TECH TREK December 2016
How Technology is Improving Education
A Look at How Chip Design is Used in Major Products
Apple vs. Samsung: A battle for the ages
Why Wearable Technology is our Future
Drones Rise in Interest Across Industries
TABLE OF CONTENTS
4 5 6 10 12 16
Letter from the Editor A message from the two editors of the magazine.
About the Authors A paragraph from each author about themselves.
Behind the Tech About the tech behind the Xbox One.
Inside the Xbox One The components of the Xbox One.
Tech Today Opinions on the technology of today.
Apple vs. Samsung A timeline of both sides of one of the biggest tech rivalries today.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
A Wearable Future Informs about various modern wearable technologies.
Worthy Wearables A person showcasing different uses of wearable technology.
Friendly Skies Article about current drones and what they do.
Drones in Major Industries How drones are uses in different industries.
Text to Tech
Transition to electronic methods in education.
Print vs. Ebook Comparing the two largest forms of textbooks.
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Letter From the Editors Dear Readers, In this issue of Tech Trek, featured are different technologies today that are making a substantial impact on the world. From wearable technology to drones, these technologies make their debuts in many different stages, including but not limited to classrooms, people’s wrists, the air and sky in everyday communication. If you are interested in the technology of tomorrow, then Tech Trek is the magazine for you. We want to create an informative issue about relevant aspects of technology, and covering a very large variety of different types of technology. Our aim is to become informed, explore, and discover how broad of a spectrum and how large of a niche technology plays in the modern era. During this age of technological development at a lightning fast pace, the last thing you want to do is just sit and watch, through Tech Trek, readers will become more than involved with technology, they will learn the inner and outer workings of some of the most impactful and upcoming technology around today. Readers will be absorbed into an ever changing world that allows what we consider the simplest things such as checking your email or searching up a simple fact, to being able to do things as complex as streaming video while collaborating on a project with a fellow student when both students are not physically together and their computers-a miracle in their own-are not even on the same WiFi network. This can all be done in real time nowadays, and there seems to be no limit now except the hardware and its capability and capacity to multitask. The hardware seems to almost never stop improving, and there are too many technological “miracles� to name. We hope that you thoroughly enjoy Tech Trek.
Nikhil Lyles Editor 4 TECH TREK DEC 2016
Diego Martinez Editor
Contributors
Of Tech Trek
Allen Li, a writer and contributor to Tech Trek magazine, is also a 14 year old who attends LASA high school. He enjoys multiple subjects including math, and science and participates on swim team. Aside from doing school work, he loves to keep up on current technology. He finds phones and computers especially interesting because of the ability for them to change and evolve over time. He also has a lot of technology background from robotics courses, and selftaught courses on electronics. He currently lives in Austin with his father, mother, younger sister, and yellow lab.
Mason Barrera is a 14 year old contributor to Tech Trek who has always been interested in baseball, history, and movies. He is a dedicated student who spends much of his time studying and completing schoolwork. He is intrigued by the programming behind computers he learns in class and the devices he uses everyday. Though his technology background is limited, his interest in the subject is not, and he aims to gain new knowledge through the creation of this magazine. He currently lives in Southwest Austin with his mother, father, two brothers, and four pets.
Rogan Phillips is a contributor and writer for Tech Trek. He is an avid student, and enjoys all subjects in school. When he is not working on homework for school, Rogan enjoys to row at the Texas Rowing Center, play video games, and watch anything Star Wars related. He also has a passion for technology, which led him to work on Tech Trek. Rogan has taken courses on robotics, various computer related programs, and two previous Tech classes. Currently, he lives with his father, mother, and twin sister in a house in downtown Austin. This is Rogan’s first magazine article. DEC 2016 TECH TREK 5
Behind the Tech Xbox One and PS4
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By Nikhil Lyles
he Xbox One and Playstation 4 are top of the line video game consoles. But what many people don’t see is how much work goes into and how many people are behind the projects that make these products so high quality. They are silhouettes, concealed from vision by the darkness and obscurity of the corporate giant. I spoke to a manager and employee that worked on the project for the chip that went into the Xbox One and PS4. I hope to illuminate the darkness surrounding this profession that designs the products that enable the world we live in today and supply it with function and entertainment. We will see, if you will, the men and women in the machine. Many of these engineers worked long hours to bring forth the product that so many people use. “If you want a top-notch design to come out, that has quality and completeness, it takes a lot of time,” Doug Good, senior manager of design verification at Oracle, said. “People tend to work 10, 12, or 14 hour days at work, and then possibly even more at home. Today, I had a 9 to 10 hour work day, and I would consider that a medium day.” To put these figures into perspective, the average Texas student spends 7.17 hours in school each day. This figure applies to a 180 day school year, whereas most computer engineers spend around 350 days in the office with only around 15 days for holidays or vacations. On top of that, many work 6 TECH TREK DEC 2016
in the office as well as at home when they return from work, thus contributing to such large figures. The figures presented to me by those I interviewed-a 10 to 14 hour work day, two years of work on
“Sometimes you’ll work really hard, sometimes you won’t work that hard. During that project, and generally in engineering design, you’ll work many long hours. It is what you make it.”
