by Lidia Paulinska | Jan 28, 2016
January, CES 2016 – With a theme of a summer time Beach Blowout the Pepcom Digital Experience event took place before doors officially open for CES 2016 in Las Vegas. 225 exhibitors were showcased their various products and services to the press representative hoping to attract the media eyes on their new innovation or on the update to previous version of the product. Most of their products were electronics or accessories marketplace. There were some debuts along them and some products which already got the recognition. All of them were worth to see and have the editors get a chance to put their hands on them.
The list of exhibitors held at the Pepcom Digital Experience event we stopped into along with a short description what they brought to CES 2016 in alphabetical order below:
Aerodrome – owner and operator of teaching airports for commercial drones, discussed the groundbreaking of the world’s first droneport.
Amped Wireless – showcased their latest, award-winning innovations in long range wireless solutions.
Antenna79 – showed the new one-of-kind R79X iPhone 6/6s and iPhone 6/6s Plus cases, which contain a multi-patented, micro-thin antenna that automatically couples with your phone to expand and extend your phone’s antenna.
ARM – mobile and IoT experts showcased the latest ARM-based connected devices (smartphones, wearables and IoT).
Atmel – showed the latest wearable devices to its secure, connected ZigBee-to-Wi-Fi lighting system, Wi-Fi camera, and force sensing technology on a large touchscreen.
BACtrack – showcased new developments for its award-winning BACtrack Mobile smartphone breathalyzer; featuring Bluetooth connectivity and iOS and Android compatibility.
Beddit – showed convenient and clinically proven sleep tracker that makes any bed a smart bed and helps improve sleep by combining an ultra-thin sensor placed under the bed sheet with an App on an iPhone and Apple Watch, or Android device.
Belkin- showcased a variety of new technological innovations. The Linksys brand introduced a new lineup of Wi-Fi MU-MIMO and Cable Modem solutions, while Belkin debuted new USB-C accessories and charging solutions for smartphones, tablets and smartwatches.
Bitdefender – presented its new product – BOX. As a hardware – cloud – mobile apps play, BOX is the all-inclusive cybersecurity solution packed into one smartphone controlled device that protects every device connected to the Internet.
BLACK+DECKER™ – announced SMARTECH™ Technology, which merges DIY with technology for Power Tools, Home Products, and Outdoor Products.
Bowflex – showed the first-ever smart dumbbells with advanced 3DT™ technology designed to guide users through each exercise while tracking reps and weight lifted, and wirelessly transferring data to a free mobile app.
Canon – displayed its latest products offerings in Digital Imaging solutions.
Carl Zeiss Smart Optics – launched the first curved and stylish data glass lens with unobtrusively integrated optics for augmented reality applications.
Chamberlain – demonstrated their latest strategies for creating a safer and more connected home, including the next phase in their partnership with Nest.
CooperVision – believes that it’s time to change the perception that digital eye fatigue — experienced by seven in ten adults living in the United States – should be considered “normal.”
D-Link – displayed a range of exciting new products across its home networking, home security and home automation product lines.
Dell – showed the newest additions to its consumer and commercial product portfolios, including sleek notebooks, versatile 2-in-1 devices, gaming systems, and displays.
Delta Faucet Company – made its debut CES/Pepcom appearance to showcase its latest innovation as it relates to smart home technology and water.
DocuSign – showcased its smart contracts and payments prototype co-developed with Visa for its Connected Car Initiative. The payment app revolutionizes auto-leasing and buying by making it 100% digital so consumers can sign a lease, select insurance and more right from the driver’s seat in the showroom.
Epson America, Inc. – showcased the WorkForce ET-4550 EcoTank printer, which comes with up to two years of ink in the box; the Home Cinema 1040 and Home Cinema 1440, MHL-enabled home theater projectors featuring high brightness, Full HD 1080p and high contrast.
EyeLock – showcased iris identity authentication developed for end-points across the Internet of Things.
