Monthly Archives: November 2015

Easy Breakup Thanks to Facebook

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Breaking up is not an easy thing. Most of us know it. Especially when Facebook gets involved.

Who does not remember that feeling when you stumble across a picture of your ex chilling in a company of a new partner of an opposite sex? Or it gets even more brutal when you are scrolling down the news and notice your ex changing his relationship status to ‘in relationship’ or ‘married’. And then you realise you still have that old picture of you two living your ‘forever and always’ love story.

Facebook has announced the end to these weird moments of going through a break up. The world’s biggest social network is creating a new tool that will make your separation less painful.

From now on, if you wish to forget about somebody’s existence, you do not need to unfriend them. The worst part of unfriending has always been when the deleted person finds out what happened. The last thing we want is our ex to get the wrong impression. So Facebook blocking absolutely does not work for ‘playing it cool’.

Relationships on Facebook have become a big deal nowadays. It has been reported that a New York judge has confirmed the legality of sending divorce summons through Facebook. (Lee 2015).

Therefore, Facebook’s new tool filters what you and your ex can see without him/her knowing about it.

The tool allows us to:

“See less of a former partner’s name and profile picture around Facebook without having to unfriend or block them. Their posts won’t show up in News Feed and their name won’t be suggested when people write a new message or tag friends in photos.”

“Limit the photos, videos or status updates that a former partner will see.”

“Edit who can see their past posts with a former partner and untag themselves from posts with that person.”

(Winters 2015)

Facebook says that the new tool will be available globally soon. There already exists a possibility to try out the tool for US mobile users. If you are one, go ahead and share the experiences. But maybe breaking up with your partner is not really worth it.

“We hope these tools will help people end relationships on Facebook with greater ease, comfort and sense of control,” stated FB product manager. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

However, are we really ready to face the fact that Facebook starts managing our emotions?

Social media knows everything about what we need.

Facebook can now share our pain and help us heal it.

But, do we want this interference?

Maybe it is too late to make a choice. Social media has already been pulling the strings of our relationships for quite a while.

But isn’t it time to think about the extent of its control over our feelings?

 

Bibliography:

Lee D. (2015), Facebook tests ‘break-up’ tools, BBC News, Available at: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-34875474

Winters K. (2015), Improving the Experience When Relationships End, Facebook Newsroom, Available at: http://newsroom.fb.com/news/2015/11/improving-the-experience-when-relationships-end/

Young N. (2015), Facebook Wants To Help You Through Your Breakup, Refinery29, Available at: http://www.refinery29.com/2015/11/98040/facebook-breakup-tools

20 bizarre questions asked candidates headhunters Google, Apple, Facebook, and other IT-companies

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Sometimes an interview at technology companies ask candidates to unexpected questions. This is not a problem to the logic, but rather psychological attacks with which recruiters rather check reaction candidate. Who will be surprised, someone will smile and some may react aggressively. For example, how would you respond to the request of HR-managers Apple described the case when you strongly humiliated? What else to ask edakogo Google, Facebook, Microsoft and other companies.

questionsfry-panique-questions

Google

If you could choose only one song that would play every time you walk into a room, it would be a song?

If you can remember only one sentence, what would it be?

Choose the city and rate the debuggers piano in it?

Facebook

How many Big Macs are sold each year at McDonald’s in the United States?

How much you could earn if washed all the windows in Seattle?

Apple

How many children are born every day?

Who is your best friend?

If we asked your friend, is something you should have to work, what one thing he would say?

Are you smart?

Tell us about how you once humiliated.

What brings you here?

How would you test a toaster?

Intel

Create a set of containers for spices for the blind people

Microsoft

If you were offered one superpowers – to fly or be invisible – what would you choose?

How to do so in the fridge every day was exactly the milk?

How would you design the airport?

If you were standing in the crowd, as if you stand out?

Why would not you go to work on Google?

MasterCard

If the subordinate complained to you on the body odor of his colleague, what would you do?

Cisco

What a tree would you like to be?

Chinese woman is considered to be dead for ten years lived in Internet cafes playing online shooter

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Chinese girl Xiao Yun, which over the last ten years, presumed dead, discovered during a police raid at an internet cafe in the province of Zhejiang. This is with reference to local newspaper Qianjiang Evening News Portal reports The Star Online.

