You may have heard of Google's 20% projects - where employees are encouraged to spend 20% of their time on technology that really interests them.
One of these has turned into a project that solar panel companies could really use in their marketing efforts.
It's called Project Sunroof and it shows you how much solar power your roof could generate based on your home's orientation, shade from buildings and trees and other geography. Conveniently, the tool can also hook you up with local solar installers.
Currently it only works in Boston, Fresno and the Bay Area, but they say it will be expanding to the rest of the country.
What a great synergistic marketing tool. I'm wondering if there might be a play for Owens Corning.
Here's a short video that describes the program: https://youtu.be/_BXf_h8tEes
Two factor authentication can increase the authentication security of any system. It depends on something you know (like a userID/password) and something you have (like a SecurID token or a special one-time key sent to your phone.)
The problem with the token is that they wear out or otherwise fail - and you have to type in the key or copy and paste the key. One-time key's sent to your phone are pretty convenient, but you need to type in the key and this introduces delay in the sign-in process. What we'd like is a more transparent process.
A new system is being developed by researchers at by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich - it's called "Sound-Proof". It uses ambient sound as a second factor, comparing the background noise being received from your phone to the background noise received from your computer. If they match, it lets you in. It's based on the premise that your PC and your phone, if close enough together, will hear the same thing. This proximity implies that you are who you say you are.
It's ingenious. They've done some prototypes and the results look promising.
Here's a link to the research paper describing Sound-Proof: http://arxiv.org/pdf/1503.03790v3.pdf
By now we’re used to seeing big technology advances every few months, but this one is still pretty impressive.
Samsung just announced a 16 Terabyte 2.5” solid state drive. It uses NAND flash memory instead of spinning platters. (The largest drive using spinning platters are about 10TB.) It uses a new 3D architecture with 48 layers to achieve this high density.
The new device was announced last week at the Flash Memory Summit. At the summit, Samsung showed a server with 48 of these drives with a total storage capacity of 768 TB at 2 million I/O per second (typical PC drives top out at < 100,000 I/O per second…)
The cost per drive looks like it will be around $8000 – more than 20 times the cost of the cheapest storage using spinning media, but in a much smaller package. This device is clearly targeted at the enterprise server market. But, as with everything else, the price should drop as competition in this space heats up.
Here's a link with more information. http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/08/samsung-unveils-2-5-inch-16tb-ssd-the-worlds-largest-hard-drive/
You've probably seen the Windows 10 commercial with babies - saying that they won't have to remember passwords. I thought I'd spend a few minutes describing the Windows Hello technology, because you're likely to start seeing it in new computers sooner than later.
It works using biometrics. Biometrics isn't new - thumbprint scanners and camera based authentication have been around for a while. But they've had some problems. Camera based authentication was difficult to do. Lighting problems, angle of the camera, etc., performance of the PC all contribute to reliability issues. In addition, these could sometimes be fooled using just a picture of your face. Similar problems with fingerprint scanners have kept them from being as successful in real life as the are in the movies...
So, what's different?
Well, first, the technology is built in to Windows 10. In older fingerprint scanners, for instance, the manufacturer of the sensor created the software that reads the sensor and integrates with the operating system. Now, this functionality is built in to Windows 10. While new pressure sensitive fingerprint readers will be coming on newer laptops, this technology will also work with older fingerprint readers as well.
In the case of face recognition biometrics, the situation is a little more complex. The camera technology used in Windows 10 face recognition requires a new camera based on the Intel RealSense technology. Your laptop doesn't have one of these. So, for now at least, you'd need a clunky external camera to make this work. You also need a processor in your PC that has a 4th generation or later Haswell processor. So, I don't think people will be using this much until these cameras start making their way to new laptops, sometime later this year.
The security of the new biometrics system is where it really shines. The newer sensors can check for temperature and even pulse before authenticating a fingerprint. It also uses a 3D scan of your fingerprint rather than a flat "picture". The characteristics of the fingerprint are stored on the PC - no picture of your fingerprint is stored, and the characteristics are never sent off your PC.
Same with facial features. It looks at characteristics of your face in 3D and compares them to what is stored rather than trying to match a picture. The new RealSense camera is both 3D and infrared so it can tell if it's looking at a real person versus a picture. As a backup, you can use a PIN to authenticate - just in case the fingerprint or facial recognition software doesn't work after 5 attempts.