Garmin – showcased its latest GPS navigation and wireless devices and applications that are designed for people who live an active lifestyle.
GE Lighting – showcased its Bluetooth-connected LED product family – C by GE, designed for sleep and everyday illumination.
HARMAN – JBL and Harman Kardon showed the next generation in wireless audio.
Hunter Fan Company – the manufacturer of ceiling fans, debuted two Wi-Fi enabled fans at CES: the all-new designs, named Symphony and Signal, retail for less than $400 and can be connected with other Wi-Fi enabled devices in the home.
Hyundai – showcased an augmented reality owner’s manual app called Virtual Guide.
iBaby Labs – presented Connected Home at its best with iBaby’s IoT solutions – from baby monitors and home monitors to air quality trackers.
IEEE – featured out-of-this-world technologies through truly unique AR/VR environments.
LifeProof is unveiling the newest addition to the waterproof case line.
Lutron Electronics – a leading manufacturer of energy-saving light, shade, and temperature control solutions, showcased new features of its HomeKit-enabled Caséta Wireless system, an affordable, expandable, smart home solution available in both DIY and “do it for me” options.
Master Lock – showed its new line of Bluetooth Smart Padlocks, a new level of convenience and security that turns your smart device into a key.
Moshi – debuted on-ear headphones, and presented stylish tech-savvy bags and new portable batteries.
Nest – showed it’s full family of products.
Nikon Inc. – showcased its latest DSLR, Nikon 1 and COOLPIX cameras as well its NIKKOR lenses and accessories.
OSRAM SYLVANIA – showed the newest additions to its smart connected LIGHTIFY® portfolio, including the industry-first LIGHTIFY Switch and Outdoor Flex RGBW Strips.
Performance Designed Products (PDP), the #1 third party accessory manufacturer in North America introduced a new product for the gamers.
Petcube – maker of the Petcube Camera that allows owners to watch, talk to, and play with pets on their iOS and Android devices unveiled early details of Petcube Protect: a new cloud-based subscription service that gives owners peace of mind when it comes to their pets and their home property.
Plantronics – showcased its top 2015 products including the CES Innovations Award winning BackBeat SENSE and Voyager Focus UC.
Rambus – showcased its revolutionary Lensless Smart Sensors, a revolutionary new approach to optical sensing that delivers on package, power and price by replacing traditional lenses with tine diffractive optics.
Raumfeld – extends its product portfolio of WiFi speakers to include TV and movie sound with the introduction of the world’s first WiFi sounddeck for use as both a television and music sound system. A new soundbar with innovative flat wireless subwoofer was presented.
SanDisk – showed its latest mobile memory solutions with supersized capacities for fast and easy content transfer and expanded storage for all popular mobile devices and its brand new, rugged portable SSD for techies who need fast, reliable storage on-the-go.
Schlage – showed its most advanced lock system offerings to date, Schlage Control™ Smart Locks and The Schlage Sense™ Smart Deadbolt providing smart home access for both renters and home owners.
Seagate – showcased the company’s latest storage offerings from both the LaCie and Seagate branded product lines.
Shure – showcased the newest additions to its robust listening portfolio, including its exclusive innovation: the premium KSE1500 Electrostatic Earphone System—the world’s first Sound Isolating™ electrostatic earphone and amplifier system, for use with portable and traditional media players—and the new standalone Shure SHA900 Portable Listening Amplifier, designed for use with premium-quality headphones and earphones.
TomTom will be showing its new GPS fitness watch with on-board music – TomTom Spark, its action camera that enables footage editing and sharing in minutes – TomTom Bandit, and its new Golf GPS watch – TomTom Golfer.
Toshiba – showed its latest innovations in PC and Branded Storage.
TP-LINK – showcased the next evolution of 802.11ad wireless technology, products for the smart home and its comprehensive line of innovative routers.
TripIt – showed new additions to trip planner services.
