Recently, Amazon.com started selling grocery items, available using their trademarked Prime Shipping, even though it isn’t technically available in 2-day shipping. To me, this new step seems inspired, what with the increasing levels of laziness in the millennial generation, myself included, but the system still has plenty of fine-tuning to be made until I personally proclaim it a successful venture for the internet shopping giant.
First of all, as mentioned above, the shipping takes too long. I experimented with ordering something the other day, but once I arrived at checkout for my measly package of Fanta, Pringles, and Dove soap, the site announced that the package should not be expected before Monday. This was Wednesday. For something called Prime Pantry, I expect a better status of shipping than using a third-rate electronics outlet operating out of Jakarta.
Second of all, not every grocery and health and beauty item is available for PP yet. For a system to work to the fullest, the majority of Prime-worthy items, lest they be on back-order, should be available to pick out and ship out together. It says something that I could use normal Prime shipping and get non-Prime Pantry grocery items more quickly than the heavily advertised Prime Pantry, Amazon’s prime outlet for grocery items. Um…
Third, the newest option for Prime Pantry is the following: The Dash Button.
Now, in theory, this tech sounds downright brilliant: press a button, groceries appear. Brilliant!
I can appreciate the leaps in technology that bring us those couple of steps closer to The Jetsons. However, there is still the issue at hand regarding the reliability of unregulated Dash-ing.
The device is a simply designed tab with a single button and single operation:
But what happens when little Donny Jr. gets his hands on the shopping button and presses it to his heart’s delight? What if the analog apocalypse strikes your house and you are unable to access your Amazon account and suddenly your checking account is slapping you with multiple overdrafts while gallons of Gatorade are dropped off in front of your residence, barricading you inside the dwelling with only Gatorade to sustain yourself on while anxiously awaiting rescue? Can we protect ourselves from such a promising, yet volatile new technology that connects itself directly to our financial arteries?
What happens if you accidentally set your tablet next to the device and suddenly your e-books have been corrupted, replaced by multiple incarnations of vintage Sears-Roebuck catalogs and Amazon promotional guides from 1995? Are you going to be hypnotized by the overt consumerism on display and spend all your hard-earned Monopoly Monies on dog-eared copies ofThe Bold Vegetarian: 150 Inspired International Recipes?
Is there no end to the ridiculous consumerism that permeates the pores of our pauper-ish patriarchal penitentiary? Can Brett finish this editorial before he leaves for the evening? Is there no end to the madness?
Set several years after events from George Lucas’ original trilogy, Star Wars: The Force Awakens promises to update us on the adventures of Han, Luke, and Leia, as well as introduce a new generation of heroes and villains.
Like Hollywood’s other, lesser sci-fi franchises—that’s a personal opinion—Star Wars deals with futuristic technologies that often have their origins, or even their rough equivalent, in real-world science. It’s a tradition as old as science fiction itself. The writers and designers who dream up sci-fi systems, weapons, and vehicles begin their notional noodling with the actual technologies they see around them.
Here we look at 10 Star Wars technologies and shift our gaze deeper toward the inspirations and real-world science behind them. Blasters. Droids. Hyperspace drives. It’s good to be talking about these topics again, isn’t it?
Lightsabers
An elegant weapon of a more civilized age, the lightsaber remains the greatest contribution from Star Wars to the sci-fi weaponry arsenal of fame. Mythology holds that each weapon is powered by a quasi-mystical kyber crystal, which resonates both with the Force and with its individual Jedi—or Sith. The blade is made from focused plasma energy, held within an invisible containment field.
Lucas conceived of the lightsaber as a sci-fi update to the standard sword wielded by heroes in fantasy stories and film serials. The original name for the weapon, “lazersword,” was thankfully revised as the original film script developed.
Could we actually make a real lightsaber? Maybe. Back in 2013, researchers at Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology managed to get photons to bond together like molecules, creating a state of matter that had previously been purely hypothetical. “It’s not an inapt analogy to compare this to lightsabers,” said Harvard’s lead researcher at the time, causing worldwide swooning among the faithful.
Imperial Walkers
Possibly the single coolest combat vehicle in the Star Wars universe, Imperial Walkers, or AT-ATs (All Terrain Armored Transport), are used by Imperial ground forces to crush enemy resistance and morale. At the infamous Battle of Hoth, AT-ATs proved to be the decisive weapon in breaking Rebel defenses, and gave the original trilogy one of its signature set pieces.
Legend holds that George Lucas’ inspiration for the Imperial Walker came from giant cargo lifters on the San Francisco Bay—although this origin story has apparently been refuted by the the man himself. In any case, subsequent details gradually emerged in the Star Wars canon: AT-ATs stood 22.5 meters high and were powered by massive hydraulic joints using compact fusion drive engines.
In the realm of contemporary robotics, Boston Dynamics’ BigDog robot (inset) is similar in style, if not scale, to those massive Imperial Walkers. About the size of a small mule, the BigDog uses a hydraulic actuation system to power four articulated legs designed to navigate rough terrains. BigDog can run, climb slopes and carry more than 300 pounds of cargo.
Moisture Vaporators
Not all of the technologies in Star Wars are Hoth-shaking monstrosities. Some appear as quick throwaway lines or references, which nevertheless have held an enduring fascination for fans of a sufficient intensity. For instance, on Luke Skywalker’s arid home planet of Tatooine, farmers must deploy “moisture vaporators” to pull water out of thin air. C-3PO’s fluency with the binary language of these vaporators leads to his employment with the Skywalkers, and subsequent heroics.
Techniques and technologies for pulling moisture out of the air actually go back hundreds and maybe even thousands of years. It’s simply a matter of cooling water vapor into a denser liquid state—the Incas were quite good at it, for instance. In recent years, engineers have developed some interesting variations on the theme, like the bicycle-mounted moisture vaporator.
Landspeeders
Luke Skywalker’s junky landspeeder—the X-34 model, technically—was the first of many levitating vehicles that would be introduced in the Star Wars universe. Whether small or large, like Jabba the Hutt’s pleasure skiff, the vehicles were powered by antigravity technology known as repulsorlift engines, according to Star Wars lore. Repulsorlifts, in turn, were imagined as manufactured “knots” of space-time that could be directed to push back against existing gravitational pull.
Antigravity is a time-honored science fiction trope, going all the way back to H.G. Wells and some of the earliest sci-fi stories. As for contemporary theories about antigravity, the science gets extremely complicated and much depends on how you define your terms. But we certainly have plenty of “levitating” vehicles to choose from, including hovercraft RVs and maglev trains. Volkswagen is one of several companies looking into the idea of electromagnetic hover cars.
Hyperdrive
Han Solo’s many daring escapes in the original Star Wars trilogy often involve the Millennium Falcon’s rickety hyperdrive engine. A classic FTL (faster than light) device, the hyperdrive concept allows Star Wars ships and characters to zip across the galaxy to different planets, which makes the storytelling a whole lot easier.
FTL travel has long been a useful conjecture in science-fiction stories for exactly that reason. References to hyperspace and other modes of interstellar travel date back to the golden age of science fiction in 1940s and 1950s, where George Lucas found inspiration for many of space opera ideas.
We’re nowhere close to hyperdrive technology, but if a growing collection of reports is to be believed, NASA is indeed investigating an “impossible” alternative spaceflight technology. The controversial electromagnetic propulsion drive, or EM Drive, purportedly converts energy directly into thrust and continues to be tested at NASA’s Eagleworks Laboratories.
Blasters
“Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid.” So says Han to Luke in the original Star Wars movie, advocating for sidearms over ‘sabers. Referred to as blasters throughout the film series, these ranged weapons follow very specific rules throughout the entire Star Wars multimedia empire.
For one thing, don’t call them laser guns. Blasters are more accurately termed particle beam weapons, in that they shoot bolts of energized particles rather than beams of focused light. In the various Star Wars videogames that have been developed over the years, blaster bolts are treated as ballistic projectiles within the physics of the game.
