Saturday, September 20, 2008

Nanobot Model


The picture above is a model of a nanobot attempting to repair a red blood cell. This was created in Second Life.

Successful Prediction - The Permanent World Encyclopa

H.G. Wells, an excellent writer, was also an excellent futurist. Many ideas that he had wrote about have come true in some respect.

One such idea was the thought of a permanent library (https://sherlock.ischool.berkeley.edu/wells/world_brain.html) or a 'World Brain." He said tat there will be a need for a more advanced encyclopaedia to help increase knowledge. Schools are born all the time back then, however the current encyclopaedias were "for gentelmen by gentlemen." Universal education was not something that was thought of as much back then.

Have we such an encyclopaedia now? I think we do. The Internet has all sorts of information, spans multiple cultures and is available to anyone with a computer. We can get to it on our cell phones and other personal equipment, making it even more accessible.

Myself, I have used my phone to win (and lose) debates with friends. What are the lyrics of this song? When was it produced? All of this is available to us.

So yes, I think we do have a permanent world encyclopaedia. Maybe not as H.G. Wells had invisioned, but his prediction has come true.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Audacity - Podcast Creation Software

I have made my first podcast today! To do so, I utilized a tool called Audacity.

Audacity is a very powerful tool that allows you to create a podcast and save it in a variety of file formats. The software provides many different effects that you can execute on your podcast giving it some individuality.

I thought the tool was pretty easy to use, although it wasn't perfectly stable for me. The program did crash once while I was creating my podcast, however that is not bad for a Windows system anyway!

All in all, the tool was great, although there is a lot more to podcasting than I had thought. There was a bit more to it than just recording the file. Blogger doesn't host the file natively, so I had to find a place to host it. Once that was found, however, things were fairly easy.

That would be an excellent addition in the future Blogger!!!

Future Prediction Podcast








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This picture illustrates what a nanoprobe may look like. This particular probe would have the ability to remove toxin from the human body, perform tests and ultrasounds, as well as perform surgery on a cell level.


The capabilities of such nanodevices are just starting to be realized, and will continue to do so in the future.




The future - Nanobots

We have made great strides in robotics, including the ablity to build very small machines, called nanobots or nanites. These devices have a large potential as they can be used in everything from manufacturing components on a small scale to use in the medical professions by having the ability to repair tissues within the human body.

I believe that their use in medicine, or nanomedicine rather, will greatly increase in the next 10-15 years. These small devices are capable of performing diagnostics on the human body, deliver medication specifically to where they need to be, as well as check the toxicity levels in specific organs much more effectively than current capabilities allow.

Unfortunately, there are some concerns about using such technique, namely ethical concerns [1]. While nanotechnology has the ability to provide powerful tools to the medical profession, people are worried things can go too far. Such technologies allow 'enhancement' to the human body much more powerful than steroids. Software is not perfect, so there is a chance the nanotechnology can cause more harm than good due to a coding error (we have seen what happens with simple unit conversions with NASA's Mars probes).

Currently the National Institute of Health is providing grants for further study into the capabilities of nanotechnologies in the medical profession. They tend to agree that some of the advances found will be seen in 10 or so years [2].

As with any new technology, there are things that must be worked out, either technical or ethical. Nanotechnology has advanced, but the ethics still need to be worked out. Within the next 10-15 years nanotechnology will become more common, and I think that many of the ethical concerns will be worked out. There will be government legislation regulating the use of this technology, to be sure.

Just imagine the possibilities. Cancer cells individually destroyed or repaired in place of current treatments. Taking a pill to clean the plaque in our arteries. The future looks very promising indeed!


1. The potential and the pitfalls of nanomedicine, May 7 2007, Nanowerk, http://www.nanowerk.com/spotlight/spotid=1891.php

2. Nanomedicine - Overview, National Institute of Technology, http://nihroadmap.nih.gov/nanomedicine/

Sunday, August 31, 2008

Twitter - What's the point?

Interestingly, today a friend of mine had invited me to Twitter. I thought I would check it out.

It appears to be simply a service that lets people know what you are up to. Alerts can be configured so every 24 hours if you have not posted an update on what you are doing, it will remind you to do so. Mobile updates can be configured as well, fo those that really want to keep an eye on what others they are 'following' are up to.

I must be missing something with Twitter... I don't see the point. So many other, more capable sites, provide similar functionality. FaceBook for example allows me to provide a quick message allowing me to provide my status, as well as offering other functionality such as games and other content.

Perhaps the draw to this site is the simplicity of it. It really is pretty simple to use, however MySpace and FaceBook on the other hand can be a bit confusing to newcomers. And, there have been instances where news is posted on Twitter before it actually makes it into the media, such as in the case of the Los Angeles earthquake a few weeks ago, however even then it isn't a profitable venture as of yet.

We'll just have to see how Twitter evolves in the future. I hope they add some unique functionality that FaceBook and MySpace don't already offer.

Sunday, August 24, 2008

LinkedIn - Enterprise class Web 2.0

LinkedIn provides a mechanism to keep tabs on contacts that you make during your career. A friend of mine who I had worked with for nearly 6 years introduced me to the site by requesting I accept being added as a contact.

Initially, I thought that this was simply another site like FaceBook or MySpace, however it isn't. Users of the site are able to list their current company information, title, amount of time in each position within a company (or multiple companies), and even flag your account if you are looking for a new job.