TYLT – unveiled several new wireless chargers capable of charging 3X faster than the pre-2015 standard.
Wacom – showcased the power digital stationery, turning notes into text files with the brand-new ink-to-text conversion.
WD – showed new products, including the My Cloud Mirror Gen 2!
Whirlpool – showed the completely and intuitively re-imagined, pantry-inspired shelving system in the Whirlpool® Smart French Door Refrigerator that uses space more efficiently among with leading French Door Bottom Mount refrigerators
Withings – showed the connected health revolution products.
ZAGG – highlighted its latest mobile keyboards and portable power and introduced new products for audio lovers and social media users.
Zolt – featured the world’s smallest, lightest and smartest multi-device laptop charger, capable of charging today’s laptops and two mobile devices simultaneously.
by Lidia Paulinska | Jan 27, 2016
January, CES 2016 – At the press day, a prelude for the Consumer Electronics Show 2016, Shawn DuBravac, Chief Economist of the Consumer Technology Association presented to the media, the sales and forecast trends for the consumer electronics industry for the coming year. He presented there are five factors that were developing over the years and are now a reality of daily-life. These are: ubiquitous computing, cheap digital storage, connectivity, the proliferation of digital devices and the sensor’ization of tech. Coming to the CES ten or fifteen years ago the electronics industry was focused on what is technologically possible, how far we can push the technology boundaries. In the last few months it has changed, and it shifting from what is possible to what is meaningful. In other words, it can be described as moving forward from solving one fragmented task to the meaningful solution for the problem. Once the technology foundations were set, the door was open to having an important and useful quality and purpose. That also got us to the Inflection Point for the Consumer Tech Industry. Now, 51% of the revenue in the consumer electronics marketplace is driven by 5 categories: smartphones, tablets, laptops, desktops and TV. They created a little over half of the revenue in the electronics industry. But that is going to change soon. Sometime next year the revenue generated by those 5 categories will be less than half because other categories are growing on fast pace.
The Chief Economist announced the new trends that will be leading the industry in 2016. They are: Ambient Sensing, Aggregated Learning and Maturing of Nascent Ecosystems.
The Ambient Sensing trend started in early 2014 when Mimo Smart baby breathing and activity monitor was announced at CES. Mimo allows real-time monitoring of the sleeping baby by sending a message right on the phone, no matter where the parent is. It sends an alert message when the factors such as breathing, body position or temperature change. It is an example of capturing the environment of the baby sleeping, measuring it and notifying the parents. At CES 2016 as indication of more meaningful use we have: Ecoisme, a single device to track the energy usage of each individual appliance or gadget at home, DietSensor, a nutrition coach for food and Sensum, a software platform for measuring emotions and behaviors responds. This is the direction that the industry is heading.
The second trend stated by DuBravac was Aggregated Learning. The last year it was predictive customization of Netflix and its redefining recommendation. The other example of Aggregated Learning is how quickly technology advanced. It can be shown by following the history of word error rate in speech recognition. In 1995 it was almost 100%, in 2013 it dropped to 23%, and to 5% in 2015. Within 18 months the improvement that was made was phenomenal from 23% to 5%. It was possible by sharing the information in different platforms. In 2016 the picture of Aggregated Learning is the “roadway” to define what the Autonomous Vehicles are? By now Google Autonomous Cars have been driven over 1.6 million kilometers. Soon all information will be shared with all fleet of the vehicle and stop signs and traffic lights. Chief Economist pointed out 5 levels of Automation in cars: LO – No-Automation, L1 Function-specific Automation, L2 Combined Function Automation, L3 Limited Self-Driving Automation and L4 Full Self-Driving Automation. DuBravac predicted we will see full autonomous vehicles by 2020, with 1 million sold by 2030. By 2045 half of the cars sold may be fully autonomous.
