Wednesday is upon us again. It seems like life is running quicker than I can keep up. I was minding my own business last Wednesday, enjoying a peaceful New Year’s day and I began to ruminate. (my wife says I do that a lot and no it’s not chewing grass) I was thinking on how life seems to change quickly and some of these changes go unnoticed until they smack you in the face. It’s sort of like going up to the McDonald’s counter expecting to order a quarter pounder with cheese only to see a full half pounder on the menu board instead. I’m not saying MacDonald’s has done this, but as you can imagine it would be a surprise. I guess I am trying to explain the surprises of life that catch you with your feet flat. Let me go to some real examples. Here are some of the break through items for 2014. These are taken from MIT Technology Review publication. You can go there for a lot more detail, but let me summarize:
- Giant touch screens made possible by new films that will allow large size and flexibility of the screen. This will allow touch screens to be built with lighter more flexible plastic instead of glass
- A deep learning chip which will help computers understand images. This could lead to cell phones being able to be able to interpret what is on the screen
- Google Glass will expand apps to make the head mounted camera more functional. (This one will leave me in the dust. Don’t need to be accused of being more ugly)
- Solar powered cars. Okay I can see the advantage, but even if the techies work out a way to have the car in the sun enough to charge, what happens at night on a lonely road?
- Nanosponges that act like red blood cells to fight infections. The sponge carries the medicine to the site. This could allow concentrated therapy for infections
- 3D camera which brings 3D to the laptop and iPad with a built-in camera from Intel. This was introduced at the CES show this past week
So if you are like me, as of ten o’clock last night I had never heard of this stuff and now it is upon us. If you want more information go HERE.
Fiction Favorites 
What incredible innovations, technology moves so quickly. A nanosponge would come in useful at this time of year – half of Britain seems to be fighting flus and colds at the moment.
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I was totally surprised by the sponge idea. Thanks for the comment.
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Nanosponge sounds really great. The deep learning chip for cellphones made me laugh. Just imagining the phone of someone that takes nude shots all the time. Ends up posting messages ‘My eyes!’, ‘Here are some doctors that you should see’, ‘I was not designed to suffer this way’.
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LOL. Thanks for the laugh this morning
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You’re welcome. Feeling like it’s a ‘necessary comedy’ day.
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I wish more of our technological “advances” did more than just make our navel-gazing a 3-D experience. Things like the nanosponge seem to have some real value (if it really works), but too often our advances are used to sell more expensive games. I’m not a Luddite; just a skeptic 🙂
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I think I’m going to stay where I am on the 3D thing. Thanks
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🙂
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I’m with you on giving Google glass a pass. Who wants to have the internet constantly before your eyes? And if it ever goes mainstream, can you imagine the chaos with pedestrians surfing the net while walking (not to mention the many idiots who’ll probably insist on wearing them while driving).
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Good points. I was thinking of how stupid I would look, but the walking and driving scenarios are much more practical reasons not to. Thanks
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Some of these just boggle my mind. Seriously. Boggle.
I’m a simple person, I guess 😉
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I don’t even have a cell phone. What am I sposed to do with 3D camera gizmos, dag nabbit?! 😖
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You are a strange one Mr. Brennan
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I read somewhere that Google is working to develop a technology that can aggregate everything you ever put on the web and emulate us after we die. People can have conversations with these ‘people’ and so forth.
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I’m pretty sure that was a storyline on Friends once – and that’s not the first time I’ve seen a comedy concept become reality within a couple of years. Maybe time to find out just what else comedy writers know that they’re not telling us yet 😉
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Whoa. Wouldn’t hat be a trip. ‘Dad can I borrow the car?” ‘Like I said when I was alive son, No.”
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I am expecting to get chipped before my Alzheimer’s worsens.
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Great idea.
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Hi John,
You say, ” It seems like life is running quicker than I can keep up.” When you see your life thus, what do you see at the core of your living in the moment?
Cheers
Shakti
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A full 24 hours by living in the moment. I like the idea of living each second as if it were your last. Thank you for the observation. Good thinking material.
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