Thought we would pop on and give an update on the pixel devices now we have been using them and they have had a number of updates.
Google Pixel 7 Pro Phone
As mentioned in our first post we have been using the phone for business and leisure.
What are we finding?
Well, it does the job and has only had a few glitches that have caused concern. The screen has on occasion went faded out and then come back again after pressing a few buttons. It also hasn’t responded quickly to some light changes in the room I have been in. A slight lag as they say.
The battery is OK and it seems to cope with all the apps I use and the constant usage for business and then leisure. (And I assure you that’s a lot.)
The screen is large and very clear once you step it up to the higher display setting. Very sharp and clear. The camera is doing what it says as well and you can zoom in a great distance and still get clear pictures, due to the AI taking over. Also, Macro is good and I find myself using portrait mode when taking closer photos and it blurs the background. I have only played with the magic eraser a few times and it works. Sometimes it guesses and gets the filing background slightly askew.
Processors are fast and the security levels are much improved. I now have access to Google VPN when out and about as well. So, all in all, tick, tick, tick.
The leather case I ordered from Google as well and I am slightly disappointed with it. It is becoming dirty very fast and scuffing at comers and edges are becoming visible. I may have to replace this.
Onto the Pixel Watch
Well, as mentioned in the initial post, the battery life here is the problem and I still charge it around three times per day. I have had some updates and I thought this might cure things. But alas no.
It has also had some glitches with the use of NFC for payments and sometimes just doesn’t perform.
I also had problems adding my company card to the watch for payment and have had to contact my bank on each occasion. It crashed on me after an update and I had to research getting it running again as it had frozen on restarting screen. Got there eventually. It just seems a bit buggy. I have had Wear watches for a good few years now. Staring with a Motorola one and then a Huawei W1 and then the Fossil Gen 5. So, no stranger to them. This one just needs something that would make it more stable.
The strap design, for getting on and off is good and I have ordered some extra straps and can change them easily. The battery and the bugginess are the main issues. Will see how things go.
So we took delivery of the new Google Pixel flagship range of devices. We had to replace our ageing Pixel 5 phone and Fossil smartwatch. So this seemed an excellent time to try the new goods.
As you know we have been Google fans for phones and tech for a while and this is us just keeping to what we know best. The Pixel 7 Pro is the larger of the two Pixel 7 phones. So WE wanted to try all the extra bells and whistles it has. The camera and the built-in AI intrigues us and we wanted t see if it lived up to what they claim. It is early days yet but we are so far impressed. even the under-screen fingerprint reader has improved a lot in the Pixel 7 Pro. It is a larger phone and the screen resolution can be pumped up and give the sharpest of images. We will report back in a few weeks on the pros and cons we have found after using it for business and leisure.
Onto the Pixel Watch
Google’s well-rumoured first dive into a Wear product. It is not as watch-looking as my previous Fossil Watch. But works well. The only thing we are finding so far is the battery just doesn’t last and we are charging it through the day at least twice, so it can be worn it at night and check sleep patterns. It also doesn’t fast charge at this point and doesn’t use the rumoured QI charging. so you can only use the supplied charger base. Will see if they push out any updates to improve things. It also has its own dedicated App and not the Wear app I used before. Will again report back on usage, but these are some of the initial findings.
Watch this space for more info as we collate our findings in the weeks to come.
A question I am asked a lot is, “What technology should I be using?”
The better question would be why should I use that technology?
So, what is the point of this article.? It is all about what you need and what you do.
The technology of yesterday, is not the technology of tomorrow as it is changing so fast. This matters because of the reason that technology is changing. It is changing because of customer demand a lot of the time and the new technology helps users work smarter and not harder.
So, what are the key factors about adopting new technology?
The ultimate answer is you are the key factor, let me explain further: –
I could easily go into any of my clients and simply say here is the new tech and you need it now. This of course is a broad-brush approach and they may not need half of what I am telling them they need.
So, I never do that, I ask loads and I mean loads of questions. I need to get inside their heads and their business. My forte is that I keep an eye and focus on what is out there and can advise accordingly.
I try and establish the following: –
What do you and your business do just now?
What may you be doing in the shorter term?
Where do you see things in the longer term?
This enables me to focus on exactly you do and how you currently are doing it.
I can then look at solutions that are there just now that may make your tasks smarter and with emerging tech, I can advise on when you should maybe put your toe in the water.
I.T. is an ever-changing horizon and you have your focus and business to run. So why not hand it over to someone who focusses on the tech and get them to advise on what may be beneficial for you.
