TechnologyIQ

Making Information Personal via Gresham College Professor Wilks will discuss the notion of an artificial Companion, a long-term software agent that could be present in any device: a screen, handbag or even a furry toy - and which understands the person it 'lives' with and whose memories and knowledge it comes to acquire and manage through conversation. One can think of a core function of Companion as living with an elderly person, lonely and wanting to revisit their memories and memorabilia, but needing assistance with information and agency. Yorick Wilks is Visiting Professor of Artificial Intelligence at Gresham College. He is also Professor of Artificial Intelligence at the University of Sheffield, a Senior Research Fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute, and a Senior Scientist at the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition. Professor Wilks is especially interested in the fields of artificial intelligence and the computer processing of language, knowle

After 4 years of hard use — including overseas trips to Italy, the UK, and New Zealand — my original Chromebook, also an HP, started to develop a few lines on the display. I tore the system apart, which I have done on a couple of occasions, but this appears to be more related to general wear and tear as opposed to a loose connection or card.  I didn’t realize the Chromebook was 4 years old until I looked back through my Amazon history and found the original order. It has served made well and at a fraction of the cost of the Apple MacBook Pro, I used to travel with. I find that I can do about 90% of all my typical work on a Chromebook, leaving things like video and audio editing to my even more venerable Mac Mini 2011.  I was recently updating my iPhone to a newer model and at the extremely high, unsubsidized price, I knew I was going to have to make some monetary decisions to keep my technology budget in shape. Since the Chromebook is so much less expensive I decided to consciously

Amazing to see such a cool solution a discontinued product. The instructions look simple enough for anyone to follow, too. — Douglas Valve’s Steam Link peripheral was launched back in 2015 and allowed players to stream games from their computers to a TV without a direct connection. It made it possible to enjoy Steam games on the big screen, as most people tend to have larger TVs than PC monitors. However, Valve decided to shutter the product after over three years on the market, with the last of the Steam Link units now disappearing from store shelves. So, what are those that want to stream games to do? Thankfully, Steam Link is now available to install and use on the low-cost Raspberry Pi, bringing game streaming to the masses without the £49.99 price tag of the Steam Link unit. The issue is that there is no Raspberry Pi App Store, so there are a few steps to installing the Steam Link app. Read Setting up Steam Link on Raspberry Pi is easy - here's how via Tech Advisor

Join an existing Arduino Day event or host one of your own! — Douglas About Arduino Day Arduino Day is a worldwide birthday celebration of Arduino. It's a 24 hour-long event – organized directly by the community, or by the Arduino founders – that brings people together to share their experiences and learn more about the open-source platform. Who Can Participate? All  user groups , makerspaces, hackerspaces, fablabs, associations, teachers, professionals, and newbies are welcome. What Can You Do During Arduino Day? You can attend an event or organize one for your community. It doesn’t matter whether you are a Maker, an engineer, a designer, a developer or an educator: Arduino Day is open to anyone who wants to celebrate the amazing things that have been done (or can be done!) with the open-source platform. The events will feature different types of activities, tailored to local audiences all over the world. Read Arduino Day 2019 via day.arduino.cc Arduino Boards and Co

It is just a few seconds, but when you are doing something a thousand times over, it really adds up. Create new Google Docs, Sheets and more using a new short URL. - Douglas Google’s making it easier for everyone — especially power Google Docs users who spend their days in the company’s office software — to quickly start new projects right from the Chrome browser. In a tweet a Google account, the company announced a new list of shortcuts to create documents, slideshow presentations, spreadsheets, sites, and forms right from your web browser. The best part? It works in any browser, not just Google Chrome. You can type doc.new, docs.new, or document.new in your web browser to make a new Google Doc, just like you would type a website address. Use sheet.new, sheets.new, or spreadsheet.new for new Google Sheets. Forms.new or form.new will open a new Google Form. Make new Slides with slide.new, slides.new, or presentation.new. Site.new, sites.new, or website.new are for making new Googl

The $35 Raspberry Pi is a remarkably capable computer for the money but, unlike many modern devices, doesn't ship with a screen. Due to the Pi's remarkable success, a broad range of displays are now available for the tiny machine, from pocket to tablet-sized screens. Even better, many of these are touchscreens, letting the user control the Pi without hooking up a separate keyboard and mouse. And if you just need a simple black and white display that consumes very little power, you can even augment your Pi with an eInk screen. Read Raspberry Pi touchscreen round-up: From cheap tiny displays to tablet-sized panels via TechRepublic Get Raspberry Pi Boards and Components from Amazon Get Raspberry Pi Boards and Components from eBay * A portion of each sale from Amazon.com directly supports our blogs ** Many of these books may be available from your local library. Check it out! † Available from the LA Public Library An interesting link found among my daily reading

