5 Free Windows Programs To Monitor Your Internet Usage

5 Free Windows Programs To Monitor Your Internet Usage

5 Free Windows Programs To Monitor Your Internet Usage

Home internet nowadays comes with a quota of how much bandwidth you can use in a month. It’s unavoidable and if you happen to exceed that quota, your internet provider might  charge you a premium , or slow your speeds down to dial-up levels. If you don’t want this to happen to you, then you should monitor your internet usage.

Here are 5 free programs for your Windows PC to help monitor your Internet usage  . This is great for readers who are on a student budget, studying abroad on a limited mobile broadband plan. Those broadband plans normally have a quota that includes both upload and download bandwidths and we’ve tested these 5 programs to see how they fare. 

1. NetWorx

Once you install NetWorx, it will track all your Internet usage with an icon on the taskbar. You can click and launch the program to view usage graphs of each day. What’s good about NetWorx is the ability to set a daily, weekly or monthly quota to track uploads or downloads or both. You can also set the on/off peak usage that some internet providers have and it’ll warn you if you’re about to reach the limit.

2. BitMeter 2

This program comes with a desktop widget meter graph of your download and upload speeds. Similar to NetWorx, you can add a quota limit — in the case of BitMeter 2, it is named ISP Restrictions . Once set, it’ll tell you how many days and bandwidth you can use before reaching your limit. You can also view your usage stats that can be sorted by hours, days, and months.

3. NetSpeedMonitor

This program permanently sits on your taskbar showing upload and download speeds. To enable this, right click on your taskbar and under Toolbars click on NetSpeedMonitor. Apart from showing connection speeds, it can track your daily usage. You can see track your daily or monthly usage, and also see what programs are connected to the internet. Unlike the other programs though, there is no quota reminder.

4. Cucusoft Net Guard

This program has a very clean user interface that is easy to understand. Upon installing it, you’ll have to provide an email address to register for a free product code. After that, you can begin tracking your internet usage and even see what programs are connected to the internet. It also allows you to set your monthly quota with reminders sent to you as you near the limit.

5. ISP Monitor

ISP Monitor is a lightweight program to easily track your daily or monthly internet usages. You’ll have to set it up first by changing the adapter settings under Settings > Traffic Monitor > Adapter to choose between a wired or Wi-Fi connection. Unlike the previous programs, you cannot set a quota reminder. It has easy-to-read logs where you can instantly see your daily upload and download usage.

Home internet nowadays comes with a quota of how much bandwidth you can use in a month. It’s unavoidable and if you happen to exceed that quota, your internet provider might  charge you a premium , or slow your speeds down to dial-up levels. If you don’t want this to happen to you, then you should monitor your internet usage.

Here are 5 free programs for your Windows PC to help monitor your Internet usage  . This is great for readers who are on a student budget, studying abroad on a limited mobile broadband plan. Those broadband plans normally have a quota that includes both upload and download bandwidths and we’ve tested these 5 programs to see how they fare. 

1. NetWorx

Once you install NetWorx, it will track all your Internet usage with an icon on the taskbar. You can click and launch the program to view usage graphs of each day. What’s good about NetWorx is the ability to set a daily, weekly or monthly quota to track uploads or downloads or both. You can also set the on/off peak usage that some internet providers have and it’ll warn you if you’re about to reach the limit.

2. BitMeter 2

This program comes with a desktop widget meter graph of your download and upload speeds. Similar to NetWorx, you can add a quota limit — in the case of BitMeter 2, it is named ISP Restrictions . Once set, it’ll tell you how many days and bandwidth you can use before reaching your limit. You can also view your usage stats that can be sorted by hours, days, and months.

3. NetSpeedMonitor

This program permanently sits on your taskbar showing upload and download speeds. To enable this, right click on your taskbar and under Toolbars click on NetSpeedMonitor. Apart from showing connection speeds, it can track your daily usage. You can see track your daily or monthly usage, and also see what programs are connected to the internet. Unlike the other programs though, there is no quota reminder.

4. Cucusoft Net Guard

This program has a very clean user interface that is easy to understand. Upon installing it, you’ll have to provide an email address to register for a free product code. After that, you can begin tracking your internet usage and even see what programs are connected to the internet. It also allows you to set your monthly quota with reminders sent to you as you near the limit.

5. ISP Monitor

ISP Monitor is a lightweight program to easily track your daily or monthly internet usages. You’ll have to set it up first by changing the adapter settings under Settings > Traffic Monitor > Adapter to choose between a wired or Wi-Fi connection. Unlike the previous programs, you cannot set a quota reminder. It has easy-to-read logs where you can instantly see your daily upload and download usage.

5 Free Windows Programs To Monitor Your Internet Usage

The Wearable 3D Mouse of the Future

The Wearable 3D Mouse of the Future

The Wearable 3D Mouse of the Future

Yes it is time for tablets to take over the PC industry but that doesn’t mean keyboards and mice are on their way out. While we trade clicks for swipes, there is still   a large portion of us who prefer the clickety-clack sounds of the keypad and the mouse – cordless or not.

While Microsoft has kept the keyboard part of their Surface tablet, it showed no love for the mouse. But that’s alright, this wearable 3D Mouse, Mycestro , is a (way) better alternative.

First of all, it’s a wearable UI – you strap this lightweight device on your forefinger and use it to move your on-screen cursor around. The strap is designed to not interfere with your ability to type.

The device tracks the movement of your finger in three-dimensional space. You activate the cursor to move with your thumb, by touching any part of the device .
Clicks are registered on three buttons by the side: left, middle and right. Scrolling and zooming is also done by the thumb.

Like any mobile device, this 3D mouse is chargeable via USB, and each full charge lasts a good 8 hours. The technology is enabled wirelessly by bluetooth and has a range of up to 30 feet.
You no longer need to be bound to a desk during a presentation or to have to work with a laser pointer that does not interact with your slides.

Mycestro works with most latest-generation Apple products and on any PC with an additional dongle  . Plans to incorporate it with Android devices are underway before a full-blown release, scheduled in Oct/Nov 2013. So far, it has more than 1,500 backers with pledges of up to $131,000.   

Yes it is time for tablets to take over the PC industry but that doesn’t mean keyboards and mice are on their way out. While we trade clicks for swipes, there is still   a large portion of us who prefer the clickety-clack sounds of the keypad and the mouse – cordless or not.

While Microsoft has kept the keyboard part of their Surface tablet, it showed no love for the mouse. But that’s alright, this wearable 3D Mouse, Mycestro , is a (way) better alternative.

First of all, it’s a wearable UI – you strap this lightweight device on your forefinger and use it to move your on-screen cursor around. The strap is designed to not interfere with your ability to type.

The device tracks the movement of your finger in three-dimensional space. You activate the cursor to move with your thumb, by touching any part of the device .
Clicks are registered on three buttons by the side: left, middle and right. Scrolling and zooming is also done by the thumb.

Like any mobile device, this 3D mouse is chargeable via USB, and each full charge lasts a good 8 hours. The technology is enabled wirelessly by bluetooth and has a range of up to 30 feet.
You no longer need to be bound to a desk during a presentation or to have to work with a laser pointer that does not interact with your slides.

Mycestro works with most latest-generation Apple products and on any PC with an additional dongle  . Plans to incorporate it with Android devices are underway before a full-blown release, scheduled in Oct/Nov 2013. So far, it has more than 1,500 backers with pledges of up to $131,000.   

The Wearable 3D Mouse of the Future

Cloud Gaming | The Future in the Now

Cloud Gaming | The Future in the Now

Cloud Gaming | The Future in the Now

Have you heard of cloud gaming? In this post we will look into what’s been developing in the cloud gaming arena.   Cloud Gaming uses the  latest streaming and server technology to enable everything from standard games all the way to high-end ones to run on just about any device.

