The Invention that will Change the World

Hey guys! What's up? So sorry I couldn't post an entry last Monday, sort of miss it, no excuses though. The thing is, I wasn't home all day (like you wanted to know that) and didn't have a chance to update my writing. Funny thing though, I was in an interview and you may know how it is, there're always certain questions that can't be missed.

The classics are always present: Why would you like to join us? How do you see yourself within the next 5 to 10 years? You may have an answer already prepared (most people have one), chances are you say something that has been heard quite a lot. Just a few times there are some questions that really keep you thinking and challenge you in order to find the best answer. As you properly guessed, I was given one of these questions, as a matter of fact the one embedded in the title of this entry.

But let me narrow the question a bit, since it refers to a relatively new invention, seen on any media (TV, internet, magazine and so on). Since the interview theme was engineering I immediately began to scan in my mind any 'modern' and 'eye-candy' sort of answer. I didn't want to provide a cliché nor something completely ridiculous. Also I didn't want to say something the people asking will know beforehand, so I took my time. To be honest I thought about one or two good (but sort of boring) answers, so I tried to come up with a better one.

All of the sudden I start talking about what was the 'background' of my actual response, in other words I was explaining why I picked the invention in question. So I began by referring this book called 'Physics of the Impossible' by Michio Kaku. This is a pretty good book, since it explains in mortals language how science is well beyond science fiction. All the things you thought as a kid were possible only by watching movies or reading comics today are most of all true. Rockets to the moon (and beyond!), electric cars, communication systems, and many others are today's reality. So if you ask me is not crazy to attempt to find the new inventions in this type of sources.

So I listed a bunch of inventions I recall reading from this book, not mentioning specifically one, but more of expressing my liking for this book... I thought I was off the hook. Politely I was told to name specifically one from my list... there is when I really started to think harder, not because I wasn't able to pick one, but because all the inventions I talked about were not a today's reality... inisibility cloaks, internet contact lenses, medical measurements on the fly, the list went on and on. What to do? Well, better pick one.

And fair to say, I did choose an option, and now that I think of it, it actually didn't go wrong at all. What would you say if you had been in my shoes? Is there an invention that has changed your life or everybody's life for that matter? Leave all you comments down below and hopefully you can come up with something really nice! I leave you all with the start of the World Cup... wait! The opening game is about to begin!

If You'd Unfriend and Unfollow the World

And so I was reading the other day how social networks are being so popular to us, to the point when we no longer need to face someone to tell them how good friends they are. It's a no brainer, I know, but if you think about just for a bit you'll agree we are still learning from it all. From kids to adults we all use these services and all seems to be in harmony (for the time being).

Five years ago we didn't use these websites, either because we didn't know about them or some were still using diapers. Now we can spot their full potential, not only keeping in touch with people we hardly see, but also to keep in touch with people we see all the time, and that is just the tip of the iceberg. Then we had the chance to upload our own pics. Long are the times where you had to take a bunch of snapshots, then you needed to go to reveal the film and come back later to get your pics and then going to some friend's house to share them and to see half of them were out of focus. And now all is done without standing from your seat.

Then it came something even better: videos. Not only we were given the chance to upload photos and share them with the world (or with anyone who would like to watch) but also our videos could be seen online. Now all this could be done in one website and in one account. The rest is pretty much history… we keep track of birthdays, invitations, friends we didn't know we had (literally!) and all in a seamless experience our parents would do anything to had it when they were our age… or even younger.

And if you noticed, I've just sticked to one website: Facebook. The other one worth talking is Twitter… whoever thinks it's just a toy they don't know its potential, because it is a toy, and then some more. Again, it all started as a way to keep track of friends activities, what they do in a regular (or important day), but then we were taught it could be done so much more. Advertisements, news, networking, trend topics and the list doesn't stop there.

People a bit more conservative think of it as a threat to privacy, a world with less secrets, and they're right in their own way. Though many are capable of turning on a gadget or a computer, not many are capable of handing such a responsibilities with themselves. I'm not saying there should be a school to learn how to use Facebook or Twitter (would be funny though) since that knowledge is called responsibility and common sense, and we gotta learn it daily in life.

The more registered friends you have or people you follow are mere numbers if you never see them in the real life, treat a friend as such, both online and offline. All this amazing services are changing the way mankind lives, to the point where some people pay more attention to Facebook's relationship status than the real status of a couple. 

And it's funny to think about the word unfriend (it's 2009 word of the year by the Oxford American Dictionary), even they can create words and make them real. As a final thought, for many people (not all, of course) if you lack of social networking is like you're off the radar, you simply don't exist in this virtual world. Everything has grown so much that it seems if you don't take part in these sort of networks is like you'd unfriend and unfollow the world with just one click.

Infected with a Virus?

Don't you just hate it? Let's say, you just turn one your computer, you wait long enough to load up all apps and before you know it there's something wrong in your life. Computer seems so slow, can't access your beloved files, your computer gently asks you to restart itself… and your cursing shows in no better timing. You don't say it, you can't read it but you know exactly what's wrong… in a word? A virus.

