By Nick True

Executive Summary:

We are entering a new world of human body augmentation.  Genetic, chemical, and even technological resources can be used to customize the human body.  We are rapidly approaching a time in human history where human evolution is not limited or even dictated by the ‘selection of the best adapted’, because we can now change ourselves within our own lives consciously.  We are entering an era where humans can make themselves better, faster, and stronger.  It is no longer our genetics that determine how well we are physically adapted to the environment, but our conscious decisions and actions. 

A Brief History of Body Augmentation:

Humans have already been doing simple body augmentations for centuries, but so far it has mostly been superficial. Simple body modifications include body art such as ceremonial tribal decorations, tattooing, or piercings.  Historical body augmentations have been met with a wide range of cultural and societal responses, far too many to list here, and these augmentations have served just as many purposes, ranging from those of deep religious and spiritual significance, to mere rebellions against modern society.  They can be a simple as a simple ear piercing to as extreme as the following picture, where whole facial structures are changed.

Current Advances in Body Augmentation:

We are now at the beginning of an era where body augmentation is beginning to have true biological and even psychological impacts.  Steroids have been around for a near half century, and have allowed individuals to far exceed natural physical feats.  Belgium Blue cattle are a new breed of cow that have a genetic mutation that give them a very dense muscle structure good for  beef, this mutation or trait is now being selected by ranchers to create a new breed of ultra-muscled cattle.  You may be surprised, but even Lasik eye surgery is a form of body augmentation where the cornea of the eye is modified and reshaped to give better vision.  Cochlear implants are being used to allow some deaf patients to hear for the first time.  Many students and even adults are giving brain chemistry, and even personality changing drugs to treat conditions such as Bi-polar disorder, and ADHD.

Possible Future Advancement in Body Augmentation:

Now this is where it gets truly exciting; augmentations are in the works that allow humans to push the boundaries of human capability to unseen lengths, people will soon be able to augment their bodies in extreme facets that will change the fundamental way in which the world is interacted with.  National labs funded by the Department of Energy have created a third generation ‘artificial retina’ for the blind that allows them to see at extremely low resolutions, proving that artificial retinas can partially restore sight.  It is the hopes of this second sight project that in the next decade, sight can be restored to the blind that has resolutions similar to that of a computer screen.  There is also much work being done in exoskeletons, a device that is worn outside of the body that allows for augmented and increased strength, or even allow partial paraplegics to have motion again.  Defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin have very promising prototypes that have already been field-tested and show great promise, check out the video here.  A company in Japan is already renting out their primitive exoskeletons for $2300 a month, and in a bit of savage irony, the company is named Cyberdyne.  Video here

Executive Summary

We are facing a new frontier, an era where humans can modify the very way in which their bodies work to achieve goals before thought impossible.  As a great idol of mine once said “another glorious dawn awaits”.

Additional Resources

Belgium Blue Bull

second sight

Lockheed Martin exoskeleton video

Cyberdyne exoskeleton and video

Executive Summary:

Augmented reality is our real world reality augmented by technology.  This could be a very simple augmentation that we can hardly perceive, or something that changes the very essence in which we interact with the world.  This emerging technology is already starting to show up in many facets of our lives and will soon be invading on a much larger scale.  This will change the way we navigate our roads, compare prices at the store, and even interact with our flesh and blood friends.  -By Nick True

Example of Existing Augmented Reality:

The IPhone already has a functional AR (Augmented Reality) program called ‘Nearest Tube’ developed by Acrossair.  This program uses the IPhone camera, internal compass, and GPS tracking to show you where the nearest subway lines (tubes) or stations are in England.  When you point your IPhone to the ground, you see that patch of ground on your screen thanks to the camera.  Then, with the help of the internal compass and GPS tracking, the subway tunnels are overlaid on the real world picture of the ground on your IPhone, those ones out of the frame are represent by arrows pointing in their direction.  When you tilt your IPhone up to the horizon, instantly the nearest real world station is highlighted and pointed out if it is in view, if it is not, an arrow in the sky will appear pointing to it.  Then as you walk toward the station, you are given turn by turn directions in real-time.  Check out the video demonstration here.  Gone are the days of 2-D maps!

