Moment lenses for iPhone: a Little review to get acquainted

Image courtesy of  Warren R.M. Stuart at Flickr.com

Technology right now is amazing everybody everywhere at all times. Every day we see a new advance and a new breakthrough that amazes us in every way possible. For example, mobile phones and their applications. We see new things come out every day and new apps that help people get entertained or organize their lives or even start a new business. 

Well, there are some other devices out there that can be considered as accessories for the iPhones that are also getting very trendy. One of those accessories is the lens that can be attached to the iPhone and used as a regular camera.

These accessories make the camera on your iPhone have all the variations that any other camera has when you apply the lenses. These accessories appeared in the market due to the demand form users to have more option to pictures when they were in trips and vacations. Also, professional photographers wanted more options to the camera that already had amazing applications for their back up pictures.

Two of those lenses are the Moment Wide Lens and Tele Lens that offer the users something a little different, something especially practical: unlike other iPhone camera lenses that sit on top of your phone, Moment’s lenses attach to your iPhone’s lens using a special plate which is specially good for travelers and people that want to have variety on the go for their iPhone pictures. This feature is a thin, strong piece of metal that adheres to the back of your phone like a sticker and has a screw that works just like the lens screw that you can find in DSLR camera and that allows you to screw on different lenses. The brand Moment went live in Kickstarter to look for funding for this pair of lenses in 2014. Yes, the lenses help the users take better pictures, but the mounting system is the state of the art that attracts so many buyers.

This system sticks to the phone and has the hole that will receive the lenses. Installing the Moment lenses’ adhesive plate is not a big deal and does not require a great amount of time. This plate-based installation system is an amazing advantage for techies that love to have the latest iPhone model because they can use the same lenses in their new IPhones without buying new lenses, but by buying a new mount for 10 dollars and installing it in their new phones

It is not all peaches and cream because you have to semi-permanently attach the mounting plate to your iPhone. You really have to be committed to having lenses and to using your phone as a camera more often than regular people. If you decide later on that you really don’t want the mount any more on your phone, you will have to heat the mount system up using a hair dryer in order to get it off your device. Also, special occasions are a key thing. Neither lens is very big as compared with other lenses but they are bulky and not comfortable to have around all day. So you have to choose the moment to put them on. Attaching the lenses isn’t exactly a quick process, either. When you see something you want to snap a shot of, you have to reach into your bag, pull out the pouch, take out the lens, and then line the lens up just right so that it locks into place. 

Image courtesy of  Warren R.M. Stuart at Flickr.com

When you use the lenses the difference in the photos is amazing. For example, the telephoto lens allows you to capture close up pictures of things that are very far that you could never get with your regular iPhone camera. There was a very happy user that took a close-up photo of Alcatraz from a dock where she could barely make it out with her eyes, and she could actually see it in the picture. When using the telephoto lens along with the iPhone’s built-in zoom she was able to get close enough to read previously unreadable signs and get a good look at people who were once just small figures in the frame.

On the other hand, with the wide angle lens users can take pictures that cover crowds and that include as many things possible into the frame at very closes distances. For example, you can take pictures of buildings when you are standing in front of them or across the street. There’s a bit of frames on the corners of the images, but nothing that couldn’t be easily removed in a photo editor or with a little cropping.

Take a look at this amazing article to understand more about gadgets for smartphones and how they are changing the way we use mobile technology.

How The Evolution of Sensors On Smartphones Makes Life Easier

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Smartphones have truly evolved the way we interact with technological devices. To the point that we no longer have to press buttons, but instead they can interact by simply looking into the camera. At the same time, we sometimes touch the screen or parts of the device but technology has allowed this contact solely to identify users based on fingerprints. Sensors on phones has also promoted the use of cellphones in many everyday activities like doing exercise, traveling journals, or even to keep track of the temperature. All or at least some of these are common on most smartphones nowadays and the way they seamlessly make our lives a bit easier is amazing. Phones have come a long from advances in 4G networks, which you can read more about on the Don Burns Blogspot, to high camera definition. Sensors have evolved along with smartphones and that’s why today we can enjoy easy to use and practical tools for our everyday life. 

Today’s smartphones have a variety of sensors that expand the applications we give to smartphones themselves, ranging from the user interface to environmental ones. The user interface has the very recognized touchscreen and gesture recognition that allows us to zoom in and out. The display, with its sensors, can identify ambient light, proximity and RGB or color balance. In terms of health and fitness, smartphones now have sensors that can measure your heart rate and its variability. Motion tracking is a popular feature on smartphones allowing people to use services like GPS, accelerometer, gyroscope, and magnetometer. The camera also has sensors allowing it to capture HD images, Laser auto focus and automatic RGB lighting adjustments. Cell phones can also measure the environment keeping track of humidity, air quality, and UV lighting. The newer models are almost all coming with integrated biometric features like fingerprint and a new one the iris scan. Many people are now carrying around only their cell phone instead of their wallet with different advances in payment methods with NFC and magnetic features. Finally, the audio also has special sensors that allow the active noise cancellation and the microphone, which of course we are all familiar with.

Display sensor’s evolution

Ambient light sensors (ALS) measures light to determine how the human eye reacts to the light that is visible in a 390-700 nm wavelength range. Since this piece of equipment is able to sense light similar to the way the human eye does, it is critical for the cell phone to have an accurate light measurement. So these are the sensors that are used to adjust the brightness of your screen, they determined power saving modes and improved the overall experience of the users. From here touchscreens brought new challenges that these sensors needed to help with. Since when a call is placed the screen has to be disabled, now it was necessary to include IR proximity features. This would be the most cost effective and reliable solution and the growth of the smartphones proved that these solutions truly optimized them in a big way. From here on, more needs emerged like the necessity of recognizing RGB lights and its different varieties to make for more realistic and vibrant images. The sensors that allow all of this have evolved from photodiodes and phototransistors all the way to future solutions like aperture reduction, biosensors and advanced color sensors. The evolution of the light sensors has truly brought to life the interaction of smartphones with any environmental lighting.

