Time to use technology for the good (and lazy)

Here are some things that should be automated. It is already 2012 for crying out loud!

1) Cars
Perhaps it's my inability to get a driver's license, or the fact that I find it terrifying to control a large, fast box of metal. However, there is no escaping the necessity of driving a car once you reach a certain age. I think they have already started developing the auto-automobile. We just need to make a judgement call on whether the expected value of accidents would increase with a computer driver instead of a human one. Should be easy.

2) TTC collector booths
Most countries have fully automated fare collectors for their transit systems. The TTC has a few automated turnstiles, but definitely not enough for rush hour. Then there is the collector whose sole job is to make sure people pay correct fare and distribute passes/tokens. Most of the time, they are sleeping or look bored/apathetic. They are also paid $29/hour, and the TTC complains about lack of funds and then increases the fare against the riders. It is time to automate this process with impassable turnstiles/gateways and more pass/token vendors.

3) Fast food restaurants
Making a whopper does not require special skills. The process is also repetitive. Employees do not wash their hands (and possibly spit in the food). Customers choose from a list. I think this is a no-brainer. Replace it all with robots and computers: food quality will remain low while the efficiency goes up.

4) Showers
This may sound like the epitome of laziness and the talk of a slob, but I find this activity one of the most trivial of chores. You are also not going to be able to change the mindset of a slob, so why not make the whole ordeal easy and efficient. This would even benefit those who enjoy taking a shower because it incites the shower-resistant people to take advantage of the technology thereby eliminating B.O. forever from the world. From washing your hair to cleaning your feet, waterproof robots and computers will pamper your body while your mind ponders on about the meaning of life.

5) Job applications

Graduation is almost here. The economy is in the hole with high employment especially among young adults. Job applications are the bane of my existence. They are awkward, trivial, and time-consuming, and the fear of a pauper's life invites a lot of stress. If you can manage to land an interview using a bot, this is perfect material to impress the employer. Now to make a program that can code this program for me because I am still too lazy. It is a vicious cycle.

Won't somebody please think of the children!

An article on the Star caught my attention a few days ago. It was about the Peel Board's policy decision to encourage students to bring any technology to class while the board invests in better wifi networks. It seems to show some potential as students, teacher, parents, and other school boards monitor the program's success.

There are many things to discuss here. First, there is an obvious and inevitable distraction issue as students tune out their teachers and go on Facebook, Twitter, or this blog. Second, it invites jealousy and theft for very expensive items. Third, there is an equity issue since some students and their families cannot afford the technology. Fourth, there will definitely be some boys who look up *ahem* explicit material while at school, I guarantee it.

It is not all doom and gloom. The good points start with embracing the cultural movement towards technology instead of fighting it. In this way, the teacher's and students' time is put to better use for actual learning. Second, an insightful and organized teacher can fully utilize the technology to enhance the learning and promote engagement. This is already implemented with the use of SMART boards and TI-Inspire calculators. However, only one person at a time can use the SMART board (usually the teacher), and there is a high learning curve and little reward for using the graphing calculators. A personal laptop or tablet addresses both of these problems. Third, an even more insightful and organized teacher can observe the independence of students who take control of their learning using technology that they are familiar with and highly interested in.

Since I am in computer science, I am definitely in favour of students becoming familiar with technology, web sites, and most importantly, user interfaces. The best way to design better programs, websites, and UI, is to be an end-user and observe the gaps, flaws, and ways for improvement. For those interested in computer science during high school, it is especially useful to have a personal laptop to be able to code anywhere and gain invaluable experience. Yes, I'm geeky and I know it!

My entitlement is justified by my empty wallet

So the smartphone world has been abuzz lately with the news of the Nexus S and Galaxy Nexus over-the-air update to Android 4.0.4. According to Android's Google+ account, the new firmware will be rolling out in the next few weeks which makes it about 3 months since the update was pulled and 4 months since the source code was released. I have pressed the "Check for updates" button at least fifty times now.

