Over the Thanksgiving break I was talking with my brother in law about a new video game he just picked up called Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 for his Xbox 360 video game console. He was telling me how the graphics were so realistic that it isn’t even funny and how he would play for hours on end either single player campaign or multiplayer session with friends. I then started to tell him that his “realistic” game could be getting even more realer if the program Empire 2.0 from New York State has it’s way of things and how I read an article in Popular Science the other night. They want to start to put Emergency Alerts whether local or national in multiplayer session as scrolling messages while gamers are online playing against other gamers to let players know what is happening around the world, or perhaps right in their own back yard. We talked about the pros and cons of implementing this into Xbox Live, for not only Modern Warfare 2, but other online games as well. Why stop at one game, while gamers are online playing many different genres of games. Have the alert system come up as if one of your friends came online and Xbox Live lets you know that they are online. Instead have Xbox Live let you know that there is a major disaster in your area. The down side is that this could get annoying if it kept popping up and also how long would it stay on the screen and so forth. And the question came up or actually why do they need to do this in the first place. Both of us couldn’t find an answer. We both kind of agreed that if anything were to happen our mother or my wife would let us know right away, because they tend to worry a lot, which they are entitled to. So maybe this is a good idea, maybe not?! Here is the article that I found on Popular Science. http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2009-11/new-york-state-wants-put-emergency-alerts-your-online-games

This past Friday I was having a friendly conversation with a fellow co-worker. She was so excited that she just purchased an relatively new piece of technology that she had been wanting ever since they came out on the market. She recently just purchased the 6″ Amazon Kindle Wireless Reading Device. She was so excited, because she is currently reading anywhere from 2 to 5 books at a time and she hates to lug them all around. With Kindle she will be able to have them all in one location and for a fraction of the cost of most paper backs. This will be very helpful in the future for her to expand her collection, but not taking up anymore space in her already busy, fast paced life. We then started talking about how the Kindle could be integrated into education all the way from junior high all the way up to the university level. When students first start at their particular school, they should be issued a Kindle. The price of the Kindle will be in their general fees for the year(s). Through the Kindle they will be able/required to purchase all of their classroom textbooks, manuals and ect. This would be very easy to adapt at the university level since course work textbooks are very expensive and not to mention heavy to carry around from class to class. They would be able to use the Kindle continuously through their years at their university and they will also be able to use it for personal reading as well. I know from experience I would have loved a Kindle with all my textbooks on it and most of them only costing $10.00 would be a steal! For more information on the Kindle feel free to visit http://tinyurl.com/y8llh9v

Over the weekend me and some buddies were going through YouTube videos. We are all interested in bikes and cars, so that is usually what we scroll through to see what is new out in the ways of video. We were watching some older Ken Block YouTube videos when we stumbled on a more recent video of his showing off his new Subaru-based TRAX STI Snow Cat Concept vehicle. Ken Block is a rally driver for DC Shoes, Monster and Subaru. He is known for being a little strange, doing trick driving and is one of the best rally car drivers out there today. From the video he was driving his new “toy” up and down mountains and down the slopes where other vehicle could only dream of going with regular wheels and tires. This vehicle is a defiant “hybrid” all in it’s own. I did a little research when I got home and found that Popular Science did an article on Ken Blocks new toy on 11.03.2009. With this kind of thinking and merging these two types of different technologies together he not only has made the fastest snow cat out there, but he could have also changed snow rescue vehicle for the future. With something like this the snow patrol could get to hard to reach places quicker, easier and be able to carry and haul more gear or people to the situation area. Before snow patrol used snow mobiles which are small and fast, but carry very little. They also use snow cats which are big and slow, but can carry many people and things. This version of a snow patrol vehicle would merge the two together for the ultimate snow rescue vehicle. Now we just need to do something about those darn snow bunnies and always distracting skiers and snowboarders, so they will not hurt themselves while not paying attention to were they are going.