The third trend Maturing of Nascent Ecosystems, is associated with the categories that growing on fast pace such as Virtual Reality, Wearables and Drones. With several notable VR headsets as such Ricoh Theta and the Panono 360 camera, coming to market in 2016, CTA expects unit sales to increase by 500 percent over the last year, to reach 1.2 million units sold. Total revenue is projected to reach $540 million, a 440% increase. Wearables that are led by the popularity of Fitness Activity Trackers and Smart Watches, unit sales among all wearables in 2016 are forecast to reach 38.4 million units. Fitness activity trackers volumes will hit 17.4 million units in 2016, a 12% increase in one year, with revenue reaching $1.3 billion. Smart Watches are expected to increase 28% to 13.6 million units sold, earning $3.7 billion in revenue, and an increase of 22%. In this category in 2016 we will see Reliefband, Oara Ring, Lumiwave, Ombra and hexoskin, that making their splash at CES. The total forecast for 2016 drone sales tops 2.8 million units, up to 149% from 2015, and $953 million in shipment revenues (a 115% increase from last year). In that category CES 2016 will show Onagofly and Fleye.
The Chief Economist of CTA also presented the forecast sales for other categories such as 4K TV and 3D Printers. After a banner year of sales growth in 2015 that saw LCD TV shipments climb 10% to top 39 million units, the TV market should reach a steady state in 2016. CTA projects revenues will reach $19 billion for all TV sets and displays in 2016, on par with 2015, as volumes drop 1% just under 40 million units. 2016 will be a phenomenal year for 4K Ultra High-Definition (UHD) TVs, driven in part by the market introduction of next-generation technologies, with shipment of 4K UHD displays projected to reach 13 million units (an 83% increase), CTA expects revenue from 4K UHD displays in 2016 to top $10 billion, marking a 65% increase. The expanding diversity of 3D Printing capabilities will drive the sector’s growth in 2016. CTA expects 3D printer sales to increase 64% from 2015, to reach 179 thousand units sold, with total revenue of $152 million, a 38% increase. CTA expects the Smart Homes technology category, including smart thermostats, smart smoke and CO2 detectors, IP/Wi-Fi cameras, smart locks, smart home systems, and smart switches, dimmers and outlets to reach 8.9 million units sold in 2016, a 21 % increase, with $1.2 billion in revenue.
It is supposed to be another great year for consumer electronics industry.
by Lidia Paulinska | Jan 27, 2016
January, CES 2016 – At the press event on January 4, Steve Koenig, Senior Director, Market Research presented Technology World Tour. Every year GfK and CTA announced Global Consumer Technology Spending Forecasts based on statistics from more than 340,000 retail stores in 80 countries. The analysis consider the geographical and financial aspects in electronics industry with separate numbers for mature (North America, Western Europe and developed APAC) and developing (Central/Eastern Europe, latin America, Emerging APAC, Middle East/Africa) markets.
How the Global Market 2016 looks like? Are Global technology spending on track?
Steve Koenig mentioned few reasons responsible for declining spending: Strong Dollar, that is unfavorable to conversion of global currencies; ASPs trending lower in categories with big impact such as smartphones (-7%), TV (-2%) and laptops (-4%); Global unit growth is moderate or negative in key sectors such as TV (1%), smartphones (8%), laptops (-3%) and tablets (-8%); Economic weakness in several emerging markets such as Latin America and Central/Eastern Europe; finally the China slowdown, the country is transitioning to consumption/services that has spillover effect on commodity dependent economies.
In the Global Tech Industry the new/nascent categories are playing bigger role in global growth. They are Smart Home, Virtual and Augmented Reality (VR/AR), Drones, 3D Printing, Digital Health Devices, Automotive and Robotics.
Steve Koenig, who like to refer the 7 best tech categories (tablets, laptops, cellphones, TV, smartphones, desktops and cameras) as Magnificent Seven presented their strength for 2016 versus the last year. It seems like they are losing their impact. In 2015 their revenue share was 79%, reaching $761 billion. It 2016 it is 78% and $740 million accordingly.