With this you can release yourself from the console and take it to the cloud to game anywhere, anytime, on any device – smartphones, tablets or your normal work computer – and possibly from any game maker.

(Image Source: Fotolia )

In other words, it works something like video streaming, but with games. No more worrying about the spec requirements to run a game. No more booting of a game that takes forever to setup or customize. No more error screens after waiting forever for the installation to be completed.
Cloud Gaming lets you skip all that  and get to what is really important – the game itself. 

The Rise of Cloud Gaming

The idea of cloud gaming over the Web was first introduced to the public in the 2009 Game Developers conference. OnLive demonstrated cloud gaming by streaming the game, Crysis over the Internet from a server miles away to be played on a low-end laptop. Users can stream games available in the OnLive store using OnLive’s own client. They were off to a good start gaining the attention of testers, game developers and investors.

(Image Source: OnLive )

In about three years later, OnLive started letting go of their employees . They can’t seem to make money from cloud gaming . They have thousands of subscribers but none of them are the paying kind since players can try out game demos on the OnLive store for 30 minutes, for free.
The company was reportedly spending $5 million a month to maintain thousands of servers that aren’t being fully utilized. At most, only 1,600 players were on it concurrently.
The company has since switched hands, and a new CEO has been elected. OnLive is now on a 12-month recovery plan but still offers a playpack of $9.99 a month for unlimited gamplay for over 200 game titles.

A Different Game Plan

Then, there is GaiKai, founded in 2008, a company which focuses more on selling their platforms to game manufacturers who wish to provide cloud gaming options to their players. The GaiKai platform is similar to how you stream netflix on your Smart TV. GaiKai allows white-label businesses with basically any manufacturer.

(Image Credit: PlayStation )

So if for instance, Samsung wants to have their own cloud gaming platform on their range of TVs, GaiKai will build it for them. They had a partnership with Electronic Arts and Ubisoft and was in the midst of making more mainstream games available on their platform. Then, Sony showed up and bought them . For $380 million.

Friend or Foe?

So what was the reason behind the massive buyover? Was it to actually add a new platform to their service , or to prep it for PS4 or their range of Sony smartphones? Or was it a way to stave off the competition from other tech manufacturers like LG or Samsung or even from GaiKai itself before it grows big enough to consume Sony and the rest of the traditional gaming industry?
There is a lot at risk here and Sony apparently wants to keep on top of things but we’ve yet to see them make their first big move with GaiKai.

Setting Up Cloud Gaming

With big players in the mix, why hasn’t cloud gaming taken over the world? Well, like all great ideas, there are still a lot of creases to iron out. Here’s a brief walkthrough of the problems companies who are investing in cloud gaming are facing:

The Cost

For gamers to be able to play everywhere, any time, cloud gaming service providers have to invest in getting the server technology (more on that later) to ensure smooth gameplay . This is why companies like OnLive provided three options: rent, purchase or subscribe, from $5 to $50 fees to game on the Cloud. The costs is only for the gaming experience, you need to bring your own Internet connection.

(Image Source: CiiNOW )

You need a minimum of 2Mbps (or the standard recommended speed of 5Mbps ) for smooth gaming because with Cloud Gaming, you will be burning up about 1.3GB in an hour . Good luck asking the rest of the household to stop watching online videos while you slay monsters.

Lack of Players

New gaming platforms face a big problem that is pretty much out of their hands. When it comes to online games, players like to interact or compete with other players . Since cloud gaming is still relatively new and players already have their list of favorite games (and consoles) to burn the midnight oil for, if cloud gaming services cannot give them the option to play top-tier games, the crowds won’t come.

Change

It’s a change in a massive scale where the rules of how things work change . If cloud gaming takes over, there will be no more game stores since you need not pick up physical copies of your games anymore. The actual gaming experience itself will also probably change because instead of being able to invest in your gaming machine, gameplay must now depend more on your Internet connection and the servers hosting these games.

Latency And Hardware

Latency is the response you get from a game event that you send over the Web. For a fast-paced game like in the Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) or First Player Shooter (FPS) genre, it will require you to have a latency of at least 350 milliseconds and below. Otherwise, there goes your in-game performance. When it comes to latency issues, two companies are working to get game performance in tip-top shape.

Faster Gameplay

CiiNOW is working on improving game response and lowering latency rates . So far, they are claiming that their network latency is 27% faster than GaiKai and 17% faster than the XBox 360. This means that you get better response times in your gaming environment when you play on the CiiNOW platform.

(Image Source: CiiNOW )

Hardware Performance

With Nvidia, the latency issue is considered a small one . The standard Xbox performance has around 150 – 200 milliseconds of latency. With cloud gaming, a tweak in the hardware department can easily bring the numbers down to 60 miliseconds.
Hence, Nvidia’s focus is more towards server technology, which they call Nvidia Grid. It features Hardware Virtualization: using a software called the Nvidia VGX Hypervisor , the physical graphic card can actually create and run a virtual graphic card within it.
With this technology, the Grid has the equivalent power of 720 XBox 360′s put together, running at only a fifth of the power. If you think thats a lot of firepower, you’d be right. GaiKai is working hand-in-hand with Nvidia to redefine cloud gaming.

Conclusion

Will Cloud Gaming be able to redeem itself? The prospects are bright and it will probably be a welcome boost to the gaming industry by making gaming affordable and more accessible to more players. When it will arrive is another matter. In the meantime, we’ll have to make due with buying new gaming consoles and chucking out the old ones.

Have you heard of cloud gaming? In this post we will look into what’s been developing in the cloud gaming arena.   Cloud Gaming uses the  latest streaming and server technology to enable everything from standard games all the way to high-end ones to run on just about any device.

With this you can release yourself from the console and take it to the cloud to game anywhere, anytime, on any device – smartphones, tablets or your normal work computer – and possibly from any game maker.

(Image Source: Fotolia )

In other words, it works something like video streaming, but with games. No more worrying about the spec requirements to run a game. No more booting of a game that takes forever to setup or customize. No more error screens after waiting forever for the installation to be completed.
Cloud Gaming lets you skip all that  and get to what is really important – the game itself. 

The Rise of Cloud Gaming

The idea of cloud gaming over the Web was first introduced to the public in the 2009 Game Developers conference. OnLive demonstrated cloud gaming by streaming the game, Crysis over the Internet from a server miles away to be played on a low-end laptop. Users can stream games available in the OnLive store using OnLive’s own client. They were off to a good start gaining the attention of testers, game developers and investors.

(Image Source: OnLive )

In about three years later, OnLive started letting go of their employees . They can’t seem to make money from cloud gaming . They have thousands of subscribers but none of them are the paying kind since players can try out game demos on the OnLive store for 30 minutes, for free.
The company was reportedly spending $5 million a month to maintain thousands of servers that aren’t being fully utilized. At most, only 1,600 players were on it concurrently.
The company has since switched hands, and a new CEO has been elected. OnLive is now on a 12-month recovery plan but still offers a playpack of $9.99 a month for unlimited gamplay for over 200 game titles.

A Different Game Plan

Then, there is GaiKai, founded in 2008, a company which focuses more on selling their platforms to game manufacturers who wish to provide cloud gaming options to their players. The GaiKai platform is similar to how you stream netflix on your Smart TV. GaiKai allows white-label businesses with basically any manufacturer.

(Image Credit: PlayStation )

So if for instance, Samsung wants to have their own cloud gaming platform on their range of TVs, GaiKai will build it for them. They had a partnership with Electronic Arts and Ubisoft and was in the midst of making more mainstream games available on their platform. Then, Sony showed up and bought them . For $380 million.