the project, and 350 day years or work- lead to the conclusion that workers spent anywhere from 7000 to 10,000 man-hours per person, which yields an average of 4200000 man-hours total, or approximately 480 man-years, spent on this project. That is almost a year’s worth of someone’s time for each of 500 people spent bringing you these gaming consoles. In comparison, many other jobs have an individual outreach in that one employee’s job affects one individual person at a time, such as a doctor seeing one patient at a time, whereas these people’s’ work went out to millions in the form of a product. In effect, computer engineers almost never leave work. “Sometimes you’ll work really hard, sometimes you won’t work that hard,” Good said. “During that project, and generally in engineering design, you’ll work many long hours. It is what you make it.” He is right in the respect that, if you want a project to be of high quality for a high quality project, much effort has to go into it, but nowadays companies are only willing to hire people who will put in this high amount of effort, and this amount of effort of effort is expected of employees. In fact, this type of lifestyle is typical of an average, or even an outstanding, computer engineer. It is almost always necessary for a computer engineer to work at home or into the night time, after working hours, in order to complete deliverables and meet deadlines for their bosses and their work projects. Not only can work be tiresome and toil for the employees, but it can also be stressful, both to the employees and to their managers. “On Bobcat, I managed a bigger team, and on subsequent parts, I managed bigger teams,” Good said. “On that part, I managed a smaller team, and it wasn’t quite as stressful, but yes, managing-especially in verification, were the ones responsible for making sure it works, and there’s a lot of pressure to make sure it works… to make sure all the bugs are out of that chip before you ship it, because it’s very expensive to fix- so yes… it was stressful. One answer for both parts is that when I managed a smaller role, there’s less pressure, and when I have a larger role, like in the position I’m at right now, there’s a little more pressure, but it’s rewarding when the chip works.” There is not only stress and much work required of employees, but there are also many people that
“I think it’s really cool to be able to tell my kids, I mean, it’s the first time, the first thing I worked on, where I told my kids, ‘Hey, you know the Playstation Four and the Xbox One? Those both have the processor I worked on in it.’ And, you know, my boys-my daughter didn’t care as much-thought it was pretty cool that dad worked on that thing.”
These silicon wafers contain many of the chips that will go into products. They are expensive to produce, so there is pressure to make sure the chip’s design and software is correct and debugged before it is sent off for production
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work on the chip that go into the products. About the number of people that worked on the chip that went into the Xbox One and PS4(the AMD Jaguar Project, whose predecessor was Bobcat), Anand Mandapati, former senior director of strategic development at AMD and current strategic development executive at Tesla, said, “It’s definitely fun. I’ve worked on games consoles for fifteen years, starting on the Nintendo Gamecube and all the way to Wii U, Xbox 1 and PS4. It’s always fun to see those projects in people’s living rooms.” Although it can be tiresome and stressful, being a computer engineer has its benefits. Aside from the high salary, it can also feel rewarding and exciting to those computer engineers that work on the chips in these projects. “I think that it’s the coolest thing,” Good said. “I think it’s really cool to be able to tell my kids, I mean, it’s the first time, the first thing I worked on, where I told my kids, ‘Hey, you know the Playstation Four and the Xbox One? Those both have the processor I worked on in it.’ And, you know, my boys-my daughter didn’t care as much-thought it was pretty cool that dad worked on that thing.” To many computer engineers, it feels cool to know that their work and chip is going into a major consumer product that will be used by millions. “It’s pretty cool,” Stephen Shannon, senior staff engineer at Qualcomm, said. “It makes me want to buy the products! I have an iPhone. Pretty much any phone
“It’s pretty cool. It makes me want to buy the products! I have an iPhone. Pretty much any phone you buy is going to have the chip I worked on. It’s cool that half the world is using stuff you worked on and that it actually works.” 8 TECH TREK DEC 2016
you buy is going to have the chip I worked on. It’s cool that half the world is using stuff you worked on and that it actually works.” Not only does this type or scale of work bring good credit to the technology development in Austin, but it also attracts more technology development talent to the Austin area. The completion of projects like this, and the success of projects like this, shows that Austin is also a center of technical development prowess. “To have that accomplished here basically validates that Austin is a center of engineering excellence,” Good said. This adds to the merit of the Austin technological development scene and it attracts more talent seeking jobs, thus contributing to the merit of the development scene. When asked if he thought that the completion of projects like this attract attention of talent to Austin, Doug Good replied, “Absolutely. It’s a matter of the fact that it was this project at this company, as well as all the other ones I mentioned before. Just like the companies come here because the talent’s here, the talent comes here because the companies are here.” This cycle is a positive feedback loop that leads to the continued development and economic growth of Austin. There can only be so much talent in the U.S., and it usually clumps together with other talent, in major hubs of technological ingenuity, like in the Bay Area and in Austin, so it is great to be in one of few places where there is major employment in the technology industry, especially in a time where the technological development field is so crucial and so large, and the employment amount so high. For example, Apple recently completed the construction of its new facility and is in line to receive $35 million in tax incentives from the city, county and state for its Austin expansion. From 2010 to now, Apple’s Austin team/location has gone from 100 employees to 500, showing how much even the city and local government due to growth it has caused. Apple, along with other companies, has sucked the Bay Area dry of its talent, so this is a win-win situation for both Apple and the city of Austin, because Apple gets much needed employment and talent, and Austin gets positive job growth and economic stimulation. Austin benefits from engineering talent, engineering talent benefits from Austin, and the engineers working on such large projects put in large amounts of effort, but feel rewarded at the end.
Inside the XBox One By Nikhil Lyles
1. This is the “brain” of the XBox One which performs all of the operations that read in the data saved on the hard drive and process it to load your progress into the game which you have in the disc slot. It also reads in the information from the game and displays it onto the screen which the XBox is hooked up to.
Start:
500 People Start Working on the AMD Jaguar Chip(XBox One and PS4)
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2. This cooling fan is seen after removal from an XBox One. It’s purpose is to cool the device and prevent overheating, thus allowing more processing power in the device and more operations per second to be run by the mainframe, because the CPU and GPU can afford to get warmer because the fan will cool it down. This allows owners of the XBox One to enjoy higher quality games with higher quality graphics, which is the noticeable difference to the consumer.
1.5 Years Later:
Original Version Finished, Verification and Editing work begins on Jaguar
In the image to the below, a XBox One is depicted with two number labels indicating places with components of importance to the XBox One, and to the left, each component is shown with the corresponding number next to it, as well as a description of the component and its significance. Near the bottom there is a timeline depicting the time period over which work on the chip in the XBox One-the AMD Jaguar-took place in.