Biometrics made phones safer

Image courtesy of Vernon Chan at Flickr.com

The constant need for upping the security on our smartphones, which now carry more and more information about ourselves and our families, gave way to biometric tech and this integration seems to have been a match made in heaven. In its evolution, it has not been without inconveniences. It mainly faced two big obstacles: seeing biometrics as an isolated piece of technology and the habit of not recognizing identity and security as a vital part of the future in technology. The Internet of Things, IoT, is yet another application that could bring together all of our information and personal data. As integrations of biometrics become more common there will be a need to make security and identity a priority. This helps us move beyond the traditional password security measures and helps us turn our smartphones into a larger part of our lives, generating more confidence for financial transactions, promoting healthy lifestyles, and at the end of the day access to our data in an easy way.

What will the future bring?

The future will only continue to bring more integrations of sensors that will allow smartphones to offer more features that make their users become more dependent on them due to their ease and security. The expansion of ultra-wideband radio, WiFi and Bluetooth into a slow transition towards 3D radio imaging. This will easily allow people location, even inside a building, along with information like what’s actually going on inside around the person.

Find Out What Happens When the Telecommunications Industry Discovers 3D Printing

Image courtesy of  Malene Erkmann  at Flickr.com

3D printing, or additive manufacturing (AM), has gotten a lot more attention lately, but not from the consumer market. Manufacturing companies are starting to see what kind of applications this new material could have, and of course the low costs, easier manufacturing processes and time efficiency it could bring. A 3D printer can basically print anything that can be made as a 3D digital model, and is being seen like the successor of the production line assembly. Many industries are catching on fast and finding the benefits of using this tech, including the telecommunications industry.

What are 3D printers all about?

The origins of 3D printing can be traced back to the 1980s where many contributions were made including STereoLithography (STL), which is used mainly to create models, patterns, prototypes and productions parts by printing layer by layer using photopolymerization. This process links material with light causing chains of molecules to link together and form polymers. In this time, STL also became the widely recognized file format for 3D printing, which is native to CAD software. 3D printing basically requires three principles: modeling, printing and finishing, and uses a series of processes that give it different end results. In terms of the printers themselves, you’ll also find some variety from industry use printers to consumer ones, and large 3D printers to microscale and nanoscales ones. The applications that it has been used for is where it has grown the most in the last couple of years. This includes manufacturing applications with cloud-based AM, mass customization, rapid manufacturing, research, food and medical applications. In industrial applications you can find products like apparel, vehicles, construction, firearms, medical equipment, computers and robots and space. It has also been included in some sociocultural applications like art, communication, domestic uses, education and research, environmental use, specialty materials and cultural heritage restoration. The objects made from 3D printers are slowly changing the world in more ways than one.

How is 3D printing changing telecommunications?

Fiber Optics

Today’s world would be nothing without fiber optics. It allows us to have internet data, telephone communication and even UAV and military uses by bundling cables across the ocean floors. The role of fiber optics in our world is definitely a huge deal and while traditional fiber optics have been around for decades, there are new technologies that are leading the pack. Making fiber optics can prove to be very expensive to make due to its complexity, but now with 3D printing that might all change. Although 4G is gaining a lot of strength, fiber optics still continues to be the way we communicate from our homes and office. On the Don Burns Blogspot, you can take a look at the future of 4G networks, but for now this new technology of 3D printing is a look into the future. One of the types of new fiber optics that would allow 3D printers to improve on manufacturing times and costs is called Photonic bandgap fiber, which seems to have many benefits overs the traditional fiber. 3D printing will not only open the door to printing these new fiber cables, but also ones that were unimaginable before 3D printing tech came along.

Cell phones

Image courtesy of Creative Tools at Flickr.com

Besides the fiber optics cables, there are now ways to even print yourself a cell phone, the case as well as other accessories. For example, a German telecom agency has now launched a 3D printing website that allows their clients to print their own customized cell phone cases. Similarly, there are sites that allow users to create their own open source cell phone or smart watches. They are printed out layer by layer, with the exception of the circuit board, and can be personalized with its own shell and and skin. 

Other uses

In general, you can use 3D printing to supply materials, software, services and devices in the telecommunications industry in a way that more and more companies are looking to AM to manufacture new technology.

How easy is it to print in 3D?

Nowadays, it has gotten easier to print in 3D than it was before, especially with products like OLO, that even let you print from your phone. By using pre-designed files, or using software to design to your own 3D models, you can make your own products easily. You can also get your company an industrial printer which can get the job done when you need to print a lot of prototypes, products or parts for specific industries. Depending on the type of industrial printer you decide to get the prices can range from less than $49,999 to greater than $1,000,000. It is important to research extensively because today there are many options and it will depend on what you interested in printing. Most industries will find some use for 3D printing and telecommunications is not the exception. Now, it’s just a matter of time while more products start reaching consumers that are made with 3D printers, offering easily customizable products at cheaper prices.

Millennials and telecommunications: a love meant to last

The term Millennial is used to describe the generation of people who turned to adulthood in the 21st century. The term was first coined by Neil Howe and William Strauss, authors of the 1991 book Generations: The History of America's Future. Millennials grew up in a world filled with technology and socially-networked. They are the generation that has received the most marketing attention in human history. They tend to be tolerant to difference since they are the most ethnically diverse generation. They were raised by the “follow your dreams” ideal, for this they tend to be confident and a little more optimistic about the future of America than other generations.

