The Nightmares Of Technology?

Remember when you had to use a payphone if you wanted to ring your mum while up the town (finding a payphone that actually worked was the challenge)? Remember when to enter a radio competition you had to write a letter (and rewrite the entire letter when you made a mistake!), take it to the post office, get a stamp, post it, and hope it got there before the closing date? And remember way back when “Google” was something you heard a baby say, and “Yahoo!” was from a cowboy film, if you had to do research for a school project, you had to go to the library and physically search the shelves to find huge book, something that ‘might’ be useful, only to go through half of it and realise it wasn’t really relevant at all? (Click here for more examples of Life Before Technology)

All of these arduous tasks have been rendering obsolete with the evolution of mobile phones into small computers in our pocket. You can FaceTime your aunt in Australia, have access to all the encyclopaedias in the world, and have 24/7 contact with your colleague at work to get that important project sorted before the deadline. But how much is too much?

According to recent studies sponsored by SecurEnvoy, ‘Nomophobia’ and ‘Ringxiety’ are increasing at a dramatic rate in the UK.

Nomophobia - a word coined from the phrase ‘no mobile phobia’. It refers to the feeling of distress that people feel when they are not in mobile contact with others due to their credit running out, battery dying, or losing network, etc.

Ringxiety - Also known as Phantom Ringing, this refers to imagining that you can hear your phone ringing when it is not. Scientists believe it, (together with Crackberry - the compulsion to check your Blackberry phone extremely often) is a form of OCD which we will be seeing more of in coming years.

Study Findings

According to OnePoll who carried out the study on 1000 employed people:

• 41% of all those surveyed had at least two phones (47% of the men, and 36% of the women surveyed)
• Almost 50% said they would be upset if their partner checked messages/calls on their phone
• 61% of men surveyed worried about losing their phones, and 70% of the women
•  77% of those aged 18-24 and 68% of those aged 25-34 years old were deemed to be ‘nomophobic’

Comparisons With Previous Research

• In a similar studied carried out in 2008,  53% of those who participated suffered from nomophobia. This has since risen to 66% of those  who took part in the 2012 study.
• In 2008, men were found to be more likely to be nomophobic, whereas today, it is more likely to be women.

So we are becoming more and more obsessed with our mobile phones. What do you think? And are we all sufferers of some form of technological mental disorder?

Google Really Going Global??

In my last post I referred to Google taking over the world in a rather tongue-in-cheek sensationalist fashion. But ever since writing the post, Google seems to be going out of their way just to prove Adam McConnell might actually be right (for once in his life! (Sorry dear!! lol))

First of all there was the launch of beta version Chrome for Android, meaning that the Android platform is being more tightly reined in and becoming evermore Google-dependent. Then there was the announcement that Google bought Motorola Mobility, possibly making the first step towards all-out Google phones as opposed to partnerships with other companies. I could go on for a long time discussing the many times Google have earned themselves a mention on the news. A quick search on the BBC technology website gives a list of no less than 20 news stories as of the start of this month – this is on average more than one every day!

One of the least expected places for it to show up was during my latest trip to the cinema. In the new Muppets movie, Kermit is tasked with trying to round up the entire cast for one final show together – cue mayhem as they bust Animal out of Anger Management class, persuade Miss Piggy to leave her post as plus-size editor of Vogue, rescue Fozzie from a rough tribute act in Reno, and encourage Gonzo to leave his Alan Sugar role as a plumbing giant. But where do they find the technical whizz responsible for producing the show? As a programmer at Google of course! So take that as your inspiration for finding your placement post – if a Muppet can do it, then so can we!

Image copyright of Walt Disney Studios

Solve For X

Google recently announced their answer to the TED talks – Solve For X. Its a new public campaign that aims towards creating new ideas for solving some of the world’s problems. Unlike the TED talks, the focus will obviously be from a technological perspective. The new approach has been termed ‘moonshot thinking’.

So what is this? According to Google it is a combination of “a huge problem to solve, a radical solution for solving it, and the breakthrough technology to make it happen”. Gibberish? Well, basically, each talk will be given a theme in the form of a problem that must be solved in the world, and a major brainstorming session takes place between all the attendees. Any interesting and potentially plausible ideas that result from the sessions will then be further investigated and possibly implemented by Google.  Sounds great, doesn’t it? We all get together to save the world and live happily ever after.

