German Rail Network Fight Graffiti With Drones

Yes you guessed it the German rail network have deployed a fleet of miniature helicopter drones mounted with thermal imaging cameras in order to combat the graffiti spraying gangs who are operating on the German railway network.

Each of the remote drones will fly at an altitude of 150 yards over what is deemed graffiti hotspot or where graffiti is most strife. This will be in the big German cities of Berlin such as Leipzig Hamburg and Cologne a representative from Deutsche Bahn confirmed.

Deploying Drones in such a manner to combat street vandals is an early indicator of the civilian sector using unmanned Arial reconnaissance. It has been reported based on an EU report that over 400 new drone systems are in development by firms based in Europe.

The drones in question cost about 60.000 Euros each and are manufactured by the German firm Microdrones who also sells the machines for photography purposes and analysing traffic accidents to name but two. The Drones are a metre wide and in this case will be painted in Deutsche bahns Red livery.

The Drones however will not be used near the actual railway stations or other immediate areas where members of the public might get caught on film, due to privacy laws, they will be deployed at places such as depots which are very large and time consuming to patrol on foot. Privacy is a sensitive issue in Germany where Google Street view cameras sparked a lawsuit. Other places will include rail yards where trains such as Deutsche Bahns high speed class 411 ICE T are kept will be another are of drone deployment.

The idea is that the drones will work in partnership with security guards to identify and locate graffiti sprayers so they can be apprehended by security forces who will then hand them over to the police, this is due to the actual graffiti removal costing the capital of Berlin around 7.6 Million Euros a year.

Each Drone can travel at a speed of 33 mph and have an 80 minute fly time, interestingly the drones can fly autonomously or by remote control via a human operator, they also hardly emit any noise making them perfect for surveillance. Each drone as well as having infrared will also have GPS tracking systems to establish evidence for criminal prosecution.

Closer to home it was around 3 years ago when Police in Merseyside made their first arrest using a drone, which was able to track a suspected car thief who tried to hide in an undergrowth.

Mostly seen in the newspapers in military campaigns and usually in movies as unmanned killing machines able to deploy missile strikes it seems that drones are becoming more common place in society one has to say their possible application for use is very high. Will we be more likely to see a wider inclusion of drone related activity in the future, from this it's looking quite possible.

3D Made Handguns actually work!

It is now possible to print a working 3D made Hand Gun as proven by a recent video demonstrating such a weapon by a Texas based company, the gun fires just like a normal gun.

You are probably wondering what 3D printing actually means especially with regards to a firearm. 3D printing involves a laser sintering process which uses a high powered laser to fuse small particles of different periodic elements. These elements include plastic, metal and glass powders which are fused into a mass that has a desired three-dimensional shape.

The laser selectively fuses powdered materials by scanning cross-sections which are generated from a 3D digital description of a part on the surface of a powder bed. Once each cross-section has been scanned, the powder bed is lowered by one layer so that a new layer of material can be applied on top. This process is then repeated until the part is complete. Every part of the gun except for the springs are made with a direct metal laser sintering process, which create metal parts based on a 3D design by blasting powdered metal with a laser. The main body of the gun consists of 30 separate components made from stainless steel and an alloy called inconel in addition to carbon fibre and a nylon hand grip.

The 3D printed gun was created by a Texas based 3D-Printing services company Solid Concepts, they claim that the metal laser sintering process they used is by far one of the most accurate additive manufacturing processes available with the 3D printed parts having more detail.

There have been attempts to re-create a handgun using this method before but they have usually been dismissed due to the fact they aren't reliable to shoot and are potentially dangerous to attempt to fire. Quite worrying in a way then that Solid Concepts have not only re-created a 3D printed handgun but it actually works, during testing the gun Solid Concepts created managed to fire 50 rounds successfully.

The gun created by Solid Concepts is a re-production of the 1911 handgun, the successful production as well as the incredible functionality form such a re-production of the 1911 3D metal printed gun proves the viability of 3D Printing for commercial applications not just solely for things such as Hand guns.

You may be among the many who may find such a concept pretty scary being able to literally print guns, however as the firm states what they are doing is perfectly legal, not that you can rush out and start doing this yourself mind. It should also be noted at this point that Solid Concepts is a 3D Printing service provider and that it does have a Federal Firearms License.

As you can see from the following screenshots the 1911 is showed being fired first from a safe distance with the spent bullet being seen flying from the open chamber ion addition to the recoil of the gun.




The second image shows the gun being fired from the perspective of a human tester with the spent bullet seen to be whizzing towards the camera, with the bullet hitting its target as seen in the video demonstration.


This is in contrast to the previous 3D handguns that have been printed in plastic in its entirety except for a nail which acts as a firing pin, as well as a six-ounce piece of steel which allows the weapon to be detected by metal detectors. Yet one wonders where this is all going how hard would it be to field strip this weapon remove the metal pieces and safely pass through detectors, now that is frightening. The German police were also creating 3-D printed guns in order to detect their effectiveness to establish if they are a real threat, this was done before the success of the 1911 by Solid Concepts.

