New Media gadgets

Michael Scott

Professor Strate

New Media

December 5, 2012

New Media and New Gadgets

 

            I was sure what to do my paper on so after talking with you I still wasn’t happy about the topic. After doing some research I really got involved and intrigued by some of the new gadgets. I really wanted to get a broad understanding of some gadgets and talk about the more recent gadgets, the new things that will be coming out this year and 2013. Most of the gadgets I found are we things I never heard of or thought would even be out but I guess no a days people think of everything. The first gadget that I have been researching is the Roku Streaming Stick.

            The Roku Streaming stick is what I think will be one of the biggest compliments to HDTV’s. The Roku stick uses the new HDMI MHL standard. It is able to plug up to most ports on newer TV’s. Now in case you don’t know Roku is what people use to choose what they want to watch instantly. You can explore over 600 channels and hundreds of thousands of movies and shows. You get to pick what interest you and choose different categories or just browse around and just stumble across something new.

Roku was designed to be amazingly easy to use. With the simple remote, you choose what you want to watch, and it starts instantly. Roku does not charge a monthly fee. You can access your existing subscriptions like Netflix, Hulu Plus or HBO GO. You have all the free movies, shows, and music or browse the latest blockbusters on demand. The streaming stick still gives you access to all you content providers like Netflix, HBO Go, MLB, and Pandora just to name a few. The stick requires no dedicated power, has WiFi built in. The stick is supposed to be less than 100 dollars. It has been said that Today's Smart TVs become outdated in just a few years because their hardware can't keep pace with the rapid evolution of streaming software. Which is a problem, considering that most people keep their TVs for 6-8 years. Roku is said to be the biggest and best selection of streaming entertainment. The way they are marketing it they are saying that people can buy the streaming stick and in a few years when your TV is out dated then you can replace the stick for only a fraction of the cost.

The Maven is a remote sensing instrument. The goal of MAVEN is to determine the history of the loss of atmospheric gases to space through time, providing answers about Mars climate evolution. By measuring the current rate of escape to space and gathering enough information about the relevant processes, scientists will be able to infer how the planet’s atmosphere evolved in time.

It is the instrument that will peer into the ultraviolet to offer clues to how Mars might have lost its atmosphere. it has arrived at Lockheed Martin for integration into NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution spacecraft. That’s where the name MAVEN comes from. David Mitchell says, "The Remote Sensing package team built a system that meets all technical requirements and delivered it on schedule and on budget."  The MAVEN project manager from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "I look forward to the instrument’s next level of integration onto the spacecraft and ultimately the science it will provide.”

The Remote sensing package was conceived, designed and built by the University of Colorado’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (CU/LASP) at Boulder, under contract to NASA Goddard. It has imaging Ultra Violet Spectrograph (IUVS) and its control electronics box, the Remote Sensing Data Processing Unit (RSDPU).

            The way it works is the Imaging Ultra Violet Spectrograph collects the light and spreads it out into spectra and records the spectra using imaging detectors. The Remote Sensing Data Processing Unit is the main electronics box that controls IUVS and communicates with the spacecraft. The IUVS is the eyes, RSDPU receives and executes the commands sent to tell IUVS when and where to look. RSDPU is the brain of the instrument. I feel like this is one of the most detailed machines that have been put into space. Through the light that the IUVS lets of the NASA officials will be able to study the planet and the atmosphere at a distance. The instrument provides the global context of the whole atmosphere for the local measurements. The remote won’t be turned on until 21 days into the mission. The MAVEN will be changing the way NASA thinks of mars. It will be the first to focus on getting the science instruments that are needed on the spacecraft rather than assembling a basic spacecraft to see mars.

NASA Goddard manages the project and is building two of the science instruments for the mission. Lockheed Martin of Littleton, Colo., is building the spacecraft and is responsible for mission operations. The University of California at Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory is building science instruments for the mission. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., provides navigation support; the Deep Space Network and the Electra telecommunications relay hardware and operations.

