23andme

23andme.com is a wonderful resource that allows individuals to explore more than any family tree could tell them. Not only does it help build a family tree based on genetics, but it gives the user power over their own health. Since knowledge is power, it allows you to partake in preventative medicine. 

However, this service proves to have some flaws that could be potentially hurting their business. One main flaw is a lack of good customer support. Many customers complained on other websites such as Amazon, saying to "NEVER use this site" because of the lack of communication between the buyer and the seller. Also this website seems to have less genealogy information than another website like ancestry.com. Another huge flaw is that it has given customers inaccurate data about the readings of their DNA in several instances. This can be terrible for someone who believes their family heritage may be from a whole different continent than where he/she is really from. Many customers reviews spoke for themselves saying that this technology may not be worth it. 

Rosen would not like this technology because you are treating for a disease that you may never have, since 23andme only provides percentages.

Here DARPA goes again...

I just came across this article on Gizmag and I thought I would share it with y'all given the presentation Griffin and I gave on Argus-is earlier in the semester. As you can read in the article, DARPA is currently working on a navigation chip that defeats the limitations of a traditional GPS. We had an interesting debate about the pros and cons of Argus and I'm just curious to know your opinion on this technology. What are the implications? In my opinion, the article presents this chip in a positive light, but do you think it could be used negatively?

http://www.gizmag.com/darpa-timu-gps/27039/

Yoga Balls

So I investigated the Pros and Cons of using Yoga Balls in a classroom setting. From my perspective, the pros outweigh the cons. The use of yoga balls exercises the core muscles, which with repeated use can improve posture. With the core engaged, the body's blood flow increases and allows more oxygen to get to the brain, increasing alertness and concentration. Research also suggests that the younger generation work better when multitasking, so the yoga ball may help in this way as well. Another detail is the cost effectiveness of yoga balls. A yoga ball costs a quarter of what a typical school chair would. 

Some fear that introducing yoga balls will be a distraction to the students, because of mischievous children bouncy and rolling the balls while they should be learning. It has the possibility of a lot of sounds and distractions, as well as possible injuries that may be caused by misuse. Another problem that is encountered in schools is the wastefulness. Why should chairs be replaced by yoga balls if the chairs are still usable?

Rosen would encourage the use of yoga balls as a technology because it is a physical technology instead of a virtual technology like computers or the internet. Also since it is so simple but useful, it would lessen any technology anxiety or OCD someone might have. 

http://prezi.com/oaomcwwffplo/untitled-prezi/?kw=view-oaomcwwffplo&rc=ref-29436495

Follow Up: "Why Brain Games are Bogus"

Since we discussed Lumosity at length in class I thought you might be interested in this article from the New Yorker magazine, "Brain Games are Bogus." I've included a teaser below, but be sure to follow the link for an in-depth discussion of the science.

It seemed like a breakthrough, offering new approaches to education and help for people with A.D.H.D., traumatic brain injuries, and other ailments. In the years since, other, similar experiments yielded positive results, and Klingberg helped found a company, Cogmed, to commercialize the software globally. (Pearson, the British publishing juggernaut, purchased it in 2010.) Brain training has become a multi-million-dollar business, with companies like Lumosity, Jungle Memory, and CogniFit offering their own versions of neuroscience-you-can-use, and providing ambitious parents with new assignments for overworked but otherwise healthy children. The brain-training concept has made Klingberg a star, and he now enjoys a seat on an assembly that helps select the winners of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The field has become a staple of popular writing. Last year, the New York Times Magazine published a glowing profile of the young guns of brain training called “CAN YOU MAKE YOURSELF SMARTER?”

The answer, however, now appears to be a pretty firm no—at least, not through brain training. A pair of scientists in Europe recently gathered all of the best research—twenty-three investigations of memory training by teams around the world—and employed a standard statistical technique (called meta-analysis) to settle this controversial issue. The conclusion: the games may yield improvements in the narrow task being trained, but this does not transfer to broader skills like the ability to read or do arithmetic, or to other measures of intelligence. Playing the games makes you better at the games, in other words, but not at anything anyone might care about in real life.

Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock

While searching the internet tonight on some of my favorite health and nutrition blogs, I came across an article called 7 Tech Tools for Better Primal Living. I found the Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock to be the most interesting and useful tools on this list. After further research I found this iPhone app can actually monitor and analyze someone's sleeping patterns and wake the sleeper up in his/her lightest phase of sleep. It wakes the sleeper up with a low soothing noise and will increase the volume slowly until the sleeper awakes. The website Lifehacker took a vote on the best alarm app currently on the market, and this App won with a 50% vote. At a price of $0.99, this app seems worth it for such a practical technology.

Smell-O-Vision

     Recently, both Gizmodo and The Verge posted about the possibility of being able to incorporate smells into TVs to enhance the viewing experience to include more senses.  (No, the post was not on April Fools Day, or following Google's "Google Nose" April Fools joke) Here is link to a fairly thorough description of how it works: http://www.theverge.com/2013/3/31/4166884/japanese-smelling-screen-might-be-the-next-big-thing-in-advertising

     In short, scents are bound up in pre-made gels which are heated at the proper time.  Then, four fans along the sides of the TV blow air carrying the scent, towards each other, parallel with the screen.  Based on fan speeds, the air currents from each side of the TV hit at a controllable location and begin to disperse.  Supposedly, controlling where the currents hit can give the illusion that the smell is coming from a particular part of the screen.  It seems though, that scent cartridges would have to be bought and replaced.

     Can anyone see this becoming big someday?  Do you find the implications of it for advertising pleasing or scary?

     Personally I think it would be well suited to a movie theater experience, and maybe for homes too if it's not expensive.  Already, foods get "advertised" by their natural scents that waft around where they are made.  I know I really want Subway every time I pass by Foster hall and smell the fresh bread.  I am worried though that if it were to become popular that it would increase the bombardment of advertisers, both in the home and in public places.  Successively run commercials could both release their own scents which would mix in the room and have unintended results.  If this technology were to get underway, I think it would be best used in a movie theater experience.  This way, consumers wouldn't have to worry about getting more hardware or being bombarded in their own homes.  The movie producers could create a well-tested, controlled, and continuous experience that could make a movie more interesting.

Last week, Alexis and I presented on GroupMe--the group messaging system that relies on its ease of use. The GroupMe application allows for mass communication without any of the uncertainties of texting and the immediate feedback of the Internet.

GroupMe has the ability to encourage communication although it lacks the face-to-face interaction that Turkle says is necessary for actual community. I believe GroupMe does--more than anything else--encourages organization. The organization that GroupMe provides for the ever-busy college student or businessman is irreplaceable by any other group messaging system. GroupMe allows one compartmentalize each conversation and duties accompanied with that group.