Connected Bikes

These days everything is connected and customized. We do not have the courage to go off the grid...ever. Even if we decide to go out for a nice bike ride, there are plenty of mobile applications that can be right there with you. If you decide to ditch your phone, you can use you bike to gather data about that bike ride. It isn't so leisurely and enjoyable anymore, is it? The Toronto-based Vanhawks crew went whole hog and put all of the “connected” functionality that the Helios bars have into a badass, heck of a good-looking bike. And they took “the internet of bikes” theme quite a bit further than Gibbs did, though he still has one thing on them -- his Helios bars have blinking directional lights, a safety feature we’re surprised the Valour doesn’t seem to have. Designed to make urban bike commuting safer, the Valour does, however, warn riders of dangers lurking in their blind spots. The bike’s mesh network, ultrasonic haptic feedback sensors detect nearby vehicles. When riders veer too close to traffic, the sensors trigger the handlebars to vibrate, another industry “first” the bike’s designers claim they boast the bragging rights to. What do you think of this bike?

The Internet: Again

How long can you go without being online? Would you be able to ignore those internet faxes or emails for more than a day? And what exactly did we do with our time before the internet? It is easy to hate the internet and what it has made us into. People used to have conversations face to face and spent their time meaningfully. Now many of us are checking our Facebook statuses and reading Twitter feeds in between the time we are playing riveting games of candy crush. Admit it, you know it sucks when you run out of lives in that game. These days we actually have to tell our kids that they should never type anything online that they could not say to their mother's face. Anonymity has given people a wall that they use for protection. Along the same lines, what if the internet have left some positive effects? It has been able to connect more people that live thousands of miles away. It has exposed many companies and businesses and made everything more transparent. People have more access to information. The question then becomes, are more people taking advantage of everything that the internet has to offer?

Glass and Bars

Would you ever wear Google Glass into a bar? Can you even imagine the repercussions that might follow?I f you’re unfamiliar with Glass, as it’s called for short, it’s a set of glasses—sometimes prescription, sometimes not—that come with a little visible camera affixed. Glass can read your email, take videos, take photos, Google stuff for you, and in the not-too-distant future, instantly recognize faces at bars and tell you whom you’re talking to. Ok, first of all, no one wants to be recorded in a bar with a camera or internet phone services. People go to the bar for a reason and sometime things do not turn out the way they are supposed to and you end up with a night that you would much rather forget. But throw in Glass, and it is a whole other animal. Someone might think that it is funny and post it somewhere. You can see where this is going. But can we be honest? Facial recognition is going to be the saddest prospect of all. Because while bars can be places to make deals and break them, make out and break up, one of their primary lures is meeting people, sometimes people in whom one has a romantic interest. And Google Glass marks the end of mystique.

Universality

If Pythagoras had not lived, or if his work had been destroyed, someone else eventually would have discovered the same Pythagorean theorem. Moreover, this theorem means the same thing to everyone today as it meant 2,500 years ago, and will mean the same thing to everyone a thousand years from now — no matter what advances occur in technology or what new evidence emerges. Mathematical knowledge is unlike any other knowledge. Its truths are objective, necessary and timeless. What kinds of things are mathematical entities and theorems, that they are knowable in this way? Do they exist somewhere, a set of immaterial objects in the enchanted gardens of the Platonic world, waiting to be discovered? Or are they mere creations of the human mind?This question has divided thinkers for centuries. It seems spooky to suggest that mathematical entities actually exist in and of themselves. But if math is only a product of the human imagination, how do we all end up agreeing on exactly the same math? Some might argue that mathematical entities are like chess pieces, elaborate fictions in a game invented by humans. But unlike chess, mathematics is indispensable to scientific theories describing our universe. Another interesting part of this whole conundrum is that a lot of the computer science, technology, and communication services that we use now is based off of the math. If the math that is "universal" can be used then what of the things that it is used for?

High Tech Beds

At what point does a bed have to be smart enough that we can be sufficiently afraid to go to sleep in it? I understand we want everything so connected but this bed that was showcased at the CES is going overboard. First of all the bed has a WiFi connection. Why is this necessary? Because a bunch of sensors built into the bed can track your sleep patterns, relaying your sleepy-time data to a connected app that gives you a sleep score. Also with the internet connectivity you might throw in some app development for this bed and program how it work and more than you can do with it. The bed also has tasteful ambient lighting that shoots out from under it in a sort of nightlight mode. And the thing does full-body massage, because of course it does if you are going to be paying eight grand for it. All existing technology of it aside, use your imagination as to the different apps and sensors that you can have on it.

Future of the Laptop

The definition of the laptop is getting a bit murky. Before, the type of factors that people had to consider were size, graphics, and the processor. These days computers are products that can be either a tablet or a laptop based on their configurations. There are over a couple of dozen to choose from now, but at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas in early January, there will be at least 50 products introduced under this branding campaign. Some will be as low as $299, but most quality two-in-ones will start at around $499 and go up to as high as $1299 depending on the configuration. These laptops will also be greatly integrated with communication services such as internet phones and social media. If you are thinking of buying a new Windows laptop this holiday, I suggest you consider one of these two-in-ones or convertibles. If you are buying a traditional laptop and, like most, expect to use it for at least three to four years, products like these give you perhaps a more future-proofed design. With add-ons, they can actually stay more up-to-date over this time frame. Are you thinking of getting a new laptop this season? As far as operating systems go, if you are getting a new computer, Windows 8 is better for touch screens than the traditional laptops.

Ticket for Driving in Google Glass

In California last week, a woman received a ticket for speeding and then an additional citation for wearing her Google Glass. And the debate still rages on over whether it was valid. The officer considered the head-mounted display a monitor that was visible to the driver. Traffic laws vary state by state, but many now have broad distracted-driving laws or bans on certain monitors that could easily apply to Google Glass. The turn-by-turn directions on Glass can be turned on with a voice command. The display will show a map view, but for extra safety the screen can be turned off while driving so there's only voice navigation. These laws create a very thin line that officers have to walk because on one hand, the device can be used as a navigation device but on the other hand, it have phone service capabilities built in. What do you think?