Not that is happening to me right now, but for whatever reason I just remembered how it feels when you have something tremendously important to do/read/write in the computer, something that can take just 2 min of your life on a good day, but it may take all morning when your computer is infected. We have fought these guys before, and luckily I feel today is sort of less frequent to encounter them in out daily life.

Since we know how to stop them (more or less) now the thing is, for some people to find different applications of computer virus in other grounds. And, needed to say, these viruses not only show up in computers, but as you may be aware, it's also visible in phones, chips, videogames consoles and practically all sort of software electronics, now that can be huge!

But a new application for computer viruses may be a bit 'out there', someplace you may overlooked and never thought it was possible… what if I tell you your body can house a computer virus? I know you would hardly believe me, so if you fancy know what's going on you're in for a treat. The place? University of Reading in the UK… the man responsible? Dr. Mark Gasson… the crime? He contaminated a chip with malware and he inserted it in his hand.

The results? Well, we didn't get sick, let's say he just shared the sickness all around. He was able to pass the virus along different devices just by standing close to them, computers, devices and the likes. What's so ingenious about it? Well, if you ask me I'd say the fact that your computer can be infected wirelessly (not using wifi) is sort of frightening, and not only computers… have a smart phone? Just by standing next to the wrong guy you'll be needing a new one. And I don't want to be mean, but what about people with pacemakers or earring implants? Now this is dangerous ground.

Not all is bad, since instead of seeding viruses we can also seed good stuff as well to improve the very same devices we could potentially harm. They actually came up with a name for all this new trend, if you wanna sound fancy the name is digital implants. Sounds cool, just hope it's actually a good thing.

What can we say of such things? Imagine how this things can be sort of normal a 50 years down the road? If you could improve one of your senses which one would it be? Have fun thinking about it, if you like leave a comment and hopefully we'll read each other later one this week! Take care!

Google Street View

What's new guys? Right now I'm just chilling a bit after spending over 8 hours in a bus, kinda tiring, the movies were alright, but there's always a certain point where you get all tired up of looking at the screen and for whatever reason, you spend way more time looking at the road outside… trees, rocks, clouds, whatever you can find and you immerse in your own thoughts, to the extreme where you may not remember a thing you saw, since all looked so familiar. Maybe an iPod might be our best friend in such experiences.

Anyway, I had a meeting in this building, which I never saw before, and in certain city I never visited, but believe it or not I knew exactly where to go, what to do, where to eat and finally visited one or two tourist spots around… but how did I do it? I knew exactly how the building looks like, needed no further directions to get a meal or to snap a couple of good shots. A new best friend helped me out… Google Street View.

Probably you've heard about this free service provided by Google, if not, let me break it down for you: Street View is a service seamlessly embedded to Google Maps, and what this service does is to provide you with fully detailed pictures of the surrounding as if you were driving on the street. Whatever public place you can see from you car in real life, you can see it from your computer… pretty cool huh?

Just go to google maps, grab that yellow fella from the zoom scale in the upper left and drag him to the exact spot you want. I showed this to my dad and he, for the lack of a better word, sort of freaked out. He understood right there the full potential (both good and bad) of the Street View. No need to say all the kindness this service brings to our lives… need to go to a friend's house you hardly remember the address to? No problem, just follow the streets and as soon you recognize certain details, you'll see the porch and the door in no time. What about the other way (sort of my case)? I just had an address, just type it down and you're there… is that easy? Yes, it is.

And, like you've heard before, is like taking a tour without standing from your seat. Wanna visit other countries? No problem, you can ride the streets of Spain, England, France, Canada and many others just dragging and clicking on your mouse. Downsides? Well, from my point of view what this does is simply making public knowledge, well, more public. I mean, if you have directions or an address (which are public) you can view now with no effort the real place (again, which is public). People who mean harm to us might take advantage of this tool, but is just like -for example- a hammer, which it's also a public tool (you can go and get one from the store) and you can either build a house or hurt someone… decision is up to you. Same with Street View.

Regardless is a fantastic tool you can access from you computer and you should definitely give it a try (if you haven't already). What's your favorite place on Earth? You can watch it as if you were right there! Leave all your comments right below and you can also attach the links to the places you like the most there… keep enjoying your week and see you next Monday!

Superpowers… in the Real World

What's up? So… another Monday, is alright, we've discussed it before and now we gotta start our week. All I gotta say regarding last week is… what's going on with the weather? I know you know what I'm talking about, these heat waves are growing bigger, let's hope nature isn't trying to make up for the cold winter we just had.

Now… topic of the day: Superpowers. What's up with those? Well, I don't need to throw at you the whole 4-1-1 of them since you pretty much have the knowledge… flying, x-ray vision, super strength, you know them all, of course, in the science fiction. Maybe you've picked up a comic book or watched a cool movie and you wondered at least once what would be like to have one of these superpowers, but what if I told you that some of these abilities are being performed by real people in the real world? And I'm not talking about using special lenses, an airplane or a suit, I'm talking no devices here.