In terms of Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT), Don Burns knows Millennials are likely to be the first pro-PC users. Even when they compose the smartphone generation, they are still the age group who is more prone to use computers, especially a laptop, to communicate. Statistics show that 85% of Millennials living in developed countries have access to a portable personal computer (laptop). Compared to the access they have to smartphones, this statistic is simply a little bit lower.

Image courtesy of Rachel at Flickr.com

Millennials tend to have all the smart devices since they see each one of them as a complement and not a substitute for each function. Therefore, they have smartphones, laptops, and PCs, and they use them as tools to communicate and work. This general picture is possible because technology prices are lower today compared to what they used to be a decade ago, also because they were raised in a fast-paced world characterized by affordable high-tech devices.

Most people who belong to this generation usually prefer to type on their computers or hold a smartphone on their hands to share a couple words with their loved ones. Surprisingly, they are more prone to use a laptop than a phablet or tablet, simply because the keyboards and trackpads on laptops are easier to manipulate.

How do Millennials communicate?

Millennials move fast with all the new telecommunication trends and advances. As the smartphone generation, they prefer to use apps to do and find out about everything, especially if those apps are graphically appealing. A recent study in the US shows that young adults spend at least 30% of their daily time using their mobile phones to both communicate and chill. Apps such as Instagram have become the Millennials Holy Grail in terms of sharing graphic content.

In terms of using a computer, Millennials in the US spend at least 25% less time than adults from older generations do using the Internet or watching video on a PC, in addition to email, games, and work/study applications. This means they want to make the most of their time when it comes to using technology, accomplishing multiple tasks per day. They want communications to be effective and in real-time.

The usage of mobile phones compared to laptops is considerably higher for Millennials. In general, this generation spends 20 hours more per month on their mobiles than they do on their laptops.

What about the old-fashioned telecom means?

If we think about TV usage, Millennials don’t spend more than 3 hours in front of the TV, and usually, they don’t use it to watch their favorite show. Most times they plug their game consoles and use internet connection to download games, watch movies, read the news, watch Youtube videos or even send emails. In this sense, the way Millennials interact with their TV has also changed since most TVs nowadays are also smart and allow people to share mass media content with them.

Furthermore, old generations tend to spend 33% more time reading a printed newspaper or magazine, or listening to the radio than Millennials do. This new generation reads digital contents and listens to online broadcasts on their mobile phones. This trend has taken over newspapers, magazines and radio, showing that the way information is produced hasn’t changed, but what has indeed changed is the way this new generation consumes it.

Why is the love between Millennials and Telecom meant to last?

Image courtesy of Nicolas Nova at Flickr.com

Even though there was a shift in the way this young generation uses and oversees telecommunications, the need of using them is still very powerful. This can be seen in the importance Millennials give to being connected to the outer world. They always want to be the first ones to post it, they don’t want to work inside an office but at a coffee shop from where they can email their workplace, they simply want to move fast with technology and use it in the best way they can to communicate their ideas and emotions.

Telecommunications are advancing according to its consumer’s needs. If companies kept all this information in mind, they would know that best way for them to grant their permanence in the market is by creating strategies meant to reach this new type of consumer that has always its smartphone, tablet or laptop in hand and in front of its eyes.

10 Most Popular Uses For The Internet Of Things

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Wikipedia defines the internet of things (IoT) as “the network of physical devices, vehicles, buildings and other items—embedded with electronics, software, sensors, and network connectivity that enables these objects to collect and exchange data.” But what does that really mean? How does it affect me? 

Think about it this way; anything that can be connected will be connected in the near future. It means devices that have an on and off switch will be able to communicate with each other and be controlled and monitored from anywhere in the world as long as they are part of the network. This type of advances will greatly change the way we live and interact with other in social, financial and personal aspects.

Here we have, some of the most popular uses we are seeing today, for the Internet of Things.

1. At home

Smart homes are some of the most common examples of innovative technology using the IoT today. Houses that are connected, allow users to control everything from how the access the home, temperature, lighting, entertainment and home appliances. Systems can be as simple or as complex as users want, and there are a lot of big companies out there making sure they can offer users the latest gadgets to fit their smart home set up.

2. Wearable technologies

Smartwatches and fitness trackers are just a couple example of this category. There are also wearables for pets that allow owners to track their activity, sleep cycles an overall health with the help of monitors the animal can wear easily. Clothing off course is another obvious choice for developers of wearable devices made for athletes and fitness enthusiasts. These garments can measure muscle activity, vital signs and GPS location among other things.

3. City Management

Smart cities in the future will use technologies like the Smart Belly, a device that communicates with municipal services to let them know that a certain trash can needs to be emptied. There are also apps that can communicate to drivers the number of parking spots available in different city blocks with the use of infrared sensors located next to the curb or in parking garages connected to the system. Other uses that are already available include lighting regulators to use energy more efficiently as well as monitoring stations for pollution and noise levels.

4. Security

Close circuit security systems that can be accesses from your mobile phone as well as better alarm systems installed at homes that can be connected to emergency services. Another aspect of security that is of great importance is the need for better encryption in communication protocols due to being in an environment of enhanced connectivity.

5. Analytics

Understanding customer needs and processing feedback and suggestions will always be of great relevance in the future of telecommunications. The IoT allows delivering services, improving products, identifying and intercepting business moments.

6. Health

Health in general is another area greatly benefited. This can go from preventive medicine as it is in the case of sensors that track your health, all the way to emergency services and devices. It is worth also mentioning monitors for babies and for elderly members of the family that can help you be vigilant of their health as well as of possible hazards.

7. Retail Applications

Retail solutions can help to make the customer experience a lot better, as well as aiding with restock, reorder, tracking and product information. There are apps that also help human resources monitor staff activities and creates an internal network of instant communication between different areas of the business.

