5 Fears About Google Glass - Is Your Privacy the Biggest Problem?

Perform a search with the words 'Google glass fears' today and there are 6,770,000 hits.
Scanning through the first ten pages, most of the stories are about 'privacy fears'.

Slash Gear are worried about the facial recognition problem. Third parties might be able to develop apps which let your Glass recognise the faces of people nearby - although at the moment, it could just be the people it already knows from memory, soon, this ability might be expanded.

Big arguments on Cnet where people are not sure if they will invade privacy or not - but the article's points about them needing to up their game if they are to appeal to the wider populace are very valid.

Business Insider are talking of the 'paranoia' associated with the unknown. There is talk of banning people wearing them while driving (well, duh!) and many worries about people taking surreptitious pictures.

There are plenty of other fears:
Are they a safe thing to wear close to your temples?
Will they ruin your eyesight?

Now, let's just take a minute to think about things. After all the hype, what do we actually know to be facts? The little child in all of us must yearn for this magical toy, I know I do. But are they really what we have assumed them to be? You know when you assume, you make an ass of you and me!

I think most of us have heard about Robert Scoble. Despite a webpage which takes forever to download, this computerphile has publicly declared his love for the Glass. We have seen him shower with them on (It's Chico time all over again!), we have seen him share them with others, and he has told us that he will never, ever, ever take them off.

Although running time is only 3 hours, so he has to take them off sometimes, unless he just lies down with them on while he recharges them, becoming inanimate himself, waiting for the augmentation to come back.

Because that is what they are supposed to be after all, augmented reality.

So, this privacy thing:

The Fear: Everyone will take pictures of everyone without their knowledge!

No, everyone can take pictures of everyone already without their knowledge.

Not only does almost every other person have a camera in some sort of portable device, but also, secret camera recording devices have been available for years.

What Google glass will bring is some idiot with a pair of glasses frames shouting 'Glass, take a picture' at you when they walk around. Or, they will wave their hands in front of the frames a few times, probably too quickly, switching the camera on and off a few times before they get what they want. Not the magical experience everyone hopes for.  Apparently the resolution is not so sharp at the moment either.

What if the person does not want their picture taken? Can they come and shout, 'Glass, delete all photos' at someone who is wearing Goggle's glaases? In fact can anyone come and talk to your glasses? Have you ever left the room with the Speech Recognition software running and come back to find that it has been obeying someone talking on TV?



The Fear: My pictures will be uploaded online without my knowledge.

Yes, hello? They already can be. How many pics of people have you seen online without their consent? Celebrities without makeup, Walmart shoppers, Geeks and Nerds they are already up there.

What glass will bring, is after taking this low-res photo, someone fumbling with their Smartphone (which already has two high quality cameras), logging in to Facebook or Twitter and doing it that way. Because how are they going to log in to these places with Google Glass? Shout their password in?

As will all mobile devices, we will have to see about the health concerns. In twenty or thirty years' time, we will have to investigate the effects of prolonged use of mobile devices so close to the temples and eyes.

But my biggest worry is the massive potential for distraction.

How many of you have tried to speak to a child who is watching their favourite programme on TV?
The hypnotic effects are much greater if it is favourite video game or when they are lost online.

I've already written about having someone step out into the road while texting.

This is the latest fear: Google glass will produce generations of the deaf, dumb and blind.

Plugged in and zoned out. Augmented, but not actually present in the here and now.

What is going to stop someone trying to read their emails while they drive along the M4?

Or even watching TVCatchup walking along the road?

Try talking to your kids then!

Steve Pavlina: How to Make Money From Your Blog

I have just spent the past half an hour reading the most amazing blog post.
Even though it was written seven years ago, this monster sized post had me glued right up until the end as if it was the latest bestseller from the New York Times list.

The title? How to Make Money From Your Blog.

Steve Pavlina calls his site Personal Development For Smart People and I really feel like this post has opened my eyes to the amazing possibilities which are out there. I'm sure I'll be going back to check out his other posts.

Why?

I don't know, I can't put my finger on it for the moment, but Steve has a particular style of no-nonsense straight-talking which seems to cut through the rest of the rubbish which is out there and bring you the information exactly as it is.

His underlying message seems to be, 'know what you want and be true to yourself'. He starts by asking, 'are you 100% satisfied with making money from your blog at all?' This makes sense because in case anyone has any sort of qualms about it, then they will subconsciously self-sabotage at every stage to set themselves up for a fall.

I'm sure I'm not the only one to have noticed this, and I feel a little like the cheerleader who arrives when the game is over but still insists on doing the whole routine, but I wanted to bring this new information to my readers.

It is very refreshing to find something like this.

I like that. Thanks Steve.

How to Stop Feeling Overwhelmed by the Internet

Twitter
Facebook
Pinterest
Instagram
LinkedIn
Plurk
Klout
StumbleUpon
Reddit
YouTube

It is so easy to feel completely overwhelmed by the internet. And everyday there seems to be a new website which 'everyone has known about for ages' but which you have never even heard of.

Social media has its own set of sites - if you ever visit a page which has all the social media icons, there can be twenty to thirty different little buttons. Then there are spin offs of the main sites which add value such as Tweetdeck.com, SocialOomph.com, Twitpic.com, Justunfollow.com for Twitter.