Friend or Foe?

So what was the reason behind the massive buyover? Was it to actually add a new platform to their service , or to prep it for PS4 or their range of Sony smartphones? Or was it a way to stave off the competition from other tech manufacturers like LG or Samsung or even from GaiKai itself before it grows big enough to consume Sony and the rest of the traditional gaming industry?
There is a lot at risk here and Sony apparently wants to keep on top of things but we’ve yet to see them make their first big move with GaiKai.

Setting Up Cloud Gaming

With big players in the mix, why hasn’t cloud gaming taken over the world? Well, like all great ideas, there are still a lot of creases to iron out. Here’s a brief walkthrough of the problems companies who are investing in cloud gaming are facing:

The Cost

For gamers to be able to play everywhere, any time, cloud gaming service providers have to invest in getting the server technology (more on that later) to ensure smooth gameplay . This is why companies like OnLive provided three options: rent, purchase or subscribe, from $5 to $50 fees to game on the Cloud. The costs is only for the gaming experience, you need to bring your own Internet connection.

(Image Source: CiiNOW )

You need a minimum of 2Mbps (or the standard recommended speed of 5Mbps ) for smooth gaming because with Cloud Gaming, you will be burning up about 1.3GB in an hour . Good luck asking the rest of the household to stop watching online videos while you slay monsters.

Lack of Players

New gaming platforms face a big problem that is pretty much out of their hands. When it comes to online games, players like to interact or compete with other players . Since cloud gaming is still relatively new and players already have their list of favorite games (and consoles) to burn the midnight oil for, if cloud gaming services cannot give them the option to play top-tier games, the crowds won’t come.

Change

It’s a change in a massive scale where the rules of how things work change . If cloud gaming takes over, there will be no more game stores since you need not pick up physical copies of your games anymore. The actual gaming experience itself will also probably change because instead of being able to invest in your gaming machine, gameplay must now depend more on your Internet connection and the servers hosting these games.

Latency And Hardware

Latency is the response you get from a game event that you send over the Web. For a fast-paced game like in the Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) or First Player Shooter (FPS) genre, it will require you to have a latency of at least 350 milliseconds and below. Otherwise, there goes your in-game performance. When it comes to latency issues, two companies are working to get game performance in tip-top shape.

Faster Gameplay

CiiNOW is working on improving game response and lowering latency rates . So far, they are claiming that their network latency is 27% faster than GaiKai and 17% faster than the XBox 360. This means that you get better response times in your gaming environment when you play on the CiiNOW platform.

(Image Source: CiiNOW )

Hardware Performance

With Nvidia, the latency issue is considered a small one . The standard Xbox performance has around 150 – 200 milliseconds of latency. With cloud gaming, a tweak in the hardware department can easily bring the numbers down to 60 miliseconds.
Hence, Nvidia’s focus is more towards server technology, which they call Nvidia Grid. It features Hardware Virtualization: using a software called the Nvidia VGX Hypervisor , the physical graphic card can actually create and run a virtual graphic card within it.
With this technology, the Grid has the equivalent power of 720 XBox 360′s put together, running at only a fifth of the power. If you think thats a lot of firepower, you’d be right. GaiKai is working hand-in-hand with Nvidia to redefine cloud gaming.

Conclusion

Will Cloud Gaming be able to redeem itself? The prospects are bright and it will probably be a welcome boost to the gaming industry by making gaming affordable and more accessible to more players. When it will arrive is another matter. In the meantime, we’ll have to make due with buying new gaming consoles and chucking out the old ones.

Cloud Gaming | The Future in the Now

Herman Chinery-Hesse: An African IT Giant

Herman Chinery-Hesse: An African IT Giant

Herman Chinery-Hesse: An African IT Giant

Ghanaian IT giant and entrepreneur Herman Kojo Chinery-Hesse has been referred to as the “Bill Gates of Africa”.

 

Chinery-Hesse speaking at TedxDar

 

Ghanaian IT giant and entrepreneur Herman Kojo Chinery-Hesse has been referred to as the “Bill Gates of Africa”. The reason is quite simple; he’s worked hard in the past decade to put IT at the top of the agenda for many African states.
Two decades ago, he founded SOFTtribe, a software computer company that focuses in the design and implementation of computerised business applications. Since 1991 he has led SOFTtribe to a point where it can be called the premier software company in Ghana.
SOFTtribe could provide adequate and cost effective business solutions in the most affordable manner at a time when it was even not in vogue, making Chinery-Hesse’s outfit a preferred option for most companies.
The company grew in no time, entering into key and strategic partnerships with other leading Information Technology firms around the globe. SOFTtribe has since remained a leader in the West African sub-region.
Starting SOFTtribe was challenging but Chinery-Hesse persevered. With influences from Ireland, where he was born, the United States, where he schooled, and the United Kingdom, where he worked, he was able to tap into the cultures of these backgrounds, to build a purely indigenous company.
“I didn't have an option in America, he once said. “I was a black African there; until Obama, we didn’t have a track record of leadership. It would be an uphill battle, whereas in Ghana the sky was the limit. Also I'm African: we need development here and it’s Africans who are going to develop Africa. I felt a sense of responsibility; apart from the fact that I thought I'd have a brighter future here.”
He achieved that, starting SOFTtribe from very humble beginnings, and growing it into a successful case study. The SOFTtribe story is admired by many; it’s made Chinery-Hesse as a person, a working note of reference not only for start-ups but for already-flourishing entities and big corporations.
When he moved to Ghana two decades ago to start the company, it was pretty hard at the time, seeing as he couldn’t even afford to purchase standard company software. He took to writing and selling programs. His tiny bedroom served as SOFTtribe’s office. But that didn’t deter him, as he pushed harder until recognition started flowing in. It paid off, as he slowly but progressively moved into offices.
The motivation to do all that Chinery-Hesse has consistently said was to see Africa take a commanding role in the global IT trade, and not miss out on the numerous opportunities that existed. With over 300 clients including Unilever, Nestlé, and Ford Foundation; and Microsoft as a development partner in the region, it is fair to assume that Chinery-Hesse has built a successful SOFTtribe.
A knowledgeable personality who’s been useful to several debates, Chinery-Hesse is winner of local and international awards including one for Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Texas State Alumni Association and Texas State University-San Marcos (USA). He is the first African recipient of that award. In 2005, he won an award for excellence in IT, at the Millennium Excellence Awards, in Ghana.
An Assessor of the Commercial Court, in Accra, Ghana, his expertise has taken him to forums at the Cambridge University, TEDGlobal Conference in Tanzania, Harvard Business School, and the Wharton Business School, among others.
Herman, a manufacturing engineer turned software engineer, has been interviewed and profiled severally by leading news networks.
But it is not IT alone that makes him a likeable fellow. Part of what drive’s Chinery-Hesse’s personality, is his ability to speak compellingly on the changing trends in Africa, the opportunities that exist, and how the West can tap into the continent’s growing potential rather than become observers.
For instance he’s time and again questioned why it is only the likes of China, Brazil and India who have found doing business in Africa attractive while the rest sit down and watch.

Ghanaian IT giant and entrepreneur Herman Kojo Chinery-Hesse has been referred to as the “Bill Gates of Africa”.

