It didn’t take long for Google’s foray into the social media realm. Google describes it as a “a new way to start conversations about the things you find interesting and share updates, photos, videos and more.1″ Google’s Buzz takes aim squarely at Twitter and Facebook. Google wants the first destination when logging onto the internet to be your GMail account. Since it cannot compete directly with those established brands it had to do something different. They created Buzz, “a distributed social networking service.” It acts as an organizer for all the social media. People within the industry did not seem to surprised at the news. Apparently, Google has been trying to make Gmail into something more than just e-mail for quite sometime.

While Google may not be reinventing social media as we know it, it is certainly making an effort to streamline it. If you can’t beat em’ join em’ or in this case make it your one stop shop for em’. I’ve never been too into the Facebook or Twitter phenomenon but putting everything in one place just makes sense. The Feed seems to be an area of the biggest improvement. Just as you search google and are presented with the results in relevant order so will the ‘news feed’ in Buzz. Facebook and Twitter inundate you often times with useless or uninteresting posts. The user becomes the filter and must search out what he/she wants to know. Buzz uses algorithms to present you with relevant, interesting information you want to see. A great comparison can be drawn between what Google is trying to do with Buzz and what Microsoft is trying to do with Bing. Buzz tries to organize the way we interact and communicate with people on the internet. Bing tries to organize the way we search the internet. This is made more interesting by the fact that Bing is a direct shot at Google’s bread and butter, the search. Microsoft is a stakeholder in Facebook.

1. http://mashable.com/2010/02/09/google-buzz/

In 1994, film-maker James Cameron began his work on the Avatar project by writing an 80 page script for the movie. Cameron anticipated beginning work on the film after the completion of Titanic in 1997, but according to Cameron, at the time, the necessary technology did not yet exist. James Cameron’s vision for the film nearly 15 years before its release was way ahead of its time, and still pushed the limits of film making when production began in 2006.

When making this film, Cameron wanted viewers to not only feel like they were part of the world where the alien “Na’vi” lived, but strove to show that the alien creatures had human-like emotions. To do this, Cameron built a stage that consisted of up to 96 hanging cameras. These state-of-the-art IMAX cameras were placed around the perimeter of the set to capture all of the actors’ movements. Cameras were also connected through helmet-like devices and pointed at actors’ faces to capture all of their emotions. During later stages of production, the set and actors captured by the cameras were replaced with computer-generated images of the jungle-like environment where the film takes place and the Na’vi creatures.

Na'vi creature from Avatar

On the set, all of the actors and props were marked with reflective dots so the cameras could grid-track their precise movements. Computers then recorded the dots’ movements so they could digitally assemble wire-frame skeletons of the creatures in the film. This technology allowed the film-makers to translate all of the actors’ precise movements into the film, yet have them look completely different on screen than their actual, physical appearance.

This same reflective-dot technology was also used by James Cameron to shoot “big, aerial scenes” in the film. These scenes show creatures from the movie flying through extremely detailed environments. Flight paths were created by equipping small wire models of the various creatures with reflective-dots, then moving them around the set like paper airplanes. While moving them around, the film makers could look at the monitors that were connected to computers and see what the movement would look like on screen.

Avatar: Motion Capture Mirrors Emotions on YouTube

Adding another level of technical difficulty to making this movie, Cameron decided to film everything in 3-D. The most difficult part of doing so was putting the human characters into the computer-generated, 3-D world he had created. To do so, Cameron used the new Fusion Camera System, which uses small, high-definition digital image sensors. This allows the lenses to sit closer together than traditional, bulky cameras. The lenses can then be angled during a shot to focus on images near by or further away, just as the human eye does. This new 3-D system allows viewers to capture images on screen at realistic depths. The viewing experience provided by this new technology is unlike anything ever used before and helped James Cameron produce a movie that has already grossed over $2 billion since its release.