Today was the first time I visited Tweetdeck.

Yes, I know.

I've heard that it existed for a long time, but never went on it before. You can join and then allow your twitter account to have access and you see all the Twitter services laid out side by side. Very useful if you need to interact with a lot of people quickly.

Following on from there, SocialOomph.com promises a lot such as automated tweets and JustUnfollow.com lets you find out who follows you and who has unfollowed you.

It is so easy to get bogged down with the minutiae and to go off on a tangent and forget why you switched the computer on.

Facebook has its own timesucking properties with all the thousands of games and apps.

And for a blogger there is no end to what to do, blog, find links, write guest posts.

But the fact is, that these time wasters are excellent at making you think that you are extremely busy, spending a lot of time being productive. Hours can go by in the blink of an eye as computer time runs at a very different speed to real-world time. Einstein would have very quickly developed another theory about time and relativity in the real world compared to the virtual world.

The way to survive this, is to take it for what it is - a series of entertaining diversions which do not really mean as much as you think.

Although it feels like there is a vast mountain of information out there which needs sifting for the golden nuggets, hasn't there always been a huge tranche of knowledge? The big difference now is that it is possible to see exactly what you don't know. It is that ocean of the unknown which lurks just at the edge of your consciousness - or is a Google click away! Remember when they used to show you how many millions of pages of results they had?

The truth is, even if someone did nothing but read stuff online for their whole life, they would still not be able to get through a fraction of the everything there is.

Just understand that there will always be information and knowledge there that it will not be possible to examine in as great detail as you would like. Be careful to prioritise your time so that the real jobs get done and swimming in the information soup is minimised to downtime only.

While some people are very good at blinkering themselves so that they get on with their lives, others are pulled in so many directions that they eventually grind to a standstill.

If you are on a Mac, then Anti Social is an app which blocks off the social media parts of the internet for as long as you want.

Focus Writer is a great app for writers and allows them to focus on writing, with timers and to-do lists factored in to a familiar looking app.

However to do it, the main emphasis is on how well you can control yourself and how well you can narrow your focus down to what you want to achieve.

The people who can do this will be the successful ones in the unfocused years to come.

6 Ways to help you revise

It is that time of year again when the exams are looming and the books have been piled up, ready to study.

Here are a few tips to help all you hard working students make the most of the study time which is left.

Find out as much as you can about the test

Ask your teachers questions! It can only go one of two ways: Either they will tell you how many questions will be in the test and what type, or they won't.

If there will be many short answer or MCQ type questions, then a general knowledge of the whole subject is important, whereas if there will be more essay-type questions, then an in-depth knowledge of the topics will be better.

Other things to find out are:

• How long will each test last?
• How many questions?
• Will all the topics be covered equally?
• Will practicals be included in the test or simply theory?
• Are past papers available?

Plan your work

Armed with a list of topics for each subject, quickly skim over the notes to make sure that they are complete. If not, use text books, ask your teacher or get together with friends to compare notes.

Write a list of the main topics for each subject and order them into levels of difficulty. Write the one you find more difficult to master at the top. These are the topics that you will tackle first.

Plan your time

Next work out how much time you have to revise before the exams start. Don't forget to schedule in days between separate exams.

If you do not have much time left, then use your text books to skim over the main points. Write bullet point lists and learn the main facts. Your aim here is to cover a lot of material quickly so that you will be able to answer a large number of questions reasonably well.

For essay questions, use your time to answer specific questions. Time yourself writing out an answer to an essay question so that you get a feel for how long it takes.

If you have a reasonable amount of time left, then plan to cover all the topics a couple of times. Read through your notes, make bullet point lists or flash cards. On the next read through, ask questions as you read the text. Why did Henry VII do that? How would a person digest protein? What are the geographical features of coastal erosion?

Reading your notes critically will get you thinking differently about the text - not just some words to memorise, but information to know.

Finally, test yourself. It is good if you can do this with a study partner. Close the book and see how much you remember.

Spread the work out

Make a study timetable to help spread out the work. Don't learn the same information over and over again. Move forward. The point of studying the harder stuff first is so that your revision gets easier and you may even have things to look forward to towards the end.

Also don't spend too much time on one topic. If it is a general exam, then you should get a higher mark if you know a lot about most of the topics. Only learning one thing thoroughly is risky and if that topic is not even covered in the exam then you are stuck.

Plan some downtime

Do not forget to schedule in plenty of breaks and downtime. Don't forget meals and drink plenty of water while you study.

If your timetable is not too strict then you have more of a chance of sticking to it. Have lots of breaks, but make sure that you come back after the breaks are over.

Treat yourself after every study period. It can be anything: 5 minutes on your favourite game or website, a snack, a chat to a friend, anything to look forward to when you have finished the work.

Get some sleep!

Finally, relax!
Don't stress out too much
Sleep when you are supposed to.
You can only do so much, take it in short easy steps and keep a note of how much you have done to motivate yourself to do more.
You know, it could be an enjoyable experience if you do it right!

Don't do this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5mqbKs1PoI