Week 5 [04.12-10.12.17] Off-road adventures

Off-road adventures – not so extreme survival

When people think about off-road adventures,  probably they see a hard life in the wilderness without any comfort or even a bathroom. The truth is that every year there are so many innovations which make off-road more pleasant. 

The most inventive place is Australia. Actually, because they love outdoor life. For the last twenty years they have turned the culture of off-road around 180 degrees.

Originally a shower was a complete luxury and it never had hot water. These days many brands … produce systems which are hard-mounted in a car and give us 40 degree water.

Things like camping gas kitchen have started to be standard - a campfire is now just for pleasure. 

Many people have installed sophisticated cooking equipment also with a compressed power fridge. It means it can freeze food just like at home even if you are in a desert.

  

https://pl.pinterest.com/pin/164662930099022602/

https://www.treehugger.com/travel/diy-jeep-camping-kitchen-overland-life.html

In the old days it was a tent, a thin mattress and sleeping bag. Nowadays, there’s a wide variety of sleeping options, for example; a tent mounted on the roof of a vehicle. It gives more safety from wild animals, and also it’s warmer with comfortable mattresses and even  heat.  

http://www.fourwheeler.com/product-reviews/1605-overland-buyers-guide-best-products-for-your-next-expedition/photo-32.html

Maps are now digital and connected with global satellites. This makes navigation 100% accurate, safer and faster. You can plan your route more spontaneously and travel to more unexpected places.

For all electronic equipment there needs to be a lot of energy. In the past it was almost impossible to store so many amp-hours for a long time. 

Nowadays cars have got solar panels which collect and store energy. Another benefit is that the primary battery has also power to start the engine.

http://www.avis.com.na/VanRental/avis-safari-rental/latest-safari-hire-news/solar-panels.aspx

For light off-roaders some companies offer 4x4 trailers. And in this trailer you can take with you many things from home for maximum comfort; TV, consoles, bicycles and even a washing machine, which  is a standard.

For example:

https://www.elitecaravans.com.au

So after all, the question is, is off-road still off-road?

GPS has shrunk the world and now even in a deep jungle or forest or desert we feel at home, even the satellite internet can give us an opportunity to watch the newest episode of our favorite NetFilx program. 

Modern off-road or old-school off-road, which do you prefer?

Have you ever participated in any 4x4 adventure? 

Week 5 [04.12-10.12.17] Ultimate commuter bike

Ultimate commuter bike.

I’ve decided to write an article about “commuter bikes” and my vision of “ultimate commuter bike”. I’m really into cycling in general. I love to make modifications to my current bicycle, keep it clean and what is worth mentioning, riding this machine. But life often verifies my plans. I constantly have less and less free time and energy to keep the bike in order. So, I started to rethink how I can improve bicycle maintenance and keep my pedantic soul satisfied.

My first action, as nearly always, was searching the Internet with faith that I’m going to find something interesting. And I found a carbon-belt drive system. You don’t have to lubricate it and then clean it after a few kilometres. It also stands out by being more durable than a steel chain. It’s possible to make four times longer distances without “stretch” which may be problematic propelling the bike.

This is how belt-drive looks

Of course, this solution has its pros and cons. If you want to build your own belt driven bike, it’s necessary to be in possession of a special frame. When it’s possible to unbuckle a chain, a belt is one piece of material, so a bicycle tail must have a special gap to put the belt in its place.  You also must forget about a classic cassette and derailleur and use an integrated gear hub or go “single speed”. It’s also quite an expensive solution. But I still think that it would be great to have the maintenance-free bike which doesn’t leave black smudges on rider’s pants.

Dirty chain, we all know that

My second thought about a perfect commuter bike is about tires and tubes. If a rider wants to be safe, he must carry a tube repair set and pump in case of breaking the tube. I’m pretty sure that sometimes everybody wants to just get out of the house without a backpack.  Even this irritating aspect has been resolved by engineers. Airless tires. Single piece of gum which just works. It’s can not be simpler.

Here you can watch how airless titre looks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYN2IL8Ifys

If you finally get a belt-drive bike with airless tires the last thing to remember is avoiding curbs when riding fast. I didn’t find a solution which makes wheel rims unbreakable. I guess that now you can see my point about the “ultimate commuter bike” which is a simple, lightweight and maintenance-free bike.

After research I decided to find out how much it would cost to build my own bicycle with a belt drive and airless tires. After a few minutes I found out that I no longer want to build it. Buying regular bicycle parts and these related to the propel system is way to high for me. But there Is one workaround for this problem. It’s cheaper to buy a pre-made bike. Funny, isn’t it? There is a plenty of choices on the market. Here is a photo of my top pick.

My current dream bike

Do we have here any cycling enthusiasts? Even if not, what is your vision of the perfect bike?