1 2
.5 Years Later:
Verification and Editing work finished Jaguar design sent off for production and Implementation
2 Years Later:
Products- Xbox One and PS4- arrive store shelves
DEC 2016 TECH TREK 11
TECH TODAY
Insight on modern technology By Allen Li
Photo talen by Apple
“Miniaturization has meant lots more transistors in processors.”
A photo of Jay Lyles 12 TECH TREK DEC 2016
30
years ago, the most modern cellular device could only receive and make calls and could have been mistaken for a brick. Computers were the most basic, and could only perform simple tasks; and it was about as portable as a boulder. “The major difference is that in year 2000 people use the feature phone. Which you can only dial the phone numbers, take pictures, send texts,” “Now people use smartphones. You do everything.” Only ten years ago our phones were as simple as possible, now they are as powerful as computers all in the palm of our hands. Over a short span of ten years multiple things have changed in the tech industry. While many new introductions of new technology have been made, the most noticeable are in phones and computers. “Miniaturization has meant lots more transistors in processors,” says Apple microprocessor designer Jay Lyles, “The demands of the mobile space have also meant that the designs have become much more power efficient, while the competition among the products in that space has meant that architects have pushed higher-performance techniques from the desktop or server space into the mobile space.” Lyles has worked in Austin for more than 20 years and at Apple for more than 10. Portability is a large factor in the evolution of phones and computers. The first portable cell phone was invented in 1973, while the first portable personal computer was invented in 1981. Both were far from portable and could only accomplish basic tasks. Now, your own smartphone is more powerful than the Apollo 11 spaceship computer! One of the most popular Apple computers, the Macbook Air, is only .68 inches thick! The thinnest phone, the Samsung A8, is only 5.9 mm. While portability has been improved by inches, computer power has been improved by a ton. “From Qualcomm point of view, we make more and more powerful CPU. And, were using less power. Which means to implement the same function, the size of the chip is getting smaller,” says Frank Li, a CPU designer at Qualcomm in Austin. He has been involved in the technology industry for more than 16 years, and even worked on the famous Qualcomm Snapdragon
Photo by Flickr
chip, used in phones like the Samsung galaxy s5. Even in the last decade, the size and power of computer chips have improved. A common computer chip 10 years ago was the size of a human hand. Now, a popular chip, the Intel i5, is the size of your fingertip. While Austin has been known for it’s live music and barbecue, Austin has been a prime location for tech companies in the last 10 years. Many have called Austin the “Next Silicon Valley”. “In my opinion, Austin is the only city bloomed in IT industry besides Santa Clara,” says Yao Jia, a power optimizer at Qualcomm. SIlicon Valley is a place in San Francisco California home to many start up companies and global tech companies. Apple, Facebook, and Google are some companies that have come from Silicon Valley. All the factors are here, Austin is one fastest growing cities in America, has many tech-based events like SXSW, a fairly low living cost, and in the past year, almost 200 life science companies have sprung up. “When I started working in Austin, there were only a few major microprocessor companies, mainly: IBM, Motorola, and AMD,” says Lyles, “Since then, we added Intel, ARM, Samsung, Sun/Oracle, Apple, Qualcomm, and
Apple iPhone 6 next to a Samsung Galaxy s6 edge
Photo from Wikipedia Commons
others.” There has also been several other technology based startups that involve virtual reality like Virtuix. With more companies, comes high competition. “The high-tech industry is so volatile,” says Frank Li, “And I can see only big players can survive. Small players will disappear or be acquired by big companies.” More and more small start up companies have either grew into bigger companies or have been bought by other larger companies. Freescale, a popular South Austin semiconductor company, has recently been bought by NXP, another semiconductor company. There plan is to make the world’s top automotive chip-maker. Two of the biggest company rivals in the world is Samsung and Apple. They take up 66 percent of the US phone sales. The latest flagship phone of Apple is the iPhone 7 and the Samsung Galaxy s7. One of the main differences between the phone is the OS, or the operating system. “Apple is the only company using IOS. They invented IOS nobody else can use it. And Samsung uses Samsung operating system. Almost all manufacturers use the android OS,” says Li. But while Apple stands on top with phone sales and income, Android phones do take up a
larger market space. “Apple’s goal is usually not to be the first to include a particular feature,” says Lyles. “They only want to include features when they feel they can use it to deliver an exceptional experience.” And this is true, Samsung has always been ahead based on phone features. This includes water resistance, shock proof etc. Apple also tends to focus on a smaller range of products. Their three main flagships are the mac, iphone, and the ipad, while Samsung tends to make a lot more devices such home appliances and televisions. “One interesting thing is that Samsung is a manufacturing company and Apple isn’t. Apple is actually a customer of Samsung, so Samsung makes money based on Apple’s sales,” says Lyles, “So while they are competitors in the phone/tablet space, they work together in other areas.” Looking towards the future, virtual reality is a big in technology today. Samsung just released the Samsung Gear VR that is compatible with the Galaxy s7, but many other gaming companies have released machines too, including the PlayStation VR and GoPro.
“The high-tech industry is so volatile.” Examples of a basic Nokia feature phone
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Photo by Wikipedia
Photo of Samsung Chip DDR-SDRAM
Photo by Wikipedia Commons
“The most exciting innovations will probably be in the AI space - machine learning, intelligent assistants, augmented/virtual reality, and the like,” says Lyles. This may include live personal assistants like the ones used in smartphones. In a more realistic approach, phone and computer chips might become nano and not noticeable to the human eye soon. If we continue to innovate technology at the same rate as the last ten years, then in the near future technology will be as innovative as ever. Phones and computers have gotten thinner, more powerful, and smarter, so you can only imagine what is going to come.
