This page includes some fun things that are either related to technology, games or to geospatial.
Most of it is links to videos and articles that I find important or interesting, but that are not necessarily of interest to me professionally (in a geo-spatial way). Some of these links are just fun stuff, showing the funnier side of some of the IT vendors and where they see the future going. Some are about interesting things I've found that at the time did not seem to be important (did not "click" with me), but stayed nagging in my mind as potentially relevant (for me) in the future. Some are just really fun to view, or just caught my fascination so I had to include them here. |
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Micro Battery:Instant Recharge,Lot Smaller,Lasts Longer (20th April 2013)
How does this sound: a mobile battery that you could recharge 1,000 times faster and that can last as much as 30 times longer (the secret sauce is miniaturization). Another side effect is that these batteries can output much more power and much more quickly - apparently enough to be able to jump start a car!
The larger power output capability opens up new potential ways for a variety of all sorts of never thought of devices. Also I wonder if the recharging speed could also make solar charging a possibility as the device is not fundamentally different, but just optimised cathode and anode methods.
No idea about the cost yet, the original article can be found here.
The larger power output capability opens up new potential ways for a variety of all sorts of never thought of devices. Also I wonder if the recharging speed could also make solar charging a possibility as the device is not fundamentally different, but just optimised cathode and anode methods.
No idea about the cost yet, the original article can be found here.
The future of Glass Technologies (3rd April 2013)Another one of those great little videos on one possible future technology trend - this time using glass-based technologies.
Currently quite not viable yet as copper wiring is required for the technology solutions (CPUs etc) defined here and it would be visible through an interface that is pure glass. However it is easy to note that the latest Smart Phones like Samsung 4 are not that far away from this any more - and once a little bit more miniaturization happens, just a slight band on device might be required to cater for all CPU/memory tech. What do you think - is this the future we are going to? |
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10 Future Technologies Here today (22nd February 2013)
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Future Technology prediction at 1967 (2nd February 2013)A brilliant video on technology predictions 35 years onward done in 1967, amazing thing is they get quite many things right:
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Cisco Videoscape Unity - like in movie "Minority Report" (9th January 2013)
Cisco showcased some aspiring technology (still 3 years away) on the latest CES event called Videoscape Unity; this technology works as a full wall size touchscreen - multiple screens are projected on the wall with glorious HD and user can move things around from screen to screen similarly as shown in movies Minority Report and Total Recall.
The technology is already available to do this, but not quite cost-effective yet. Within a couple of years this is expected to change. Expect Cisco to produce a wireless home appliance that can link together all home smart devices on one seamless interface.
The original article can be found here.
The technology is already available to do this, but not quite cost-effective yet. Within a couple of years this is expected to change. Expect Cisco to produce a wireless home appliance that can link together all home smart devices on one seamless interface.
The original article can be found here.
Web Browser Trends in the end of 2012 (2nd January 2013)
The charts below show current market share of the IE, Firefox and Chrome browsers. This article explains the details - but the short synopsis is:
Note that these statistics are for desktop/laptop clients only. Add mobility (tablets and smart phones/devices) to the mix and the numbers are quite different with Chrome taking easily the leading position.
- IE is still leading, but 10 is not gaining momentum, instead IE is declining (very) slowly. Worrying trend: IE6 is gaining some more momentum
- Firefox is staying the same, users picking up the latest Firefox are usually just upgrading their old version. There are no new users emerging.
- Chrome is gaining ground, the latest increase (for 2 months of November-December) was around 1%
Note that these statistics are for desktop/laptop clients only. Add mobility (tablets and smart phones/devices) to the mix and the numbers are quite different with Chrome taking easily the leading position.
5 Trends to Ignore in 2013 (27th December 2012)
See the original article here; and here is my 5 cents worth:
- QR codes – absolutely agree, biggest waste of space ever invented
- Big Data – absolutely agree, and even more true in small country like NZ, do we have ANY data that could be considered BIG DATA – LIDAR maybe? Mobile device location information (if Telco’s decided to start recording it all) might still not be enough? TradeMe sales – don’t make me laugh ...
