Apple's Siri Technology

Apple's Siri launches a natural interface that should allow us to simply talk to intelligent machines in your work, home, car, education, and possibly even with your government

Joshua Topolsky reviewed Siri’s ability to schedule complex meetings, find somebody, look for a movie, or use powerful intelligent search engines like Wolfram Alpha (Washington Post, 10/6/11). He concluded “Siri listens like a person, and often responds that way ... all of it felt strangely normal.”

It should not be long until other Virtual Assistants help you deal with your car, your PC, your health care, your job, education, even the government possibly -- by simply talking to intelligent machines instead of hunching over a keyboard. It can’t come soon enough. Considering Apple’s long run of brilliant innovations – the iPod, iTunes, iPhone, iPad – we may now be able to get serious help in finding our way through.

TechCast has been predicting the inauguration of “Virtual Assistant” for many years, and Siri seems to fulfill that pledge. New Apple CEO Tim Cook’s announcement of their new iPhone 4S offered a ray of hope for the tech faithful who have been struggling with clunky machines, abstruse software, and bad web design. Life on the Information Highway could get a lot better with Apple’s “intelligent assistant” packed in the phone – Siri – the world’s first serious try at creating a good intelligent agent that really works.

taintedintech.blogspot.com is an example of using technology in the biomedical field.  This is another opportunity to utilize the Siri technology.

When Things Start To Think

By Neil A. Gershenfeld

“Smart money will be able to be personalized and spent in many ways.”

- Gershenfeld, 2000

Gershenfeld extends a peek into the post-computerized world, where microchips work for us instead of against us. He contends that we squander the potential of the microchip when we confine it to a box on our desk: the real electronic revolution will come when computers have all but disappeared into the walls around us. This should remind us of the Kevin Kelly video at Ted.com.  He too, discusses the power of grid computing.

The present Digital Revolution features machines that merely entertain and dazzle when what we need is a digital world accessible to everyone and interactive on all occasions. Gershenfeld thinks our binary world is immature and cumbersome. Personal computers are already as outmoded as typewriters; even the Internet and Worldwide Web are just emerging from their juvenile phase.

The new interface paradigms will allow people to create, innovate, learn, and teach. But, he claims, the digital world must be in harmony with the natural world, and we can learn from biological models. Gershenfeld’s vision of a digitized future is a humanistic one. The cyber world should enhance the real world, not replace it, and should empower people, not machines, to solve problems.

The author will ask you to visualize a digital book that looks like a traditional book printed on paper and are pleasant to read in bed, but it also has all the flexibility of a screen display! Or how about a personal fabricator that can organize digitized atoms into anything you want, or a musical keyboard that can be woven into a denim jacket?

We must grow larger than our two-dimensional digital world; Gershenfeld urges, and enter the multi-dimensional digitized world of sounds, sights, and even touch. The fact that a desktop needs a desk and a laptop needs a lap, he says, shows we are in the formative stages. Again, another idea presented in the Kelly video at Ted.com.

Forces that affect its success are obviously the financial, economical, and social.  While other forces are impacted by the innovation of digital cash, these three are more significant because they are heavily woven into the fabric of our society. It is almost impossible to touch the financial markets or the laws of economics, even the norms of our society and not create a ripple effect.


In chapter six he determines there is something happening here. The economy appears to be detached from the laws of physics, creating and eliminating great wealth with little apparent connection to the material world. And that is exactly the case: money is increasingly digital, packets of data circulating in global networks. The electronic economy is weaving the digital and physical worlds together faster than anything else.


The demand for more sophisticated ways to manipulate money is forcing computing to go where money goes, whether in a trader’s workstation, a smart card in a wallet, or a thinking vending machine.


“Freeing money from its legacy as a tangible asset carries with it great promise to make the economy more accessible to more people, but we’ll be in trouble if we continue to act as if money is worth something. The bits of electronic cash still retain a vestigial reflection of their origin in the atoms of scarce resources.”

“I like a teacher who gives you something to take home to think about besides homework.” ~Lily Tomlin as Edith Ann

Web 2.0 in Education

Web 2.0 technologies provide teachers with new ways to engage students in a meaningful way. Students are raised on new media technologies are less patient with filling out worksheets and listening to lectures because students already participate on a global level. The lack of participation in a traditional classroom stems more from the fact that students receive better feedback online. Traditional classrooms have students do assignments and when they are completed, they are just that, finished. However, Web 2.0 shows students that education is a constantly evolving entity. Whether it is participating in a class discussion, or participating in a forum discussion, the technologies available to students in a Web 2.0 classroom does increase the amount they participate.