 

Chinery-Hesse speaking at TedxDar

 

Ghanaian IT giant and entrepreneur Herman Kojo Chinery-Hesse has been referred to as the “Bill Gates of Africa”. The reason is quite simple; he’s worked hard in the past decade to put IT at the top of the agenda for many African states.
Two decades ago, he founded SOFTtribe, a software computer company that focuses in the design and implementation of computerised business applications. Since 1991 he has led SOFTtribe to a point where it can be called the premier software company in Ghana.
SOFTtribe could provide adequate and cost effective business solutions in the most affordable manner at a time when it was even not in vogue, making Chinery-Hesse’s outfit a preferred option for most companies.
The company grew in no time, entering into key and strategic partnerships with other leading Information Technology firms around the globe. SOFTtribe has since remained a leader in the West African sub-region.
Starting SOFTtribe was challenging but Chinery-Hesse persevered. With influences from Ireland, where he was born, the United States, where he schooled, and the United Kingdom, where he worked, he was able to tap into the cultures of these backgrounds, to build a purely indigenous company.
“I didn't have an option in America, he once said. “I was a black African there; until Obama, we didn’t have a track record of leadership. It would be an uphill battle, whereas in Ghana the sky was the limit. Also I'm African: we need development here and it’s Africans who are going to develop Africa. I felt a sense of responsibility; apart from the fact that I thought I'd have a brighter future here.”
He achieved that, starting SOFTtribe from very humble beginnings, and growing it into a successful case study. The SOFTtribe story is admired by many; it’s made Chinery-Hesse as a person, a working note of reference not only for start-ups but for already-flourishing entities and big corporations.
When he moved to Ghana two decades ago to start the company, it was pretty hard at the time, seeing as he couldn’t even afford to purchase standard company software. He took to writing and selling programs. His tiny bedroom served as SOFTtribe’s office. But that didn’t deter him, as he pushed harder until recognition started flowing in. It paid off, as he slowly but progressively moved into offices.
The motivation to do all that Chinery-Hesse has consistently said was to see Africa take a commanding role in the global IT trade, and not miss out on the numerous opportunities that existed. With over 300 clients including Unilever, Nestlé, and Ford Foundation; and Microsoft as a development partner in the region, it is fair to assume that Chinery-Hesse has built a successful SOFTtribe.
A knowledgeable personality who’s been useful to several debates, Chinery-Hesse is winner of local and international awards including one for Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Texas State Alumni Association and Texas State University-San Marcos (USA). He is the first African recipient of that award. In 2005, he won an award for excellence in IT, at the Millennium Excellence Awards, in Ghana.
An Assessor of the Commercial Court, in Accra, Ghana, his expertise has taken him to forums at the Cambridge University, TEDGlobal Conference in Tanzania, Harvard Business School, and the Wharton Business School, among others.
Herman, a manufacturing engineer turned software engineer, has been interviewed and profiled severally by leading news networks.
But it is not IT alone that makes him a likeable fellow. Part of what drive’s Chinery-Hesse’s personality, is his ability to speak compellingly on the changing trends in Africa, the opportunities that exist, and how the West can tap into the continent’s growing potential rather than become observers.
For instance he’s time and again questioned why it is only the likes of China, Brazil and India who have found doing business in Africa attractive while the rest sit down and watch.

Herman Chinery-Hesse: An African IT Giant

Facebook has been sued over 'like' button

Facebook has been sued over 'like' button

Facebook has been sued over 'like' button

Facebook is facing legal action over its use of the "like" button and other features of the social network.

It is being sued by a patent-holding company acting on behalf of a dead Dutch programmer called Joannes Jozef Everardus van Der Meer.

Rembrandt Social Media said Facebook's success was based, in part, on using two of Mr Van Der Meer's patents without permission.

Facebook said it had no comment to make on the lawsuit or its claims.

A lawsuit has been filed in a federal court in Virginia by Rembrandt Social Media.

The widow of a Dutch programmer is seeking damages from Facebook over its use of patented technology

"We believe Rembrandt's patents represent an important foundation of social media as we know it, and we expect a judge and jury to reach the same conclusion based on the evidence," said lawyer Tom Melsheimer from legal firm Fish and Richardson, which represents the patent holder.

Rembrandt now owns patents for technologies Mr Van Der Meer used to build a fledgling social network, called Surfbook, before his death in 2004.

Mr Van Der Meer was granted the patents in 1998, five years before Facebook first appeared.

Surfbook was a social diary that let people share information with friends and family and approve some data using a "like" button, according to legal papers filed by Fish and Richardson.

The papers also say Facebook is aware of the patents as it has cited them in its own applications to patent some social networking technologies.

Also cited in the same legal claim was another social media company called Add This.

Facebook is facing legal action over its use of the "like" button and other features of the social network.

It is being sued by a patent-holding company acting on behalf of a dead Dutch programmer called Joannes Jozef Everardus van Der Meer.

Rembrandt Social Media said Facebook's success was based, in part, on using two of Mr Van Der Meer's patents without permission.

Facebook said it had no comment to make on the lawsuit or its claims.

A lawsuit has been filed in a federal court in Virginia by Rembrandt Social Media.

The widow of a Dutch programmer is seeking damages from Facebook over its use of patented technology

"We believe Rembrandt's patents represent an important foundation of social media as we know it, and we expect a judge and jury to reach the same conclusion based on the evidence," said lawyer Tom Melsheimer from legal firm Fish and Richardson, which represents the patent holder.

Rembrandt now owns patents for technologies Mr Van Der Meer used to build a fledgling social network, called Surfbook, before his death in 2004.

Mr Van Der Meer was granted the patents in 1998, five years before Facebook first appeared.

Surfbook was a social diary that let people share information with friends and family and approve some data using a "like" button, according to legal papers filed by Fish and Richardson.

The papers also say Facebook is aware of the patents as it has cited them in its own applications to patent some social networking technologies.

Also cited in the same legal claim was another social media company called Add This.

Facebook has been sued over 'like' button

Kids 'writing malicious hack code'

Kids 'writing malicious hack code'

Kids 'writing malicious hack code'

Children as young as 11 years old are writing malicious computer code to hack accounts on gaming sites and social networks, experts have said.

 

 

A report from antivirus company AVG detailed evidence of programs written to "steal" virtual currency.

In one case, researchers were able to reverse-engineer "amateur" code to reveal data about the identity of one child in Canada.

The company said children must be educated on coding "rights and wrongs".

"As more schools are educating people for programming in this early stage, before they are adults and understand the impact of what they're doing, this will continue to grow." said Yuval Ben-Itzhak, chief technology officer at AVG.

The researchers found that many instances of malware targeting games popular with children shared the same characteristics.

Most were written using basic coding languages such as Visual Basic and C#, and were written in a way that contain quite literal schoolboy errors that professional hackers were unlikely to make - many exposing the original source of the code.

Stealing data

The team examined closely one particular instance of code that masqueraded as a cheat program for gamers playing Runescape, an online title that has over 200 million signed-up players.


The program, Runescape Gold Hack, promised to give the gamer free virtual currency to use in the game - but it in fact was being used to steal log-in details from unsuspecting users.

"When the researchers looked at the source code we found interesting information," explained Mr Ben-Itzhak to the BBC.

"We found that the malware was trying to steal the data from people and send it to a specific email address.

"The malware author included in that code the exact email address and password and additional information - more experienced hackers would never put these type of details in malware."

That email address belonged, Mr Ben-Itzhak said, to an 11-year-old boy in Canada.

Enough information was discoverable, thanks to the malware's source code, that researchers were even able to find out which town the boy lived in - and that his parents had recently treated him to a new iPhone.

Many schools around the world are changing education programmes in schools to teach children to code, rather than simply to use, computers.

In the UK, several after-school clubs have been set up - and initiatives to get kids into programming have been backed by the likes of Google and Microsoft.
Coding benefits
Mr Ben-Itzhak said that, as the ability level of children increased, more needed to be done to educate them on how best to use their new skills.

