Have you ever been to a 3D movie? Was it a great experience, wasn’t it? How would you like to make your own 3D movie or your own 3D program?
Thanks to a Microsoft research project, you’ll be able to do so soon. It’s called Mobile Fusion. If Microsoft has it’s way, you’ll be able to crate your own 3D images on your mobile devices. It won’t be difficult. You’ll be able to create 3D images as easy as you take a picture or shoot a smartphone video. In fact, this 3D tool may be better than any other 3D tool available. Yes, it’s more accessible and virtually anybody with a smart device can get it. You don’t even need extra hardware. You don’t even need an Internet connection at all. That means people in the most remote locations, like in the woods or sailing on the seas, can get the same 3D experience as in a downtown major city. “Everything happens on the phone itself,” one research scientist explains it. Allegedly, the scans are so good they can be used for video game creation. Mobile Fusion is expected to be showed off at the ISMAR conference (International Symposium on Mixed and Argumentative Reality). ?This conference will take place in Fukuoka, Japan in October 2015. Let’s see how it goes.
So far, it sounds like a pretty good sale. I can see filmmakers definitely buying into Mobile Fusion. How cool would it be to tell a short story not just through film, but through 3D film? It would put the audience right there. The other good news for filmmakers is they can use Mobile Fusion anywhere. Without Internet connection, you have no restraints. You can shoot a lot of action adventure scenes in woods, fields, beaches, at sea or anywhere. If someone is creative, they could create and patent some video game scenes. Who else could benefit from Mobile Fusion?
Yelp is one of the most respected review sites online. You can review or read reviews of businesses from all walks of life. Can you, or would you, review the Federal Government on Yelp?
That’s what Yelp wants you to do, and so do federal agencies. Not only that, federal agencies can respond back to you, creating a dialogue. Yelp’s Public Policy VP Luther Lowe embraces this new venture, believing this dialogue could make our democracy better. This concept isn’t necessarily a new one. US Post Offices are reviewed all the time. There have been members of the US Congress that have been reviewed for years, by their own choice. Now, Lowe is taking it one step further. He says reviewing government service agencies will be under special rules and regulations because Yelp doesn’t want government agencies giving each other high marks and pats on the back. These review sites will start slowly and subtly. There’s not going to be any symbol saying this is a federal agency or a Congressman’s picture smiling back at you. They’ll still know if their business has been reviewed or claimed when they hit the link, “Work here? Claim this business.”
I believe Yelp and federal agencies mean well. But have you read the statistics lately? From what I’ve been reading, people have less faith in their federal government than ever before. Then when you read about complaints of certain agencies like the NSA and TSA, the numbers get even worse. I can see why they’re using subtle techniques here. Something tells me the reviews will be beyond negative. I hope I’m wrong. But many Americans are so angry and disillusioned with their government, society, and media today that there’s no telling what will come out of this. So what do you think of Yelp’s experiment? Will it bridge the gap or is it too much too soon?
People all around the world from technician experts to first time computer users are bragging about Windows 10. But even the greatest inventions have their flaws. This one could have a big one. Is Windows 10 Spying on us?
According the most articles, the answer is yes. In fact, it tracks nearly everything you do. In their novel of an agreement filled with legal gibberish, Microsoft pretty much says Windows 10 can watch you use the bathroom if it wants to (lol). Okay, maybe that was a little graphic, but it’s not that far from the truth. In king’s English, here is Microsoft’s privacy statement. There’s not much privacy in that statement, is it? However there is good news. There’s some things you can do to opt out of this potential privacy invasion. First, go to your settings and click on privacy. There, you’ll find thirteen screens. If any screen seems suspicious of privacy invasion, disable it! Adapt what data each app can access. Voice assistant Cortana has to go. It’s like a data snitch. Are you tired of those pesky ads following you from website to website? Go to this website?and turn off the purple ‘personalized ads in this browser’ and the green ‘personalized ads wherever I use my Microsoft account’. They’re other methods out there too, but these are the most basic and common sense ones.
Ladies and gentleman, when you hear that Windows 10 or any other technological system is spying on you, don’t panic or freak out! There are usually ways to protect your and family’s privacy. It’s easy to fold up our arms and cry, “That’s just the way it is today. There’s nothing we can do.” Yes there is. We just need to know what to do. The beauty of it is, these corporations understand our concern…somewhat. And now they’re offering ways to guard our privacy…somewhat. What are other things we can do to keep or privacy, and sanity, in tact?
In recent weeks, dating and social sites have made news for all the wrong reasons, from Ashley Madison’s hacking to the Tinder vs Vanity Fair rivalry. Two New Jersey residents strive to change the online dating culture.