8. Farming

Image courtesy of joinash at Flickr.com

These applications can be used to track the health of livestock as well as help farmers monitor crucial vitals like humidity, air temperature and soil quality using remote sensors on their crops. Individual monitoring of plants and animals can help the industry be more productive and to minimize losses due to disease and detrimental conditions suffered due to different conditions.

9. Maintenance and repair

Moving components, vehicles and machinery in general need constant monitoring and inspection of parts and maintenance. Most of this is done manually and takes a lot of manpower. Making these processes automatic ensures that resources are used more effectively and only when needed, ensuring the safety of operators and reducing costs in a responsible way.

10. Advanced warning for disasters

The University of Loughborough’s has developed an Acoustic Landslide Detection system called ALARMS (Assessment of Landslides using Acoustic Real-time Monitoring Systems). It detects waves produced by soil movement and it relays information that can be used to issue early warnings to communities that could possibly be affected by natural disasters like earthquakes for example.

For more information in home networks and its advancement, check out this article at Don Burns Blogspot.

Internet of things: controversial changes for the future of the world

Image courtesy of Marcus Brown at Flickr.com

The next major trend that will impact telecommunications is the boom of connected devices. This internet of things, or “Thingification”, will add billions if not trillions of new connected data sources globally by 2020. Objects throughout our lives will become connected, aware and chatty, constantly transmitting information across our global networks. The upswing of all of these devices will be an astronomical growth in data volumes; we will quickly push through Exabyte volumes and enter the world of Zettabytes per year, as sensors are added to everything, and everything starts sending out signals, the trunk lines of our networks will have to carry this crushing load of information. The “Thingification” begins for example with a light bulb, which is not particularly smart and it doesn´t have a lot to say, it's either "on" or "not on”. The challenge grows as millions and then billions of bulbs and toothbrushes and microwaves all start pushing more and more information, all of the time. The aggregated traffic from all of these devices will be enormous, and will stress our networks to the max.

The internet of things (IoT) is the network of physical devices, like said light bulbs, plus vehicles, buildings and other items, embedded with electronics, software, sensors, and network connectivity that enables these objects to collect and exchange data. The IoT allows objects to be sensed and controlled remotely across existing network infrastructure, creating opportunities for more direct integration of the physical world into computer based systems, and resulting in improved efficiency, accuracy and economic benefit. The result of this begins with smart homes, intelligent transportation, and then smart cities. Each thing is uniquely identifiable through its embedded computing system but is able to interoperate within the existing Internet infrastructure. By 2020, the Internet of Things probably will consist of almost 50 billion objects. But what actually is this 'Internet of Things'? Basically, it's the combination of low-cost, low-power processors with 'real-world' electronic sensors and wireless network connectivity increasingly being added to a wide range of electrical devices. These sensors can measure everything from temperature and humidity to pressure, proximity, sound, light, gravity, movement, feedback and through on-board software, devices can record and action those measurements over the internet.

Imagine you wake up in the morning and the fitness tracker on your wrist has recorded how well you slept, uploading the results to your Twitter account. Your coffee machine reads your Twitter feed and knowing you're awake, begins brewing your first coffee of the day. Lights automatically turn on and off as you walk down the hall to the kitchen where your coffee is now waiting. As you leave for work, the robotic vacuum cleaner begins and updates its cleaning progress map to your phone. This is the world envisioned by tech giants powered by Internet of Things that promises to change the world we live in.

Today, there are already devices that work with the principle of IoT. In Denmark's a company named Scanomat has developed the TopBrewer, which lets you choose your coffee type from your Android or iOS phone or tablet. In Copenhagen, in TopBrewer Café, you can enjoy the service without queues, just your coffee ordered, brewed and paid for by your phone.

Image courtesy of Pierre Metivier at Flickr.com

This is definite frontier technology right now and the more we understand how it works, the data it generates and how that data is stored and used, the more we'll all be aware of the potential pitfalls and benefits the Internet of Things will bring. But there are two initial problems and a possible controversial third.

First, the IoT is beginning to suffer from the lack of consistent standards. Right now, the pace of IoT development is such that there's as much pressure to get product to market as there is to develop consistent standards to ensure we don't just see a bunch of devices that can't talk to each other. Everything from hardware interoperability to how recorded data is stored in the cloud is coming under scrutiny, with growing calls for standards to be set before the market progresses too far.

Image courtesy of Schneider Electric España at Flickr.com

Second, there is a battle going on, and that's for the platform. Not a day goes by without a new player claiming that their cloud hosted platform is best, from Apple's HomeKit, Google's Brillo and Intel's IoTivity to Qualcomm's AllJoyn, the UPnP Forum and ARM mbed, and the list goes on.

And third, there is no doubt Internet of Things could clash with our privacy ideals as the internet permeates its way into areas of our lives we probably never imagined.

This issue has been debated for years now. If you want to read more about it, go to: are we creating an insecure internet of things? And to know learn about facing the challenges in communications, follow this Link provided by Don Burns.

Li-Fi is the powerful replacement in wireless technology

Image courtesy of Sam Churchill at Flickr.com

Wireless is a term used to describe telecommunications in which electromagnetic waves, rather than wires, carry the signal over part or all of the communication path. Wireless communication is among technology’s biggest contributions to mankind. The transmitted distance can be anywhere between a few meters (for example, a television’s remote control) and thousands of kilometers (for example, radio communication).

One of the popular wireless networking technology that uses radio waves to provide wireless high-speed Internet and network connections is Wi-Fi. This technology is supported by many applications and devices including video game consoles, home networks, PDAs, mobile phones, major operating systems, and other types of consumer electronics. You probably have heard of Wi-Fi, now you need to hear about Li-Fi. Still in the nascent stage, this new technology could change how you use the Internet. It’s much faster than existing Wi-Fi tech, it’s more energy efficient, and potentially more secure as well.