An example of virtual reality being used for military training.
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“Apple’s goal is usually not to be the first to include a particular feature. They only want to include features when they feel they can use it to deliver an exceptional experience.”
Photo by Flickr Photo by Wikipedia commons
Photo of someone using a virtual reality machine at a convention
Photo of a screen table concept. DEC 2016 TECH TREK 15
VS Apple and Samsung have seemed to be rivalrires since the beggining of time. Both are major producers of electronics. This ASF will compare both of them throughout time, since when they began to the present, looking at devices they have produced and lawsuits they have faced each other.
Apple, founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs and Stephen Wozniak, is one of the biggest companies in the world. Worth 18.9 billion, they specialize in a variety of electronics including phones, computer, and tablets. While almost 30 years younger than Samsung, Apple is independently launched a globally successful company up to par with the android giant, Samsung. Some of Apple’s most noticeable accomplishments and products include the iPod, iMac, and iPhone. All of these products have revolutionized the modern world. • Apple founded in 1976. 1977, Apple 2 (computer) introduced. • 1978, Apple Disk Two Introduced. • 1979, Apple visits XEROX PARC, for inspiration.
• 1980, Apple goes public 1984, Original Mac introduced. 1985, Jobs resigned from Apple after boardroom struggle with Sculley. • 1988, Apple sues Microsoft after claiming claiming Windows 2.03 infringes on Lisa/Mac audiovisual copyrights. • 1989, Mac Portable Ships
•
• •
• 1938, Samsung founded in Taegu, Korea. • 1970, black and white TV’s starts production. • 1978, most black and white TV’s sold. 4 million. • 1979 production of microwaves.
• 1980, production of air conditioners begin. • 1983, begins production of personal computers. • Made world’s smallest, lightest 4mm video tape recorder • 1987, Samsung creator, Lee Byung-chull, dies. Samsung separates into four groups.
1938 16 TECH TREK DEC 2016
1979
1980
1889
80 year old veteran electronic company, based in South Korea, is one of the biggest manufacturers, creators, and distributors of electronics, weapons, and household items like washing machines and refrigerators. They first started with black and white TV’s back in the 1940’s but slowly incorporated other fields. They are most known for their galaxy android phones, and household tools. But their relationship with Apple, hasn’t been steady. They’ve faced multiple lawsuits and have had to pay.
• 1991, Power books shipped. Lighter, more portable versions of Macs. • 1994, First power macs shipped. • 1997, Jobs comes back as interim CEO • 1998, iMac introduced at $1,299.
• 1992, mobile phone system developed. Also begins manufacturing in China. • 1996, developed fastest CPU, the Alpha Chip. • 1999, developed first smartphone, wireless internet phone.
• 2000, Jobs becomes CEO 2001, first iPod ships. 2004, iPod gets miniaturized. 2007, first iPhone released 2010, first iPad released. Summer 2012, Apple sues Samsung for hardware/software dress claims and packaging dress claims. • 2014, Apple sues Samsung for ripping off their designs. • • • • •
• • • •
1990
1999
• 2003, Released the first HD DVD combo 2008, Named Yoon-Woo Lee as a Vice Chairman & CEO 2010, Samsung launched galaxy S line of phones. 2011, Samsung Galaxy Note line released. 2016 Samsung Tab A 10.1 released.
2000
Present DEC 2016 TECH TREK 17
A Wearable Future
The Ascent of Wearable Tech
By: Mason Barrera
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he first smartwatch ever was sold in 1975. By 2021, 560 million wearable devices are expected to be sold annually.
The world wearable technology market has exploded, and its growth isn’t stopping anytime soon, with companies such as Apple and Fitbit using the sudden market attraction to their advantage. There’s a logical reason for this rapid surge in wearable technology, and most of it has to do with society’s desire for efficiency. Venture into a crowded public area and the growing appeal to wearable technology is obvious. Everywhere you go, more and more people are using
smartwatches to stay connected, shoe sensors to track fitness, and even virtual reality (VR) to experience media in a way that gives the user a sense of being somewhere they’re not. Forty percent of Americans use wearable tech to make their lives easier, whether it be communicating in a hurry or staying in shape. The electronic devices replace mechanical devices that are more common as well as more difficult to user for most consumers. Sales of wearables have increased 351% in the last year.
“It’s inevitable that the tech will become lighter, more portable, and integrated with clothes we wear”
Arguably the biggest question about wearable technology it what it will look like in the future. As tech companies work long and hard developing the most advanced cutting edge
Glasses are lighter and less obtrusive than some other types of wearable technology, according to experts. Photo by Antonio Zugaldia
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software to be integrated into wearables for the future, consumers around the world expect new changes to again make their lives easier. And though the future looks bright, Austin Macworks salesman Robert Frazier doesn’t think it’s going to take off right away.
While this guy looks really high tech, this bulky technololgy is not very practical. Scientiests are working to make wearable tech much more wearable. Photo by Minswho
“I believe [sales of wearable technology] may be a slow increase as people begin to accept and incorporate features such as automated home services, health tracking and other functions into their daily lives,” Frazier says, “I think people will opt for the least obtrusive and affordable technology. As for what exactly consumers can expect in the future, it is not very clear. It mostly depends on what can be developed and when. Austin American-Statesman technology writer Omar Gallaga has a general idea on what the future might look like in the wearables field. “More sensors woven into clothing, more glasses or contact lens devices that are lighter and less obtrusive and that offer mixed reality,” Gallaga predicts. One of the most well-known example of wearables replacing older technology is the Apple Watch. The
technological marvel was introduced in April of 2015 and it’s “Series 2” with GPS now incorporated and a waterproof body came out this September. These features add to the accessibility factor of the watch, helping people locate their watch on a digital map and allowing them to use the watch underwater. Companies such as Apple and Fitbit are using more and more advanced and complicated technology to give consumers more options.
technology in wearables can store valuable information and often have poor security that give hackers the ability to obtain your personal information. This could be a large reason, along with price, why this kind of technology is not as prevalent as you might think.