Another example of AR using the IPhone includes the application Wikitude.  This app works very similar to ‘Nearest Tube’ except when you look at a national monument, of point of interest through your IPhone camera it gives you information on that physical landmark that is gathered from internet sources such as Wikipedia.  So if you are in Berlin, you can point your IPhone toward the Reichstag and the application will use the IPhone hardware its internet connection to identify the Reichstag.   The application will then gather and display relevant information such as history, what it is used for, and other useful facts right along side the real-world image.

Personal AR products on the Horizon (or maybe just my wishful thinking):

Now, all these products I am about to mention are in their extreme early infancy stage, if not still on the drawing board.  The big goal for AR in the next five to ten years is personal, fully incorporated devices that are so integrated into our personal lives that we hardly know that they are there.  One vision includes using personal micro projectors (picture to left) to project images and information directly onto the cornea.  Images can then be displayed along real world physical objects.  This coupled with a micro computer and advanced camera can create limitless possibilities.

One possible application of this that I can foresee includes Facebook integration.  Imagine this: you are walking down the street and see an acquaintance that you do not remember too well.  The camera of your AR unit can quickly scan your acquaintance’s face.  The micro-computer will then cross reference facial data with your Facebook friend’s list.  The projector will then project that person’s Facebook profile data directly onto your cornea (so that only you can see it), voila, you now have all the information you need to remember this person.  Not only that, but other photos of them in social situations you may be familiar with can be displayed to the right of their real world body, putting how you know this person into perspective for you.

Other possible applications with this system include:

• Road hazards are highlighted on the windshield of a car before a driver can even see it, and an audible alarm is given to the driver.
• More information about what you are seeing: a word you are not familiar with in a physical book can be selected–a definition and other cross-referential information will be displayed.
• A song you are listening to can be identified and artist, album, and other information would be displayed
• When looking at a physical business or store, information will be displayed such as its website, store hours, menu, prices, and offerings would be displayed.
• An interactive number pad being projected on your hand so that you can dial your friend without ever removing your phone from your pocket.  See title picture from HowStuffWorks.

Last Thoughts

The future of Augmented Reality is extremely exciting, albeit a bit uncertain and hard to predict.  With Augmented Reality we will hopefully be able to augment every aspect of our life with more data relevant to the physical world around us and increased usability of the technology that already is so integrated in our lives.  Technology is constantly striving to become more integrated within our lives, and AR is the next natural step. At its most successful AR will become a sixth sense of sort, an ability we have without actually noticing its presence.

Last Links:

Nearest Tube by Accrossair

Augmented Reality on Wikipedia

How AR reality will work on howstuffworks.com

Wikitude by Mobilizy and Imprint

1. By far the most read article is “Omegle: Chat with Complete Strangers” (1402 page views since March) — Take a look at the article and put your comment down too!
2. Facebook viruses: how to simply protect your self (781 page views)– Is a good article to read so that you won’t get a virus on Facebook (or anywhere for that matter).  A must read.
3. Picasa 3: The Best Photo Editing Tool Around –Over a year old but still going strong!  If you don’t use Picasa and would like an easy way to edit photos, make albums, etc.  Picasa if for you!  It really is amazing!
4. Buying a computer in 2009: Advice from both sides –Who knew Buying a Computer Advice would be such a hot topic?!  3 experts, 3 angles, and lots of good advice!  (we’ll be doing a new Buying Computer in 2010 soon too).
5. Tech Cafe: Trailer Our trailer for the video as well as our Purchase Bundles page pretty much tied for #5 (Glad you all like the trailer so much!)  Watch it again if you want, the “digital native” is my daughter “immigrants” my folks

# 6-10?  Well we are glad you asked!  Here’s the list enjoy them all if you have time!

Do Your Kids–Think Before They Post?

