Smart Home – Integrating Technology in Our Daily Lives

When I search on the web to see the latest developments in technology and the path that it takes, I see not buttons or switches, but clean, wireless panels, with touchscreens or holograms. It seems that glass is the material of the future and the keyword for the future is “smart”. We have started to hear these words already, and in the future, we will hear them more and more: smartphone is a very good example of a smart technology that has been implemented so far. Also, smart security, smart TV or smart materials are just emerging. All of these will ultimately come together to build the house of the future: the smart home.

This reminds of a TV series I watched, Eureka. And it’s about a normal guy (a FBI agent) that ends up in a town called Eureka, where all of the world’s leading scientist live. And his house is a smart house that talks to him and can do almost anything: cook, clean itself, give information about anything and much more. That is how I imagine the smart house to be like. What will this so called smart house will do that today’s house cannot? After all, it’s still just a roof supported by 4 walls. Or is it? If implemented, smart materials and smart appliances will revolutionize how we look at our house.

Some of the gadgets than you will find in the smart home are already in development, and in few short years they will be something will see in most households or appliances stores.

Related Read: Infosys Develops Digital Smart Home Gateway

The Smart Window

Last year, at CES, Samsung unveiled their new design for the smart window. You might say that it’s not a new technology, and you would be wrong! The smart window is not like the old smart glass, that could modify its opacity, but a completely new design that looks like the Minority Report glass. You can install apps on it, you can browse the web, basically, it’s a big touchscreen, like the one on your smartphone that can connect wireless to the web. It’s transparent, just like a normal window, but at the “touch” of a button, you can close the shutters. A great technology that will be released very soon, and it’s something I would very much like to use and must have in any smart home!

The Smart Fridge

Of all things you would find in the smart house, the last thing you would expect to have a brain is the refrigerator. But, it seems that some people over at Samsung (I know, what’s up with these guys, making everything smart) and LG gave it a lot of thought and they’ve come up with smart refrigerators. These are not your average refrigerators, they have Wi-Fi connectivity, LCD displays, voice control and the possibility to view what groceries you have directly on your smartphone. The days when you pinned your notes on the fridge with magnets are gone, nowadays you write them on your smart fridge’s touchscreen.

The Smart TV

Smart TV’s have been around for a short while. We have seen what they are capable of doing, now having wireless internet support, 3D compatible, app market. They come with microprocessors, capable of thinking and giving you the best quality image possible. The cutting edge technology in TV development is now LED technology. They give manufacturers the possibility to produce incredibly thin screens (just a few millimeters) thick and also bigger screens than ever. Also mobile connectivity is now available, and the future series of smart TV’s will definitely be even more impressive.

Smart Security

What is a smart home if it’s not secure? One of the basic functions of a home is to provide security for its residents. And the smart security does exactly that: home automation technology notifies homeowners of any problems, and because it’s linked to the internet, it can even notify the authorities if someone tries to break in. In the smart home, there is however another type of security that has to be perfected. And that is self security. Because the house is linked to the internet and most of its appliances are also connected, the threat of hacking is greater. So the house has to have a few security features to protect itself and its occupants. Also, an artificial intelligence program would be a nice feature, one that can monitor homeowners health and who can learn their habits and attention them of any risks they might encounter.

All of these connected to your smart network, where you can access everything from the smart window to your heating or home entertainment. Everything will communicate with each other and make your house almost a living being.

These are just a few of the gadgets you will find in the smart home, and more are still in development. There are some who try to build in-home gardens, in witch you can grow your own vegetables, smart materials used to keep your more “green”, to consume less energy. If thing will go in the future at the speed they are advancing today, in 10 years we could live in our own Eureka house.

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“Cyberwarfare is the fifth domain of warfare”
- The Economist

“actions by a nation-state to penetrate another nation’s computers or networks for the purposes of causing damage or disruption”

This is how Richard A. Clarke, in his book Cyber War, defines cyber-warfare.

Basic Understanding of Cyber War

This may not be a term you are used to by now, but if you ended up here, you have heard of it. And the meaning of this term is in fact the migration of warfare from the 4 mediums of the past (ground, air, water and space) to a new medium: cyberspace. The concept is not new by any means, this is just a reaction of the evolution of information. Intelligence and counter-intelligence used to collect data written on paper, nowadays, this information is stored on servers or private networks. And so, they have evolved into cyber intelligence.

