Self Healing Technology

Self healing technologies for computers, ceramics and epoxies

Analysis of a successful prediction

Analysis of a successful prediction
Microsoft surface computer is a successful prediction and currently working today, but very expensive technology. This is the prediction of brining technologies together. For example with this surface technology, one can set their digital camera on this table and it will retrieve all of the pictures taken. Then one can manipulate these pictures and place them on the internet for everyone to see.

They see it currently being used in business to present and manipulate information. Rather than showing a PowerPoint slide within a presentation and having limitations, that surface becomes interactive. I can pull data from the internet, from my desktop and collaborate with others anywhere in the world. These technologies are available today. If we look a few years in the future and how current technologies like the iPhone can be used as a surface computer, the possibilities become endless.

An iPhone type device could be set next to a monitor (LCD) and become our computer. It would hold the operating system and all of the applications. It could project the keyboard onto any surface and the monitor would just allow for larger viewing. Or that iPhone could be used as an everyday television remote control, where the surface of that iPhone displays all of the remote control functions. It could become the entertainment system where the iPhone would record all of the desired movies or television shows, like a TiVo, but it does this all using cell phone technology. It could be the gaming console like the Wii.

Another option could be that that iPhone is integrated with your appliances at home. So as I am driving home, I could tell the air condition to start, that way the home is nice and cool when I get home. When I arrive at home the iPhone could open the garage door, because it is in essence the garage door opener (proximity to my home) . Through the iPhone I could view all the rooms within my home to make sure it is safe before entering.

Additional resources:

http://www.microsoft.com/surface/index.html

http://technology.inc.com/hardware/articles/200804/surface.html

http://on10.net/blogs/larry/first-look-microsoft-surfacing-computing/

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/industry/4217348.html

Exploring the Future with Nanotechnology

Exploring the Future with Nanotechnology
In the future we will use nanotechnology to target cancers and/or other illness. We can use the computer outside the body to control nanobots and theses cell-like bots will target cancer cells and destroy them. They can target illnesses like Alzheimer’s and possibly repair cells or replace them with nanotechnology. The attached YouTube video shows current technology, but even though the computer chip is very small, it is still too big for entrance into the human body.

Within this video they talk about surgeons that could use this technology to assist them as they operate. For example: Rather than using current stents and bypass heart surgery techniques, the doctor could use nanotechnology to unblock arteries. So, opening someone up to perform heart surgery would become a thing of the past. In my mind this type of surgery is a miracle but also archaic. Opening someone up to fix them, rather than working from within using nanotechnology. Just send these small cell-like nanobots into the blood stream and have them do the repair or unblock any arteries would be less intrusive. In a sense we could have them continually working and become part of the human immune system.

Now if we take it a step further, we can see how nanotechnology could integrate the computer technology as part of us as human body. Currently we have external computers using a keyboard and mouse as input devices, we could eliminate these. The computer could be within us and we would access that information through our thoughts. They could integrate with our neurotransmitters and become part of our thought process. So, accessing the internet would be like thinking. The thought would have access to some kind of external internet allowing the expansion of ideas. Now if I could only stop that pop-up advertisement in my head, life would be good (smiles).

Cam Studio

I have been researching and testing computer screen capture programs. I found several, but they were all very costly. I would like to take what we learned about podcasting to the next level and create a YouTube type video/audio presentation. I would like to create an audio video learning tool. I found CamStudio at http://camstudio.org and this tool is available for free. It is what they call open-source. I was thinking of creating helpful tips on how to use free antivirus and anti-spyware applications. For example, SpyBot offers an anti-spyware tool that can check your computer system and remove any spyware it finds. It also has an immune system that will prevent spyware from infecting your computer.

TrendMicro also has an online tool that will scan your system for malware and is also free. Even if you have an antivirus application installed, this will give a second opinion. Lastly, I have been using Avast antivirus and find it just as affective in finding and preventing computer viruses, but this antivirus is free for personal use. They send you a registration code, once you register. This license is good for one year. But, after that year the person would just reregister. CamStudo can help me create instructional videos to do so.

Bløf & Counting Crows - Holiday in Spain (Live @ TOTP-NL)

I just thought I would attempt embedding a YouTube video within my blog. Using available Web-20 tools and researching online, I was successful in embedding a musical video. This is one of my favorite Dutch/American songs. Blof is a very popular Dutch band and they teamed up with the Counting Crows. I hope you enjoy this song as much as I do.

Podcast intro

I have always wanted to create a computer tip of the week podcast. This class gave me the opportunity to experiment and see if it is possible. I had a USB microphone and downloaded a free version of Audacity to edit the wav file.

A coworker (Ken Holmes) is a musician, so I asked him if he had any mp3 sound bites available that I could use as an intro, which he provided. I used Microsoft’s Music Maker to combine a picture and MP3 file. This is so I could upload the podcast file; I had to convert it to a WMA file. The reason for this is that Blogger will not allow us to upload MP3 files, so I went through this file conversion process so it would be available to the class.

Failed ideas / failed prediction

A couple comes to mind: The first being flying cars. In the mid-50s they predicted that we would have flying cars by now. There have been a few prototypes, but nothing like predicted or practicable. Considering today’s fuel costs, how efficient can they make it?

The second thing that comes mind is Microsoft’s BOB. They spent all this money creating this application interface but did not first customer test before bringing it to market. I am not sure if it was arrogance or just poor planning and research. This is an example of a good idea, gone wrong.