The power and danger of geo-location

"Historically, privacy was almost implicit, because it was hard to find and gather information. But in the digital world, whether it's digital cameras or satellites or just what you click on, we need to have more explicit rules - not just for governments but for private companies." This quote by Bill Gates emphasizes the importance given to privacy for both human beings and companies.
Geo-location is the process of finding, determining and providing the exact location of a computer, networking device or equipment. it enables device location based on geographical coordinates and measurements. With the consistent improving of technologies, geo-location is getting more useful and precise at the same time. You would thing that it is a good thing- well not not for everybody...



While geo-location potential and assets are numerous. Connected devices (smartphones, internet...) use geo-location. By requesting location information, the organizations in charge of those devices are able to send handful information to the customer. For instance this tool helps a smartphone user to know about the local weather, getting update on the local area traffic etc.
As we can imagine, geo-location has become an important focus for the mobile marketers. indeed, “Employing location-based marketing carries some additional costs, which is ultimately due to paying for specialist technology and skills,” says Scott Curtis, European mobile strategy and development director at Starcom Mediavest Group. When employed effectively, geo-location is a great tool, it allows particular audiences to be targeted on a large scale. “But it’s best used when overlaid with other attributes such as time of day,” explains Tom Twigg, head of strategy at M&C Saatchi Mobile. Furthermore with the sophisticated software available, geo-location  to find the position of your phone if you lost it. It's impact seems unlimited, and that's why it is also dangerous. 

Like stated earlier, geo-location has plenty of strengths, but those assets can also be seen as to intrusive. Its use can be really problematic if not used for the good purpose. Geo-location could become the "Big Brother" of our advanced society. Everybody remembers the famous George Orwell novel's nineteen eighty-four. In this novel the name big brother is used as a symbolic figurehead of a totalitarian state wherein the ruling party  ahd total power over the inhabitants. It is maybe exaggerated to describe geo-location as that dangerous. But in the fact, anything (good or bad) can be done with that technology.In the society that Orwell describes in his book, every citizen is under constant surveillance by the authorities, mainly by telescreens. The people are constantly reminded of this by the slogan "Big Brother is watching you": a maxim which is ubiquitously on display. but theoretically the fact that we are using smartphones and have them close wherever we go can be considered as an obstacle of our privacy.
 "Big Brother is watching you"- that slogan gave goosebumps to all the readers- but now, geo-location is also watching us, and it could be a good or bad thing...

Personalized medicine: tailored treatments

Personalized medicine

No two forms of cancer are the same – and not only because the disease can affect different organs. There are also different forms of liver cancer. Certain characteristics can vary from patient to patient. Researchers are developing medical tests for uncovering these differences. Blood and tissue samples are examined and genetic information collected in order to determine specific characteristics of the cancer. On the basis of this information it is then possible to treat patients with a specific drug that perfectly 'matches' the individual disease. This form of targeted treatment based on a previous diagnosis is called personalized medicine.

Bayer is engaged in the field of personalized medicine with the aim of developing targeted treatment options for patients.

https://pharma.bayer.com/en/research-and-development/research-focus/oncology/personalized-medicine/index.php

Stop Trying to Replace What Exists...Create Something New

Are smart watches the only thing that tech companies care about when in comes to wearable technology? Are they exploring other avenues or focusing all their energy and money in an already over saturated market?

With so many companies vying for the best smart watch in the industry, consumers are being overwhelmed and bombarded with options. I think its time for these companies to put the smart watches down and venture and explore other areas of wearable and even printable technology that the average consumer would find value in.

Some companies are taking heed and spending their research and development dollars in a more viable market. IDTechEx will be hosting an annual event on the the topic of printed electronics in San Jose, California this month. At the event their be companies such as Qualcomm who will be showing of their "printed electronics label that will gather data from a golf club to deliver feedback on a player’s game to his smartphone." Another company, Blue Spark Technologies, will showcase a "child’s bandage that can deliver temperature information to a parent’s handset." While "another company will show a vest that uses printed electronics to send information about a baby’s respiration and sleep." All these companies and the many more that will be at the event are exploring new ways to use printed and wearable electronics. These new innovations will bring more value to a consumers life than adding another smart phone to the already overly saturated smart watch industry.

Rest Devices' MIMO uses printed electronics to monitor sleep and respiration.

What do you think about wearable or printed electronics? Do you think that companies should continue to vie for market share of the smart watch industry or should they should focus their research and development dollars else were? Do you have any areas that you think companies should make either a wearable or printable technology for?

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Big Data Analytics

Business's are always looking for an advantage over the competition.  Advantages such as marketing strategies, reinventing their products, or faster distribution for products.  All of these advantage are good to have, but there is one they should look into.  That advantage is ,big data analytics.  Big data analytics is a process that collects, organizes, and analyzes large sets of data, to discover patterns and other useful information.  The information discovered from big data analytics, can and will gives business's a advantage.

            Big data analytics can and is being used in different fields.  For example hospitals are using them to better help patients.  Doctors are able to take a patients entire medical history and input the data, so they can see if the patient has any reoccurring medical issues come up.  There has also been great advancements in data analytics, to where it can decode human DNA in minutes.  With this advancement, doctors will be able to better predict any complications at patient could potentially have, and prevent them from happening.