My next new media object is the XBOX 720. XBOX 720 is the newest version of the Xbox 360. Some think it will be called the Xbox infinity, others say it will be the Xbox 8 as of right now its all-just speculation for the name. One thing is certain that Xbox is trying to lead the way for the gaming systems. It is said that the second version of Kinect will sit at the heart of the Xbox 720. A game built around motion would be crazy and would definitely push the limits of future consoles. I guess the next question is what about the controller. The 360-control pad is wildly popular amongst both console and PC gamers so I can't see the design changing. Microsoft recently filed a patent relating to projecting augmented reality 3D images onto the walls of the room you're gaming in, in an effort to more fully immerse you in the experience. The codename for this project is 'Fortaleza' and has Kinect at its heart. It is all supposed to work with Wi-Fi enabled Fortaleza glasses much like Google's Project Glass glasses. It has been suggested that the console will contain a revision of AMD's 7000 series graphics, which is based on its 28nm Graphics Core Next (GCN) Southern Islands tech. Some sources have been quoted as saying that the graphics setup in the Xbox 720 will be "like two PCs taped together."

Im not sure if the new Xbox will have blu ray because the old one didn’t have blu ray. The reason the old console didn’t have blu ray was because they sign a deal to promote DVD and HD DVD so blu ray was out of the question. My personal opinion is that the Xbox will offer blu ray because the competitors will definitely have it and that could be a huge reason for a failure if the competitors out sell Xbox. People are moving towards Blu ray. Read speeds from DVDs are still faster than from Blu-ray discs, but BDs can hold vastly more data. A standard dual-layer BD can contain 50GB of data compared to the Xbox 360's dual-layer DVDs that contain between 8 and 9GB. that leaked in June 2012 indicates that the Xbox 720 will come packing 1080p 3D support, Blu-ray player and DVR functionality. This would indicate that Microsoft is trying to position the Xbox 720 as the single does-it-all set-top box in your living room. Xbox is trying to takeover the game. There was a leaked document that leads people to believe that the new Xbox would be priced around $300. 

           

            I am a city kid so this next topic is a touchy one. There has been a large amount of talk about the way people live. There also has been countless talks about the way people are flocking to cities and trying to start a life in the city. The problem is the overcrowding of the cities like where will everyone live. The people that live in cities now feel like it isn’t enough space and it makes places have more crime and it adds to noise. People where I am from have people living on top of people. There are homes that have 10 people living in them and they try and make it work. The noise complaints and problems that will come with new people moving into a neighborhood that looks a certain way is crazy. So for some time now experts have been trying to come up with new ways to solve this problem and help cities prepare for the new wave of people flocking to cities.

            One new way those experts have come up with the idea of a fold up home. Yes I said it a fold up home. The thought is that you can take a one-room apartment or a studio room and make it into 4 or 5 rooms. The first time I heard this I said its just not possible but I have been proven wrong. So I am reading this story about a third-grade-teacher Eric Schneider. He bought an apartment that he could afford in Manhattan. He paid $235,000 for a 450-square-foot studio with a tiny kitchen. Schneider says, "It was basically an open rectangular space, there wasn't much to it, there was just a couple of old closets, an old corner kitchen and that was it".

Then he let architects Michael Chen and Kari Anderson of Normal Projects design a more compact are that would hold the same amount of products or basic essentials like microwave, stove, bed, bathroom etc. Eric is a really good cook and that’s what he likes to do so the designers initially wanted to make the spaces smaller and separate, but they quickly found out that it wouldn’t be possible. The hardest part of the project was trying to decide on the bedroom area because everyone wants to have a good private bedroom. I think the design that they came up with is great for the space and privacy.

 The idea was to build an object that’s bigger than furniture, but smaller than architecture and that morphs with the changing activities of a day. It’s a large, blue, oversized cabinet that houses all of the walls/bed/tables/shelving/closets needed for at least 4 full-sized rooms. To create a bedroom, the cabinet door swings out to create a wall dividing the living room from the sleeping area, then the Murphy bed folds down revealing a built-in nightstand complete with lighting. In total, Schneider spent $70,000 total remodeling his new apartment and this includes not just the cabinet, but the bathroom renovation, all cabinetry, kitchen appliances, furniture and dishes, etc.

