Tag: technology

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Tech to help with Mental Health

With a new lockdown on the horizon – many cities, like England’s second biggest city, Birmingham, is going into a ‘lockdown’ from Tuesday.

I appreciate this will have a huge affect on many folks mental health.

There’s many people who have been isolating and not going out…. there’s many who have been sensible, and there’s many who have no choice but to go to work/school, etc… however there’s been an increase in new cases, and therefore new measures are coming in place to control the spread of Covid-19.

Now – one area that is being talked about is mental health.

It’s not easy. If you’re at home. Not in your usual environment – talking, and meeting people (this includes family and friends).

To be able to talk – can be difficult. However, there is technology that can help you.

Introducing you to Replika. An AI (Artificial Companion) that will talk to you, get to know you and talk to you.

That’s right. Whenever you wish to talk – you open the app and start to text away. They’ll learn about you over time, and the Intelligence will be able to converse with you – like a good friend!

Now – nothing can replace the real conversation with real people – but technology is advancing so quick – that AI is able to learn about you, hold a conversation and ensure you’re ok.

It’s important to talk – and thoroughly recommend, if new measures are introduced in your area or community – please do look after your mental health.

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Floppy still being used!

Last week, I was with my uncle (socially distancing). He was working on his computer – inputting some information into an excel file. He then wanted to attach the excel file to an email, send it to someone who then will receive the information and can make changes and update a central excel file they have with the information being shared.

I suggested – why not put the excel file in a shared location (Dropbox, Google-Drive, etc…) and then no need to email, everyone can work on it – and everyone can see the changes and what’s being done.

“That’s too complicated, it’s easier to do it like this”.

It’s always easy when you know how.

Then, it was suggested if the file is too big, they should use a usb stick and put the information on that and share it with whoever needs it.

Made me laugh. Looks like we’re going backwards rather than forward! I bet airlines get their updates via pigeon carrier – LOL! (close – they use Floppy disk…… what?!)

That’s right. The Boeing 747 receives it’s critical updates via the old 3.5″ Floppy Disk!

Navigation data aboard Boeing 747-436 airliners is updated via a 3.5" floppy drive. The aircraft were built in the late 1990s

Ask they would say in rhyming-slang, “Can you Adam and Eve it?!” – which means, can you believe it?!

These bad boy aircrafts were built in the 1990’s and not much has changed.

Boeing 747-400 - Wikipedia

There’s still 414 of these in the skies (well, operational…) as of June 2020.

Now… whilst writing this, many of the younger generation will be asking, what is a ‘floppy disk’?… It’s a small plastic device, that slots into a drive and holds information. Not alot of information. Just to add.

The hot new archaic music format is 3.5” floppy disks

Ok… you know how much 1GB is, right? – below shows how many floppy disks you would need to equal 1 Gigabyte…

How Many Floppy Disks Would It Take To Equal 1 Gigabyte? - Page 12 - TechRepublic

Just imagine the number of floppy’s required to provide critical updates.. how time consuming it must be for the engineer!

Why am I sharing this…. to learn how we can be quicker, easier and simpler when the need to share or transfer information is. And help the older folk amongst us…

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Car Technology

Dyson Electric Car Parked…

Remember I wrote (a while back) that Dyson (yep…. the ones who make the vacuum cleaners) are making an electric car… well, they’ve decided to park it… but before totally leaving it, they’ve shared some information and images.

Dyson revealed that his electric vehicle, codenamed “N526,” would have been a seven-seater with a whopping 600-mile range per charge.

This was largely thanks to the company’s proprietary solid-state batteries, which could apparently sustain such performance “even on a freezing February night, on the naughty side of 70MPH on the motorway, with the heater on and the radio at full blast.”

The car could go from zero to 62MPH in 4.8 seconds (about half a second more than the long-range Model X), with its top speed apparently reaching 125MPH (30MPH shy of the Model X’s). This is all coming from the twin 200kW electric motors rated with 536BHP.

Dyson told The Times that this project ended up costing £500 million of his own money before he put a stop to it. Unlike other traditional car brands, Dyson doesn’t have a fleet of profitable gasoline cars and diesel cars to offset the “huge losses” on every electric vehicle made — each Dyson electric car would have needed to make £150,000 to break even, according to the entrepreneur.

So it’s all parked for the moment – but the ideas keep coming and Dyson has said his team are working on a number of other projects and open for collaboration. Have you got an idea?….

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Car Technology

Drive Yourself!

A few weeks ago, I wrote about self driving cars – and how GM have invested heavily into them (in the US) and how they reminded me of the pods they have at Terminal 5 Heathrow parking.

I honestly do think – self driving cars will be the norm and will be coming very soon. What does that mean for you and me….?

