Tag: driverless cars.

National Safety Board Wants Cars To Talk To Each Other, 3D Printing Ready To Go Mainstream & Cool Long Exposure Photo Gallery

Linda Reimer

National Safety Board Wants Cars To Talk To Each Other: The National Safety Board has just made a recommendation that all new cars be equipped with computer technology that allows them to talk to each other and thus avoid traffic accidents. This is in response to fatal school bus crashes that occurred in Florida and New Jersey in 2012. The technology to do this is already available and it is included in the newly emerging self-driving cars – like the Google driverless, aka self-driving, cars. I think this is a cool idea because most traffic accidents occur due to human error. Drivers get distracted by their cell phones, conversations with others in the car and an endless number of other things and then those drivers don’t drive a safely as they might and accidents can occur. Imagine a car that wouldn’t allow an accident to occur – ideally there wouldn’t be any injuries of fatalities involved in driving or riding in a car at least not due to human error – and that is a cool idea!

Here’s a link to a Boston Herald article on the subject titled “Technology for cars to talk to each other urged;”

http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/national/2013/07/technology_for_cars_to_talk_to_each_other_urged
3D Printing Ready To Go Mainstream: I came across an interesting article on the subject of why 2014 will be the year that 3 D printing goes mainstream. It seems that a number of the patents on 3 D printing technology expire  next year which will result in a drastic drop in the price of basic 3 D printers so we should see affordable home 3 D printers in the very near future.

Here’s a link to the article which is titled “Why 3D printing is set to explode in 2014;”

http://www.impactlab.net/2013/07/23/why-3d-printing-is-set-to-explode-in-2014/
Cool Long Exposure Photo Gallery: On a final note for today here’s a link to a cool gallery of long exposure photos found on the Mashable website – this doesn’t really have anything to do with technology except perhaps for the fact that some of the cameras used in taking the photos may have been digital cameras – but the photos are cool! The photos feature a misty waterfall, a foggy almost gothic looking shoreline, fishing boat seen under a glorious starry night-time sky and a number of other cool things in the 13 photo gallery. Here’s the link:

http://mashable.com/2013/07/23/long-exposure-photos/

Have a great day!

Linda R.

References

Photo Challenge Long Exposure. Mashable. Online. Accessed July 23, 2013. http://mashable.com/2013/07/23/long-exposure-photos/

Technology for cars to talk to each other urged. (2013, July 23). The Associated Press. Online. Accessed July 23, 2013. http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/national/2013/07/technology_for_cars_to_talk_to_each_other_urged

Impact Lab. Why 3D Printing Is Set To Explode in 2014. Online. Accessed July 23, 2013.

http://www.impactlab.net/2013/07/23/why-3d-printing-is-set-to-explode-in-2014/

 

Driverless Cars & The Impact On Municipal Revenues & Apple Offers Free Apps As The App Store Turns 5

Linda Reimer

Driverless Cars & The Impact On Municipal Revenues:  I mentioned in yesterdays’ blog posting that there was a cool article in the New York Time on the evolution of driverless cars and today the author of that article – Nick Bilton – offers another article that discusses how driverless smart car technology will greatly decrease the number of traffic and parking tickets issued in cities and how, correspondingly, this will greatly decrease municipal revenue for big cities. Bilton notes that in Washington, D.C. on average that “six parking tickets are issued every minute of a normal workday. That is about 5,300 tickets on each of those days. Those slips of paper have added up to $80 million in parking fines a year;” – Wow! $80 million a year is quite a big source of income! No doubt municipalities will find new ways to generate more revenue for their cities when driverless smart cars become mainstream items– but I find the article interesting because I honestly had no idea that parking and traffic tickets generated that much revenue and because I can see a day coming when some people that don’t drive a great deal won’t necessarily need a car.

Imagine if in our area – Corning, NY (population about 10,000) we could summon a driverless car whenever we needed one to take us to work, home again, to the grocery store or the mall and we might not have to make car payments or pay for auto insurance or auto maintained because we might share these cars with other members of our local community

Most people don’t spend hours a day driving – some people do of course have a long commute and for them it is another story – but many people live and work within the same town and if they could quickly and easily get around their local region then maybe we could share cars,  cut down on pollution and cut our cost of living by eliminating having to pay for and maintain a car.

Granted car enthusiasts who love to drive might just want to own their own cars anyway – I’m betting they will – but for some people having access to community owned self- driving (and no doubt at some point self-cleaning) smart cars will increase they ability to get around town and allow them to keep a few extra dollars in their budgets.

Here’s a link to the Bilton article titled “The Money Side of Driverless Cars”

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/09/the-end-of-parking-tickets-drivers-and-car-insurance/?ref=technology

Apple Offers Free Apps As The App Store Turns 5: Apple’s App Store has just turned 5 and to celebrate they are offering some apps for free for a limited time. There is a section in the store titled “5 Years of the App Store” and the free apps include games like “Infinity Blade II,” and “Tiny Wings HD” and other apps like “How to Cook Everything” and “Traktor DJ.” So if you have an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch you might want to check out the free apps!

Here’s a link to a Verge article on the subject titled “Top iOS apps and games go free ahead of App Store’s fifth anniversary:”

http://www.theverge.com/2013/7/8/4502810/ios-apps-and-games-go-free-five-years-after-app-store-launched

Have a great day!

Linda R.