To read more about wireless technology, follow the link: Wireless Communication

Harold Haas is the biggest proponent of Li-Fi, a professor at The University of Edinburgh, and founder of the company pureLiFi, which is trying to bring the technology into real world markets. When Wi-Fi uses radio waves, by comparison, this technology is dependent entirely on light, specifically LED bulbs. In a way, it’s the next step in connected lighting. In the simplest terms, Li-Fi transfers data over light waves.

Li-Fi is a wireless optical networking technology that uses light-emitting diodes (LEDs) for data transmission. 

Li-Fi is designed to use LED light bulbs similar to those currently in use in many energy-conscious homes and offices. However, Li-Fi bulbs are outfitted with a chip that modulates the light imperceptibly for optical data transmission. Li-Fi data is transmitted by the LED bulbs and received by photoreceptors.

You might be worried about how all that flickering in an office environment would drive you crazy, don’t worry, we’re talking LEDs that can be switched on and off at speeds imperceptible to the naked eye. And now, scientists have taken Li-Fi out of the lab for the first time, trialing it in offices and industrial environments in Tallinn, Estonia, reporting that they can achieve data transmission at 1GB per second, that's 100 times faster than current average Wi-Fi speeds. In April 2014, the Russian company Stins Coman announced the development of a Li-Fi wireless local network called BeamCaster. Their current module transfers data at 1.25 gigabytes per second but they foresee boosting speeds up to 5GB/second in the near future. In 2014 a new record was established by Sisoft (a Mexican company) that was able to transfer data at speeds of up to 10 Gbit/s across a light spectrum emitted by LED lamps.

The technology could also solve a growing problem with wireless communication systems: the radio frequency spectrum is overcrowded and we’re running out of space. The visible light spectrum is 10,000 times bigger, so Li-Fi is well placed to become the next generation of wireless communications.

Don Burns highlights some of the benefits of Li-Fi: Higher speeds than Wi-Fi; 10000 times the frequency spectrum of radio; more secure because data cannot be intercepted without a clear line of sight; prevents piggybacking (unauthorized access of a wireless LAN); eliminates neighboring network interference; unimpeded by radio interference; and does not create interference in sensitive electronics, making it better for use in environments like hospitals and aircraft.

There is always assumed to be a downside. An Estonian startup recently tested a commercial implementation of Li-Fi and found it to be superior to Wi-Fi in almost every way. The technology uses protocols, with additional standards to eliminate the impacts of interference and impacts of ambient lighting. 

Image courtesy of pinelife at Flickr.com

Despite this, however, natural light interferes with the technology, so it can’t be used outdoors (even near windows) or in other odd conditions. Visible light cannot travel through walls, an essential factor which gives old-school Wi-Fi a huge advantage. This line-of-sight limitation does make the system more secure and gives better control over emissions, but it is unclear what the minimum distance for signal reception would be if clear line-of-sight is achieved. With that in mind, it is easy to imagine the signal being intercepted by someone with a telephoto lens and an optical sensor tuned appropriately. While Li-Fi was touted as a possible channel for wireless communications on airplanes, widespread adoption of onboard Wi-Fi on most American airlines makes this use case less and less pertinent.

For the time being, all this downsides lead to think that there is one place to use Li-Fi in its current iteration, and it is one cold dark room filled with LED lights. We need to wait for more information and advances regarding this powerful replacement in wireless technology.

Interested in more groundbreaking telecommunication technology? Read about Microsoft Hololens

Prepare Yourself for a Breakthrough in Telecommunications: Microsoft Hololens

Image courtesy of Microsoft Sweden at Flickr.com

Without a doubt, Microsoft Hololens is primed to become the most revolutionary game changer in telecommunications since the internet itself. This breakthrough, unlike any that technology has seen in a long time, has the ability to connect people in three dimensional spaces via a holographic interface. While many are excited about its ability to immerse its users into the world of digital space, it behooves us to consider the implications it will have on telecommunication. 

In order to stay ahead of the curve it is important to understand how to use its strengths and weaknesses both to our advantage.

If you want to know more about this innovative device, visit the website https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-hololens/en-us

Strengths 

Hololens will take teleconferences and video conferences to a whole new level:

Two people on opposite sides of the globe will be able to sit down in front of each other and literally manipulate objects inside the same room creating a far more interactive environment than video conferences. For example, collaborating architects, engineers, fashion designers will be able to visualize their designs in 3D and interact with the worksite being at two different places. Concerning business operations, there will be greater work collaboration in the working world. It will benefit business owners, transactions and trainings. Also, virtual learning will be able to reach heights previously unfathomed. You will be able to create a classroom as if the student and the teacher were really there.

The money and time issue:

Imaging the time and money that this aspect of Hololens alone will create. Think about the time business owners and individuals will save on packing, waiting at airports, long layovers or flights; no more energy wasted on arranging hotels and transportation. Money of course factors in here as well: travel and hotel expenses will be available for other things such as employee bonuses, sales incentives and other perks.

Collaborative work:

Hololens will also increase collaborative efforts to solving global and local problems. Designers and engineers are not the only ones benefited by this technology. It will facilitate scientists, community and global leaders’ efforts to solve problems affecting society on both small and large scale.

Online gaming:

with a more immersive platform, users will be eager to invest more money on acquiring a device like this that can provide a much more exciting, physical experience. Online gamers will be able to manipulate objects, talk to virtual characters, enjoy exploration and activity, while communicating with other gamers around the world.

Limitations

There are, however, limitations to this technology.

Online traffic Jam:

Image courtesy of Geospatial World at Flickr.com

At the beginning internet may have to find a way to broaden the space because of the amount of data that will be streamed online. Hololens is likely to provide gigabytes of information in a very short amount of time, and streaming technology has yet to reach that capability for thousands of users at a time. This may create lagging or static field images until service providers catch up, and this may prove costly for internet builders.

