Google - Project Wing

              On August 28, 2014 at 6:36 pm Nathan Ingraham posted in his article called Google’s Project Wing is a Secret, Drone Based Delivery System that, “Google says these vehicles can be used for delivering goods, the project's main focus doesn't appear to be appeasing shoppers who need things right away. Instead, it sounds like Google envisions using these drones in disaster relief scenarios — they could theoretically deliver supplies to areas in need. Even just a few of these, being able to shuttle nearly continuously could service a very large number of people in an emergency situation, said Google X's Astro Teller to the BBC.”

             Google, traditionally, is one of the most used search engine websites, but Google has been working on self-driving cars for years. They have not yet made them safe and reliable. Now they are working on Project Wing, which is a drone based distribution system.

            The Google X team has been working on project Wing for 2 years, and it also sounds similar to the Amazon delivery system idea. The difference, though, is that Amazon is working on making a fast delivery system, and Google thinks Project Wing could be used to deliver supplies during disaster scenarios. Even with their noble aim Google also hopes to deliver small goods to buyers. “Google and Amazon are both staking claims in the drone delivery space,” states Nathan Ingraham.

The drone is made up of 4 electrically powered propellers allowing the drone to take off and land without any type of runway. It also has a computer motherboard near the tail section, while the power is located in the front of the plane. Aboard the drone there are GPS, cameras, radios, and inertial measurement sensors that are fused with accelerometers and gyroscopes to determine its exact position. Some of the drone’s measurements are a wingspan of about 5 feet, weight of just under 19 pounds, which gives the drone a max carrying weight of roughly 3 pounds.

When Google first started testing the drones they realized that people wanted to grab the package off the craft, which could have led to injuries. This is where the Google X team thought to attach fishing line to the small grip called the “egg” to lower the packages. The egg is a small grip that connects the object to the fishing line so it can be lowered and raised with ease. Nothing has been said about commercializing Project Wing and realistically any form of Project Wing will not be ready for a few years.

       Once this drone is released and can be used in emergencies for the transporting of small goods, it will be a very new thing for people to get used to. It may take a few years before people trust using a drone to deliver stuff.

Citations

http://www.theverge.com/2014/8/28/6080369/googles-project-wing-is-a-secret-drone-based-delivery-system

http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/188899-google-x-reveals-project-wing-autonomous-drones-that-can-deliver-things-in-just-a-minute-or-two

http://www.techtimes.com/articles/14518/20140831/google-project-wing-takes-flight-will-package-delivery-program-take.htm

Bitcoins

The Bitcoin is the first decentralized digital currency used all around the world. It was created in 2009 by an unknown source using the alias Satoshi Nakamoto. Bitcoins are digital currency created and contained electronically. When you buy stuff electronically it is like digital trading. Bitcoins are not physically printed, but instead created within a small network of computers.

Bitcoins are transferred from one person to another through the Internet just like a text or e-mail. Bitcoins work in all countries as the same unit rather than having to convert US dollars to the currency of the region. Bitcoin owners can use several currencies to buy and sell Bitcoins for dollars, euros, and other currencies. Bitcoins are said to be kept safe and secure in your computer’s digital wallet. Bitcoin miners secure and protect Bitcoins while also creating more Bitcoins to use. When a miner verifies a transaction they are rewarded with more Bitcoins. Bitcoin promoters say that using Bitcoins can sometimes lower company transaction fees as well.

The Bitcoin currency is based on gold and silver, supposedly, and currently worth $354.98 per unit on November 21, 2014. In 2013, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, the athletic twins who helped dream up Facebook, purchased 1 percent of all Bitcoins in circulation at the time and were the keynote speakers at the Bitcoin 2013 convention.

Realistically Bitcoins are hard to use because so few merchants allow payment of goods to be paid with Bitcoins as currency. Several people have tried to live solely on Bitcoins for short periods of time. In my opinion, they failed since the Bitcoin users had to trade Bitcoins for real currency to buy the things they really needed or spend more time looking for a merchant that actually would allow Bitcoins as payment.

Living on Bitcoins would only be a successful option for mainstream customers if you lived in Berlin, Germany, as it has more merchants currently accepting Bitcoins. I would not say these experiments were successful, but they did prove you could technically live on Bitcoins if you were willing to live in a barter and trade economy.

Many advocates say a favorable trait of Bitcoins is how easy they are to set up and remain anonymous, but that implies setting up a traditional bank account is difficult. And even though promoters claim Bitcoins are a completely transparent system, users are supposed to feel confident that miners are busy creating new Bitcoins and watching the system to keep it error free. Bitcoins are also not printed, instead they are produced by lots of people running computers around the world with special software that solves mathematical problems.

      While Bitcoins may work for some people, I believe that the prices are not consistent and there is no way to create a budget with fluctuating prices. As an example if one-day milk was 5 Bitcoins and another day it was 25 Bitcoins you would never know how much it would cost. Therefore, it doesn’t sound like a very consistent or stable use of money.