In terms of real-world tech, blasters would be considered a kind of directed-energy weapon that fires highly charged particles of negligible mass. Directed-energy weapons are already in use by the U.S. military, most notably the Navy’s antidrone Laser Weapon System (LaWS).
Tractor Beams
The tractor beam concept is by no means exclusive to the Star Wars franchise—Trekkers can tell you all about it, for instance. But Star Wars does make use of the idea throughout the series. A kind of projected force field, a tractor beam is used to guide incoming vessels into space stations or ports. They can also be deployed to forcibly capture misbehaving ships in the vicinity—as when Vader’s Imperial Star Destroyer captures Princess Leia’s ship.
Scientists have been researching different kinds of tractor beam concepts since at least the 1960s, usually involving the projection of electromagnetic energy as a way to attract or repulse objects at a distance. More recently, engineers in the United Kingdom created a type of sonic tractor beam that projects sound waves to grab and manipulate lightweight objects. The device manipulates an array of 64 miniature loudspeakers to create acoustic fields of force. Neat.
Protocol Droids
As he reminds us throughout the Star Wars films, C-3PO is a protocol droid specializing in “human-cyborg relations” and programmed to translate between languages. He is, in fact, fluent in over 6 million forms of communication. He never shuts up about it, really. Threepio’s essential function is a plot device that’s been inserted into all manner of sci-fi and fantasy stories—the machine or artifact that translates language between characters or cultures.
In the field of modern computer science known as natural language processing, real-time language translation has been a kind of Holy Grail for the past several decades. We’re getting surprisingly close: Skype is currently preview-testing a new service that translates spoken language in near real-time between callers. Skype Translator is currently available in English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, and Mandarin.
Limb Prosthetics
Attentive viewers of the Star Wars saga will notice that a curious number of characters get their limbs hacked off. Luke, most famously, loses his hand to Vader’s lightsaber in The Empire Strikes Back. But Luke gets his revenge in Return of the Jedi, claiming a hand back from Vader via lightsaber. In the prequel trilogy, we learn that Anakin already lost that hand—plus both legs—when he became Darth in the first place. Other characters that lose limbs: C-3PO, Mace Windu, General Grievous, Count Dooku, the Wampa, and Darth Maul.
The actual science of limb prosthetics has made tremendous strides in recent years, thanks to improvements in robotics, material science, and neural interface technology. In September, medical researchers successfully attached a prosthetic hand to a spinal cord patient that relayed tactile sensations directly to the brain. Electrodes placed in the patient’s motor cortex also allowed the patient to move the prosthetic hand with his thoughts. According to the research team, it’s the first time both capabilities have been put into the same prosthetic device.
The Force
Speaking of mind powers, it’s been almost 40 years (!) now since Star Wars introduced our planet to the concept of the Force. As a storytelling notion, the Force is much more akin to the magic of high fantasy than the technological speculation of hard science fiction. But then that’s always been a hallmark of the series, which proceeds from swords-and-sorcery as much as sci-fi—not to mention Westerns and samurai movies.
Here’s the funny thing: Very recent advances in high technology have resulted in instances of what might be termed Force-like powers. Neuroprosthetics are arguably a kind of telekinesis—people are moving things in the physical world simply by thinking about them. And experiments in brain-to-brain interface (BBI) have successfully approximated telepathy, enabling people to read each other’s thoughts via brain monitoring and stimulation.
Science-fiction author Arthur C. Clarke once wrote that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. Keep that in mind when you settle in for the next chapter in the Star Wars saga. May the Force be with you.
This article has been republished with permission from MacWorld.
After news broke that data storage giant Switch was looking to buy the old Steelcase pyramid building, and bring with it 1,000 jobs to the area within 10 years, the excitement permeated throughout not only West Michigan, but the entire state! One of the giants in the data storage industry, the Google of data storage if you will, was looking to make a home right here in West Michigan. A whole new industry looking to establish roots in the Great Lakes State.
However, things never go as smoothly as planned. Switch had one holdup before they were willing to make a home in Gaines Township, a tax break for data storage centers. After breaking a stalemate in the House late on Tuesday, the Senate signed off on the bills exempting data centers from sales and use taxes through 2035 if the industry meets job creation goals.
The bills are now waiting for Governor Rick Snyder’s signature to be put into effect.
While the tax breaks were requested by Switch, they apply to all data centers in the state. The tax exemptions end if the collective data center industry doesn’t create at least 400 new jobs by 2022 and 1,000 new jobs by 2026.
Switch will move into the pyramid building at 4100 60th St. SE, a building that has been vacant since 2010. The building was purchased back in May by Norman Properties LLC. The company plans to use the site to build a 2 million-square-foot “SuperNap” data center.
It’s not just the tech industry that will see an influx in West Michigan, but also local businesses buoyed by Switch’s capital and economic impact. The company has a planned an initial $400 million construction budget and anticipates spending over $2 billion over the next decade. That money and business will be used primarily on local subcontractors.
The jobs created, and pay-rolled by Switch, are sure to bring a jolt to the local economy as well. Minimum wage for SuperNap jobs start at $15 per hour, plus benefits. Salary for a majority of the data center jobs pays between $60,000 and $200,000.
For a company with clients that include eBay, Sony, Boeing, Google, and Amazon to choose West Michigan as a major host site is an exciting opportunity to some, but for Gaines Township Supervisor Don Hilton Sr. it’s business as usual.
“We’ve worked with many businesses before, and this one will be handled no differently. As of now, we haven’t received any requests from Switch,” stated Hilton who isn’t being caught up in the hoopla surrounding a new business coming into the area. When you’ve been on the job for 23 years like Hilton has, it’s all about the next step in the process.
With a new company also comes new employees who need a place to live. Gaines Township has vacant land available for real estate expansion and Hilton wouldn’t be surprised to see land developed as time goes forward.
“There are a lot of variables, but common sense says yes. With more people comes more demand for homes and real estate.”
The first tip that something wasn’t quite right about the open-box tablet I had purchased from Fry’s Electronics was that fact that Marvel Contest of Champions appeared on the home screen.
I had sought out the most run-down, crappiest tablet I could buy for our buying guide on productivity tablets, as an example of what not to buy during the holiday season. The Visual Land tablet I found for about $70 was two years old, with visible pixels and a loose power connector. I powered it up, just to ensure that it would work… and discovered that it was still keyed to someone else.
Almost as soon as the tablet connected to my local Wi-Fi, a notification popped up: “Account Action Required” for the user’s account, and that there was a corresponding sign-in error as well. The user had obviously changed his or her password after sending back the tablet, meaning that anyone who had purchased it (me) couldn’t access any critical personal information. Nor did I want to; I factory reset it, sending whatever personal information was stored on the tablet into oblivion.
Why this matters: Every digital device you own is a potential portal that someone can use to peer into your personal life: providing access to your email, social media, cloud storage, and other accounts. Yes, most of us have internalized some security practices: antivirus software is now a way of life, we advise friends and relatives not to click on suspicious email, and we usually know what to do if we lose a phone. But with all the rushing around we do these days, sometimes something as small as erasing a tablet falls through the cracks. And once you’ve returned a device to a store, it’s out of your hands.
Lessons to learn
The lesson to take away from all this, however, is not to do what the person who owned and then returned this tablet did. Yes, changing your password after you’ve returned a phone, tablet, or computer may lock out other prying eyes from accessing your account and other personal information. But if you downloaded email, photos, apps, or other data, any information stored locally will remain for anyone who wants to pore through your personal life.
So how do you ensure that your device is wiped clean of all data? Follow these steps. Just be sure that anything stored on the device is backed up to the cloud or elsewhere. Once the reset is performed, all the data on the device is gone forever.
Always make sure that you reset the device before returning or disposing of it.