It turns out science has made possible some dudes and gals to have certain abilities we consider -for the lack of a better word- amazing! Not sure exactly how we can explain some of this, but it's real and they live among us. The first example I can think of is this german baby I heard some time ago with a strength beyond ordinary, he was born in 99 and his nickname is 'Das Uberboy', and what scientists say is that there's a real genetic mutation (sort of X-Men) and his muscles are all ripped.

There are less 'obscure' cases (since that german kid has never been seen), such as Ben Underwood, his superpower is called 'echolocation' (for me the best new name for a superpower). It turns out he can't see, but it looks like we could, since we plays ball, skates, writes and all using and incredible techniques involving the echoes on things bouncing back at him, pretty much as a bat… that's a superpower Batman would be dying to have! An incredible note, Ben also can play videogames… but how? Don't ask.

As a final example are some Buddhist monks, who apparently are some sort of Pyro from the X-Men (second time I quote the comic), since the generate heat energy from their bodies to the point when they can put on fire certain objects. They do so with a meditation technique called Tum-mo, that way they lower their metabolism and control their body temperatures. Researchers still can't say how this works, but it's known the practical implications and even astronauts can benefit from all this.

What do you think? Sure there are many more examples, but how do these occur? Is not like science cannot explain it, more like scientists can't, because all has an explanation. Do you know anyone with any cool abilities? Any sort of explanation you may have about any superpower? If you could have one of them… which one would you like? (Please don't say something like: the superpower to have all superpowers) So many questions! Leave all your comments downtown and if you want to know more about it check out the vid! See you next Thursday!

iAds

Hey! What's up guys? Enjoying life so far? Recently I've been very active checking out readings, programs, music and the likes, so I guess is fair to say my week has been great… sort of waiting for a phone call and a response from one or two applications, so that keeps me intrigued. I can't wait the time to relax a bit, maybe doing nothing on the internet or maybe just watching the TV and have a laugh. And that is exactly what I did yesterday!

You know how it is, after a long day of work, you just get home and the first thing you want to do is to take those shoes off, lay down in that nice couch you have there, grab the remote and simply submerge on that big box called TV, you don't want to know nothing about life for a while, so you  find your favorite program and… what? Oh yes… advertisements. And I don't mean one or two, I'm talking about a marathon of those… +10 ads between shows, don't you just love them?

To be honest with you, I don't. The thing is, I don't mind one or two to pop up between the show I'm watching, but sometimes things get out of hand… a lot. And not just by quantity… oh no… I'm talking quality too. Little by little the ads guys think the audience is getting dumber every day and some ads are practically an insult, all just to buy their products or services. Thankfully not all ads fall into this category, there are some ads that I really like and they sell their product quite well, but these are rare and sadly not enough.

And keep in mind I've just talked about TV ads, but they're the tip of the iceberg. Ads are now everywhere. Let's talk about what could be our average day. Wake up, turn TV/radio (ads), take a shower, breakfast, drive to work (ads on the radio, street, bus stops), get to the office, check the post mail (paper ads), get a magazine (more ads)… and that could be just our morning. But we've adapted to all this bomb, to the point of reaching the fact that, we don't care what we hear/see anymore, nothing connect to us and we get things we've consumed since always. Now another form of propaganda is hitting our way… web ads. They seem to be less intrusive, less interactive, but they're there and sometimes they don't look very pretty, others are great and you expect to see them more often, sadly they're minority.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying ads are all hideous and should be banned for life, but I guess what I'm trying to say is, mostly all ads are not made in a way the audience connects to the product, advertisers just want to sell, sell and sell at any expense. Sorry, I don't bite that anymore. Gladly there are few ads out there that dare the audience, make them think and, as I said earlier, they click with the public and, even if it sounds corny, people fall for their product or service. Hopefully as technology gets more powerful we also get a bit smarter and take advantage of it… just saying!

Well, guess that sounded like a harsh letter, but I bet you fell the same like me in some ways. What's your favorite ad? Is it in TV, radio, internet… maybe a magazine? Do you think hi tech can do something about it to make it better? Leave all your comments below and hope to see y'all next week… in the meantime… have a great one! 

Happy Internet Day!

Happy Monday everyone! (yeah, right). I think we all know how mostly all mankind feels about the beginning of a brand new week. Since the dawn of men the first day of the week has had a sort of bad reputation since it's seen as the 'same beginning of a different journey', I sense we can do something different about it, you know, try to embrace it as any other day (hard to do so when thinking in Friday), but always keep in mind this: 'What would be of Fridays without their Mondays?'

Just imagine, what's the first thing you do a Monday morning? Turn off the alarm clock? Or maybe turn on the TV to check out the news or maybe your computer to check out your mails? Bet you have some sort of connection with technology and internet at some point, sometimes it even feels like it's been there forever: YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Google… the list goes on and on. We keep in touch with family and friends and all seems right in the world.

Well, if you feel thankful in any way with this let me say: 'Happy Internet Day!' to you. That's right, today -May 17th- has been entitled as the 'Internet Day'  around the world. I mean, if there's a Taco Day, why in the world can't it be an Internet Day? Now, a real question… who decided to have an Internet's day, and why in such a date?