What s worse with the plastic models titled the liberator it can be instantly downloaded and anonymously printed by anyone who has access to 3-D printing technology. One of the drawbacks to this is that you would first need an expensive high end 3-D printer, which according to Solid Concepts costs more than a private college tuition, so at least your low entry criminals won't be able to mass produce this at least.

The 3-D printed 1911 has been said to be successful by its creators because the guns barrel is capable of seeing chamber pressures higher than 20,000 psi every time it is fired, quoting from Solid Concepts "it's a common misconception that 3-D printing isn't accurate or strong enough, and we're working to change people's perspectives" Well with this little revelation they certainly have our attention now.

360TB disc that holds data for more than 1 million years

As the title states it is in fact true that a team from University of Southampton's Optoelectronics Research Centre are making a breakthrough in terms of storage capacity. Namely a 360TB (TeraByte Disc) which can theoretically hold data contents for more than a million years. I have to admit that even I think I'm at the point where I'm no longer reporting on technical marvels but instead writing up a science fiction blog. Incredibly this is actually possible so it seems.

The disc will be a glass storage medium that could potentially outlive mankind, this new type of memory also touts incredible specifications such as the 360Tb per disc capacity and get this the ability to withstand extreme temperatures of up to 1,832 Fahrenheit. All of this is achieved by harnessing the power of a speedy femtosecond laser, during tests researchers successfully wrote 300kb of data to an everlasting medium which consist of self-assembled nano-structures within fused quartz.

The femtosecond laser emits short but powerful pulses of light which then encode data to three separate layers of Nano-structured dots within the glass only 5 micro-metres apart. According to the researchers the laser writes in five dimensions this is based on orientation, size and three-dimensional position of the Nano-structures. This type of storage medium will more likely use W-O-R-M data format (Write Once Read Many).

The team at the University was led by Jingyu Zhang, with his team now seek to bring this technology to the commercial level. If you're really interested you can read the more scientific "5D Data Storage by Ultra-fast Laser Nano-structuring In Glass" white paper, which was submitted to the Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics in San Jose California.

Netflix follows the Pirates.

Netflix the ever popular on line movie streaming service have been noted as saying that they are helping to limit the amount of illegal downloading by offering the same content that is popular with pirates. I am of course referring to pirates in the illegal download sense and not the buccaneer version of pirates.

While trying to entice users away from free downloading video content Netflix apparently acquires valuable information about what content it should be giving to its customer base, a sort of analytical breakdown of what shows are current and getting the most downloads.

Netflix have not long released their service to the Netherlands and Kelly Merryman the company's vice president of content acquisition in Europe stated that piracy sites found on the Internet help with the company's decision making.  Quoting "with the purchase of series, we look at what does well on Piracy sites" Merryman also went on to say that such sites had contributed to its decision to release "Prison Break" onto its service as that is very popular on piracy sites.

Watching on multiple platforms as well as picking up where you left off, you can enjoy Netflix on the go.

This seems like a very interesting way of combating a problem that has dogged the authorities for some time now, sure it may not stamp out the problem but it will help Netflix build its customer base and may sway some people from visiting piracy sites. Netflix has the advantages of being fairly low proceed and affordable with no hidden charges to incur, it also streams content quickly and seamlessly in HD. This is in contest to piracy sites where you have to find a good quality genuine copy of such content then download that content.

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings revealed that the company is attempting to be an alternative to piracy sites which he went on to say actually create demand for his company's paying service. Hastings believes that ease of use, speed of actually streaming content on demand will help convert some illegal down-loaders. After all with Netflix  you don't have to deal with files, there is no need to download them and move them about, or rename them or convert them to a playable standard there is none of that, "you just click and watch".

New movies and TV shows are updated very month, your bound to find something to watch.

Hastings also claims in an interview that during May the use of a popular file sharing client "Bit-Torrent" was declining in use through Canada since the streaming service launched there in that country three years ago.

So could the recent influx of movie streaming services combined with the analytical tactics actuality bring down illegal downloading? I think it will help, it won't choke the life out of illegal downloading but it certainty a great incentive and practical way of combating the problem.

Netflix.co.uk Watch what you want, as much as you want, when you want on multiple devices and with integrated social functions, only £5.99 a month, no hidden fees and no set subscription period.

South Korea Get Permit to Build Worlds First Invisible Building!

Like me you have probably dreamt of owning an invisibility cloak or cloaking device of some-sort at one point in time or another, such as the one in the recent Harry-Potter movies that dream could be soon to be reality it seems. Would you believe me then if I told you that a certain skyscraper in South Korea is actually attempting to cloak the entire building, surely this really is the stuff of Sci-Fi movies you say. 

Photo by GDS Architects

Well maybe not, it appears that an International Architectural company named GDS Architects have received a construction permit to commence building "The world's first invisible tower" It is further reported that the plans reveal a tower that will stand 450 meters from the ground that's about 1,400 feet and is to be situated in Cheongna near South Korea's Incheon Airport outsider of Seoul.