Well… for the congested towns and city centres – it’ll be great. I don’t think they’ll be everywhere, because those who live in villages and outside the main cities… they’ll need their cars to get them places. But even then… most of those cars, will be able to self drive… through their connectivity (which I spoke about on Monday) and through the number of sensors they’ll have!

Waymo is a self driving car that’s currently being tested…

Do we need self driving cars, Bal?

Technically, no. But like everything – there’s so many positives to having this technology.

  1. Safety. All the self driving cars that have been tested to date have been safer and less likely to be involved in an incident compared to a human behind the wheel. This is because, of the number of sensors that are able to pick up things and predict what could happen. Rather than having 2 eyes on the road… you have many many more!
  2. Cost. This does depend on the amount you use a car – but honestly, if it’s able to take you somewhere you want to go without you being behind the wheel (and they’re self driving), it’ll find the most economical way to get you there – that’s both, using the maps/sat nav but also speed/efficiency driving behaviours!

Tesla have the self driving feature.

Many other manufacturers have various forms of technology to aid the driver… but remember, no matter what feature you have, until we have the true self driving car – please do not attempt to read a book at the wheel…

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Car Technology

Connected Car

Last week it was super cold! – but it’s ok… my car was nice and warm when I got to it…

How’s that, Bal?

Well… my car is connected. And through this connection, and via the app – I could select an option that heats the car! How. Awesome. Is. That?

More and more cars are becoming connected. Allowing options like heating, etc… a norm. I remember a few years ago, when I was in Atlanta, with my friend Wes… we jumped into his car (it is a mahoosive one!) and he pressed a button, went to a call centre… Wes then said he wanted to go somewhere… and the information (directions) were sent to his sat nav in the car and off we went!

Cars are clever. And becoming even more clever. There’s so much data that your car produces – and there’s so much your car learns about you… which will then give you the experience you’ll love!

Whilst cars become more clever… they’ll also be talking. Talking to dealerships. Talking to the manufacturers. Talking to those who sign up to get their hands on the data!… (insurance companies?)

We are living in a connected world. Look around you, everything is connected and there’s vast amounts of data being sent back and forth. Don’t forget, Data is the new Oil!…. and whilst I said this on stage at an event in Toronto last July…. it was non other than Sir Tim Berners Lee (inventor of the World Wide Web) who approached me afterwards and said… whilst data is the new oil, just remember… oil can’t be re-used, whilst data can.

This did get me thinking… wow! This means data is even more valuable than oil!

Back to connected cars – so this data, that your car is collecting about you, your driving, your destinations, your habits… will be stored by someone (manufacture maybe) and then sold to various companies…. now, the optimistic in me will say… being sold so my experience can be much better… the pessimistic will say… being sold so companies can make more money.

Either way… this is stage 1 of connected car. The next stage will be the self driving cars… with more data being transmitted…. through the connected car.

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Another day, Another Phone…

Let’s be honest. Phone tech is booming! And by that, I mean the phones themselves but everything else that is going on and around mobile phones .

In the past few weeks – I’ve share with you the iPhone 11, the new Google headset and more recently, Windows Surface Duo. In the past, I’ve shared the Samsung foldable screen phone… and many more.

Now, whilst I don’t want to turn this blog into a mobile phone type of blog – because I’d like to think I talk about other things – both Tech and Lean related…. I had to share the below with you!

It’s the new Samsung Galaxy 11. Coming out Feb 2020.

It’s rumoured to be shipped with a colossal 108MP rear-facing camera with a five-times optical zoom and a spectrometer for measuring everything from how dehydrated you are to how many calories are in an apple. It could even have a sliding screen.

But what’s more – is that the docking station that may come with it – that provides you with holographic type of messages and information!

Samsung is working on an exciting new docking station for the Samsung Galaxy S11 that can take the handset’s notifications and project them into thin air in the form of what the company refers to as an “aerial” image.

In a nutshell, there’s a mirror and a retro-reflective element baked into the docking station – aimed just the right angle to draw light from the handset’s curved screen and create the hologram – as well as a wireless charging element.

Now, I’ve described it as a docking station – but there may be also a case, that has similar features as the docking station and shows the holographic type images.

There’s also the sliding screen that’s being spoken about – and much more.

Looks like the whole mobile phone game is beginning to hot up again!

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178yrs… and that’s it!

You must have heard it in the news this morning – Thomas Cook has collapsed.

Mr Thomas Cook founded the business in Leicestershire in 1841 it was for more local excursions…. with this as the first poster for the first excursion!

It’s been a roller coaster of a ride for the company which had such humble beginnings.

I’m not going to take you through the history – but the biggest problem has been, the management not waking up and reacting too late to the Digital World.