Well, it turns out both questions have answer. In 2005 in Tunisia there was this Information Society gathering, and there it was proposed and approved the creation of an Information Society day (less fancier words: Internet's day) by the UNO. What about May 17th? You got me there… maybe all other days were taken, I don't know. As a side topic, May 17th's also YouTube Anniversary… coincidence? And what's done today? Well, apparently it's a chance to boost and enhance the Internet to all places (most important to the people who don't have access to it).

And, just think about it, you have access to internet probably most of the day, your life depends greatly of this service, watching news, sending e-mails, checking the forecast, talking to friends and much, so much more. How do you and Internet get along? Are you best friends or do you have struggles from time to time like most marriages do? Today may be a good day to start a healthy relationship with it!

Probably you'll hear about this in YouTube channels, blogs (such as this one), news sites and related, maybe for us it won't be much of a difference, but for many others this day may be their first one getting to know what could potentially be their new best friend… the Web. What's your story? Do you remember what was your first experience searching the web? Do that website you were watching still exist? Do you remember how slow it was just to download a single photo or a song? Don't be shy and leave all your responses in the comment section and have fun reading the rest! Here's a small taste about how things were in the past… hoping the future will bring better! See y'all in 3 days!

Mind Reader

How's it been? Not that you care, but my week has been a pretty good one so far, I've done my stuff on schedule, I've had some fun with fam and friends and in small steps I've start to work out a bit, don't you love it when things happen at your own pace? I honestly like the feeling when you sense you're in control, but then again, I love small surprises from time to time. The other day I was watching TV and there was this show where a dude in a mask unveils the 'magic secrets' for us… don't know if I like it or not, but sure is entertaining.

So, one of the tricks was the mind reader, there're many variations to it, but in the name lies the essence of it, after watching how it was done I was a bit disappointed (not that I believed it was true from the start, but I didn't want to know the person in the audience was actually part of the trick). Guess I didn't want to be told how it was done, though somehow I knew it wasn't 'real'. But being the person I am an obvious question to me was raised… is mind reading possible?

Many people can relate this to telepathy -since by definition you gotta 'read' other's people mind in other to communicate- and dismiss it just as quick. Why do we discard immediately everything that 'seems' impossible to us? Who do we think we are? Do we even have the knowledge to categorize something as can't-do? Well, before you say anything else (bet you haven't said a word, I mean, you're reading) let's have some fun thinking how the our life would be if mind reading was something ordinary.

It'd be like a massive world Instant Messenger! Imagine you're at home alone, no human on sight, but in your mind you have thousands of contacts whose status may be online, offline, away and so on… and that's only the beginning. Then you can access their 'hard drive' (so to speak) and dig in whatever you need (or simply want?), that'd be like facebook with no device… oh no… it'd be so much more than that! We'd be always in touch with our family and friends no matter where they'd be…

Now that we know how different our life would be, I can tell you now how your life will be… sort of the same! It turns out scientist are aware of the possibilities of reading minds and are developing tools to help us achieve this task. Just heard of a fMRI (functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) brain waves reader of some sort (done by peeps in the MIT) that helps to know, out of a thousand pictures, exactly which one a person is looking. The thing is, the device is HUGE, almost the size of a small room. And also guys from Carnegie Mellon use this technology to achieve simile results. Finally a name that might be familiar to you… Intel (most lightly one of its processors is housed in your computer), they have a Mind Reading Software -don't ask me if is Windows 7, Ubuntu or Snow Leopard compatible- that apparently works.

I know all is very 'beta', but the possibilities are amazing! Maybe our grandsons' grandsons will have a bigger peek of this technology and will have the advantages of mind reading communication… who knows? What I do know is that you're curious about it and can't wait to start reading the minds of your friends (or maybe not just your friends?) You know where to write if you wanna leave a comment, finally here's a last attempt, check out this magic trick on video, hope you like it and hope you keep up with the good week and see you next Monday!

Doctor Toilet

What a weird title for a post! Anyway, I thought by bringing a funny title things could be a bit more interesting… let's see. What's been happening in your life? For me I'm about to celebrate Mom's day with my Grandma and my Mom (whose nickname is actually… Mom). Hope it'd be a nice/calm day, but since public places are crowded I bet it won't be as calm as I expect… what about your plans for Mom's day? Got any?

I actually was thinking what present to give my Mom, I know there're lot's of obvious reasons: shoes, bags, flowers… but I like to move away from the traditional gifts, you know, trying to be original (and, once I'm at it, a good son) and surprise her with a good laugh. Reading different out-of-the-market options I found very funny gadgets, and guess what? I'm gonna share one of those with you all… It might not be the perfect present, but it sure is fun to see in action, I'm talking about a toilet… yes! A mere toilet!