So, the key factors about adopting technology is you and your team and business. I always start from that point.
The first-ever laptop with a foldable display
is undoubtedly a highlight of CES 2020 — a futuristic device that you can
actually buy this year.
Way back in May 2019, Lenovo made a lofty
promise while showing off a prototype device: that it would release the
first-ever laptop with a foldable display, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold, in
2020. Now, Lenovo has clearly made good on that promise.
The tested, stylized version of the product
shown off almost a year ago — with literal support tape on it and without a name
— easily sells the idea of what foldable screen technology could accomplish in
a mobile computing device.
Magazines could look fantastic on the ThinkPad
X1 Fold, and with the bundled Bluetooth keyboard, people could work on that
document while watching the latest episode of “The Witcher” on
Netflix above. These are quaint scenarios, and barely business-related as the
“ThinkPad” name would suggest, but these are the first ideas that
come to mind.
The $2,499.00 price tag essentially shrinks the audience for this first foldable outing to just well-off executives and other financially fortunate technology enthusiasts — including some creative pros despite the suit-like ThinkPad branding. Regardless, the ThinkPad X1 Fold captures our imaginations, which makes it all the more exciting to be released in 2020. — Joe Osborne, senior technology editor
We haven’t had the time to look over all the announcements at CES 2020 this year, but we will try and bring one or two that caught our eye to you over the next few weeks.
This one we think should be taken further and adopted by vehicle manufacturers. What do you think?
Virtual Car Visor
Made by German manufacturer Bosch, the virtual visor works by tracking the driver’s eyes using facial recognition technology. When it detects sun in the driver’s eyes it blocks it without obscuring the rest of the road.
When it detects sun it casts a show over the small area of the driver’s face exposed to sun glare stopping it from interfering with their view.
Sun visors are one of the most overlooked features of a car’s interior, according to Bosch. AA research shows that one in 50% of car accidents in the UK is caused by sun glare.
If the product proves viable it could totally eliminate the need for traditional sun visors in cars. However, at present, the virtual visor is just a concept and years away from going into production.
This month we have trawled articles on the Net and looked at some ideas of where tech is going. Most of the credit for this content belongs to https://highexistence.com/10-ways-the-next-10-years-are-going-to-be-mind-blowing/, I have then added some of my observations. Here are some we have pulled together for you to think about and watch this space as they appear over the next few months and years. Please note that these ideas and statements are pulled from various sources and just give a reflection of what is happening. The nature of the beast is by the time you type these articles things have moved on.
Bio Technology
Bionic Hand controlled by brain signals
Okay, it doesn’t let you crush rocks as you would think, BUT it does allow people without fingers to have fully functional hands that can pick up and handle delicate objects. It is completely controlled by the brain and requires no surgery. Touch Bionics, the company the produces the Pro Digits hand, is able to install the hand complete with “living skin,” a plastic covering resembling human skin, for under $50,000.
Computer Speed, Size and
Usability
Speed
Most people tech-nerds
know of Moore’s Law from 1965 (the number of transistors we are able to cheaply
put in computer chips doubles every year, thereby doubling the speed).
However, most people don’t know that Moore, himself, came out and said his law
will most likely fail finally in 2020 where the number of transistors we can
put on chips will be limited by the laws of physics. Does this mean the
exponential rise in computer processing speed will come to a halt in ten years?
Not a chance, says Jim Tully, chief of research for semiconductors at Gartner. “The technology which will replace this is a bottom-up approach, where chips will be assembled using individual atoms or molecules, a type of nanotechnology.”
Ray Kurzweil, a well-respected Futurist, stated in 2008 that
when this molecular computing technology comes out in 2020, computers
will have the intellectual capability of human beings. You might want
to digest that for a minute before moving onto the next section.
That Macbook Air is
pretty damn thin. So thin, in fact, that it makes you wonder if physical
computers will even exist in 2020. Well according to developers at Intel, the
keyboard and mouse surely won’t. Who needs QWERTY when you can control
a computer with your mind?
“We’re trying to
prove you can do interesting things with brain waves,” said Intel researcher
Dean Pomerleau. “Eventually people may be willing to be more committed … to
brain implants. Imagine being able to surf the Web with the power of your
thoughts.”
Pomerleau and countless research groups around the world are working with brain scanning devices to map blood flow in the brain. They have found that when different individual focus on the same image, they have very similar patterns of blood flow in their brains. For example, one British group announced that they could discern where subjects wherein a computer-generated virtual environment by looking at where blood flowed in their brains.