Widespread use:

Hololens will not be able to reach its full potential until its use becomes widespread. The idea is great but risky if Microsoft is not able to convince its target market that Hololens is more a necessity than an accessory.

Cost:

Microsoft has been very secretive about the price so it is probably going to cost a pretty penny. This is also a determining factor in Microsoft’s new product’s survival. Most windows’ software is also expensive. Therefore, if Microsoft does not find a way to guarantee affordable software or applications, this may turn users off. For large companies money may not be an object when obtaining this shiny new toy, but smaller businesses and individuals will want to know that Microsoft has them in mind as well.
Dependence:

with such an innovative and entertaining way to communicate it will be all too easy to get lost in the world of augmented reality. In the age of advanced technology, both adults and children find it difficult to stay connected with their physical surroundings. People will have to make a conscious effort not to allow augmented reality to sever our connection to the real world.

Intrusion into your personal life:

technologies that connect people tend to steal time away from a person’s personal life. Be careful not to give license to these intruders.

In conclusion, it is important to anticipate how to keep up with new technological breakthroughs like this one. The challenge we face is using its strengths to our advantage while we find solutions to the issues its limitations may create.

If you want to read Don Burns’ last post, click here

Awesome discovery in revolutionary charging technology

Image courtesy of Jorge Franganillo at Flickr.com

Researchers from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, have designed a system of wireless charging for mobile devices, which allow longer distances of charging compared to the actual functioning system, with greater efficiency. This model is developed with materials surrounding the emitter and receiver. The wireless charge in mobile devices is probably one of the technological milestones with more research. Actually, there are already working devices that allow wireless charge, by placing the mobile in a charging base. The next step is to charge the mobile without ever taking it out of the pocket. This step is yet to be reached. But a team in the Physics Department from the Autonomous University of Barcelona developed a system capable of transferring electrical charge with high efficiency, between two separated circuits, using meta-materials. It is a system in experimental phase, should it be optimized and the load applied to mobile devices, it will allow the desired wireless charging at distances greater than today.

The induction phenomenon is the principle that allows the wireless charge for mobile devices, using a special case, adapted to the device and a base connected to the electrical grid. When the mobile is placed on the base, this generates a magnetic field that induces an electrical flow in the case, and without the need of a wire the battery begins to charge.

If the mobile is separated from the base, the energy is not transmitted with sufficient efficiency and battery cannot be charged. The new system developed by the research in Barcelona overcomes limitation. It is constructed with meta-materials that combine layers of ferromagnetic materials, like the magnets, and conducting materials, like copper. The meta-materials surround the emitter and receiver circuits and allow the transference of energy between them at a certain distance, with remarkable efficiency.

Image courtesy of Jim Pennucci at Flickr.com

With the use of the crowns of meta-materials, researchers have managed to increase the transference efficiency up to 35 times in the laboratory. Álvar Sanchez, the director of the research said: “and there is still a lot of room for improvement, since the theory tells us that efficiency can be increased considerably if we optimize the conditions and the experimental design is perfected”. The lead author of the article, Jordi Prat, explained “Surrounding the two circuits with the crowns of meta-materials, has the same effect as bringing them closer, as if the space between them became shorter”. Furthermore, the materials used to build the meta-materials, like copper and ferrite, are very common and easy to find. The early experiments in this direction, to concentrate static magnetic fields, required the use of superconductors, beyond the reach of day to day use for mobile devices. “Instead, with the use of low frequency electromagnetic waves, like the ones with use to transfer energy from one circuit to another, we just need conductors and conventional magnets”. Said Carles Navau.

In the patent process, participated Àlvar Sanchez from the Department of Physics Electromagnetism in UAB, with Academy and ICREA (Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies) researcher Carles Navau, along with Jordi Prat, currently at the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Innsbruck (Austria). The device has been patented by the UAB and there are companies from several countries interested in applying this technology. The research was funded by a Producte project of the Generalitat de Catalunya, for ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) and the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness.

The already achieved distance: 20 centimeters

A group of scientists from the ITMO University (St. Petersburg) and the Giricond Research Institute (both from Russia) proposed a wireless charging system with transfer efficiency of 80% at a distance of 20 centimeters. This was three months ago. The results were tested experimentally with a light emitter diode, which scientists managed to turn wirelessly. The system replaces the copper coils traditionally used with spherical dielectric resonators made of ceramic material with low loss and high permittivity. This step that prevents loss of metals, achieves greater efficiency.

Another innovation was to use resonant frequencies of higher order modes called magnetic quadrupole (A quadrupole or quadrapole is one of a sequence of configurations of electric charge or current, or gravitational mass that can exist in ideal form, but it is usually just part of a multipole expansion of a more complex structure reflecting various orders of complexity). The group found that the system operation quadrupole mode, rather than in the dipole mode, not only increases the system efficiency, but also makes it less sensitive to random orientation of the transmitter relative to the receiver.

The possibility of random orientation is an important step to achieve wireless charging stations of practical commercial use. Today, the wireless charging requires perfect alignment between the device and the charging base. The quadrupole mode does not require such precision. The researcher Polina Kapitanova stated that “This is just a pioneering work, but our experimental configuration now works with distances up to 20 centimeters and 1 watt of power”.

Understand wireless generations as they evolve

Image courtesy of Andrew Stawarz at Flickr.com

Innovation is opening doors in a way that things seem without limits and a clear example of this is the evolution of the wireless industry. Its origins with analog based first generation service (1G) to today’s 4G, which is now truly a broadband-ready LTE network. Everything is advancing, from the technology from manufacturers to networking and software available. In just 10 years, the advancements have been amazing and it seems we can only continue to expect more advances in our wireless generations. As the bandwidth grow, so does the amount of services used by us to take advantage of the increasing connectivity we have available to us. At this rate, everyone in the world will have access to smartphones, that have the capacities to make use of the wireless generation available at the moment.