What in Earth could be so special about a single toilet? And remember, we attached the word Doctor before it. I actually can summarize things up a bit if you watched the movie 'The Island' with Scarlett Johansson and Ewan McGregor, I think is the only movie where I've seen something similar. At the very beginning, Ewan wakes up and does what probably 95% of people do when wake up… bathroom time! Nothing to be ashamed, it's how we roll.

Just seconds after doing what people do in the toilet, Ewan is reported his sugar levels, what he ate (whether it was healthy or not) and most important, food recommendations for the day giving his status, all with a nice female voice and all displayed on a screen. One thing I forget to tell you, this movie was supposed to be in the near future (probably they mention the year, but can remember it at the moment). Sweet, right? Well, don't need to wait for the near future, since this happens to be a reality… today!

Well, sort of, like I told you, we haven't seen these toilets go viral, but we might. And again, it might not be the perfect gift for Mom's day… but sure they will find it useful! Just with this device we might know if we have certain deceases, sugar levels, improve our nutrition habits, long story short: to have a healthier and greener life! I don't think it might be the next big thing, but it can provide a great service for a relatively low cost.

There're two fun facts about this toilets, one… the toilet's scientific name: Versatile Interactive Pan (yes! VIP!) VIP is being developed by the bathroom manufacturers Twyford in Cheshire… maybe in 5 years you won't be calling VIP's because they're important… who knows? Two, in the meantime Japan's developing their own version called simply the "Intelligence Toilet" system, its developer company Toto says it can even measure body fat! For 3,500 USD it should greet you every morning and being an iPod altogether if you ask me!

What do you think about this inventions? Think they'd make a good Mom's day present? I sure need to save some money to get a present, maybe not as much as 3,500 (Mom's gifts are priceless) but I'll be hitting the stores with Mom to see what she fancies. In the meantime check out this vid, the first minute is about this fun device… enjoy! So, what's your story? Are you up for the toilet or gonna send her the good ol' fashioned bouquet of fresh flowers? See you all next post and keep on enjoying this day!

Cupidtino… love is in the web

Yeah… as weird as it sounds, love can be found in the least expected place. Yesterday while I was doing my thing on the web -like most of us mortals do- I read a twit about a dates service… not that I don't know of their existence, I mean, is difficult nowadays to go from webpage to webpage and not to find any ads about pretty much anything you can think of, and yes, dates service are on the map big time.

I've never tried one of these myself, is just not the way I roll, but we've all heard all kind of stories related to it, maybe two people started on a chartroom, then they exchanged e-mails and a while later they meet up (cannot stop thinking about that film 'You've got e-mail' with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan). And that's really the inflection point, the moment where they realize if they want to move on to the next level or simply remain as 'someone I met online…'

And there's no magical potion to guarantee success in this endeavor, as most things in life it requires a mixture of things which are both the simplest and most complex of all. Sure it's a good step to start with things in common, but what comes next can't by any means be foreseen but experienced. And that first step is what this new dates web provides… it's name: Cupidtino.

Cupidtino (www.cupidtino.com) is still a private beta -meaning is still not available for general audience- but let me break it down for you, what this website does is to provide an exclusive dates service to Apple product owners… what? Yes… this service is exclusive to people who own any Apple related product, which can be way more than you think. Take the iPod for instance, its market share is a bit over 75%, that means if you find 100 people who own an mp3 player, 75 of them will likely have any iteration of the iPod, so many will qualify for this website.

But fair to say, any Apple product goes, so if you own a Mac, an Apple TV or a brand new iPad you're in the club. And why would you want to be a member of it? Well, apparently Apple fanboys and fangirls have often things in common -according to the creators of Cupidtino-. If you ask me, that might be a bit true, but let's ask this question instead… if you like an iPod (and I honestly dare anyone if you can find a soul who has a really strong argument why he/she wouldn't like one) that doesn't necessarily means you're soul mates… just saying!

I gotta give it to the website name… Cupidtino comes from Cupid (bet you guessed that part) and Cupertino, which happens to be the place where Apple California is located, what name would you pick for this service? I sort of think this name was overthought a lot… what about iLove or iDate? Have you ever had any experience with love online? Maybe a chartroom, facebook, even twitter or good ol' fashion post mail? It'd be awesome to read all your comments you know where! Here I leave you with a really cool interpretation made by FAttY SPiNS  titled Apple Store Love Song... hope you like it!

Cupidtino opens in June, and you can follow it on twitter (@CupidtinoCA). Being an Apple fanboy myself I'm really intrigued how this project will develop. I know I said I don't do dates service websites, and being an Apple service can't be an excuse to blindly jump in… or can it?

Demakes

So… here in Mexico we're great people, always finding the bright side of things (or trying, at least). If not then we build up the bright side from the ground up… living proof of it are the days off we made out of thin air, such as today! That means if you're like the rest of peeps (i.e. not special) then you don't work or study this Monday! If you don, don't worry, you are a special minority. But let's say you have a day off today (if not simply don't go to work today)… what to do? How to spend this 16-18 hours the best possible way?