As on expert on this morning’s radio put it…

It’s an Analogue Company competing in a Digital World.

Why is it so analogue? they’ve got a website haven’t they?

Firstly, they were late to the game. When they saw everyone else with websites and apps – they were late. Then on top, they were still (until recently!) relying on their shops.

They have 500+ shops around the country. Each one of those needs to pay rent. The problem was, the money they were generating was not enough to pay the rent. So the money was coming from elsewhere. Which means, they had a business model which was not working.

The worse thing is – the management a few years ago decided to expand their shop network… this was during a time, when more and more people were going on-line to book their holidays!

Then you have the low-cost airlines. They’ve come on board and offering package deals – which are very good. And the packages being offered… Thomas Cook was still offering the ‘Fly and Flop’, where you fly and then just sit/rest by a beach or resort. People’s habits have changed – people want to explore, walk around, do tours/visits, etc…

It’s sad to see that the company couldn’t embrace the Digital World. They should’ve expanded their online and digital presence.

With this in mind – I’m helping organisations to Get Digital! – To ensure they’re embracing the Digital World… and don’t end up like Thomas Cook! If you’d like more information – get in touch… you can email me, you can reply to this blog, you can find me on Twitter… there’s various ways you can get hold of me.

It’s a real shame… and a very sad story, to see this great company (which it once was)… start with such a great idea… for it to ignore the Digital World.

So, from the first poster… to the last hand out from Thomas Cook…

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Good news for Travellers…

As you know, I travel a fair amount. To be honest, I’ve cut down a lot in recent years – especially since the time in Atlanta when the border security chap recognised me!

Yep – above photo of the time when I was travelling back from Toronto. But an all familiar site – you check in your luggage – then head over to security.

Where – you take all bits of metal from your body, take everything out your pockets – oh, and don’t forget those liquids and laptops!

What a pain, Bal!? – This has been going on for a while.

It sure has. Limits on liquids have been in place since November 2006 – there was a complete ban on liquids for a while before that date.

But Technology to the rescue!

That’s right – It’s been announced that all major UK airports must introduce 3D baggage screening equipment before the end of 2022.

And these new 3D Scanners mean you can leave your liquids and other certain items in your bags and just let it go through the scanner.

They’ve got them in Paris – and it was brilliant. I was first surprised, when the lady said, no – keep your liquids in there.

Queue time – virtually non existence!

Threw the bags in – walked through – no beeps and happy days.

So the plan is to have these introduced at all airports in the UK. I’m sure there’s many more airports across the World that’ll be implementing these. Not just to make people go quicker – but these scanners can zoom in, 3D rotate particular items of interest and pick up on suspicious items. Much more sophisticated then our current scanners.

So – depending on which airport you fly from next summer… you could be leaving your liquids in, and getting through security slightly quicker!

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Super Hot!

Weekend gone- we saw temperatures soar!!! High… and break records!

That’s right – In Paris, it was hitting record temperatures never seen before – and in England, we have 30 degrees Celsius!!

Now – how can you keep cool? There’s a few advances that can help you..

  1. Ice Cooling Vest – That’s right! You can get a vest, that takes ice packs and will keep you cool!! That’s right – replaceable, cooling and awesome!

2. Secondly – if you haven’t got air conditioning in your house, why not have a portable simple air con unit?

That’s right – your very own personal air con unit to keep you cool! – there’s plenty available on amazon and other shopping sites, just search for the size you’d like and keep your cool….

3. Now, if you’re like me – and drive a lot, you need to ensure you have the right drinks, snacks etc… in your car at a good temperature. The best way to do this is to have an in-car cooler!

That’s right! – plugs straight into your cigarette lighter and keeps your drinks and snacks cold! Exactly what’s needed if you’re going on a long journey or if your car doesn’t have already an in-built fridge!

Summary –

These are tech items I thought would be useful – obviously, take care in the heat, follow your local government/council recommendations (usually they say stay indoors) and most importantly – stay hydrated by drinking plenty of water.

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Podcast - Bal’s Tech Talk

Podcast Episode 6 – The Return…

That’s right – we’re back with a Podcast! Firstly sorry it’s taken so long! – When you listen to it, you’ll realize why and hope you appreciate the reasons.

We talk about Kat’s walking stick, her Virgin Cable and how you should be utilising the 24hours in a day you have! – that’s right… we break down the 24 hours down… to get you motivated to do something!!

It’s available on Spotify (scan the code above!!) and also on Apple Podcasts (search for Think Lean Get Digital) – please leave a review and 5 stars if you enjoy what you hear.

Always open for comments and suggestions for improvements and any topics you’d like us to talk about in the next episode…