Cyberwarfare is the method of choice in warfare in the new era, but let’s be honest: do we really believe it could be without victims? Without loss of life? It’s true, maybe soldiers will not be in the line of fire, but the ramifications of cyberwar are much more widespread and they affect much more people. In a sense, we, as a society do not fully understand all the ramifications of cyberwarfare. This new breed of soldiers are armed with laptops rather than AK’s. They now have more power than any army has ever had in the past. The threat of sabotage or espionage via computers and networks has increased dramatically in the last few years.

Cyber Attacks to Replace Military Battles?

We have seen numerous examples of cyber attacks or leaked information and that is just the start of it. As you all know, our society has become more and more dependent on the Internet. In the future, cyber attacks will not just mean a stolen bank account number or a few private photos. Valuable information that is stored on servers across the world are no longer safe, and countries have entire systems linked over the internet, such as transportation, electricity or industry. All of these are vulnerable, and an attack of any of these systems would result in a partial or even total collapse of society.

If this would come to pass, then the risk for society is grater than old fashioned war because of the widespread panic this would cause. The US army calls this type of war iWar (funny, eh?!). After all the attacks on military institutions and private ones, everyone is starting to take notice of the threat and prepare for an all-out cyberwar. The leaders of the pack until now are the Chinese and French, but other countries are quickly rising. Soon, Russia will have a cyber-army ready to strike.

We caught a glimpse of cyberwarfare in 1991, when, in some opinions, cyberwarfare started. In the first Gulf War, Dutch hackers obtained information about US troops and tried to sell them to Iraqis, but they did not believe them. The outcome would have been very different is they would have gotten the information. The US then saw what cyberwarfare could mean, and what a useful tool it could be. Now it has evolved beyond a weapon.

The Real Threat of Modern World: Hackers vs Governments

Another example of this type of cyberwarfare was seen in 2010, when in China, Google, Facebook, Twitter and Skype were blocked for a period, or in Egypt where Twitter was blocked because of the riots and because of the threat that the activists would plan their next attacks on the social network. But all hope is not lost, there are the so-called white-hat hackers. These are the guys fighting in the front lines, those who oppose one country’s control over the Internet and who fight to keep the Internet free and anonymous. In this category, two names stand out over the others: Anonymous, a world wide association of hackers, all anonymous and all working together under the same flag, and LulzSec, the french group that hacked the servers of Sony in 2011.

These two groups are the so called “hactivists” and they operate under the assumption that governments are hacking computers and networks to gain personal information from citizens, and in a way, they are just returning the favor. And is the reply given by governments to these groups? “The road to hell is paved with good intentions”. The Chinese already have the “blue army”, a dedicated task force to keep an watchful eye on the Internet, for any of these Internet pirates.

Online Banking: Making your Money Vulnerable

An inevitable effect of globalization and technological breakthrough is that goods are being faster produced, services are more and more widespread; bottom line, time is the universal currency. In order to save time, we’re using such tools as home banking or mobile banking to avoid the hassle of dealing with bank clerks. While this is great and proves to be useful to our time management, no matter how much security the bank can offer, we should ask ourselves: can we really be safe? There are many ethical hackers out there that fight for freedom and rights but it’s completely foolish to think there aren’t cyber criminals, ready to steal your money and destroy your life.

Either way we look at it, it’s clear that World War 3 will be fought on virtual battleground, but nonetheless, the result will be more devastating that we could ever conceive. Bottom line: Is a cyberwar inevitable? It could be, but looking back on history, I would have to say no.

Related Read: Technological Singularity – The Blind Point

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Top 10 Funny Websites for Geeks

I think of the web as a mirror of society; and as a mirror of society, pornography and violence is everywhere. It’s true, it’s not that easy to find places where old values still prevail, where you can read an article that is educative, but in an entertaining way. Maybe I’m just pessimistic, but I feel the world, and its mirror, the web is getting smaller and smaller while getting bigger and bigger, and it fills me with joy to see these tiny corners where I can feel safe to click on a link, watch a video and laugh, or read about something and not get bored to death. If you are like me, or if you just want to see where you can find quality humor, you might like this list that I’ve put together.

1. Uncyclopedia

If you ever used Wikipedia, this will definitely put a smile on your face. Uncyclopedia is the perfect opposite of Wikipedia. Its articles are really funny and the site promotes quality humor. For Uncyclopedia nothing is taboo, and everything is permitted. And it’s exactly that quality that makes Uncyclopedia one of the best humor sites on the web. I have made a weekly habit of checking out their witty articles.