"We cannot tell how many kids around the world are [writing malicious programs], but we believe there are more cases like this.

"You teach your children that you can't take a toy without paying - so I think this type of a message needs to get to the kids when they're writing software too."

Linda Sandvik is the co-founder of Code Club, an initiative that teaches children aged nine and up how to code.

She told the BBC that the benefits from teaching children to code far outweighed any of the risks that were outlined in the AVG report.

"We teach English, maths and science to all students because they are fundamental to understanding society," she said.

"The same is true of digital technology. When we gain literacy, we not only learn to read, but also to write. It is not enough to just use computer programs."


Children as young as 11 years old are writing malicious computer code to hack accounts on gaming sites and social networks, experts have said.

 

 

A report from antivirus company AVG detailed evidence of programs written to "steal" virtual currency.

In one case, researchers were able to reverse-engineer "amateur" code to reveal data about the identity of one child in Canada.

The company said children must be educated on coding "rights and wrongs".

"As more schools are educating people for programming in this early stage, before they are adults and understand the impact of what they're doing, this will continue to grow." said Yuval Ben-Itzhak, chief technology officer at AVG.

The researchers found that many instances of malware targeting games popular with children shared the same characteristics.

Most were written using basic coding languages such as Visual Basic and C#, and were written in a way that contain quite literal schoolboy errors that professional hackers were unlikely to make - many exposing the original source of the code.

Stealing data

The team examined closely one particular instance of code that masqueraded as a cheat program for gamers playing Runescape, an online title that has over 200 million signed-up players.


The program, Runescape Gold Hack, promised to give the gamer free virtual currency to use in the game - but it in fact was being used to steal log-in details from unsuspecting users.

"When the researchers looked at the source code we found interesting information," explained Mr Ben-Itzhak to the BBC.

"We found that the malware was trying to steal the data from people and send it to a specific email address.

"The malware author included in that code the exact email address and password and additional information - more experienced hackers would never put these type of details in malware."

That email address belonged, Mr Ben-Itzhak said, to an 11-year-old boy in Canada.

Enough information was discoverable, thanks to the malware's source code, that researchers were even able to find out which town the boy lived in - and that his parents had recently treated him to a new iPhone.

Many schools around the world are changing education programmes in schools to teach children to code, rather than simply to use, computers.

In the UK, several after-school clubs have been set up - and initiatives to get kids into programming have been backed by the likes of Google and Microsoft.
Coding benefits
Mr Ben-Itzhak said that, as the ability level of children increased, more needed to be done to educate them on how best to use their new skills.

"We cannot tell how many kids around the world are [writing malicious programs], but we believe there are more cases like this.

"You teach your children that you can't take a toy without paying - so I think this type of a message needs to get to the kids when they're writing software too."

Linda Sandvik is the co-founder of Code Club, an initiative that teaches children aged nine and up how to code.

She told the BBC that the benefits from teaching children to code far outweighed any of the risks that were outlined in the AVG report.

"We teach English, maths and science to all students because they are fundamental to understanding society," she said.

"The same is true of digital technology. When we gain literacy, we not only learn to read, but also to write. It is not enough to just use computer programs."


Kids 'writing malicious hack code'

The Stories Behind The Names of 20 Tech Giants You Know

The Stories Behind The Names of 20 Tech Giants You Know

The Stories Behind The Names of 20 Tech Giants You Know

We are bombarded by so many different brand names every day, and if you spend your days in the Internet often enough, these names become second nature to you. A big part of the success of a product lies in its name; you want one that can define what you are selling, a name that rolls off the tongue and is easy to remember.

Have you ever wondered why the founders or makers decided to give their site, service or product that name? Why Ubuntu, or Etsy or Kindle? Well, we did some digging and found the reason behind the names of these famous tech brands.
We’re skipping the obvious, like Netflix, Pinterest and Facebook because you can’t get any simpler than that. But for the rest of them, let’s just say some names are easier to come up with than others.

Amazon

The founder elected for something "exotic and different" and chose Amazon, pulling references between the big Amazon river and what he envisions his company to be – real big.

Twitter

It was between status, jitter and twitch, but when the founders saw the definition for twitter as they moved down the dictionary entries, they knew they had found a winner – "short burst of inconsequential information, and chirps from birds".

Baidu

Baidu was picked off the last line of an 800-year old classical Chinese poem which ended with the poet finding the woman he had been searching high and low for.
Literally, it is translated as hundreds of times, but in context, it meant a persistent search, for the ideal.

Tumblr

When the founders noticed a shift from blogging to tumblelogs: shorter posts bearing mixed media, they were inspired to call their platform Tumblr.

Deviantart

The site was a place for deviants to play with their creativity, producing deviations of artwork.

Kindle

Kindle means ‘to light a fire’ and the Kindle e-reader was meant to rekindle the excitement of reading and gaining new knowledge.

Instagram

They wanted a name to describe the act of ‘recording’ something ‘right here, right now’.

Nook

It rhymed with book. Yup.

Foursquare

Foursquare’s founder wanted a fun and playful name. He wasn’t kidding.
His first attempt at social networking was called Dodgeball.

Nokia

Nokia started out as a wood pulp mill in the mid 1800′s.
Its second mill was built on a river called the Nokianvirta, and the Finnish company took part of the river’s name as its own.

For some brand names, they came to be because the original names were already taken. Names, such as:

Digg

Digg was supposed to be Diggnation, but ended up shortened to Dig.
Since the name Dig.com was taken by Disney, they added another ‘g’ to turn it to Digg.

EBay

eBay was supposed to be a much longer name: Echo Bay Technology Group
After being shortened to Echo Bay, the founder had to change it to eBay.com because, you guessed it, EchoBay was taken.

Skype

Originally Sky-Peer-to-Peer, it became Skyper but had to do away with the r since the name had already been taken.

Flickr

Someone else had Flicker.com so the founders dropped an ‘e’ to keep the name.
It turned out pretty well for them since they spell flickr over the phone a lot, making the name stick out and easy to remember.

Square

Square was Squirrel until its founder saw a POS system by a company called Squirrel System at the Apple cafeteria where he had lunch in.
Square was chosen as the card readers were in that shape, plus it referred to cleared payments – Are we square?

Then there is the third group, which borrowed words from foreign languages.

Ubuntu

Ubuntu is a Zulu word that means "Humanity to Others", a pretty noble notion for open source software, and hence the perfect fit.

Samsung

Sam was three and sung was stars. In Korean, the three points towards "big", "numerous" and "powerful".
Samsung has big ambitions.

Etsy

Etsy meant "Oh, yes" in Italian, "and if" in Latin.
The founder picked it up from an Italian movie he was watching.

Joomla!

Jumla (in Swahili) means "All Together" or "As a Whole", and was chosen from thousands of suggestions.
The name was tweaked a bit for a phonetic alternative.

Wikipedia

Wiki meant "quick" in Hawaiian and the word was actually a mash-up with part of the word encyclopedia.

By Singyin Lee

We are bombarded by so many different brand names every day, and if you spend your days in the Internet often enough, these names become second nature to you. A big part of the success of a product lies in its name; you want one that can define what you are selling, a name that rolls off the tongue and is easy to remember.

Have you ever wondered why the founders or makers decided to give their site, service or product that name? Why Ubuntu, or Etsy or Kindle? Well, we did some digging and found the reason behind the names of these famous tech brands.
We’re skipping the obvious, like Netflix, Pinterest and Facebook because you can’t get any simpler than that. But for the rest of them, let’s just say some names are easier to come up with than others.

Amazon

The founder elected for something "exotic and different" and chose Amazon, pulling references between the big Amazon river and what he envisions his company to be – real big.

