Author Archives: Moskalenko Kristina

Ethiopia introduces nationwide blockchain into their education system

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Cardano uruchamia krajowy system identyfikacji oparty na Blockchain w  Etiopii |

The Ethiopian government has decided to collaborate with the cryptocurrency and blockchain development company, IOHK. The founder of the company, Charles Hoskinson, is the creator of one of the top cryptocurrencies in the world – Cardano, and the co-creator of Ethereum which is another such cryptocurrency. The partnership involves IOHK developing a new identification system for 5 million students and over 700,000 teachers with the use of blockchain.

Blockchain being a decentralized system where the users are anonymous is the main feature used for the digital verification. It will be used for storing student’s information like their personal data, score card, educational performance, behavior, etc. It will be tamper-proof, so students can’t falsify their data, and employers will be able to with confidence check a person’s educational records. Additionally, this being a decentralized system, the employer has no need for a middle-man to check for the records and instead access them right away.

Having stored all student’s data, it will then be used by the government to analyse the location and the cause of educational under-achievement. Using AI the records would also be used for analytics in order to provide the students with a personalized learning experience where the curriculum is flexible and adjusts based on a student’s needs.

This technology has much more potential and future plans. In the capital city of Ethiopia, there have already been tests of utilizing a blockchain approach to public transportation ticketing system. Additionally, it can be used in healthcare and public services. The people developing this say that the way blockchain is used will be revolutionized, thus digitizing the world further. The Minister of Education in Ethiopia says it will “make the nation’s education provision more dynamic.” The government has plans to modernize the country and make sure the people living in rural areas aren’t excluded. The transformation is meant to be implemented by 2025.

Sources:

https://news.bitcoin.com/ethiopia-links-up-with-cardano-creator-to-launch-the-countrys-biggest-blockchain-deployment-yet/

Laptops are becoming obsolete

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Apple has announced their newest iPad Pro. It comes with amazing specs including their M1 chip that is featured in their iMacs and MacBooks too. The M1 is the most advanced CPU Apple has built. It is an 8 core processor that increases functioning speed, copes with more advanced graphics, and makes storage faster. All the current features will be improved like the camera which is comparable to the new iPhone’s, faster Wifi, and 5G. The iPad comes with ranging specs from 8 to 16 GB RAM and storage going up to 2 TB. These are the kinds of things seen in the average laptop these days if not more. Additionally, the iPad comes equipped with a USB-C Thunderbolt with which it can connect to a monitor. At this point, the iPad has overcome the MacBook Air. The point of the laptop is its multiple functionalities, but also its portability. The iPad pro is much thinner and lighter, but also has all functionalities and more of a laptop. It even supports a keyboard, touch-pad, mouse, stylus, and touchscreen.

With a Magic Keyboard attached, the iPad Pro is just as much as a laptop as it is a tablet. (Image: Apple)

It will be interesting to see how this new iPad revolutionized the tech industry and more importantly, how it affects laptops. This is actually an interesting topic considering that Apple is making their own MacBooks obsolete too, which seems like a double edged move. Soon enough phones might even catch up with the processing and capabilities of laptops. At that point all we would need is just one gadget.

Sources:

https://www.whathifi.com/advice/apple-ipad-pro-2021-release-date-price-specs-and-all-the-news

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/apples-ipad-pro-making-own-laptops-obsolete-195547511.html

The Dangers of AI to Online Privacy

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AI is becoming used increasing more in different areas of people’s lives. Moreover, the threat of AI has been a prominent topic for years now. But how does it affect people’s privacy online?

A recent scandal arose regarding the Lee Luda AI chatbot made by the South Korean company Scatter Lab. Its parent company Kakao owns KakaoTalk which is the most popular messaging app in South Korea. It began in 2016 when Scatter Lab launched the app Science of Love. Users submit their conversations to the app from KakaoTalk and receive advice from AI about whether the other person likes you based on how quickly they respond, the language and emojis used etc. Returning back to the AI chatbot, supposedly 10 billion conversation logs were used to train it. These were acquired from people’s conversations which were submitted to the app Science of Love. However, the users were not aware that their conversations would be used for the chatbot.