2. Cracked

Now, I know everyone has heard of cracked.com, unless you are living in a cave. Cracked is one of the most renowned sites in the world. This site has thousands of interesting articles and the guys that write them do it so with humor, nice jokes here and there. In short, a fun way to learn some really nice and interesting things. A good alternative for Cracked would be ListVerse.

3. DarwinAwards

A collection of some of the funniest stories I’ve ever heard – this is how I would describe Darwin Awards. This website is a really good way to pass the time, but mark my words: it’s addictive. I started reading a few stories and before I knew it, I had spent 2 hours laughing my a$$ off. The website has a basic design, let’s hope they’ll work on that in the future!

4. SomethingAwful

Something Awful is, in fact, the name of a website. I have recently discovered it, and might I say I enjoy it pretty much. The articles are really funny and its content is pretty diverse. The time I spent there was entertaining and I left the site with a smile on my face. I really recommend it if you are in the mood of reading some cool articles. It’s like a mix of after-dark and good quality humor.

5. Sickipedia

Another “pedia” site hits the top! And this time it’s all about humor. Sickipedia is a huge database of jokes. As they say on their website: “building the world’s best collection of sick jokes”, and that is true. The only way to describe this site is this: ROFL! Short jokes that you can remember and tell your friends, not your mom! Ah, and, ignore that small cartoon.

6. NotAlwaysRight

NotAlwaysRight is another humor site where you can find funny stories that happened to people just like you and me. It’s really nice to see real comedy, in a sense, this is just like reality TV, but only in writing. It’s good to know that there is a place where you can read about the funny aspect of life.

7. College Humor

I’ve been a fan of College Humor for a while now. They make really funny videos and on their site and you can find really nice articles. If I were to make a personal list of my favorite video humor sites, College Humor would definitely be in my top 3.

8. Lamebook

As with Wikipedia and its own parodies, Facebook could not have escaped people’s try to make a joke about it. And the joke about Facebook is Lamebook, this site is the total opposite and, of course, in my opinion, much more funnier than Facebook. I wonder, though, if those are genuine jokes or fake.

9. HappyPlace

As the name suggests, HappyPlace is a humor site where you can find quite allot of articles, photos and videos that will surely make you smile so wide, you could eat a banana sideways. I really enjoyed spending time on this site, and now, it’s on my Firefox speed dial.

10. TastefullyOffensive

Humor all around! From the name to the content, Tastefully Offensive has “premium funny” content, updated daily. This site one of the more well known ones, and it’s not hard to imagine why, quality humor is present everywhere. A definite must if you are looking for good comedy.

Writing this article has brought back a lot of memories when I first started to use the internet, oh, what great times. If I may quote a dialog that really touched me, from Pirates of the Caribbean – At World’s End, when Captain Jack Sparrow talks to Captain Barbossa:

“- The world used to be a bigger place.
- World’s still the same. There’s just less in it”

This quote has really touched me, and it seems a fitting ending to this article, seeing that I’ve talked in the beginning of the path the web has taken in the last years. But no matter how hard it gets, remember these tiny “islands” where you can go to have a good time.

Suggested Read: Have You Ever Used Uncyclopedia, The Parody of Wikipedia?

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That’s why I thought about a list of books that every geek should read so that he could proudly call himself a tech lover, not only because he loves gadgets and recent technology but because he believes in science, he believes in the power of technology and its philosophy.

7. The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology, by Ray Kurzweil

Thought provoking book, written by the well-known futuristic author Ray Kurzweil where he speaks about technological singularity as being the blind point in human evolution, the moment when on Earth could appear entities smarter than humans. So, what will happen during that “clash”? Nobody knows.

6. I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov

I remember having read this book when I was 12. At that point, robots seemed like such a far point in human evolution. But, look around, we already have  robots that can think and take autonomous decisions. Will they be our friends, will they be our enemies?

5. Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything, by D. Tapscott and A.D. Williams

This book is utterly important for business owners and it highlights the huge effect of the social media on the financial factor of many companies in the world. A basic line from this book is this  one “the more your company lets outsiders in, or even turns the company over to the masses, the more new ideas are generated, the more new products are developed, and the more problems are solved.”

4. The Future of the Internet And How to Stop It, by Jonathan Zittrain

“The most compelling book ever written on why a transformative technology”s trajectory threatens to stifle that technology”s greatest promise for society. Zittrain offers convincing road maps for redeeming that promise.” The books speaks about the Internet having a “bad” ending if we’re not going to influence it for the good of society.

