Yes…the title is right. Computer maker Hewlett Packard is introducing the virtual reality backpack.
This new piece of VR is built by their gaming Omen Innovation Team. It’s called the HP VR PC Pack Hardware Development Kit. It’s aim to to get you in virtual reality without tripping over cords. As of right now, not just any consumer can get this VR development kit. You have to apply and get approval on HP’s website. But if you get this kit, you’ll get a lightweight PC you can carry on your back. The kit comes with a headset that plugs into the kit. The pack runs on two high output batteries that lasts an hour a pop. The kit will give you a warning when your batteries are dying, and you simply replace them with new ones. When you’re changing batteries, the PC has an on board battery to keep from shutting down. While using the VR headset, Windows is available. Alongside the VR headset, this kit comes with a wireless mouse, keyboard and monitor. Even with these added features, they’re trying to keep this product under ten pounds. I can’t stress enough, the HP VR PC Pack Hardware Development Kit is not for sale and it’s not for consumers…not yet at least.
That’s why I can’t report on a price…not yet at least. They’re looking for interested developers that will help them better the system. Hopefully, these developers can improve the battery life and keep the kit under ten pounds. Hopefully, they can come up with a cooler name. If they are eventually going to sale this thing, I doubt the HP VR PC Hardware Development Kit is going to convince people to run to the stores. But this is a good concept and a good start. It does need work before it can be put out for consumer market. What else can developers do to make this kit better? How much would you pay for a VR PC?
Even Senators like John Thune (R-S.D.) are asking questions. A correspondent on Yahoo News put up an interesting display of Facebook Trending. These are supposed to be the top trending news articles of that particular day. Some topics have valiant and credible news, like Wal-Mart suing Visa over RFID chipped credit cards. It has credible pop culture stories, like Budweiser changing beer label to ‘America’ until the November presidential elections. But the majority of the articles are pure fluff. For instance, one story that made the top trending list is Steve Lombardi, a WWE wrestled who performed under the name Brooklyn Brawler since the 1980s, was released. Even most WWE fans probably don’t know who the Brooklyn Brawler is. This concerns me because 61% of Millennials, born between 1981-1999, get their news from Facebook. That’s according to a 2015 Pew Charitable study. What’s even more disturbing is according to PolitiFact, the majority of stories are on some level made up. Not so long ago, Breitbart got in trouble for posting not-so-true stories. But now that they’ve become Trump supporters, they rarely make it in the trending section.
I am not here to endorse any presidential candidate. But I think Facebook should be a little more discerning about what goes in the trending box. But we can’t blame all of this on Facebook. We as consumers have to share some of the blame. When we care more about the Kardashians than we do about the Middle East, what do you think is going to trend? When we care more about Kelly Ripa and Michael Strayhan’s TV split more than we do about injustice in our community, what do you think will trend? When we care more about Beyonce’s Lemonade sales than we do about corruption in high places, what will trend? So what’s worse than trending? Is it the people who are driving the popularity of these stories?
In Kalamazoo, Michigan, a small city of approximately 75,000, an Uber driver is arrested on multiple murder counts. The Saturday night rampage of violence and terror left six people dead and two injured, allegedly at the hands of an Uber driver named Jason Dalton.
Now witnesses say Dalton picked up Uber customers and collected fares in between shootings. Customers claiming they rode with Dalton say it was a ride from a nightmare. One woman posted on Facebook Dalton drove 80 MPH on a city street and constantly swerved through traffic. That was posted 30 minutes before a woman was shot outside her own apartment complex. ?That was around 6pm. Another customer was so scarred of Dalton’s driving that he told news outlets he jumped out of the car and ran away. At 8pm, a Kalamazoo man tweeted he rode with Dalton for 10 minutes. At 10pm, a father and son were shot to death outside a car dealership. Around 10:15pm, gunfire was opened at a local Cracker Barrel. At midnight, two couples were picked up, and Dalton jokingly said, “No, I’m not the shooter. I’m just really tired.” They were dropped off at a Radisson hotel without incident. At 12:40am, Dalton was arrested in downtown Kalamazoo. The police found a semi-auto gun in the car.
Dalton’s friends and neighbors are in shock. They affirm Dalton as a nice guy and family man, who didn’t see any of this coming. Neither did Uber. Dalton passed Uber background checks with flying colors. But there has been concerns of Uber’s background policy being too relaxed. I’m sure that issue will come up in the wake of this tragedy. Uber is cooperating with the investigation and offers condolences to the families affected by these devastating shootings. Is that going to be enough? Should it be enough? Does Uber need to do more to keep customers safe?
For those that have followed this blog, you know I’m a huge advocate for free speech and First Amendment rights. One reason I’m so passionate about this is because in other countries, blogging can likely get you in prison.