Android:
Access the Settings menu, either by swiping down from the top of the screen and clicking the “gear” icon, or tapping the Settings icon directly. Scroll down to the “Backup and reset” option, and click. Play it safe and ensure the process completes before boxing up your return.
Note that this process should work for both phones and tablets alike.
iOS:
To reset an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, access the Settings menu, then select General > Reset > Erase All Content and Settings. If you were using the Find My iPhone option, the device will ask your for your iCloud password to turn it off.
Swipe in from the right edge of the screen, tap Settings, and then tap Change PC settings. (If you’re using a mouse, point to the upper-right corner of the screen, move the mouse pointer down, click Settings, and then click Change PC settings.) Then select Update and Recovery, then Recovery. Then click Remove Everything and Reinstall Windows. You’ll also have an option to either quickly or thoroughly clean your data; if you’re the paranoid type, select “Thoroughly.”
Windows 10:
Go to the Settings menu, then Update & Security > Recovery > Reset This PC. Make sure you select the option to remove everything, including your personal files. (You probably don’t need to apply the “scorched earth” policy of overwriting the data on the drives, although if you’re actually going to dispose of the PC, it’s not a bad idea.)
Windows Phones:
Swipe to access the Settings Menu, then click “About.” You’ll see an option to reset your phone.
Some devices also provide the option of remotely wiping them, or erasing their data, either using the native OS or a third-party app. But it’s far more reassuring to perform the reset yourself, with the device in front of you.
Last week was Thanksgiving here in the United States, and columnists writing things-I’m-thankful-for columns is as much a tradition as turkey and stuffing and family arguments. Who am I to buck tradition? So let me present my 2015 list of technology stuff that I’m thankful for.
Find My Friends. This year my son started middle school and my daughter high school. They’re both now using hand-me-down iPhone 5’s, and it’s extremely helpful to be able to find where they are when I’m wondering. Part of growing up is gaining independence, but that doesn’t mean dad’s feelings aren’t improved when I know that my son’s a couple blocks away and will be home on his bike in just a minute.
Apple Music. It seems to be popular to rip on Apple’s fledgling music service, but I’m using it far more than I’ve ever used any other streaming service, and I’ve tried most of them. It’s great that Apple Music integrates into my iTunes music library, so I can mix and match music I’ve bought with music from the service, and I’ve come to really appreciate the curated playlists of new music from different genres. I have discovered a huge swath of great new music simply by subscribing to the A-List Alternative playlist. I wish my family would embrace it, though—my daughter loves listening to music, but is a devout Spotify user and won’t make the switch.
Shared shopping lists on iPhone. I’ve been using Grocery IQ for a few years right now, which lets my entire family place items onto our grocery-store list. Recently I switched to AnyList, which is more modern and full featured than Grocery IQ, and adds Siri integration, so I can say, “Hey Siri, add an aluminum turkey roasting pan to the grocery list.” Pretty great.
Time-saving features in Overcast. I listen to a lot of podcasts (almost as many as I make myself!), and since I work at home, I don’t have a commute to use as listening time. In order to get as many podcasts in as possible, I’ve come to rely on the Overcast podcast app, which has some pretty amazing time-saving features. Overcast’s speed-boosting feature is the first one I’ve heard that makes faster audio sound natural, and not choppy and artificial. And its Smart Speed feature scales down pauses and silences, saving time even if you’re listening at standard speeds. I’d never go back to listening to podcasts at 100 percent speed and without Smart Speed.
External bluetooth keyboards for iPad. Even before the iPad Pro came out, I’ve enjoyed writing on the iPad as a change of pace. It helps me get up from my desk and be productive in some other location, whether it’s a cafe, the kitchen table of a friend or relative, or even the bar in my kitchen, where I’m writing this right now. To write at peak efficiency, I like to use an external keyboard, and while Apple now makes its Smart Keyboard for iPad Pro, there are plenty of great Bluetooth keyboards out there that offer more keys, better key travel, and even backlighting in some cases. (I’m still using Apple’s excellent last-generation Wireless Keyboard, which works great, even with the iPad Pro.)
Digital comics. As a kid I read an awful lot of comics, but largely stopped between about 1986 and 2010, when the iPad came out. Now I’m back as a comic reader again. Switching to the iPad Air 2 from the iPad mini has made comics even more fun to read. I buy new comics from Comixology, read DRM-free comics using Chunky Comic Reader, and binge-read a whole bunch of stuff from Marvel Unlimited. No, it’s not cheap, but at $69 per year, Marvel Unlimited is a pretty great deal if you like Marvel comics and don’t mind being a few months behind on the latest releases.
Slack. I don’t work in an office with other people—my dog wanders in from time to time, but that’s about it—but Slack keeps me connected. It’s a place to plan projects, explain ideas, and yes, have those water-cooler conversations that no longer take place around the water cooler, because who has a water cooler in their house? Businesses can pay for Slack to get extra features, but you can set up a Slack group for free and use it essentially forever. Think of a group you interact with mostly online—college friends, a club, even your family—and give Slack a try. You may be surprised at how much fun it is.
Social news discovery. I don’t read RSS feeds anymore—if I ever did, really. But I follow a lot of interesting people on Twitter, and have built several Twitter lists full of people who cover non-tech things I’m interested in, most notably sports and science. Thanks to Nuzzel, a clever iOS app and web service, I can browse my Twitter feed and my various lists as if they were news sources. Links recommended by more than one person will float to the top. It’s improved my news consumption for the better.
Apple Watch. It’s also been cool lately to slag off the Apple Watch, but I still love mine. Not only does it tell the time—the most important function of any watch—but the new Night Stand mode has allowed me to replace my old alarm clock. I love getting notifications on my wrist and seeing my activity for the day and the week. Yes, there’s still a whole lot here that needs to be improved—that’s another column—but I wear mine every day.
A really big DVR hard drive. My TiVo Roamio has three terabytes of storage on it, and that’s a good thing. Between broadcast and cable, there’s a shocking amount of good television on, and I just can’t watch it all. And TiVo has done a good job of supporting streaming, too. Streaming shows appear as peers in the Now Playing list, show up in searches, and play—whether on Amazon, Netflix, or Hulu—with a couple of clicks of the remote. And streaming shows don’t take up hard drive space, which is good, I guess?
There’s plenty to criticize about the technology we use every day, and the stuff that the tech world keeps trying to sell us. But it’s worth stopping once in a while to consider all the great tech stuff that we use everyday. (And for tech columnists, “once in a while” means Thanksgiving week.)
Whenever the gift giving season comes around I’m at a loss for ideas on what to ask for and, more importantly, what to give. Every year it never seems to fail.
Sure, I can ask/give the mundane gift card to a various store, restaurant or iTunes. I mean, that’s easy, right? Do gift cards really say “Happy Holidays”? Okay, maybe they do, but only because it is already literally written on the plastic card!
Technology is always a great gift idea, and it also happens to be my forte. So, without further ado, here is a quick and simple gift guide to five holiday gadgets–in no particular order–anyone could use!
1. A Streaming Media Player.
If you’re still watching Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime on your computer or a tablet, it’s time to upgrade to a media player. There are several options available in a variety of price ranges. As I’m partial to Apple products, I can’t help but speak to my love affair with Apple TV ™. With the release of the 4th version just in time for the holiday season, it’s worth the trip to wander yourself up to a local retailer for a looky look.
I currently have 3 Apple TV’s in my home and have been using them for several years now. I love the ability to access TV, movies, and stream music directly from Apple as well as watch Netflix, Hulu, and sample other channels. An entry-level device starts at just $69 while the new models start at $149. However, if you’re dead set against anything Apple, make sure to check out either Roku or Chromecast as both give similar options.
2. SmartWatch
Now, before you start telling me there is no way you’re going to buy an Apple Watch, take a deep breath and let me calm your fears, I don’t blame you. I don’t have one most likely for the same reason you don’t, I’m not about to spend $350 for a watch. (Disclaimer, if you do have an Apple Watch let me know, I’d love to talk to you.)