According to Koenig, the Global Sales by Product similar like in 2014 and 2015, remains mixed in 2016.
by Lidia Paulinska | Jan 18, 2016
Georges Bizet (1838-1875) the renowned French composer best known for his ground-breaking opera Carmen which premiered in Paris in1875 and is indisputably one of the most popular operas of all time.
Exactly three months after it’s opening night however, and on his sixth wedding anniversary, Bizet died of a heart attack at the age of 36 as a result of a chill he contracted after a swimming competition. Unfortunately, Carmen had not been well received initially since it was the first time a major opera realistically depicted everyday characters in leading roles rather than the traditional subject matter featuring the lives of royalty or mythological figures. Carmen herself, for example, is a cigarette-smoking, Gypsy factory worker of questionable virtue and this definitely did not set well with the opera-going public of the time.
Twelve years prior to Carmen in 1863, Bizet had composed another opera, Les Pecheurs de Perles (“The Pearl Fishers”), traditionally considered to be a minor effort and roundly criticized for it’s poor libretto and lack of any rousing arias while acknowledging adequate choric offerings. And although these shortcomings seem to hold true to this day, nonetheless, New York’s Metropolitan Opera succeeded in staging a captivating and often scenically stunning production viewed by thousands of opera lovers in neighborhood theaters throughout the U.S. thanks to Fathom Events and The Met: Live in HD series, currently celebrating it’s 10th Anniversary.
The scene is a pearl-diving village in the Far East, presumably Sri Lanka, and the plot deals with Leila, a Hindu virgin priestess and two men Zurga and Nadir who are vying for her affections. In this traditional love triangle, Nadir, played by tenor Matthew Polenzani, triumphs and he and Leila, depicted my mezzo soprano Diana Damrau, escape a fated death as baritone Mariusz Kwiecien as the vengeful Zurga, burns down the village in a rage of jealous spite.
All of the players perform credibly, perfectly vocalizing Bizet’s Romantically derivative yet rather engaging score, but the scene-stealer is the scenic values themselves. The set is appropriately functional and admirably serves the demands of the production, but the real spectacle is the stunning computer generated projections thanks to the magical wizardry of 59 Productions who are credited with production design. The opening scene for example is an underwater projection which takes up the entire proscenium of the Met stage and superimposed on the screen are two pearl fishers, actually ballet dancers supported by invisible cables a la Cirque de Soleil, who appear to be rhythmically swimming in a deep blue “ocean,’ complete with bubbles and rays of sunlight streaming through it’s depths. Sergei Diaghilev, the iconic Russian empresario who in 1909 founded the Ballets Ruses, was once asked by a set designer what he wanted by way of scenery, to which Diaghilev replied, “Astonish me!” and that’s exactly what the production design team succeeded in doing in this captivating production. We were astonished!
On balance, a valuable and entertaining theatrical experience and an opportunity to witness a pearl of an opera delicately extracted from an oyster shell of near oblivion in a lovely offering by The Met. Thank you and Bravo!
by Lidia Paulinska and Hugh McMahon
by Lidia Paulinska | Jan 17, 2016
January, 2016, Storage Visions – Mark Schiller is Executive Director of Trusted Computing Group, which provides security standards to the computing industry. The group is a collection of over 100 partners that include commercial companies, government participation, academia and experts in the field of security and privacy. Schiller covered the challenges facing security and protection of stored content, and shared his view on SEDs (Self Encrypting Drives).
Why Self-Encrypting Drives?
There are world-wide financial and legal consequences for data loss and data breeches and the occurrence of such events have been increasing. SEDs create a layer of protection from that happening as well as providing compliance with the safe harbor laws in the most of the US and EU for loss of devices that are secured with encrypted data. Schiller spoke after Michael Willett underlined the main reason of using SEDs. The SEDs have a lower overhead for encryption and decryption than software encryption. Another feature is SEDs allow for a fast crypto-erase that sanitizes drive data before drive replacement, repair, de-commissioning, re-purposing and end of life.