There isn't a secret formula or paint though so don't expect that invisibility cloak to be stocked at your local retail store any-time soon, instead this invisibility cloak relies on an optical illusion. The tower titled "City Tower" which is also glass encased will if plans go ahead be fitted with high-tech LED façade which integrates projectors and around 18 strategically placed weatherproof cameras. The cameras will take multiple  images in real-time of the area which is directly facing behind the building (on whichever side your current viewpoint is). The images will then be digitally stitched into a panorama and then projects the images back onto the buildings reflective surface. 

So some pretty ingenious ways of utilising current technology in order to create a virtual invisible building and from what is known about this type of technology the idea is pretty much sound. What this does by projecting the images back at the building is that to the naked eye it will be as though you are looking straight through the building as you are seeing a projected image  making it blend into the skyline at certain times of day so a sort of active camouflage. 

Above: Here is a diagram of the principle behind the cloaking technique, image 1 shows the building left to right elevation indicating the camera capture zone , image 2 shows the front camera capture zone, images 3 and 4 show the building with the camera system activated first at 30% power and the last at 100% power. 

Now the obvious safety concerns of such a tower especially with respect to having a building situated so close to a major capital airport (yea you get the picture) is a scary thought, also why would anyone want to cloak an entire building in the first place, especially when you consider both of the country's regions recent turbulent times. 

I mean if you can apply this technique to a massive skyscraper then there will be that person that will say well why can't you apply this to a tank or better still an aircraft, true those types of objects will have motion to deal with but it doesn't seem impossible, which is why I'm genuinely worried about this type of technology seeing the light of day.

The GDS site quoted on the tower by posting the following statement "The tower subtly demonstrates Korea's rising position in the world by establishing its powerful presence through diminishing its presence," "Korea will have the unique position of having the 'best' tower by having an 'anti-tower."

You would think that an invisible tower was enough for most people but not for the people behind this concept as it seems there will also be a 4D theatre, landscaped gardens, a water park and the third highest observation platform in the world.

No word yet however on the completion date for this tower apart form a source indicating a 2014 completion date, so some pretty fascinating if not scary news then, what do you make of South Korea building an invisible tower?

ITRA Glass Technology, see the Future!

It really is incredible how many hours we each spend in front of a digital display these days  whether it be in the home, in the office, on holiday even at school, now it seems the race is on to bring us even more digital content while on the go! I myself spend a lot of time in front of some sort of digital screen so much so that people used to warn me (some still do) I would need glasses one day, they were probably right… but for the wrong reasons.

You will have by now heard of the infamous Google Glasses simply titled Google Glass, the pair of glasses designed to allow you to walk around with a pair of glasses that allow you to capture image and video of your life are a much talked of technology at the moment.

Now it seems that is not enough well at least that’s what the clever researchers at ITRA are attempting to say anyway, the Tiawan based company  have been busy developing  a pair of glasses themselves. Now if you cast your minds back to a well known movie “Minority Report” where Tom Cruise wore a pair of glasses which he used with a specialised glove to see a and interact with digital content by moving his hand to select things, well thats what ITRA have practically developed.

The system is called a floating augmented-reality touchscreen system (iAT, to the uninitiated) that would it say’s improve upon “Minority Report” Technology. I have heard it joked so many times about the skynet theories and jokes surrounding the scary new technology we keep dreaming up but I have to admit when things from Sci Fi movies start appearing in real life shouldn't we be?

Credit 20th Century Fox

The ITRA (Industrial technology Research Institute) have released a demo video of the aforementioned technology in action and I have to say it does look pretty sweet. In essence what it is is an augmented reality system which responds to touch user input.  As we know Google Glass uses voice commands generated by the user in order to perform functions, whereas the iTIA system projects a virtual touch based interface in front of the users field of vision which gives the appearance of floating in the air.

I can only do so much in describing the new innovation to you but you really do need to see what it looks like in action, check out the video demo from ITRA below.

See a live demo Video

i Touch In Air

The system on display in the initial demo stage of the video shows a bulky looking pair of goggles which is only natural from a testing perspective, but in the closing part of the video you can see a standard pair of glasses which could utilise this new technology medium. So not just a leap forward in terms of motion technology but also a wearable virtual computer system you can take on the go.

The commercial value of the product will no doubt be high, not just for the average consumer though but it has been mentioned that it could be used in other critical areas such as endoscopic surgery and military application undoubtedly which would benefit from hands free input.

The iTIA features a camera which is stated as being activated only when it detects a user's fingertip within a predetermined input distance range around about a foot away, this not only conserves battery power but also lets you access the system when you need it otherwise reverting the system to a simple stylish piece of eye-wear.