In Stavropool, Russia, a nurse turned blogger named Viktor Krasnov?wrote a scathing pro-atheist article. In the US, it would cause controversy at worse. In Russia, he debated online with a fellow blogger. The opposing blogger filed a criminal complaint and had Krasnov arrested, claiming that, “…he offended the sentiments of Orthodox believers.” They even made him undergo a psychiatric evaluation at a mental hospital, then put him on trial. After months in the facility, he’s declared sane. Krasnov’s trial is still pending. If convicted, Krasnov could spend a year in prison. And from what I hear, Russian prisons are no joke! According to Russian prosecutors, Krasnov violated “hooliganism” laws, which is defied as a “…gross violation of public order, clearly expressing contempt for society.” Even in Scotland, British police arrested someone for criticizing their government’s stance of accepting Syrian refugees. Police cited, ‘offensive Facebook comments’. Don’t even get me started on nations like Saudi Arabia.
You thought getting fired for Facebook posts and blogs was tough? The fact that assaults?on freedom of speech is happening in Great Britain is scary. And what happened to Russia? I thought the communist era ended a quarter century ago. This isn’t the first time the Russian government has done such a thing. This goes way beyond being careful of what you post and what you put on the Internet. These incidents are blatant attacks on freedoms we in the USA have taken for granted for so long. This is why I’ve been so worried over the last several years over NSA revelations?and tighter surveillance. We have to take a stand for our Constitutional rights before all end up like Viktor Krasnov. Can this kind of censorship happened to the United States of America?
Facebook is in a dilemma. People aren’t sharing enough to their liking. During a live demonstration, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg demonstrated changes to their live streaming app.
There’s the revamped interface for Facebook posting. In the demonstration a ‘What’s in your mind’ box. This box is always open for posts. When the post is finished, you’re given the option of writing a note, putting up a photo, or making a video. This design isn’t available to the public…not yet. Facebook headquarters have been working on it for the last couple of months. It’s meant to be a more fun way to share. This new app includes posting options, like sharing music and slideshows. This app would have a GIF button. I read an article that said, “Facebook doesn’t think we’re sharing enough.” I thought to myself, “No, people share on Facebook all the time.” Then I read some numbers. Facebook overall sharing has fallen over five percent in a one-year period. Sharing of thoughts and pictures declined over 20% between the summer of 2014 and summer 2015. Zuckerberg warned not all features will be made public. He says much of this will take time.
That shouldn’t alarm anyone. That’s how typical Facebook does things. They keep testing and re-testing to a smaller audience. They wait to see how accurate and effective it is. If it’s good enough, they’ll advertise it to ?larger market. So it could take months before we see this feature. What surprised me was Facebook was losing that much sharing. But it shouldn’t. Facebook is facing a lot of competition now. We can share with Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, Periscope, and other options. Facebook isn’t the other candy store in town. Competition is forcing them to get better in sharing. This is what free market and capitalism is all about. It’s competition that makes you do better. We don’t know when this new Facebook app will be made public. Do you have any guesses?
So you dream of making it to Silicon Valley? Who says you have to be tech savvy? If you’re a good creative writer, then Silicon Valley needs your services.
Let me explain. Poets, fiction writers, novelists and comedians are being hired to work on artificial intelligence. Tech heavyweights Amazon, Apple and Microsoft call on the artistic and humorous types to help engineer artificial intelligence personalities. They’re being asked to help virtual assistants perform every day tasks, like reading emails. As far as virtual assistants are concerned, Siri isn’t the only candy store in town. These storytellers will breath life and life stories for their bots. At a time when many in Silicon Valley struggle, virtual assistant start-ups raked in $35 millions worth of investments over the past year. We can partially thank new apps like Facebook Messenger and WeChat for this virtual assistant movement. And this kind of technology is becoming less of a recreation and more of a necessity. By 2019, 1/3 of the American workforce will have to such technologies in this capacity. By the mid 2020s, 12.7 million Americans will be building robots and automotive virtual assistants. Microsoft’s Cortana has six people working on her. They include a playwright and a former TV script writer.
That’s just one example. We’re coming to the point where VR is no longer about games or fantasy. Whether we like it or not, VR already is or will be a part of every day life. These are dignified and professional people, but they still need to be careful. The last thing we need are more Tay episodes, where VR personalities spit venomous and hurtful filth. I think we should be awfully careful not to make these virtual assistants too human. I’ve read some creepy stories of people wanting to marry robots. These stories remind us that if technology is abused, it can cause serious social discord and isolation, to the point where we don’t even want to deal with each other. On the flip side, can the virtual assistant boom help Silicon Valley out of it’s decline?