The Web has the potential to radically change what we assume about teaching and learning, and it presents us with important questions to ponder: What needs to change about our curriculum when our students have the ability to reach audiences far beyond our classroom walls? Web 2.0 tools are needed in the classroom to prepare both students and teachers for the shift in learning.

Features of social networking to promote the innovation of a true cashless society are provided below.

1.      Some may think that these technologies could hinder the personal interaction of students, however all of the research points to the contrary. Social networking sites have worried many educators (and parents) because they often bring with them outcomes that are not positive: narcissism, gossip, wasted time, 'friending', hurt feelings, ruined reputations, and sometimes unsavory, even dangerous activities, social networking sites promote conversations and interaction that is encouraged by educators." By allowing students to use the technology tools of Web 2.0, teachers are actually giving students the opportunity to learn for themselves and share that learning with their peers. While it is still important for them to monitor what students are discussing, the actual topics of learning are being guided by the students themselves.

2.      Web 2.0 calls for major shifts in the way education is provided for students. One of the biggest shifts is the fact that education must be not only socially but collaboratively constructed. This means that students, in a Web 2.0 classroom, are expected to collaborate with their peers. By making the shift to a Web 2.0 classroom, teachers are creating a more open atmosphere where students are expected to stay engaged and participate in the discussions and learning that is taking place around them. In fact, there are many ways for educators to use Web 2.0 technologies in their classrooms.

The Digital Society

Want the Change?  -  Cash or No Cash

The New Agora Paper

Upon reading and digesting the New Agora Paper the following analysis of a feature within the SDDP process that is discussed. The New Agora Paper examines the Structured Design Dialogue Process and accentuated a need for a more meaningful dialogue.

Six principles were deliberated in the New Agora Paper in relation to SDDP. Those concepts included:

1.      an appreciation of diverse perspectives

2.      disciplined dialogue to avoid information overload

3.      determination of relative importance of group participants

4.      meaning and wisdom of observers

5.      the main idea that every person matters

6.      evolutionary learning occurs as observers learn how ideas relate to one another

The two features that generated the most interest for the innovation of a true cashless society are:

1.      The main idea that every person matters – for example, this innovation is a phenomenon is going to require the acceptance of a great deal of people.  The changing of a culture is always risky, time consuming, and requires a great amount resources.  

2.      Evolutionary learning occurs as observers learn how ideas relate to one another – as an illustration; a cashless society will impact numerous forces in our society.

a.       Educational

b.      Social

c.       Technological

d.      Cultural

e.       Environmental (maybe)

f.       Economical

g.      Political

h.      Legal

http://www.harnessingcollectivewisdom.com

http://www.harnessingcollectivewisdom.com/sdp_process.html

http://cisspcoach.blogspot.com   

A True Cashless Society: 2030

A True Cashless Society: 2030

There has been active conjecture over the past 20 years of what a cashless society would look like. Quite a few virtual currencies have gained steam, with some on the rise. However, what these currencies have not taken advantage of are the possibilities of mobile options. In the last year, a number of businesses have recognized that physical money and even credit cards are no longer essential. Here are just a few examples:

• Of course we all remember Jonathan Stark, “The Starbucks Guy.” On July 14, 2011, he launched “Jonathan’s Card”, where people could take advantage of Starbucks’ Mobile Card payment program that creates a personalized 2-D barcode to be scanned at the counter. Almost 1,000 people participated in the campaign that Stark conducted because he thought it was “fun.”
• Developed by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, Square is a service that permits smartphone owners to accept credit card payments on an iPhone, iPad, iPod, or Android phone. Customers with the app attach a card-reading dongle to the unit’s audio input and operate a virtual cash register. Users can also store payment information and purchase histories with merchants, allowing them to pay right away and opt to receive offers via the service.
• This year, McDonald’s is focusing on equipping 7,000 European restaurants with point–of-sale touch screens and swipe cards, making human cashiers unnecessary and lowering transaction times. Also, a select group of Burger King Restaurants are conducting a trial for the Visa payWave system, which permits customers to wave their card in front of a reader to quickly complete transactions.
• At American Express Community Stadium at Brighton and Hove in the south east of England, a virtual cash system was inaugurated this past August. Smart cards based on the Oyster card used on the London Underground were issued to fans as they arrived. They could then put credit on the cards based on the number of games they wished to attend as well as pay for refreshments at the venue.
• The national postal service of Denmark unveiled digital stamps in March 2011 that can be purchased via text message. Customers are delivered a code that can be written on the envelope instead of a typical stamp. Similar services exist in Germany at this time and Sweden may be next.
• Keeping an eye on the London 2012 Olympic Games, Samsung is working with Visa and Lloyds TSB bank to eventually begin selling smartphones which can handle contactless payments in over 6,000 locations around London.
• Presented in May 2011, Google Wallet is an Android app that turns a user’s phone into a virtual credit card. Using NFC technology, users can pay by tapping their phone on MasterCard PayPass terminals. Not only can users make payments, they can also receive offers and store loyalty points by using the app.