The chatbot was launched on Facebook too and received 750,000 users within a few days. However, the scandal began when users were receiving inappropriate messages from the bot which were on the topics of LGBTQ+, racism, sexism, use of abusive language, sexually explicit content, etc. The bot was also revealing private information about other people such as their name, nickname, home address, and back account number. Scatter Lab got a lot of backlash and Lee Luda was removed from Facebook.

In the end, the scandal was resolved with an apology from Scatter Lab saying that the AI chatbot was not complete and they “failed to remove some personal information depending on the context.” There was an investigation done into the company’s usage of private data. However, the laws and regulations on AI seemed to have been lacking which resulted in little to no consequences. There is a lot which can be taken from this incident. First is that users should be more careful about their own private data. Second is that AI is evolving rapidly nowadays to the point that law enforcement isn’t adapting quickly enough to keep up with the advancement.

Sources:

https://slate.com/technology/2021/04/scatterlab-lee-luda-chatbot-kakaotalk-ai-privacy.html

https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/tech/2021/02/133_302715.html

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/14/time-to-properly-socialise-hate-speech-ai-chatbot-pulled-from-facebook

Air conditioner in a fabric?

Reading Time: 2 minutesIt is difficult to feel perfectly comfortable in terms of body temperature. We are either too cold or too hot, and constantly tinkering with the air conditioner is not the way to go. How about an AC embedded into our clothing? This seems absurd and impossible, but believe it or not, something of this sort has been made possible.

In the University of Maryland, a new fabric has been invented that cools down a person when they’re hot and warms them up when they’re cold. The strands of the fabric are coated with carbon nanotubes that are efficient at emitting heat, and the other coating is copper that is good at trapping heat. This fabric also feels exactly like regular clothing. When a person is sweating, the fabric reacts to the increased temperature and moisture levels, so the strands twist becoming thinner which activates the nanotube coating. This results in the fabric to have gaps, allowing infrared radiation to pass through, almost like pores in a body, causing a person to cool down. The opposite process is that when a person is cold the fabric is cool and dry, so the strands expand blocking and trapping the heat in order to warm someone up.

I think that this is a great innovation of clothing, and something that I would love to acquire. I myself am either always too cold or too hot, so finding an equilibrium is extremely rare. On the other hand, the uses and advantages of this for different people is uncountable. This fabric is not only comfortable on daily basis, but it would be most beneficial for athletes, but also babies, elderly or disabled people. This is because they require the “most attention and constant comfort”. However, imagine men that wear suits at 30 degrees Celsius during the summer, or women that live in countries that require them to cover up their skin at all times. This fabric would be beneficial not just for specific people, but for all people on regular basis. After all we all sweat.

Sources:

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/612909/this-new-fabric-will-automatically-cool-you-down-when-you-get-hot-and-sweaty/

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2193057-heat-sensitive-fabric-cools-you-on-hot-days-and-warms-you-in-the-cold/

New Fabric Warms or Cools Depending How You Wear It

 

Is telepathy becoming a reality?

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MIT’s (Massachusett’s Institute of Technology) Lincoln Laboratory has developed a technology that uses lasers to vibrate moisture in someone’s ear, resulting in a whispered message. This works based on a “photo-acoustic effect in which water vapour in the air absorbs the laser’s emission causing it to vibrate at an audible frequency”. This has been tested to be the first laser that is harmless for both the skin and eyes. It has so far proven to work from several meters in distance, and directs the information directly into someone’s ear. There has already existed technology that sends sounds in a narrow field with the use of speakers or ultrasound, but this method requires the listener to be a short distance from the source. On the other hand, technology based on a laser provides an advantage that it can be utilised at a much longer distance.

The possibilities of this technology are boundless. This includes private uses like being able to communicate with someone privately and efficiently, but also for government and army uses which require very secure channels for transmitting confidential information. In the future in may provide opportunities for disabled people who are blind, mute, deaf or suffer from other diseases that may be restricting. However, this laser also has both drawbacks for all people, and advantages for companies. It is said that this will be utilised for sending advertisements directly into people’s ears. It may seem like a very effective method to be used commercially, but for the receiver, that would be annoying and something unavoidable. Nowadays ads are everywhere: YouTube, Spotify, games, newspapers, TV, social media, etc. and now it might be taking a step directly into our brains. How will this be regulated, controlled, or avoided? Me personally, I detest ads and I always skip them when I have a possibility or I simply find ways to avoid them. These days they have become extremely persistent with them turning on during every video that I play on YouTube, when I watch TV, go to the cinema, read news online, or play a game on my phone. Companies always find newer and more effective way to advertise, but for something like this to enter into a person’s ear unannounced would be completely out of hand.