The Popular Science Article can be found here…
http://www.popsci.com/cars/article/2009-11/baddest-backcountry-shred-machine-subaru-based-trax-sti

The YouTube Video can be found here…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTDNLUzjkpg&feature=player_embedded

I myself spend a lot of time on the internet, social networking on facebook and viewing and posting on various forums. I can see how parents and others may think that people who spend too much time on the internet are social outcasts. For me at least the internet helps me stay connected to every one in my life local and far away. I belong to an Ohio Scions forum where we talk about automotive things and get together whenever possible to hang out and just have fun. Many of the members live all across the state of Ohio. The forum lets us stay connected when we are not together physically. Before ever being on the site, I never knew any of these people. Now that I do, I have many more friends and we all love the same types of things. I have even met people around the Toledo area from the website. I currently hang out with those people all the time. The internet for me has made me more social outside in real life, then I could have ever imagined. Being in grad school I am on the computer a lot of the time doing homework, papers, and projects for my various classes. Being connected to the computer has forced me to be more connected to my friends through facebook and instant messaging. I have never once felt like a social outcast by being hooked to the computer for hours on end. Here is the full article below. Feel free to read it and share your stories and life experiences.

http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/2009/11/05/social-isolation-and-technology/

Today before class, I saw my buddy Brett in a computer lab doing some work so I stopped in to talk for a few minutes. We got to talking about our classes and the word loads in each one. The discussion soon switched over to technology, because he just switched his MacBook over to Snow Leopard. We were discussing some of the issues he we having and maybe how he could fix them or maybe just going back to his old operating system so the bugs would go away. Since we were talking about Apple products we moved onto the new 3GS iPhone and the technology it brings to the table. He told me about a story he recently saw about the iPhone controlling a actual production minivan. After our talk I was very interested in what he said, so I decided to Google it. I typed in iPhone controlled car and there is was in the second link. The iPhone controlling a Chrysler minivan, using WiFi and an iPhone application called iDriver. I dived deeper into the technology and found that people were able to control their remote controlled (RC) cars with the iPhone as well. I thought on it and applied it to my topic I am working on for a paper and my thesis. In years to come when cars are controlled by themselves and are able to driver themselves, this would be a great application for parents to have while their children are behind the wheel of their automobile. Driver’s Education vehicles have another set of steering and pedals controls on the passenger side of the vehicle, just in case. Parents could now have that same just in case equipment in their pocket. They could have their iPhone in hand, just in case their child froze up or got scared, the parent could quickly step in and control the vehicle. They could quickly control the vehicle from hitting an obstacle and causing serious injury to them and anyone else. I know right now the vehicle technology is not really there, because not every vehicle is WiFi, GPS, has sensors and video cameras front and back, like the Chrysler minivan has in this video, but I am sure we will get there one day. Some food for thought. Here is the link to the article and the video. Click here to check it out.

The other day I was talking with a friend about the possible, maybe fake, maybe real apple mac book touch. We were going back and forth about if it is real or fake and if it could do what the youtube videos could do. He is a real big anti-apple supporter and I am pro-apple, so the discussion got kind of heated. After our apple discussion, he showed me something that I thought was unreal and awesome at the same time. I was reluctant to see it, since he said it was a Sony product, but I finally gave in and took a look at what he had. He pointed me to popular science’s website to show me Sony’s roll-up laptop concept they have put out recently. At first glance it blew my mind! Not only can it be a laptop, but it could also be a tablet and a television, just like the macbook touch, but the best thing about it is that it can roll-up and be self contained around it’s docking station. I think the biggest selling factor for this would be it’s ability to be lugged around in almost any type of container such as a purse, book bag, briefcase and ect. without them being laptop “friendly.” With a real laptop you have to purchase the extra carrying case with it or purchase a special book bag, unless you don’t care about your laptop and want it to get broken. Which is an opinion, not a very good one, but still an opinion. The only thing I am unsure of, is that this device did not look like it had a dvd/cd drive which could be problematic. Also the price tag of such an item could cause it not to adapt and be profitable to be put into mass market. But non the less this such goes to show you that anything is possible and technology is defiantly changing by leaps and bounds.

