Showing 1 - 4 of 4
There's no such thing as free tech
Life, James Hein, Published on 21/01/2015
» Can hackers really ruin your day? Consider the story a friend of mine recently told me. He has been playing the game Stronghold Kingdoms for a couple of years now. Apparently, as a result of hacking, some players gained points and certain advantages and had their accounts spoofed.
Web standard development in the pipeline
Life, James Hein, Published on 16/07/2014
» Samsung, Dell, Intel, Broadcom and others have started the Open Interconnect Consortium (OIC) with the aim of uniting on standards for internet development. Or, in their own words, “will seek to define a common communication framework based on industry standard technologies to wirelessly connect and intelligently manage the flow of information among devices, regardless of form factor, operating system or service provider” and “it is our intention to create a specification and an open source project that will allow interoperability for all types of devices and operating systems”. For the moment this announcement is about there is to it, with more information to follow later.
Formicidae, neurons and the tweeting mass of life
Life, James Hein, Published on 03/07/2013
» The members of an ant colony work together as if they were a single organism. The human brain has neurons that work together in the same way: one neuron is not "intelligent", as such, but a whole lot of them acting in unison make us what we are. The secret is communication, connectivity and the processing of information. In the modern world millions of people are communicating with each other in almost real time using Twitter, SMS, Facebook and other social networking tools. If a billion people are doing this and we think of each person as a single neuron, does it mean that we starting to create some kind of global intelligence?
Paying through the nose
Life, James Hein, Published on 03/04/2013
» A report out of Brisbane, Australia highlights an interesting but predictable issue. A specialty food store put a sign in the window stating that they charge A$5 (150 baht) to enter the store, which is refundable if you buy something. If you don't make any purchases then the store is assuming you are comparing prices to goods which you then buy online. Also, in this particular example, the store owner told reporters that about 60 people a week ask for advice then shop elsewhere, so she considers the $5 to be an advisory fee. She also believes that her policy is echoed by other store owners like those in sports, electronics and clothing.