TED Talk: Bionics

TED, or Technology, Entertainment, Design, is a global set of conferences under the motto "ideas worth spreading". I recently watched a TED presentation on bionics that I believe is worth sharing.

Virtual Reality Becoming A Reality

The way users interact with technology is ever finding new innovative outlets and experiences. The Oculus Rift is one of the newer ideas the technology community has fostered. Started in 2012, Oculus Rift is a low costing virtual reality head mounted display.

Did You Know? Image Searching

I decided to review what I believe is a helpful and little known feature search engines like Google and Bing incorporate in their services. Searches can be performed not on text only, but also on images of all kinds. I stumbled on this feature not even a year ago and have quickly learned its usefulness. What surprised me even more was that the amount of people that also knew about the feature and used it were little to none.

Image Searching was introduced by Google in 2011. Simply drag an image or cut and paste an image URL into the search box and the powerhouse search engine will recognize the image and send the user relevant results. Once accustomed to this feature it can be both useful and insightful. Searching an old photo could reveal information of its origins, from the date and time it was taken to any supplementary articles that used it. Apart from relevant info gained from searching an image it also helps in finding different versions (smaller, larger, clearer, etc.) of the picture or even related images. Searching this way can lead to sources of information or leisurely enjoyment not found with searching by text.

Bing has just recently updated their image searching software by finally supporting image matches in searches. This feature works the way Google's does by matching an image you found with other similar images of varying sizes and resolutions. I tested the feature with several different images and found that it worked well. Some images didn't offer the option to image match but for the most part it is a good addition to Microsoft's search engine. I still myself prefer Google's version to Bing but both are definitely done well in both approach and results yield.

The Changing Face Of Television

Television may irrevocably change in the coming years as a push for digital pay-TV services could become a reality. The Supreme Court has decided to take up a dispute between small start up company Aereo and giant broadcasting corporations. Aereo recently has marketed a device that broadcasts live television through its small device. The $8 a month service enables users to watch said television online.

Verizon's Future Of The Internet

Verizon's CEO, Lowell McAdam, believes that in the near future the internet will change conceptually. That is, in his and his companies beliefs, those that use a lot of Internet bandwidth should pay more to transport content and the "intelligent" Internet should prioritize the delivery of certain traffic over other traffic.

Keurig: Telling You What to Drink

A growing craze in America over the past few years has been the single serve coffee cup. Companies like Keurig, Tassimo, and Nespresso have created a new market for in home coffee brewing. Simply use a small amount of grinded coffee beans, in the form of a "pod", and in under thirty seconds a piping hot coffee is ready. With the popularity of such coffee makers continually growing, companies that make the Keurig brand products are looking for ways to hold onto their dominance in the market.