Any who… there are plenty of other options out there for you. Fitbit and Pebble both have reasonable options for SmartWatches. If you want something to help track you in the health and fitness area, a Fitbit Charge or Charge HR are great options that connect to your smartphone. Interested in just the smarter part of the smartwatch? Take a look at Pebble. Pebble allows you to receive technology notifications and music right on your wrist at a much more reasonable cost.
3. Say Cheese!
Now that most smartphones have cameras that can rival most point and shoot cameras, there are a slew of accessories to further enhance your smartphone camera’s possibilities. Olloclip has a nice 4-in-1 lens kit that can slip right over your phone. The lens hug the camera giving the option of a Fisheye, 2 Macro’s, and a wide-angle shot. Brilliant!! If you’re more the adventure type, a quick look over at Optrix gives you lenses, cases, and mounts for the phone.
4. Play that Funky Music Caucasian Youthful Male.
Remember the BoomBoxes of the 1980’s? They were HUGE, literally. Those large musical boxes have disappeared from our shoulders and have now been replaced with something that can easily fit into a backpack or purse. Portable speakers come in all sorts of shapes, colors and size. In fact you can even find some that are waterproof in case you want to bring the beat into the shower.
5. Super Sleek Storage
It is probably one thing that is over looked because it is more practical than fun, extra storage for your digital device. Maybe it’s a new, larger hybrid hard drive for your son or daughter. It could be an external hard drive case for your sister who has been working on a genealogy of your family. Maybe it’s just something as simple as a USB 3.0 32GB Flash Drive for the kid’s school projects. It doesn’t matter the reason or for who, sometimes the gift has to be about need instead of a want.
I could easily list many other gift options, but if you didn’t know where to start, hopefully I’ve provided a clearer path to set you out on your shopping journey. Good luck!
Deidre owns and operates Organisum: Technology Services, a business serving the West MI area. In her free time she likes to hike & bike local trails with friends and family when she isn’t pinning, instagram’ing or Netflix’ing.
No sooner did the ghost and goblins of Halloween get back to their homes to feast on their newly acquired sugar collection that Sleigh Bells started ringing. That’s right, the big push of the last holidays are upon us, and wow has technology changed the ways we celebrate.
The holidays seem to require three important ingredients – Shopping, Food, and Family.
First, let me start off by saying that I have never, ever participated in the Black Friday Madness. I have witnessed it but I haven’t woken myself up at 3am to make it to a store that was opening at 5am so I could buy a $50 Blue-ray player for $15. I will admit to looking through the black Friday ads and even looking them up online ahead of schedule. In fact, there is a website you can visit that is fully dedicated to Black Friday Ads that not only posts the ads for Friday’s event, but also the toy books that retailers put out and other deal specific items. Extra Kohls cash anyone?
While a lot of people still trek out on that Friday, more people are opting out and staying in for Cyber Monday. The first Monday after Thanksgiving is now dedicated to an online shopping bonanza of epic proportions. Many of your favorite retail stores will put on extra sales on Monday as well, but the online retail giants make a serious play for your holiday cash.
With Amazon being one of the biggest names in online shopping, the company makes Cyber Monday a big, big, BIG event. Certain deals highlighted and change hour after hour. It’s enough to make even the most seasoned shopper spin around with glee.
Smack in the middle of Black Friday and Cyber Monday is now known as Small Business Saturday. A day in the weekend where your local small business owners hope to attract and entice you. This can be done in a physical location as well as through a website. Just a quick search using the “shop local” option on Etsy.com allows you to see what some of your own neighbors have brilliantly made themselves.
When all your shopping is done, the focus goes back on the two most important parts of the holidays, food and family! It seems like a no-brainer that you’re going to need food. Food that you can make while you host the holiday at your home, or something a little easier to transport as you go through the woods to Grandmother’s house.
Then there’s family. It’s suppose to be the most important ingredient in the holiday recipe. While technology can help, it can also hinder. Sure, through the power of Skype or FaceTime you can video chat with your niece or nephew who is serving overseas. However, is will also keep your 14-year-old niece or daughter from looking up the entire time you’re at Aunt Kathy’s.
So, a holiday challenge for you. Can you and yours set aside technology for the holiday gathering and have little to no smart phone or tablet use while you are surrounded with extended family? No Facebooking, no tweets to be sent, and no text to be read?
Some may find this hardly a challenge at all while others will struggle not to pick up their phone when there is lag in the conversation. Putting the technology aside might be tough at first, but the end result will be lifetime memories with family and friends!
Deidre owns and operates Organisum: Technology Services, a business serving the West MI area. In her free time she likes to hike & bike local trails with friends and family when she isn’t pinning, instagram’ing or Netflix’ing.
It’s truly a stunning facility. A seven-story, 670,000-square-foot, research facility shaped like a pyramid. Even the ancient Egyptians would be envious.
Much like the Egyptian pyramids, the $111 million building commonly known as the Steelcase Pyramid–it acted as the company’s headquarters since the building’s inception in 1989–has been a tomb since 2010. A massive slab of granite and architectural beauty sitting on 125 acres of property just looking for a purpose.
Enter Switch, a data company that intends to purchase the pyramid and build a $5 billion SUPERNAP data center on its campus.
The 2-million-square-foot data center would be the largest in the Eastern United States. The inland location of the pyramid places the data center within millisecond protocols of major markets without the risk of natural disasters that come with having a facility on the coastline.
“SUPERNAP Michigan will be 2 milliseconds from Chicago and 14 milliseconds from New York,” said the company’s announcement. “The prime campus locations have low millisecond access to the largest people hubs in the U.S. without being burdened with the high power prices, taxes, and earthquake/hurricane risks associated with those cities.”
There’s one potential hangup here with Switch moving into the pyramid, and it has to do with taxes. No building has been sold, no one has been hired, and nothing has been signed until Michigan legislature is wiling to give data centers a tax break.
West Michigan legislators introduced three bills in the Michigan House and Senate last week. Rep. Ken Yonker from Caledonia is leading the charge.
The purchase of the pyramid would be a huge boon for technology and information economic development in West Michigan. Switch not only brings a wealth of big name companies in its client base including Google, Amazon, eBay, Time Warner, Sony, Dreamworks, Shutterfly, and Boeing, but the new data center would also bring 1,000 new jobs within ten years.
If the purchase is finalized, jobs will be created, economic and technological development will be brought to the area, and one of West Michigan’s most unique buildings has a purpose once again.
“This is the most amazing building I have ever seen,” explained property manager Jim Faunce to WKTV back in August after moving from Colorado to head the project. “I am in total awe of it!”
So are we, and it’ll be an honor to see the building put to use once again.
My sister-in-law confuses me. She likes to run…without music. I do not understand how she is able to do it. I must have music in my ear when I’m attempting to run, jog, exercise. I have used several different apps in the past to help get myself in better fitter shape.
Just as I’ve used different apps I’ve also had different products too.
Before I had a piece of technology to help it was the classic pencil and paper. Log your food and log your work out. Then I got an iPod Touch and my world changed. All of a sudden I had apps that would help me. Log your food in this app. Watch how to do weights on this app. Track your bike ride on this app. Apps, glorious apps, everywhere! Then I realized, as I was losing the pounds on myself, my iPod was starting to become bloated.
I see a lot of mobile devices in my line of work. People mention that after a while their device starts to feel slow. Sometimes it is due to age, but 8 out of 10 times their devices is bloated with data.
For example, if you have an iPhone 6 that has 16GB of data storage, a few of those gigabytes are set aside right away for the software to run your phone. So now that brings us down to about 12GB of space. That is still a lot if you maintain the space properly.
Devices work best when they have breathing room. I usually recommend a minimum of 2GB of free space. Photos and videos take up a lot of room. A LOT OF ROOM. It is probably one of the things I see the most; 600 photos or more taking up space. Out of those 600 photos, probably only 120 of them are actually wanted.
