Poster Presentation

I have to admit that despite my initial reactions upon starting this project; I really ended up enjoying this. It was much different than any other presentation I have presented given I couldn't use my traditional medium, power point. Moreover, I was very close to many other people presenting at the same time and sometimes I would get distracted and forget what i was saying. Thirdly, I had to present my entire presentation in under a minute so I really had to speak fast, efficiently, and get my ideas and points across very quickly. One thing that did catch me off guard was since I was positioned near the back, for the first 25 minutes or so there was nobody coming back to look at our presentations because everyone would start near the front, send their 3 tweets and leave so I was a little disappointed I didn't get to present my ideas to more people. I found out many interesting things that people presented and I believe the class as a whole did a very good job and took this project seriously. It was a lot of fun and I would definitely have your class do this again next year. Here is a picture of the technology I chose to talk about and shows someone playing guitar hero via the use of just his hands! i.e. (air guitar!) Here is a link to the full length video.

http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/23813/?a=f

E-Voting... Good idea?

A while back during lecture we were presented with the idea of how voting might work within a century from now and how voting might take place all online. At first I did not even like the sound of this for many reasons. The first one being, how reliable could this new e-voting technology really be? If everything is done online, how would we have any physical evidence of who voted and verification? Meaning, e-voting to me seems to put the all America's trust with computers and the I.T. department running these systems and who's to say these guys aren't getting paid off to add a couple million votes? After all, the way I see it, there really isn't any way as of now to trace who actually voted. Call me a skeptic but are we getting that lazy that Americans simply cannot wait in line to cast votes? Do not get me wrong, for the physically disabled I believe this would be a great idea but for everyone else, we can wait in line. There are some good things that come with this like reduced paper consumption, most likely a huge increase in voter turn out, and no lines but i really do not like the idea that we put our trust into the hands of computers and the "people" handling these votes. They would have to come up with some way to physically make it impossible for anybody, including the guys running these computers, to add any extra votes and prevent any inside jobs. So until this is developed I am completely against E-Votoing.

Purdue Envision Center

Today we had lecture in the Purdue envision center and to be honest I was quite impressed with all the latest technology we had. What I was most impressed with was the immerse 3-D technology and the CAVE technology. I wasn't quite sure what to expect but when I put the glasses on it made a world of a difference. At first it gave me a headache and I wasn't sure how to react but after a while I got used to it. The graphics weren't all that impressive given an x box 360 or play station 3 had three to four times more impressive graphics but the 3-D effects and real life feeling was very good. It really seemed as though chairs were popping out at you and all sorts of things could be reached out and touched like ordinary objects in real life. I was most impressed with the immersed feeling you got when just looking around at the 3D environment as a whole. I cant wait to see how this system will keep improving with age.

Cyborg Technology

Today in class we watched a series of very neat and interesting videos about robotics and cyborg technology. I was most impressed with the robot that looked like a human, could walk like a human, and even run like a human. It was very funny to see the robot run. Moreover, as far as cyborg technology, I was blown away with the technology that exists for people with muscle disabilities. For instance, the computer that could read someones mind by wearinf a cap that could tell what letter you were thinking of. I was shocked how accurate it was. Moreover, I was more blown away with the computer that was hooked up the that lady's brain and she could control the mouse by simply thinking about where she wanted to move the mouse. This was stuff that was science fiction 5 years ago but now fiction. I look forward to how new technology will keep advancing with every passing generation.

Privacy in the 21st Century

I believe privacy is a very important issue in dealing with the Internet and the 21st century. If you think about it most all paperwork has been conformed to an online form including online billing, bank statements and tax forms just to name a few. Therefore, people must be certain that is information is kept private from the general public and rest assured that that identity will not be stolen. I know every time I log into my bank account there is a little thought in the back of my mind that always worries me about seeing a big fat zero in my remaining balance because of online fraud or identity theft. Many banks have taken grave measures to reduce online identity theft but nonetheless the thought still crosses my mind. Therefore, privacy is a huge factor in dealing with he future of technology and the public needs to have that peace of mind that all their important information will remain private and kept is a safe and secured spot.

My Thoughts On Twitter

So I finally gave in and signed up for a Twitter account. I always told my friends I wouldn't ever do it but I had to for class. After signing up and learning the ways of Twitter I am a little unsure of the purpose of this. It seems as if facebook can already do this with your status update. It seems as if Twitter is similar to a facebook wall but it updates a lot more frequently. I do not think I will use Twitter all that much simply because I don't want to know what everyone is doing 24/7. I have texting on my cell and view my facebook twice a day and that is more than enough to keep up with all the people I want to "follow" or keep up with. The one cool feature I do like about Twitter is I can follow some famous people and know what they are up to on a daily basis. Aside from that I am not a fan of Twitter and don't think it is all that useful or interesting...

Purdue Raises Tuition Fees

Purdue University wants to raise tuition an unprecedented 5.2 percent for in state students and 6 percent for out of state students. This is the biggest increase among all public Indiana Universities. I understand Purdue University is investing most of this money into the university building new state of the art facilities, dorms, and parking garages but do we really need brand new side by side practice football fields, basketball arena, and workout facility? Do not get me wrong, I am all for having new facilities but not during these tough economic times. Purdue needs to weigh its options and only put money towards projects that truely benefit the students and not the athletes. I am aware that Purdue athletics are a means of making money but I think they would have been just fine leaving Mackey Arena as is for the next four to five years and waiting for the economy to bounce back. With that said, I can't complin too much because I truely am excited to see how everything will look when it's finished. I just took a brief tour through the new Armstrong Building last week and to be honest I was speechless. It was an amazing building with all kinds of state of the art work shop areas so as long as my raises tuition expenses keeps getting invested towards projects like this buidling I will be satisified. I just hope Purdue takes into account this current financial situation we are all in and only raises it in moderation.