Photos taken by NASA's Curiosity Rover on April 2nd and 3rd, 2014 have been causing a stir. The photos taken from the rover's right navigation camera shows a light off in the distance, that appears to be shooting up from the surface. The photos created such a buzz that NASA was quick to issue a statement explaining their content.
The light, seen in both photos from the right navigation camera is said not to appear in photos taken by the left camera, at the same moment. NASA says that this could possibly be the result of a cosmic ray hit or the maybe the sun reflecting off of a distant rock.
Some who have viewed the photos have claimed the photos are proof of life on Mars. NASA is not willing to damage it's international reputation for good science by making highly speculative claims. NASA is attempting to explain the phenomenon using every reasonable and realistic criteria at it's disposal.
Since Curiosity's landing on Mars in August 2012 there have been lots of new discoveries. So far, the existence of life has not been one of them. However, when one looks at photos such as those released that show a light in the distance, one can't help but look at the landscape and marvel at how similar it looks when compared with that of the Earth's. Who could help wondering that even if life isn't found there, that proof that it once was there, may still be waiting to be discovered.
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
The World Wide Web: Twenty Five Years On
On March 12th, 2014, Sir Tim Berners Lee used the 25th anniversary of his proposal for the World Wide Web as a call for an open internet. Sir Berners Lee created the the World Wide Web in 1990 and it went online in 1991. The Internet, which the World Wide Web is a part of, was created in 1962, although most sources lists it's creation in 1969.
Sir Berners Lee's message seemed to go in two different directions as he called for both "net neutrality," and DRM or Digital Rights Management. He also sees a need for government monitoring in an effort to prevent crime. He wants the Web to stay a decentralized, global network as opposed to different countries pulling away and creating their own intranets.
Sir Berners Lee wants the US to give up it's control of IANA (internet assigned numbers authority), which is the database for international domain names. He also wants the the US to revise the role of copyright laws and software patents. His view is that such laws only serve to protect the rights of movie producers as opposed to those of intellectual property holders.
Sir Berners Lee also expressed several needs that he feels should be addressed as part of the future of the Web. He believes that we need to find a way to connect the nearly 2/3 of the population that can not yet connect to the internet. He believes that there should be rules in place to govern the collection of personal data. And finally, he believes that a high performance architecture that can run on any device should be created.
I guess, and this is only my opinion, that the World Wide Web is very much a work in progress. As Sir Berners Lee himself states the Web has the potential to become a reflection of the real world. The question in my mind, as we go forward, is whether it is really possible to strike that very delicate balance of openness and monitoring that Sir Berners Lee is suggesting
Sir Berners Lee's message seemed to go in two different directions as he called for both "net neutrality," and DRM or Digital Rights Management. He also sees a need for government monitoring in an effort to prevent crime. He wants the Web to stay a decentralized, global network as opposed to different countries pulling away and creating their own intranets.
Sir Berners Lee wants the US to give up it's control of IANA (internet assigned numbers authority), which is the database for international domain names. He also wants the the US to revise the role of copyright laws and software patents. His view is that such laws only serve to protect the rights of movie producers as opposed to those of intellectual property holders.
Sir Berners Lee also expressed several needs that he feels should be addressed as part of the future of the Web. He believes that we need to find a way to connect the nearly 2/3 of the population that can not yet connect to the internet. He believes that there should be rules in place to govern the collection of personal data. And finally, he believes that a high performance architecture that can run on any device should be created.
I guess, and this is only my opinion, that the World Wide Web is very much a work in progress. As Sir Berners Lee himself states the Web has the potential to become a reflection of the real world. The question in my mind, as we go forward, is whether it is really possible to strike that very delicate balance of openness and monitoring that Sir Berners Lee is suggesting
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
Spotify's New Look
On Wednesday April 2, 2014, Spotify rolled out the new look of it's desktop and mobile applications. Gone is the familiar gray, replaced by a sleek black background and theme. Spotify, the Swedish music streaming service first debuted in 2008 in Europe and the UK. It was conceived as an alternative to illegal music downloads. Since then, Spotify has spread across the planet and has even achieved wide acceptance in the US.
The new look Spotify uses the black background to contrast the artwork. Artists' photos are presented as circles while the album art and playlists are square. The new Spotify design offers a new font style and green scroll bars, and gives more space for the search area.
Something new for Spotify is a "Your Music," section where users will be able to save music that they like, either albums or songs, to a personal collection where they can organize and browse them at a later date. Music is saved to your personal collection by way of a new + icon that you click after hovering over your favorite artists.
With so much being made of the so called, "streaming wars," I think this move by Spotify is not just a welcome change but definitely a step in the right direction.
