This blog was a very interesting project. It taught me how entrepreneurial ideas evolve overtime. My specific idea taught me several things about technology and where we're at today. BCI still has a ways to go, but we're getting there for sure. Our dependence on technology is getting greater and greater each day, and it is only a matter of time before we become one with technology. I hope this becomes a reality someday despite all the potential risks that are involved. It would certainly have made this blog project a lot easier, as I could just sit in class and think out the blog post without getting in any sort of trouble.
The three blog comments I made:
Daniel Thom-http://daniel-thom.blogspot.com/2011/09/week-1-social-media.html?showComment=1320068573144#c438425443446527763
Terry Woods-http://entwprise.blogspot.com/2011/09/new-social-media.html?showComment=1320068973355#c3529384948169339818
Michael Molta-http://omniexp.blogspot.com/2011/09/introductionweek-one.html?showComment=1320069440846#c8451929336579327922
Monday, October 31, 2011
Monday, October 24, 2011
Week 7
This week's blog post is about another blog. There are many blogs out there that focus on technology, but this blog comes right from one of the largest companies in the world - Microsoft. Microsoft has its own sort of blogging website for technology in general, but Microsoft also hosts its own blog there. In this blog, Microsoft discusses new and upcoming technology related to the company, but it also discusses various other (occasionally quirky) types of things.
Microsoft's blog contains some very interesting reads, and the topics are varied. Microsoft is involved with more than just its famous Windows OS. Microsoft has a phone operating system, Xbox 360, and several other types of technology, and these are all covered in the Microsoft blog, so if you are interested in anything Microsoft owns, check out their blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoft_blog/
Microsoft's blog contains some very interesting reads, and the topics are varied. Microsoft is involved with more than just its famous Windows OS. Microsoft has a phone operating system, Xbox 360, and several other types of technology, and these are all covered in the Microsoft blog, so if you are interested in anything Microsoft owns, check out their blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoft_blog/
Monday, October 17, 2011
Week 6
The operating system's most basic function is to be the "middleman" between the hardware of a computer and its programs. I like to think of it as sort of a translator, because without it there would be no communication going on. Communication between computer components is key to a computer's functioning, so if the operating system did not exist, computers would not work the way they should.
With that in mind, BCI relies heavily on a sturdy, secure, and efficient operating system. I am not aware of an operating system built specifically to work with BCI, and as far as I am concerned, none of the current major operating systems would suffice; therefore a brand new operating system would have to be written to function effectively with all the components of BCI.
The best bet for an operating system would be something similar to a lightweight mobile operating system with the flexibility and security of a major operating system. It would have to be lightweight so as not to take up large amounts of storage space, flexible to accommodate the new kind of technology with unknown bounds, and secure enough to not cause unwanted access to someone's brain. Security is probably the most important key and would have to be taken very seriously.
With that in mind, BCI relies heavily on a sturdy, secure, and efficient operating system. I am not aware of an operating system built specifically to work with BCI, and as far as I am concerned, none of the current major operating systems would suffice; therefore a brand new operating system would have to be written to function effectively with all the components of BCI.
The best bet for an operating system would be something similar to a lightweight mobile operating system with the flexibility and security of a major operating system. It would have to be lightweight so as not to take up large amounts of storage space, flexible to accommodate the new kind of technology with unknown bounds, and secure enough to not cause unwanted access to someone's brain. Security is probably the most important key and would have to be taken very seriously.
Monday, October 10, 2011
Week 5
Bits and bytes do not seem to play a very big role in BCI, but in fact, they do. Lots of data needs to be transferred, and because it uses a constant internet connection, all that data must be streamed live. If you were to monitor your daily internet usage, you would probably be surprised at the numbers. Some people may use as much as gigabytes per day while others may use as little as a few megabytes. Either way, millions of bytes are being moved around every day.
What exactly do you do on Facebook, Twitter, etc.? Do you only checked your feed? Download a few pictures? Watch a few videos of your friend doing crazy backflips down the street? All of this information is made up of bits and bytes (for the purpose of this blog post, we'll just stick to bytes from now on). Although your wall feed may only use a couple hundred kilobytes a day, pictures and videos tend to use a whole lot more. All those millions and billions of bytes would need to be transferred wirelessly from your brain to your computer. BCI is in charge of inputting and outputting that data.
Once BCI is capable of sending information to your brain for interpretation, that information needs to somehow be presented. The typical way for computers to display information is through a video stream on your computer monitor. If this were the case for BCI, even more information must be transferred. Think about your computer's display resolution for a second. An HD display is effectively streaming an HD movie all the time (and that's disregarding all the calculations a video card has to do). That's a lot of bytes to transfer, and a tiny device planted in your brain would have to handle all of this.
What exactly do you do on Facebook, Twitter, etc.? Do you only checked your feed? Download a few pictures? Watch a few videos of your friend doing crazy backflips down the street? All of this information is made up of bits and bytes (for the purpose of this blog post, we'll just stick to bytes from now on). Although your wall feed may only use a couple hundred kilobytes a day, pictures and videos tend to use a whole lot more. All those millions and billions of bytes would need to be transferred wirelessly from your brain to your computer. BCI is in charge of inputting and outputting that data.