Their names are Julie Surrey and Gary Spivek. They founded dating website FidelityDating.com. It’s the anti-Ashley Madison site. The Ashley Madison site says, “Life is short, have an affair”. Fidelity Dating’s site motto is, “Love is precious. Stay faithful”. Fidelity Dating is geared toward people who have been victims of infidelity and adultery, or people looking for monogamous long term relationships . Founder Julie Surrey knows what it’s like to be cheated on. Her ordeal inspired her to start this site. ?In 2006, Surrey borrowed her boyfriend’s laptop. She discovered the man she dated for years had married someone else behind Surrey’s back. Needless to say, Surrey quickly confronted the long-term boyfriend and ended the relationship. Surrey’s co-founder Gary Spivek has been married, to the same wife, for 19 years. This website pairs potential couples based on age, education, religion, and other areas of life. It’s free to join now, but come January 2016, it will cost $29.99 a month, with discounts for regular members. Fidelity Dating started in January 2015. It has several thousand members now, but I expect that number to rise.
A few thousand may seem like nothing compared to the 37 million members Ashley Madison has. But I think the tide is turning. They’re a lot of people that have been hurt in previous relationships that could use this. And there’s a of people who aren’t into hooking up. Something tells me if members of Ashley Madison get exposed, all hell is going to break loose for a lot of people. Those who’ve been jilted will flock to sites like Fidelity Dating where they’ll feel safer. Will dating sites that encourage serious relationships overtake those promoting hookups?
Disclaimer: Computer Geeks is not in the business of advertising, promoting, or slandering any dating or social website. This blog simply reports tech and online trends and then gives educated stances on such trends.
Let’s not be naive about it. You can get anything you want from a dating site or app. You can find true love, a casual relationship, a one night fling, or an adulterous affair. What are dating sites enabling?
I ask this because I read an interesting article from Vanity Fair called Tinder and the Dawn of the Dating Apocalypse. This article paints a picture of online daters just looking for one-night hook ups instead of long term relationships. The article showcases men bragging about all the women they slept with through dating apps. The women in the article aren’t portrayed too positively either. Vanity Fair particularly targets dating app Tinder, and Tinder isn’t happy with Vanity Fair whatsoever. Tinder’s PR team went on a tweet rampage defending the honor of their app. These tweets say Vanity Fair’s information was based only on 265,000 users, compared to Tinder’s millions, and just assumed that tiny number represented Tinder’s population. Tinder PR reps scolded Vanity Fair for not reaching out to them first, stating, “…that’s what journalist typically do.” Ouch! Tinder’s tweets remind us that people use Tinder for many reasons. While they admit some hook up, they insists the hook up culture has existed way before Tinder.
That Tinder tweet is correct. The hook up culture has been going on since the beginning of time, and will continue to do so. Look at websites like Ashley Madison, which facilitates adulterous relationships. Don’t even get me started of what you can find on Craig’s List. But let’s say all these dating sites stopped. You don’t think people will go to clubs or bars to find hookups? You don’t think people will throw swinger parties in their own home? I laugh when older generations say, “Back in the 1950s or ’60s, nobody had sex until they were married.” Yes people did! It just wasn’t over exposed like it is today. And that’s what these dating sites are doing, whether it’s accidentally or intentionally. They’re bringing to the surface what folks have done since the beginning of time. So what are dating sites really enabling?
The year 2015 isn’t boring for social media website Reddit. Former CEO Ellen Pao resigned under a whirlwind of controversy. ?That was followed by another whirlwind of trolling and bullying, much of it by Reddit users. Maybe that’s why Reddit takes this strong stand.
The strong stand I speak of is Reddit hate speech. Steve Huffman, the new Reddit CEO, rewrote the set of users’ policies and code of conduct. This new code includes ‘quarantining’ entire communities and banning abusive Reddit users. Quarantined communities will be banned from the general Reddit population. Only those who have access to the quarantined community is allowed in. This sort of censorship is geared toward communities that use extreme and abusive language. Huffman put this practice into motion. He banned Reddit community r/CoonTown and their sub-communities for their racist content. Huffman says these bans will be enforced on communities that, “…exist solely to annoy other redditors.” In a Reddit post, Huffman stated a few other Reddit communities have been quarantined for the same reason. Huffman also addressed those who are angered or annoyed at this newly enforced policy. He said Reddit leaders and staff already spend so much time dealing with disruptive communities that they’re losing time serving the other 99.98% of Reddit users.
I understand what Reddit is trying to do. The Ellen Pao controversy certainly opened up this can of worms with trolling. They want to make sure nothing like that happens to Reddit again. I get that. It’s too bad it took this to get Reddit to crack down on bullying and trolling. I believe in the First Amendment and free speech as much as any patriotic American. But I can’t stress this enough; with freedom comes responsibility. However, a line needs to be drawn between freedom and censorship. The question for Reddit is: Where is that line?
