Google Driverless Car

Google has been researching for more than a couple years, the possibility of not having to drive your car anymore. With laser, proximity and other kinds of sensors as eyes, and also with the help of GPS, Google Maps and Navigation, Google has been able to achieve driving without human interaction. Google currently has more than 300.000 miles of travel experience.

There are a lot of car accidents every year, most of them because of human errors. Google wants to reduce this rate by trusting more on a computer that cannot be distracted by other things to do. Google Driverless technology is being developed so that we can be sure that we will arrive to our destination when traveling. To insure this, Google has implemented a set of big infrared sensors on top of the car, which turns around to work as radar to detect whatever is around and so the car has the necessary information to know what action to take. Google has also included sets of other kinds of sensors such as proximity sensors on both sides of the front bumper as well as on the front of it. They have also included cameras to synchronize all the received information so that all that amount of information is completely accurate. For now they have a laptop in the passenger’s seat to monitor and see that every piece of information about the car and its surroundings is correct.

There have been a lot of tests made on this technology and it has been flawless so far. Although Google has developed specific routes to follow, the car itself has the capability to make its own decisions. This is possible because engineers make a layout of the routes before they put the car to drive. That layout allows the car to compare the information it receives with the layout to be able to differentiate between things that are supposed to be on the way, with random circumstances such as pedestrians or other cars. Based on the car’s “perspective” and the layout, the car makes the decisions. For instance, if the car is normally going on a normal street but perceives that a person is going to cross the street it will stop because the person will not be on the usual path.

There are currently 4 states that are making regulations in their law to allow the free transit of Google’s driverless cars. Probably in the upcoming years more states will join this cause allowing the commercialization of driverless cars. In a close future, having your car pick you up from work, picking up your kids from school while you are still at work, or simply sending it to park by itself right after you reached the front door of your destination will be normal and everyday habits that will make our lives even easier than today’s.

Glasses time…

Technology has evolved to a point where we do not know what direction this evolution will take us to, but we get a pretty good idea when we see that most innovations are going towards wearable computing. We can see that there are armbands like the MYO that will allow you to interact with your devices in a more touchless way. But there is another kind of technology that is currently being developed, and it is called Head Mounted Display (HMD). There is currently development being made by Google, with their Google Glass, Sony is also trying to compete from these earlier stages with quite a different idea, and surprisingly the Chinese company Baidu is in the process of developing the “Eye.”

First we’ll mention Google Glass, which is the one that is more popular than the other two. It consists of a pair of glasses that have the extra piece of device on one side, this device is supposed to be lighter than most glasses. This part holds a display to see the information on the top right part of your sight range. This device works with voice commands and it has a lot of functionalities among which are the GPS guide, internet search, and the most important part, the Camera which can take pictures and video at 720p HD. This device has been thought as a device that will enhance human relations to get a little more detached from our cell phones. Google Glass has released an early version of this product that is called the Explorer Edition, and they have been given it to select people, such as developers and testers.

Then we have the Sony device, which as of yet, does not have a name, but they are patenting their product. This device is different mainly because it will feature HMD for both eyes, which make it look a little bit more futuristic and less cyborgy. There are a couple of cool features that we can see from the patent application, like the fact that the lenses are not connected by a regular bridge. Also, the lenses are movable for better adjustment, and at both ends it will have ear buds for sound. It is interesting that to share information from one pair of glasses to the other you need to awkwardly stare at the other person’s glasses.

Baidu’s Eye, alternatively, has a different kind of model, which is a small LCD screen attached to a headset. This is not yet confirmed but leaked pictures show that these speculations are right. Baidu did not confirm any of the details about Eye, except that it is a project that has less attention from Baidu, and that they are certainly working on that project. What we also know so far is that this device’s features include specialized face recognition software.

These pieces of technology are as close as the fourth quarter of 2013; we should expect the best out of these devices. They will definitely be a huge change in the way we see and get our information; it will be totally hands free. So with Google Glass, as well as Baidu’s Eye and Sony’s Glasses, we will have amazing devices to play with by the end of this year.