Twitter

It was between status, jitter and twitch, but when the founders saw the definition for twitter as they moved down the dictionary entries, they knew they had found a winner – "short burst of inconsequential information, and chirps from birds".

Baidu

Baidu was picked off the last line of an 800-year old classical Chinese poem which ended with the poet finding the woman he had been searching high and low for.
Literally, it is translated as hundreds of times, but in context, it meant a persistent search, for the ideal.

Tumblr

When the founders noticed a shift from blogging to tumblelogs: shorter posts bearing mixed media, they were inspired to call their platform Tumblr.

Deviantart

The site was a place for deviants to play with their creativity, producing deviations of artwork.

Kindle

Kindle means ‘to light a fire’ and the Kindle e-reader was meant to rekindle the excitement of reading and gaining new knowledge.

Instagram

They wanted a name to describe the act of ‘recording’ something ‘right here, right now’.

Nook

It rhymed with book. Yup.

Foursquare

Foursquare’s founder wanted a fun and playful name. He wasn’t kidding.
His first attempt at social networking was called Dodgeball.

Nokia

Nokia started out as a wood pulp mill in the mid 1800′s.
Its second mill was built on a river called the Nokianvirta, and the Finnish company took part of the river’s name as its own.

For some brand names, they came to be because the original names were already taken. Names, such as:

Digg

Digg was supposed to be Diggnation, but ended up shortened to Dig.
Since the name Dig.com was taken by Disney, they added another ‘g’ to turn it to Digg.

EBay

eBay was supposed to be a much longer name: Echo Bay Technology Group
After being shortened to Echo Bay, the founder had to change it to eBay.com because, you guessed it, EchoBay was taken.

Skype

Originally Sky-Peer-to-Peer, it became Skyper but had to do away with the r since the name had already been taken.

Flickr

Someone else had Flicker.com so the founders dropped an ‘e’ to keep the name.
It turned out pretty well for them since they spell flickr over the phone a lot, making the name stick out and easy to remember.

Square

Square was Squirrel until its founder saw a POS system by a company called Squirrel System at the Apple cafeteria where he had lunch in.
Square was chosen as the card readers were in that shape, plus it referred to cleared payments – Are we square?

Then there is the third group, which borrowed words from foreign languages.

Ubuntu

Ubuntu is a Zulu word that means "Humanity to Others", a pretty noble notion for open source software, and hence the perfect fit.

Samsung

Sam was three and sung was stars. In Korean, the three points towards "big", "numerous" and "powerful".
Samsung has big ambitions.

Etsy

Etsy meant "Oh, yes" in Italian, "and if" in Latin.
The founder picked it up from an Italian movie he was watching.

Joomla!

Jumla (in Swahili) means "All Together" or "As a Whole", and was chosen from thousands of suggestions.
The name was tweaked a bit for a phonetic alternative.

Wikipedia

Wiki meant "quick" in Hawaiian and the word was actually a mash-up with part of the word encyclopedia.

By Singyin Lee

The Stories Behind The Names of 20 Tech Giants You Know

The Biggest Surprise For Google Web Spam Team in 2012

The Biggest Surprise For Google Web Spam Team in 2012

The Biggest Surprise For Google Web Spam Team in 2012

The thought of starting an E-business and making money online seems to be a fantasy to those newbies who are not aware of the uncertainties and frauds that are an avoidable reality in the online world. Although there are plenty of opportunities to be picked as an online business, the results totally depend on the choice you have opted for. Throughout the centuries, it has been seen that the easiest way to get benefitted is to make others a fool. Seriously, linking this human psychology with the online world, you will find thousands of sites that are ready to fool you by offering deals that are too good to believe, demanding a considerable investment from you to avail the offer. It was surprising to found that the biggest surprise for the Google Web Spam Team in 2012 was the fact that a huge percentage of people are falling in the spammy offers and are losing their money at the cost of their innocence.

What has Surprised Google This Year?

While answering a follower, Matt Cuts, the Head of Webspam, said that the biggest surprise in 2012 was the sheer number of people who fall for the fake offers that are been offered by many publishers who promise their potential customers to establish their online business in no time and claims that the user can then generate a huge revenue on monthly basis. An interesting part here is that they actually charge people considerably large, ensuring them that once they pay for the offer, they would help them in getting started with their business.

If you are a good writer and have been searching for online writing opportunities, you must have come across such spams in your career. At least I did! There are sites that first showcase their success stories, telling about the successes of the registered users who paid them and are now earning hugely to attract the potential users who might found themselves interested in getting the same offer. However, As Matt Cuts said in his answer, there is no lunch for free, and certainly, a point that people must think of, before letting this outflow of money from their pockets is the fact that if they are capable of helping others to earn money, why aren’t they earning with it themselves? Google webspam team is however, strict towards such websites and publishers but you see it can’t really help when people would themselves go and get trapped by these spammers.

It is All Detectable by Google

If you go through the following video, you will find that Google is actually keeping an eagle’s eye on all the publishers and penalize the sites that try to spam people in different ways. We saw how strict Google is when it comes to the reconsideration requests; Google webspam team is using strong algorithms and tools that trace the all the spamming moves of the publishers who guess new ways to continue their unethical activities.

No doubt about the charm of money and easy earning strategies, but it is always preferable to think 10 times before paying anyone or any site online.

Blessings...

The thought of starting an E-business and making money online seems to be a fantasy to those newbies who are not aware of the uncertainties and frauds that are an avoidable reality in the online world. Although there are plenty of opportunities to be picked as an online business, the results totally depend on the choice you have opted for. Throughout the centuries, it has been seen that the easiest way to get benefitted is to make others a fool. Seriously, linking this human psychology with the online world, you will find thousands of sites that are ready to fool you by offering deals that are too good to believe, demanding a considerable investment from you to avail the offer. It was surprising to found that the biggest surprise for the Google Web Spam Team in 2012 was the fact that a huge percentage of people are falling in the spammy offers and are losing their money at the cost of their innocence.

What has Surprised Google This Year?

While answering a follower, Matt Cuts, the Head of Webspam, said that the biggest surprise in 2012 was the sheer number of people who fall for the fake offers that are been offered by many publishers who promise their potential customers to establish their online business in no time and claims that the user can then generate a huge revenue on monthly basis. An interesting part here is that they actually charge people considerably large, ensuring them that once they pay for the offer, they would help them in getting started with their business.

If you are a good writer and have been searching for online writing opportunities, you must have come across such spams in your career. At least I did! There are sites that first showcase their success stories, telling about the successes of the registered users who paid them and are now earning hugely to attract the potential users who might found themselves interested in getting the same offer. However, As Matt Cuts said in his answer, there is no lunch for free, and certainly, a point that people must think of, before letting this outflow of money from their pockets is the fact that if they are capable of helping others to earn money, why aren’t they earning with it themselves? Google webspam team is however, strict towards such websites and publishers but you see it can’t really help when people would themselves go and get trapped by these spammers.

It is All Detectable by Google

If you go through the following video, you will find that Google is actually keeping an eagle’s eye on all the publishers and penalize the sites that try to spam people in different ways. We saw how strict Google is when it comes to the reconsideration requests; Google webspam team is using strong algorithms and tools that trace the all the spamming moves of the publishers who guess new ways to continue their unethical activities.

No doubt about the charm of money and easy earning strategies, but it is always preferable to think 10 times before paying anyone or any site online.

Blessings...