Cleaning up your photos gives back precious space. Delete them from the phone or what I like to do is download them into my computer and delete them there, I find it to be faster that way.
Music can clog up your memory as well. When is the last time you took a look through your play list? This is another thing I try to keep up on. I actively keep 3 playlists on my phone. One for the gym and two for the car. With the addition of iTunes radio and other music streaming services you may not realize that you are not using your playlist anymore. If you’re not using them, get them off the device!
Then there are apps. As I write to you today, I have 50 apps on my phone. I like to review the apps on my phone every couple of months. There are apps I’m more likely to use in the summer than the winter. If I’m going on vacation I have more travel apps on my phone than when I’m just doing my usual business. Sure there are a lot of apps that you use frequently, and I’m not saying you have to take things down to a bare minimum, but I’m suggesting that maybe you don’t need to have every app on there. I use a guideline I made up myself. If I haven’t used the app in about 1 month, then I don’t need it on my phone.
Also a reminder, all of this memory clogging is true not just for our mobile devices but for our actual computers too. Your laptop or desktop machine store massive amounts of data.
Quick! When was the last time you went through and deleted emails? Not just the spam or the junk but emails. Imagine if all those emails were printed out and lying around the house. Can you see that in your house? The nice thing is that usually with your computer you have the option of upgrading your hard drive to add more space. Your computer likes some breathing room just like you.
Our phones, and our computers, are a machine, just like our body, and it needs to be taken care of to run at its peak. Sure, on vacation we like to let ourselves go a little bit and enjoy the trip – taking pictures and downloading new apps – but we don’t live everyday life that way. Watch what you put into your phone and make sure to trim the fat when it’s needed!
Deidre owns and operates Organisum: Technology Services, a business serving the West MI area. In her free time she likes to hike & bike local trails with friends and family when she isn’t pinning, instagram’ing or Netflix’ing.
My earliest memories of my Grandpa include climbing into his lap so that he could read the “funny papers” to me out of the “Kalamazoo Gazette.” He smelled like Old Spice aftershave, Prince Albert pipe tobacco, and Clove or Teaberry gum – my choice, he always had sticks of both to offer me. He was balding with blue eyes that defined the term “twinkly,” hands that curved to fit naturally around any tool or the curve of an infant, a never-ending smile for his family, and a huge secret. I think my grandpa was a bigamist.
It’s true that I don’t know for sure, but all the evidence my mother found cleaning out his home after his death, years after my grandma had passed on, points to that conclusion.
Here is what I know about my grandfather. His name was Lyman Adelbert Havens and all our relatives called him “Del.” He was born in Byron Center, Michigan on September 27, 1898 and he died shoveling snow off his front walk on January 30, 1978 in Grand Rapids. He was 79 years old. I knew from childhood that he had grown up on a farm, because he had stories about bringing in hay, handling teams of horses, the hard winters. He loved to fish and hunt, and he taught me how to put a worm on a hook.
I knew that in 1919, he was 21 years old when he took a troop ship to Europe at the end of the First World War and changed his life. He went from simple farm boy to man of respect carrying precious cargo in an elegant machine.
General John “Black Jack” Pershing
He was a chauffeur for a number of officers, including (he claimed) General John “Black Jack” Pershing, who led the American forces to victory over Germany, a point of considerable pride for both him and the family. I know I loved him very much, and still do.
Here is what we found out about my grandfather long after he had died. While he was in Europe, he met a woman named Dora Gallner. Tucked away in a box long untouched, my mother found five pictures of Dora, one hidden in a frame behind a photo of himself. One of the Dora photos had words in German written on the back that shocked the family. Translated, they read “For my dear Dell – your abandoned bride, Dora.” One of the other Dora photos shows her staring mournfully at the camera. The text on the back reads, “A picture of myself in the month where I received my sad news from you. I nearly died from the heartache. Your lost bride, Dora. It is very sad.”
Dora Gallner
In addition, my mother unearthed three postcards written by Dora to my great-grandmother Grace, Del’s mother. The postcards are dated cryptically. One is headed “Frastang, 11. X 21.” It reads in English, “Dearest Mother! I shall fortnight ago of Bern to travel. It is excellent. Many greetings and loving kisses Dora” and something else we can’t read. Another reads, “Dearest Mother! From Feldkird, many greetings and loving kisses. Dora.”
So it seems he was indeed married. In May 1922, he was honorably discharged from the Army and returned home to Michigan from Europe, without Dora. One year later, he married my grandmother Ethel. In two words, what happened? But of course, a multitude of questions are huddled under that umbrella; was he denied permission to bring her home? Did my grandmother know about Dora? Could we have family in Germany we have never known?
Del and Ethel Havens Married May 1923
This is the story my sister, Lynette, and I have decided to research. We are using the resources of the WKTV Digital Guild, which meets Tuesday, September 29 and continues every 2nd Tuesday thereafter from 7pm-9pm at WKTV, 5261 Clyde Park Avenue SW, Wyoming. If you have a story to tell, come check out this program. Get all the support you need as you think about how to tell your story and how to use the equipment you need. WKTV awaits!
One to my favorite places to to use technology is in the kitchen. I’ve found ways to utilize my laptop, iPad, and my phone in the kitchen as a reference while cooking. Just recently, we delegated a first generation iPad to the kitchen. While the iPad itself is considered out of date, because it doesn’t run the current iOS, some Apps still function on this old piece of technology.
So, what still works?
Well, for starters, the web browser still functions with no problem. That’s all I need to pull up any cooking website or blog I want. I was also able to download older versions of apps like Pinterest, How to Cook Everything, and Allrecipes’ Dinner Spinner to name a few. I was very pleased to be able to access Pinterest because there are so many great recipe links that people share.
The iPad also has the Kindle App, so I’m able to access all of the cookbooks that I’ve already purchased from Amazon.com. I was able to get the one’s I’ve already downloaded as a free download!
Of course, before I even get to the kitchen, I try and have my meal plan already in my calendar complete with links to the recipe I’ll be making. I try and list the main dish with 1 or 2 side dishes that I would like to make with it. Sometimes the recipe link is the main dish, and sometimes it’s a link for the side dish.
While the iPad is a great technology to have in the kitchen, there’s a company that makes cooking even easier by delivering groceries! That’s right, Doorganics is a local company that specializes in delivering fresh, local, and organic food right to your home. I took the option to receive deliveries every 2 weeks. The Thursday before the food is delivered, Doorganics sends an email with a list showing what is planned for the delivery. If I need to, I can login to their website and change the order.
Measuring is made so much easier by technology, and because of that, my digital scale has become a mainstay in the kitchen. I use it for measuring everything from the correct amount of flour for Great Grandma’s recipe to the correct portioned size piece of steak to have for dinner – 3 ounces isn’t as big as you think it is!
Of course, some of the basic apps on your phone can be helpful too. The clock app has a built in timer, and when I am cooking a lot of items for bit events like Thanksgiving, I will use the Alarm setting in the app to keep watch on multiple items.
Last, but certainly not least, is the camera built right into my Phone. Yep, I’m one of those people that shares their food. I usually post it on my Facebook page with a link to the recipe. Occasionally, the picture might be shared on Instagram, but I promise it is few and far between!
Deidre owns and operates Organisum: Technology Services, a business serving the West MI area. In her free time she likes to hike & bike local trails with friends and family when she isn’t pinning, instagram’ing or Netflix’ing.
Thanks to Labor Day, over 500 employees at the General Motors Plant in Wyoming have the chance to be home with families today. Production Manager Rick Demuynck, says employees are a critical part of the GM worldwide success and more than deserve a special day off. “Labor Day recognizes the importance of family,” says Demuynck. “Our operations run regularly sometimes 6 days a week. Our folks spend a lot of time away from family, and that requires family sacrifices sometimes because it’s hard to be in two places in the same time. This is a chance to be with families.”