Citations

http://www.coindesk.com/information/what-is-bitcoin/

https://bitcoin.org

http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/21/4348064/why-wont-bitcoin-die

Peyton Manning

Peyton Manning is a very inspirational person on and off the field. He was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1976. His father was the former NFL quarterback Archie Manning and he has 2 brothers, one of which is the New York Giants’ quarterback Eli Manning, also Peyton’s younger brother.

Peyton attended the University of Tennessee and starred as their quarterback. In college he used the number 16 and now uses the number 18 in the NFL. He started his professional football career with the Indianapolis Colts and led them to victory in Super Bowl XLI (41). Peyton currently plays for the Denver Broncos, because the Colts recruited Andrew Luck after Peyton’s neck surgery. In March of 2012, Peyton signed a new five-year, $96 million contract with the Denver Broncos proving he is still a valuable player.

Throughout Peyton’s career he has broken many records and been awarded MVP multiple times. One of his biggest records broken was Brett Favre’s Touchdowns record. In October of 2014 Peyton scored 510 TD’s in a regular season to break the all-time record while playing the San Francisco 49ers. This record will insure that Peyton will be remembered as one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time.

Citations

http://espn.go.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/11735087/peyton-manning-all-touchdown-leader

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000413952/article/peyton-manning-breaks-brett-favres-td-record

http://www.biography.com/people/peyton-manning-37880

Privacy Online

        Online privacy is something everyone needs to worry about when using the Internet. In just about everything electronic or online, users need to understand the basic purposes behind privacy settings because of how unsafe the Internet can be without them. For users of all ages, the main reason privacy settings are encouraged for online usage is to prevent hackers from stealing personal information or causing damage to a user’s devices. Whether a user becomes the victim of identity theft fraud or possibly something that puts their physical safety at risk, online privacy can mean different things to different people.

        A good way to stay safe online is to have the most current and up-to-date security software programs. Protecting and securing all of your devices and online accounts will decrease a user’s risk of being hacked. Enabling firewalls also adds to your protection from malware, viruses, and hackers. Even being sure to create good, hard to guess passwords by making them long and unique by using lots of characters, can help add to the security of a user’s privacy.

        On most devices, parental controls can be installed to create ways to monitor and/or limit a device’s usage. It is normally a good idea to have parental controls on all the devices for kids and/or teens, and yet kids are considered more technologically savvy than parents. So as parental controls can vary between app and music downloads to website access, it is difficult to expect parental controls to catch everything that might challenge a young user’s privacy. Unfortunately the increase in device usage by younger ages means all users need to know enough about online privacy to take proper precautions or parents need to limit device access.

        All users need use caution when using the Internet and even apps, as they use the Internet in different ways like: updates, pictures, videos, in-app purchases, and e-mail providers. Users should never open e-mails from an unknown source in case there is a virus hidden inside of it. Because no matter how safe a website says it is, the site can still be hacked into or seen by others.  Nothing that a person could ever want to be private should ever be put on or sent through the Internet, because hackers can always find a way to trace back the steps of where it came from.

         Most websites use cookies, so that when a user visits a website it deposits data about that visit onto your computer. Cookies may also contain information such as login or registration identification, user preferences, online "shopping cart" information, and so on. However, there are some cookies, called third-party cookies that connect data about the user to an advertising clearinghouse, which in turn shares that data with other online marketers. These third-party cookies include "tracking cookies" which use the user’s online history to deliver other ads.

        So in general, privacy settings can help reduce malware and viruses from accessing a user’s device, but those settings can only work as well as the user that sets it up allows. Online Privacy is also about being cautious and protective of your property and information when being online or accessing the Internet.

Citations:

http://www.staysafeonline.org/stop-think-connect/tips-and-advice

https://www.privacyrights.org/online-privacy-using-internet-safely

http://www.microsoft.com/security/online-privacy/default.aspx

Self-Driving Cars

Self-Driving Car

            Self-driving cars are being made and critiqued by many car manufacturers such as Audi and Volkswagen. Google is also working toward making self-driving cars into a real world option for everyday drivers.

Most people who enjoy driving do not like the idea of self-driving cars, because they might take the fun out of having a car to drive. It is expected that companies will start manufacturing self-driving automobiles as soon as the 2020’s. Most self-driving cars today resemble a Smart Car, in the way that their appearance is small and boxy. Engineers have also worked to create a self-driving experience similar to airplanes, in that drivers could take control of the car at anytime in the same way that pilots can turn off a plane’s autopilot feature.

Smart Car

Some people still say that Self-Driving Cars may never be manufactured or available to the public, since these idea cars still have many challenges that need addressing to fix the self-driving vehicle experience. One big hurdle with the self-driving car is they cannot tell the difference between light trash and debris, such as a floating trash bag or piece of paper, compared to more dangerous obstacles like rocks and potholes. This is a very big problem that has to be corrected before the self-driving automobile can begin to be considered a viable option, otherwise self-driving cars could cause many avoidable wrecks.

                                         Citations

http://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/052014/how-googles-selfdriving-car-will-change-everything.asp

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2014/10/google_self_driving_car_it_may_never_actually_happen.html

http://www.google.com/about/careers/lifeatgoogle/self-driving-car-test-steve-mahan.html