How we interact with the
world
The way in which we interact with the outside world has changed SO much since the introduction of the internet, smartphones, etc. In the very near future, another huge jump will be made: integrating the information on the internet with our surroundings.
By that, I mean being able to look at a building, product or place and immediately seeing information about the subject on our devices and eventually just with our eyes.
If you’re still
confused as to what I mean, check out the earliest innovation of this concept,
Goggles by Google. This app allows you to take a picture of whatever you are
looking at and instantly receive info about it on your Android phone.
Like the video says, Goggle is only scratching at the surface of this technology. Kurzweil says that “By 2020 we’ll routinely have pop-ups in our visual field of view that give us background about the people and places that we’re looking at.” Your memory and the vast information bank of the internet will be one at all times.
Until we can do this
with a chip in our brain, a new device has come out that overlays video onto
our normal vision using special glasses. It’s called the Vuzix display Wrap 920AR and it goes on sale soon for around
$800.
Energy
Solar energy will
soon leave fossil fuels and inefficient wind farms in the dust. According to
Kurzweil, “the cost per watt of solar energy is coming down rapidly and the
total amount of solar energy is growing exponentially. It has in fact been
doubling every two years for the past 20 years and is now only eight
doublings away from meeting all of the world’s energy needs.”
Emerging technology
from a company called Sandia is making the reality that much closer:
Sandia’s
solar cells are made of 100 times less material than the
current top solar cells while operating at the same efficiency. Since the
biggest hurdle in the path of solar power is the expensive and large nature of
solar panels, these new microscopic cells will make a huge difference. For
example, current panels are massive and require large motors to move them to
track the sun. Sandia’s cells, on the other hand, would only need to be moved a
fraction of a millimetre to track the sun efficiently while weighing next to
nothing.
Even more amazing, they can be suspended in liquids and printed on flexible materials, allowing the cells to be placed on any surface. What if your entire car was covered in these powerhouses? Bye bye, Chevron.
Health
While we still can’t cure a common cold, custom-made organs are just around the corner.
A company called
Organovo has developed the first commercial 3-D bio printer that builds custom organs cell-by-cell.
Each individual cell is based upon sample cells from the body of the customer.
Organovo reports that veins and arteries will be available in 5 years, and more
complex organs like hearts and livers in 10.
On a more general
note, nanotechnology is revolutionizing the health world. The awesome
combination of a higher understanding of how DNA works and the ability to
create very small cellular parts is painting a very bright future for medicine.
Scientists are finding specific sequences of DNA that code for conditions like schizophrenia, autism and even ageing. The cures are actually in sight.
Robots
The first decade of
the 21st century has been a remarkable time for innovation in robotics. While
we’re still far away from having bots helping around the house or doing our
construction, big strides have been made towards that future.
Recently a robot was
able to teach itself human facial expressions by randomly contorting its face
and receiving feedback on what resembled real expressions.
Here’s another robot called BigDog that came out a couple of
years ago, but if you haven’t seen the video, you really should. It’s a
4-legged robot that can navigate difficult terrain and correct its balance when
shoved. If you can’t watch the whole video, at least fast-forward to 1:50 where
the robot can be seen running and jumping.
And finally here is the bipedal version of BigDog that walks heel-to-toe
just like humans do. Again, it can regain balance when shoved.
Clothing
Nanotechnology in Clothing
– Nano-fibres will make garments tremendously more comfortable and durable. “By this process, the textile products can be made more attractive, strong and responsive to customers’ choice.”
– Fibre-based Nano generators will build up electrical
energy in clothing from physical movement, ultrasonic waves and even blood
flow. “If we can combine many of these fibres in double or triple layers in
clothing, we could provide a flexible, foldable and wearable power source that,
for example, would allow people to generate their own electrical current while
walking.”
– Extremely
hydrophobic (water-resistant) Nano filaments allow for completely waterproof
clothing. It can be submerged in water for two months and still remain dry
to the touch. “The water comes to rest on the top of the Nano filaments like a
fakir sitting on a bed of nails.” (Whatever that means…)
2019 Trends
Machine Learning will advance
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Artificial Intelligence (AI) innovations will
continue to bring scientific breakthroughs, in part, thanks to the vast amounts
of data that new technologies have been collecting and is now available.
In 2019, Machine Learning and Artificial
Intelligence will be embedded in the business platform creating and enabling
smart business operations.
