Why 2050?

A friend of mine asked why 2050.
It is an important year for my generation.
Some of us can see it some cannot.
For those who can see it, it will be a dichotomy between what we experienced in our childhood and in our elderly years. The reason is exponential growth in technology.
We will continue this discussion over another coffee soon.

Human skin as input for mobile devices

I have been observing progress in human computer interaction for a number of years as part of my profession. It is fascinating to read about a recent paper by Chris Harrison, a third-year Ph.D. student in Carnegie Mellon University collaborated with Desney Tan and Dan Morris of Microsoft Research. The media release is titled "Carnegie Mellon Student Uses Skin as Input
For Smart Phones and Other Mobile Devices" and can be found from the link. The paper will be presented on April 12, at CHI 2010, the Association for Computing Machinery's annual Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems in Atlanta.

Chris said: "With Skinput, we can use our own skin — the body's largest organ — as an input device. It's kind of crazy to think we could summon interfaces onto our bodies, but it turns out to make a lot of sense. Our skin is always with us, and makes the ultimate interactive touch surface."

Why is this paper important? It is because the idea (if supported and developed properly) can make tremendous impact on our interaction with computer devices and it can create a new paradigm in this field. You can see some further explanation and some photos from Chris' website here.

I'd like to obtain your views on implications of using human skin as an input device for mobile devices.

Mysteries of blackholes

I am not only fascinated by mysteries of very tiny things such as atoms, electrons but also very big things such as life itself, the universe and the growing multi-verses. Amazing to see NASA is being so generous and visionary again!

Black Holes are fascinating and mysteries! We know so little about them. The good news is that the American space agency NASA, has approved a new mission to study the mysteries of black holes.

As you may have heard hypothetically or should I say theoretically they were "created when the very black biggest stars explode at the end of their lives, the massive gravity wells suck in anything that ventures too close, crushing and stretching matter at the subatomic level."

So fascinating that "anything falling past a point called the event horizon will fall forever into the black holes singularity, a place where the laws of physics cease to exist, not even light can escape hence the name. They will start "working immediately with a launch in two years time. The new spacecraft will be called the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR. It will use a high energy X-ray telescope in Earth orbit to study black holes." Stay tuned to be informed, of course, it is in my radar; let see how big is a cosmic string is:-)

Here's some background scientific and dramatic background in the mean while about black holes!


Those who cannot see the video, this is how some of us can visualize these mysteries things:


Are you curious about this mystery too? What do you expect as outcome of this study by NASA? They better satisfy our curiosity:-)

Nanotechnology is speaking!: new materials to cause rain

Needing rain desperately in my town and other parts of the world, I'd like to share an interesting study from London Centre for Nanotechnology and University College London. The article to introduce the study is titled "Molecular ice chain structure could be used to seed clouds and cause rain" and freshly uploaded on the Nanowerk site, waiting to be read:-)

The article reports that "This week's Nature Materials (9 March 2009) reveals how an international team of scientists led by researchers at the London Centre for Nanotechnology (LCN) at UCL have discovered a novel one dimensional ice chain structure built from pentagons that may prove to be a step toward the development of new materials which can be used to seed clouds and cause rain."

Dr Michaelides says: "For the first time, we have shown that ice can build an extended one dimensional chain structure entirely from pentagons and not hexagons. This discovery leads to fundamental new understanding about the nature of hydrogen bonding at interfaces (there is no a priori rule that hexagons should form) and suggests that when people are searching for new ice nucleating agents which can be used to seed clouds and cause rain, they do not necessarily need to focus on materials that have hexagonal surfaces - other types of surfaces may be good too."

Look forward to more progressing studies in this area! Your thoughts?

Regards,
Mehmet

Dr. Mehmet YILDIZ || IBM || IT Business Philosophy || Paradigm Shift for 2050s|| My blog || Twitter || Linkedin.

NanoPen may write new chapter in nanotechnology, in business and in our lives

Writing devices such as pen, pencil and even keyboards were so important once but are taken for granted nowadays. They are important communication enablers; we only appreciate their importance when they disappear in those awkward moments someone will give you an important information and you are in the middle of nowhere with a pen.

In this post I'd like to introduce and cite a new concept called "NanoPen" which is now at conceptual stage and discussed for possibilities in the body of knowledge.

Here is an excerpt from the article titled "NanoPen may write new chapter in nanotechnology manufacturing" "Researchers in California are reporting development of a so-called "NanoPen" that could provide a quick, convenient way of laying down patterns of nanoparticles — from wires to circuits — for making futuristic electronic devices, medical diagnostic tests, and other much-anticipated nanotechnology applications."

This just reminded me an episode in SpongeBob where with his pen he creates himself or new creatures; however he regrets at some point!

A NanoPen could change the world but we need to invest a lot of brain power and financial investment on it. What do you see the opportunities, possibilities and implications for such a breakthrough device?

Regards,
Mehmet

Dr. Mehmet YILDIZ || IBM || IT Philosophy || Future|| Leadership || My blog || Twitter || Linkedin || Yasni ||Google || Naymz

Magic Quadrant for Information Access Technology for 2008

I have just completed reviewing a second report from Gartner today. Here is Gartner's Magic Quadrant for Information Access Technology for 2008 which I wanted to share the source, provide you with some thoughts and start discussion on this topic.

In the paper, Gartner "considers all enterprise search vendors to be information access technology vendors. However, those that only offer search capabilities (frequently called "keyword search") are neither Visionaries nor candidates for the Leaders quadrant, although they are part of the market. Finding information, and acting on it intelligently, demands increasingly sophisticated and innovative strategies and technologies".

The following diagram depicts the leaders, challengers, visionaries and niche players:


I'd like to obtain your views on the analysis in the Gartner's report. It will be insightful to share your personal experience on Information Access Technologies.

Do you want to live longer?

Today, I have created a new club called in Ecademy Radical Paradigm Shift for Life in 2050s.

A number of members sent me private email messages on why should they worry about a far future that they are most likely not be seeing or living in. Then suddenly a vision came to me. This thought inspired me to write this blog. I have started with a question. How can technology help us live longer? And this key question brought an important scientific discipline to my mind which is an interest to me: "Biomedical Gerontology". What does it do?

The purpose of Biomedical gerontology (BG) is to slow, prevent, and reverse aging in both human beings and animals.

BG currently uses two key approaches to achieve its objectives: curing age related diseases and slowing down the underlying processes of aging. Some BG scientists believe the human life span can be altered within the next century. They are considered to be 'Optimists'.

According to some theories in the literature, lifespan could be extended:
-by reducing the rate of aging damage,
-by periodic replacement of damaged tissues,
-by molecular repair
-by rejuvenation of deteriorated cells and tissues.

In my view these functions can be undertaken by some emerging technologies particularly in biomedical arena using the nano-technological techniques. Putting my techno-utopian hat again, I believe [soon] it will be possible to extend life span.

However ethics immediately rings the poignant bells and shows us a fat reality: "What are you going to do with the potential problem of overpopulation?". Then I stop, take a deep breath and start pondering…and as usual ask the audience here:-)

1. Do you believe it is possible to extend life by 2050? Why/Why not?
2. What do you think of longevity? Would you like it or not? Why not?
3. What other factors (apart from technology) can you think of helping with longevity?
4. What is the correlation between our business approach, society and life span vision?
5. How is your business and personal life positioned to help with extending your life span?

We will cover more of this topic in the Radical Paradigm Shift for Life in 2050s.

I added some thought provoking videos below. What do you think of the topics in the following videos?