The new look Spotify uses the black background to contrast the artwork. Artists' photos are presented as circles while the album art and playlists are square. The new Spotify design offers a new font style and green scroll bars, and gives more space for the search area.
Something new for Spotify is a "Your Music," section where users will be able to save music that they like, either albums or songs, to a personal collection where they can organize and browse them at a later date. Music is saved to your personal collection by way of a new + icon that you click after hovering over your favorite artists.
With so much being made of the so called, "streaming wars," I think this move by Spotify is not just a welcome change but definitely a step in the right direction.
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Gravity Waves: Evidence Of The Big Bang
On March 17th 2014, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics announced that they had discovered more evidence of the Big Bang, in the form of Gravity Waves. Gravity Waves were first predicted by Albert Einstein as part of his theory of General Relativity almost a century ago. The discovery also lends proof of the theory of Inflation, as put forth by Dr. Alan Guth in 1980. Gravitational Waves are ripples of energy within the fabric of space-time that move outward from the Big Bang at the speed of light.
The experiment, called, BICEP2 (Background Imaging of Cosmic Extra-galactic Polarization 2) took place at an observatory at the South Pole. Researchers used a telescope to detect a pattern of premordial B-mode polarization in the light coming from the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation or CMB. Gravitational Waves squeeze space-time as they propagate. While telescopes can't see Gravity Waves they can see the evidence they leave behind.
The polarization of light waves resulted in a pattern that was twisted and unique to the Big Bang. One researcher stated that they had made an image of of the Gravity Waves and that it "looks like a swirly pattern across the sky." This twisting of light found in the Cosmic Microwave Background is also an implication of Inflation, which is believed to be a brief but rapid expansion of the early universe.
The discovery of Gravity Waves is huge. Some believe that it's bigger than the discovery of the Higgs Boson. In my opinion, it may even one day help physicists explain the existence of Dark Energy.
The experiment, called, BICEP2 (Background Imaging of Cosmic Extra-galactic Polarization 2) took place at an observatory at the South Pole. Researchers used a telescope to detect a pattern of premordial B-mode polarization in the light coming from the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation or CMB. Gravitational Waves squeeze space-time as they propagate. While telescopes can't see Gravity Waves they can see the evidence they leave behind.
The polarization of light waves resulted in a pattern that was twisted and unique to the Big Bang. One researcher stated that they had made an image of of the Gravity Waves and that it "looks like a swirly pattern across the sky." This twisting of light found in the Cosmic Microwave Background is also an implication of Inflation, which is believed to be a brief but rapid expansion of the early universe.
The discovery of Gravity Waves is huge. Some believe that it's bigger than the discovery of the Higgs Boson. In my opinion, it may even one day help physicists explain the existence of Dark Energy.
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
HD Music With The Pono Music Player
In September 2012, Neil Young went on the David Letterman Show to announce the forth coming release of his Pono Music Player. Pono is Hawaiian for righteous. The music of the Pono Player is said to be just that. The Pono Player plays192 kHz/24 bit music files that have been taken directly from artists original masters.
On March 12th, 2014, it was announced that Young's Kickstarter campaign had raised 1.6 million dollars in 24 hours after appearing at the SXSW Music Festival. Clearly, Neil Young may be on to something. By March 17th he had raised 3.6 million dollars, and on March 19th his Kickstarter page listed him at 4.2 million dollars.
The big deal here is that the landscape of digital music delivery may be about to change. And, why not? The Mp3 has been king since the late 1990s. And sure, it's been great to be able to pack thousands of songs into a player that could fit into your back pocket. But, the Mp3 was only able to do that because it compressed the music to make the files smaller.
At first, this was done because the early World Wide Web was accessed by using a slow dial up speed of a 56 kbps modem. Music files were compressed by removing a small portion of the audio content, most notably from the higher frequencies. This made music files small enough to stream with little or no rebuffering.
Flash forward, 15 years later, where broadband has become more readily available and because of that, more popular, and you can see that the way is now clear for a shift in technology. Files like FLAC are slowly gaining acceptance and adoption. In fact, Young's Pono Player is capable of playing that file type as well.
The Pono Player sells for $399 and it plays not only 192 kHz/24 bit files, but it can also play AIFF, ALAC, WAV, and of course FLAC files. At this time there is a question as to whether, or when single tracks will be made available, but albums will sell for $15 to $25 dollars. While the cost as listed may be a little higher than Mp3s right now, you've got to believe that at some point, when other companies begin to bring their product to the market place, prices will ultimately become more user friendly.
On March 12th, 2014, it was announced that Young's Kickstarter campaign had raised 1.6 million dollars in 24 hours after appearing at the SXSW Music Festival. Clearly, Neil Young may be on to something. By March 17th he had raised 3.6 million dollars, and on March 19th his Kickstarter page listed him at 4.2 million dollars.