The idea of talking to someone using telepathy sounds cool, but I don’t think that it’s worth it if it’s commercial use is the consequence for this. Although this is not exactly telepathy, but it is the closest that humanity has gotten to that, and one day in the near future, it may become a reality.

Sources:

https://www.sciencealert.com/new-tech-from-mit-uses-lasers-to-beam-whispers-only-you-can-hear

MIT Has Created Special Lasers That Are Able To Broadcast Secret Whispers For Your Ears Only

Are 3D printers becoming the future of manufacturing?

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3D printing may be becoming the future of manufacturing. This was proven with the Nera e-bike, the fully functional 3D printed electric motorcycle. The bike was produced by NOWlab which is part of BigRep, being a large 3D manufacturing company, and showcased in the Formnext exhibition. Its built from 15 3D printed parts including the airless tires, the rim, and the flexible bumper. Only the electric engine wasn’t printed. The Nero e-bike weighs about 60 kg which is much lighter than regular motorcycles, the new ariless tires, and the flexible components make the bike much more manoeuvrable and easier to handle.

 This bike has a lower carbon footprint than any other regular motorcycle. First, it is 3D printed so the waste that it leaves behind is reduced. Second, the bike is electric so it doesn’t have any emission of gases. Finally, it takes much less time to make so the costs of production are significantly lower. The lower cost will in return cause the price for the customers to be reduced as well.  This e-bike demonstrates the potential of 3D printing and how it could be utilized in the future, especially if this technology is developed further. It is according to Daniel Büning, Managing Director and a co-founder of NOWLAB, “push[es] the limits of engineering creativity and will reshape AM technology as we know it.” AM (Additive Manufacturing) is technology that builds 3D objects.

I think that 3D printing is hot on our heels and will be used by many companies in the near future. It is beneficial not only financially but also environmentally. The futuristic design is another feature that is beneficial and eye catching. Although this bike and the technology behind it is still in testing and design phase, I expect to see more of such products in the market soon enough.

 

Sources:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/electric-motorcycle-runs-15-parts-231807698.html

http://www.thedrive.com/motorcycles/25062/the-nera-e-bike-is-the-electric-3d-printed-motorcycle-of-the-future

Watch: BigRep takes NERA, a fully functional, 3D printed electric motorcycle for a ride

Digital Transformation to Society 5.0

Reading Time: 3 minutesThe world is constantly changing and the technology is evolving. Right about now we are gradually entering the society 5.0, but what is that exactly? To understand what society 5.0 is, first it is important to look back and understand the former ones starting from society 1.0.

Society 1.0 took place during the stone ages starting from the birth of humans. Next was society 2.0 that was focused around agriculture and developing irrigation techniques, beginning from 13,000 BC. Society 3.0 was centered around industrialization such as using mass production in factories and the invention of a steam locomotive. Finally, was society 4.0, which began with the introduction of phones and computers in the 20th century. The time has now come that we are entering society 5.0 which is in a nutshell, a super smart society.

This concept was develop in Japan and now with proliferation of cutting edge technology it can be related to many developed countries in the world. The digital transformation will happen everywhere. This technology provides enormous potential for both daily life use and for work use. It can make our lives “smart” in areas like delivery, transport, home appliances, medical care, management, agriculture, etc.. Imagine drones delivering goods around the world and even to small, unpopulated cities or difficult to reach areas. At home most of devices can be controlled with an AI speaker using voice command. With ingredients present inside a smart refrigerator, it can suggest various meals, monitor stocked food, and warn you when something will be expiring soon. Robots can be used in areas like cleaning, nursing, transport and agriculture. These include cleaning and nursing robots, self driving vehicles and autonomous tractors. Regarding medical care, there will be no need to go out of the house and travel long distances for a simple medical check up. Instead, a doctor can do all the examinations online. Finally, with the use of cloud management, orders, bookings and payments can be made online. With many picky shoppers nowaday, buying clothes will also be much easier when all the measurements, colour, style and design can be input online and the order will be made at a manufacturing factory.