Once BCI is capable of sending information to your brain for interpretation, that information needs to somehow be presented. The typical way for computers to display information is through a video stream on your computer monitor. If this were the case for BCI, even more information must be transferred. Think about your computer's display resolution for a second. An HD display is effectively streaming an HD movie all the time (and that's disregarding all the calculations a video card has to do). That's a lot of bytes to transfer, and a tiny device planted in your brain would have to handle all of this.
Monday, October 3, 2011
Week 4
Input and output is really the core part of BCI. To start off, input would probably be the easier challenge to tackle. The brain can easily send out information. We do it every day through speech, hand motions, writing, typing, etc. Finding a way to do so instantly through electronics and technology is the matter at hand. The BCI part of this actually provides the input because it is the interface between the brain and the computer. It connects the brain to the computer. It sends information from the brain to the computer.
Output on the other is a completely different story. Right now humans only have five ways of taking in information (the five senses): sight, smell, touch, taste, and hearing. Sending information to the brain would require either a new sense or the modification of a current one. Both of which are very daunting tasks indeed. I do not understand the exact science behind it, so I will leave that one up to the neurologists out there. My only comment on that matter is that it is way above the common person.
Overall, BCI actually is input/output. That is what it does. Sending a tweet to a computer using your brain requires some sort of input system. BCI does that for you. Checking your news feed on Facebook is a more difficult task. Maybe it could be as simple as telling your computer to pull up your news feed and look at it on your computer screen. Who knows?
Output on the other is a completely different story. Right now humans only have five ways of taking in information (the five senses): sight, smell, touch, taste, and hearing. Sending information to the brain would require either a new sense or the modification of a current one. Both of which are very daunting tasks indeed. I do not understand the exact science behind it, so I will leave that one up to the neurologists out there. My only comment on that matter is that it is way above the common person.
Overall, BCI actually is input/output. That is what it does. Sending a tweet to a computer using your brain requires some sort of input system. BCI does that for you. Checking your news feed on Facebook is a more difficult task. Maybe it could be as simple as telling your computer to pull up your news feed and look at it on your computer screen. Who knows?
Monday, September 26, 2011
Week 3
Hardware would play a very important role in BCI. The hardware involved would have to include a mini computer small enough to fit inside the skull, and it would probably have to include some kind of sensor to make it all work. It is hard to tell how powerful the computer would have to be. Its function would simply be to take in information from the brain and send it wirelessly to an external computer.
The external computer would have to be powerful enough to process all the commands the brain transmits. This would more than likely take a very fast processor and a lot of memory to keep up. This external computer would also have to be small enough to fit in a person's pocket or purse. None of the specifics are really known, because we do not know how much information really needs to be processed; therefore much of this blog post is conceptual.
By the time BCI becomes possible, computer technology may be advanced enough to fit both computers into one unit inside the skull. If this is true, the single computer would probably have to be extremely powerful, but by this time it probably would not be an issue. The one thing this computer must include, and this is very important, are PS/2 ports. This computer would obviously not be functional without them.
The external computer would have to be powerful enough to process all the commands the brain transmits. This would more than likely take a very fast processor and a lot of memory to keep up. This external computer would also have to be small enough to fit in a person's pocket or purse. None of the specifics are really known, because we do not know how much information really needs to be processed; therefore much of this blog post is conceptual.
By the time BCI becomes possible, computer technology may be advanced enough to fit both computers into one unit inside the skull. If this is true, the single computer would probably have to be extremely powerful, but by this time it probably would not be an issue. The one thing this computer must include, and this is very important, are PS/2 ports. This computer would obviously not be functional without them.
Monday, September 19, 2011
Week 2
Social media and privacy/anonymity always cross paths at some point. Someone is always trying to find out more about your personal life than you would like to provide. With a BCI, privacy becomes less and less of an issue. With an active, constant connection to a social network, people can easily monitor who is accessing their information; however at the same time, people can constantly "lurk" other people's profile pages without consequence.
The one thing that may end up being an issue is security. Although it was not discussed much in class last week, security could be a big problem. With quite literal direct access to another person's brain, who knows what could actually happen? Privacy could end up being violated because all of that personal information is stored in the brain, and with direct access to that information, privacy becomes a great concern.
This is all speculation, of course. No one truly knows how privacy and security will matter. It is a common theme right now, but things may be completely different if this technology were to ever exist.
The one thing that may end up being an issue is security. Although it was not discussed much in class last week, security could be a big problem. With quite literal direct access to another person's brain, who knows what could actually happen? Privacy could end up being violated because all of that personal information is stored in the brain, and with direct access to that information, privacy becomes a great concern.
This is all speculation, of course. No one truly knows how privacy and security will matter. It is a common theme right now, but things may be completely different if this technology were to ever exist.
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