Monthly Archives: November 2015

PornHub traffic fell by 10% on the day of the release of Fallout 4

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Out of Fallout 4 not only enhance the the number of workers take sick days on the planet, but also significantly affect other vital functions. For example, a sharp decline in traffic experienced the one of the world’s most popular resources on
adult video – Pornhub.porn hub stat

The profile resource GamesBeat leads Post Corey Price (Corey Price), Vice-President of PornHub. According to him, the day of the release of Fallout 4, there was a decline in the share of traffic by 10% among gamers. November 10 traffic began to decline at around 5 am, when most people are finished to download and install the game. The deviation from the normal pattern was observed until about 3 pm, and then from 6pm decline began again. According to Cory Price, they were not too surprised by what happened to PornHub traffic during peak gaming hours.

The company Bethesda Softworks has released 10 November hotly anticipated sequel to the post-apocalyptic series Fallout. Game Fallout 4 is available for purchase on the platforms Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC.

More info: GamesBeat

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“Smart” watch learn to recognize objects in your hand

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Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and Disney specialists have developed a prototype “smart” watches, which recognize a metallic object or an electrical device in the hand of man.

When a person touches a metal object or electrical device “smart” watch determine the kind of object and display its name on the clock screen.

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Social media as a threat

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Nowadays more and more people are getting addicted to social media. Traditional forms of self expression that we used as children are gone. There was no judgment from our environment, we could create without limits or – as now – filters. Using Facebook/Twitter/Instagram is in most cases looking for approval. We wait for likes, shares, retweets, followers etc. What would happen if social media were just a social sharing platform? Would it still work if it wasn’t based on validation in views/followers/likes? What is more, while using social media we are getting addicted to our cellphones and most of us cannot imagine their lives without it.

 

A good example of social media madness and escaping from it is a former Instagram model – Essena O’Neill – who revealed the truth behind the photos by editing her posts. She had about 580,000 followers. She was making money looking good in nice sceneries. She was also famous on YouTube and Snapchat. One day something broke in her. She was miserable, angry, uninspired. She found out that creating a celebrity construct of herself, wasn’t what she wanted in her life and she decided to show how social media and advertising in social media works. For example she was wearing clothes that she was paid to wear. Her little sister had to take around 200 photos to choose the one that looks good enough to share it in social media (in this case Instagram). Basically things posted in social media are fake and don’t show real life. The question is: is it still a real version of us in social media? Try to log out to reality, spend time with your friends in off-line environment.

To photograph or not to photograph? – that is the question.

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bez nazwy

My own photo of Natalia Figas and Stephanie Iskra made by iPhone 4S and “filtered” by Instagram .

Have you noticed that for some time there is a fashion to create photographic blogs? I don’t know how’s your friends, but a lot of mine made funpages with a „photography” add to their name. To be honest there’s no wonder – nowadays everyone has a camera in pocket and usually it’s pretty good. Of course quality is very important but some smartphones has additional features to improve it and do not stand out quite as much from professional equipment (such as optical image stabilization which significantly affects the quality of mobile photography). In addition nowadays this kind of photography is much more able to replace the one made by professional equipment. All this thanks to software algorithms and increasing the possibilities of hardware – proved in a test of Phone Arena portal which proved that the users often liked more photos made by smartphones than those made by SLR.

burberry fashion iphone filming

Smartphone technology used by Burberry to film their fashion movies.

The same trend can be observed in the fashion industry, which in the vast majority relies on photography and film. Lately many marketing campaigns was filmed or photographed just using a smartphone (for example Diesel and the Burberry).

There is no wonder. Modern devices are able to take pictures with the quality of 20 -something megapixels and shoot films in 4K resolution. The case looks even more interesting from the point of view of an ordinary user because there are millions of applications for improving, changing or transform a photo so that everyone can take pictures of a quality sufficient to brag among friends.

dowód

Id photography. Pic taken from linked article.

This use of technology brings us clear advantages. I do not know about you but I really do not like to make photos to documents. Not only that photographer always chooses the worst of it but also they cost very much comparing to the end result. It turns out that if we use your cleverness and your hardware we can save yourself the embarrassment of showing documents with bad photos to our friends but also money because that shooting is much cheaper!

Let’s be a part of a technological breakthrough

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Recently, Google has shared TensorFlow platform on Open Source basis, which will enable the artificial intelligence to enter new fields. Google highlights that TensnorFlow is a better version of a previous platform – DistBelief, which was used in image and speech recognition systems, real-time translation and faster content search in the Internet. If the older platform brought such things to life, I am really exited what the better version will do.

