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!

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! 

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!

Internet… everywhere

What's going on guys? Hope you've had a great week so far… things are going sort of great for me at the moment, the only thing is that I had a really bad stomachache the other day, and kinda kept me from doing what I planned for the day… but I'm better now, so let's rock!

Just yesterday I was at home doing my thing when I started watching this sort of lecture about new technology in the coming years, you might heard about the lecturer, Dr. Michio Kaku, he's one of the best physicists today and the best of all, he makes his letters quite entertaining and practical so mere mortals such as yours truly can completely understand.

I might be blogging about different devices I heard of this lecture in coming entries, this time I'll be sharing to you a single thought he mentioned about internet, in the form of such a tiny device with global communication. Can you imagine yourself with today's internet service, but having every single second of the day? Since the moment you wake up, when you want to decide what movie to watch, what book to read and finally when you call it a day. But then again, you can argue by saying you have internet all the time today.

Ok, ok, let me rephrase it then… what if you could 'watch' internet all time without being disconnected from your life? It turns out it will be possible in our lifetime! Wouldn't it be great if you could hold a videoconference with your family living across the country while you have your morning jog? Or what about knowing the weather forecast, your GPS route, traffic conditions and more without taking your eyes off the road? It sounds mind-blowing, but in effect researchers say quite possible!

This sounds just like virtual reality, since you'll be seeing stuff other people won't, like personal holograms, if you will. Expensive? I can imagine it will be in the dawn of its appearance, but since technology gets cheaper and faster every year, it wouldn't surprise me my future kids would have this technology given for their birthdays. How would this work? Well, the best thing of all is that it won't be invasive, I mean, it won't be like your holding a cellphone or being attached to a cable… all this amazing technology will be embedded in a contact lens… YEAH!

Can you picture that? Now we'll feel just like a Terminator having all this statistics and information at our sight (don't worry, we won't be seeing all in red). I can't imagine (Dr. Kaku made this joke) how exams will be done in the future, I mean, how would the dynamics change? I guess the point would be not knowing theoretical stuff anymore, but to understand it and how to apply it in real life (teachers, write some notes on that!).

Needless to say it sounds incredible, the possibilities are endless, what sort of widgets would you like to see? What movies would you watch? Would you embrace this technology or simply ignore it? You know where to leave your comments! Hope to see you next post this weekend, in the meantime… enjoy your life!

Time Machine

Hey guys! What's going on? How are vacations treating y'all? Any new place to visit? I've been staying in home most of the week, you know, with ha family and such… good times. Do you remember last weekend post? There we just discovered how come is time travel possible (at least, theoretically) and how people doing their own research have gone to that conclusion… yeah, everything is fancy and all, but, what about a real transport of traveling?

Last entry I said I had a 'shocking' surprise, well, I do have it and, without further introduction, I'll spill it out: There's in the works a time machine that has caught the eyes of the ones who know about it, specially researchers who see no fault in all the theory and science behind it… Emmet Brown, watch out!

The person in charge for this operation… Dr. Ron Mallett, how did everything started for him? A year after his dad passed away, he read a Time Machine comic book and got inspirited and manufactured a plan to see his old man again… nearly 50 years after he thinks he's got his answer right… the creation of a time machine that doesn't challenge the laws of physics, all seems to be real.

How does this machine work? Well, it's based in Einstein's Relativity Theory (big words in there) and a laser ring to twist time… pretty cool huh? Yeah yeah, but how does it actually work? You got me. that's why Dr. Mallett work seems so ingenious, and as a matter of fact, he explains it quite well in the Discovery coverage he was on (a sneak preview below). The only thing is that, though all the theory is there, his latest experiments involve particles, atoms and such (no living beings)… even if that's the case… I can't wait… it sounds awesome!

What do you think about it? Personally I think is one of the most amazing stuff I've heard in a long time, usually time travel is called the Holy Grail of science, so you get this is a pretty huge deal. As we know from the last post time travel is theoretically correct, and this machine is also accurate in theory, so only good things can happen. I know it could pass maybe a hundred of years or more before we can see humans traveling through time, even if that's the case I don't mind waiting (that is, my descendants will wait for me).

Do you like the idea? If you have anything to say 'bout it you know where to leave a comment (scroll down and you're there). If you could do one trip in this machine… who would you go with and when? Past or future? See you this weekend… keep enjoying the week… you deserve it!

Feel like a child… again.

Taken from enlamario.files.wordpress.com

The other day, under normal circumstances, certain first time experience made me realize how unplugging life can trick us to be. Implied as it is, it saddens me how few times can we really appreciate them, and if we're lucky enough in the first place to do so, that feeling will eventually vanish with every new entry within our lives until the only thing remaining will be monotony of a flavorless existence (ouch!). Well, since I just used enough big words for this one entry, now I'll show you what I really mean (well, sort of).

Turns out I was watching the movie Avatar in 3D the other day (yes, the very same "other day" where this entry starts) and something stroke me really hard. No, it wasn't the movie itself, don't want to review/criticize it at all (many people have done it), but it was something much more subtle… the 3D effect. This was my first time wearing the "magic lenses" in a movie theater, never did the blue/red ones, which in my opinion offered an image cheaper than the paper glasses they were made of. Anyway, I pay considerably more than a regular film but since it was sort of a gift for my mom I really didn't care. Once I was in my seat, took the glasses out of the bag-thingy, put'em on in a quick fashion and… voila! Welcome to the next step in entertainment (of course nobody said that to me, though it'd be kinda cool).

Even the previous trailers used the 3D effect, you know the kind, moving hands toward you, explosions that seem will hit you, the whole enchilada. Also the credits grabbed my whole attention when I saw them in different "planes" (didn't want to be the "surprised one" in the theater saying… "Look mom! I can touch the screen!").

Well, picture gotten, I was a first timer in the theater watching a 3D film, but I really liked it. Within the first 20 minutes I was enchanted with every scene I watched from the trailers and the movie itself. It felt to me I was watching something mysterious, almost magical. I hardly recall the first time I saw something with my jaw opened for more than 1 min, every detail was transported in a new direction so unusual to watch at first.

Want to drop a line here saying I did see the Avatar movie previously in non-3D, so you can tell my thoughts reflect only the 3D experience, rather than the movie itself. I somehow could compare both modes, if you will.

And as soon as it began… it ended (well, not that soon, it's a 2.5 hour film). I took my glasses out and came back from an experience I'll never have again for the first time. I guess life is full of first time experiences we just don't see. Well… where am I going with all this? Am I saying you should run to watch a 3D movie if you haven't? No. Should you rent Avatar in Blu Ray to get the ultimate experience? Neither. I'm talking about feelings in the first time experience. Remember the first time you ride a bike? Or the first time you said a girl/boy you like her/him? Maybe you don't, but I betcha the first time you did it, you felt surprised, you felt something you never sensed before, you felt like a child, not knowing how things happen but staring at the outcome with such a big illusion and excitement.

Time passes and we keep on doing our activities, riding a bike everyday (well, moved to cars now), saying how much we dear our beloved ones in a mere routine (sadly sometimes losing meaning). Too bad a first time experience is lived only once, when the magic is still fresh and hasn't been replaced by monotony.

What's your first time experience? If you feel like it, drop a comment down here or catch me in facebook/twitter/e-mail and share!! Meanwhile I stick a video so you can inspire.