He summarized the talk with SSDs are the new standard for fast storage media. In combination with the NVMe storage interface, they are driving higher performance and lower latency solutions, meaning data safety can be realized without the negative impact of software encryption on system performance.
More information about Trusted Computing Group at www.drivetrust.com
by Lidia Paulinska | Jan 17, 2016
January, Storage Visions – Michael Willett from Bright Plaza moderated the Storage Vision’s panel discussion about security and protection. He stated that the idea of encryption being built into the hardware is becoming universal. There are many benefits leaning on the concept of Hardware-based Self-Encryption being a better option over Software-based Encryption. First is the transparency and easy management. SEDs (Self Encrypting Drives) come from the factory with an encryption key already generated so there is no encrypting key to manage. Second, the Life-cycle cost. In the software case, it is an on-going cost versus pro-rated into the initial drive for SED. Third is disposal or re-purposing cost for the drive. It is easy to erase the on-board encryption key for SEDs providing safe disposal. There is also no problem with re-encryption as there is no need to ever re-encrypt the data. The last benefits are in (A) performance: there is no degradation in SED performance; (B) standardization: the entire HDD industry is building to the TCG/SED specifications, and finally (C) there is no interference with upstream processes or use.
The session covered the challenges facing security and protection of stored content, including content on mobile devices as well as at home and in the cloud. It explored the reasons why OPAL based client encrypted storage is a key factor in data security, Standardized security products are making data security easier than ever while enabling desired content sharing.
by Lidia Paulinska | Jan 17, 2016
Content matters more and more as there are more tools for people to capture it, make it useful and share with others – stated Tom Coughlin at Storage Visions Conference 2016 that took place January 4-5 at Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas. Two days conference was offering the insights into the storage industry.
As the highlights of the passing year Coughlin mentioned lots of mergers and acquisitions that took place: as such Dell buying EMC, WD buying SanDisk, NetApp buying SolidFire. 2015 was a year of emergence of NVMe specification and work on NVMe optimization programming. Samsung introduced 3rd generation 3D NAND SSDs as well as all the other FLASH companies. Intel/Micron announced 3D Xpoint.
What to expect in 2016 and beyond? Definitely Panoramic Video and VR along with IoT will drive content growth in the next years. Here are the numbers that were presented to support this statement.
As the summary for years ahead we will see: continued consolidation in the storage industry, storage capacity growth with IoT, Big Data and more, mobile consumers get more storage as flash price goes down, demand goes up, greater movement of content to the cloud, more software defined storage services, HDD shift to capacity continues (12TB in 2016?), shift to 3D flash with majority of production by 2018.
by Lidia Paulinska | Jan 2, 2016
Jimmy Wales, co-founder of Wikipedia, dreamt about a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge. In 2001, he founded Wikipedia, making that dream a reality. Today, Wikipedia is the seventh most visited website in the world. There are 500 million unique visitors every month visiting the site from every country in the world. Wikipedia contains nearly 5 million articles, that is being added to at the rate of 750 articles every day.
Wikipedia is a free encyclopedia that is written by thousands of volunteers, and has content in 288 languages. Key statistics for the site are: 8 languages that have over 1,000,000 entries; 46 languages have at least 100,000 entries; 120 languages have at least 10,000 entries and 223 languages have at least 1,000 entries. For Wikipedia, “free” means not just only no cost for the readers or contributors, but also freedom of speech. Everyone can copy, modify, and redistribute the content, both commercially and for private use.
In 2004 Jimmy Wales and Angela Beesley Starling announced the creation of their next project named Wikia. Wikia follows the same success model of Wikipedia. Wikia is a free web hosting service for wikis. The site is free of charge and derives its income from advertising. It publishes all user-provided text under copyleft licenses (https://copyleft.org/) . Today Wikia has more than 136 million readers every month and is written in 200 language.