According to the plan, TenserFlow will make the machine learning and artificial intelligence development quicker. Thanks to the Open Source, absolutely everyone can use the library and develop it on Apache 2.0 license. Google did not decide for payable share but expects that people, who use the library, will share their insights in return. That makes the chances for artificial intelligence applications in every-day life solutions much bigger. Adam Jesionkieiwcz, the CEO of Infinity, says that wide availability of TensorFlow creates new technological possibilities and it shows the current importance of AI and its future in our lives. A lot of new products can be invented thanks to that.

Many people associate artificial intelligence with science fiction movies and are not aware that it is present in our lives. However, this is just the beginning, the biggest changes are yet to come. According to A. Jesionkiewicz we cannot even imagine what will happen. He compares our predictions with the conversation of two monkeys, where one monkey says that one day they will leave trees, live on the ground, use computers, eat with cutlery, wear clothes, fly by plane etc. and the other monkey is terrified. Some day we will become these monkeys.

What about you? Are you exited about the technological breakthrough? Are you going to use the Open Source for TenserFlow and be a part of new product invention? 🙂

More information at: http://tensorflow.org

Sources:

http://www.wirtualnemedia.pl/artykul/google-udostepnil-na-zasadach-open-source-platforme-tensorflow-sztuczna-inteligencja-wejdzie-do-nowych-dziedzin

http://pclab.pl/news66942.html

 

 

Digital Business Era: Strategic Technology Trends for 2016 / Part II

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In my previous post I’ve described 5 strategic technology trends for 2016. With this post I would like to develop this topic and look at other trends which can play important role in digital business era next year.

  • Trend 6 – Ambient User Experience
    Under ‘ambient user experience’ Gartner refers to the ability of  devices and sensors to gather more advanced contextual data as AMbient UX. The main difficulty could be connected with “application design, anticipating this level of device synchronicity and collaboration, for lack of better framing”. Gartner insists that the devices will be so smart and intelligent that they will organise our lives without our  noticing that they are doing so.
  • Trend 7 – 3D-printing Materials
    The development of 3D-printing technology has led to increase in number of materials suitable for this purpose. Now 3D-printing is using nickel alloys, carbon fiber, glass, conductive inks, pharmaceutical and biological materials. A variety of materials will continue to grow, and 3D-printers will be used in new areas, such as aerospace, medical, automotive, energy, and military-industrial complex. 3D-printing has caught its stride now that companies like Tesla are using it to build engine parts, and SpaceX is using it to create rocket parts.
  • Trend 8 – Information of Everything
    According to Gartner, by 2020, “25 billion devices will be generating data about almost every topic imaginable”. This number gives at the same time opportunity and challenge.  There will be a terrific number of data, but making sense of it will be the trick.
  • Trend 9 – Advanced Customer Architecture
    Gartner notes that companies are pushing the envelope on making technology mimic human brains. Thus, advanced customer architecture will become more human and intelligent.
  • Trend 10 – Mesh App and Service Architecture
    According to analysts, companies will move from linear designs applications to a more flexible architecture, applications and services. Based on a software-configurable services, this new approach will give the performance with flexibility and speed. Mesh app and service architecture, the new emerging method of building distributed applications, offers a flexible and scalable delivery of implementation as on-premise and in the cloud.

self-destructing messages on Facebook

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Today I would like to share with you the new Facebook option which may soon be introduced. Facebook Messenger is testing a new option which allows people to send messages that vanish in an hour. It is available in France now and it is still not confirmed if the option will be available in other countries.  Facebook is trying to convince us that their messenger is the best place to communicate and is giving us a set of tools to improve this experience. Obviously this feature reminds Snapchat idea of disappearing content. Is Facebook trying to imitate Snapchat because Evan Spiegel refused selling it? Maybe.

For me it is more interesting why people would like to hide their messages, because I don’t mind keeping my conversations with friends saved. Usually it is even better to have possibility to check what exactly they asked us about, or what time and where you were supposed to meet. However I understand that some people treat conversations very personal and may feel safe if nobody can read it. Therefore I would like to show you how it looks like now:

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It means that the text will disappear but the message frame will still be there… I think that if somebody would like the conversation to dissapear he can just delete it instead of leaving the evidence of chatting but without real content… What is your opinion about it? Do you think it can be useful? Would you improve something here?