If your face changes - you grow a beard or start wearing glasses - you need to re-train your computer, but it only takes a minute or two.
I'll be exploring these options as the technology becomes available and I'll blog about them here once I've had a chance to play with them.
There’s obviously much potential for the Internet of Things. Connecting objects can increase the “network effect” much like connecting people. But are also some downsides, including security/patching, hacking and reliability.
In July, security researchers posted evidence that they were able to control various Jeep systems remotely – posting a picture of said Jeep in a ditch after the hackers remotely disabled the brakes. They attacked the entertainment system, which could then connect to automotive systems to control them.
Just yesterday, researchers at UCSD published research showing how they could use SMS messages to take control of a number of different cars, by hacking an OBD2 dongle. These are the devices that rental car agencies and insurance companies use to track speed and other operating conditions of your car.
These kinds of hacks are inevitable for a couple of reasons. System’s become much more complex and difficult to test as interconnectedness increases. Each of the interconnected components needs to be tested, but they also need to be tested as a system to detect anomalies. This is nearly impossible because of the random nature of how people interconnect different systems. Compatibility and interconnectability are great, but we need to consider their effect on security and reliability.
Also, it is difficult to keep all these interconnected systems patched. Many people don’t even patch their PC’s, phones or tablets much less their cars. I have several dozen different devices in my home that all need to be maintained – and some of them get forgotten or otherwise fall behind, even though I’d say I’m much more disciplined about this stuff than, say, my mom, neighbors, etc. This needs to be automated, but then systems testing becomes much more important (and difficult, again, because of the random connections that can be made.)
Finally, as systems age without patches, their functionality can suffer. Even if the other systems they talk to are being patched and upgraded, if the API’s or other interfaces that connect them are not being kept up-to-date, their functionality in such an interconnected system can be reduced.
As we develop IoT systems for our manufacturing facilities or even our customers/consumers, we need to make sure that system security and maintenance are included in the design of the support model – we can’t afford to create systems that aren’t maintained and regularly patched and upgraded. This needs to be considered as part of the cost of these new systems.
What are your thoughts/concerns?
I think, by now, everyone knows I'm a Chromebook fan - they're great for lightweight computing, they have long battery life, require very little maintenance, they start up fast and they get you productive even quicker. I took one on vacation this year instead of a traditional laptop and actually got quite a bit done both for work (I used VMWare Horizon client to connect to my VDI workspace) and personal (where I use mostly Google products.)
They're not for everyone: if you aren't using powerful cloud servers to do your work or if you have a lousy Internet connection, they can be a real pain to use.
The only objection I have to the one I use (a cheap ASUS from a couple of years ago) is that it's not a touch screen. Because of this and its form factor, I usually also carry a tablet... The tablet is great for reading, doing quick emails and scheduling, but it's not good for more extended work, multiple windows, typing, etc.
What I'd really like is a combination tablet/computer that I could use for all of these tasks.
I've thought about a Microsoft Surface, but they're expensive and I do most of my "personal" computing in the cloud - seemed like overkill. The Google Pixel is nice, but it's even more overkill – and a little too large for mobile use.
Today, I saw an ad for the new 2GB ASUS Chromebook Flip for $229 ($20 off its retail price.) This sounds about right for the kind of portable/mobile computing device I'm looking for. It has a high speed WiFi connection (a/b/g/n/ac) and a 1280 X 800, 10" screen. It's thin, weighs less than 2 lbs and its aluminum case looks pretty durable.
I think, when I'm next in the market for a new PC, it will be something like this.
Here's a novel use of technology: an embedded sensor to monitor milk and let you know when it has gone bad.
Researchers at UC Berkley and National Chiao Tung University have discovered that bacteria in milk can change the resonant frequency of a circuit in contact with milk. They’ve devised a way to monitor this frequency and alert the consumer when this happens.
There are other technologies for sensors to detect bad food, but this one looks to be very cheap. In the prototype, specially equipped bottle caps are 3d printed with electrodes and resonant circuits that can be read using technology similar to card reader.
Here’s an article from UC Berkley that has more details: http://news.berkeley.edu/2015/07/20/3d-printed-electronic-smart-cap/
As the sensors get cheaper we’ll see them embedded in more and more consumer products. Could cheap sensors be included in our products to aid the consumer?
One of these has turned into a project that solar panel companies could really use in their marketing efforts.