If you really want to get more technical Air Touches as they are being called when a user activates the system are sent to a host device such as a Laptop or Smartphone are linked to.

iTIA was officially introduced last week and will receive a 2013 R&D (Research and Development) 100 award this November, in addition to this ITRI also state that the technology is now being made available for licensing by mobile companies and anyone else interested in the technology. (you can bet Google will no doubt take a look at this)

iTIA was officially introduced last week and will receive a 2013 R&D (Research and Development) 100 award this November, in addition to this ITRI also state that the technology is now being made available for licensing by mobile companies and anyone else interested in the technology. (you can bet Google will no doubt take a look at this)

PS4 Red Light Of Detah or Is it?

Yes the PS4 has a red light and the new nickname "The Red Light Of Death", as we know the PS4 has a blue led to indicate when it is on etc, however at a recent Spanish showing of the console the ominous red light appeared.

Relax though folks as it's nothing serious, the PS4 in question was inside its display box and had been running on display all day, the obvious build up of heat and little room for it to escape in its display box caused the blue LED to turn Red, now here's the wow bit.

After seeing this occur a representative from Sony opened the case and the PS4 returned to normal Blue status, Shuhei Yoshida President  Of Worldwide Studios, Sony Computer Entertainment" stated  that the Red light is not a death indicator but just an overheating warning.

That's right now you know if your PS4 is getting a little hot under the bonnet as it will light up Red to tell you, which is a welcome addition to the console over previous ones hopefully giving you a heads up on potential problems you can deter from.

For the latest don't forget you can follow the official Yoshida twitter feed  (@yosp), looks like we can rest easy with PS4

IOS 7 Trial On Iphone 4

The past few weeks I have been testing out Apples latest major system software update and indeed overhaul, IOS 7

First however I must turn my attention to something that really annoys me,. not with apple or IOS but with the so called experts out there publishing articles which are not strictly true. What really annoys me is looking at other web articles from people who report on technology for a living and yet they don't know as much as they probably should. Even before I attempted to go anywhere near Apples download Server with my prized little gadget I made sure to take steps to ensure that if I did not like IOS 7 for any reason, or it was too buggy on my older model, then I could reinstall the old original OS IOS 6 software version, this is called downgrading but apparently this is something not many people know about.

Its not that lengthy a process and can help later on, you may wonder why do this as surely Apple could let you downgrade back to IOS 6? Well they do for short periods of time when all new IOS updates are announced but there is a process that once they turn off what is called firmware signing then your phone will not validate an IOS 6 install, it will appear to reboot successfully but will not let you have a functioning IOS environment until you restore to the latest IOS.

This happens because the software update has to verify with Apple to allow the process to continue somewhere deep within IOS software code, this can be bypassed however so that you can back up a few settings and when the phone attempts to activate through apples servers it actually gets a legitimate copy from well known Cydia servers, which apple don't endorse in any way, but it is a great job as I feel that the right to go back to a previous IOS should be allowed at the very least!

Now that has been cleared up I can safely say I don't need to restore back to my old IOS environment any-time soon, and IOS 7 has indeed given a new lease of life to my phone. even though I still have the Iphone 4 in excellent condition it could be said as being outdated, but I still feel it is a market leader and can still hold its own in today's mobile environment.

I have looked at the latest iphone models and think why do I really need any of them mine does pretty much the same bar a few exceptions such as voice talking Siri, and of course CPU and ram upgrades but no the Iphone 4 as I say still holds its own, at least until Apple produce an iphone that is so different yet amazing that it warrants an update. Even I have to admit Iphones are being developed more quickly than candidates at a political party debate, we have the Iphone 4, 4s, 5, 5S, 5C and even talks of the 6 coming soon.  I understand Apple wanting to reach a broader spectrum of the market with cheaper versions of their Iphone but do we really need to be over-saturated with them to such an extent? Its getting as bad as Android are with their new models based on types of food, you don;t know where you are.

with regards to IOS 7, it is amazing how easily it can be picked up especially with the swiping instead of pressing red x's during multi-tasking. There are a lot of great improvement's, a lot of which is very visual and obvious to the user, while there are also some subtle changes to the settings here and there.  One great feature for example is in the music player, simply tilting the device to landscape displays all of the albums listed on the phone side by side, with the user only needing to slide left and right to select individual album.

I will say that there are limitations here and there and the new IOS would benefit from the extra processing power from one of the newer I-Phones, but I find the only real problem is the latency between accessing the camera app when trying to take a quick snap, that I can live with for now.

There has been as there always is when a major system update such as this is launched however with it being leaked that there was one or two security breaches within the new software which could compromise a users phone if a criminal were to gain access to it. luckily Apple were quick to respond and have since released a smaller incremental follow up update to rectify this issue.

There are now talks of the IOS 8 releasing next year, madness you may well say but that is not such a silly statement to make, after all technology moves so fast these days that new software is always in need of updating to keep-up with the newest hardware developments and vice a-versa. At least we have IOS 7 to enjoy for now, but who knows what may be available in IOS 8?

A few updates!

Well it seems I really have to get back into writing here, it seems as I am at a loss right now, then this would be a good time. I will be writing some more articles pretty soon, just need to get in front of the keyboard and type, so stay tuned for that.