Well, it turns out I'll be hanging out with some friends from high school playing video games… you can plan whatever your heart desires, read a book, watch a movie, have breakfast in bed, imagination is the limit. Here I come with a great suggestion (if you are ol' school and fancy technology). Bet you have heard of remakes… you know, new versions of old stuff… movies, books, video games, songs, that trend is all around us! Better quality, enhanced graphics, sometimes worse acting… for all tastes. Well, that is not what I want you to know.

Recently I came across an opposite trend… demakes. As you may infer with the remake description and the opposite part, a demake is simply a new version of an old thing, well… made older. Let me put a fair example… let's say you just saw The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and you want to show off how good your blu ray discs look, well, someone can come up and say… Hey! Check this out! My 2010 version of The Lord of the Rings (different footage) recorded on a Betamax film! That is old school!

Demakes may be about anything, but I've looked up a bit and is getting really strong in the video games field, and the best of all, mostly all demaked games are free for download and play in your computer. Ever thought how a Mario game for the Wii would look like if it was played with the power of the almighty NES of the 80's? Or what about your favorite horror games being brought to life in the 8-bit era? If you ask me, I have mixed feelings.

For one, I think it adds something new to the whole scheme, and is like irony, since it may feels like a breath of fresh air playing something a kid born in the 70's would feel so real, but at the same time it looks dated. I gotta be honest, there's something cool about the whole retro stuff: music, clothing, movies, not catch phrases (thank God for that), trends come and go, and then come again, as long as people like it that seems to be the way to go.

What game can I talk to you specifically? I've playing this one called Soundless Mountain, just another way of saying Silent Hill (get it?). Sadly the game isn't finished (maybe has barely 30% of the original levels) but is a great little gem. In order to really find the fun in these is always better to play the original one so you can compare them, is not a requirement but it helps. 

What's your favorite retro trend? Music? Movies? It'd awesome to read your answers, feel free to leave them in the section below… so, what did you do this day off? Give demakes a try and have some 80's fun in this 10's era! See you all in the next post!

Wii Work Out

Hey! We meet again (and if it's your first time reading this space… lucky you!). Now I'm downloading a new iteration of iTunes (9.1.1 I believe) and I figured it'd be a nice time to blog a bit. Hope your week has been alright, don't ask about mine, I've been reading a lot, making notes and hardly leaving home. So, what happens when you miss a bit of that outdoors experience? Well, you just do, there's no substitution to it… oh well, sort of.

Since I like to exercise (not sure about working out, I just like to be active) sometimes I need to squeeze a bit of time here and there in order to do so, but the thing is, even though you find a good 1 hour to do your thing you still lose time in driving to the gym, getting there, if you're not lucky to wait for the machine in use, and then, after you're all sweaty, to get back home. Don't think I hate that (for many, the idea of working out is all that), because I don't, but what if you only want to work out and nothing more? How can you make every 60 minutes count?

Sure you can avoid all lost time by working out home, that's sort of the solution here… but working out on your own can be boring and non-motivational, so what can we do? Well, I'm happy to say I've been experiencing the solution for a while now and I love it… a session of Wii Work Out!! Since I've been 'playing' with it for a while now I'd like to tell you my thoughts about this new way to do some exercise. I think I'd not be fair to call this a 'game' (not in a narrow sense of the word) since I never rescued any princess, killed a demon or lived in an apocalyptic world (neither in video games nor real life). But it's still a disc you insert in a console, so people can debate all they want. For the sake or writing, I'll refer to it as a game -though I'd prefer another term- since I can't think of any other fancy word for it.

There're some 'games' designed to work out with the Wii, my experience was based in the EA Active line. As most titles, you create your Avatar (way slimmer than the real you), pick some clothes, add data as weight, height, age and such and just like that you're about to start a work out session. And, as expected, you choose what to do, either in a predefined session or selecting each exercise to customize it your way. What I liked about this scheme was the related data to each exercise, you can know the level, time, calories burned of each routine, so you can plan and maximize the work out.

Once you've picked the routine, you start it. Here's where the real fun begins, and since the first moment you can tell if this new way of exercising is for you or not. You do what you see on the screen, and a personal trainer (if that's even possible) tells you exactly how to perform your moves and -for me- the best part… he/she motivates you. A simple 'Way to go!' or 'Two more reps and we're done' from time to time are enough for me to run that extra mile when wearing out.

And, once you've finished, you get your stats, some health tips and sweat on your face, all without leaving the room. But the experience doesn't end here, since there're challenges to keep for days or even weeks and feeling great. Overall, from my point of view is a great choice if you want to work out not caring much about the whole 'gym experience' said before. Even my mom joins the fun each other time.

Final thoughts? Well, is a great alternative for those of us who love squeezing time to the max, you just need to have a decent free space to do your thing (don't want to end up smashing the tv with your wiimote like many people have). Hope you give this a chance someday, it may be the best new way to work out, who knows? Time and burned calories will tell. See y'all next week and eat your veggies!

You are what you eat

Good _________! (Fill in the blank accordingly to your time zone). So, the beginning of another week, some people like starting things, it feels like a fresh beginning, leaving past things behind. For me, I might like starting a week, but is way more awesome to finish it and remember what made it worth living… won't you agree? In either case… happy beginning of week!