Mmmmm only 4 months old, it's still good right?

Software updates are so common these days, so why is this important? Because they are not common enough which infuriates many geeks with expensive phones. Here is a little explanation for the featurephone owner: a smartphone these days can cost up to $700 on the high end and possibly $300 on the low end. These days, customers are paying not just for the hardware and out-of-the-box software but also for updates that will future-proof the phone. Basically, it is all about not feeling inferior to other people who will eventually have newer phones: a version control perspective on socialism.

My phone won't unlock unless I revolutionize the class conciousness 

The problems come from the carriers and OEM's who overlay their own UI or apps into the core Android software. The updates are controlled by the distributors whose interests are about selling new hardware and not updating software on old hardware. The latter does not translate to profit very easily unless customer loyalty is a factor which only Apple has managed to harness and utilize into a cult. In the end, many Samsung, Motorola, HTC, and Sony phones are STILL using 2.x.x or 3.4.x, and the internet proceeds to document all the cursing and ranting from netizens.

There was supposed to be a silver lining in Google's own line of smartphones, the Nexus series. Since they are not tinged with the impurities of the OEM's and carriers, they were supposed to receive updates immediately from Google. One of the main reasons people like myself bought the Nexus S was the promise of glorious updates! What happened?! Android 4.0 was released with the Galaxy Nexus in November/December, and the update for Nexus S was released on December 16. It was shortly pulled due to a battery drainage problem. And then there was not a word from Google until now. 

I paid a lot of money for this phone. I want Google to know that I am a spoiled entitled consumer! It is not just me, however, this is the opinion of the zeitgeist. A recent study shows that nearly 50% of American mobile phone users are now using smartphones, and they are all hungry for some ice cream sandwiches (or apples). We are numerous, we are strong, we have beaten every level of Angry Birds! If this update is not on my phone by the end of April, then vive la revolution!

Excuse me. There is an Angry Bird on your windshield.

So this is old news apparently, but I definitely think it is worth another mentioning since it is so amazing. The sorcerers at Samsung have conjured up a transparent LCD panel display. Though the reporter in the video says it could be in mass production within the coming months, I have serious doubts of whether it can make it past the concept stage by 2013 considering the usual life-cycle of new technology. However, one can still dream about the possibilities.

Many of the comments on the video narrows the scope down to the kitchen window. I suppose it would be nice to watch how-to recipe videos and read current news to make cooking even more fun (no sarcasm intended, I really do like cooking). But I believe the main purpose of this technology is for graphical HUD displays on car windshields. Think about it. Odometer, fuel levels, engine temperature, GPS directions, and especially the speedometer right in your face. With some image sensors, it could display the rearview and sideviews as well. You would never have to take your eyes off the road again!


The details about the safety concerns can be ironed out of course. For instance, playing Angry Birds or watching Youtube videos while driving on the freeway might be a bit worse than talking on a cell phone, hands free or not. It would be revolutionary entertainment for passengers, though.


My last post talked about the "handtop" (thank-you mrdivide for the name) where smartphones are becoming like super-ultraportable PC's. A weird sight to see, no doubt, but imagine working on spreadsheets or presentation slides by connecting your handtop to the car's windshield display. Let's hope they also perfect the "auto-automobile" (self-driving car) within the coming months.

Is it a phone? Is it a PC? It's the future!

It seems like yesterday when computers were the size of rooms, used by military or industry elites, and running at clock speeds that can actually be measured by an abacus. It was a big calculator basically. Today, we have powerful personal computers and laptops with multi-core hardware and compatible, multi-threaded software. Cell phones have evolved independently to also include similar internals, almost becoming mini-PC's themselves. Almost. Do you see where this is headed?

An article on Engadget has foretold the future of personal/business computing. The geniuses at Canonical have installed their Ubuntu OS for desktops into an Android phone! One minute it is a normal smartphone accessing the web, taking pictures, texting friends, answering calls, playing Angry Birds. Dock it into a USB port, and now it is a personal computer running Ubuntu. What an age we live in.