1st Generation Wireless Network (1G)

This first attempt to connect people via their mobile devices offered a basic voice service and analog-based products. It navigated at 24 kbps and was still quite slow in comparison to today’s needs and market.

2nd Generation Wireless Network (2G)

This updated version of the wireless network bumped up to 2G and this time offers voice, improved coverage and capacity, and first digital standards (GSM, CDMA). The speed also jumped up to 64 kbps. At this point it was still evolving, but at least offered access to the applications that were relevant at the moment.

3rd Generation Wireless Network (3G)

3G was designed for voice with some data like text, images and internet and it has the first mobile broadband available. The internet speed increased to 2,000 kpbs allowing users to interact seamlessly with the different apps that we all constantly used from our mobile devices. As many of you have already experiences, it can be somewhat liberating being able to do thing you would normally do on your desktop or laptop.

4th Generation Wireless Network (4G)

Finally, the current wireless network, 4G, not only has the basics but is really showing innovative technology advances. 4G will now let you use data as one of the primary ways of communicating, it will have IP-based protocols (LTE), and it will truly be a mobile broadband. This one will allow you to navigate with up to 100,000 kbps.

Image courtesy of Esther Vargas at Flickr.com

What to expect with this evolution?

The evolution will obviously find itself not only on one aspect of communication, instead you’ll find how the industry as a whole continues to grow steadily. So much, that today we use “kilobytes”, but we will soon need to start using “exabyte”, which is equivalent to 1 billion gigabytes. These kinds of advances will allow you to continuously have more access to the content and media being shared with mobile devices. Another driving factor behind this evolution are the smartphone users. They are increasing every year and of course telecommunication companies have to offer the next best thing to let this change continue. The best way to see how this industry continues to grow is by keeping its users happy. This can be achieved by enhancing network performance (19%), followed by the value of money (16%), and with approximately 10% each user will expect ongoing communication, tariff plans offered and customer support.

What’s next?

We may take today’s technological advances for granted, that is until we are seen in the position to use out-of-date devices or firmware. At this moment we can comparatively notice the mayor differences in speed, services provided and in general overall user experience. Next in line in the evolution of wireless generations is 5G. It’s already foreseen that this new and improved wireless generation will provide even more of everything.

5G is still not out in the market, but it is expected that by 2020 it will be the next generation available on most mobile devices in the major cities. South Korea, which usually gets a head start in the trials will begin in 2017, and the US in 2018. It’s already the buzz that the jump to this new generation will be quite significant and it will be a lot more than just faster mobile data. By innovating and dreaming up the new generation, they have to not only consider the needs of today but what we will need in the future of communication and mobile devices. The Internet of Thing (IoT), along with the transition from laptops to mobile devices like smartphones and tablets, will interconnect our lives more everyday. 5G is expected to reflect this and much more. Although it will be fast, with an expected speed of 10 gbps, which will easily allow you to download HD movies in up to 4 seconds. This new gen will also bring a low latency, which is basically cutting down the time between operations on your mobile device, which after studies shows that this will be groundbreaking for self-driving cars and every other device that will be uploading and downloading data due to the IoT.

A brief history of encrypted communications and cryptography

With the idea of better ​​understanding what cryptography is and how this discipline has evolved until today, let's take a look back in time to learn about the history of cryptography and information encryption.

The origins of cryptography

Though we may think of Claude Shannon, Alan Turing, or the NSA as references in the field of cryptography -and indeed they are-, this art goes much further back in time. Message encryption has been practiced for over 4,000 years and precisely the origin of the word cryptography comes from the Greek “krypto”, (hidden), and “graphos” (writing), that is, hidden writing.

A communication is encrypted only the when transmitter and the receiver are able to extract the information of the message; therefore anyone outside the communication will only be able to see gibberish and the content of the message will be completely hidden.

Image courtesy of Ismael Alonso at Flickr.com

Although the hieroglyphs of ancient Egypt had no military intention, they are usually seen as one of the first examples of “hidden writing” in history, as the Rosetta Stone was needed to decode them. There are non-standard hieroglyphs which, according to experts, aimed to bring more drama to the story being represented. These inclusions seeked to provide greater mystery or intrigue to the story that was being described, and they would make the reading more complicated with the inclusion of unusual symbols although the practice be abandoned over time.

The Spartans also used cryptography to protect their messages; specifically, a technique known as transposition cipher which consists of a parchment scroll on a stick -called scytale- that served to sort the letters and display the message. To decrypt the message, the receiver needed to have a scytale the same diameter as the one used by the transmitter. This is known as symmetric cryptography because it was the only way to view the message as originally intended.

From Ancient Rome comes the encryption method known as Caesar cipher which, as its name suggests, its use is attributed to Julius Caesar himself. This encryption is based on the movement of letters and, therefore, each letter of the original text is replaced by another letter that is at a fixed number of positions later in the alphabet. According to the writings of the Roman historian Suetonius, Julius Caesar used a shift of three letters and Augustus, first emperor and grand-nephew of Julius Caesar, used a shift of just one letter.

Centuries later, during the Renaissance, one of the key figures of cryptography of this period was the German monk Johannes Trithemius, who published in 1518 a complete treatise on steganography and coding called “Polygraphia”. In the sixteenth century, in France, another of the key figures of cryptography was born: Blaise de Vigenère, whose work “Traicté des Chiffres” provided robustness to the codes that Trithemius proposed.

Modern times: Cryptography in the World Wars

During World War I, cryptography was intensively used. Germany developed the Ubchi code that decrypted by France, and Germany’s naval codes were deciphered by the UK, which allowed them to get ahead of Germany and prepare for battles such as the Jutland one.