I am now having to listen to someone in my VOIP channel sing "I wish it could be Xmas everyday" while trying sort some things together in my head all of which appear at night when its quiet. Still Christmas is fast approaching, and on the Technology front it looks to be another one full of gadgets and goodies - at least for the technically inclined.

November kicks off proceedings with the PS4 releasing in the United States on the 15th of November, with the UK getting a Nov 15th release, all very exciting I must say. I have myself pre-ordered a copy of the console and Kill-zone Shadow Fall, although I am not looking at day one launch stock as Sony have already taken a million pre-orders and stocks are limited at the moment. Meanwhile Microsoft are keeping sthum about when they plan to release their Xbox One, and I may be one of the few to know the exact date due to a slip up still.

Apple are set to release a new version of their Apple software for the Iphone and Ipad devices it is believed in September as well as hopefully announcing the latest version of their Iphone, there is also the new Apple Mac Pro which will be with us for Christmas.

I really want to do some exposes? I believe that's the word I'm looking for right now or at least some in depth articles on gaming in general, I think I could have a very good job at video game journalism at times, once I get going then I can really write some good content (takes me back to my college days writing endless amounts of words for current assignments, which I kind of miss in a way, at least I had some sort of motivational purpose to work towards.)

As far as an update on my plans to implement a new website to showcase my work and services, its pretty much set I just need to sort out my domain and hosting and do some final checks / uploads, so pretty soon then. I really want to get my web store up and running to be able to shift some of the items that are just sitting here awaiting new homes, I am not looking forward to checking all my financial figures on costing each item etc as I lost the original figures.

As you can see my flare for getting something down takes shape once I start, I hope this serves as a suitable update to an otherwise dormant blog, seeing as the standard as we call it is to update your blog every day, with the amount of social interaction services I find this a little more challenging  than most.

Hope you enjoyed this little update, until the next one keep an eye on the blog, follow if your feeling dangerous.

Later guys,
Jonathan.

General Blog Update.

Sorry for the recent delay in content, however I assure you that if this blog were to go down permanently or die like a garden that has stopped being maintained and ends up like a horror film then I shall be sure to post son fear not I will not abandon the blog easily.

Onto the first bit of news then, well my new website will be up pretty soon, technically its ready, just need to consider the financial aspect right now, aside from that repairs have been going well and I now have a number of items for sale. 

More news to follow, News on the GamesCom 2013 Conference is the next article in the works, and should be up in the next few days.

Until then, keep an eye on this space.

10 Year Old Saves Family in car accident, credits Gaming!

Video games bad influence on impregnable minds, sending the wrong messages etc etc etc, for years the games industry has been swamped with such allegations and accusations, it's very rare to find an article that champions it.

This is such a story and a heart-warming one at that, picture the scene in Hugo Colorado USA, a 10 year old boy saves his grandmother and 4 year old younger brother’s lives after the grandmother passed out while behind the wheel of her vehicle.

The grandmother was driving at around 60 miles an hour it is reported when the indent took place. News affiliate from NBC KUSA reported on how young Griffin Sanders became a hero in the face of disaster. Last Friday was just a normal drive for Griffin and his family that was until their vehicle Griffin was travelling uncrossed the centre lane veering into oncoming traffic, griffin stated "My first though was actually, is this a tester what?, my heart was thumping"

It was most certainly tap test as Griffin put it as his Grandmother passed out and lost control of the vehicle from what may have been a heart mild heart attack. After failing to wake her up Griffin took the wheel and steered the vehicle toward a ditch full of mud. According to KUSA , Griffin told reporters that he got his driving skills from Mario Kart video game.

Thankfully to his brave actions the car came to a stop safely and KUSA luckily reported no one was injured in the accident, as Griffin shows us there are plenty of positives that can derive from gaming

SkyTran, now- we can all travel like the "Jetson's"

Technology never a dull moment as it were, it seems NASA has some pretty interesting ideas on the shape future travel will take, and no it doesn't include return tickets to the moon, although somewhere in a secluded spot such talks maybe happening!

Back to the here and now though, NASA it seems are green-lighting a new method for all us lovely people to travel, inside a floating pod 20ft off the ground, yea those Sci-Fi shows you watched as you grew up are in fact a reality these days, pretty scary right?

What’s scarier is perhaps the help of a company called "SkyTran" and no I know what you’re doing trying to find a connection to "SkyNet" and the machine uprising but relax that will never hap................ well let's hope not anyway. 

The concept of mono-rail travel as it is known is not a new technology parse hoverer has never really been fully realised, until now that is. Surprisingly the new commuting system is set to be implemented to begin in "get this" 2014, more likely in the US and then depending escalate across Eastern Europe. 

But wait, it gets even better, once you have access to a "SkyTran Station, you get into your pod, set your destination with a smartphone app, climb aboard and allow mag-lev which stands for Magnetic Levitation technology speed you off to your destination.

But yet again there is more, brace yourselves each pod will have the ability to travel at speeds of up to 150 mph, that means you could literally get across the UK in no time at all.

