Unlike Pedro, Google has made “all [my] dreams come true”. Just recently, Google announced a public beta of a new sync product for mobile devices. Not only do they have cool online services, but now my iPhone can easily take advantage of those services.
Some of you may wonder why this makes me so happy. Let me explain.
If you are like most Americans, not only do you have money deposits at multiple financial institutions, but you also have credit cards, 401k account and perhaps a stock market account. If you’re like me, you hate having to flip through multiple paper statements or web sites trying to get the big financial picture. You can use an installed application like Quicken or Microsoft Money, or you can try something fresh in the financial scene — Mint.com.
I’ve always wanted to go to Italy. It don’t know what it is exactly, but the place just seems cool. Rome intrigues me with all the history and amazing sites. I’ve always dreamed of a month-long European trip with at least a week in Rome.
But now I don’t have to go. I’ve already been there. Recently, Google updated their Street View feature with images of Rome. And now with additional features just released today, Google allows me even more of a feeling of “being there.” The only thing better than this for exploring Rome is to actually go there (which I must admit, I still dream of).
Remember to view the original post if you can’t see the above embedded Google Maps Street View.
The electronic eye takes photos in a 3D space rather than flatted in 2D
You know you’ve dreamed about it. You want a bionic eye. Everyone does. Since you were a kid watching The Six Mission Dollar Man, you’ve dreamed of the day when bionics could become a reality. Most of the bionic parts of Steve Austin already exist in some form (although not usually exceptionally powerful). But the bionic left eye has been rather elusive.
Your dream may soon be coming true. Researchers from the University of Illinois and Northwestern University are working on a camera that could some day replace a human eye. With a similar form factor as the eye, it could easily fit within a human eye socket.
It’s the curve of the camera that makes it most like an eye. Unlike most cameras that often blur or minimize the focus of parts of the image on the outer edges, this new curved technology allows an image to be in focus in all parts of the image.
Check out the additional photos on CNET.
Lee Majors has nothing on us now.
Second Life (an online virtual 3D world) has been around a while now. It’s incredibly popular and even has its own economy. You can enter Second Life and “live” a life completely different from who you really are. It’s somewhat of a game, but it mimics real life as much as possible. Companies (mainly IBM) have been known to hold virtual meetings or conferences within the Second Life universe. But the main problem with Second Life is you have to download a rather large installation program and have to have some decent hardware to run it.
Second Life is about to get it’s first real competitor, LifePlace. Not only does does the virtual world look more amazing and real (and slightly unsettling), but all the visual imagery is rendered “in the cloud.” There is no installation. You will visit LifePlace through a web browser and all the rendering is done on the server side. So even if you don’t have amazing hardware with the latest and greatest graphics card, you will still be able to partake in the amazing world to be. You will even be able to stream it to a mobile device (the video below was captured on a Palm Treo). The technology is developed by a company called OTOY.
Gizmodo and TechCruch both have articles about LivePlace, but it’s the video that really does the talking.
Remember, if you can’t see the embedded video. View the original posting.
In celebration of the Olympic Games that start today in Bejing, China, Google has created a widget that contains a medal tracker as well as event and venue information. All built on their mapping technology.
And here it is:
[If you don't see the embedded map, view the web original post on the site]
Be sure to come back often to see how the medal tally plays out.
Have you ever been on vacation and wanted to know where the closest LDS Church is? How about moving to a new area and wondering to which ward you belong, to which building you should go and what time are services?
The IT team for the church has just released a beta version of their new mapping application. This will eventually replace the current “Meetinghouse Locator.”
Check it out. It’s nicely done. Even if you don’t know an address, you can “Place a Marker” (click the icon on the top left of the map and then click on your desired location) and it will figure it all out for you. It provides surrounding meetinghouses and all the wards that meet at each location as well as contact information. It will also identify to which ward that location is assigned (even gives you language and YSA wards).
Under the hood, it can either use Google Maps or Microsoft’s Live Maps.
Well done guys!
When the original iPhone first came out, I posted a review after just a week or so of use. One of my major complaints was the lack of voice dialing. When Apple announced their SDK, I had hoped that someone would build a third party application to do just that.
My hope was answered by a Salt Lake company called Fonix, known mostly for their speech recognition software. A few days ago, they announced an application, Fonix iSpeak, to not only do voice dialing, but also voice commands to control other parts of the iPhone.
Oh yeah! I hope they don’t try to charge an arm and a leg for it. If they keep it reasonable, then that will be one of the first apps I aqcuire from the AppStore.
When Dwight D Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, in 1958, I wonder if he had any inkling of what kind of an impact that action would have on the world. Not only did the act create the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), but also DARPA (Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency).
DARPA later went on to contribute significantly to the creation of the Internet and several other technologies we use each day (like GPS), but let’s focus on what came from NASA research. Everyone knows the many accomplishments of NASA in regards to space exploration; Apollo Missions, Moon Landing, International Space Station, etc. But what about all the other technologies we use that have come from NASA research?
From HowStuffWorks.com comes a countdown of the top 10 daily used products that have come from NASA research.
Fear is destroying our lives. There are some that say that money is the root of all evil. If that is true, fear plays a close second fiddle. It’s crushing our society, our children and our families. It’s one of the most debilitating problems in the 21st century.
There are many who would argue that drugs, sexuality, crime, abortion and many other issues are more destructive to our society. However, there is nothing more socially acceptable, yet so destructive as fear. This isn’t the fear generated from horror shows, but fear of the unknown and the possibility of tragedy.
Let’s take a quick quiz.