe one day, humans as well.

3. NASA Kepler Space Telescope

To boldly go where no man has gone before- but could potentially- NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope launched in March is tasked with searching habitable Earth-like planets in distant star systems. Using a photometer that’s more than three feet in diameter, Kepler is now continuously observing some 100,000 stars located between 600 and 3,000 light-years away. Scientists hope that Kepler could find dozens of habitable planets during its three-to-four-year mission.

2. The Electric Eye

MIT researchers are developing a microchip that will enable a blind person to recognize faces and navigate a room without assistance, helping the blind to regain partial eyesight. The chip, which is encased in titanium to prevent water damage, will be implanted onto a patient’s eyeball. Users are required to wear special glasses fitted with a small camera that transmits images to the titanium-encased chip, which fires an electrode array under the retina that stimulates the optic nerve. The glasses will help to power the coils surrounding the eyeball.

1. Sixth Sense

SixthSense is a wearable gestural interface that bridges the gap between intangible digital information and the tangible world. Using natural hand gestures to interact with information SixthSense is comprised of a pocket projector, a mirror and a camera which allows you to interact with objects in a way never before possible. You can take a picture simply by framing scenery with your hands or even hold up an object at a store and find out all relevant information about it. SixthSense essentially makes the entire world your computer.

Post from: Sherweb Blog

Computers

The ENIAC (Electrical Numerical Integrator And Calculator)

Developed in 1946 with the help of military funds the ENIAC was made up of 70, 000 resistors, 6,000 manual switches, 1,500 relays, 17,468 vacuum tubes and 5 million soldered joints.  All of this combined weighed a total of 30 tons and took up 1,800 square feet.

CompuLab’s Fit-PC Slim

This miniature PC might not look like much since it only measures 4.7 x 4.5 x 1.6 inches and weighs less than one pound.  However, this miniscule computer has a 500MHz AMD Geode LC800 processor, Ethernet and 802.11b/g connectivity, 512MB RAM, three USB ports and other features that make it a fully functional PC.

Portable Phones

The First Cellular Phone

The first phone call made from a personal wireless communications device took place in 1973 by Motorola’s Communications Systems Division Martin Cooper.  The cell used for this public demonstration weighed in at 30-ounces and resembled the size and shape of a brick more than a telephone.  Ten years later Motorola released the trimmed down 16-ounce “DynaTAC” for public use.

Modu

The Guinness World Record for the lightest mobile phone in the world was awarded to the Modu in 2008.  This tiny handset is 2.8 x 1.4 x 0.3 inches and weighs in at only 1.41 ounces.  The Modu may be the world’s lightest mobile but that does not mean that it does not have the same capabilities as any other average sized handset.

Portable Music Players

The Walkman

When Sony released the Walkman in 1979 the public had never seen anything like it before; this blue and silver gadget featured a cassette player and the first set of lightweight headphones to hit the market.  The first units came equipped with two headphone jacks so that you could share music with a buddy.  The small microphone that could be activated by a “hotline” button allowed one friend to speak to another over the music.  The Walkman came in at 135 x 90 x 30millimeters and 0.4 kilograms.

iPod Nano

With the Ipod Nano it is possible to store up to 4,000 songs for your listening pleasure.  This far surpasses the average length of a cassette for your old Walkman.  With 16GB it is possible to upload up to sixteen hours of video that you can watch.  The new versions even include a video camera.  It is incredible that such a small machine can offer all of this and only weigh 36.4 grams at 90.7 x 38.7 x 6.2 mm.

Portable Computers

The IBM 5100 Portable Computer

The portable computer hit the scene in 1975 with a big bang, literally a really big bang.  Weighing  55 pounds this unit was transported in a carrying case.  It was based on a 16-bit processor module that was called PALM (Put All Logic in Microcode).  The unit also included a processor, hundreds of Kilobytes of read only memory for the system software, up to 64KB of memory, a five-inch CRT display, keyboard and a tape drive. This may appear large compared to today’s standards but if you take a look at the first computer at the top of this article this would have been a large accomplishment during that period.