Where the funding and costs for such a scheme will come from is anyone’s guess at the moment, not to mention the actual implementation, design stages then there’s the usual approvals and safety checks etc, but this does look like the way of the Future. 

Hopefully the system will be linked to a manned computer station much like modern electric train’s with added collision detection route paths and the like, the question is would you use it and would you be happy to go at such speeds as though you were on a roller coaster each morning. 

NASA is set to install a full system in its California installation which should be interesting, let’s face it they are the experts at this kind of thing after all. SkyTran should in the long term be cheaper to build compared to train, and bus systems, will suffer little with obstacles in mid-air and is much more eco-friendly for the planet using solar panels.

So who is up for using SkyTran as a method of travel?

-Jonathan Cullen

Site update and Lessons!

Well today has proved somewhat productive it seems, my site is nearing the upload stage and I keep going over the most mi-nute of details. I have a sort of hindsight you might say, so far I have been using my usual browser to test my site and so far everything has been dandy. Now a regular kind of Joe might just have easily uploaded the site seeing everything was fine and not thought about one important factor cross browser platform compatibility.

Simply put what this means and more importantly what I recognise is that even though my site works fine on my browser doesn't for one minute mean to say it’s going to work on all of the other browser variants of which there are many. I have the latest version of Internet explorer installed currently at version 10, and upon testing it seemed that the contact and blog pages once entered would load slower than other pages and browser as well as rendering the rest of the sites functionality and navigation useless.

I narrowed down the problem to make sure it wasn't just a problem with the embedded objects on those pages and to some extent I guess you could say it was. On the contact’s page I have an embedded map and contact form which I removed and then tested however the page itself still did the same, a simple deduction then it was not those elements, easiest thing to do was to load a page similar that did work remove all unnecessary page items and replace my embedded objects on that page before re-saving, sure enough it now works hunky dory.

The blog was a weird one it appeared that when it did load ion internet explorer that an error message popped up stating that “http this is addme 5”  etc, etc was not found on this server, I then proceeded to check through my code and sure enough there was this exact piece of code in the middle of things, IO have no idea how it manifested itself there though as it was nowhere near the embedded blog, I pretty much used the same trick as in the contact page to rectify the problem.

I have now tested on 6 different browsers with 100% effectiveness, this ensures that the website can be viewed by as broad an audience as possible while having code which is well written and efficient without error. 

Its times like these when I put so much work into my projects that I hold my head up high to those who laughed at the amount of effort I put into my work during my college days going beyond the call of duty, I believe as one of my former lecturers kept reiterating to me "You need to show an in-depth understanding" something I have remembered to this day, I may be creating a website but there are a lot of elements in play both on the server customization side and on the user's side. god I feel like I’m writing my memoirs at 1am in the morning, hope you've enjoyed reading into this fabulous insight this is Jonathan Cullen signing off for the night!

PS4 More Reasons to want one!

Just a quick update, one I feel needs mentioning from the good people at PlayStation Access. With the Next Gen Christmas Consoles edging ever closer, Its time to start looking at what's on offer, here we have a video I think  you will find very informative on the PlayStation 4.

That makes 20 more compelling reasons to invest with Sony this holiday season!

Compact WI-Fi Flash Devices

Well known company San Disk has unveiled two new entrants into the mobile WI-FI flash storage market it seems, here's why you may be interested.

The two new devices are very compact which makes them super easy to transport with you, both devices use flash memory as their storage medium as opposed to the traditional mechanical counterpart. What makes this even more of a must have is the fact that the devices both have a built in battery and 802.11n (among the latest standard of Wireless Internet capability) Wi-Fi network which can support multiple clients at the same time.

This means that devices such as Smart phones and tablets will be able to connect to the wireless storage devices with the use of a connect mobile application, it has been stated that each connect drive will have an app of its own, supporting Android kindle fire and IOS platform devices.  Once connected a user will be able to access the connect device to play back contents stored on the storage medium or back up user-generated contents to the connect devices wirelessly.   

If you plug the flash device into your computer the drives will show up like any other removable external storage media. In case you’re wondering the file system used by the drives is exFAT, which works on both Mac and Windows Operating Systems.

Once connected the drives can be loaded with content for fast and easy media streaming / sharing when you are out and about.

Option one: San Disk Connect Wireless Flash Drive:

 

The great thing about the connect flash drive is it is easily recognisable to the average consumer utilising what they already use just with some added layers of technology. The connect drive does not have any internal storage but instead houses the technology for wireless connectivity and sharing for the inbuilt MicroSd Card slot, you can have up to 16B and 32GB internal storage this way. 

Once the SD card is inserted the drive functions like any other thumb drive able to plug into a computers USB port and copy content to and from it, interestingly once the device is connected to the computer the USB port also charges the connect flash drives internal battery which allows for hours of WI-FI usage. 

If you have more than one SD Card available or  perhaps an insatiable need to carry more storage or multiple SD cards then you can hot-swap other SD cards on the go, pretty nifty wouldn't you say? As the connect is among the smallest of Wi-Fi storage devices it can only support a maximum of three Wi-Fi client's at a time, but that's still a relatively good number most will be happy with.