3 Steps to Spyware Removal: Wash, Rinse, Dry

Why Teens don’t Tweet

Your kid’s a Pirate

Internet Phishing: Hook, Line, and Sink… ya

Thanks for swinging by!  As always we love you to tell others if this stuff is helpful too you!  Also email us with questions or article ideas at ninja@nplb.net

By Nick True

Executive Summary:

According to Wired (this is a link to my source article, go ahead, click it) the newest, fastest, most face-melting supercomputer known as Jaguar actually belongs to civilian science, not the military which usually dominates the work of ultra-fast supercomputing.  This computer achieves the great feat of computing at a staggering 1.79 petafops, or 1,759 trillion calculations per second.  This blows the previous fastest supercomputer out of the water which broke the petaflop barrier.  To put this in perspective, the computer you are reading this on probably runs at about 100 gigaflops, this means that jaguar does about 20,000 times more calculations per second than your computer

Background:

Since the 1970’s the fastest supercomputers in the world were used for nuclear explosion modeling.  The jaguar, however, is used for climate modeling.  This is significant because it represents a shift in what humanity is using its computation power; instead of modeling nuclear scenarios we are modeling climate.  This shift in our computational goals represents a larger shift in global trends, a shift away from using our scientific and technological resources war and instead using them for peace-time research.

What it means for the world and you:

The implication of this computer for weather and climate research is far reaching.  Alexis Madrigal of Wired writes:

This has great implications on how we use climate data and do climate research:

• We can now look at climate on a much more micro and intimate level.
• The more localized we can look weather and climate, the more accurate our models are.
• This not only has implications on our weather forecasting abilities, but also for our learning and research concerning climate change.
• Climatologists can use the terabytes of data collected from climate satellites to track individual occurrences of carbon emissions and even track man-made carbon as is moves throughout our atmosphere over days, months, or even years.

But, most of us are not interested in large-scale climate modeling, or don’t see it as affecting our personal lives.  This supercomputer, however, represents much more than just the standard progress of computational and technological power.  With jaguar our computational power is being used for peace-time research and scientific progress, not war-making capability.  This represents an essential shift that our culture is undertaking from being preoccupied with war and what threats us to larger and more peaceful goals.  As a culture, we are starting to shift away from being preoccupied and over-worried about what threatens us and starting to focus on what we can achieve.  This is a truly monumental change, and we are monumentally lucky to be a part of it.

Last Thoughts:

The future is upon us, we are living at the forefront of scientific and technological achievement and discovery.  With each passing month we are breaking boundaries of what we previously thought possible with computational power and data processing capabilities.  As our many models of the world become more complete and more capable, the more we will learn about our world, our reality, and possibly even ourselves.

Last Links/More Resources

Wired.com full article

Official National Center for Computational Sciences website explaining Jaguar

History of Supercomputing (Wikipedia)

Photo Credit- Wired Magazine Supercomputer Article

Super computers?…. We got it.

Augmented Reality?… Yep that too!

All the newest hipest tech-gadgets?  Oh ya, we are soo there.

Nick True will write about it all! So, stay tuned and we will bring you the hottest Tech Trends that everyone is talking about (well at least all our friends).  Ok so, ALL might be an overstatement too but it definitely will melt your face off*

*(that’s just a fancy term for it’s really cool to tech people!)

Your kid’s a Pirate.

I know, I know you thought they went as a cute fairy or a scary ghost this Halloween.   Well, I hate to break it to you but, you’re wrong, they went as a pirate. Actually if they are a “normal”  teen they’ve been pirates for quite some time.

Here’s the stats.

Globally 95% of all music downloads are illegal according to the IFPI study released at the beginning of  the year.  So according to the IFPI if you download music you are most likely doing it illegally.