Employees at the GM Plant are just a small segment of the nearly 200 million American workers honored by Labor Day, though some employees will be on the job during special sales or other holiday events. Our 24-7 life style guarantees that Labor Day looks much different now than when it first began, the result of an often turbulent history between labor, management, and the formation of unions.
Rick Demuynck, GM Plant Mgr, Wyoming
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, Congress declared the first Monday in September Labor Day in 1894. The national holiday “constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.” Demuynck agrees that the recognition is fitting. “Obviously, the basic wages and benefits of workers in this community – and that’s about $50 million this year – that money goes right back into the community. Beyond that, investment for operations will double in size over coming years. “
Demuynck, whose father worked in the automotive industry for 47 years, says he is “proud and humbled” to be in charge of the GM Plant. “My earliest memories from my father are the importance of hard work, the importance of labor. We (GM) are the best in the world measured in quality, productivity, any way you want to measure, a direct result of women and men who work here.”
Even though technological advances have reduced jobs over the years, Demuynck claims it would be a mistake to think people are not critical to plant operations.
“Technology is present in different forms of assembly and manufacturing, it helps in quality, which is important in manufacturing. But at the end of day, this is still a people system. We will never be any stronger than the people in the operation in every department.”
So if you’re shopping today, eating at a restaurant, in need of a hospital or any of the other services that keep people on the job today, be sure to thank them. No matter how technical our world gets, people still make Labor Day worth celebrating.
Two more Grand Rapids-area Secretary of State offices now allow you to reserve a spot in line via the Internet or by phone, saving you time.
Secretary of State Ruth Johnson announced today that customers can schedule appointments and get in line from a home computer, with a phone call or text message at the following offices:
Northeast Kent County PLUS, 3742 Plainfield Ave. NE in Grand Rapids
Southwest Kent County PLUS, 1056 Rogers Plaza SW in Wyoming
The offices are the latest in the state to offer the innovative customer-service technology called MI-TIME Line. By September’s end, 18 of the busiest Secretary of State offices will offer the service.
When you check in with MI-TIME Line, you’ll get calls or texts updating you on when your turn is coming up — meaning you don’t have to wait in the office.
“MI-TIME Line has revolutionized the waiting experience for Secretary of State customers,” Johnson said. “Get in line online and then do what you want to do. We’ll contact you when it’s almost your turn at the counter.”
To get in line at the Plainfield office from anywhere, customers may call 616-710-3315 or text “plainfield” to 571-414-0207.
To get in line at the Wyoming office from anywhere, customers may call 616-420-8608 or text “wyoming” to 567-455-7660.
The service has been offered since 2014 in the Grand Rapids Area SUPER!Center at 3601 28th St. SE. For that location, call 616-988-3421 or text “grandrapidssos” to 616-710-3915.
From the outside, the new 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display looks like the MacBook Pro we’ve come to know from the recent past. The major changes to the laptop are only apparent once you start using the machine: increased speed, and a new Force Touch trackpad that provides new input functionality.
The changes are most certainly welcomed, but overall, they may not be enough for anyone who bought a 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro within the past three years to upgrade. But if you’re laptop is older, or you’re thinking about upgrading from a MacBook Air, you’ll see great benefits.
The new Force Touch trackpad
When you press it, the 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro’s Force Touch trackpad feels like it clicks, but the click you actually feel is haptic—technology is used to create a sensation of clicking. For longtime MacBook users, you can notice a difference when the new 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro is off: You can still click a trackpad on an older MacBook that’s powered off, but tap on the Force Touch trackpad and it feels dead, like you’re pressing against the laptop case itself.
The Force Touch trackpad has sensors to detect how hard you’re pressing. You can press to click like you normally would, but you can also perform a Force Click by pressing a little harder; you’ll feel a second, more pronounced click. Force Click has different functions; it can be used for Quick Look in the Finder; Force Click on a date and a pop-up appear to add an event to Calendar; it can activate Look Up; it shows a preview when you Force Click a web link; and much more.
I’ve always used the trackpad as a last resort. I prefer a mouse because my fingers fumble when I have to do things like click and drag to select part of an image or a section of text. But Force Click has me using the trackpad more often because it’s so useful. I don’t see myself ditching the mouse soon, but I could be using it less and less.
What else is new with the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display
The other updates are inside the laptop. Apple replaced the Intel Haswell processors in the 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro with new Broadwell processors.
The $1299 laptop has a dual-core 2.7GHz Core i5 processor, with Turbo Boost support up to 3.1GHz, 3MB of shared L3 cache, and 128GB of flash storage. The $1499 model has the same processor as the $1299 version, but it has 256GB of flash storage. The $1799 model has a 2.9GHz Core i5 processor with Turbo Boost support up to 3.3GHz, and 512GB of flash storage.
Along with the processor upgrade comes a graphics upgrade. The new Intel Iris Graphics 6100 is still an integrated graphics processor, but Apple says it’s 40 percent faster than the Iris Graphics 5100 integrated graphics in the previous Retina MacBook Pro. Apple also says the flash storage is also up to two times faster than before.
Last but not least, Apple says the it has improved the battery life of the 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro, touting ten hours of “wireless web” use and 12 hours of iTunes movie playback. The previous model was rated at 9 hours for both use cases. (Battery life will be addressed in a separate article.)
Performance
As expected the performance difference between the new 2.7GHz and the 2.9GHz Retina MacBook Pro is marginal, with the 2.9GHz laptop about 5 percent faster than the 2.7GHz laptop in Geekbench 3 tests. But remember, the price difference between these models doesn’t just cover the processor upgrade; it also includes more flash storage capacity.
Even when compared to last year’s 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro, the new models are only 7 percent faster than the older laptops they respectively replace. In order to see gains over 10 percent, you have to compare the new laptop to models released in 2013.
The graphics improvement is much more impressive: The new 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro had a 29 percent increase over last year’s models in the Cinebench OpenGL tests. It’s not the 40 percent that Apple touts, but Apple’s testing was done with a different benchmark that includes three video games.
In the Black Magic Disk Speed Test, the 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro posted an average write speed of 1156.1 MBps and an average read speed of 1299.9 MBps.
Bottom line
I’ve always been a fan of the MacBook Pro with Retina display. Though, my personal preference is for the 15-inch model, the 13-inch modeled I tested are attractive laptops in their own right. If you have an older non-Retina Mac laptop, it’s a good time to upgrade. Obviously, you’ll see a huge performance boost, but you’ll also be wowed by the Retina display and the Force Touch trackpad is cool. (If you’re sticking to your older Mac laptop because of its matte display, you’ll be disappointed to find that Apple no longer has a matte display option. It’s glossy only.)
However, if you bought a 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro in the past couple of years, you might want to stick with your laptop a bit longer, since you may not consider the speed gains worth the expense. The Force Touch trackpad is a great new feature, but it’s not vital to your workflow and not enough reason alone to upgrade.
Bigger is better. At least, that’s what the movie industry believes.
D-Box offers a whole new experience when it comes to movie viewing
Movies keep getting grander. Summer blockbusters continually break records – Jurassic World now owns the record for largest opening weekend box office with over $208 million – and it’s a go big or go home business. Everything is digital, remastered or filmed in 3D, and CGI (Computer Generated Images) has taken over.
CGI is so heavily used that when Mad Max: Fury Road decided not to use it, and rely on real stunts, it was applauded.
While the movies continually get bigger, so do those ticket prices. A night at the movies for a family of four can cost a small fortune. It’s an investment, an event, and Celebration Cinemas is innovating and evolving to make your movie experience truly one-of-a-kind.
It starts with the seating. The place where any movie goer will be spending the majority of their time.