References

Bilton, Nick. (2013, July 9). The Money Side of Driverless Cars. New York Times. Online. Accessed July 9, 2013.  http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/09/the-end-of-parking-tickets-drivers-and-car-insurance/?ref=technology

Byford, Sam. (2013, July 8). Top iOS apps and games go free ahead of App Store’s fifth anniversary. The Verge. Online. Accessed July 9, 2013. http://www.theverge.com/2013/7/8/4502810/ios-apps-and-games-go-free-five-years-after-app-store-launched

 

Adobe Photoshop & Suite Subscriptions, Facebook Search Update & Imagine A Future With Driverless Cars

Linda Reimer

Adobe Photoshop & Suite Subscriptions: Adobe is taking a page out of Microsoft’s book and actually going a step further by offering a subscription only model for their latest version of Photoshop and also for the full Adobe Suite. And the extra step further I referred to is the fact that unlike Microsoft, which still offers an individual download version of its software (i.e. you can purchase a copy of Microsoft Office or one of its components like Word for a one time only purchase price), if you want the latest version of Adobe Photoshop or the Adobe Suite you have to pay for a subscription as the company is no longer offering the latest versions of Photoshop or the Adobe Suite for sale for a flat one time only rate. There are a number of different Adobe subscription packages; however, the entry level package for Photoshop now costs $30 per month.

We do seem to be moving towards a subscription only world which I’m sure makes companies like Adobe, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon and Microsoft very happy as it makes them more money but it does give me pause because it seem like consumers will be at the mercy of those same media, software and publishing companies and if we truly get to a point where you’ll never own a copy of the software, movie, television show because you can only buy access to the content then what is to stop those companies from pulling the plug on your access to the content you’ve paid to license? Somehow although I am something of an idealist I’m doubtful that those media, software and publishing companies will have the best interests of the consumer at heart – I tend to think they’ll want to make more money by charging you repeating subscription fees to access software, e-books, movies and television shows. But then I digress and the subject of the ownership of digital content, or the lack-there-of is a whole other subject for future conversation!

Getting back to the subject of the Adobe software, if you like to do light photo editing and prefer to pay a one-time only purchase fee you can still (at least for the present) purchase a download or disc version of the of latest version of Photoshop Elements — Photoshop Elements 11 – Amazon is currently selling that standalone software for both PC & Mac for $68.88.

And here’s a link to a New York Times article on the new Adobe subscription service which is aptly titled “Software as a Monthly Rental:”

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/04/technology/personaltech/photoshop-cc-turns-software-into-a-monthly-rental.html?ref=technology&_r=0

Facebook Search Update: Facebook is updating its search function options starting this week. The search function for U.S. Facebook users will now include some advanced search options. The new search options are collectively being called the “Graph Search” and basically the options are tools that allow you to input more information into your searches so you can search for “photos of my friends before 1996” or “Restaurants in New York City my friends like” and get better results.

Here a link to an ABC News article on the subject that offers more in-depth information:

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/facebook-graph-search-function-rolls-us-users/story?id=19597958

Imagine A Future With Driverless Cars: On to one of my favorite topics the evolution of driverless cars and how that evolution will change our society!

The New York Times offers an article on just this subject today titled “How Driverless Cars Could Reshape Cities.” Now I like the idea of the positive changes to cities that driverless smart cars will bring – less parking spaces needed, less traffic gridlock, fewer traffic tickets, more room available to build new homes and businesses because having smart cars will translate into those cars being able to drop off their owners at their requested destination and then the cars will go find a parking space.

However, what I really like about smart driverless cars is more universal and three-fold:

1. The increase in safety on the roads (and for both car passengers and pedestrians) because driverless smart cars won’t get distracted as people do by smartphones, upcoming appointments or whatever else is on their mind and driverless cars have sensor to prevent them from running  into pedestrians or pets that run out in front of them;

2. The increase in free time driverless smart cars will offer their owners.  Now this one you can take one of two ways! If you want to you’ll  able to focus on work related tasks like reading your work emails, going over details for a conference or presentation or returning video calls while on your way to or from work or your latest conference. If on the other hand you’ve already worked  really hard during the day you’ll be able to sit back and relax and watch a video, listen to music, read a book, work out on your exercise bike or even pick up and eat  your dinner during your evening commute! Cool stuff – more time to do whatever you want to do in an increasingly busy world – and I think we’re increasingly busy because in our high tech Internet connected world – we’re connected to our great communications technology 24/7/365 but then that is a whole other discussion!

3. The third super cool point I see about the evolution of smart driverless cars is how the technology will free many homebound people who can’t drive but who can get about. For example, someone who is blind or disabled and thus can’t drive but can get out will be able to own a smart driverless car and go to the movies, or the grocery store, go shopping  or go to visit friends or relatives on their own – the independence factor will be very cool!

So that is my current “Smart driverless cars are cool” pitch for the moment!

Have a great day!

Linda R

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/07/disruptions-how-driverless-cars-could-reshape-cities/?ref=technology

References

Bilton, Nick. (2013, July 7). Disruptions: How Driverless Cars Could Reshape Cities. New York Times. Online. Accessed July 8, 2013. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/07/disruptions-how-driverless-cars-could-reshape-cities/?ref=technology

Pogue, David. (2013, July 3). Software as a Monthly Rental. New York Times. Online. Accessed July 8, 2013. http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/facebook-graph-search-function-rolls-us-users/story?id=19597958

Stern, Joanna. (2013, July 7). With New Improvements, Facebook Brings Graph Search Function to All U.S. Users. ABC News. Online. Accessed July 8, 2013. http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/facebook-graph-search-function-rolls-us-users/story?id=19597958#.UdrQQdI4vTo