A good example that I can think of is how Twitter helped people report from Egyptian riots. The books comprises in 352 pages information from the start of the Internet and the author tries to predict what could the Internet transform into if we will not be able to control it.

3. Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace, by Lawrence Lessig

Seems like a heavy tech book at first, but as you read the first pages you realize the genius of the author and how did he make it readable for everybody. One could view this book as a sci-fi one, as the author suggests that governments could change the “code” of the Internet and make it controllable. It’s another book about the Internet, but, this author tries to prove that the Internet could be the key for us to restart the democratic process that seems lost. A wonderful book that combines Internet – the juice of technology with a futuristic view of the political aspect of the World.

2. The Control Revolution: Technological and Economic Origins of the Information Society, by James Beniger

It’s all about information, James Beniger suggests. From the very first wheel that humans made until 3D processors, it’s all about information. Beniger argues that information has been used by society to control production, that’s what made possible the big transition from the feudal society into the industrialized one, when people, using information shaped into machines and factories, could control production, thus feeding the needs of the entire society. It’s a must-read in your library.

1. The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells

My personal no.1 is this awesome written book by the genius of sci-fi, Herbert Wells. Why The Time Machine? Because traveling in time has been the biggest dream for humanity, a possibility that we were talking about since childhood. It will remain a wonderfully written book, ready to make you dream and get lost in webs of desire. It will make you wanna go back and see how big the dinos were and see how will humanity look like one hundred years from now.

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The spring of the year 2000 saw a huge leap forward in GPS capabilities. Mapping and navigation became the new trend. You just needed a GPS capable device and you were on your way. The uses of the newly updated technology were almost countless and some people saw more opportunities than the majority. One such example is Geocaching.

Some of you might remember going on treasure hunts, where you would look for different items hidden in a given area. Well, Geocaching follows the same general guidelines, but expands the search area to the planet! According to geocaching.com, the game is

“a real-world outdoor treasure hunting game. Players try to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, using GPS-enabled devices and then share their experiences online”.

Using GPS mapping and the ever expanding means of internet communication, the Geocaching team got the whole world into playing the biggest treasure hunt ever. Now, you have the ability to both go looking for items hidden by others, or you can stash you own treasures and wait for someone else to find it. All you need to do is go online, create a Geocaching account on the dedicated website and you’re on your way.

If you have a GPS device, you can download treasures’ locations and go hunting. When you find it, the rules say you can take it with you but you have to replace whatever you found with something of equal or greater value. Of course, you also get the bragging rights!

The treasures can be anything from small items to, let’s say, a barrel. While the data on the item include the approximate size, they don’t specify what exactly you are looking for. It’s for the hider to know and you (and everyone else) to find out. For the moment, there are more than 1.4 million items hidden worldwide and more than 5 million treasure seekers out there.

Wondering how many are in your area? Well, go online and find out. And if you decide to go out and start searching, the best of luck to you!

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Yes, you read that headline right. Being a geek isn’t just for geeks anymore. And thousands of school-uniform-wearing Asian girls agree. Being a geek these days is cool, something to be proud of. And, yes, it is sexy.

In honor of Embrace Your Geekiness Day (July 13th), I think it’s about time for all of us geeks to take pride in our esoteric knowledge of defunct sci-fi television series and our deep understanding of medieval weaponry. Geeks, it is time that you knew why you were sexy.

1. Brains

Of course the first item had to be brains. First of all, chicks dig smart guys. If you’re a geek, you can help people with their computers, dominate a game of trivial pursuit, and wow your date with your in-depth knowledge of natural history on a trip to the museum. And contrary to popular belief, guys dig smart girls too. Who wants to have a conversation with a woman who only talks about tanning and eyeliner? Give me some depth. Brains are sexy, period.

2. Cosplay

Even if you don’t look like Chris Evans or Angelia Jolie, a little cosplay can go a long way. Dressing up like Captain America or Lara Croft makes you 10 times hotter every time.

3. Money

If you can take care of yourself financially, that’s always sexier than an model who still lives with their parents. And we all know that with brains comes a good job and some extra spending cash. Geeks run the world—look at Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, or Mark Zuckerberg. If that doesn’t make you sexy, I don’t know what does.