One vs. Optimus G vs. GS4

There are three devices that are the best smartphones in the market today and the three largest mobile companies in the world are represented by them. We will talk about the Samsung Galaxy S4, HTC One, and the LG Optimus G, and a comparison in hardware and software is what we will see now.

Hardware, when we speak about connectivity we can say that all three devices are 4G LTE capable, they also have Bluetooth 4.0, all except LG’s phone have a infrared port which is mainly used as a remote control, and the rest of the known features are included in all of them. When we talk about measurements the Galaxy S4 is the most convenient, because it is at least 15 grams lighter than the other two. The most compact size also belongs to the Galaxy S4, while the G is shorter and wider, and the One is taller and narrower.

When it comes down to memory the HTC One comes in 32 and 64GB models, the G only in the 16GB model, and the Galaxy S4 has all of them. The HTC device, however, is the only device that does not offer a micro SD slot to expand the phone’s memory. All phones come with 2GB RAM and a Quad-core processor, and even though all include this feature, it varies form device to device. The HTC One has a 1.7GHz, the LG Optimus G has a 1.5 GHz processor, and the Galaxy S4 includes two models, the 1.9GHz Quad-core and the 1.6GHz Octa-core. Batteries differ in all three of them; the One has a 2300 mAh, the G 2,100mAh while the GS4 includes a 2600 mAh battery.

Cameras are also different; LG’s includes an 8MP rear camera and a 1.3 MP front camera. The HTC One has a unique Ultrapixel-4MP camera in the rear and 2.1 MP in the front. The Galaxy S4 includes a 13 MP main camera, while in the front it has a 2MP one.

Software, we know that they all include Android operating system but in different versions, the G has the lowest version of them all, with 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. On the other hand both the One and the GS4 include Jelly Bean; 4.1.2 for the One and 4.2.2 for the GS4. These devices do not differ as much as they do in hardware, but they include some cool features.

The LG Optimus G, has the QSlide, which is the capability of performing multiple tasks at once, QuickMemo allows you to write notes on top of your photos and personalize them, and finally Wise Ringtone that recognizes the ambient noise and adapts the ringtone volume to it.

The HTC One has Blink Feed, which is a new home screen with live tiles that show the information you want to see. They also have the BoomSound that consists of two la

rge speakers with built-in amplifiers which will be louder, clearer and sharper.

 The Galaxy S4 features very cool implementations, like Air Gestures, allowing you to make gestures and giving certain commands to your device without touching the screen. Air View allows you to hover over your device’s screen and getting information back. The camera also includes a variety of functions such as Drama Shot that takes 12 pictures and creates a time lapse of all the actions occurred. Dual Camera and Dual Video Call make use of both rear and front cameras.

As far as we know, if you want to have the best mobile experience you will enjoy it quite good with any of the three devices it will only depend on what you specifically need or want. If you want more convenience with memory, battery and camera the Galaxy S4 is your choice, on the other hand, if you want amazing sound and elegancy you will have to pick the HTC One, alternatively, if you want multitasking in its best expression, choose LG Optimus G.

Motion Sensing Technology

There is a trend in technology nowadays and it is not a new thing to talk about, but there have certainly been innovations about it. We are talking about the motion sensing technology (MST), this technology enables users to interact with their devices in a very different way. Users do not need to press buttons, they do not need to touch a screen to interact either, but rather, they need to use the movement of their bodies. The first one to make use of this technology was Nintendo, with their Wii game console, and from there on MST has been evolving. There are two main innovations since the Nintendo’s Wii, Thalmic Lab’s MYO and Leap Motion.

Leap’s Leap Motion is one of the most innovative devices of today’s world; some people call it Kinect on Steroids, but the creator of this product does not agree with that statement because he says that this tool will enable everyone to have a more realistic interaction with their computers. The only bad thing about this device is that it needs to be plugged in; even though you will not hold it in your hands it is pretty uncomfortable to have to plug it in to use it. But there are very cool ways in which Leap Motion can be used, and some of them are shown in their website.  They even have an app market where you will be able to download and buy very interesting apps, from business through games and all the way to multimedia. There is a music application that is being developed which enables you to play strings that you see on the screen. The only thing you need to do is move your finger and point the string that you want to play and move your finger up or down to play it.

