So the picture of this guy last week got me thinking:
About how the line between real life and video games is beginning to blur.
I know a lot of you are gamers. A LOT of you. Gamers have a tendency to gravitate towards me. And yall know I'm NOT a gamer. The extent of my gaming is about once a year to whip Mr. L. at Guitar Hero.
Anywho . . .
So this guy is wearing goggles that show him longitude / latitude, speed and altitude. Ya know, kinda like a video game display, only inside his glasses.
There are other things that make me think real life is becoming closer to a video games. Things like this:
that fully HALF OF YOU put on your Christmas Wish List that we did.
So not only is real life becoming more like gaming, but gaming is becoming more like real life. We don't even NEED controllers anymore!
So for this weeks blog, talk to me. Give me an example of how you see the line between real life and video gaming blurring. Tell me where you think this technology is going. What will be the end product of this technology? How do you think this will make our lives easier? Harder?
So last week was CES in Las Vegas. Never heard of it? Let me break it on down for ya.
CES stands for Consumer Electronics Show. It's HUGE!!!! GINORMOUS!!!! It's where (almost) every technology company in the world debuts their coming electronic attractions. Think of all the new technology of the last ten years . . . iPhones and other smartphones, tablet computers, wireless innovations, bluetooth gadgetry . . . ALL of that and so much more was introduced at CES.
In short, it's THE place to be if you're a nerd. (And no, before you ask, I've never gone. Maybe one day).
So here's a look at a few statistics from this year's show:
140,000 people attended
30,000 of those people came from another country
2,700 technology companies displayed their wares
158,000 tweets originated from their last week
So you should be starting to see what a BDD it is.
Here is a look at some of the new technology that previewed last week. Pick any one new gadget, tell me which website it came from, tell me how it will change our lives.
Follow my directions completely if you would like a grade.
I want to talk about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his thoughts on technology.
In 1964 Dr. King delivered a lecture the day after winning the Nobel Peace Prize in which he told his audience at the University of Oslo that "material advancement was meaningless without an accompanying moral structure." In other words, the growing abundance of technology is undermining the human spirit. My favorite quote from the article is: "The richer we have become materially, the poorer we become morally and spiritually," he said. "We have learned to fly in the air like birds and swim in the sea like fish, but we have not learned the simple art of living together as brothers."
This week I'm asking you to think, REALLY THINK about Dr. King's words. I want his words to work on you a little bit.
He is telling us that technology advancement needs to go hand in hand with spiritual advancement, or it's all for nothing. THINK. Do you agree or disagree with Dr. King? WHY? You will answer both of those questions to receive credit this week.
2. Go to the bottom of the page and click on the link after the page numbers that says "Inspire Me." Ask your neighbor to help you find it if you can't.
3. Tell me which page you landed on. You may not use the first five pages.
4. Pick a product and tell me WHY you like it or how you think it could change our lives.
Failure to follow these directions will result in a zero for this week's blog grade.
Please don't stop on the first page / website. Pick a gadget, tell me which site it came from, tell me why you like it or how you'd use it. Do all three of those things for your grade this week.
Before we get started, allow me to just say . . . COME ON CHRISTMAS BREAK!!! I know you guys are as tired as I am.
Continuing our discussion of kitchen innovation, this week I have two videos. The first one is made like the lady is from the 50's, but she's really not. It's from a company called Lutron, and everything you see in that video is in existence right now. Also? Most of it can now be done from applications for your phone, which we will talk more about in the future. The funny thing to me about this video is that even though she's showcasing all this kitchen control stuff, if you pay close attention you'll see that see's using a real retro hand mixer like your great-grandmother used to use. That cracked me up.
The second video is called Living Tomorrow and it's about data integration in our future kitchens. To my knowledge this stuff is not in production, but will be very soon. The kitchen that's showcased in this video is a smart kitchen. It know how much water we're using, how much electricity we're using, etc. The guy also talks about embedded RFID chips in our food packaging that lets the oven know how long to cook the product.
Essentially, what these videos tell us is that the kitchens of the very near future will have lots of video screens. These kitchen designers have obviously never seen me cook. I end up with stuff everywhere . . . heck this weekend I ended up with salsa verde on my toe. All I'm saying is I hope those screens clean easily.
So my questions this week are:
1) How much data integration does your kitchen have now? Does the cook in your house have their recipes stored electronically? Or are you guys still old school written stuff? 2) Does the cook in your house ever watch video of somebody cooking something and cook along with them at the same time? 3) Do you think they WOULD do that if it were easier to access the video . . . say . . . like the monitor was built into the counter?
Answer all three questions to receive credit this week.
AS ALWAYS, UNLESS WE ARE LOOKING AT YANKO YOU WILL NEED TO WAIT UNTIL THURSDAY TO BLOG!