            A business would also benefit from using big data analytics as well.  With big data analytics business's can boost sales, increase efficiency, and improve operations.  Just like hospitals, business's will be able to see patterns as well.  For example a product may not be doing well and there is no obvious reason why.  Big data analytics can show what is going on with the product.  Sometimes we are not able to catch things when they are spread apart, but when they are grouped together they can easily be seen and recognized.

            I believe that big data analytics will become used by everyone in the near future.  There is so much for this technology to offer.  With a technology like this that can collect, organize, and process data, it makes it so much easier for companies, business's, and hospitals to look at information.  With data analytics is processes this information faster then we could, which will allow anyone who uses it faster results.  To conclude I want to leave this question.  Do you think that big data analytics will become a must have for business's and hospitals?

Big Data Analytics
Big Data Analytics (what it is and why it matters)

Advanced Robotics

In this video is a great example of self balancing technology in one of Boston Dynamics prototypes.
They have this robot and several others modeled after the movement of a few different types of animals. To give you an idea of the athleticism of some of these bots, their fastest prototype can run up to 28 mph. Which is very impressive given how relatively new the construction of this technology is. In the next couple years you can expect a lot of new designs in this field of engineering with the speed of growing technology contributing to this ever evolving industry.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/M8YjvHYbZ9w" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


Could you imagine riding one?!

Wearable Technology…Is It Taking Over?

 How do you feel about the craze for wearable technology? Do you love it or do you hate it? Do you want one of everything or do you want nothing to do with this new fad?

Photo: Shutterstock

Wearable technology has created a buzz in both the technology and fashion world and has been deemed as a game changer. It has become an every day part of many peoples lives, something they would not leave the house without. As technology is advancing the things that wearables can do is also expanding: things such as keep us fit, enhance how we spend our time, and make us aware about our happenings and the happenings of the world around us.

5 Categories of Wearables:

1.     Fitness

2.     Medical

3.     Lifestyle

4.     Gaming

5.     Infotainment

As the world of wearables is increasing and more and more of the public are engaging in and wearing technology, marketers are starting to take notice. They see wearable technology as a new way to learn more about their markets life style, habits, and interests. This gives them the ability to more closely personalize advertisements on Google Glass or to create offline touch points that meet the customers needs and wants. Health and fitness apps will be able to suggest paid solutions to wears of their wristbands health and fitness needs, all because they have been able to track and study the consumers behavior patterns. Brands will be able to have modified advice, offers, and services to their customers based on their lifestyle and goals. We already see this with the healthcare industry. Some insurance companies will give you a discount based on if you can reach a certain amount of steps per day on your Fit Bit, a smart wristband that monitors your activity. Many other industries are taking the steps to monitor and use the information that these wearable technology devices can gather, without the wear even knowing they are being monitored.

How do you feel about marketers monitoring you through wearable technology? Do you think you would be ok with them monitoring you if it meant they were better able to fit your needs and wants?

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Augmented Reality: Dead or Alive?

Augmented Reality seems like a concept that could change the way we live our day to day lives, doesn’t it? The concept of being able to put texts, pictures, and other objects normally found only online into the real world seems to have a plethora of potential uses and, more importantly, the potential to bring great profit to the companies that can take advantage while the technology is still in its developing infancy. However, Howard Ogden of TechCrunch takes the stance that this period of growth has already come and is now on its way out, with the concept of Augmented Reality passing the average person by.

                                               Photo by Business Week

                Augmented Reality saw its biggest growth to date back at the end of the first decade of the 21st Century, with companies such as Wikitude, Layar, and Junaio coming into being circa 2009. These companies act as the sort of Google or Bing of the Augmented Reality world, allowing users to search for the media that they want transposed onto the real world. However, the problems with Augmented Reality came about in the beginning of this decade, around 2011, when these companies felt as though the greatest profit margin would be not with the individual user, but with large corporations. They pigeonholed themselves into a market of providing a marketing and printing service to these large companies, and completely overlooked the burgeoning market for Augmented Reality accessible to the common man.

                Another issue that the Augmented Reality companies that currently exist face is that they are all remarkably similar in layout and use, as well as from a technical abilities standpoint. Ogden holds that this can work in a large, public market such as the one that companies like Google, Bing, and Yahoo survive in, but in a small market such as the one that these companies are currently in, every company has to fight just to keep itself afloat.

                In an attempt to fend off the expected decrease in profitability, the companies that are currently in the industry are attempting to sell their service to companies in increasingly less industrialized countries, mostly third world nations. The hope here is that the companies can continue to seem up to date and sell their service at a profit without needing to invest in the technology any further, but in the long run this will prove to be only a stall tactic, as eventually even in third world countries the Augmented Reality services will become but commodities amongst large corporations. Currently, almost no companies are looking to bring the Augmented Reality technologies being employed at this level to a more personal system.

                So the question we are left with is this: does Augmented Reality have one foot in the grave, or is it a technology that has yet to ripen?