My network is fairly large now, and continues to grow. Contacts that I have made over the years, both internal to my employer as well as external business partners, are part of my contact list. It allows me to keep track of my relationships with these contacts, even after they move to different companies. I've heard that it is not always what your skills are but who you know that moves you up the corporate ladder, and this tool allows people to keep track of those influential individuals.

LinkedIn has recently added additional functionality (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/03/20/linkedin-now-for-companies-2/) allowing company profiles to also be displayed on the site, creating a 'fact sheet' of sorts.

The question, however, is would tools like LinkedIn actually benefit companies, or is it an avenue for head hunters to get talent from competing companies? A company could find employees that work for them on such tools, look at their contact lists, and attempt to get them to come to the other company. What do you think? Should companies fear such sites, or does the benefit of business-class social networking assisting their employees outweigh such concerns?

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Picasa , An awesome tool!

In my investigation of new Web 2.0 technologies, I thought I'd give Picasa a try. Perfect timing, too, as I have a newborn baby, and would like to make pictures available to the family (at least those who are 'web-enabled').

Downloading the software and signing on was pretty easy, and the system search for pictures was very quick. Unfortunately, it doesn't give you an option to skip searching for pictures and add them all yourself, so it had found a ton of clipart and other pictures on my system and indexed it into its database.

Once pictures are there, however, it is very easy to create a blog with the picture. Simply select the picture, and click Blog This, and away you go! In fact, this blog message was written using that method.

There are some things that are a bit confusing about the tool, or at least I haven't figured them out yet. If I attempt to log into Blogger and add a picture I already have posted, it doesn't seem provide an option to allow me to do so, and the help files don't seem to indicate a way to do that. Looking at the HTML code for this posting isn't all that helpful either, as it seems to be referring to 'localhost' for the placement of the picture. Perhaps that will change once I submit it.

All in all, it is a good tool for organizing your images and an easy way to throw them on the web to show your family your newborn baby, for instance. Myself, however, I'll stick with my personal website.
Posted by Picasa

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Failed Prediction - Telephone Is A Fad!

Imagine the thrill of being involved with a new invention as powerful and influential to society as the telephone! Imagine the affects that such a discovery would have on society! The question is, would you realize the power of that invention at the time it was introduced?

The telephone had its barrage of individuals that said the phone is simply a fad. Take a look at some of these quotes:

This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us. - A memo at Western Union, 1878 (or 1876).

The Americans have need of the telephone, but we do not. We have plenty of messenger boys. - Sir William Preece, Chief Engineer, British Post Office, 1878.

It's a great invention but who would want to use it anyway? - Rutherford B. Hayes, U.S. President, after a demonstration of Alexander Bell's telephone, 1876.

A man has been arrested in New York for attempting to extort funds from ignorant and superstitious people by exhibiting a device which he says will convey the human voice any distance over metallic wires so that it will be heard by the listener at the other end. He calls this instrument a telephone. Well-informed people know that it is impossible to transmit the human voice over wires. - News item in a New York newspaper, 1868.

It appears that there were many who were opposed to the telephone being introduced, or those who thought it would not be useful. After all, with the telegraph and messengers, who needs advanced communication capabilities? Were people able to adapt as well in the late 1800's as we are capable of today?

Lucky for us, our great grandparents and grandparents were willing to adapt telephones to their daily lives. Where would we be without them? Do you think we would be as technologically advanced without telephone technology and the innovation it has spawned? Myself, I don't think so, but am interested in your comments. Please feel free to present your opinion!

Quotes from http://www.boingboing.net/2007/10/27/failed-futuristic-pr.html

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

The Progression of Virtual Worlds Into Collaboration Tools

I remember my first experience in a virtual world... my first 3D shooter, Return to Castle Wolfenstein. I was amazed that technology had progressed as far as being able to create a somewhat interactive world, and had no idea where this technology would go in the future.

The use of virtual worlds has exploded in recent years. MMORPG's (massively multiplayer on-line role playing games) use virtual worlds to create an immersive experience for their customers, as well as new ways for players to communicate. Groups called guilds in many MMORPG's (go by other names as well, depending on the virtual world) allow players to group together to create a small social society, many of them based on certain play styles, classes of characters that they use in the environment, or even their physical location (I belonged to a guild whose initial users were all living around Houston, TX... I was the first non-Texan). Who would have thought it would expand farther than that?

Enter Second Life... a virtual world that really isn't a 'game', but it is an environment that allows forms of collaboration far past a group of players trying to figure out how to conquer their next instance. Various real-world commuties (schools, businesses, individuals with a common interest or cause) have established a presence in this virtual world, where they are able to do more than just share their ideas with each other. They are able to build their environment to suit their needs as well as 'avatars' that happen to be passing by.

My first experience with Second Life, I saw the potential that the virtual world had. I was able take a tour of the International Space Museum, examine what someone with schizophrenia may experience, see a house that never ended, and be able to provide my feedback to those that created these environments and shared their information. Shortly after, I found that there were a lot of special interest groups that one could be a part of to share their ideas with each other... and then I had taken my first college class using Second Life as a collaboration medium.

I think that virtual worlds will continue to evolve and will be a strong part of the future. Such environments make it very easy for geographically dispersed individuls to share their ideas and create models to help get their point across. Repositories of their ideas and research can be stored in a virtual library so others can leverage their collective body of knowledge as well as add to it, all from the comfort of their couch. It will be interesting to see how this technology will evolve in the future!

Monday, July 21, 2008

Welcome to my blog!

Welcome to the blog of the Blog Bandit! I hope you enjoy your stay!