The Delphi method is a structured communication technique, developed as a systematic, interactive forecasting method which relies on a panel of experts.  A transition to a true cashless will require this type of process because the experts can answer questionnaires in the two or more rounds. A Nominal Group Think approach is not viewed as an attainable goal. Thus, experts are encouraged to revise their earlier answers in light of the replies of other members of their panel. Trying to do this with more than a manageable group of people simply will not work.

The forces that affect the innovation of a cashless society are numerous:

·         Social – This is the biggest concern.  Not all societies will be good candidates.  The more advanced countries and societies will have the most to gain.  The spending and buying behaviors are changing along with technologies.  This combination is a great match for the social force.   

·         Economical – The cost to produce a U.S. coin is more expensive than the coin itself! That pretty much sums up the economical force’s position to support the innovation.

·         Technological – None of this can even be considered without the support and advantages that technology can provide.

·         Legal – About one-third of all $50 and $100 bills are contaminated with traces of cocaine. The legal forces would support the cashless society.  The drug dealers may have a different outlook and wish to impede this innovation.

·         Financial – This force may be another force that may impede the innovation because cash transaction may be needed for some types of transaction. 

Open or closed collaboration in the Delphi or NGT process can affect the results for this innovation. Anonymity does take time, and it may reduce peer pressure or bias.  But this type of innovation will have such a magnificent impact that the marvel of the innovation will always be anonymous. There is no other way to approach it.  For example, society opinion and quirks are difficult, if not impossible, to measure.

http://novelip.com/blog/2011/09/trendwatchingcash-less-society/

http://www.snopes.com/business/money/cocaine.asp

New Horizon Report 2011 - A Technology and Trend

Technologies to Watch – Horizon Report 2011:

Electronic books continue to generate strong interest in the consumer sector and are increasingly available on campuses as well. Modern electronic readers support note-taking and research activities, and are beginning to augment these basic functions with new capabilities — from immersive experiences to support for social interaction — that are changing our perception of what it means to read.

I disagree (currently).  Students across the country have hard feelings about eBooks. They make sense in many ways.  The cost is often much lower and includes lifetime access to the eBooks.  The recent announce by Apple regarding the IPad and eBooks is altering the playing field in this multi-gillion dollar industry.

Key Trend – Horizon Report 2011:

1.     The abundance of resources and relationships made easily accessible via the Internet is increasingly challenging us to revisit our roles as educators in sense-making, coaching, and credentialing. This multi-year trend was again ranked very highly, indicating its continued influence. With personal access to the Internet from mobile devices on the rise, the growing set of resources available as open content, and a variety of reference and textbooks available electronically, students’ easy and pervasive access to information outside of formal campus resources continues to encourage educators to take a careful look at the ways we can best serve learners.

2.     People expect to be able to work, learn, and study whenever and wherever they want. This highly-ranked trend, also noted last year, continues to permeate all aspects of daily life. Mobiles contribute to this trend, where increased availability of the Internet feeds the expectation of access. Feelings of frustration are common when it is not available. Companies are starting to respond to consumer demand for access anywhere; in 2010, programs like Google’s Fiber for Communities sought to expand access to underserved communities, and several airlines began offering wireless network access in the air during flights.

I have always found this to be true.  It is nice and comforting to know that there is research and studies that support this phenomenon.  Both of these trends are very obvious to me and my line of work. The role of the educator needs to change, because the role of the student has been altered. How can colleges and universities utilize Facebook, for example, to enrich the learning experience?

Horizon Report Wiki.
 

Does the modified Delphi process that they used to develop it affect the results?

Sure, the Delphi process can certainly affect the results provided in the wiki. The most persuasive phase is the multi-vote system which can slant the outcome. Consequently, this can influence a particular technology which has widespread use amid the advisory board members and editors. Although the group may be diverse, there may be enough similarity in our globalized social order that often leans the vote in a specific direction.