According to parents, Xiao Yun left home at age 14 in 2005, and since that time considered as missing. She was presumed dead until 20 November 2015, when it was early in the morning during the ordinary police raid discovered at a local internet cafe.

14 Mar 2006, HEFEI, China --- Chinese use computers at Internet cafe in Nanjing --- Image by © STRINGER/CHINA/Reuters/Corbis

Check showed that the 24-year-old Xiao Yong used forged documents. She was taken to the nearest police station for questioning, which found that in the last ten years she lived mainly in Internet cafes.

The girl, a fan of multiplayer shooter CrossFire, almost all the free time spent on the game, and for personal hygiene use public baths. For the life of Xiao Yun earned from time to time settling a cashier in an internet cafe. In them she usually slept.

Police fined Woman on one thousand yuan (about 150$), and then against her will contacted her parents. Mother Cao Yong’s conversation with the Qianjiang Evening News reported that in the last 10 years did not change your phone number in case the daughter wanted to contact her. The woman admitted that because of her quick temper often beat daughter, but promised never to it is no longer in conflict.

The history of San Yong – not an isolated case. In the spring of 2013 the media reported on the Chinese who had lived for six years in an Internet cafe, leaving it only to take a shower. Man provide for themselves by selling virtual goods in online games for real money.

At the beginning of 2015 on this kind of “Internet cafe refugees” in Japan, was cast a documentary film. In the picture it was reported that many Japanese because of the lack of a permanent job are forced to live in small closets in an Internet cafe, where they spend most of their free time sitting in a network and playing online games.

Tagged , , , ,

Home 3D Printing for everyone

Reading Time: < 1 minute

Poland and Polish start-ups are growing, another Polish project is on Kickstarter. Polish entrepreneurship increasingly shows that the ambitions of starting with global products are in our country bigger and bigger. This time on Kickstarter debut Skriware – as we can read in the project – ‘We turn 3D printing into an everyday activity. Our printers enable printing straight from the online marketplace with just one click.’

You can not be indifferent to this project. In near future everyone will be able to print at home everything!

Uber is in the Air

Reading Time: 3 minutes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sipping coffee and finishing breakfast I get my phone, click the button once and my taxi is ordered. In 4 minutes I am getting in my car with a driver offering me a bottle of water and asking for the music I would like to listen during the ride. This is how a morning routine looks like thanks to Uber. 5 minutes ago you were still reading Facebook news in your kitchen, and then you are already comfortably traveling to the point of your destination. Uber has become a real breakthrough. And for many people, just like me, it has changed the way we perceive taxi service.

But now, imagine for a second that while sipping your morning coffee you could just take your phone and in one click order your private jet. 50€ automatically taken from your card and you are already on your way to Berlin, chatting with a joyful pilot and overlooking your city from an angle you have never seen it before. Sounds crazy, doesn’t it?

But it is absolutely not a dream anymore. A flying service has already been created. It is just not popularised yet. Flying on a private jet for 50€ is a reality anybody has the opportunity to experience.
The new service is called Skyuber and it is focused on an idea of sharing cost of the flight between pilots and passengers. Although the name sounds similar, Skyuber has no connection with Uber and has different owners.

The process of ‘skyubering’ is quite easy. Pilots register in the application and share the flights they are planning to have. Then anybody willing to join the pilot is able to book his seat in the plane.
The aircrafts are usually GA or LSA aeroplanes and can fit two to four people inside. Once the booking is made the passenger is able to contact the pilot and arrange the meeting.
A BBC journalist has tried a flight with Skyuber himself and not all of his impressions were positive. As price for the flight is very low, the aircraft is really small and it has neither toilets nor air conditioning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

However, there is a contradictive point highlighted by various online articles. It is claimed that Skyuber is not completely legal. After checking on the issue by myself I was surprised to find the following information on the UK Civil Aviation Authority’s page: “This aims to allow cost sharing between friends and colleagues and not to provide an air taxi service to members of the public.” Therefore, the way Skyuber is operating in the UK remains a mystery for me. But it does operate there. I easily check this by downloading the app to my phone and seeing a flight to Glasgow.