“It is a good way for people to stay healthy, and people are more aware of their health”
The future of wearables is bright, according to Gallaga. “I do [believe wearable tech replacing mechanical devices is a good thing] and it’s inevitable that the tech will become lighter, more portable, and integrated with clothes we wear,” says Gallaga.
Not all people are becoming accustomed to the change. The
Wearable technology can also pose a physical threat. Gallaga was among those who had their Fitbit Force recalled due to skin irritation. “I ended up sending it back and getting my money refunded and didn’t really find I was using it enough to justify getting a replacement,” Gallaga commented on the issue. These issues cause many people to simply stick with older, simpler devices.
Renee Keyes, an avid runner and a mother of two, isn’t one of those people. The 5-year proud owner of a Fitbit enjoys everything about her wearable. “I think it’s DEC 2016 TECH TREK 19
Clothing made from fabric such as this may some day be able to measure blood pressure, range of motion, and body temperature.
all positive,” says Keyes. “I think it is a good way for people to stay healthy, and people are more aware of their health.” When it comes to the astonishing engineering contained within wearables, it’s not hard to look past the negative aspects. After all, the capability to text on a watch or record everything you see is quite amazing. Keyes even believes her Fitbit motivates her and positively affects her self-esteem. “Every day, once I meet my 10,000 steps, I kind of feel good about myself, so I keep doing it,” She says. However some people feel it is in a negative way. Due to the fact that health monitors are designed to report feedback on all on of one’s activity, people can feel ashamed or disappointed with him or herself. The device can cause anxiety in some, and confidence in others. The biggest forms of motivation for customers to spend their money on wearables are for convenience, having an alternative to smartphones, and health concerns. Another reason that often goes unaccounted for is the entertainment factor. Millions of people buy wearable technology because using one is a fun, new experience for the person. A handful of consumers buy them off sudden 20 TECH TREK DEC 2016
Photo by Daniel X. O’Neil
desire, with 50% of users ending up losing interest in their wearable device. As a technology salesperson himself, Frazier agrees entertainment plays a big role. “The fun factor wearable technology can extend to clothes which change color, temperature etc.,” says Frazier. Overall, the wearable technology industry is one that is both expanding at an exponential rate, and is critical to the future of technology worldwide. Companies have developed sleep tracking headgear, body movement sensors in clothing, and chips that can be placed in glasses and special earbuds. The possibility of wearable devices for the future is why they are being worked on so heavily by so many unique businesses. Much of the global economy may depend on successes or defeats of wearable technology in upcoming years. The idea of wearables may have been around for centuries, but only recently have substantial technological advances allowed for such an immense outbreak. As long as society continues to crave the accessibility and information that wearable technology provides us, it could be the leader of technology for decades to come.
Worthy Wearables 1. Vuzix M300, $999 Though the price for these state of the art glasses seems scary, the capability of this wearable is astonishing. The device is essentially a computer with lenses, as its android software is able to store thousands of apps. The M100, Vuzix’s first smart glasses, are able to take pictures, record video, connect to your phone, and more. The glasses are surprisingly comfortable, and can withstand rugged terrain, too.
2. Bragi Dash, $299 The Bragi Dash are arguably the most revolutionary smart earphones available on the market, with the ability to perform a multitude of functions in a sleek, modern design. The Dash, which contains 27 sensors, is able to track activity, play music with a capacity of 1,000 songs, answer calls and more. The waterproof design can silence outside noise with a mere user gesture, and the devices truly transforms the way people can interact with their world.
3. Apple Watch Series 2, $269 After its first watch dominated the smartwatch market, Apple’s “Series 2” raised the bar even more. With added GPS tracking and and completely waterproof body, the watch is sure to reign supreme. Its aesthetically pleasing design allows for little difficulty in the user interface. The hundreds of apps paired with several fitness options give infinite possibility. As Apple COO Jeff Williams put it, “an engineering marvel”
4. Hexoskin, $399 Hexoskin is a revolutionary shirt that can track body activity beyond fitness for those who don’t want all the accessories. This product comes in several different varieties, like packs, long sleeve shirts, and cheaper shirts. The hexoskin, like other wearables, is able to measure heart rate, steps, and calories. However the ability to track sleep, HRV, and breathing volume makes it a unique product that has impressed critics.
5. Digitsole, $109 This shoe insole is most likely the most concealed and insensible option on this list, but the technology packed into the device along with its relatively low price makes it a great buy. Digitsole was engineered to prevent injuries, but it does much more. It tracks the 3D terrain you run on, gives audio feedback, and helps you improve performance. The simple app paired with it gives tons of detailed information to help you run better.
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If you can’t decide which wearable is for you, this will help. Check out some of the latest wearable products to find one you might want to buy!