But is it? Lets just say you go to one of these conferences, tell them about an amazing idea that has been brewing in your mind, and they like it. So far, so good. The idea takes off, gets implemented into the latest Google product and becomes the defining feature of Android Knickerbocker-Glory 7.3 or whatever. Who gets the credit? The person sitting in Row A, Seat 3 at the 2012 conference? Of course not! It’ll be the Google giants that will be rolling in the millions, not you. (But on the other hand, what a buzz would it be to see your idea on a billboard in Times Square?)

So got a good idea? Why not invest in your idea yourself and set up your own business? Maybe you’ll be the next big thing. (Take a look at Digital Derry or Invest NI)In my opinion, Solve For X is Google’s next step in global domination in the technology world at least. According to Adam McConnell, it won’t stop there. A lover of all things Android, he firmly believes that the day will come when the infrastructure of entire cities will be controlled by Google. The notion first came to him in a dream where he lived on an (rather unorginally named) island known as Google-topia where everything from the bus timetable to cooking dinner was controlled by some sort of Google application, but he has thought about it during his waking hours and believes that it is quite possible. Whether this is another one of his wacky schemes or a snapshot of the future remains to be seen, but for now, I’m quite happy to use Google as simply as a search engine.

To date or not to date?

I recently came across this blog discussing 50 reasons not to date a graphics designer. Go on, read it and get back to me….

How many people are considering a career change right now?

Whether it is graphic design, interface design, web design, and dare I say it, software design, it seems that all of us designers are pretty similar, and pretty hard to live with. Makes me feel a little bit sorry for the other halves now.

Social Vibe

Some of the more observant of you may have noticed the new SocialVibe widget I’ve added to the sidebar (and if you haven’t, well…Specsavers has got a sale on )

But now that it’s been brought to your attention, I hear some of you ask, what is SocialVibe?

For a detailed explanation click here, but in a nutshell, it is a campaign set up that allows your social online profiles to make a positive impact by supporting a charity or cause that is close to your heart. For every click on your widget you earn points, and for every point you get, a donation is made by Social Vibe companies, on your behalf, to the chosen charity.

The charity I have chosen is The American Diabetes Association. Join in by clicking on the widget. It doesn’t cost you anything, but it helps make a worthwhile difference. Thanks everyone!

Ok, well where does the computer science come into all of this?

There’s been great advances in technology for the diagnosis and treatment of this disease. I’m going to talk about the three which I feel will make the most impact on the lives of diabetics.

1. A recent announcement at the end of December has introduced a new device which may signal the end of blood tests to diagnose diabetes. Currently, diabetes can only be definitively diagnosed by a blood test which must be processed. The time it takes to process the results in a haemotology lab can sometimes be dangerous as the longer the disease is left untreated, the more damage it can cause (including kidney failure, limb amputation, blindness, coma, or death) and every moment is precious. A new device is being developed which can carry out diabetic screening instantaneously, without the need for a blood test. Rays of light are used to scan the patient’s skin to check for the presence of abnormal proteins which are associated with diabetic complications. According to Diabetes UK, there is an estimated 850,000 people in the UK who have diabetes, but have not yet been diagnosed. A device of this type could speed up the diagnosis process. Whilst still in testing stages, the device is unlikely to be given FDA approval in the USA until 2013 at the earliest, but could mean more effective diagnosis practices for patients worldwide.

The prototype device being used in the US by Autumn Russ who was recently diagnosed with the condition.

2. A similar device is also in development which may prove revolutionary for all diabetics in treating the condition.  As a diabetic myself, every day I need to check my glucose levels between 4 and 8 times every day. This entails of using a lancet to prick my finger to draw a small amount of blood every time. I’ll be the first to admit – it’s a nuisance. Light technology is investigated as to its effectiveness to test the levels of blood glucose in the body, thereby being a lot less invasive by eliminating the need for a finger prick.

3.The final breakthrough in technology that I’m going to refer to is an implantable insulin pump. Once this is released, it could change the life of diabetics completely, as it would eliminate the need for blood glucose testing and insulin injections. The pump would mimic the operation of the body’s pancreas by continuously monitoring the levels of sugar in the blood and injecting an adequate amount of insulin into the bloodstream, thereby allowing diabetics to lead completely normal lives, unencumbered by finger pricks or injection injections. As of yet, it is still a concept in the pipeline, but should be introduced within the next 10 years.

