New Technology

Even Twitter is not safe for our military and this was proven when the Twitter feed was hacked by people who are believed to be ISIS. One might wonder why anyone would care enough about Twitter to hack it, but if we look deeper into this we begin to realize that some people put very personal information into their messages and into their profiles. Authorities have worried about our military men being identified and having their names and addresses identified. It was announced not only was the U.S. Central Command Twitter account hacked but so was the YouTube account. A message was left which read, "In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful, the CyberCaliphate continues its CyberJihad." A list of generals with addresses was published titled, "Army General Officer Public Roster (by rank) 2 January 2014." I have always said if something is on a computer and that computer is connected to the internet, the computer’s data is at risk.

One has to wonder what great things might be coming out from IBM soon. You are probably wondering why I said this and it is very easy to explain. I said it because in 2014 IBM broke the record for patents filed when they filed 7,534. Most of the patients were for analytics, cloud computing and mobile computing. This is the 22nd year IBM has led the US in patents filed. "Over the past 10 years (2004-2013) IBM has averaged -- and publicly reported -- over $1 billion in intellectual property and custom development income," said an IBM spokesman.

We heard about the announcement last month that Skype will be offering real time translation on phone calls. That means when you talk to someone using a different language their reply will be heard in your language instantly as if they were speaking the same language as you. Google has announced the same thing but using one-upmanship it announced it will do this for over 90 different languages. It is being said this could revolutionize human communication. All is not a bed of roses however because it is being said both speakers will need headsets for the new Google translation app to work and users are being advised to pause between responses for best results. Still this is incredible and will only get better as years go by. Just imagine you are a businessman or businesswoman and want to call a Chinese factory to place an order. You will no longer have to worry about getting someone who speaks English on the phone.

When Ford showed its GT supercar at the Detroit Auto Show in 2015, it shocked the automotive world. What made it even more shocking was the fact the car was not a concept car but the same car Ford will be bringing to its showrooms next year. The car possesses an EcoBoost V-6 engine which boasts more than 600 hp. The engine has twin-turbocharges and is a deviation of the usual V-8 engines used in high powered Fords. The car makes extensive use of lightweight materials such as aluminum and carbon fiber. There is a deployable rear spoiler on the rear for aerodynamics. The suspension is interesting for the fact it features a racing-style torsion bar and pushrod setup. You can adjust the height of this beast and it has 20 inch Michelin Pilot Super Sport Cup 2 tires which were designed just for this car. Performance figures are not available yet, but they should be incredible.

Something unusual happened at the Consumer Electronics Show this year. Almost every year there has been some sort of display showing how great a connected home would be. That is a home connected through the internet which has all its devices connected. For the first time such a display was full of actual objects which can be purchased which are controlled through the internet. One of the objects was called a Parrot Pot and it is a flower pot which can keep your plants alive without your attention. There was another device which could beam power to your devices if they were within 15 feet. It is made by WattUp. Hey Nikola Tesla did this over 100 years ago, you would have thought it would be old hat by now. One truly unusual item is called the Misfit Bolt. It is a led light bulb which is connected wirelessly.

Researchers have announced a computer can beat anyone at Texas hold’em poker if there is a two player limit. All I have to say is how many hands have only two players?

There are new visions for how our televisions should look and they don’t concern having a flat screen, surprisingly enough. Several companies which have collaborated have come up with s spherical projection module. A spokesman said, this "can augment the experience of viewing a live concert or sporting event." One of the reasons they are so high on the sphere shape is it allows for many viewing angles. The companies are hard at work trying to convince television broadcasters to create some programs in this format. Will this take hold or just become another bump in the history of television?

If you live in Brazil you will have to kiss Nintendo goodbye. Nintendo has ended its relations with the official distributor there and has no plans for anymore distribution in that country. It cited the fact that the tariffs it has to pay to import games and consoles is far too high in that country. How much do the Brazilian tariffs add to the price of games and consoles? Games that sell in the US for $60 have to sell in Brail anywhere from $77 to $87 to make up for the tariff and a Wii U would have to sell for two times as much in Brazil.

It was announced and it is even more than suspected. That is the amount of people on Facebook in the United States. The official number is about 58% of the adult population here. It gets even better, if we look at adults who use the internet it turns out 81% of them are on Facebook. So why is Facebook so popular? I can only speak about what I have noticed and that is many of us in this country have relatives and friends in other countries and across this country and we are interested in having more interaction with them. It used to be as people got old and they were away from their family and friends they became lonely. Today that doesn’t have to happen since they can see what is going on with their family and friends through sites like Facebook. In a way it makes people a little happier.