There are certain things that happen to us every day… waking up, shower (for some), eating, talking, you name it. I wish we could help to make our lives better at least in these basic task that we perform every day… ever heard about eating and resting well? Sure we live rushed by our schedules, squeezing every little second and make it count, sadly there's little time left to worry about how to improve these tiny but paramount details… what to do?

Take eating for instance, nowadays we simply eat what we please (not saying it's wrong) and not what we need to be healthier. Open the fridge, scan the inside, and in less than 10 seconds you see what's available, you heat it up and voilá! A bit of salt, pepper, a drink and you are ready to go. Maybe you're not that lucky and you couldn't make it home and you gotta eat elsewhere… eating simply what's available (of your own liking, of course). Oh yeah, that's for us our daily diet… any way to improve that? Well, you can definitely think about a trillion plans how to, but I will tell you a way I'm sure you never came across with and it will be part of your future!

Let's say you have a great diet, you take care of all nutriments you need and life is great… need an extra help? No problem, just take your spoon and you're done… what? Ok, let me rephrase that… just take your 'intelligent' spoon and you're done! How a spoon can be intelligent? Well, not that it is, let's say is simply less dumb than all other utensils at your place. What this little bad boy does is to analyze your food as soon as it gets in touch with it and tells you all sort of info about it. Let's say you're always unsure about how hot is your soup, you need to take a scary sip to check it out… most of the times you're lucky enough and all is good, but what about that one time when you had to spit it out because no one told you how hot it was? This spoon can tell you how hot the food is… cool huh? And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Other food qualities can be measured, such as how salty the food is, its acidity and viscosity, but it doesn't stop there. Since it can be paired to your computer, it can tell you, for instance, if there's enough salt to make your dish taste better… now that's what I'm talking about! Magic? Nearly. I bet you never thought you'd be needing one of these, but if you ever have one, it's going to sound almost too good to be truth. Need to say this spoon is still some sort of prototype, so we might need to wait a bit to see them in our kitchen drawers. Price? Hard to say, but I dare to say it won't be as expensive as you may think, 20 USD? Sounds fair to me.

Any other good ideas to make our lives a bit better? Sure here's one, hope to see them soon in stores. Have you heard of any other device from the future to help us have a healthier/better/less complicated life? Drop a line in the comment section and start to save some money to get these awesome gadgets! Sure they'll be a hit! See y'all next Thursday!

Invisibility cloak

Happy Earth Day! (Right, like if you are meant to give someone a present) How's life guys? Having a good week? For me this week is sort of my deadline week, so I'm a bit rushed, but all ok. The other day I came across a bit of news, and since I think this is quite awesome, well, you know… let's talk about it, shall we?

I'm pretty sure you think I'm gonna quote Harry Potter here (sorry, not the case) but by judging the title you might think that way. Have you ever felt like disappearing without a trace? You know, like unplugging from the world and vanish from the face of the planet… and I'm not talking about hiding underneath the bed or getting a blanket, I really mean to disappear.

It turns out what I thought it was mere science fiction it's actually true. Maybe in a near future we might be able to be invisible, transparent to the naked eye… the implementations seem limitless. From the humanitarian to the recreational, from the stalkers (has to be said) to the military, you think on your own ideas!

Who are responsible of this creation? Well… such technology is work of the scientist at the University of Tokyo. Remember how the blue screen effect works? Just like the weather guy is in front of a blue wall and we see a world map instead. The difference here is, we will see the map but the weather guy will be gone (invisible, if you will). If you like video games I can tell you three words : 'Metal Gear Solid'… but the results are sort of more limited, but you've got the idea.

This is called optical camouflage (fancy name for invisibility, but anyway). There's a tiny inconvenient with cloaks though, if you think of a wall it's always flat and it doesn't move, and when we see it from the tv the camera angle rarely moves. In real life a cloak gets wrinkled and people move all the time, what to do? Well… they create more fancy names and attach some technology to them… that's the case for augmented-reality technology.

This starts to feel like a high school class, don't worry, we won't go into detail about it, just saying that hi-tech piece adds computer generated info to our vision (like glasses). In mortals words, is as if a camera was plugged to a camera filming what's behind someone with the cloak on and transmitting that image for us to see what's behind the cloak guy, all really really quick.

How does someone think about that solution? You got me, all I know is that it works and the results seem amazing to me. What would you do with such a cloak? I'm picturing many of you trolling about it saying stuff like: 'Yeah… I'd go to the ladies locker rooms'… c'mon guys, be original with those replies! For me? Probably I'd take a walk through town and see how people behave when they 'think' there're not seen, or maybe going to a club for free, I don't know, I'm spit balling here.

I know there're tons of cool things one can do. Leave all your answers in the comments section and I'll see you all this weekend… or not? Take care guys!

Can people fly?

Hey guys, so… what's up? And please don't come up with responses such as: 'The sky', 'clouds' or the common classic 'the ceiling'. Hope you had all your batteries recharged to face this new week, so let's bring it! Now I came up with a very unusual question, since you read the title (and if not, no need to scroll up). Its unusualness is not because of the answer -not going to fry the pill here- but because someone was smart enough to ask it in the first place.