I won't go into details but the drive can also connect to another Wi-Fi network and share that networks Internet connection to all devices that are connected to the Wi Fi network of their own, I'm not sure what benefit this brings however.

Option Two: San Disk Connect Wireless Media Drive: 

 

The second option to connect wireless media drive is much the same as option one, the first main difference is in its physical size which is larger than the flash drive about the size of a small USB hub.

The next difference lies in the amount of storage space supported by the drive, being 32GB or 64GB just like carrying a portable SSD around with you, the drive also has an SD card slot meaning you can double the amount of storage space with high end SD cards of up to 128GB. This added onto the 32GB or 64GB already on the drive means you can carry up to 192GB combined storage.

Having the card slot also means you can quickly share photos you have just taken for example with a group of people, the drive also supports up to eight Wi-Fi devices at any time with up to five Hd streams at once. The drive also offers up to eight hours of battery life which is not to bad.

The two San Disk drives are to be made available to consumers by early August it has been stated, The Connect Wireless Flash Drive has been said to cost £25 and £30 for 16GB and 32GB models. While the Wireless media drive costs £40 for 32GB and £50 for 64GB. If the pricing remains the same on release in August then it will be quite a bargain. 

DARPA Develops Real-Life Terminator Robot!

Are you amongst the few who remember watching Terminator 1 and 2 oh and 3, starring the tough guy Arnold Schwarzenegger complete with dark shades, and the famous one liner "I'll be back" If yes then you have good taste in films, if not you need to check it out, either way the movie centres on Machines taking over by thinking for themselves and pretty much waging war thus wiping out humanity, we just had to build a supercomputer that could think called Skynet didn't we.

But that's a movie after all nothing like that could ever happen in real life........Right? Well it seems years after the American Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency aka DARPA have developed a robot which is pretty close to what people who first saw the terminator in cinemas looks like, the newly designed robot codenamed "Atlas" can tackle rough terrain and carry human tools; one assumes this could well develop into weapons pretty easily.

"Atlas" comes in at a shrewd 6 foot tall and was developed by Boston Dynamics, "Atlas" is reported to weigh in at 330 pounds, and its primary purpose of development was to help with human disaster response which is a pretty cool application for it to be used for. However if you happen to be in the vicinity of a disaster "I hope not" then you may be forgiven in thinking that a couple of "Atlas" walking towards you amidst the smoke are anything but friendly, but don’t worry folks I can confirm that "Atlas" comes from Massachusetts and not from the future "phew"

                                                           (Click for larger Image)

"Atlas" has been shown to act like a normal human, in fact its motion sensing and overall physical dynamic mirrors that of a human very well, at least from both what has been reported and shown, which is really an incredible advance into robotic physical dynamic engineering, I am actually writing this off the top of my head and not Google’ing these long words I assure you.

"Atlas" is designed to walk and carry things as well as travel through rough terrain outdoors in addition to climbing using his hands and feet, now if only someone could programme an alogy of me Tarzan you Jane when he rescues someone that would be pretty comic. "Atlas" Uses Articulated hands that enable him to use tools which are designed for human use, "Atlas" apparently from the specs revealed includes 28 hydraulically actuated degrees of freedom and you standard exoskelital body with two arms, two legs, a torso and head.

Interestingly the head is also home to stereo cameras and wait for it..................a laser range finder, yes we keep coming back to that terminator feel don’t we., this laser finder is tethered to an off board, electric power supply, thankfully if things go south we know its weakness. Seriously though DARPA Robotics designed such as "Atlas" are built to help and aid with disasters and hazardous environments, just think you could send this guy into a nuclear power plant maybe turning the tide in what could be a very dangerous situation.

Programmers are hard at work it seems intent on pushing the "Atlas" to its limit, some of the challenge’s programmer’s will be trying to program "Atlas" to do later this year include driving a utility vehicle, breaking through a wall (strength not specified), connecting up a fire hose presumably to fight a fire, and closing a valve shut off.

Such a robot has huge appeal in terms of military application though and will no doubt form part of a security tactical unit in time to come, after all bomb disposal robots are already being used by both the military and Police in some parts of the world, what “Atlas” could bring to the table is astounding, helping to clear IEDs or high risk areas, or even just a peace time defence bot.

Of course this is probably still a long way off, but you can bet that behind some secret doors somewhere such plans are already being looked at. What do you think about the “Atlas” are you excited to see how its developed, used and deployed into situations where humans would be at risk? Or do you think that this is starting to get scary? 

On Demand Movie Services:

Everyone enjoys sitting back to watch a movie, be it action flick, rom-com, animation and so on, what we as consumers (that is such a great industry word isn't it) we as consumers also have very rigid standards and expectations on what type of experience we should be getting from our on demand services.

As usual you have the financial constraints to consider with each service as well as overall quality and amount of titles on offer, As for options well there are plenty, I myself have tried each of the following services in order to see which comes out top;

1: LoveFilm.