Jimmy Wales dream about “the sum” of all human knowledge came true twice, due to his perseverance and his decision on sharing the vision of his dream with others.
by Lidia Paulinska | Dec 16, 2015
The Connected Car Expo took place in November 17-19 at Marriott Hotel in the downtown Los Angeles. The Press and Trade event that unites automotive and technology professionals in the connected car industry this year again gathered the major top players and media.
In his openings remarks the mayor of Los Angeles Eric Garcetti stated that people are waiting for time that technology liberate them from daily traffic daily and increase the safety they seek on the streets. And, it is the right moment when the technology is embracing the future instead of chasing it away.
Michelle Avary, VP Automotive Product & Strategy at Aeris and CCE Advisory Board member presented Top Ten Automotive Startups. Michelle is also a Founder of Women in Automotive Technology startup, Silicon Valley based networking group. She shared the outline of the selection criteria that CCE Advisory Board use to choose the notable startups in connected cars field. That are four broad categories: safety, mobility, connectivity and autonomous. The Winners of 2015 Top Ten Startups of the New Automotive Industry are: Capio, High Mobility, TriLumina, Getaround, Elio Motors, Sober Steering, Driversiti, Quanergy, Nebula Systems and HopSkipDrive.
Then CCE Emcee Brian Colley, Editor-at-large and host of CNET On Cars, took the stage to address the status of connected cars industry. What is the future of our streets and our cities? It can be called the connected cars era.
For the first time in 2015 an autonomous car drove across U.S. coast-to-coast road trip. On the panel The Long and Winding Road to Autonomous three experts: Prof. Dr. Thomas Form, Head of Electronics and Vehicle Research at Volkswagen, Brian Droessler, VP of Software & Connected Solution at Continental North America and Ph.D. Gary O’Brian, Global Director of Advanced Engineering at Delphi Electronics and safety discussed what the industry has done and what still need to be done in the road to highly automated driving.
What is the future of our streets and our cities?
As we have seen the last few years, it is conversion to digital and electronics devices that have been flowing into the cars. In the next 10 years we will be seeing a change in the information, entertainment, navigation and logistics in our vehicles. There are changes on how we relate to the cars, how we fit with them and what we expect from them. The connected cars are taking their seat at the table in electronic digital connected world and are a part of the Internet of Things (IoT).
When we think about technology, the mental picture that comes to our mind is: smartphones, smartwatches, and tablets. It should be so, because we have many types of devices in our lives. The reality is, the electronics and electronics devices are not technology. Technology is a word that we can find in dictionary, a word that pre-dates the era of electronics and pre-dates of the era of electricity. Technology by a definition is: “A branch of knowledge that deals with the creation and use of technical means and their interrelation with life, society, and the environment”. Technology in simply words means how we get things done. In the vehicles it means how we get where we want to go; how we do it efficiently, comfortably, and safely with the vehicle serving us, as oppose to us have to alter our life around the need of transportation.
There are 4 great challenges and requirements that we need to overcome and meet for connected cars:
Transparent – limit distraction via using the clean interface on the dashboard. In the past we had the remote controls that were extremely complicated and the customers were lost and did not use many of the functions. Simply too much was too much. That cannot be the case for the car, the connectivity has to allow for focus on the driving, not the interface.
Intuitive – Easy to understand how to use and why, because the connected cars speak to the entire population: people in different professions, tech geeks, TV enthusiasts, etc. Why means they need to understand– what is a benefit for a customer to have connected car, autonomous car, why they need that future.
Intimate – the internet is the future of the car. When we look at the cars now, the relationship between us and car is dumb in many aspects. The car doesn’t worry about you, the car doesn’t care about you, it doesn’t know more about you from the day bought and brought it home to the day you sell it. It is itself. The car is just kind of a cold machine for the most part. In the future, the personalization will be flowing into the car through the connectivity, and make it better today than was yesterday. More about me the driver, better tuned to what I need from it. This experience as well as services that we bring in, as the driver, I need them to follow me into the car, not just have them live on my phone, my desktop, my tablet, my TV or my home.