Celebration Cinemas has outfitted some of their screens and theaters with D-Box seats that pitch, roll, and move with the action on the screen.”If you have a good action film going, this seats going to be moving all over the place,” explained Steve VanWagoner, Celebration’s Vice President of Marketing and Public Relations, “It’s a one of a kind experience.”
Oscar’s Bistro brings a restaurant, along with a full bar, to the movie scene.
D-Box seats aren’t the only unique seating choice Celebration offers. The entire front row of the IMAX theater is outfitted with recliners! That’s right, Celebration Cinemas outfitted their theaters with everyone’s favorite mode of relaxation. The recliners give a new twist to the phrase ‘home theater.’
The new seats are exciting and something new, but Celebration is cooking up a lot more than new seats. Select locations – Portage, Okemos, and now Muskegon – now have an Oscar’s Bistro. Oscar’s Bistro is a restaurant loaded with a full bar and dining options. It’s bringing a restaurant to the movies. Dinner and a movie can all be done in one place. Dates just became a lot less complicated!
On top of seating and food, Celebration is experimenting with new entertainment options. Instead of the focus being solely on Hollywood movies, Celebration offers live sporting events and concerts that play right in the theater.
The pulled pork sliders at Oscar’s Bistro are quite the hit.
Independent films are being explored with independent film series at select theaters. It’s a way to encapsulate a new audience and give viewers something different.
Celebration Cinemas is constantly innovating to stay ahead of the curve. A family’s entertainment dollars are tight and with Netflix, TV, and home entertainment, the theaters need to offer a little more ‘oompf’ to its’ audience.
The new innovations are exciting and impressive. Go to the movies and try out them out, you won’t be disappointed!
Bob Roohparvar tells a killer story of industrial espionage. He says the robbery occurred last October at his Batteroo office space in a sprawling Silicon Valley office park. The target was intellectual property surrounding Batteriser, a simple metal sleeve that promises to give consumers up to eight times more life from their disposable batteries, AAA through D.
The crooks clearly knew the building layout, and exactly what they were looking for—namely, a breakthrough technology that, if legit, could blow the lid off an alkaline battery industry that’s worth $3.4 billion annually in the US alone.
batteriser vertical
“It was a very, very professional job,” says Roohparvar. “They passed by all the offices with open doors, and then banged the hell out of my door, breaking it in. The doorknob was slammed so hard into the wall, it got stuck in the plaster. They took my hard disk and a bunch of USB drives. They took our Batteriser samples. They knew exactly how much time they had before the police would respond.”
Roohparvar, who has a Ph.D. in electrical engineering and a long career in power management including a VP stint at Broadcom and a CEO stint at FlexPower, says he’s not worried about the theft, because Batteriser has full patent protection. But once the battery manufacturers grasp what Batteriser can do—assuming it works as advertised—they might be worried by this simple gadget, which will cost just $10 for a pack of four when it goes on sale in September.
How Batteriser gives your batteries 8 new lives
A completely new alkaline battery is rated to generate 1.5 volts, but once its output drops below 1.35 or even 1.4 volts, it effectively becomes useless to many devices. The battery’s chemical cocktail is still loaded with juice, but the circuitry in many gadgets (especially more sophisticated ones, like Bluetooth keyboards and bathroom scales) considers the battery dead.
This is where Batteriser comes in. It’s essentially a voltage booster that sucks every last drop of useable energy from ostensibly spent batteries. So, instead of using just 20 percent of all the power hidden inside of your Duracells and Energizers, Batteriser makes effective use of the remaining 80 percent.
Batteriser is thin enough to fit inside a Bluetooth trackpad, just like this one.
Voltage boosters are nothing new, but Batteriser scales down the technology to the point where it can fit inside a stainless steel sleeve less than 0.1 mm thick. Roohparvar says the sleeves are thin enough to fit inside almost every battery compartment imaginable, and the combined package can extend battery life between 4.9x for devices like remote controls and 9.1x for various electronic toys.
“The Batteriser has boost circuitry that will boost the voltage from 0.6 volts to 1.5 volts and will maintain voltage at 1.5—which is a brand new battery,” Roohparvar says. “There’s actually no IP [intellectual property] in the boost circuitry. Our technology is really a miniaturization technique that allows us to build the sleeve. We have some IP in some of the IC circuits that are in there, but the key is we’ve been able to miniaturize the boost circuit to a point that no one else has been able to achieve. “
Proving Batteriser actually works
To prove that he’s not peddling snake oil, Roohparvar gave me a demonstration of Batteriser’s effectiveness.
First he ran tests on two “dead” AA batteries with a power meter. The batteries read 1.3 volts each. He then put the batteries inside a Bluetooth keyboard and connected the keyboard to a Mac. An onscreen display reported the batteries were toast. Such is the heartbreak of old-school battery tech. It’s been this way since 1947.
Next he slipped the batteries inside two Batteriser sleeves. He ran the metering test again. The same ostensibly dead batteries read 1.5 volts. He then slipped the batteries—now ensconced in Batteriser jackets—into the keyboard. Voila: The Mac reported the battery level at 100 percent.
Shocking? It shouldn’t be. Again, the basic concepts behind the voltage boost have been employed for years. Batteroo has simply scaled down the requisite hardware to a practical formfactor.
The Batteriser looks fragile, but the sleeve is surprisingly sturdy to the touch. It would never survive deliberate abuse, but it doesn’t feel like wispy metal foil in the least. Batteroo says compatibility testing shows Batteriser works with a wide variety of gadgets including wireless keyboards, game console controllers, TV remotes, digital scales, blood pressure monitors, toys, and (of course) the ubiquitous flashlight.
Granted, simple devices like flashlights will continue to work with alkaline batteries that dip well below 1.4 volts. They’ll just lag and sputter—consider that incredibly dim flashlight that’s on its last breath. But Batteriser promises to keep these devices “topped off,” if you will. Roohparvar says the sleeve will also work with 1.2 volt rechargeable batteries, boosting them up to 1.5 volts.
The Sunnyvale-based company has also verified its technology with the physics department of San Jose State University. “We tested the Batteriser sleeve in our lab and we confirmed that the Batteriser taps into 80 percent of energy that is usually thrown away,” said the university’s Dr. Kiumars Parvin in a statement.
Batteroo says toy cars are a perfect application for extending battery life.
Squeezing energy from the bottom
To explain how Batteriser works, Roohparvar uses a toothpaste tube analogy: If you buy a new tube of toothpaste and only squeeze from the very top, you’ll extract just a small portion of the paste in the tube. However, if you squeeze from the bottom and keep pushing upward, you’ll extract much more of the toothpaste—or in Batteriser’s case, energy—that you paid for.
It’s important to note that while “dead” batteries typically have 80 percent of their energy remaining inside, Batteriser doesn’t suck these cells completely dry. So how, exactly, does Batteriser increase battery life by a factor of eight? Let’s do the math.
Let’s say you buy a new battery. You use it for a month and its voltage drops to 1.4. It’s now ostensibly dead at 1.4 volts, but if you slip on a Batteriser, its output increases to 1.5 volts for another month. That’s already a 2x increase in battery life.
Eventually the battery’s natural, unboosted output drops to 1.3 volts—but Batteriser keeps it at 1.5 volts for another month. Now you’ve realized a 3x increase in battery life. And so on, and so on. Roohparvar says Batteriser can continue to deliver a 1.5 volt charge in batteries that have discharged down to 0.6 volts. There are more than eight 0.1 volt steps between 0.6 and 1.5 volts, so, in grossly simplified terms, the Batteriser can extend operational battery life somewhere around a factor of eight.
And here’s an interesting tidbit in Batteroo’s patent: Voltage drops aren’t linear, and this plays to the consumer’s advantage:
“The time it takes for the battery voltage to drop by 0.1V is longer at lower voltages versus at higher voltages. That means that if a constant current was drawn from the battery, it would take the battery a lot longer to discharge from 1.2V to 1.1V than it would from 1.5V to 1.4V. This means that the extent to which the battery life is increased could be even higher.”