In the Artificial Intelligence space, China is
going to leave the U.S. behind, emerging as a leader in AI developments and
applications.
Advances in Machine Learning technology and
algorithm training will result in new and more advanced AI. Autonomous
vehicles and robotics are the two industries that will see the most rapid
developments during 2019.
In 2019, there is going to be a convergence of
Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Deep Learning in
business applications. As AI and learning technologies get to work together in
order to reach better results, AI will have greater accuracy at all
levels. So far, humans have only developed Narrow Artificial Intelligence.
A superior AI, though, is in the future of mankind. How far should humans go
with AI development is still a subject of controversy. Is this really going to
be mankind’s last invention?
Quantum Computing
(Supercomputing)
Quantum Computing, still an emerging technology, is
one of the most fascinating things researchers, organizations, and governments
have been working on in this century so far. The race toward building the first
fully-functional, fully-working quantum computer (also called supercomputer) is
on.
With its impressive computational power, quantum computers will most like be a cloud service in the near future rather than on-premise machines. IBM is already offering cloud-based quantum computing services.
The first quantum computer is going to have a significant advantage over others. In 2019, the competence to achieve supercomputer supremacy will intensify. As a consequence, the last mile in the race will remain mostly secretive, for obvious reasons.
Augmented Reality (AR) and
Virtual Reality (VR)
Advances in Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), and Mixed Reality (MR), all of
which can be summarized in R+, will continue to be at the forefront of
attention during 2019 with some fascinating new practical applications for
industries.
R+, which once was only found in video gaming has
been quickly advancing to become a useful tool in industries such as
engineering design, manufacturing, healthcare, space exploration, and many
others.
In 2019, Virtual Reality is going to open up to
innovative industrial applications that will change how people work and
collaborate across geographies.
Augmented Reality has been rising in Virtual Reality’s shadow for the past year. But in 2019, AR is set to grow exponentially.
Global Internet of Things
(IoT) security breach
Hackers never sleep. Everyone in the cybersecurity
industry knows that. As long as you connect something to the Internet it
immediately becomes vulnerable.
In the past years, we have seen how hackers have turned to the unsecure Internet of Things (IoT) devices to create an extensive botnet which then they could use to push enough traffic to take down Dyn, the DNS provider. As a way to refresh your memory, here is how the DDoS attack using IoT devices happened in 2016.
A quick look at the news tells us that not much has
been learned. However, the great number of security breaches occurred during
2018 should serve as an alert of what can happen at a global scale in 2019 if
organizations don’t take the necessary precautions.
Analyst firm Gartner forecasts that 20.4 billion
connected things will be in use worldwide by 2020. And with the rise of
autonomous things –I will call this the Internet of Autonomous Things (IoAT)–
there is a good chance that many of these things will show a certain level of
weak security.
In 2019, it will be paramount for IoT manufacturers
and all of their supply chain to dramatically increase the security in all the
products that come out to market. It can be a connected refrigerator, a
robot, a drone, a vehicle, or a health tracker.
Manufacturers must implement a level of security
that keeps hackers at bay. Otherwise, there is a good chance we are going to
witness a global IoT security breach in 2019.
Blockchain technology
In 2019, for the delight of organizations,
Blockchain is going to bring the first enterprise applications in active use.
The most innovative corporations will start using Blockchain as a way to
improve collaboration.
Blockchain in 2019 comes out cryptocurrency
transaction and becomes an integral part of the business platform. Blockchain
enables transactional transparency across a variety of business functions. In
2019, Blockchain will be present in many industries at the core of business
innovation.
The current statistics shown that the sales of various tech
is now down and that people aren’t eagerly awaiting to buy the latest thing.
There are various reasons for this and to put your finger in the one would be wrong.
But it begs the question about what we do with old kit? I
have been recently taking 7 year old laptops that have still some very good kit
on board and upgrading by adding a SSD drive to them.
What do we do with our computers?
We need to look at what we now do with computers: –
A few years ago all programmes were on the computer and so was the data until we backed it up
The Internet was growing fast and we are getting faster access.
So cloud storage became a thing and has grown over the last few years to an amazing level.
“According to recent research by Nasuni, there is over 1 Exabyte of data stored in the cloud, or: 1024 Petabytes of data. 1,073,741,824 Gigabytes of data. Quintillion bytes of data” This data was 2013. 6 years ago.
These figures don’t even make sense to us. To try and comprehend this amount of data and storage becomes something we can’t relate to.
