Tag: Mashable

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/

 

Mashable’s Top Ten YouTube Channels For You – If You’d Like To Learn More & New York City Subway Gets Touchscreen Kiosks

Linda Reimer

Mashable’s Top Ten YouTube Channels For You – If You’d Like To Learn More: Apologies for the title but I couldn’t resist! The tech site Mashable published a list today of the top ten YouTube channels they recommend you visit if you’d like to learn more about the universe, usually in 15 minutes or less and without going back to school! And as a huge proponent of public libraries, their goals and services I am all for life-long learning so I thought the article was cool and so are the videos on each of the channels!

Most of the channels focus on scientific topics but some, like Crash Course, offer other subjects as well like history and philosophy and every one of the videos I’ve checked out so far really is cool and has offered a fun learning experience.

Here, briefly are the top ten channels – and if you’d like to learn more about any of the channels click on the link below the channel list to access the Mashable article.

1) Veritasium:  The name is Latin and means “Truth” (not to mention it is the name of a truth telling potion in the Harry Potter Universe!): This channel features neat videos that briefly seek scientific truth on one topic or another and one of the most popular is titled “Slinky Physics.”

2) Vsauce:  a philosophical channel that offers videos focusing on existential questions like “What if the sun disappeared” and “What if everyone jumped at once?”

3) C.G.P. Gray: This channel covers a great range of topics from small items like the correct pronunciation of a word to all the basics of copyright law.

4) MinutePhysics: A channel that focuses on the obvious topic of physics!

5) Smarter Every Day: This channel is hosted by real Rocket Scientist Destin who takes his viewers with him on his daily quest to be smarter every day.

6) SciShow: A fun channel that features science videos.

7) Crash Course: This channel offers really quick introductions to a number of topics. For example they have a video on the origins of World War I that runs 11 minutes and 45 seconds (this is my favorite channel so far as it offers quite a few cool history videos!).

8) Numberphile: A channel that offers video clips that focus on numbers and math.

9) ASAP Science: This channel offers videos by biologists Gregory Brown and Mitchell Moffit and their science related videos are so popular they’ve been written up in The Atlantic and Scientific American magazines.

10) Bad Astronomy: In this case “Bad” can be equated with the hip version of the word “Cool;” as in good! This is the companion YouTube channel for Philip Plait’s space related website.

Here’s the link to the Mashable article which is titled 10 YouTube Channels That Will Make You Smarter:

http://mashable.com/2013/04/04/youtube-education/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=rss

New York City Subway Gets Touchscreen Kiosks: The New York City subway system is in the process of having 77 new 47” touch screen information kiosks installed at its subway stations. The kiosks, which are said to be indestructible, will allow people to see exactly where they are in New York City and to access information allowing them to easily see on a displayed, interactive map, how to get where they want to go. I think interactive touch screen displays like the subway kiosks are the wave of the future. And that in the near future not only will you find touchscreen computers in public places that will allow you to access all sorts of useful information on demand; but you’ll also be able to have your smartphone, tablet or smart watch communicate with the information kiosk computers via the evolving Near Field Communication technology. So in essence, the New York City touchscreen kiosks are a foreshadowing of that even more advanced communication era that we’ll see unfold in the next ten years or so!

Here’s a link to the Business Insider article which is titled New York City Subways Are Getting A New Touchscreen Network:

http://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-city-subway-touchscreens-2013-3?op=1

And here’s a link to an article from The Wall Street Journal’s All Things D blog on the subject of Near Field Communication – which offers an explanation of how that technology works:

http://allthingsd.com/20130218/nfc-what-you-need-to-know/

Have a great evening!

Linda R.

References

Al-Green, Bob. (2013, April 4). 10 YouTube Channels That Will Make You Smarter. Mashable. Online.

Dickey, Megan Rose. (2013, March 28). New York City Subways Are Getting A New Touchscreen Network. Business Insider. Online.

Goode, Lauren. (2013, February 18). Near Field Communication. All Things D.