Ever had that dream where your feet are off the ground and suddenly you are above clouds meeting mountains as equals? Light as a feather, people have said. I believe this is probably the most recurrent dream after the one standing on a stage crowded… and naked (mmm… another blog topic?). So, I guess is fair to say the idea of people flying wouldn't be too bad, would it?

But the reality is… we simply can't, we are doomed to be strapped to the ground and vehicle-dependent to try differently. Ok, I know I playing fool here if I insist, but for the sake of argument I'll do it just this one time more: 'Can people fly?'. And as a rush of voices drilling in my head I hear a solid: 'No, people can't'. Ok, no worries, now I get it. Now I feel compelled to dig in and to find all the reasons why people can't fly, probably if we can find out every single explanation why humans can't fly -on their own- we, in the very distant future, can work out something… right?

Believe it or not, some peeps have done some pretty weird explanations why people can't fly, from the very basics one to ones dealing with physics, formulas, equations and what not. We are going to know the surface about them and if you can come up with a new one, feel free to share it with the world (and, once you're at it, with the slightly less number of people who read this blog).

First, gravity… yeah, some laws simply can't be broken, not gonna be around the bush with this one, pretty basic. Two, lack of wings, this one is more of a workaround with gravity, a way of defying, just like airplanes or birds do… the questions arises, given our anatomy, if we grew wings (BIG conditional) would our bodies be capable of flying and steering in the air? Can't say if they would, maybe we'd be as graceful as a hypo doing ballet. Those are sort of the basic answers, but wait… there are more.

Wind can't keep us up, even with winds (I have no idea how to sustain this argument, the one who said it maybe have done the proper test with real human wings… just saying). Another explanation I read said something like, in all our thousands of years in the evolution cycle we never needed to fly… cool, I wish we had at one point the need, wouldn't you say? A fun argument stated we humans can't fly because we only use 20% of our brains, but if we used 100% we'd be able to fly using brain energy. Sorry, I don't know the units of that -brainjoules (bj?)- Can't speak for that argument.

As you see, science can be fun too, not only tells us what we can do but also it knows very well what we can't possibly do. Can you think of any other reason why people can't fly? Or maybe you can come up with a great and original response. If something hits your brain leave a comment in the section below and how know, maybe in the year 7865 we may start seeing the first steps in human flying evolution. Until then… just keep walking.

Questions you'd ask God

Hey guys! What's up? This week has been alright to me, I've been filling an insane amount of applications and forms, you know how it is. I don't mind with every form asking me my general info, but sometimes is too much when you have to dig in really deep in your life to find what they're looking for. Man, I'm telling you, in many cases I don't really know the answers myself (or that in fact there IS an answer), but anyway, after spending most of my week in such a scenario, it's always refreshing to do other stuff.

This couple of days I thought the immutable fact that… 'we all need answers'. I think we do. From the minute you wake up you start thinking how the day will go. When you go to the kitchen wanting some cereal for breakfast you're wondering if there's still some left… what about going out? Well, you might start doing plans regarding the weather. Yep, life is filled with answers we need in order to  enjoy life… right. What about the questions?

Here's when things get interesting, in order to get some answers the correct questions need to be stated, so, let me rephrase: 'We all need questions'. Now we flip the tortilla and we need to start thinking what's the best way to make formulate them. And again, sometimes we simply won't get our questions answered, not because is a non wanted answers, but merely because is not possible.

Sidenote: This is just me, but I'd like to think the words 'not possible' and 'impossible' don't mean the same. 'Impossible' is a step up than 'not possible', which would mean a 'not possible' thing is not quite 'impossible', just extremely difficult but not difficult enough to be called 'impossible', just 'not possible'...

Having defined my personal thoughts about this terminology (that I don't even understand) the idea stroke me… we all want our questions to be answered, right? I mean, it gotta be some sort of necessity, we humans are so compelled to control our lives and in order to do so we gotta anticipate to the happenings and to plan accordingly. The truth is, nobody knows all the answers of life (moreover: OUR life). Sure we can know things about weather, science, how much cereal is left up on the shelf and similar, but what about the really tricky ones?

So I came up with the idea of this exercise… making a list of questions you'd ask God once you're gone (or any superior entity you believe in). I bet there are tons (and literally I mean TONS) of things you want to know about your life, other's lives… life itself. The most popular ones I've found: 'Why are we here?', 'What am I meant to do in life?', 'What's humanity purpose?'. Yet again, more personal questions could be more relevant to you. Or maybe events that happened zillions of years ago, or even the future… any question goes!

Once you have a decent amount (you'll be the judge of that) you can prioritize them so you can know what truly you'd love to know about anything. I bet you'll be amazed with the results. Luckily I'm not the only one with this idea, I've seen some other sites with this on their minds and they've gotten great results. As usual here's a vid with some kids responding to this question… good times! See you all next weekend and now go back to work!