Dell Mini-Netbook

The name of this PC points out the size right away, it is mini.  With a N270 processor, 160GB harddrive, 1GB memory and wi-fi capability it is impressive that all of this can fit in to a 10.25 x 1.06 – 1.11 x 7.19 inch frame that only weighs 2.5 pounds.  Then again when you consider the CompuLab’s Fit-PC Slim this is not too hard to imagine.

Cameras

The Collodion Wet Plate

This type of photography required the photographer to evenly coat the glass plate with the collodion solution immediately before it was to be used; all subsequent stages such as the sensitizing, exposing and developing were required to be done while the plate was still wet.  This type of photography not only required a large camera but easy access to some sort of a dark room as well; since these early cameras were usually accompanied by a tripod and sheet it seems like taking a picture required a lot of tools.

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W290

Digital cameras allow the photographer to view their pictures right after they have been taken; and with a memory stick they are able to hold hundreds of pictures that you can then upload to you computer.  This particular model is quite compact at 3.9 x 2.4 x 0.9 inches and weighs only 0.9 ounces.

Televisions

Prior to WWII most TV sets were so expensive that only the very rich could afford them.  The RCA 630 TS came with a cabinet and 10-inch screen that made it a standard in TV technology after WWII.  This unit weighed in at a massive 85 pounds not including the stand.  Moving this in to an upper apartment would have been quite difficult.

High Definition Televisions (Toshiba 40RV525R 40″ Full HD LCD TV)

These high definition televisions offer high quality and clear picture, take this model for example which offers 1080p Full HD.  It has a 40-inch screen but the whole unit is only 3.8 inches wide and weighs in at only 42.1 pounds.  It is a lot less bulky when you strip away the large cabinets.

Television Remotes

Zenith Electronics Corporation released the first TV remote control called “Lazy Bones” in 1950.  This system used a cable that ran from the TV set to the viewer and a motor in the TV which controlled the dial via the remote.  Its functions included switching the TV on and off and turning the dial up or down.  This was popular with consumers but there were complaints about tripping over the cable.

Hangzhou Hiye Electronic Co., Ltd.

In contrast to all of the pieces required to change the TV channel with the “Lazy Bones”, this minimalist remote can actually be used as a key ring.  With dimensions as small as 3.5 x 6 x 0.6 centimeters this remote needs to be attached to your keys because it would be much too easy to misplace it.  Just don’t lose your keys.

Audio Recorders

Blattnerphone

Magnetic recorders were introduced in the 1930’s as phone recorders or dictating machines.  This particular unit is a Blattnerphone which recorded on to a steel 3 millimeter wide reel of tape.  Some Blattnerphone units required the use of one or two A.C. motors to operate.

Edirol R-09 Field Recorder

This recorder has built-in stereo microphones, records to SD memory cards and can fit in to the palm of your hand.  It can also record uncompressed MP3s or WAV files, which it can later transfer to your PC through a USB port.  At just over 4 inches tall and weighing 6 ounces, it is impressive that this unit can offer 24-bit stereo WAV recording.

Media Players

VHS Videocassette Recorder

The 30 pound JVC HR-3300 was released in 1976 to play Video Home System (VHS) tapes.  Due to its longer playing time, quicker fast-forward and rewind capabilities and a less complex tape transport mechanism the VHS would beat out Betamax as the dominant home entertainment media player during the eighties and nineties.

Portable DVD Player (Philips PET1002)

The DVD has replaced the VHS as the most common home entertainment media player; and it is even offered in a portable unit.  Complete with a 10.2 inch this portable media unit weighs a total of 3.5 pounds with the lithium-ion battery.  A portable DVD player like this is also capable of playing CDs, MPEG-4 and DivX video files as well as MP3 and JPEG CD-Rs.

If you were to take all these various forms of technology and build a super robot like in Transformers, the result would be tiny:

Post from: Sherweb Blog

Smartphone Ultrasound

Computer engineers at Washington University in St. Louis received a $100,000 grant from Microsoft and used it to merge a USB-based ultrasound probe with new Smartphone technology. The result is a hand-sized ultrasound machine that allows doctors in remote locations to image a person’s kidneys, liver, bladder, eyes, veins and arteries in order to detect any problems. This could be a significant breakthrough for developing nations, where over 70 percent of people have no access to needed medical equipment such as MRI scans or CT scanners.