Reducing costs and saving the planet
Disposable alkaline batteries aren’t glamorous. They’ll never out-sexy the Apple Watch or Surface Pro 3. But they’ve become staples of modern life, and if there’s anything that presents recurring costs ad infinitum, it’s a household staple. To this extent, the Batteriser has the potential to not just disrupt but practically detonate an industry that has a stranglehold on so many household appliances.
Count the number of active alkaline batteries in your home. I counted 17 cells across two TV remotes, an Xbox controller, a Withings WiFi scale, a Simplehuman automatic trashcan, and a Remington hair trimmer. Now consider what it would mean to replace these batteries eight times less frequently. The cost and convenience dividends add up.
This is my collection of spent alkaline batteries. Maybe it’s a good thing I never recycled them—with Batteriser I may never need to buy another battery again (barring leaks, of course). To wit: A four-pack of Duracell AAs costs $4 on Amazon. Slip those AAs into a $10 set of Batterisers, and the circuit boosters will pay for themselves after three typical battery life cycles. Then, after that, you’ll theoretically get another five cycles of free battery life. And after that, the batteries themselves will be dead, but the Batterisers will live on to boost the lives of new batteries.
Clearly, the cost savings are significant, but Roohparvar is also quick to remind us that batteries are an environmental disaster that Batteriser can help mitigate. His company says only 2 percent of spent batteries are properly recycled, and the rest are thrown away, leading to soil contamination. “15 billion batteries go into landfill every year,” he says, “so we can help avoid that.”
How Batteriser gives your batteries 8 new lives
Nick Cunningham, a battery market analyst with the Freedonia Group, told me that as “high-drain” devices use more and more rechargeable lithium batteries, the use of alkaline batteries will slow over time. Nonetheless, he estimates the US alkaline battery market was worth $3.4 billion in 2014, and that was up from $3.3 billion in 2012.
Clearly, we Americans are buying a lot of disposable batteries, and while our thirst will diminish, we’re not giving them up anytime soon. So why, then, hasn’t Big Battery come up with technology like Batteriser on its own? Are Procter & Gamble (owner of Duracell) and Energizer Holdings (the bunny people) outright dumb or simply greedy? Roohparvar says Big Battery has been looking in the wrong direction.
“The battery manufacturers have been focusing on the chemical characteristics of the battery rather than looking at it from an electrical engineering point of view,” Roohparvar says. “I asked the ex-CTO of Energizer, ‘How come nobody thought about this?’ He said, ‘Because we’re chemical engineers, and we weren’t thinking about power management.’”
Using power management instead of chemistry, Batteriser hopes to have a solution that Big Battery couldn’t think up.
I didn’t share Batteriser details with Cunningham of the Freedonia Group, but I did ask him if battery manufacturers are working on any solutions that do for standard batteries what CFLs did for light bulbs. His answer: “I don’t think so.”
“Battery companies understand that alkaline batteries are not going to be used for items such as tablet computers and laptops, but are still trying to improve the performance of alkaline batteries to make them attractive in applications such as portable electronics, flashlights, and clocks,” Cunningham said. He cited Duracell’s Quantum, which claims to be the longest-lasting alkaline battery of all, and includes an on-board power check meter.
You can keep your money
Roohparvar doesn’t rule out bundling Batteriser with alkaline battery packs from Duracell, Energizer and the like, but he’s already resisted influence from the battery industry: A VC firm rich with cash from one of the big battery companies was interested in investing, but Batteroo shut the door when it discovered the money trail. “We want to make sure this technology will stay around for people to enjoy it,” Roohparvar says, “and not have someone else own 33 percent of the company and try to dictate how we run the business.”
So, for now, the Batteriser is an independent effort. The next step is an Indiegogo campaign in late June, and then delivery in late September. Only independent testing will prove out all of Batteriser’s claims. For instance: Will it work in all my gadgets? Will its circuitry survive eight typical battery life cycles and beyond? And, most importantly, will it deliver the extended battery life that Roohparvar claims? Nonetheless, everything we’ve seen so far looks very promising.
Alkaline batteries definitely don’t inspire gadget lust, but when’s the last time you heard of industrial spies breaking into Google or Apple? Indeed. Clearly someone thought the Batteriser was hot enough to go to jail for.
Note: The San Jose Police Department confirmed the break-in occurred on October 29, 2014, and provided me with a case number. Roohparvar has also provided the following image of his busted-in office door.
Variety is the spice of Mac gaming, if last month’s top releases are any indication. Sure, tactical action, space shooting/exploration, and point-and-click adventures are all tried-and-true gaming concepts. But have you ever played a first-person cat simulator wherein the goal is simply to knock everything over? How about a game in which your actions as a housekeeper might help decide the fate of a civil war?
Needless to say, Mac gaming is more diverse—and exciting—than ever, and we’ve picked some games from May that grabbed our attention. Whatever your tastes, you’ll surely find something interesting and unique to play in this bunch.
Audiosurf 2
Audiosurf is gospel amongst music gaming fans, as it’s able to transform your entire music library into a seemingly endless array of rhythmic challenge stages. And now, after a lengthy Steam Early Access period, the sequel is fully available to purchase and enjoy.
What’s new about Audiosurf 2 ($15)? True, it maintains the same general approach: Each song you play is transformed into a rollercoaster-like track full of beat-matched icons to collect with a hovercraft. However, along with a nice visual upgrade, it’s been made very mod-friendly, with an array of game modes, graphic options, and other tweaks provided by the community. It already has more than 500 free mods to try out, so if you have a big music library and a lot of time, Audiosurf 2 can satisfy for ages.
Sunset
You’ve probably never played anything quite like Sunset ($20). Inspired by the idea of what innocent bystanders experience in the worlds of first-person shooters, this adventure game puts you in the role of a housekeeper in a fictional South American country in 1972 following a military coup.
Once a week, for an hour at a time, you clean the apartment of a wealthy, powerful man who starts leaving crucial intelligence in plain sight. Do you breach his privacy by going through his belongings and sharing information with revolutionaries? Is he intentionally trying to send you a message? Will you play a role in the downfall of Anchuria’s dictator, or let history run its course?
Catlateral Damage
Cats are wonderful, but let’s face it: Cats are also sort of the worst, especially if you’re not around to pet them 24/7. But rather than scream at your furry friends for their indiscretions, why not try seeing it through their eyes? That’s where Catlateral Damage ($10) comes into play.
Truth be told, there’s no sympathizing to be found here: You’ll simply play as a cat and try to knock everything onto the ground in each room you explore. It’s a first-person game, but you’re armed only with your two paws—and power-ups found around each area. Catlateral Damage looks and sounds superbly silly and stupid, but that’s obviously the point. It’s time to get in touch with your feline side.
Vertiginous Golf
Check out the game’s official description: “Vertiginous Golf ($20) is a dystopian steampunk mini-golf adventure game set in the skies above an alternate world where life on the ground is enveloped in permanent smog, constant darkness, and never-ending rain.” Yeah, hard to beat that description!
In other words, it’s no Tiger Woods—or even Hot Shots Golf. And it’s a weird one, indeed. You’ll play on courses suspended in the clouds and draped with Victorian design influences, with an array of unique power-ups available to manipulate your ball towards its destination. And you can even create and share your own custom courses. If you like golf but don’t love realism or nature, Vertiginous Golf might satisfy.
Recently, Amazon.com started selling grocery items, available using their trademarked Prime Shipping, even though it isn’t technically available in 2-day shipping. To me, this new step seems inspired, what with the increasing levels of laziness in the millennial generation, myself included, but the system still has plenty of fine-tuning to be made until I personally proclaim it a successful venture for the internet shopping giant.
I knew that in 1919, he was 21 years old when he took a troop ship to Europe at the end of the First World War and changed his life. He went from simple farm boy to man of respect carrying precious cargo in an elegant machine.
