Technology News and Coding
With the recent release of the newest Star Wars Movie, there has been an increase to the already giant hype that the series already had. This craze, which I am a full supporter of, has led to many new fans, and has given a New Hope to old fans for the coming trilogy. Not only has it inspired many people in the form of cosplay and fan fiction but one engineer had taken it upon himself to attempt to make a real life lightsaber.
The new craze for computers is following the trend that we just recently saw with cellphones. Notice how I said cellphones not smartphones. This is because before the invention of the smartphone, the obsession was to have a smaller and smaller phones while still retaining functionality. Lots of people have poked fun at that including shows such as Corner Gas. The trend that we have seen with smartphones is actually the same in some aspects while opposite in others. What the trend is now is to have thinner, sleeker phones that have larger screens. This follows what we want from our televisions and monitors. So to summarize we want smaller, sleeker technology that can run at the same or higher quality as its predecessors, while increasing screen size. Well all of your dreams are soon to come true with the new Intel Compute Stick.
This is an amazing breakthrough in artificial intelligence. Mathew Lai at Imperial College London has created an artificial intelligence machine that taught itself to play chess at grand master level in only 72 hours. The grand masters of chess are seen as the standard for the best human players for any game, in this case it is chess. Chess is a great game to test a deep learning machine against because it has all of the information (the pieces) visible to both players, and none of the game is up to chance. A good example of the opposite is poker because it has both hidden information and elements of chance. This is why humans are still, on average, better than computers at games similar to poker, whereas computers have been much better than the majority of humans for a long time.
There has been a lot of talk recently about artificial intelligence (AI) with many of the great minds of our time warning for a cautious approach to the future of AI. Some of these people include Stephen Hawking, Bill Gates and Elon Musk. They have urged the general public and government to be wary of the future of AI. They also insist that we ensure that when a fully functioning AI is created that its goals are aligned with ours. They have also warned the governments to not pursue any AI integrated military ventures, but the US government has not listened. Thus the Elon Musk and others have decided to support ventures such as OpenAI that want to see the possible bright future of AI come to light.
Do you love biking, hiking, camping or just exploring? Do you live off of water like the rest of humanity? Well I know that I do, at least the last part. For those of you that like being an adventurer or survivalist, one company has come out with a revolutionary new idea, water bottle that fill themselves. The Airo and Ryde are the two new products from Fontus. These new innovations are designed to siphon water from the air for you to drink. One is designed for if you prefer to hike or camp. The other is designed for if you prefer to bike.
With the competition between ARM and x86, fighting to win over the mobile device market, some have decided to utilize this technology to create miniature single board computers. Most have chosen to use ARM, since it is the current leader in the mobile device field. One of these companies is Raspberry Pi. But one company has decided to offer you the size of an ARM based computer but with an x86 processor. This company, named Jaguar Electronic, has created the JaguarBoard.
Have you ever imagined being able to just roll up your computer screen or television and just throw it in your backpack and take it with you? Are you slightly clumsy and would do well with a more durable screen for your phone? Well that time is almost here. LG and other companies are on the verge of making this a reality. LG’s rollable OLED display gives me hope for the potential that the near future could hold. LG recently showed off its new prototype at CES 2016. At the convention they showed off how their new display can be rolled while the screen still emits an image.
Do you love to watch TV but do not want it as the centre of attention when it is powered off? Do you want a functional yet still relaxing living space? This might be the solution for you! Panasonic just released a prototype that is verging on what you would see in science fiction. This new prototype is a transparent television that you can control with a wave of your hand. This is an amazing innovation.
I don’t know about you but personally when I was a kid I loved building and playing with LEGO. Also whenever I was playing with the figurines I had one person who was me, or at least my LEGO representation of me. Now a company has come out with a way to make your LEGO experience more personal. A UK based company called Funky 3D Faces has devised a way, although not in partnership with LEGO, to 3D print a personalized head for any of your LEGO characters.
Have you ever wanted to have farm fresh vegetables right in your home? Have you ever had an interest in agriculture, but you live in an apartment building and your landlord might get mad if you start digging up their back yard? Well now you can! OPCOM has just come out with their new line of products called OPCOM Farm. The most practical of which (for home use) seems to be the Cube and the Cell.
