Blog - Page 40 of 105 - David Papp

Could Google’s New Wireless Service Save You Money?

2016/09/07

With many complaints about expensive cell phone company data plans and roaming prices, Google’s new wireless plan may be worth a look. And it’s not just a wireless plan. Project Fi‘s innovative program uses a network of the biggest wireless carriers combined with WiFi in your home and locations all over the world to give you the best available cell signal wherever you are in world.

The Project, open by invitation only in 2015, is now in full swing and available in the US on the Nexus 6P, Nexus 5X, and Nexus 6 phones. This summer, it expanded its coverage to over 135 countries and locations all over the world. With rumored new features from Google Nougat coming in the fall, now might be the best time to explore Google’s new option.

Here are 5 reasons to keep your eye on Fi:

Data breaches such as Dropbox and LinkedIn

2016/09/01

The data breach for Dropbox hitting the news today occurred 4 years ago (in 2012). The reason it is hitting the news now is the information was recently leaked out into the open through the dark web. It includes 68 million Dropbox accounts but also 117 million from a 2012 LinkedIn breach as well. Since …

Smartwatch that floats!

2016/08/30

Smartwatches have been around a while. Don’t you remember the calculator watches back in the 70s? I had one, it was pretty cool at the time. Then they came out with memo capabilities in the 90s with appointment reminders and 30 character screens. Some watches even had built-in pagers. What’s that you ask? Imagine one-way text messaging but with extremely limited number of characters. We were thinking there would be a whole bunch of new smartwatches out in 2016 but the pickings are few.

A super cool Smartwatch to check out is Nixon The Mission, an Androidwear watch for outdoor and sport enthusiasts. And yes as you can see by the photos, it floats.

This large watch is rugged and waterproof to 100m. It has a very nice 400×400 touchscreen that you can use even when wet. Being a smartwatch, it is equipped with compass, gyrometer, altimeter, GPS, thermometer, accelerometer and humidity sensors. Other specs are 512MB of RAM and 4GB of storage for apps and music. It will be available later this year for roughly $400.

6 Fitness Bands to Consider

2016/08/22

There are so many options now for choosing a personal fitness band. These bands are great for those starting out. Remember small changes can turn into big results. Some people may base their decision purely on looks but I would recommend taking a look at functionality as well.

Virtual Reality

2016/10/042016/08/16

Spider robots find and repair holes in airship

2016/08/10

The Skunk Works division of Lockheed Martin created a self-propelled spider robot that moves over an airship to scan for holes and repair them. It has an inside part and outside part that are held together by magnets. When it finds a hole using light sensors and repairs it, it takes before and after photos so they can be manually verified by an operator. Many spider robots can operate simultaneously which reduces the time considerably.

Imagine applying similar technology to other aircraft, vehicles, vessels, or even pipelines. We could avoid very unfortunate leaks having serious environmental impact and safety concerns.