Applications are also becoming more cloud driven and this will only increase over the next few years. SAAS. (Software As A Service). Office 365 is a well-known one. Google utilities, (G-suite), etc. Monthly subscriptions and the latest and greatest always at your fingertips.
So what does this mean?
Well, the strain is being taken off a lot of standalone machines as the storage needs to be less as all data goes to the cloud. (See article on using the cloud, here.)
The machines if they have a large amount of RAM and a fast SSD drive can boot up in anything from 4 seconds to 18 seconds. (The one I worked on recently booted up in 4 seconds)
So old kit can be slightly upgraded and cope very well with
what you need it to do. Thus alleviating the direct need to buy the latest kit
all the time.
What’s best for you?
Well, that really depends on how you operate and the things
you need to achieve. But don’t immediately write off all your current kit.
Maybe it is just better connections that you need or you need to think about
the way you operate and see if there are ways it can be done better.
I am asked by a lot of people about the new SSD drives as they call them, (In fact, this type of storage has been around for a while, granted it is developing and getting smarter and better all the time.), However, I digress. They ask me if the guarantee on this type of storage is as good as the older platter hard drives that stored their data to a physical disk using magnetism.
Well, there are many factors that affect both types of storage and cause them to fail or basically run out of life.
I stumbled across an article by CNet and they explain the way both drives work and how the SSD drive is much more complicated but in essence with last much longer. They are some actions you can do to help this but don’t panic you really don’t need to do them.
Check out the article here. (All credits here to Cnet.)
I must admit that my mobiles for a good number of years have all had a sweet tooth. Being named after desserts ranging from Éclair, my first venture, through incarnations of Marshmallow to Nougat and now Pie.
For those who have no idea what I am talking about, these are all incarnations of Android operating systems for mobile phones. Being a Google man for all mobile work this has always intrigued me, and I am usually waiting for the next version and the improvements that come with it.
Android has driven the mobile market and is now the most used operating system for mobile phones worldwide, taking Apple’s crown.
Nowadays we are all fixated and linked to our mobile devices, they feed us with so much information and in my case a business owner, they help me manage my day to day activities both private and business related.
Android has always given me the flexibility and customisation that I would like in a device. Every incarnation allows me to change and alter and get the device working exactly the way I want it to.
Collecting and accessing my emails and web-based file systems. Communicating through various mediums from text-based to video calls. As more of what we do pushes onto the cloud you can expect these devices to be, literally what they have been for a while now, your main computer system. Allowing the flexibly to work anywhere and carry out complex activities and not need to be tied to a desk environment.
Here is a link to some of the new features in Android P (Pie) from our friends at Android Central
What mobile devices do you use and what operating system do they employ/ Do you see this as the way forward and the way we work changing to go more mobile?
Having been into science fiction for most of my life, I thought this would be a good time to look at Space, the Final Frontier. A phrase I have grown up with. But why this title and why this topic?
Well now as opposed to in the past we have a range of places available to store our data and as we all now data is king.
So, what final frontier do you use for your data storage?
Or do you sue multiple frontiers?
In the past, we had limited solutions available to us. Floppy disk, Hard drive in the local machine, Server space on the in-house office server. Burning data to a CDROM or DVDROM. Then USB pen drives became the major medium for storage. In fact, I come across this method the most as people move and share data with each other.
Well is that the final frontier? It certainly gives us the flexibility of having mobile data we can access everywhere and share with others if need be. That must be the solution.
Of course, intrinsically it has a whole range of problems associated with it. Losing the drive, securing the data on the drive. limited space on the drive. (However, there are some very large storage capacities now available.) A virus somehow getting on the drive and then transferring nicely to all the machines you plug it into.
The Final Frontier
Well, what is the final frontier if USB drives are flawed? Most large IT organisations are now pushing SAAS. (Software As A Service) This is normally for things like Microsoft Office Products and soon to be Windows. A monthly fee for access to software that is generally on the cloud and you get access to a web-based version and a downloadable version depending on the package you have paid for.
This whole premise of a cloud-based supply leads us to the cloud being the final frontier. A place to store all your valuable data. Also, a place where the data can be automatically backed up and shared with others securely. Access to the Internet (Cloud) is essential even though some areas can be accessed offline. The benefits are massive. All data can be shared and is automatically backed up. You can access it from any device anywhere. Work on it and collaborate on it. As technology drives us forward we will be adopting this Final Frontier More and more,