Today in class while teaching video basics I had a conversation with Chris Rodgers about technology and how it changes so rapidly it make some people sick. We were talking about his new MacBook Pro that was issued to him recently. He told me how they just came out with them and we were talking about the technology of the iPhone and then he showed me the new Magic Mouse Apple just came out with. The multi-touch technology that the iPhone uses is now in a mouse. It’s crazy. Next we will have multi-touch keyboards or even better no keyboards at all. The iMac can project a keyboard and mouse pad on your desk you can use. Maybe I should patient my ideas…. We also talked about the new version of OSX Snow leopard that just came out and how it fixes a lot of the behind the scenes sorts of things. We talked about a lot of new things Apple is doing and this and that. It seems like just yesterday I bought my 20 inch iMac, but now they have a 21.5 and 27 inch screen iMac out. The world is ever changing and growing, so sit down, hold on and get ready.

I just watched an interesting TED talks video on wireless electricity by Eric Giler. If they could perfect that technology and make it compact and over long distances it could do wonders for countries and civilizations. Get electricity to parts of the world without power. Once that happens the door literally is wide open. I’m thinking from an education stand point right now. Once they get power, an organization offers to provide laptops with the same power and so forth. No reason to build a school or have a teacher. Now a days with the emerging schools fully online places that had no education could be taught by someone half way around the world all online. We already have wireless internet access, with wireless electricity they would be set! They would be facebooking, twittering, second lifeing, and googling in no time!

With my recent wedding coming up I have learned I am not as financially set as I thought I was. I thought I was pretty well off, because I try to save as much as I can without putting a lot on credit cards and putting money in savings accounts. It dawned on me that no where in school teaches kids about money and how they can use it and abuse it. I watched a video recently about saving for the later years, aka retirement. Like I have known that some companies offer 401k plans for their employees which is very nice and most even will match what the employee puts in each pay check. I never did know that you can start your own IRA fund for retirement. I am always thinking of the future and my fiance has a 401k plan through her work and was wondering what I am going to do for money for the future. It just got me thinking about how careless I was with money in the past growing up, because my parents were careless with money. I learned about money from them. Now I am in a pickle. If I would have known more, I would be more responsible and have money. I believe someone should make a class for teenagers about money and finances like savings accounts, credit cards and such so they know. They need to know how to use them and be responsible. Not every person is responsible with money like my parents, so their kids need someone else to turn to. Maybe I should run the class, I have learned what to do and what not to do so far in life, but I am sure there is someone else that knows more than I do. At least I hope so…

What does interactivity mean to me? What is my definition of interactivity?

Well interactivity to me is the act of interacting with something you can touch, physically and mentally. This would be, but is not limited to, a book, the newspaper, a magazine, and a map. As time has progressed the act of interactivity has also been applied to technology, such as cell phones, pda’s, video games, simulators, laptop and desktop computers. All of these media types have a message embedded in them put there by different sources, but what they all have in common is that they want the message to be read by the receiver. The act of interacting with these medias is interactivity. Interactivity is the process we go through to uncover these messages so that they can be taught by the sender of the message. We interact with books and read their pages to gain the knowledge that has been put there by the author. Every day many people use their computers to search out and interact with different web sites, social pages, blogs, wikis and so forth to gain knowledge and to receive different the messages put there. But people don’t have to stop there and usually don’t. Once they gain the knowledge, they can comment on it, add to it and change it if necessary. The world today is all about interactivity and being able to personalize everything you touch, whether it is your clothing or your wiki page. Today people are learning and watching what they want, when they want and how they want. Interactivity is all up to the “eye” of the beholder.