- BYOD - I am neutral/negative about this as I think there is a bit of a mis-understanding here (in the article); I believe BYOD is not because organisations want their people to bring their own devices in, it is because they have to. So what is required is to make this negative somehow positive (as there is nothing positive about BYOD for an organisation).
- Gamification – agree (even though I am a gamer myself); rewarding customers with achievement badges etc. is ridiculous to the extreme. However looking into the future I can see this is going to happen anyways as younger generations are brought up with instant gratification, and gamification fits that scheme nicely.
- Consumer Internet Companies – agree as the percentage of successful internet consumer companies is extremely low. However this is going to be where the markets are moving to, so more and more companies of this type will succeed (against higher and higher numbers of try-outs as well though); the ratio will probably stay around the same, but the revenue from other markets will decrease.
State of the Internet by Mary Meeker (4th December 2012)
Mary Meeker has released 87 fascinating slides on the state of the internet; several charts to show what is happening to the IT world we live in as well as several pages of then - now pictures.
Even though there are a lot of slides to go through, it is most definitively worth it as this is all pretty thought-provoking stuff. And it affects all of us - when Internet of Everything (IoE) comes, IT will be pervasive on absolutely everything; what we use, wear and even eat and what we are.
The picture on left is a chart showing how tablets are eating into Windows OS space.
Go and view these 87 terrific slides in SlideShare.
Even though there are a lot of slides to go through, it is most definitively worth it as this is all pretty thought-provoking stuff. And it affects all of us - when Internet of Everything (IoE) comes, IT will be pervasive on absolutely everything; what we use, wear and even eat and what we are.
The picture on left is a chart showing how tablets are eating into Windows OS space.
Go and view these 87 terrific slides in SlideShare.
Samsung Galaxy S3 anti-iPhone5
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Nokia Maps is here (2nd September 2012)
Nokia Maps is here and it is pretty good. You have the traditional views like satellite, standard and terrain, but also a 3D view via a plug-in. You have a Map Creator feature, routing and searching.
There are 4 APIs available; Mobile HTML 5, Web, REST and Native, link to the API page is here.
You can view public transport layers and in most countries (not in New Zealand) traffic congestion.
Interface is fast and reliable, satellite imagery is a bit too light to my liking. 3D is a bit of a letdown - for two reasons; it is pretty slow to download data - for some reason imagery within it takes a lot longer to download. Second reason is that originally they talked about using WebGL, and no plugin
The APIs are great, very informative and include a lot of examples and demo code. Here is also a link to the WebGL demo app.
There are 4 APIs available; Mobile HTML 5, Web, REST and Native, link to the API page is here.
You can view public transport layers and in most countries (not in New Zealand) traffic congestion.
Interface is fast and reliable, satellite imagery is a bit too light to my liking. 3D is a bit of a letdown - for two reasons; it is pretty slow to download data - for some reason imagery within it takes a lot longer to download. Second reason is that originally they talked about using WebGL, and no plugin
The APIs are great, very informative and include a lot of examples and demo code. Here is also a link to the WebGL demo app.
User statistics on mapping interface for non-GIS users (7th August 2012)
This article shows some usage trends and statistics on web mapping systems. It points out clearly some major differences between traditional GIS users and the new generation.
So here are some reasons for your web app to use:
1) user story driven map interface over portal
- users are 3 times more likely to use your site
- over 60% of users find your site via search engine, specific SEO works a lot better than generic SEO
- scaling the spiky map usage (especially when info needed quickly)
2) keystroke minimising techniques
- predictive-typing navigation as users LOVE not having to type whole address, place name or locality
- clickable informative markers and balloons - 15% of map viewers click on a URL within balloon!