But  don’t worry too much because your teens don’t think it is as bad as other forms of stealing. That should help ease the blow huh?

If your kids are like the teen in the recent Microsoft study “Only half of the teens surveyed (48%) indicated a punishment  was appropriate for illegal downloading, compared to 85% who say getting caught taking a mobile
phone out of someone‟s locker at school, 89% stealing a video game, DVD orCD and 90% stealing a bike.”

And it’s not just music.  iPhone/iTouch apps are pirated, Movies, TV shows, and software are all  downloaded illegally via Point to Point (P2P) programs.  Now not all P2P traffic is illegal but it definitely is a high percentage.

Take a look for any of these programs on your computer:Kazza, Limewire,  Bearshare, uTorrent, Azureus.

See a full popular torrent list here http://netforbeginners.about.com/od/peersharing/f/torrentclients.htm

Our advice:

So whether or not your teen dressed up like a pirate, knocked on peoples doors and demanded free music this Halloween weekend you still should open up the dialogue on this topic with them and give them some of the free and paid alternative below. Not only will you help them make better music downloading choices but you will also be helping them to minimize the risk of viruses, inappropriate content (vids, pics, etc.) and the Feds. knocking on your door.

Download responsibly.  Below are some great sites:

Pandora Radio– Free online radio
lala.com– free full song previews plus 10 cent web stored purchases
Spotify.com (currently only avaliable in the UK) free online music plus a premium paid subscription with additional features.
Good list of free music sites here http://mashable.com/2008/06/30/free-legal-music-sites/
Itunes–  Download for .99 – 1.39 cents.
Amazon– download for .69 cents

Last Links:

• More stats on iPhone app piracy–  http://www.pinchmedia.com/blog/piracy-in-the-app-store-from-360idev/
• Full .pdf of the IFPI’s report on Music Piracy– http://www.ifpi.org/content/library/DMR2009.pdf
• Microsofts report on teen views about illegal downloading–

Do your kids think before they post? Well if you are part of the National average they probably don’t. The good news is that average is falling, maybe in part to these commercials being broadcast around the nation. Have you seen them? If not it well worth the 1 minute of your time.

Take a look right here.   If you want to watch all of the video.

Now what about you? Yes you. Did you know most HR departments Google you prior to hiring? People that start a new dating relationship Google each other too. Yes it is true, the Internet really does change the way we live.

The Rub:

Now it’s time to get personal… Have you ever posted a funny video of your kid online? What happens when that kid grows up? Do his friends find that rather embarrassing video?

Darren Kuropatwa on his Blog “A Difference” sums it up rather nicely below:

Searching YouTube for David After Dentist reveals over 1800 results. In classic YouTube fashion, the video has been remixed and parodied. You’ll also find that since the video went viral there is now a blog collating all the remixes, parodies, other humourous and viral videos, an Amazon store, various other ways of monetizing the video of a 7 year old boy who went to the dentist, was medicated, and took a while to fully recover his senses.

I wonder how young David is going to feel about all this in five years; when he’s in high school. As he struggles to establish his own identity and “fit in,” how will he feel if (when?) this video resurfaces and spreads throughout the school?

I wonder if David’s parents have fully thought through the future ramifications for David; from the point of view of his future self.

Now since there are already 33,204,700 views you might as well watch it too.

Last Links

• Cox Teen Internet Survey results–  http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=76341&p=irol-newsArticle&t=Regular&id=998134&
• David After 5 Years –  http://adifference.blogspot.com/2009/03/david-after-5-years.html
• Full List of Videos — http://www2.prnewswire.com/mnr/adcouncil/26474/

The answer may very well lie in an online persona created in an online world like IMVU.

Executive Summary:

What’s IMVU? It’s a virtual world combined with a chat program that lets a user create an Avatar (physical representation of themselves) to use in the online world.
IMVU is free to start but if you like it you can pay for virtual currency so that you can “buy” new cloths, a house, furniture, etc. IMVU reported making 1 million per month back in June of 2008. See interview here.