4. Creativity

I’ll bet you never knew that all the time you spent building imaginary worlds and creating armor for your WOW avatar would come to use in the real world, but it does. Girls like guys who are creative and can think outside the box, and guys like a girl who isn’t just the same-old, same-old. If you have brains and creativity, the world is your oyster.

5. You can fix stuff

“I just don’t know what’s wrong with my iPod,” the cute co-ed/guy sitting next to you on the bus exclaims. Looks like it’s time for someone to fly to the rescue with their innate geeky sense of technology and engineering. Yes, that’s you.

6. Knowledge of space

For some reason—and don’t ask me why—knowing about space stuff, like constellations, stars, planets, and other geek-manna is really impressive. After watching all that Battlestar, Star Trek, and Firefly, you should have picked up something. Don’t hold back. Let your inner geek shine. And when you go on a moonless walk around the lake, break out your trove of space knowledge. Your date will have no option but to be impressed.

7. Interesting

Geeks are downright more interesting than other people. Geeks think more, are more creative, and have unique views of the world. No one wants to date a bore. And your geekiness ensures that your dates will never be boring.

8. Imagination

Many of the above points speak to the fact that geeks have amazing imaginations, and that imagination can be translated to the real world, where you can come up with interesting dates, and out-of-the-box thinking that will impress the opposite sex. Imagination is sexier than rock-hard abs any day.

9. Removable glasses

You know that scene in the movies where the librarian takes off her glasses, shakes her hair out, and all of a sudden she’s totally hot? That’s you. And it works for guys too (well maybe not the shaking hair part). But don’t take it from me. Ask Margaret Cho:

10. Devoted

You’ve watched the entire series of Battlestar Galactica at least 12 times. You slept on the hard sidewalk outside the Apple store to get your hands on the first iPad. You’ve traveled 14 hours in a Ford Fiesta with 6 other people to get to Comic Con San Diego 4 years in a row. No one can question your devotion. And that may be the sexist thing about you. Your boyfriend or girlfriend knows that you never jump into anything halfway. You’re in it for the long haul. Your devotion is sexy, you geek.

Geeks of the world, now is the time to throw that pocket protector in the trash, step outside your darkened basement, pull the glasses from your face (shake your hair out) and embrace your sexiness.

This was a guest post by Greg Buckskin who is an outdoorsman and tech enthusiast and writes for Comcast.USDirect.

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Did you know that, in just 60 seconds,

• 98,000+ Tweets get posted on Twitter
• 695,000+ Status Updates get posted on Facebook
• 694,445 search queries on Google
• 13,000+ hours of music is streamed on Pandora
• 370,000+ minutes of voice calls done by Skype users
• 168 million emails are sent
• 13,000+ iOS apps are downloaded

Whoa! Mind blowing to say the least. Of course, as with other infographic, the data present can be doubted and questioned. Assuming it to be accurate enough, we can continue to get amazed with more such interesting stats present in the infographic below.

[via]Mediabistro

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Whoa! I bumped across this wonderful cartoon at Reddit, which is hilarious for sure, but accurate nevertheless. A satirical take on the changing times. But who is complaining? At-least I am not! It is all about multi-tasking now, isn’t it?

Have a hearty laugh!

How about an infographic about 2011 vs 2026? Oh no, the world is ending in 2012

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Watch out! Here comes the Angry Birds! Unarguably the best and most successful and addictive game for mobiles, Angry Birds has managed to amaze people ever since it was released as an app for iPhone and iPad. It went on to be the most sold app on the Apple app store and one of the most popular games on Android too. Rovio, the developer of Angry Birds hasn’t left any stone unturned to make it available on every platform, be it on mobiles or desktop.

One might not realize how much of a rage Angry Birds is. But someone who has realized that is T-Mobile. The Dutch based telecom giant has come out with an advertisement which completely exploits utilizes the popularity of the game, with a life-sized version of Angry Birds! They created a custom level where people could aim the birds on an iPhone and crash them on the pigs in a real-life scene!

The ad was directed by Jason Romeyko. He built a huge set in Barcelona, Spain and let people test it while recording their reactions. The video below shows the making of the ad in greater detail!

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Some time back, we had a look at how the fanboys perceive Linux, Windows and Mac operating systems. Well, here is another epic, courtesy The Oatmeal – How to fix any computer?

How to fix Windows PC?

How to Fix a Mac?

How to Fix a Linux?

Oh yeah, Linux kernel is mainly written in C and not C++. But don’t let those minor typos spoil the funny intent of the infographic!

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