Cryptography was key during World War II and, in fact, changed the course of the war. Germany had managed to dominate the North Atlantic with its fleet of submarines, and communications were indecipherable thanks to the Enigma machine. In addition to traditional fronts and battles between the armed forces, a new battlefield had appeared: to decode enemy communications; a task that the allies commissioned to a group of mathematicians, engineers and physicists, such as Alan Turing, who worked from the Bletchley Park facilities.

Image courtesy of Z33 Art Centre at Flickr.com

Perhaps the work of Alan Turing and the allies is the best known one on cryptography during the World War II; however it was not the only one. Encryption of communications marked the conflict and a varied set of techniques was used to prevent the enemy from intercepting communications. The United States, for example, reused a technique that had already successfully been used during World War I and, instead of resorting to complex encryption algorithms, they opted to use the languages ​​of Native Americans as a code.

The United States’ Marine Corps had among its ranks five hundred Native Americans who served as radio operators and they would encrypt, in their native language, messages to keep the Japanese army from understanding anything that was transmitted. Navajos and comanches were some of the native groups that were part of the ranks of the armed forces of the United States in operations in Africa, Europe and the Pacific.

Also in the Pacific front, the effort to break the encryption keys used by Japan was key to stopping their advances. Through joint efforts of the US and forces of the Netherlands and Britain, the Japanese naval code JN -25 was deciphered and, in this way, Japan’s battle plans could be known.

As we have seen, cryptography has played an important role in the history of mankind and its importance has increased, and so has the volume of information that has been generated or exchanged. The revelations of Edward Snowden about PRISM and other spyware online have made us think about cryptography, but in reality, it has always been present and it is there when we make a phone call with our mobile phone, when we use Telegram or perform an online purchase.

Here are the tools Snowden used to encrypt his communications

Image courtesy of danjo paluska at Flickr.com

1. Tor

Formerly known as "The Onion Network", Tor is a free software to enable online anonymity. Tor redirects Internet traffic through a global network of volunteers consisting of more than three thousand relays that hide the activity or location of the user to anyone who is performing network surveillance or traffic analysis.

When Edward Snowden decided to take all the information he could and leak it to the media to publicly denounce atrocities against individuality and the right to private information, he focused on using his knowledge about encryption to make communications impossible to track or filter to his superiors or even other governments.

Snowden used a series of tools that anyone can access, which says a lot about security available to anyone.

We now see the importance of an open source project that is poorly funded. In the same way that projects like OpenSSL should have been supported, these are some projects that should also be funded:

2. Tails

Tails is certainly one of the tools that people who handle sensitive information should definitely use. It is a Linux distribution based on Debian Live and whose focus is security and anonymity.

Unlike other operating systems, Tails is designed to be used from a USB and so it never leaves any traces of usage in the memories of the computers you use to log in. It is the great strength of Tails, you do not need to have a PC, any PC that you find with a USB port and the option of booting from a USB drive, you can use it to have your own secure communications environment.

Tails uses Tor to anonymize your Internet connection, but not just web browsing: all communications are routed using this network, blocking any application that attempts to connect using a network other than Tor.

You can download Tails from the project’s site and install it on any USB drive.

3. Tor + Tor Browser

As we mentioned before, Tails is always connected through the Tor network. Tor Browser is the solution for those who want to surf the web without leaving any trace. First, because it is connected using a P2P network of Tor users anonymously and safely. Second, because the browser does not store any data, preventing passwords to be saved in the browser’s memory.

Tor is an anonymous and secure network, which is used both for good and for bad things. We know of famous sites like Silk Road that have given a bad name to this network, but it is clear that like any other tool, you can use it with good or bad intentions.

4. GPG and PGP

PGP stands for Pretty Good Privacy and it’s an application created by Phil Zimmermann, which allows to encrypt contents based on public key cryptography. This means that, in order to read an email encrypted with PGP, the sender has to have a key to encrypt and the recipient must have another key to decrypt the message.

PGP has proven to be quite safe to share information via email. It is the system that Snowden used to communicate with Laura Poitras and journalist Glenn Greenwald of The Guardian.

PGP is quite easy to use in your communications. If you use Gmail, Yahoo Mail, or Outlook.com, you can use Mailvelope. For Windows users there is a plugin for Outlook 2010 and 2013 along with Gpg4win. Yahoo already encrypts the content of your messages even between servers.

5. Lavabit

Lavabit was the secure email service used by Snowden. Created and maintained by Ladar Levison, he decided to shut down the service and the company in August of 2013 due to the pressure of the US government. US Congress laws made Lavabit unable to share what was happening while they became accomplices in crimes against the United States.

Snowden used an email address with a lavabit.com domain to communicate with the media while in the Moscow airport. Nevertheless, the service was forced to close due to pressure by the US government.

Lavabit offered a webmail service with a focus on safety. They used advanced cryptographic methods to encrypt communications and emails in order to make them impossible to break into. In mid-2013, Lavabit had over 400,000 users with free and paid services, depending on the required storage space.

Today we can find many email services focusing on security, such as Hushmail or Resistemail.

6. Other tools

Image courtesy of Simon Waldherr at Flickr.com

All you have to do is search for a while to find many solutions that claim to be secure and encrypted for all types of communications. There are complete operating systems, email management solutions, mail encryption and secure web navigation. But there are many other services that can be used to ensure private communications.

Especially when it comes to instant ​​messaging, it is easy to find solutions with encryption. In the area of ​​mobile messaging, there are dozens of applications that claim to be safe. WhatsApp recently became one of those safe options, since they started implementing end-to-end encryption. BlackBerry Messenger is another safe alternative to hold encrypted, multiplatform conversations.