The big deal here is that the landscape of digital music delivery may be about to change. And, why not? The Mp3 has been king since the late 1990s. And sure, it's been great to be able to pack thousands of songs into a player that could fit into your back pocket. But, the Mp3 was only able to do that because it compressed the music to make the files smaller.
At first, this was done because the early World Wide Web was accessed by using a slow dial up speed of a 56 kbps modem. Music files were compressed by removing a small portion of the audio content, most notably from the higher frequencies. This made music files small enough to stream with little or no rebuffering.
Flash forward, 15 years later, where broadband has become more readily available and because of that, more popular, and you can see that the way is now clear for a shift in technology. Files like FLAC are slowly gaining acceptance and adoption. In fact, Young's Pono Player is capable of playing that file type as well.
The Pono Player sells for $399 and it plays not only 192 kHz/24 bit files, but it can also play AIFF, ALAC, WAV, and of course FLAC files. At this time there is a question as to whether, or when single tracks will be made available, but albums will sell for $15 to $25 dollars. While the cost as listed may be a little higher than Mp3s right now, you've got to believe that at some point, when other companies begin to bring their product to the market place, prices will ultimately become more user friendly.
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Blu Ray, The Next Generation
On Monday, March 10th 2014, Sony and Panasonic announced that they will be teaming up to develop and then release the next generation of optical media. They are calling the new media the Archival Disc. It will basically be the same size as a Blu Ray disc, but it will be readable for 50 years.
Sony and Panasonic will work on the disc together but plan to release the new disc separately in 2015. The first discs will have a capacity of 300 GB, with 500 GB and 1 TB discs to follow later. Current Blu Ray disc capacity is 25 GB.
The two companies expect to achieve the increased capacity by giving the discs three layers on each side and by making uses of multilevel recording technologies. Sony and Panasonic are aiming for the professional market for application, such as film and music recording. They also believe that the disc will be most suitable for Cloud storage.
The discs will not need any special storage considerations and will be free from temperature and humidity concerns. It's 50 year lifetime is longer then most hard drives currently in use, and it will be more durable then magnetic tape storage cartridges.
Sony and Panasonic are not currently considering the Archival Disc for home or consumer use, however, with enough consumer interest, who knows what the future may hold.
Sony and Panasonic will work on the disc together but plan to release the new disc separately in 2015. The first discs will have a capacity of 300 GB, with 500 GB and 1 TB discs to follow later. Current Blu Ray disc capacity is 25 GB.
The two companies expect to achieve the increased capacity by giving the discs three layers on each side and by making uses of multilevel recording technologies. Sony and Panasonic are aiming for the professional market for application, such as film and music recording. They also believe that the disc will be most suitable for Cloud storage.
The discs will not need any special storage considerations and will be free from temperature and humidity concerns. It's 50 year lifetime is longer then most hard drives currently in use, and it will be more durable then magnetic tape storage cartridges.
Sony and Panasonic are not currently considering the Archival Disc for home or consumer use, however, with enough consumer interest, who knows what the future may hold.
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
CarPlay
In July 2013, I posted a blog about Apple's big move into your car. At that time I mentioned that The intended device would be a digital dashboard possibly called iDash. What was also announced by Apple at that time was the release of it's iOS in the car. That system, called CarPlay, was rolled out on Monday March 3rd, 2014.
CarPlay is set to premier in high end vehicles such as the Ferrari, Mercedes Benz, and Volvo with General Motors, Ford, Honda and others adding the new system down the road. CarPlay's interface is designed to sync with your iPhone 5 or can be accessed by pressing and holding down the control button on your steering wheel and accessing SIRI.
CarPlay's main screen sits in the center of the dashboard and mirrors the iOS design, with the exception of larger icons for better viewing. There are fewer icons than iOS, but those available include, navigation, iTunes Radio, phone, and messaging. Also included are third party apps from Spotify, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, and Beats Music. Other apps will be added at Apple's discretion.
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CarPlay is set to premier in high end vehicles such as the Ferrari, Mercedes Benz, and Volvo with General Motors, Ford, Honda and others adding the new system down the road. CarPlay's interface is designed to sync with your iPhone 5 or can be accessed by pressing and holding down the control button on your steering wheel and accessing SIRI.
CarPlay's main screen sits in the center of the dashboard and mirrors the iOS design, with the exception of larger icons for better viewing. There are fewer icons than iOS, but those available include, navigation, iTunes Radio, phone, and messaging. Also included are third party apps from Spotify, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, and Beats Music. Other apps will be added at Apple's discretion.
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