Links:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYN2IL8Ifys

https://www.cyclingabout.com/review-gates-carbon-belt-drive-centertrack/

http://cdn.mos.bikeradar.imdserve.com/images/news/2013/01/02/1357140507026-naht1jtg8isj-630-80.jpg

http://www.bikekatalog.pl/2010/ppg_fotki/foto_big/8_55475_28_01_10.jpg

http://funkedup.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Dirty-Chain.jpg

Week 5 [04.12-10.12.17] Hit Refresh - On Microsoft 180 degree shift

HIT REFRESH
On Microsoft 180 degree shift

Rarely have we seen in history of what we call ‘corporate’, so big and so drastic changes as those that started in Microsoft under its new CEO - Satya Nadella and shocked the world of technology throughout recent years.
If you asked me a few years back what first few words come into my mind when I hear Microsoft, I would say: closed, corporate world, guys in suits, stagnation, exnovation. And maybe their core products: Windows and Office.
Neither me, nor (I think) any other technology enthusiast or technology critic would say, that most of what I’ve mentioned before would be obsolete and turned around as we look on this Redmond-based giant today.

Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s CEO;
Source: https://www.ft.com/content/e832507c-b277-11e7-a398-73d59db9e399

Back in the past, when we thought of innovative workplace, innovative products, openness and collaboration in the world of technology, one would say: Google. The next thought possibly would be Facebook. But never you’d thought: Microsoft.
Microsoft used to be very closed to both other companies but also to other technologies, other solutions. You could say that it was the tech market top bully, buying companies out of the business or simply monopolizing certain segments like in browser wars1 in the 90s, when it killed Netscape Navigator and was punished for doing so by the U.S. Department of Justice. It was not that long ago as one of Europe’s most famous phone manufacturers, Nokia2, fell in Microsoft’s  hands, ending up not producing smartphones at all, as its new overlord decided to give upon the consumer phone market.
But that’s more or less story of yesterday.

Microsoft of today is open: open for collaboration, open for other companies, open for innovation, open for different approaches and different technologies. Also open for criticism.

From a closed-source company it emerged as one of the top contributors in open-source3 of today.
Microsoft’s standard library, .NET Framework, has new iteration called .NET Core, that is now open-source and cross-platform – works on Windows, Mac OS and various Linux distributions. Multiple solutions, such as ASP.NET MVC, Powershell or Visual Studio Code are now available for any developer to look into, learn from and contribute to. Also many other tools were made free for everyone.

What’s more, Microsoft started to listen to other companies, sharing with them but also learning from them. Not only have it started to build the future of  .NET Foundation with others, like Google or Samsung4, but it also contributed a lot of resources – including money and manpower – to its competition, Linux, from which it now also benefits through Linux Foundation5. Don’t know what’s Linux? Well, it’s more or less what’s running any device you have out there if it’s not Windows PC or Apple iPhone/iPad/Macbook, ie. Android phones, routers, TVs, smartwatches, most of servers hosting webpages you browse, ATMs and many more.

.NET Foundation and The Linux Foundation
Source: https://www.linuxfoundation.org and https://dotnetfoundation.org/blog/2016/11/16/google-join-tsg

But, to be open for innovation is another pair of shoes. Where Microsoft used to struggle and failed to get involved,  now it shines.
When you think now of innovation and trying new things in everyday, poor man’s PC world, you probably think – Surface brand. Microsoft revisited how laptop should look and behave – many now take 2-in-1 (tablet and laptop in one) for granted, but it wasn’t so obvious not so long ago.

Microsoft Surface Pro
Source: PCMAG, https://assets.pcmag.com/media/images/544756-microsoft-surface-pro-2017.jpg?thumb=y&width=980&height=416

Augmented (or so called ‘holographic’) reality of today? No problem, Microsoft HoloLens takes up the glove:

Microsoft HoloLens
Source: Windows Blog, https://winblogs.azureedge.net/devices/2017/10/898cb5b51ef132670339e511934f8f55.png

The pragmatic and hard-headed company of yesterday dares to be brave and dreams  like Google and Apple used to back then. Even so-called ‘Apple fanboys’ see the trend and push Apple to act accordingly instead of iterating6.
You can tell the difference when you see how Redmond-based tech giant markets its products nowadays, remembering its ads from the past:

Microsoft Surface Studio advert https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzMLA8YIgG0

But does it make Microsoft the lesser evil now?
Well, yes… and no. Microsoft - like any other big company – lives from its profits. And sometimes demons of the greedy past come back to life, when you hear things like: “Microsoft Admits Windows 10 Automatic Spying Cannot Be Stopped7”.

Maybe it’s all good PR and greedy companies do not change.
What do you think?
Do you know other examples of companies big turnarounds?
Maybe you’ve participated in one or your company made a huge shift in the past?
Did Microsoft change affected you in any way?
Let’s discuss.
Note: “Hit Refresh” is actually name of Satya Nadella’s book on Microsoft transformation, released this September. I have not read it, so cannot recommend yet, but I loved “nerdiness” in its title (refresh-browser-tech), so there it is.