            Eric wasn’t the newest design though I found a design that is more modern than the newest cell phone. The Idea is similar to the closet that has multiple rooms. The difference is that this design has a moving wall. Yes a Moving wall like something out of a movie. The wall would be able to fit in public housing projects like the ones we have now. Most know them from New York high rises. The wall would act as the closet but the ability to move back and forth throughout the house would make the room space able to flip from bedroom to party room to dinning room.

The wall will come equipped with sensors that will allow the wall to move automatically by remote. It also will be able to stop moving in the case that a small child or small animal will be in the way of the wall as it changes rooms. The space would be about the same size as Eric apartment. There will also be a counter top that acts as a bar area. The same counter top contains a table that unfolds like a dinning room table. But it folds three or four times so it can go from a table that seats 2 to a table that seats 12. The design is very efficient and it will definitely make for a better and more efficient way of living. So the table can be set for a party and then later that day be ready for a thanksgiving feast. The one thing I really like about this arrangement is the ability to form based of the person or tenant. Just say a person is more of a party or get together person they can leave the apartment open so that there will be more space. A more private person can make the apartment like a bedroom and a living room or dining room.

The cost will out way the expense in the end so that people wont have a problem paying to live in a high-rise because its not going to have the effect like living in the projects. The one problem that people are trying to figure out is if we go back to the high-rise way of living then we will still have a lot of people in one area. We will have to figure out parking and transportation for all the people moving in and out.

            People are trying to make walking and bike riding a cool thing. The way people are going to make this possible is paving pathways threw streets. This is a new project that people and cities have been trying out. In Philadelphia they have built a pathway through the city making it easy and affordable for people to get back and forth to work. It also allows traffic in the inner city to calm down. Most major cities have traffic problems especially during the week because of the commute back and forth to work and gym. Now this was tried and Philly as I stated before and it has worked we have seen a major decrease in the traffic jams in Philadelphia. There are people that are riding bike because of the design that Philadelphia has with Fairmount park it’s a easy commute from the city to the downtown area. Now this was tried in another city and it failed horribly, the way they did it, was that the city cut off a highway to build a pathway through the city and it has a made the traffic worse because people aren’t riding bikes or walking so the smaller streets don’t help.

    The next product that I want to talk about is the Mp3 sunglass with a built in camera. These glasses are used for mostly for warm ups and pregame at baseball games. Stylish camera sunglasses have built in earphones. These sunglasses can take pictures in style and with ease using a covert style camera shades the Camera: 1.3 megapixel CMOS Color Sensor Capture Format: JPG 
- Resolution: 1280x1024 
- Focus Range: 0.3m~infinity also have a built in 4gb mp3 player and earphones. Transfer and storage built-in USB slot and supplied cable

    The glasses have great quality and are very easy to control. The glasses have been quoted, as saying; “we are so easy a cave man can use us.” The sunglasses also come with a long lasting rechargeable battery. The battery is an Internal 240mAh Li-ion rechargeable battery. The battery life is 3-6 hours of use. The recharge time is 2.5 hour. The camera uses a Windows 98SE / ME / 2000/ XP / Vista / Windows7 (32 bit version only) , Mac OS 9.0 and later, Linux 2.4.2. The field of view is about 60 degrees.

    The lenses on the glasses are polarized for eye protection. It also is in my opinion the easiest travel necessity for travelers. Most people that like the glasses say that they will be most used for surveillance work and then fun.

          Last but not least is the Tobll Gaze. Tobii Gaze eye-tracking technology points to a sea change in user interface. It allows users to target objects on a computer screen simply by looking at them.            This new way of targeting data on a computer has doctors around the world o the edge of their seat. They believe that this could give surgeons a hands-free way to pull up data. This could also help financial analysts pore through immense amounts of data across several screens. How crazy would it be If you no longer had to use the mouse on the computer just look and it opens for you. The bad thing is all the kinks are not out yet. Tobii Gaze proves that there's a frontier of input beyond touch. Though the first eye-controlled laptops won't see shelves until 2013. The Tobii Gaze eye-tracking technology points to a sea change in user interface. Lets see how well this picks up in the world.