Nevertheless, the main question is not about legality. It is obviously about safety. And what Skyuber states regarding safety regulations knocks me out. Skyuber claims to be just a booking medium and individual pilots are the ones responsible for safety. Skyuber just checks the license, medical certificates and documents for the aircraft. Then, the pilot decides if the aircraft is not broken and if the flight can be safe. Does not sound reassuring, does it? Last year’s incident with a Lufthansa’s plane crash comes to mind. A suicidal pilot just decided to make everybody join him on his plans. And it was a huge airline company. Who knows which kind of pilot you will be lucky enough to have with Skyuber.

Still and all, there are currently around 1,400 pilots operating, and around 7,000 would-be passengers. So not everybody is scared of taking risks. Would you?

 

Bibliography:

Ben (2015), Skyuber, Love Air Aviation & Aerospace, Available at: http://www.loveair.co.uk/blog/skyuber/.

Civil Aviation Authority, Guidance on cost sharing and introductory flights, Available at: https://www.caa.co.uk/default.aspx?catid=224&pagetype=90&pageid=16888.

Pereira J.P. (2015), Catching a lift on a private plane, BBC, Available at: http://www.bbc.com/news/business-34544208.

 

Lorries with screens will change the face of our roads.

Reading Time: < 1 minute

imagesamsusafetyroadargen525-589cx205

 

Lorries with  screens will change the face of our roads

More often and farther we travel  in Poland we can recognize  better roads, but the level of security on them still leaves much to be desired, due to a dominant yet, “one line roads”.

Although for many years there are revolutionary ideas that will change this status .We are so far not implemented solutions, the most banal to make, and yet so useful, such as the concept of “SafetyTruck” proposed by engineers from Samsung.

This is about to show on the back of lorries, four screens that constantly display picture of the front of the Car.

In this way, the drivery would have a much wider field of view, which is extremely important, for example. During commencement safe overtaking.

The idea is not new, but today’s  technology, is a lot cheaper and more accessible , should positively affect its rapid implementation. Fingers crossed.

 

 

STARTED FROM THE BOTTOM

Reading Time: < 1 minute

Just a short note about user interface and user experience of KOZMINSKI TECHBLOG.

Initially I wanted to continue my posts about major KPIs in e-commerce business. When I came to KOZMINSKI TECHBLOG where I had to place the article, I started to search for “login” page. However there is nothing in the header of the blog (I expected it to be on the top right corner). I started to scroll down, but there were only posts… posts… posts… So I decided to go through my email inbox to find the email of our lecturer with the link to login page. Could not find it. But later I have still managed to find it (see below).

So, I took a look at 15 most famous techblogs (Huffington PostTMZMashableGizmodo etc) . All of them had login page link on the top right corner.

BACK TO MY STORY

A bit later I found an article on KOZMINSKI TECHBLOG named OCULUS. Since it was short and I did not have to scroll down a lot I was able to find a “login” link ON THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE. Oh miracle! What a wonderful user interface! That’s right what people are expecting when they come to any website – a small login button on the bottom. I would suggest to make it even more invisible – make it white on white.

Now the question: what was the reason to place “login” on the bottom of the page?

While you thinking about it, listen to the song that I like.

 

Tagged

This day is coming (or Warcraft on TV screens)

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Hello, guys. Hopefully You are already aware that Warcraft movie is about to be released in June 2016. For gamers of my generation (uh, sounds bad though) this announcement of a huge meaning. I have been waiting for a movie about Warcraft Universe since the original first game got released. Given this huge event for gamers, I want to remind you other PC games (Games that made impact on MY childish years) , which became a basis for successful (and not so much) movies.

  1.         Mortal Combat: Annihilation – 1997, box office: $51 m. Every kid in late 90th – early 2000th dreamed about being Scorpion, Sub-Zero and Jonny Cage. One of most successful dynasties in PC gaming ever.1
  2. Max Payne – 2008, box office $85 m. Famous story of FBI agent, whose family was killed. And he decides to deliver justice by his own. Incredibly popular game in the early 2000th.
  3. Silent Hill – 2006, box office $97m. Frightening story that makes a blood in your veins to cold stone. Mysterious derelict city Silent Hill is looks abandoned in daytime, but only until the bell rings….3
  4. Street Fighter – 1994, box office $99m. Along with Mortal Combat the most popular fighting of 904
  5. Hitman – 2007, box office $99m. Legendary agent 47, highly qualified assassin, which used to engage gamers all over the world (and keeps doing that).5
  6. Resident Evil – 2002, box office $102m. Zombie apocalypses in its pure form. Super popular shooter that puts a start to several episodes of successful film. But the first movie is the best though..6
  7. Mortal Combat – 1995, box office $122m The first movie about Mortal Combat and the best one.7
  8. Lara Croft: Tomb Rider – 2001, box office $275m. Lara…She transformed lots of boys into men! Just look at how she crawls inside a narrow passageway8
  9. Prince of Persia: Sand of Time – 2010, box office $335m. Legendary Prince deals with his devilish uncle and tries to curb the Sands of Time9