Constant – Reflecting the kinds of services that are second nature outside the car. At present, the car is an island. You have a routine of behaviors in your life, then, when you get into the car, the behaviors change, it is different. The view is different for the navigation dash, it use different media services. In the cars we feel a little cut off from our regular life, sort of an awkward little connection to those things we do outside of the car. This will be changed when we have constant heartbeat of all our services, relationships, personalization and digital world following us into the cars consistently. This will make the transportation aspect of our life consistent with the rest so it feels like the same space we live in, just one that is moving.
This is the goal of the connected car and what it brings, a new portion of our life that is now a continuation of the way we live, not a break from the real life or being held hostage and in limbo in traffic. Work, social interaction, entertainment, enjoyment of the trip, recognition of who you are and what you do will all be part as the new experience for getting from point A to point B in a car in the next few years.
Text by Lidia Paulinska and Tomasz Kolodziejak
by Lidia Paulinska | Dec 10, 2015
The very words “Bolshoi Ballet” strike awe in the hearts of every devoted balletomane world-wide, and justifiably so. And on December 6, 2015, the world was indeed rewarded with an outstanding production of John Neumeier’s classic The Lady of the Camellias direct from Moscow compliments of Fathom Events, featuring the exquisite Svetlana Zakharova in the lead role of Marguerite, the consumptive courtesan who falls tragically in love with the young Armand, performed with style and strength by Edvin Revazov. This is a true ensemble production in which every element is essential to the outstanding success of the whole.
The story is a familiar one of star-crossed lovers based on Alexandre Dumas’ 19th century novel and operatically immortalized in La Traviata. Neumeier’s lyrical interpretation possesses a meditative, almost hypnotic quality as his dancers flow magnificently through Frédéric Chopin’s exquisitely romantic music, performed on pianos both on stage and in the orchestra pit and backed by the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra under the able direction of Pavel Sorokin.
This is a relatively brief, beautifully-paced ballet, running as it does in three, forty-five minute acts with two twenty-five minute intermissions. Because of this compactness, the audience is left in the end with a sense of peaceful contentment due in part to the work’s magically contemplative pace which mitigates to some degree the tragic nature of the storyline. The sheer beauty of the movement, the music, and the entire miss en scene imparts to us a serenity that defies analysis and lies beyond critical judgement; we select from the experience what we will, meditating on the aesthetics and making them our own. And that is the sign of a true classic.
by Lidia Paulinska | Dec 8, 2015
The latest version of Beddit products, the sleep trackers that monitor our sleep, has a Bluetooth connection so it can be connected to you smart phone overnight. The brand is primary focus on Apple devices but it also has an app on the Google play. Recently the software was updated to add an iWatch connection. The iWatch application has all the same functions as the phone app, plus some additional features. The screen is adjusted to the smaller view, so it requires 3-4 swipes to see the information normally on a smart phone display.
Both iPhone and iWatch have an easy process to install the apps from the iTunes site. The Google Play app for Android is also easy to find and install. Once installed, the app has a single start button to operate, so it is very easy to use as well. The information are collected overnight and can be simple to understand and analyze.
As everyone with the sleeping problems knows it is difficult to fall asleep again after waking up during the night. The Beddit sleep monitor helps you figure out your sleep cycles and the product does not need any uncomfortable straps on the person being monitored that can affect their sleeping. The unit has a band that goes under the sheets and attaches with adhesive to the edge of the mattress while the sensor goes under the sleeping person about chest height.
The Beddit sleep monitor is currently available at on-line and retail outlets. For the holidays, they have a bundle with an anti-snore pillow that is highly recommended for the people with mild sleep apnea. The sleep monitor with an anti-snore pillow are available at Brookstone.