Thalmic Lab’s MYO is another kind of Motion Sensing device that is different than the Leap Motion. MYO is a wireless forearm band, which actually detects the electrical activity in your forearm muscles. Your forearm’s muscles are a reflection of all the movements you make with your fingers, hand, wrist and arm itself. They took advantage of these reflections to create this innovative piece of device that detects and recognizes certain commands that you give by making signs with your fingers and by certain hand and arm movements. The cool thing about this device is that you don’t need to plug in anything or to be in front of a screen; on the other hand it could be uncomfortable to wear it on your forearm. There are a bunch of applications for this device that are also shown in their website, such as a wireless camera controller, a PC controller, and even a wireless helicopter toy controller.

So it will depend on how you want to manage your computer from now on, but definitely both are going to be a big competitor for the “old-school” mouse. You decision is probably going to be based on the price the MYO will have a retail price of $149, while the Leap Motion will only cost $80. Depending on your needs and on your budget you will have to make a decision, either way you will be doing a big technology “leap” in your life when you acquire one of them.

Teleportation (summarized for dummies)

Greek prefix tele- (meaning "distant")  Latin verb portare (meaning "to carry")

Teleportation is defined as, “The ability to move from one location to another without physically occupying time or space in between” (Wikipedia, Teleportation). This action involves dematerializing an object which will be transported, and then, getting and sending the atomic configuration to another location where it will be reconstructed.

We need to understand the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle to understand teleportation. This principle states that you can’t know the location and speed of a particle at the same time. The Uncertainty Principle has been the main barrier for teleportation for many years, but the Caltech group in charge of this research was able to get around it.

First, we need to know that in March 1993, the physicist Charles Bennett along with IBM said that quantum teleportation was possible by copying the object to be transported and destroying the original one. Since the 29^th of that same month, when they made a report in the Physical Review Letters, experiments have been made using photons -a particle of energy that carries light- and it’s been proven to be possible. There have been a couple of groups such as Caltech that have made some experiments. In 1998 the Caltech group successfully teleported photons across 1 meter, but how? They used a phenomenon called entanglement which needs three photons to achieve teleportation. This phenomenon basically needs (1) a photon to be transported, (2) a carrier photon and (3) a receiver photon. The information from photon 1 will be passed onto photon 3, creating an exact copy of photon 1. Photon 2 needs to entangle to photon 1 to carry the information and then this new photon will entangle with photon 3 to make a new photon 1 with the information from entangled photon 2,1.

This all sounds like such beautiful technology will be in our hands some time soon but not so fast. If we want to teleport bigger things, it becomes a little more complex. For instance, the dream of humankind, transporting ourselves, would need a machine to analyze every single atom in our body which is made up of around 10²⁸atoms, which is more than a trillion trillion atoms. Then we would have to send that information to the destination and there should be another machine which will reconstruct us exactly as we are. There is no room for mistakes; a millimeter of error would lead to neurological, physical or even psychological defects. And there is one other theory that suggests we should combine teleportation with genetic cloning digitization.

“In this bio-digital cloning, tele-travelers would have to die, in a sense. Their original mind and body would no longer exist. Instead, their atomic structure would be recreated in another location, and digitization would recreate the travelers' memories, emotions, hopes and dreams. So the travelers would still exist, but they would do so in a new body, of the same atomic structure as the original body, programmed with the same information.”

There are other applications in which we could make good use of quantum teleportation, one of them is that we can actually improve the way we see telecommunication nowadays. In 2002, researchers at the Australian National University were able to teleport a laser beam. This leads us to the concept of quantum computing which will lead us to develop networks that would be able to work with information at unimaginable speeds.  So imagine opening any kind of website or watching your favorite videos on you tube, any kind of information we send or download on internet nowadays would have not to be carried anymore but teleported. We don’t need to wait too much time until we see normal Internet becoming “Quantum Net.”

Sources:           science.howstuffworks.com, How Teleportation Will Work

                        en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teleportation