Facebook Safety Check

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The idea was created in 2011 after earthquake and tsunami in Japan. This event helped to understand that people use social media during crises to connect with their loved ones. “Safety Check” is designed to stay connected with your family and friends during disasters.

 

The tool was announced in 2014 and has three major tasks:safety check

  • Inform others that you are safe
  • Check on your friends
  • Mark your friends as safe in affected areas

 

The tool uses geolocation to check if you are on affected area. The system identifies your location based on the city you mentioned in your profile, last locations you checked in and the city where you logged in. Then Facebook sends you a notification asking if you are safe. If it shows wrong location you just tag that you are in a different area. If you are safe you just click “I’m safe” button and on News Feed everyone can see that you are secure.

The “Safety Check” tool have used three times thus far: after Nepal earthquake (April 2015), Hurican Patricia (October 2015) and terror attacks in Paris which occurred yesterday. It was the first time Facebook used it for man-made disaster.

zamachy terorystyczne w paryżu

The Facebook idea was followed by other technology companies. After attacks Airbnb sent the email to their customers that they should stay at houses. Uber used the app to inform users to not move if it is not necessary.

On the one hand, it is really nice that companies made an effort to warn their customers. On the other hand, if we consider man-made disaster, I prefer to call than check safety report on Facebook. If it is natural disaster, telephone or internet communication are limited.

Is it public relation trick which has to convince us that Facebook is not only an ordinary tool to spy our lives?

In case you want to check on your friends: Safety Check

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Hussarya-33 Polish super car

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unikalne-zegarki-dla-wlascicieli-arrinery-hussarya-33

Arrinera Automotive is a company that is expected to begin production of sports car, they want to be competitors of cars such as Ferrari and Lamborghini. The prototype was recently tested at the airport in Biala Podlaska and is a prelude to a future serial version.

Currently Arrinera Automotive rapidly working on the final version of its first model Hussarya. In October last year, there were test driving around the frame on the track Ułęż. A few days ago, they were carried out while in the białe Podlasie further attempts to have the vehicle dressed in body. The tests were designed to investigate aspects related to the aerodynamic body and the functioning of the chassis.

The first version, which goes into production will  be arrinera hussarya 33, which is the most expensive edition of the car, only 33 cars will be produce. Price of finished vehicle in its basic configuration will be around 160 thousand Euro (approx. 660 000 zł). Variety Limited Hussarya 33 it cost about 200 thousand. Euro (about 828 000 zł).

PERFORMANCE

Frame designed by Lee Noble formed of high strength steel with a varying cross section including the appropriate torsional strength. It will be lightweight and resistant to deformation. The design of the car includes a centrally placed engine 8-cylinder with a capacity of 6.2-liters, dating from Chevrolet. Maximum power is 650 hp and 820 Nm of maximum torque. Hussarya will accelerate in 3.2 seconds from 0 to 100 km / h, and 8.9 s to 200 km / h. Expected maximum speed of up to 340 km / h

The space for the brake system will take care of 19-inch alloy wheels.

Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7OkBKFAjvk

 

What do you think about design and price?
Do you see it as competitors of ferrari

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Biohacking implanted under their skin implants with LED’s

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American and German biohacking, inspired by the natural phenomenon of luminescence sew under their skin silicone implant with LEDs comprise from magnets. It is reported by Gizmodo.

Pittsburgh group of biohacking Grindhouse Wetware held a 15-minute operation to implant simultaneously with their German team-mates from Dusseldorf. The device is called the Northstar V1 size not larger than a coin – significantly less than the previous version (Circadia 1.0 computer chip).

Video: not for the faint of heart

The implant can simulate bioluminescence and highlight tattoos. If you hold a magnet on the skin, it starts to blink, and after ten seconds, and then returns to sleep mode. According to the calculations of developers before it needs recharging device can light up about ten thousand times. Then it must be recovered by re-operation.

bio-implants

The device goes on sale in 2016. Northstar V1 will distribute in tattoo salons all over the world. Grindhouse Wetware hopes to equip the new versions of the device with additional functions such as transfer sensitive biometric data to external devices as well as to act as a sensor gestures.

Biohacking – a special subculture whose members are engaged in a modification of his body with the help of cybernetic devices. Many biohacking championed transhumanism (Movement for the improvement of human resources in science and technology). “Breaking” of his own body and the implantation of different devices to find biohacking primary means of progress of human existence.

 

Open discussion

Implants under skin all pros and cons? Would you participate in such experiment? Future of biohacking?

Would it be a profitable business?

 

Photo credits: Ryan O’Shea / Grindhouse Wetware

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