The Biggest Surprise For Google Web Spam Team in 2012

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEFg8S_NdaLm-kTqAu8_BGwr4qjmzb16iZZ_3ik42dXfPQfRxuJ9Lc3qOsRARpIqOX4_pMmLL8btECiMqQUHsK8pAsCpiJr0OmD5wKbQQBGNxHKKASl383hZkgHF8hh1TdWSY_CsTqATk/s72-c/?imgmax=800

List of Upcoming Technology That will Change The World

List of Upcoming Technology That will Change The World

List of Upcoming Technology That will Change The World

We have seen great leaps in digital technology in past the past five years. Smartphones, cloud computing, multi-touch tablets, these are all innovations that revolutionized the way we live and work. However, believe it or not, we are just getting started. Technology will get even better. In the future, we could live like how people in science fiction movies did.

(Image Source: YouTube)

Today’s post is about 10 upcoming, real-life products that is set to revolutionize the world as we know it. Get ready to control the desktop and slice Ninja fruits with your eyes. Get ready to print your own creative physical product. Get ready to dive into the virtual world, and interact with them. Come unfold the future with us.

1. Google Glass

Augmented Reality has already gotten into our life in the forms of simulated experiment and education app, but Google is taking it several steps higher with Google Glass. Theoretically, with Google Glass, you are able to view social media feeds, text, Google Maps, as well as navigate with GPS and take photos. You will also get the latest updates while you are on the ground.

(Image Source: YouTube)

It’s truly what we called vision, and it’s absolutely possible given the fact that the Google’s co-founder, Sergey Brin has demo’ed the glass with skydivers and creatives. Currently the device is only available to some developers with the price tag of $1500, but expect other tech companies trying it out and building an affordable consumer version.

2. Form 1

Just as the term suggests, 3D printing is the technology that could forge your digital design into a solid real-life product. It’s nothing new for the advanced mechanical industry, but a personal 3D printer is definitely a revolutionary idea.
Everybody can create their own physical product based on their custom design, and no approval needed from any giant manufacturer! Even the James Bond’s Aston Martin which was crashed in the movie was a 3D printed product!

(Image Source: Kickstarter)

Form 1 is one such personal 3D printer which can be yours at just $2799. It may sound like a high price but to have the luxury of getting producing your own prototypes, that’s a reaonable price.
Imagine a future where every individual professional has the capability to mass produce their own creative physical products without limitation. This is the future where personal productivity and creativity are maximized.

3. Oculus Rift

Virtual Reality gaming is here in the form of Oculus Rift. This history-defining 3D headset lets you mentally feel that you are actually inside a video game. In the Rift’s virtual world, you could turn your head around with ultra-low latency to view the world in high resolution display.
There are premium products in the market that can do the same, but Rift wants you to enjoy the experience at only $300, and the package even comes as a development kit. This is the beginning of the revolution for next-generation gaming.

(Image Source: Kickstarter)

The timing is perfect as the world is currently bombarded with the virtual reality topic that could also be attributed to Sword Art Online, the anime series featuring the characters playing games in an entirely virtual world. While we’re getting there, it could take a few more years to reach that level of realism. Oculus Rift is our first step.

4. Leap Motion

Multi-touch desktop is a (miserably) failed product due to the fact that hands could get very tired with prolonged use, but Leap Motion wants to challenge this dark area again with a more advanced idea. It lets you control the desktop with fingers, but without touching the screen.

(Image Source: Leap Motion)

It’s not your typical motion sensor, as Leap Motion allows you to scroll the web page, zoom in the map and photos, sign documentss and even play a first person shooter game with only hand and finger movements. The smooth reaction is the most crucial key point here. More importantly, you can own this future with just $70, a price of a premium PS3 game title!
If this device could completely work with Oculus Rift to simulate a real-time gaming experience, gaming is going to get a major make-over.

5. Eye Tribe

Eye tracking has been actively discussed by technology enthusiasts throughout these years, but it’s really challenging to implement. But Eye Tribe actually did this. They successfully created the technology to allow you to control your tablet, play flight simulator, and even slice fruits in Fruit Ninja only with your eye movements.

(Image Source: Eye Tribe)

It’s basically taking the common eye-tracking technology and combining it with a front-facing camera plus some serious computer-vision algorithm, and voila, fruit slicing done with the eyes! A live demo was done in LeWeb this year and we may actually be able to see it in in action in mobile devices in 2013.
Currently the company is still seeking partnership to bring this sci-fi tech into the consumer market but you and I know that this product is simply too awesome to fail.

6. SmartThings

The current problem that most devices have is that they function as a standalone being, and it require effort for tech competitors to actually partner with each other and build products that can truly connect with each other. SmartThings is here to make your every device, digital or non-digital, connect together and benefit you.

(Image Source: Kickstarter)

With SmartThings you can get your smoke alarms, humidity, pressure and vibration sensors to detect changes in your house and alert you through your smartphone! Imagine the possibilities with this.
You could track who’s been inside your house, turn on the lights while you’re entering a room, shut windows and doors when you leave the house, all with the help of something that only costs $500! Feel like a tech lord in your castle with this marvel.

7. Firefox OS

iOS and Android are great, but they each have their own rules and policies that certainly inhibit the creative efforts of developers. Mozilla has since decided to build a new mobile operating system from scratch, one that will focus on true openness, freedom and user choice. It’s Firefox OS.
Firefox OS is built on Gonk, Gecko and Gaia software layers – for the rest of us, it means it is built on open source, and it carries web technologies such as HTML5 and CSS3.

(Image Source: Mozilla)

Developers can create and debut web apps without the blockade of requirements set by app stores, and users could even customize the OS based on their needs. Currently the OS has made its debut on Android-compatible phones, and the impression so far, is great.
You can use the OS to do essential tasks you do on iOS or Android: calling friends, browsing web, taking photos, playing games, they are all possible on Firefox OS, set to rock the smartphone market.

8. Project Fiona

Meet the first generation of the gaming tablet. Razer’s Project Fiona is a serious gaming tablet built for hardcore gaming. Once it’s out, it will be the frontier for the future tablets, as tech companies might want to build their own tablets, dedicated towards gaming, but for now Fiona is the only possible one that will debut in 2013.

(Image Source: Razer™)

This beast features next generation Intel® Core i7 processor geared to render all your favorite PC games, all at the palm of your hands. Crowned as the best gaming accessories manufacturer, Razer clearly knows how to build user experience straight into the tablet, and that means 3-axis gyro, magnetometer, accelerometer and full-screen user interface supporting multi-touch. My body and soul are ready.

9. Parallella

Parallella is going to change the way that computers are made, and Adapteva offers you chance to join in on this revolution. Simply put, it’s a supercomputer for everyone. Basically, an energy-efficient computer built for processing complex software simultaneously and effectively. Real-time object tracking, holographic heads-up display, speech recognition will become even stronger and smarter with Parallella.

(Image Source: YouTube)

The project has been successfully funded so far, with an estimated delivery date of February 2013. For a mini supercomputer, the price seems really promising since it’s magically $99! It’s not recommended for the non-programmer and non-Linux user, but the kit is loaded with development software to create your personal projects.
I never thought the future of computing could be kick-started with just $99, which is made possible using crowdfunding platforms.

10. Google Driverless Car

I could still remember the day I watch the iRobot as a teen, and being skeptical about my brother’s statement that one day, the driverless car will become reality. And it’s now a reality, made possible by… a search engine company, Google.
While the data source is still a secret recipe, the Google driverless car is powered by artificial intelligence that utilizes the input from the video cameras inside the car, a sensor on the vehicle’s top, and some radar and position sensors attached to different positions of the car. Sounds like a lot of effort to mimic the human intelligence in a car, but so far the system has successfully driven 1609 kilometres without human commands!

(Image Source: Wikipedia)

“You can count on one hand the number of years it will take before ordinary people can experience this.” Google co-founder, Sergey Brin said. However, innovation is an achievement, consumerization is the headache, as Google currently face the challenge to forge the system into an affordable gem that every worker with an average salary could benefit from.