 

 

I believe that Warcraft movie will manage to become one of the best. If not, then who cares – for players it’s still a global event!

 

What is Your favourite here? Are You waiting for Warcraft? Tell me 🙂

Tagged ,

Why is it so hard to find a husband?!

Reading Time: 2 minutes

In 2011 Phillip Zimbardo, famous physiologist, gave a TEDTalk called The demise of guys?. He wanted to warm whole society that girls not only outperform boys significantly on every level of school, but also boys are failing in business, they are falling socially and even sexually.

He gave a few reasons why boys are worst and worst, but the most controversial one blamed porn and games!

m

In his opinion, games give a sense of achievement and appreciation but at the same time isolate from the world outside and do not develop social skills. Moreover, it turns out that reality is less attractive than diverse and intense games. In his book Gdzie Ci mężczyźni  he informs that nowadays in the United States a young person spends 10,000 hours playing before his 21st birthday. The average student needs twice less time to defend a bachelor’s degree! And of course, boys play much more than girls: 13 hours per week compare to 5 hours. Games start to replace reality instead of inspiring the gamers and create a better reality.

Readily available porn also has a hand in it. Young boys without any sexual experiences and sex education basics base their knowledge only on pornographic movies. Their ideas about sex are distorted and cause difficulties in achieving sexual arousal during contact with another person. The problem is sufficiently large: nowadays it is impossible to find a control group which is not watching porn at all! Girls, of course, watch porno as they play games, but 75% of the access to pornographicsite is generated by man and only 2% of registered credit cards on paid services belong to women. Some companies even detect women’s names during registration as an attempted fraud. The problem is, that adults know that porn is only a fantasy while for teenagers is a role model.

 

Any idea what we can do as a mothers, fathers, future wives, teachers,  or in general, society?

 

The problem is more complex, so I really encourage you to watch excellent Phillip Zimbardo TED Talk and find the solution 🙂

 

for those more interested:

Books:

in english:

The Demise of Guys: Why Boys Are Struggling and What We Can Do About It

Man (Dis)Connected: How Technology Has Sabotaged What it Means to be Male

Man, Interrupted: Why Young Men are Struggling & What We Can Do About It

in polish:

Gdzie ci mężczyźni

Tagged , , ,

Apple acquired motion capture technology used in Star Wars

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Apple acquired a startup Faceshift, who developed a widely used motion capture technology. Rumors about buying the company from Cupertino Faceshift were before, but now Apple has officially confirmed the purchase, according to TechCrunch.

The publication writes that Apple has not confirmed the deal direct text, but the company voiced its standard response to the case of the purchase: “From time to time Apple buys smaller technology companies. And we generally do not discuss our goals and plans”.

Company Faceshift, founded in 2012, is located in Zurich. It motion capture technology is actively used in scientific research, computer games and film industry in particular, for the filming of the latest Star Wars.

motion-capture

Faceshift is the author of the method of animation characters and objects without the use of markers. This technology requires no special costume or sensors, that is the actor was for the camera in any clothes. Markerless motion capture is especially convenient when shooting the fights, falls, jumps and other complex movements, during which markers may be damaged.

Faceshift has consumer software solutions, including Faceshift Freelance and Faceshift Studio. Sales last stop after the company was bought by Apple. With this program you can create characters and export them to the software for 3D-animation.

It is unknown what the purpose of the acquisition of Apple. In addition, company from Cupertino have patents on the technology of motion capture, face recognition and augmented reality, which Apple acquired earlier along with three other European companies working in this field – PrimeSense, Polar Rose and Metaio. The media speculated that the company uses the acquired technologies in the new generation Apple TV.

More info on a company : Here

Tagged , , , , , ,