1“First Browser Wars” on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_wars

2 https://9to5mac.com/2016/05/25/microsoft-windows-phone-dead/

3 https://www.computerworld.com/article/3144063/open-source-tools/open-source-has-won-and-microsoft-has-surrendered.html and http://www.zdnet.com/article/why-microsoft-is-turning-into-an-open-source-company/

4 https://dotnetfoundation.org/blog/2016/11/16/google-join-tsg

5 https://www.linuxfoundation.org/press-release/microsoft-fortifies-commitment-to-open-source-becomes-linux-foundation-platinum-member/  

6 http://mashable.com/2016/10/27/microsoft-better-apple

7 https://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkelly/2015/11/02/microsoft-confirms-unstoppable-windows-10-tracking/#324405943a23

Week 5 [04.12-10.12.17] New computers could delete thoughts

Go to http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/delete-thoughts-read-your-mind-without-your-knowledge-neurotechnology-new-human-rights-laws-a7701661.html and read the article. Comment on it on our blog. Share with us your experiences and observations.

Week 4 [20-26.11] In vitro meat

Since the beginning of the mankind meat was always in our menu. First, people were just hunters, then they became farmers. But during last 100 years farming got far more industrial. Nowadays just in US 10 billion animals are killed every year. That’s a lot of meat! And meat needs a lot of stuff to be produced like a lot of water, grains and grass. As you probably know, it’s really bad for the environment. Most of the air pollution is not caused by cars, it’s caused by cows. Cows and other animals are being fed with antibiotics. Perfect solution for this situation would be if everyone became vegan. Unfortunately, as we know it’s not gonna happen. However, one of proposed solutions is: in vitro meat. Produced entirely in a lab. It sounds a little gross but instead of killing animals scientists could take steam cells from every animal we want to eat. Then put it in kind of a nutrition soup, add some electricity and wait till it grows. Then we can make sausages or hamburgers. In theory, a single cell would be enough for the entire population. It can be 100% pure meat muscle without side products. Creating it in a lab gives us possibility to add healthy things like vitamins or exchange bad saturated fats for stuff like Omega3. We could make a healthy hamburger. In vitro meat is far more ecological than the classic one. Its production requires 99% less land, 45% less energy, 96% less gas emission and 96% less water. In 2050 our population will hit 9 billion.

Till that time we must look for an alternative for traditional meat production.

TED:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFL3P89T1Hk

Read more:

http://www.futurefood.org/index_en.php

1. Have you heard about and would you try this kind of meat or similar products?

2. Do you know any other ways to fight bad effects of our consumption level?


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultured_meat
http://www.futurefood.org/in-vitro-meat/index_en.php
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4648904/

Week 4 [20-26.11] Boston Dynamics

I've recently been tracking the development of the Boston Dinamics robots. After a few months of silence the company decided to boast about its achivements. On their YouTube channel began to appear videos, we first saw an improved version of the SpotMini machine, which reminds me of a mechanical dog and they presented the progress of the robot Atlas. I remember the first presentation of this robot. His movements were quite sluggish and slow. Today the robot jumps and performs exercises that would be hard to do for many of us. (including me 😉 ).

 

Atlas looks very much like a man, probably because of that his fitness are scary to me 😉. Its construction, (two legs and hands) make this robot can be designed (as claimed by Boston Dynamics) for warehouse work. Here is an example:
 https://youtu.be/rVlhMGQgDkY?t=65

His stability and sense of balance are unbelivable. The new Atlas is almost perfect to master stepping and jumping between them, there are no problems with rotation of up to 180 degrees, and if there is not enough, he can ... make a backflip.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRj34o4hN4I

Engineers say they owe much to 3d printing technology. Thanks to it, components such as arms and legs can be modeled on structures found in animals.

These recent videos made me wonder how it would affect our lives in the future. First thoughts are of course black scripts from Sci-fi movies. Robots dominating the world. Stephen Hawking, a well-known astrophysicist, also has a number of concerns regarding artificial intelligence and robots. He also claims that artificial intelligence at a high level can even surpass man in thinking and that robots will begin to build their own world or will improve the one that was created by humans. The most important thing in all of this is that humanity always has the ability to control what "thinks" the robot, what conclusions it is, and what intentions it may have.

Great presentation of Boston Dynamics on Ted Talk:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AO4In7d6X-c 

1.      What do think, how life would be like in the future with robots and AI? 
2.      Would you like to have SpotMini as a pet? 😊

Sources:

https://youtu.be/rVlhMGQgDkY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRj34o4hN4I

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AO4In7d6X-c

https://www.bostondynamics.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlas_(robot)