We have seen great leaps in digital technology in past the past five years. Smartphones, cloud computing, multi-touch tablets, these are all innovations that revolutionized the way we live and work. However, believe it or not, we are just getting started. Technology will get even better. In the future, we could live like how people in science fiction movies did.

(Image Source: YouTube)

Today’s post is about 10 upcoming, real-life products that is set to revolutionize the world as we know it. Get ready to control the desktop and slice Ninja fruits with your eyes. Get ready to print your own creative physical product. Get ready to dive into the virtual world, and interact with them. Come unfold the future with us.

1. Google Glass

Augmented Reality has already gotten into our life in the forms of simulated experiment and education app, but Google is taking it several steps higher with Google Glass. Theoretically, with Google Glass, you are able to view social media feeds, text, Google Maps, as well as navigate with GPS and take photos. You will also get the latest updates while you are on the ground.

(Image Source: YouTube)

It’s truly what we called vision, and it’s absolutely possible given the fact that the Google’s co-founder, Sergey Brin has demo’ed the glass with skydivers and creatives. Currently the device is only available to some developers with the price tag of $1500, but expect other tech companies trying it out and building an affordable consumer version.

2. Form 1

Just as the term suggests, 3D printing is the technology that could forge your digital design into a solid real-life product. It’s nothing new for the advanced mechanical industry, but a personal 3D printer is definitely a revolutionary idea.
Everybody can create their own physical product based on their custom design, and no approval needed from any giant manufacturer! Even the James Bond’s Aston Martin which was crashed in the movie was a 3D printed product!

(Image Source: Kickstarter)

Form 1 is one such personal 3D printer which can be yours at just $2799. It may sound like a high price but to have the luxury of getting producing your own prototypes, that’s a reaonable price.
Imagine a future where every individual professional has the capability to mass produce their own creative physical products without limitation. This is the future where personal productivity and creativity are maximized.

3. Oculus Rift

Virtual Reality gaming is here in the form of Oculus Rift. This history-defining 3D headset lets you mentally feel that you are actually inside a video game. In the Rift’s virtual world, you could turn your head around with ultra-low latency to view the world in high resolution display.
There are premium products in the market that can do the same, but Rift wants you to enjoy the experience at only $300, and the package even comes as a development kit. This is the beginning of the revolution for next-generation gaming.

(Image Source: Kickstarter)

The timing is perfect as the world is currently bombarded with the virtual reality topic that could also be attributed to Sword Art Online, the anime series featuring the characters playing games in an entirely virtual world. While we’re getting there, it could take a few more years to reach that level of realism. Oculus Rift is our first step.

4. Leap Motion

Multi-touch desktop is a (miserably) failed product due to the fact that hands could get very tired with prolonged use, but Leap Motion wants to challenge this dark area again with a more advanced idea. It lets you control the desktop with fingers, but without touching the screen.

(Image Source: Leap Motion)

It’s not your typical motion sensor, as Leap Motion allows you to scroll the web page, zoom in the map and photos, sign documentss and even play a first person shooter game with only hand and finger movements. The smooth reaction is the most crucial key point here. More importantly, you can own this future with just $70, a price of a premium PS3 game title!
If this device could completely work with Oculus Rift to simulate a real-time gaming experience, gaming is going to get a major make-over.

5. Eye Tribe

Eye tracking has been actively discussed by technology enthusiasts throughout these years, but it’s really challenging to implement. But Eye Tribe actually did this. They successfully created the technology to allow you to control your tablet, play flight simulator, and even slice fruits in Fruit Ninja only with your eye movements.

(Image Source: Eye Tribe)

It’s basically taking the common eye-tracking technology and combining it with a front-facing camera plus some serious computer-vision algorithm, and voila, fruit slicing done with the eyes! A live demo was done in LeWeb this year and we may actually be able to see it in in action in mobile devices in 2013.
Currently the company is still seeking partnership to bring this sci-fi tech into the consumer market but you and I know that this product is simply too awesome to fail.

6. SmartThings

The current problem that most devices have is that they function as a standalone being, and it require effort for tech competitors to actually partner with each other and build products that can truly connect with each other. SmartThings is here to make your every device, digital or non-digital, connect together and benefit you.

(Image Source: Kickstarter)

With SmartThings you can get your smoke alarms, humidity, pressure and vibration sensors to detect changes in your house and alert you through your smartphone! Imagine the possibilities with this.
You could track who’s been inside your house, turn on the lights while you’re entering a room, shut windows and doors when you leave the house, all with the help of something that only costs $500! Feel like a tech lord in your castle with this marvel.

7. Firefox OS

iOS and Android are great, but they each have their own rules and policies that certainly inhibit the creative efforts of developers. Mozilla has since decided to build a new mobile operating system from scratch, one that will focus on true openness, freedom and user choice. It’s Firefox OS.
Firefox OS is built on Gonk, Gecko and Gaia software layers – for the rest of us, it means it is built on open source, and it carries web technologies such as HTML5 and CSS3.

(Image Source: Mozilla)

Developers can create and debut web apps without the blockade of requirements set by app stores, and users could even customize the OS based on their needs. Currently the OS has made its debut on Android-compatible phones, and the impression so far, is great.
You can use the OS to do essential tasks you do on iOS or Android: calling friends, browsing web, taking photos, playing games, they are all possible on Firefox OS, set to rock the smartphone market.

8. Project Fiona

Meet the first generation of the gaming tablet. Razer’s Project Fiona is a serious gaming tablet built for hardcore gaming. Once it’s out, it will be the frontier for the future tablets, as tech companies might want to build their own tablets, dedicated towards gaming, but for now Fiona is the only possible one that will debut in 2013.

(Image Source: Razer™)

This beast features next generation Intel® Core i7 processor geared to render all your favorite PC games, all at the palm of your hands. Crowned as the best gaming accessories manufacturer, Razer clearly knows how to build user experience straight into the tablet, and that means 3-axis gyro, magnetometer, accelerometer and full-screen user interface supporting multi-touch. My body and soul are ready.

9. Parallella

Parallella is going to change the way that computers are made, and Adapteva offers you chance to join in on this revolution. Simply put, it’s a supercomputer for everyone. Basically, an energy-efficient computer built for processing complex software simultaneously and effectively. Real-time object tracking, holographic heads-up display, speech recognition will become even stronger and smarter with Parallella.

(Image Source: YouTube)

The project has been successfully funded so far, with an estimated delivery date of February 2013. For a mini supercomputer, the price seems really promising since it’s magically $99! It’s not recommended for the non-programmer and non-Linux user, but the kit is loaded with development software to create your personal projects.
I never thought the future of computing could be kick-started with just $99, which is made possible using crowdfunding platforms.

10. Google Driverless Car

I could still remember the day I watch the iRobot as a teen, and being skeptical about my brother’s statement that one day, the driverless car will become reality. And it’s now a reality, made possible by… a search engine company, Google.
While the data source is still a secret recipe, the Google driverless car is powered by artificial intelligence that utilizes the input from the video cameras inside the car, a sensor on the vehicle’s top, and some radar and position sensors attached to different positions of the car. Sounds like a lot of effort to mimic the human intelligence in a car, but so far the system has successfully driven 1609 kilometres without human commands!

(Image Source: Wikipedia)

“You can count on one hand the number of years it will take before ordinary people can experience this.” Google co-founder, Sergey Brin said. However, innovation is an achievement, consumerization is the headache, as Google currently face the challenge to forge the system into an affordable gem that every worker with an average salary could benefit from.

List of Upcoming Technology That will Change The World