According to William D. Richard, Ph.D., WUSTL associate professor of computer science, and David Zar, research associate in computer science and engineering, this technology could become the essential computer of the developing world. They believe 21st century medicine is defined by medical imaging, and integrating their probe-Smartphone for medical applications in developing countries could drastically change medicine and global computer-use on a grand scale.

Nanocomposite Contact Lenses for treating diabetes

Replacing the need for diabetics to draw blood in order to test their blood/sugar levels, this technology developed by Chemical and Biochemical Engineering professor at the University of Western Ontario, Jin Zhang, embeds nanoparticles into hydrogel lenses, which react with glucose molecules found in tears and cause a chemical reaction that change one’s eye colour. These specially made contact lenses for diabetics would continuously alert them to variations in their glucose levels simply by looking in a mirror.

Robotic Surgeons

Though they have been around since the late eighties, medical robots are increasingly being used to assist in surgeries, reducing the danger of human error and giving way to more precise processes for performing intricate tasks. The robotic model behaves similar to a person’s arm, enabling repetitive, controlled actions, appointed by the surgeon from a computer. Medical robots have been utilized in cardiothoracic surgery, cardiology and electrophysiology, gastrointestinal surgery, gynecology, neurosurgery, orthopedics, pediatrics, radiosurgery to treat tumors, and urology to remove cancerous prostate glands, repair obstructed kidneys, repair bladder abnormalities and remove diseased kidneys.

Neuroprosthetic Chips to prevent seizures and control artificial limbs with mind

Researchers at the University of Florida are developing devices which can interpret signals in the brain and stimulate neurons to perform correctly. The initial aim of this technology was to correct conditions such as paralysis and epilepsy. The chip would be implanted directly into brain tissue, where it could gather data from signals, decode them, and stimulate the brain to function properly. One of the eventual goals of these advances is to one day make it possible for a paralyzed person to control a prosthetic limb just by thinking about it.

Multimodality Hybrid Imaging Technology to detect prostate cancer

Developed at Lawson Health Research Institute new hybrid imaging technology could detect prostate cancer in the most effective way yet. Whereas previous technologies had limited capacities for measuring prostate-specific-antigen (PSA), new hybrid imaging technology could measure the exact amount of PSA found in the blood stream. Researchers hope to use advanced imaging to form a GPS-like system of the prostate that will allow doctors to better target the cancer prior to treatment.

Artificial Wombs

With eerie semblance to Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World the artificial uterus (or womb), is a mechanism that is used to grow an embryo outside of the body of a female organism. Amniotic tanks are filled with amniotic fluid which is maintained at body temperature. The embryonic umbilical cords are attached to external pumps which regulate nutrient intake and waste outflow.

Medical check-ups from home

The monitoring and supervising of people’s state of health, particularly for the elderly or disabled, is a growing necessity. Consequently, the Instrumentation, Sensors and Interfaces Group of the UPC’s Department of Electronic Engineering in Castelldefels, Barcelona, is working on a system that will enable patients’ vital signs to be monitored in domestic environments. The Group has designed a system that simultaneously detects heart and respiratory rates that function with force sensors, equivalent to the ones used to measure weight in conventional electronic weight scales. Ultimately, they are trying to develop sensors that will not require contact with the person being supervised in order to have the least possible impact on their daily lives and activities. Advancements are already underway to implement a home medical check-up system through household items such as chairs. The check-up system would only take action when strictly necessary.

The Future of Medicine

According to Daniel Drell (U.S. Department of Energy) and Anne Adamson (Oak Ridge National Laboratory), in a not so distant future, “medical records will include your complete genome as well as a catalogue of single base-pair variations that can be used to accurately predict your responses to certain drugs and environmental substances.” Medical interventions will become more specific to the individual and eventually, medicine will be used to predict susceptibility to specific diseases allowing people to alter their lifestyles in order to reduce the likelihood of developing such diseases or be treated with preventive or disease-delaying medicine.