You should also use simple views (also applies with user story driven maps) as only 2% users actually change between map views, practically nobody wants to toggle on/off layers/labels nor use "full-screen" button.
See also this article that shows those "critical" Google modules (Earth, StreetView, Traffic and Weather) might not be that critical after all.
So here are some reasons for your web app to use:
1) user story driven map interface over portal
- users are 3 times more likely to use your site
- over 60% of users find your site via search engine, specific SEO works a lot better than generic SEO
- scaling the spiky map usage (especially when info needed quickly)
2) keystroke minimising techniques
- predictive-typing navigation as users LOVE not having to type whole address, place name or locality
- clickable informative markers and balloons - 15% of map viewers click on a URL within balloon!
You should also use simple views (also applies with user story driven maps) as only 2% users actually change between map views, practically nobody wants to toggle on/off layers/labels nor use "full-screen" button.
See also this article that shows those "critical" Google modules (Earth, StreetView, Traffic and Weather) might not be that critical after all.
Google Glasses for $1,500 (28th June 2012)Google I/O Developers conference has now stated that Google Glasses are available from beginning of next year. They will be size of sun glasses and actually weigh less than many of the current sun glasses out there.
The glasses allow users to record video, use browser, launch apps and more, basically they are a monitor for your eyes only. See these 2 articles; I/O article and another one on how Google became revolutionary. |
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Martin Fowler - Multiple Mobiles (21st June 2012)
A colleague of mine forwarded me this mobile development decision summary from one of the great thought leaders Martin Fowler. In his summary Martin gives some thoughts around problems developing on mobile environment and what he thinks systems integrator should concentrate on.
I think Martin is spot on, and gives some great advise. His thought process is very well organised and everybody (not just developers) can learn from him.
Especially interesting are his thoughts on hybrid solutions; I for one had not thought much on creating hybrid solutions, device specific solution combined with HTML 5, but it makes a lot of sense. Well worth going through this summary!
I think Martin is spot on, and gives some great advise. His thought process is very well organised and everybody (not just developers) can learn from him.
Especially interesting are his thoughts on hybrid solutions; I for one had not thought much on creating hybrid solutions, device specific solution combined with HTML 5, but it makes a lot of sense. Well worth going through this summary!
SAP HANA Essentials eBook (22nd May 2012)SAP has published an eBook to cover all essential features of their new in-memory database HANA. This book is work in progress, new chapters will be added alongside new features. You will also need to watch the video - half-way through it there is a voucher code needed for the free download.
Usually it is worth 60EUR, a great read, and not too technical. Useful to IT managers, IT execs and IT savvy business people. I believe in-memory dbs are the future, HANA being first off the ranks. Furthermore SAP is currently considering enabling geospatial in HANA; some simple mapping demos are already available, see this Google Maps/HANA demo. |
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Smartphones for 2012
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Scale of the Universe (28th April 2012)
This ShowckWave Flash file is one of the coolest things I have ever seen - it explains the scale of the universe from super large to super small. We start from 1 meter and can start zooming in/out from there. Essential viewing for all kids and adults with young minds - I bet there is a lot that you did not know. Note that this is an enhanced version - you can click on any entities and get a lot more info.
I suggest zooming out first - universe is huge. On the other thand would be interesting to know what people decide to do first - my theory is that "detail" people will zoom in first, whereas "overview" people (like myself) zoom out first. Or maybe there is no science to it.
I suggest zooming out first - universe is huge. On the other thand would be interesting to know what people decide to do first - my theory is that "detail" people will zoom in first, whereas "overview" people (like myself) zoom out first. Or maybe there is no science to it.
Microsoft Future Visions (27th April 2012)
Microsoft has produced a couple of videos on what they see future to hold for us technology-wise. Some sci-fi here, but lot of it could be viable within the coming decade. We do live some exciting times.
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iPads Sleight of Hand
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Google Spectacles
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