Language Learning With Technology

Technology has made leaps and bounds as far as bringing people from different countries together. With internet phone services and Skype having the translation software, the language walls are being broken down. What about actually learning the language? Just because we have technology to translate what someone is saying as they are saying it, it doesn't mean that it excuses us from learning the language. There are certain things that cannot be translated by a program and need to be understood in the native tongue. I think we should be using the technology is learn the languages in all the communication areas. Technology can also help in improvement of writing skills. Word processing software promotes not only composition but also editing and revising in ways that streamline the task of writing. Desktop publishing and web-based publishing allow the work to be taken beyond the classroom into a virtual world that allows more constructive interactions.

Save Some Money This Summer

Next week it is going to be June and the summer months will be in full swing, at least for the northern hemisphere. This is the time for vacations and enjoying all the hard earned relaxation. But you should not spend money that you could save easily. If you are traveling, it is important to be flexible with your days so that you can get the best deal. Some of the travel sites have great mobile applications that will alert you when there is a great price. You could also try cheaper forms of commuting such as buses, carpools, or even ride-sharing options. One way to save up ahead of Labor Day is to set concrete, financial goals for yourself. Make a monthly, step-by-step plan for reducing your credit card debt, or focus on building up your credit score to take out a subsequent business loan. You can never be too prepared.

Next Gen Touch Screens

It has been less than a year since the new iPhone came out and we are already thinking about the next one and what sort of revolutionary mobile applications or hardware changes will happen. One of the predictions is that the screen will respond to different pressure of touching. The best part about that feature is that it will decrease the buttons that create clutter and the user will only pull up certain menus when they need them. Other than that perk, the force touch display would not be all that useful unless maybe we get into gaming applications where the developers utilize that function. The new smartphone might also have another microphone and improved camera as well as well as more storage space which will be up to 2 GB. As far as size goes, it might be that Apple found the sweet spot with iPhone 6 and 6 plus. What do you think about the new features?

Threat of Robots in Our Jobs

Should we feel threatened by robots and fear them them taking over our jobs? Some experts say that it may still be a long time before certain jobs are seriously threatened but others swear that software development has come so far that there are a few jobs that will be gone within the next several years. One of them being toll booth operators and cashiers. When was the last time you went through a checkout with an actually person? Apple pay is making it easier to make payments and is paving the way for this type of technology. Get ready for robots to steal more manufacturing jobs from humans -- at a cheaper price and without taking breaks to text their friends. The Internet wiped out countless newspapers, and new technology could kill even more journalism positions. There will be algorithms that will allow for the automation of putting news stories online with minimal human interactions. Lastly, more and more people are getting rid of landlines. This means that there will be less job in that field because of the advances in digital communication services.

Technology and Pain

Pain relief without the help of medication may sound too good to be true, but a new startup says it has created a wearable that does just that. Medication can cause so many different and horrible side effects. A new device called Cur — created by a San Francisco-based startup of the same name — aims to provide an alternative to pain medication for people with chronic pain, such as carpal tunnel syndrome and fibromyalgia. The device is a version of the TENS unit which works by sending electrical currents to the brain which will minimize the pain signals and in turn the amount of pain that you feel. One of the best things about this device is that it does not have wires so it will be more convenient on the go. Central to the wireless functionality is the device's sensors, which measure individual muscle vibrations. These vibrations inform how much current the device delivers at any give time, though users can manually adjust the output if they wish. It could even be later programmed to be controlled by mobile applications.

Too Much Screen Time

When you go outside these days, does it seems like kids are more into their electronic devices than the actual playground they are at? They have that glazed look about them. According to a recent study, kids under the age of ten spend an average of a little over two hours a day on screen media such as mobile applications and shows. We have yet to know the long term effects of all this exposure but so far there are no indications that it will affect eyesight later in life. Some of the best things that you can do for your child is get them screened for eye diseases and limit screen time. I realize that limiting screen time might be easier said than done but there are a couple things that you could do. For starters, kids learn by example. How much time do you spend on the phone? Make an effort to limit your screen time and show the kids that there are other things to be done. Also, get them out of the house and onto a playground or in some sort of sport if they are old enough. This will help with development and make sure that they are healthy later in life. Any other suggestions?

Car Technology

There are self driving cars already that are street legal but would you ever get in one and let it drive you around? The software development might be incredible here but there still needs to be human input. The problem is that the input might be flawed because we have a tendency to go in that direction. A solution to this problem comes from the labs of Cornell and Stanford. Subtle movements of the head and body can indicate that a driver is about to turn or change lanes in the next few seconds. With that information, combined with data from sensors outside the car, computers can predict that a driver is going to make a dangerous move. Computers learned to correlate certain head and body movements with impending driving maneuvers. When tested later with a different set of drivers, the technology correctly predicted driving maneuvers 77.4% of the time. On average, a turn or lane change was anticipated more than 3.5 seconds before it happened. Obviously the technology is still in the early stages but it has some major potential in decreasing accidents.