The article contains a video showcasing and explaining this masterpiece. Using what Canonical dubbed as a "shared kernel architecture", the Android system is untouched while Ubuntu has full access to read/write/memory in addition to the smartphone capabilities such as text messages, calling, and apps. The interface on the monitor display is a full Ubuntu desktop, complete with taskbar, icons, and wallpaper. Looking at the top right corner, the taskbar section resembles what it appears to be the Android pull down menu and it displays the 3G connectivity, wireless connectivity, phone signal strength, and incoming text messages. So the phone (Android) OS is still functioning in the background while Ubuntu is the main show while the phone is docked. There is some limitations due to hardware capabilities and integration, as shown by some hangs and lagging. With the Mobile World Congress coming up, however, I think this roadblock is going to be very temporary.

Imagine a world where you carry your personal and work computer in your pocket. Mornings: load up some news and read it offline during the commute. At work: connect it to your monitor, keyboard, and mouse to send/receive texts/calls while seamlessly crunching numbers on a spreadsheet. Heading to a meeting? Undock your "comphone", review your presentation on the way, and then dock it again to present your slides exactly the way you wanted it. Unfortunately, this scenario assumes an ideal world where workers strive for optimal productivity, but you get the idea.

There is also the flip side. Some might say this is a case of too much technology. People lose and drop phones all the time. Other people steal them. Protecting company secrets and confidential data could become a manager's worst nightmare with this kind of portability.

Whether for or against, the "comphone" (someone please think of a better name) is definitely another milestone for computer-human interaction. I cannot wait to see what develops.

Another Victory for the Internet!

With all this talk about SOPA (USA), Bill C-11 (Canada), ACTA (International), we at least identified the government as a potential enemy of our precious internet (no sarcasm intended). Of course, the entertainment industry and its lobbyists are still the big bosses calling the shots while churning out a generation of bad music and even worse movies. In this war against the internet, however, I think a third enemy has not been given enough attention as of late. The salesman of internet: the ISP.

The ISP is the window between your computer and the glorious world of the internet. This window's blinds can be drawn little by little until there is nothing to see. This is what almost happened a few years ago in Canada with the usage based billing that the CRTC thankfully ruled against Bell and Rogers. Having lost that battle, the big 2 started the disdainful practice of throttling internet for certain type of usage. According to their policies, they claimed to only throttle P2P file sharing, but as shown by the Star they also started throttling PC gaming packets as well. The complaints came flooding into the CRTC!

By next month, Bell has been ordered to stop this illegal act for both gaming and P2P traffic. It's not a complete win because there is some complications with higher pricing, but internet users everywhere will take it for now. Of course, it was not long before Rogers followed suit and grudgingly accepted its legal papers a few days ago.

This is definitely good news and step in the right direction to control private companies from contesting net neutrality. However, we must not be complacent. Started on Feb. 2, TekSavvy, a small ISP that buys its bandwidth from Rogers, had to increase its pricing model due to unreasonable (and probably illegal) demands from big R and Bell. A recent email from TekSavvy to customers read:

"This cause is an extremely important one. Even before this decision, Canada was an international laggard when it comes to the cost of internet service, with per Mbps costs well above most of the rest of the industrialized world. These regulated wholesale rates that are in place from our suppliers only make matters worse.  In our view, while these tariffs remain in effect Canadians will continue to be punished for the “sin” of enjoying the benefits and pleasures the internet has to offer.  Unique in the industrialized world, Canadians will be forced to carefully select what, when and how they engage the world through the internet.

This new wholesale pricing is a big win for the incumbents, especially Cogeco and Bell, whose tariffs are noticeably out of line with most of their competitors."

As a loyal customer of TekSavvy who enjoys their reasonable prices for reasonable usage, and as a frequent and enthusiastic net user, I wish them lots of luck in their legal battles. We all have a small part to play to maintain our quality of life and seek happiness. Please stay informed, and inform others!