Author Archives: nataliafigas

19 December 2015
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Five christmas gifts to please every geek

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Christmas is coming, it is less and less time to buy gifts for our loved ones. On the Internet you can find lots of ideas but I chose my favorite five linked to the technological novelties. I hope you find something interesting witch please not only geeks.

 

Lockitron Bolt

Did I locked the door?! How often do you ask yourself this question? Lockitron gives you peace of mind and allows to check the door wherever you are. It is connected to your phone by the app and share  access with family members. Unfortunately, Lockitron isn’t fit every door and is available only in a preorder for $99.

 

Vapio (former Smokio)

Do you know someone who wants to quit smoking? Maybe technological support makes it easier. Vapio is a vaporizer (something like e-cigarette) connected with the app. It monitors smoking activity, send the notifications about the level of nicotine based on the numbers of puffs and savings from no smoked cigarettes. The cost is $59.99.

smokio

 

Find’em Tracking

Where is my wallet?! Find’em Tracking is a card-size device you just put in your wallet. It is connected via Bluetooth to your mobile phone and alert you every time when your wallet is more than 150 feet away. Great gift for the scatterbrained. The battery last up to 18 months and the cost is $29.99

https://youtu.be/dIYFAQ_6z9U

 

Q Bracelet

It is very stylish power bank placed into the bracelet. The plug is hidden inside and it allows to up charge your IPhone up to 50%. It is available in two sizes (for men and women) and three colors. The cost is $125.

q bracelet mqbracelet

 

Minipresso

Ideal gift for coffee lovers and my favorite one! To make the delicious infusion, you need hot water and grounded beans. You put it in the stylish and hand-operated devices, put pressure by button and after few seconds you enjoy the taste. No more instant coffee! It costs $99.

 

Happy Christmas!

 

 

26 November 2015
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Why is it so hard to find a husband?!

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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

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14 November 2015
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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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30 October 2015
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E-sport means gaming?

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When we talk about e-sport we imagine immediately guys in front of the computers who are playing CS Go, LOL or StarCraft. What about traditional meaning of ‘sport’? Is it possible to organize online sport competition and attract people to take part in it?

Various sports disciplines are used technical facilities such as measuring devices, additional referee who are only tracking recordings instead of the real game and have possibilities to replay it again. On the Internet, there are possibilities for consultation, purchase training plans, hiring an online coach.

DigitalCup is a great example of this trend: very innovative, uses modern technology and devoted to the reality. In 2012 the website was established. It offers online competition in four different equestrian disciplines: jumping, dressage, eventing (horse trials) and reining. On its website, it is posted a competition proposal with a required program. After paying the entry fee, the riders record the videos with their trials. Then they send it back and the video is assessed by the experts. After one or two weeks the results are announced, the awards handed out and every rider gets feedback about his trial.

horse-computer

https://evrythng.com/?attachment_id=960

Why is it working?

Horse riding is very expensive. It requires costly equipment, special infrastructure, an appropriate horse which can be rented or bought. If the rider wants to participate in a competition he needs to incur additional costs: entry fee, transportation costs, medical examination, registration in the association. Besides, participate in a competition involves a lot of stress for both rider and horse. Horses taking part in the competition must undergo a long and arduous training before they leave home stables. The horses act differently in a new place, can be disobedient and cause problems.

What is the future of sport?

In the digital age we are forced to redefine certain aspects of our lives. This also applies to sport. Is it means that Olympic Games 2040 we will watch only on YouTube and sportsman will not even leave their hometowns?  Or rivalry and emotion will turn out more important than money and convenience?

 

www.digitalcup.pl

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15 October 2015
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One more use of Virtual Reality

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Video games fans cannot wait until virtual reality becomes widely available and the tech companies have made a point of honor of making their dreams come true. What seemed, until recently, to be possible only in science fiction stories is expected to become a reality by the end of the year. Oculus Rift, vrAse, PlayStation VR, VR Samsung or HTC Vive are already present on market or will enter it any moment to make playing even more attractive.

One more use of HTC Vive was discovered by one of the Valve Corporation employees, who is working with HTC on a virtual reality headset. This time he decided to play a game called LIFE and using goggles to proposed to his girlfriend in a test room in the Valve headquarters. Kelly Tortoorice, the future bride, posted on her Facebook:

So there I was, typical day… on a sunken ship deck; fixing robots; painting three-dimensional fire; walking through the Alps; and then suddenly, a virtual engagement ring started floating my way.

 

vr marriage

Then she took headset off and saw her boyfriend on the knees with a real ring. The fiancée seemed to be positively surprised. Apparently she did not consider the idea of her boyfriend insufficiently romantic, because she said YES.

What will come next? A pair of VR goggles for everyone instead of wedding invitations? The honeymoon without leaving home? What about the wedding night…?

It would be much easier to create your dream wedding in a virtual reality, but still I’m for the traditional one. On the other hand every girl wants to hear: ‘You are so special that I decided to be the first man on Earth to propose a marriage in the Virtual Reality.’

But unfortunately guys, this pick-up line is already taken.

 

Sources: http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/10/valve-employee-uses-virtual-reality-to-propose-real-life-marriage/

ww.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153670151235561&set=a.452950420560.229937.636360560&type=3

 

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