Basically IMVU is a world where you’re kids may be trying on a different persona and exploring an overly sexual online world on the cheap.

Pros:

• IMVU runs much faster than other online worlds such as second life.
• It is a fun environment to explore and add to with purchases of clothes, household items and the like.
• Fun to meet new people and talk with a face to the words (though I’m sure everyone isn’t really a size 4 in real life)

Cons:

• As in any virtual world, you can be anyone that you want to be.  A girl, a guy… any image you want to portray.
• IMVU doesn’t have a wide selection of overweight Avatars.  Pretty much everyone is super attractive, with disproportional, measurements, muscles, and way too much skin.
• You could spend a lot of time pretending to be someone you are not.

Overall IMVU is a good idea but to sell it they have really overly sexed it up.  Maybe there are areas in the IMVU landscape that don’t have a ton of people shouting “wanna sex” but I couldn’t find them.

Last links:

• Interview from June 2008 can be found here
• IMVU the site is here
• Short list of stats on IMVU can be found here

A: You need a personal geek…

Personal Trainers, In-home Chefs, Chauffeurs…  Where’s the Personal Geek?  I mean, doesn’t the normal lay-person have the right to their very own personal geek?  I say, “Yes!”.  And you should too.

Rebuttal

Personal Geeks are so 2008.  This is a different generation with different problems.  What the parent of today teens needs is a Network Ninja! A person with the style, grace, and no-nonsense approach to fixing a wide range of technological issues with ninja like speed.

The Decision?

Network Ninja by a landslide.

If I had my way you all would have your own personal geek, network ninja, or someone from the “geek squad” on 24/7 alert for you tech needs, just a phone call away (a big red phone of course).
But, the reality is you don’t and you probably never will so… what’s a parent to do?  Ask us questions of course!  This month we are your person geeks, your network ninjas, you’re one-stop tech question help!  So dial us up with your questions.  We’d love to answer them. Just email us at ninja@nplb.net and we’ll get back to you with ninja like speed and/or post your questions/answers directly on our site.

Executive summary:

For free tech help by a network ninja email your questions to ninja@nplb.net
Yup, FREE… just because we like parents like you.

Last links

None this time.  Just shoot us an email.  ninja@nplb.net

This month 2 new articles/studies have come out to try to help us learn about our teens. One from a large research company, one from a 15 year-old kid. To be honest I think the 15-year-old did a better job conveying his point but…

Here’s the synopsis for both:

15 year-olds Matthew Robson Report: Teens Snub Twitter, Enjoy Viral Marketing

• Teens don’t use twitter
• Teens would rather text
• Video game technologies will keep teens connected
• Are unwilling to pay for music, rather free (illegal) download

Link to full report.

Nielsen Research Synopsis:

• Teens are NOT abandoning TV for new media
• Teens love the Internet…but spend far less time browsing than adults
• Teens watch less online video than most adults, but the ads are highly engaging to them
• Teens read newspapers, listen to the radio and even like advertising more than most
• Teens’ favorite TV shows, top websites and genre preferences across media are mostly the same as those of their parents

Link to the full report.

** UPDATE Aug 5** Nielsen recently published the stats on youth twitter use.  Read the full article here

My take:

• Teens don’t use twitter much but prefer texting for the private aspect of it.
• Facebook and Myspace use is steadily growing and will be used more and more in the future.   (I think Facebook will start to take over because it is more simple, clean and mainstream. )
• Teens, because they are teens, will continue to do things differently. (As they get older they will start to use the more mainstream tools to communicate, whatever the flavor of the year is. )
• Mobile apps will start to help all technologies converge effectively into a smaller platform that does it all, like the iPhone.
• And every teen will get implanted with a Lo-Jack style tracking system so their parents know where they are when they break curfew… again.