With all of this technology also comes many trials. First of which is that they will of course have to pass various safety regulations. Furthermore, many laws will be introduced which will make such automated devices harder to implement and overcome the authority. However, I believe that with the increase of even more advanced technology all of the smart devices will in no time be utilized on daily basis. Work will be much easier and done more efficiently in both work environment and in daily life. Although many people will argue that digital technology will disrupt their industry and create many issue but I believe in the power of the degital transformation. How about you? Are you prepared for the forthcoming technological revolution?

 

Sources:

https://www.japan.go.jp/abenomics/_userdata/abenomics/pdf/society_5.0.pdf

From Industry 4.0 to Society 5.0: the big societal transformation plan of Japan

Digital transformation: online guide to digital business transformation

https://www.gov-online.go.jp/cam/s5/eng/#

The Future of Smartphones: Folding Phones

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Royole FlexPai

Right now technology is developing faster than ever and this period is considered another industrial revolution. With the introduction of foldable smartphones, they are said to be the largest development in mobile technology within the last 10 years. The company Royole was the first one to launch a folding phone- FlexPai. Although it was the first, the phone is treated as underdeveloped and buggy with a price of $1,300. Other companies like Huawei, Samsung and LG have announced that they will also be releasing their own version of folding smartphones in the year 2019.

Although Samsung and Apple are at the top of the smartphone’s market, Apple hasn’t published any news regarding their development of iPhone. It seems that every company is trying to release their products for the benefit of being first, as Samsung’s prototype model, which was showcased, looked bulky and impractical. As said by Samsung, the product is still in development and the prototype isn’t the final product. Despite the fact that the product isn’t finished, Samsung has announced that it will be launching it in March 2019 and that it will be mass produced at a price of around $1700-$1900. Furthermore, the operating system that will be implemented is the improvement of Android developed by Google, specifically for the use with folding smartphones called OneUI. It can be expected that at least the software of the phones will be top notch.

Huawei on the other hand, has already demonstrated their folding phone to Korean telecoms, and it is said that the product is in its final form. It is even more developed than expected and it will be offering the newest 5G network which Samsung is rumored to not have yet. Thus placing Huawei in the lead with the technology and the advancement of the product as Samsung still only has its prototype and not the final product. Huawei will launch their phone in June 2019, but the amount of copies made will be limited so the unknown price is expected to be much higher. Moreover, Samsung as well as Huawei will be demonstrating their final products on Mobile World Congress in February in 2019.

Samsung smartphone

LG is another company that isn’t falling behind, as certain leaks claim that it will be showcasing their folding smartphone during a presentation at CES technology show in Las Vegas in January of the year 2019. LG was rumored to release a folding device still back in 2017 and it has smartphones with flexible and curved screens like G Flex. This could’ve been for the experience of producing folding phones for the future. Microsoft is also planning to be releasing their own version of folding phones in the near future but this is still not confirmed.

Is it worth buying this folding smartphone instead of a traditional one? The producing companies claim that this new phone can replace tablets and laptops. If this is the case then it will definitely be worth having a 3 in 1 gadget which can fit in any bag or pocket. However, the phone is still a new product in the market so it’s an experimental product, thus the price is much higher ranging from $1300 to $1900, compared to regular smartphones. At the moment all of the tech companies are fighting for a competitive edge of being the first to launch a successful product, so the rush is causing a potential decrease in quality. Therefore, I think that at his stage it isn’t worth it, but in a few years when the technology will be more developed then these phones will be the best trendy product on the market. Maybe they will also be replacing the laptops, but at the moment the market isn’t ready for such a large change. It will take some time for these folding smartphones to be seen on everyday basis in someone’s palm.

ZTE Axon

Sources:

https://www.tomsguide.com/us/samsung-infinity-flex-foldable-display,news-28480.html

https://www.tomsguide.com/us/huawei-foldable-phone-rumors,news-28583.html

https://www.abacusnews.com/big-guns/can-huawei-beat-samsung-release-5g-foldable-phone/article/2174156

https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/huawei-folding-smartphone-news/