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Friendly Skies The Rising Interest in Drone Use By Diego Martinez
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Posted on allbestdrones.com. Posted by “Emmanuel” on January 9, 2016 Photo 2: aeroland.com.br 2014
O
n April 17, 2016 at London’s Heathrow Airport, a domestic drone collided with British Airways Flight BA727, a passenger plane carrying 137 people. At first the pilots did not know what had hit their aircraft, but they were able to land the airplane safely and sustained little damage. This was not the first time a drone collided with another aircraft, and events like this and the risk of a greater tragedy have led the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) here in the United States to make drone laws here even stricter, making drone ownership more like a gun license than a car license. At the same time, using drones presents an opportunity where corn, wheat, and soy farmers could save estimated $1.3 billion annually. Drones are used in a multitude of fields, including agriculture, construction, engineering, firefighting, and the military. More and more businesses are starting to use drones to expedite their work, make the jobs easier and function more safely. Some drones are used when it would be dangerous for a human to do the job, like firefighting or flying over enemy territory. In the interest of saving money, large companies like Amazon have taken great interest in drones. Amazon is planning to use drones as a new delivery mechanism. Jeff Bezos has said that 86 percent of Amazon deliveries are under 5-pound weight limit a commercial drone could reasonably carry. In 2013, Amazon announced they plan to have dronebased delivery centers built in high population areas so drones can easily depart and return, making delivery faster and more cost efficient. Amazon advertises this as being as fast as a 30-minute delivery, with very appealing pricing. Amazon has invested several years thus far into drone research and sciences, and has even developed and designed a functioning prototype delivery drone. They have run successful tests and scenarios of how these drones would deliver parcels. However, all of this excitement is very misleading. Regulatory barriers lie in the way of Amazon employing this new drone delivery tactic here in the United States. The FAA won’t budge when it comes to the safety of airspace for commercial aircraft and the people below it. Because of the number of potential accidents that go along with this delivery system, such as drones falling from skies, collision with power lines, and crash landings, Amazon still has quite a number of problems to overcome. Of course there are practical limitations as well. Battery power is limited, so drones can only fly over limited distances, can’t carry over a certain weight, they can’t fly within aircraft occupied airspace, and the cost/efficiency question remains to be answered. In recent news, it was reported that Amazon is planning to try and push the FAA to designate a new level of airspace strictly for drones to fly and deliver packages. At a NASA Conference in 2015, Amazon proposed that the FAA follow a “layer cake” approach and restrict a new level of airspace between 200 and 400 feet for “high speed transit”. This new level of airspace would essentially serve for Amazon’s drones to fly and deliver packages unimpeded. Paul Misener, Amazon’s vice president for global public policy, says, “these are quite different than the drones that you can buy in a store and fly around. These are highly automated drones.
They have what is called sense-and-avoid technology. That means, basically, seeing and then avoiding obstacles.” While attempting to create a solution for a designated pathway for drone delivery is one thing, getting third parties to tolerate a swarm of noisy drones so that their neighbors can get their packages a little faster is another. With the current drone laws put in place for commercial use in the United States, Amazon won’t be able to use their drone delivery for a very long time, if at all. A major criticism of the Amazon proposal to use drones is that it is one big, expensive publicity stunt. This may be true, but if Amazon ever comes around to actually getting their drones technically and economically feasible, the FAA will be their biggest enemy, because Amazon’s plans are simply not compatible with the current laws set in place. Other industries see fewer barriers to implementing broader use of drones. In agriculture, drones are now used to survey and evaluate crops for the presence of disease, pests, or sufficient moisture. Drones are sometimes equipped with an infrared camera to gather detailed data on the condition of crops. This is a prime example of how much drones can help, and how much money and effort they can save. Other fields like construction and firefighting also employ drones. In construction, drones are used to survey and collect information about large buildings, otherwise not accessible unless someone was to climb up the glass “Mission Impossible” style. In firefighting, drones are used very practically to make the job less dangerous for firefighters. Drones can enter buildings on fire to search for survivors, or to get an idea of what the fire is like on the inside of the building or structure before the firefighters enter. Drones have entered a very interesting use in the field of forest fire management. To start controlled fires, drones are used to shoot fireballs that ignite the grass in precise locations, thus making the job safer and more controllable. Peter McClure, a leading agricultural operations manager in the Florida Citrus Industry, says, “Drone usage is in its infancy, but holds much promise. A drone is a new ‘Swiss army knife’ type tool that can serve multiple purposes. We have only scratched the surface of those uses.” McClure works in the citrus and orchard crop industry and has experience with drones of various uses, but mainly surveying crop conditions.The list for drone uses gets even longer every year, and more and more companies take interest. But with great power comes great responsibility, and that saying is particularly applicable to drone use. Drones are potentially very dangerous. A drone could be used by terrorists as a vessel for a bomb. Drones could also be used domestically as spying tools in a domestic area, making privacy a concern. Drones are also typically heavy, and a heavy, low flying object with rotor blades is never a good thing when it collides with a person. “Drones can be accidental, or purposeful weapons”, McClure says, “I want the use of drones as a tool, but I also don’t want to die because some idiot like me is flying a drone in the path of commercial flights. We need to protect commercial flights first, and use drones in the space left over after that.”
“In the end, it comes down to civilian safety and privacy, and the FAA makes those two concerns a priority.”
