Posts about . . . science and technology?
This is an interesting video about how 4D printing is now being developed to create structures that build themselves under certain conditions (just add water? Really?) But Rob, you say, it’s like 3D printers just came out. Now they’re talking about 4D? What gives? Let’s … Continue reading Extra dimensions: 4D printing?
This morning I was going through my email, intending to blog something right afterward. An hour later, just getting done with email – I wanted to observe some common courtesies and take care of some business, after all – and now I have to go … Continue reading A word on password security:
Tomorrow at 11am Eastern Time, Pirate3D is launching their Kickstarter to bring a $350 3D printer to market!! Are there enough exclamation points for this? From what i have gathered, they have had some made already, they’re just need to capitalize the big production run, and a $250 level donation gets you a printer! Get out there and start making things!!
In their continuing mission to provide tasty, space-saving and shelf-stable nutrition for astronauts, NASA gave Systems and Materials Research Corporation (SMRC) a $125,000 six-month grant to develop a 3D printer that will print comestibles on-the-go. Anjan Contractor, a mechanical engineer for SMRC (yes, that’s a … Continue reading NASA sparks future apocalypse with space food funding
I found this at the bottom of page 40 of the June 2013 popular Science. It’s an interesting approach to using a patient’s own cells to treat a condition – but they’re not stem cells! Weird, but maybe someday the “Pei pee” treatment will be … Continue reading An interesting approach to Alzheimer’s treatment
I just read an article in The June 2013 Popular Science about how toys are preparing kids for a future with robotic companions. The cover blurb, however, says “the toys that are training your children”. This got me thinking: will robots end up teaching our … Continue reading Will robots replace teachers?
Here’s something you may or may not have known about: you can go to Twitter for customer service. The thought occurred to me last night when we were watching Hulu and we tried to switch television shows – and for some reason it’s been doing this for the last two weeks since we started our one-week trial – the interface begins to load a lot more slowly, some of the artwork doesn’t show up, and sometimes we even get a blank gray screen. I was really beginning to get fed up with that, and then it occurred to me that I heard of people using Twitter to get customer service before. I decided to give it a shot.
Using my tablet, I shot a Tweet to @hulu_plus. It was a shot in the dark, but the tablet app started to list as I typed. That was easy. I said to them that their PS3 client was the biggest software disappointment since Windows ME. Much to my surprise, they responded quickly, saying that they would be happy to help me troubleshoot my problem. Honestly, I’m not sure what there is to be done. I just installed the software, and it’s not as though it’s due to some setting that I have that needs to be tweaked or something like that. It’s an app; it’s just supposed to work.
But I’m going to give them the chance to make this right. I’ve been engaging in conversation with them since then and so far they seem to be leaning towards having me uninstall and reinstall the software, even though like I said, I just installed it. I’ll try it when I get home tonight. We’ll see what happens. If the issue continues, I will continue to be unhappy.
The point here is, I’m using Twitter for customer service! It’s a new thing for me, I’m used to calling a phone number but I guess that’s a more expensive option now? I verified this on the web; there are articles on using Twitter for customer service out there, and they they explain the rationale as it’s cheaper and it’s quicker and it builds better customer relations. I like the sound of that, and I hope it works out. Plus, who wants to sit on the phone waiting for help anymore?
If you have any experience with using Twitter for customer service, or if you have any other comments please feel free to leave them below.
It may come as a surprise to some that 3-D printing is a 30-year-old technology which is now beginning to emerge on the consumer marketplace. The first thing printed was a teacup in 1983. Today printed parts have found their way into Formula One race … Continue reading Manufacturing Comes Home
I didn’t know about Reddit before, and indeed I might be the last person on the Internet to have learned about it. In this month’s Wired magazine there is an entry-thing (check out the issue to see what I mean) about Reddit and how there … Continue reading I just learned about Reddit!
I don’t know if anyone could identify with me, but I seem to be coming full circle on the technology issue. We are living in this ultra-modern digital age, with the world of information at our fingertips, but for some reason I find myself harboring a deep . . . almost hatred of digital devices. My tablet feels useless, my smartphone like an unjustified extravagance. Email access anywhere? Who am I, Warren Buffett? Of course, there is something to be said for being able to Wiki something, define something, IMDB someone when the situation calls for it; when you’re watching a movie and someone goes, “oh, where have I seen her before?” you have the ability to snap off a little bit of information to release that mental tension. On the other hand, you could just let it go and not break up the temporal flow of your cinematic experience. . . I could go either way, but I’m tending toward silence now, because you start going down the list of everything this actor is doing and the next thing you know you’re looking at the cast of Cabaret and trying to figure out how the devil you got there. It’s like having a conversation with IMDB for Pete’s sake.
But hey, there’s an issue. Is our technology taking the place of our memories? In Proust and the Squid: the Story and Science of the Reading Brain, Maryanne Wolf wrote about how (Plato, I think it was) had a problem with reading when it was starting to come around because according to him, having the information at your fingertips meant that you had no reason to memorize it – and indeed, back then it seems as though your average Greek could tell a hundred different tales verbatim, if Wolf is to be believed. But the point is clear, and I have experienced that myself with my technology. I grew up with an analog phone system, and when I was twelve I could rattle off thirty or so telephone numbers, while now I know just three telephone numbers by heart – four, if you count Jenny (867-5309.)
Now I find that I miss those things that the digital technology has replaced. Those things, they don’t just rustle with the dry sound of leaves. They’re the things that move, the things that ding, and the things that crackle. Do you remember typewriters? Record players? CRT televisions?
Okay, I’m actually never going back to CRTs. That was just ridiculous. But how about UHF and VHF broadcasts? All arguments about quality aside, don’t you remember when you could twist that dial and tune in the station, and actually watch some TV? Now we have a local weather channel that I can’t seem to tune in even though it’s broadcasting within walking distance. That’s alright; if we have a tornado, I’ll just go outside and stare at the sky, I guess.
When I was younger, I was in danger of having to move in fairly quick order. It made sense to be able to concentrate more of my belongings in a smaller bit of space. But how is it that even though I’m now stable, I still feel obliged to do it all with a single artifact? Now I just want to carry a book, a real book, and I do. I actually, literally, smell the book from time to time, and it actually, literally, makes me feel better when I feel stranded in the world. Isn’t it a shame that we’re trying to leave all of our best innovations in the past, while entrusting our future to the cloud?
Rob's Surf Report 