World-Shaker

Mom makes son, 13, sign 18 terms and conditions before giving him an iPhone →

‘I hope that you understand it is my job to raise you into a well rounded, healthy young man that can function in the world and coexist with technology, not be ruled by it,’ she wrote at the start of the list.

I love this, and this mom. Here’s her full list:

‘WITH THE ACCEPTANCE OF THIS GIFT COMES RULES’: THE AGREEMENT

1. It is my phone. I bought it. I pay for it. I am loaning it to you. Aren’t I the greatest?
2. I will always know the password.
3. If it rings, answer it. It is a phone. Say hello, use your manners. Do not ever ignore a phone call if the screen reads “Mom” or “Dad”. Not ever.
4. Hand the phone to one of your parents promptly at 7:30pm every school night & every weekend night at 9:00pm. It will be shut off for the night and turned on again at 7:30am. If you would not make a call to someone’s land line, wherein their parents may answer first, then do not call or text. Listen to those instincts and respect other families like we would like to be respected.
5. It does not go to school with you. Have a conversation with the people you text in person. It’s a life skill. *Half days, field trips and after school activities will require special consideration.
6. If it falls into the toilet, smashes on the ground, or vanishes into thin air, you are responsible for the replacement costs or repairs. Mow a lawn, babysit, stash some birthday money. It will happen, you should be prepared.
7. Do not use this technology to lie, fool, or deceive another human being. Do not involve yourself in conversations that are hurtful to others. Be a good friend first or stay the hell out of the crossfire.
8. Do not text, email, or say anything through this device you would not say in person.
9. Do not text, email, or say anything to someone that you would not say out loud with their parents in the room. Censor yourself.
10. No porn. Search the web for information you would openly share with me. If you have a question about anything, ask a person - preferably me or your father.
11. Turn it off, silence it, put it away in public. Especially in a restaurant, at the movies, or while speaking with another human being. You are not a rude person; do not allow the iPhone to change that.
12. Do not send or receive pictures of your private parts or anyone else’s private parts. Don’t laugh. Someday you will be tempted to do this despite your high intelligence. It is risky and could ruin your teenage/college/adult life. It is always a bad idea. Cyberspace is vast and more powerful than you. And it is hard to make anything of this magnitude disappear — including a bad reputation.
13. Don’t take a zillion pictures and videos. There is no need to document everything. Live your experiences. They will be stored in your memory for eternity.
14. Leave your phone home sometimes and feel safe and secure in that decision. It is not alive or an extension of you. Learn to live without it. Be bigger and more powerful than FOMO — fear of missing out.
15. Download music that is new or classic or different than the millions of your peers that listen to the same exact stuff. Your generation has access to music like never before in history. Take advantage of that gift. Expand your horizons.
16. Play a game with words or puzzles or brain teasers every now and then.
17. Keep your eyes up. See the world happening around you. Stare out a window. Listen to the birds. Take a walk. Talk to a stranger. Wonder without googling.
18. You will mess up. I will take away your phone. We will sit down and talk about it. We will start over again. You & I, we are always learning. I am on your team. We are in this together.

Source: Janell Hofman’s blog

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I love it!

Where Wireless Speeds of 2.56 Terabytes Per Second Just Happened →

futurejournalismproject:

Researchers have harnessed streams of light to transfer massive amounts of data. In a recent test, they hit 2.56 terabytes per second. Simplify the language and that’s about the equivalent of transferring over 67,000 songs per second.

Before getting too giddy, this was an experiment over one meter. Still though, add this to a very interesting, data heavy future.

Via TechSpot:

Researchers at USC, JPL and Tel Aviv University have managed to transfer 2.56 terabits of information by multiplexing 8 x 300Gbps “twisted” streams of visible light into a single beam. The feat exploits a phenomenon which, up until recently, scientists thought may have been impossible to achieve with light: orbital angular momentum (OAM).

OAM, the way a wave can be made to twist around itself, is what makes the team’s discovery particularly exciting. It also makes their findings incredibly useful for wireless data transmission. Making light beams spiral to create an optical vortex is not necessarily a new idea, but putting that phenomenon to work for the transmitting information is something researchers have been striving for.

TechSpot, Scientists hit wireless speeds of 2.56Tbps using light vortex beams.

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All 786 Known Planets (as of June 2012) to Scale

Planets are turning out to be so common that to show all the planets in our galaxy, this chart would have to be nested in itself—with each planet replaced by a copy of the chart—at least three levels deep.

(via http://xkcd.com/1071/large/)

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jtotheizzoe:

joshbyard:

New Device Converts Sign Language to Audible Speech

Students at the University of Houston designed a device called MyVoice, which uses a video camera to capture a person’s sign language movements. It also contains a small video monitor, a microphone and a speaker. Software processes the images and determines what was said, and then translates the word or phrase into speech, which is transmitted through an electronic voice.

It also works backward, capturing a person’s spoken words and projecting the appropriate hand sign onto the monitor. Students sampled a database of images to train their software to recognize the hand signs, according to a UH news release. The team used between 200 and 300 images per sign.

(via Video Device Reads American Sign Language and Translates It Into Audible English | Popular Science)

Take that, Siri!

This is an incredible start.

T(ether) – a Spatially- and Body-Aware Window for Collaborative Editing and Animation of 3D Virtual Objects

In other words: This could change collaborative group work.

(by Tangible Media Group)

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56 Years of Tornado Tracks, by Severity

“I’m just sayin’…”

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This 15 year old just won $75,000 for developing a test for pancreatic cancer that’s over 90 percent accuracy, and 28 times faster, 28 times less expensive and over 100 times more sensitive than current tests.

(Source: societyforscience.org)

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How could anyone erase this?

(Source: reddit.com)

futurescope:

Smart Glove Helps Hearing and Sight-Impaired to Text

Folks who are deafblind traditionally focus on physical contact to communicate and use a verbose form of signing called Lorm. In an attempt to facilitate fast, casual conversation, and general mobility, researchers at Berlin’s Design Research Lab built the Mobile Lorm Glove to facilitate two-way digital communication. The wearer is able to trace Lorm across the surface of the glove and its pressure sensitive fabric translates the message to text, which is then sent via bluetooth to a smartphone. An array of tiny motors on the back of the glove spell out the return message, thus closing the loop. 

[via] [more]

It’s obviously not there yet, but this is a really cool idea. One area that really gives me hope with technology is how it might improve the lives of those with accessibility needs.

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I WANT THIS BECAUSE OF REASONS.

Sticky Hands Toy →

Say goodbye to the next five minutes of your life.

Um…this is incredible.

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Look, Fitblr: I’m all for taking the stairs, but how could you pass this up?