Love film player, better known for its large collection of movies and TV shoes which can be sent to your door, the service also offers you to sign up and watch movies on-line. You can stream to an I-pad, a PS3, an Xbox 360 or any desktop or laptop computer. The selection of titles on offer is quiet extensive, you can also search by genre or collections and has something for everyone.

The drawback with the player, especially on devices such as the Xbox 360 or PS3 I have found to not be that good an experience, this has been backed up with friends view as well in that the player User Interface (UI) has not been very user friendly, and once you find a title to watch the movie it buffers a little, this would usually be fine if it did not sometimes stop and buffer during the film.

 Here is the standard love film player as shown on a PS3 system, it wasn't very user friendly, did not list all titles in a category very well and had playback issues.

Here is the much improved Love-film player also running on the PS3, films are a lot easier to find, TV shows have gotten larger and there's also a 30 day free trail.

Films I watched used an 8mb internet connection with no other devise accessing my network, however the problem persisted in most films to the point that you would need to close and restart the player, it also would not always output to the correct scale of the T.V. leaving you with a less than 4:3 standard image.

I am happy to report however that as of the 9^th June Love film have finally redesigned the user interface and improved all of the above problems, no doubt to compete with other services. Now you are able to watch a film in full without issue, it is also a lot easier to find titles to watch, with still the largest collection of titles to stream.

2: Netflix

One of my favourite services overall which is easy to set up and start watching, when compared with the newly refurbished Love film player. Netflix is subscription based and costs £5.99 a month; you are also able to watch movies and TV shows on a Computer, Laptop, PS3, Xbox 360, I-pad or IPhone.

It is a great service because it was designed very well to start with; films load in HD within seconds and have no problems during watching. The site also suggest and recommends films based on films or shows you have watched and rated customizing the experience to your own tastes, you can further tailor it using the Netflix website account management.

The choice of titles is pretty good, even though not as large as Love films offering content is updated monthly with new titles being made available while some older ones are removed.You select films by choosing a category, within each category you can scroll through 75 films, multiply that by even 10 categories and that's a lot of viewing right there. An impressive affordable movie and T.V. streaming service defiantly a solid contender for the number one spot.

3.: Now TV

Sky’s latest bid to corner the on demand movie market previously available on computer and Xbox 360, now also available on PS3 and I-pad . Again the service itself is great content plays in HD and has no or little viewing problems associated with it. Sky also boasts that they release new titles before anyone else, a rather bold statement indeed then.

However Now TV does not seem to have as many titles as Netflix and less than love film, it does have new releases such as Sky fall but frankly there is a lack of content once you’ve watched the films that appeal to you, making you wait for an update that may or may not contain something you want to see.

In addition to this the price for Now TV has been cleverly advertised, but in short it is the most expensive of all three services, and at present I would only recommend using the trail version as you will more likely get though most of the relevant content for you.

If you sign up using a PS3 for example there is an offer which lets you watch as many titles as you like for 3 months for only £1, no obligation. After that the price goes up to £5.99, not bad is it, not bad until you read the smaller print and find out after this intro offer the service then costs £15.99 a month contract. 

This is not only ridiculous for the small amount of titles on offer but money grabbing compared to Love film or Netflix, if you want to watch the latest live sports that will cost you an additional £10 pass. The service side of things, delivering HD movies fast with a few early titles is really good, but it’s not £15.99 a month good.

4: BlinkBox

Blink box offers a different approach to streaming movies, instead of being subscription based it acts as a more of a pay as you go option. You can either rent and watch movies or buy them to keep for viewing whenever.Prices start from 99p (notice I used the word "Start from" indicating that you could easily spend £2.49 or £3.49 to rent and even higher for buying new movies.

This may be good for people who like to sometimes watch and rent movies but it is much cheaper to go with either Netflix or Love-Film when you consider that the cost of renting two movies could be a months subscription to Netflix for example, which allows you to watch as many movies and TVshows as you like.

Also available on most platforms such as Computer, PS3, Xbox 360 and I-Pads, it is the second most expensive option next to Now TV-and you are not really getting value for money compared to Netflix or Love-film, unless you want to watch new movies only sometimes in which case this may be a good deal for you and allow you to stay in control compared to subscriptions, additionally you also receive Tesco club-card points for each movie rental or movie bought.

Verdict:

On reflection then if you want a decent amount of titles in full HD or Std definition depending on your internet capabilities, on different devices with a low monthly subscription, then Netflix seems to be paving the way and holding the top spot with Love film edging next to it. Both Netflix and Love-films subscription options include a handy auto-renewal mode, so once your payment details are entered you need not worry about payments.

For a much larger catalogue of movies and T.V. shows the next choice is Love film, which also has the added layer of also renting movies not available for streaming, as well as video games, although price does depend on what you select there are a good few package options to choose from. 

The user interface of the player has also been greatly improved for an easier viewing experience. With Now TV coming in last due to lack of content and price, however the trial and Ps3 offer allowing you to watch 3 months for just £3 should be taken as it is about the best bargain they will give you.