Quick Excerpt of Ipad Unveiling The iPad was unveiled last week in San Francisco as many of you know, and it is Apples response to Amazon’s Kindle and other e-readers out on the market. Steve Jobs explained how the new device will have endless possibilities for people to build their own apps and develop their own programs. Travis Boatman, who is a vice president at Electronic Arts said about the iPad that is is like holding a high definition television inches from your face, and that companies such as his own will redesign games to be faster, cooler, and bigger on the new Apple product with a ten inch screen. Others are not as sure that there will be the same flood of development that surrounded the release of the ipod touch and iphone. There is speculation that the iPad apps will be more expensive than other apps on the iphone and ipod touch which average around the $1.90 price range. Experts say that the average price of an iPad app will be around $4, which is a considerable difference seeing as that is more than double the price of an ipod touch or iphone app, and the new apps are essentially just larger versions of the apps that came before. However, book apps will fare better on the larger screen than on an iphone or ipod touch and with apples new iBookstore, some tech writers are anticipating hard times ahead for Amazon’s Kindle.

Well I feel that Apple has proven itself as one of the premier companies when it comes to innovating products and taking one idea and improving on it. They took the idea of an mp3 player and built upon that, creating the ipod, which made mp3 players a thing of the past. Continuing along that path they took the idea of a smart phone and made one of the best that has been released to this date in the iphone. I don’t see Apple releasing the iPad only to see it flop. Even if the apps are more expensive and are essentially bigger versions of the current apps on iphones and ipod touches, they will be that much better. I feel confident that Apple will rise to the challenge and make their iPad unique and create programs and apps that are tailored to the iPad exclusively. The Amazon Kindle might be on its way out when the iPad hits stores in two months.

The iPad is somewhat of a smaller laptop but with only 64 GB, it has substantially less memory to store music, movies, books, etc. It has a 10 hour battery life and is capable of browsing the internet with ease, however as far as reading on the iPad goes it might not be as easy on the eyes as Amazon’s Kindle. On another note, the iPad does not come with a conventional keyboard, although one is offered as an extra.  The Kindle and other e-readers do use a form of electronic ink technology which makes reading less strenuous on the eyes that reading off of a laptop or computer screen. This seems to be one of the only ways in which the Kindle has a leg up on the iPad, seeing as navigating on the Kindle is less convenient than navigating on the iPad because the Kindle does not have a touch screen.

I’m not sure exactly when ‘Dragon Naturally Speaking’ was actually rolled out, but the particular product that I was reading about came out at the end of March 2009. Dragon Naturally Speaking is speech recognition software where you can speak to your computer by wearing and using an approved ‘Nuance’ blue-tooth device or a type of hand-held recorder to dictate words to create emails, word documents or spreadsheets without actually typing the contents on your keyboard. It can also surf the web for you as well and check your Facebook account. While you speak and pause, the words transcribes into text. Nuance, the company that has introduced this software claims dictating a 900 word essay, only takes approximately 6 minutes to automatically text and format to any document.  It also claims to type 3 times faster than typing using the keyboard with 99 percent accuracy. You can also use your voice to format and edit documents, just by making statements such as “bold the last sentence” or “underline the last word”. It also claims to recognize users with strong accents. The price of the product seems a bit expensive (in the $800) range, but with all of the capabilities that it has to offer, I believe this software would make life much easier for many who have difficulty typing.

The first group that came to mind who would benefit from this product are those suffering from carpel tunnel syndrome. Many have suffered with this pain and a lot of it has been caused by long-term use of using a keyboard. My Mother suffered for years later in life with carpel tunnel syndrome as she had been using typewriters, then on to word processors and then to computers later in life, and by not properly arching your hands when typing, or not having wrist pads when typing– caused her some sharp pain up and down her wrists. Had she owned this product back then, she could have had her documents automatically typed and formatted at the insurance company she worked at, just by speaking the words instead of typing them.

The second group of people whom I thought would find this product beneficial– are those who may have suffered a minor stroke or maybe even suffered injuries in an accident, and unfortunately have lost the use of their right or left hands or maybe even both of them. I’m sure that many of these folks would continue to work or stay employed if they were able, so if their job required creating documents or spreadsheets or using various websites to get their work done, this software would be incredibly valuable to them. What a way for them to keep their independence and feel empowered.

Obviously, the 3^rd group of people would be those whose typing skills are not proficient or never learned to use a keyboard properly. They need the speed and accuracy to get their work completed.

I think this is an amazing product. I read some of the users’ feedback and they say it is the best dictation type of software that is out there, but there are some glitches with regards to the clarity of the microphone that comes with the packaging was low-quality, and obviously the pricing is expensive, but to be able to help people continue to work and feel independent– is priceless.