So that’s why I feel that the American Diabetes Association deserves funding. Why don’t you add a Social Vibe widget to your Facebook, blog, etc? And don’t forget to click on mine!

Technology at Home

This blog has been set up as part of a university assignment and is intended to ‘focus on my second semester as a year 2 student at University of Ulster’. Therefore, obviously, the subject of choice must be relevant to my course, Computer Science. Whilst brainstorming on what I should discuss in my first blog post, I began to reflect on the extent to which technology has infiltrated all areas of daily life. Living with 4 younger siblings aged between 3 and 17 years means that never a dull moment goes by in our house, and topics of conversation span from the latest adventures of Sesame Street’s Elmo to those of Dr.Watson and Sherlock Holmes. As much as our ages and personalities differ, the five of us each use technology to suit our own interests.

My 3 year old brother has an obsession with Elmo, so when he is not watching the newest DVD or the latest CD that someone has brought home, then the repetitive plead to “Please put on Elmo’s lap-a-top!” (hence the name of this blog)  is taken from person to person, until someone relents and allows him to sit up beside them and watch videos of Elmo on YouTube. (I’m not sure who introduced him to the wonders of “Elmo on You-Tubb”, but I bet they rue the day. Watching Elmo’s Ducks 10 times back to back can get pretty tiresome.)

Next is an 11 year old who is never seen without a gaming device of some sort in his hand. Be it The Simpsons on Nintendo DS Lite, Angry Birds on iPod Touch or Fifa 2012 on XBOX, he’s bound to be playing something. Gone are the days of spending hours playing Tetris on a 12-games-in-one handset that plugged into the television or Crash Bandicoot on the PlayStation (the original, of course).

Now we come to a 14 year old, self-confessed (current) Sherlock Holmes fanatic. The object of obsession varies month to month (from Lady Gaga to Justin Bieber, Twilight to Harry Potter) but the pattern is the same. The laptop wallpaper (and bedroom posters) get changed almost weekly to a bigger and better one, BBC iPlayer is steady showing the most recent TV Show episode or documentary, the movie is watched religiously on DVD, the soundtrack is played on loop on her Sony Walkman, the latest gossip is followed up on Twitter then recited to a reluctant audience at the dinner table and the phone ringtone changes so often that even she forgets that its her phone ringing. It has become as easy to change the entire ‘theme’ of her life as changing a Facebook status.

Speaking of Facebook, we come to my 17 year old brother, who is endlessly updating his Facebook account with photos of the last outing with friends at the weekend, the “hilarious” antics in the school sixth form common room or a link to this week’s funniest video on YouTube. Aside from Facebook, technology is also omniscient in the fact that he is a complete music enthusiast so the SkullCandy headphones are never (ever ever) off his head, the iPod is forever docked in the Tailgator amp station and Spotify and Guitar Pro are the sole purpose of him having a laptop.

As for me, my weapon of choice is a HTC Wildfire. Probably the worst thing I ever did was buying this phone, because having unlimited access to Google and StumbleUpon means that the 5 mins of ‘killing time’ becomes a marathon session of flicking through endless sites and then suddenly realising half the day is gone. Installing the Kobo app was also probably unwise, given the fact that I no longer have to have my eReader with me to read (aka get lost in for hours) my new book, but can access my virtual library from anywhere. Goodbye boring bus journeys! As for the days of being annoyed when a pair of shoes are not available in my size in store? Well now all I have to do is look them up online and buy them, generally at a lower price anyway. Installing the WordPress app means that I am writing this post while sitting outside Magee waiting for someone.

So, that, in a nutshell is how much the five of us use technology, and that is only for leisure purposes. How about homework, coursework, etc? How is it used at school? How is technology used in business? I could go on forever. My point is, technology has been incorporated into all aspects of daily life, not only in our home, but in most homes in the developed world. What is shocking is how fast this has all occurred, the internet was a thing of science-fiction in the time of my grandparents, yet now it is involved in almost everything we do. Televisions have come a long way from the small black and white TV set of the 1970s, to the 60″ LED 3D televisions of today, albeit that they are the very top of the range products. But the jumpy images, and scratchy sound of terrestrial television has been replaced by high definition picture over broadband cables and complete surround sound.

So, I ask, what will the next 20 years bring? Well I suppose that’s for us, the computer science students, to decide.