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laws, the commercial use of them will only become more widespread and the technology will continue to improve and advance. If Amazon plans to use completely unmanned flying vehicles to deliver packages to consumers, then they have a long way to go and a lot of laws to change before they can do anything here in the United States. Drones, like many emerging technologies, present great promise, but there is no denying they can provide immediate value by reducing costs in labor intensive work environments, and performing tasks that are difficult, dangerous, or even impossible for workers. And drones are not the only “unmanned” technology dominating newspaper headlines and exciting consumers. Unmanned automobiles and taxis also continue to advance significantly, and it is likely that success and acceptance of these new technologies on the ground and roadways will give wings to successful unmanned vehicles in the air as well. Posted on usnews.com. Photo by Jean Pierre (Muller/Getty Images)
Just like with cars, drones require responsible pilots to maneuver them in a way as to not hurt others or cause damage, and as it stands, the FAA has very strict rules dictating drone operation. Drones follow a very special code, setting them apart from other small aircraft. Nathan Chan, an agricultural analyst working at a biofuel company called Terviva, uses drones for crop inspection from overhead to observe growth trends and moisture conditions in tree orchards. Chan recalls the time when he was unexpectedly struck by one of these agricultural drones. Luckily, he only required stitches because of the propellers striking him, but he learned the risks of working with drones firsthand and serves as an example of what happens when you are in proximity of a drone with a poorly trained pilot. In the end, it comes down to civilian safety and privacy, and the FAA makes those two concerns a priority. But the FAA only has jurisdiction within the boundaries of the U.S, and this does not include drones used by the military overseas. Military Unmanned
Amazon.com Prime Air 2016
Airborne Vehicles (UAVs) are rarely deployed over the U.S, but they are used frequently in foreign operations. Uses can vary from surveying, spying, and bombing, and pilots operate those military drones from bases with many small control centers. For the FAA and the military, drone airspace management is very comparable to jet airspace management, as it takes lots of organization and coordination. Until more developed laws are put in place to accommodate drones, the FAA will keep their strict rules for commercial and recreational drones in public airspace. But with pressure from Amazon and others who want more lenient laws, the FAA will have to make adjustments to satisfy growing commercial and recreational interests. Most drone operations in agriculture go smoothly without colliding obstructively with the law, but when it comes to flying a drone around a tall building in a crowded city, the law will step in and dictate what the pilot can and cannot do.Marjorie Conner, a technology and intellectual property lawyer who works with drone law in Washington, DC, has experience in these cases. Connor agrees that until a more structured, specific system is put in place, the FAA must maintain the current laws for drone use until the technologies mature. “These rules are good because they limit the weight of these flying things, limiting the damage an errant drone can cause”, says Conner. With the global interest in drones growing, and in countries with more permissive aviation
Posted on allbestdrones.com. Posted by “Emmanuel” on January 9, 2016 26 TECH TREK DEC 2016
Posted on pgbcconnect.com 2016. Photo by AGDrones.com
by Neil Palmer (CIAT). The use of drones for monitoring rice crops at CIAT’s headquarters in Colombia. Taken on April 7, 2016
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Why Drone Laws Are So Strict On Monday, January 26, 2015, a drone crash landed on the White House lawn. The drone wasn’t easy to detect when it flew over the gates and crashed, but after it was sighted the White House went into full lockdown. The drone operator, Shawn Usman, was not charged for criminal activity, after the attorney found out Usman did not have control over the drone at the time.
In July 2014, a drone almost collided with Airbus A320 as the plane was taking off from London’s Heathrowairport. At 700 feet, the pilot reported seeing a domestic drone almost collidingwith the plane. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) rated this incident a 5 out of 5, the highest danger rating an incident can get.
On April 17, 2016 at London’s Heathrow Airport, the pilot of Flight BA727 coming in from Geneva reported that a drone collided with the plane shortly before the plane landed. The plane, an A320, was carrying 130 passengers when the drone struck. The plane landed intact, with no aparent major damage. If the drone had hit the right part of the plane, this could have caused a malfunction mid-flight
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Uses Of Drones In Major Industries Drones are being used more and more in agriculture for a variety of jobs. Drones survey crops, scan for disease, spray pesticides, and even sew seeds. Drones make the farmers job easier, saving the agricultural industry billions every year. Agriculture is the field where drones are used the most, due to the hard work required to perform tasks on the field.
In construction and other industrial industries, drones have major roles to perform tasks that would normally be very costly in terms of man power or technology. Drones are used to survey buildings and take aerial photos, as well as search for damage, and in the near future, clean photos on tall buildings. Normally these types of tasks would require helicopters, whch are costly to fly.
Big companies that deal with a lot of delivery and packaging have been developing UAV technology to fly their packages to customers. The company most known for this research is Amazon, which has gone the mile to develope functioning delivery drones. Although the idea seems great, there are many laws in the way of such a tactic, because of the possible danger of delivery drones.
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Text to Tech
Movement to online sources in Education
By Rogan Phillips
E
ven though the textbook industry accounts for only 1 percent of educational spending, it’s one of the most influential and rapidly changing parts of the education process. The features, prices and formats of textbooks have transformed in the past decade for a number of reasons, many of which can be attributed to the increased use of online resources in the educational field. Until just a few years ago, the $14 billion 2013 American textbook industry has enjoyed a major sales boom. In the past 30 By Wohnai years, textbook prices have risen by 800 percent, more than
medical services (575 percent) or new home prices (325 percent). This led to increased revenue for textbook publishers, the most famous of which include McGraw-Hill Education, Pearson, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Cengage. The price of textbooks has exponentially grown at the expense of students. The average college student spends upward of $900 a year just on textbooks. Trends in college textbooks matter to K-12 grades because we can predict what will happen in the undergraduate level based on graduate level. “We have to stay on top of trends and what is hap30 TECH TREK DEC 2016
pening. It’ll change more quickly at the college level, so we have to watch what’s happening there, and apply that to early grade levels”, says Erin Kinard, publisher at Abrams Learning Trends. The price growth of textbooks at the college level has continued, until now.