A little bit of weekly fun direct from your Alexa device! — Douglas NPR  is turning its popular game show program “Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me!” into a voice application for smart speakers, including both Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant-powered devices. The new app lets listeners play along at home by answering the fill-in-the-blank questions from this week’s news — just like the players do on the NPR podcast and radio show, which airs on more than 720 NPR member stations. Also like the NPR program, the new smart speaker game includes the voice talent of the comedy quiz show’s hosts, Peter Sagal and Bill Kurtis. To get started, you just say either “Alexa, open Wait Wait Quiz” or “Hey Google, talk to the Wait Wait Quiz,” depending on your device. Read NPR turns comedy game show ‘Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me!’ into an Alexa and Google voice app via TechCrunch Looking for an Echo/Alexa Device? Check out these recent upgrades and additions to Amazon’s product line! An interesting li

In a blow to manufacturers that use digital rights management (DRM) protections to prevent consumers from tinkering with their own property, the Library of Congress has adopted new rules allowing anyone to hack the software of their devices for the purpose of performing repairs. The changes officially go into effect on October 28th.Advocates in the “right to repair” movement have a lot of complaints about the various methods corporations use to control who repairs their products, box people into software updates, and force obsolescence. One of the complaints is that copyright law in the U.S. has made it illegal to break DRM that blocks a users access to a device’s firmware. Motherboard first noticed that all changed today. Read It's Now Legal to Hack DRM to Repair Your Own Devices via Gizmodo An interesting link found among my daily reading

This is Rongzhong from Pittsburgh. Eight months after my first post on OpenCat, I have quite a lot to update. Most importantly, I’m going to launch my first kitten on Indiegogo on Monday, Oct 22nd! The kitten’s name is Nybble. Links will be posted here, on my Twitter @PetoiCamp, or on Petoi.com. Read Petoi Nybble - Arduino Project Hub via Arduino Project Hub Arduino Boards and Components via Amazon Arduino Boards and Components via eBay * A portion of each sale from Amazon.com directly supports our blogs ** Many of these books may be available from your local library. Check it out! † Available from the LA Public Library An interesting link found among my daily reading

Technology isn't just computers, networks and phones. Technology has always been part of the human experience. All of our ancestors have looked for ways to help the survive and do less work for more gain.  Archive.org has a host of old technology books (from mid-19th to mid-20th Century) available in many formats and on a host of topics. Many of the technologies discussed within these books are being put to use again these days in the back to the land" and homesteading movements. You might even find something that could address one of your own garden or farm issues, but has been lost to time and history. Enjoy! --Douglas Historical Technology Books: 73 Magazine (October 1960) - 12 in a series Available in PDF, Text, JPG formats, and more Publication date  1960-10 Topics  amateur ,  power ,  voltage ,  audio ,  radio ,  modulation ,  receiver ,  ham ,  meter ,  frequency ,  amateur radio ,  power supply ,  sideband power ,  carrier shift ,  positive peak ,  g

What is your favorite Alexa Command, Skill or Use? Share in the comments! It is always amazing to see how people take an off-the-shelf product and push, pull , and tweak it to do something  new — something, perhaps, it was never intended to do. In this case, this project opens up Alexa devices to those who cannot hear, allowing them to benefit from the usefulness of a voice assistant. — Douglas <span id="mce_marker" data-mce-type="bookmark" data-mce-fragment="1">​</span> Abhishek Singh, a software engineer and generally awesome person, created a mod that lets Alexa understand sign language. Watch it in action! Read Someone taught Amazon's Alexa sign language via Mashable Looking for an Echo/Alexa Device? Check out these recent upgrades and additions to Amazon’s product line! An interesting link found among my daily reading

I read a lot of blogs and sites to keep in touch with a variety of technological objects and here is one to keep up on innovations in the world of robotics. Check it out! — Douglas ROBOTS is a product of IEEE Spectrum, the flagship publication of the IEEE, the world's largest technical professional organization for the advancement of technology. ROBOTS supports IEEE's mission to advance technology for humanity and the engineering profession, and to introduce careers in technology to students around the world. Read Your Guide to the World of Robotics via @robotsapp Learn more about robotics with these books † † † * A portion of each sale from Amazon.com directly supports our blogs ** Many of these books may be available from your local library. Check it out! † Available from the LA Public Library An interesting link found among my daily reading