Post from: Sherweb Blog

Vampire Stars

Not only do these stars have a name more badass than badass but they may have helped scientists understand dark energy, the energy that occupies most of our “empty” universe. And, according to scientists this is expanding the universe at an accelerated rate. Vampire stars are stars that have collapsed and are almost dead that start sucking the hydrogen off of one of its healthy neighbours. Scientists use vampire stars to measure the increasing size of the universe by comparing the strength of the light they measure over time.

Grand Star-Forming Region

And you thought all stars were born in Hollywood. This swirling mass of interstellar gas punctuated with super-massive white hot stars is one of the universe’s star nurseries. Every single one of those bright blue points is an enormous star—some as much as 100 times larger than our sun—many of which will probably supernova in the near future (say in the next million years or so), returning their cosmic components back to the cloud from which they were born. Pictures like this one have helped scientists learn all about the life cycles and behaviours of stars.

Stellar Death

For a long time we knew that stars appeared and stars disappeared, but we knew very little of the particulars of what went on. The mystery of Johannes Kepler’s “new star” haunted and teased us for 400 years. That is until the Hubble appeared. With our lovely space telescope we’ve been able to witness the births of stars, their spectacular ends and everything in between.

The age of the universe

Humans have put forth some pretty wacky theories concerning the age, size and nature of the Universe. From the idea that all objects in space were painted on a giant globe surrounding Earth, to the idea of the Universe as moving but fundamentally static and unchanging, to the now popular framework of the universe as an expanding dynamic system, our understanding has leapt forward. But one of the greatest leaps came when scientists paired the Hubble with the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe. Using these two pieces of technology scientists were able to determine the age of the universe to one per cent accuracy (results so impressive they put them in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Hyperactive galaxies

It’s pretty easy to assume that all galaxies form in pretty much the same way and at pretty much the same rate. But you know what happens when you assume. This year, scientists found what they’ve dubbed “hyperactive galaxies.” These galaxies are way smaller than our Milky Way and it’s estimated that the stars inside them rotate at speeds up to a million miles an hour.

Other planets

Well, it took us a couple hundred years to find all of the planets in our own solar system but only a couple of decades to start discovering them in other solar systems. As early as 2001, scientists began spotting planetary masses around far away suns. It got them so excited that NASA launched the Kepler project, a mission designed to find other habitable Earth-like planets in the galaxy.

Deepest visible-light pictures

Standing on the earth’s surface, humans only get a glimpse of what the cosmos have to offer—even when they’re not standing in a light polluted city. But all that changed when we sent the Hubble into space. As the technology on the massive space telescope has advanced, humans have been able to see deeper and deeper into space. Recently, a newly outfitted Hubble took the deepest visible-light pictures of the universe ever, showing people that what we’ve thought for centuries was just vast empty black is actually full of galaxies and stars.

Blackholes

If you think the theory that all galaxies revolve slowly around a supermassive black hole at its centre was always a given, think again. It was the Hubble telescope that helped scientists spot those monsters. We’ve also recently spotted much smaller stellar mass black holes gobbling their way through the galaxy.

Runaway Stars

A lot of people are crushed when they hit a certain age and discover that shooting stars are just bits of cosmic debris colliding with our atmosphere and burning up. The stars aren’t moving at all! Well, if you number among the disappointed, prepare to have the magic and wonder of your childhood reinstated. Turns out that the Hubble has located fourteen runaway stars careening through the universe kicking up cosmic gas and taking names. All of these stars are young, only a few million years old. Scientists estimate that they move at about 112,000 miles an hour.

Brown Dwarfs

Brown Dwarfs aren’t very bright, are horribly anti-social and very difficult to find. If they were human beings, they’d probably be a lot like that kid that in your fifth grade class everyone voted most likely to turn up on the FBI’s most wanted list. Brown Dwarfs are protostars that never quite made it to being real stars (couldn’t flame on). And while scientists haven’t been able to find many of these wannabes—only 12 in all the space we’ve been able to investigate—the ones they’ve found seem to hang out exclusively with each other, like the three grouped off to the corner of this picture. While they won’t be seen near a real star, clusters of two or three Brown Dwarfs have been spotted colluding in the corners of the universe.

Post from: Sherweb Blog