What I believe now is that we should be designing what I call“hybrid media”, which is just like a hybrid car, there are times where you’re going to use the old traditional engine and there are times when you’re gonna use the new engine.” The internet is changing the way students use and buy textbooks for the better. Already, multiple online textbook rental and trade services have popped up around the globe, such as Chegg, Half. com, and the multi-billion dollar company, Amazon. These companies offer extraordinary alternatives to buying textbooks that cost $75-$200, such as letting students sell and trade online textbooks between each other or renting textbooks between 30 and 180 days. Many other competitors like Bookboon, Flat World Knowledge, and Boundless have emerged, providing electronic textbooks for college students for prices as low as $20. This electronic transition has destabilized the textbook market. Many experts and employees in the textbook industry have predictions about this market, including educational professionals Erin
Kinard, Terra Tarango and Lee Wilson. In textbook production, most companies are making the transition from print textbooks to various online formats and curriculum, but it’s extremely difficult and not always necessary, according to Headway Strategies employee Lee Wilson. “Some companies have chosen not to make the transition and they’re doing just fine,” says Wilson, “It’s a tough switch to make. You have to change not just the products, but you also have
to change how you price the products, how you sell the products, how you support the products. It’s kind of a top to bottom shift in a company, and those aren’t always easy to pull off.” Although an electronic transition comes with challenges, statistics show that the move potentially be an economic boon. The ebook market has increased by over 225 percent from 2010 until 2016, and over 2,800 percent from 2008 to 2016, bringing in billions of dollars a year. Online textbooks aren’t the only products being developed in the digital education field. Companies such as the Learning Company or the Apple App Store are developing educational games, which are a growing part of the classroom. Erin Kinard creates digital games and characters. “We developed a program to help kids learn their words and sounds really quickly at the beginning of the year if they don’t have them, so we developed a bunch of digital games and activities that they can play either at home or at school, and those work on a com-
puter or an iPad.” said Kinard, “Those games feature the Letter People, which is something we have where there’s a puppet for every letter of the alphabet, like Mr. M has a munchy mouth and Mr. N has a noisy nose, so those characters are all in the digital games.” This idea of digital games is gaining popularity, but not all concepts of educational gaming are ideal. In some gaming programs, developers and teachers use the concept of “gamification”, which uses the mechanics of leaderboards and reward structures outside of games. Wilson does not agree with using this concept. He says that “One, I’m not convinced that those elements travel well outside of games, so I’m a skeptic on that level. Two, the bigger problem is that more often than not, people are trying to manipulate kids as opposed to help kids find out what they want to do.” Although educational gaming is an interesting and successful idea, gamification is mostly negative, according to Wilson. With the development of educational curriculum, companies have begun to develop programs for teachers, instead of students. One such company is the Van Andel Education Institute, where
“But I do think that’s the future, is gaming, bringing the power and engagement of gaming into the educational arena. When you think about how much you have to learn when you’re playing any type of game, if you could combine that with whatever it is that you want to learn, there’s huge motivation built into the game.” 31 TECH TREK DEC 2016
Terra Tarango works. “The thing we do most consistently is something we call an emersion,” says Tarango. “We bring teachers into our lab, and we have all sorts of animals that we can use. What we do in the emersion is we have the teachers do a lab. They go through the steps themselves and see what that sense of discovery is like for themselves. That’s something that we do a lot of, and then the
teachers go back to their classrooms to implement that model in their own class investigations.” Teacher program creators also collaborate consistently with software designers to make digital courses for instructors, according to Tarango. The rapidly changing textbook industry has created much speculation about the uncertain future of this market. Kinard believes the future of educational technology is in classroom insight. “If technology can simplify a teacher’s workload, if it can give them insight into what their students know, that is a huge potential benefit for technology. It’s basically gaining insight into what individual children know, how they learn best, and how to tailor the instruction based on their individual learning styles, is the benefit.” Kinard presumes that digital education is the key to learning, but Tarango is more cautious about the future of online learning. “In terms of professional development, that’s where it’s really difficult to convert to an online experience,” says Tarango, “If you go to get training somewhere, you would really like that hu32 TECH TREK DEC 2016
man interaction, so I don’t know if that will change completely. I think that when people become more comfortable with sharing online, it’ll become easier to train electronically.” Wilson tends to agree more with Kinard, stating the future is in what the school buys, sighting the Negroponte Switch as his basis. The Negroponte Switch, created in the 1980s, states that while televisions receive content via airway signals and telephones receive content via cables, they would one day switch modes of receiving content. This term has broadened over time into two things switching in some way, whether it be price, features, etc. “What I think we’re gonna see is schools paying for information on how kids are using materials more than on the materials themselves. The materials will either be free or come included in a platform.” All three of these theories have a certain amount of validity, but they are only a few of many predictions. The textbook industry seems to be morphing as online sources become more popular, but it has thrown much of what was thought to be true into uncertainty. Many people have tried to forecast its outcome, but only time or consumer trends will tell. what is in store for the textbook market.
“I think that when people become more comfortable with sharing online, it’ll become easier to train electronically. I know that it’ll definitely change. To answer your earlier question, my job is definitely different now, and it’ll be different 10 to 15 years from now, but it’s hard to say what that’ll look like.”
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Recently, sites such as Chegg.com have appeared that allow students to buy or rent textbooks, in case a college student only needs a certain textbook for a limited amount of time.
e h C Since January 1977, the price of college textbooks has risen by 1,041 percent, which is over three times the rate of inflation in the United States. This makes it much more difficult for college students to get textbooks, encouraging many of them to switch to ebooks.
Textbooks are heavier, more expensive, less accessible and much less portable than ebooks. Also, they are much more wasteful, consuming around 30 million trees every single year. Production of textbooks creates pollution as well. But, it has been shown that students remember more from print textbooks.
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m o .c g g
PRINT VS EBOOKS Ebooks are, on average, 53 percent cheaper than new print textbooks, making them a very tempting and affordable option for schools and college students.
73.3 percent of textbooks in circulation are new, meaning that these have a major impact on the environment and on the amount of trees used.
Three out of Four textbooks are brand new.
This ASF compares print textbooks to ebooks and digital textbooks. The vast majority of textbooks are currently print, but ebooks have gained a strong foothold in the market. They bring new ideas to education industry, but they aren’t without their weaknesses. Both have their pros and cons, but one seems to always come out on top. Print textbook companies are slowly losing revenue, currently with an annual revenue of 80 percent of what they made in 2010. Although this is still the majority of textbook revenue, this foreshadows what is to come for electronic textbooks.
In the 2011 to 2012 school year, college students spent an average of $1,213 in private schools and an average of $1.168 in public schools. This is a major problem for students who don’t have enough money to pay for these supplies, which is why electronic textbooks are becoming popular.
$ $1,213 (Private)
$ $
$1,168 (Public)
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