3D printers

3D printers are a device that has recently seen a huge increase in popularity of the last few months or year. They are basically a print that creates the image in 3D using templates that specially designed and the items it prints are made out of a liquid plastic that solidifies quickly. They can not create anything too complex but the biggest ones can create objects that are a few feet long and a few feet tall. The print, well it can not make complex moving parts, can create parts of a kit that can be put to together to create something bigger that could be more complicated. They are available at a lot of different places and you can get them for a range of prices and sizes, as well as methods for printing and type of plastic it uses. There are 3D printers for commercial use as well as recreational use around the home.

There are a few printers that are extremely expensive that use lasers that can 3D print uses all kinds of materials like glass, plastic, rubber, and some metals. This are called SLS 3D printers. The materials it uses come in a powder form that is slowly put into position. Then the laser heats up the powder into solid object. This type of 3D printing takes a lot of time and energy. They are also expensive and because of the laser involved are used only for business that specialize and have the personnel required to operation one of the machines.

FDM printers are the most widely used 3D printers, but they can only use the special plastic as a building material. They have a hose with a special nozzle that slowly sprays the plastic out into the deserved shape. This printers can be used anywhere.

The last type of 3D printer is the SLA, which uses a tank of the plastic and a high powered light source. The tank is filled with the deserved amount of plastic and the light source melts certain spots in order to create a specific object. Because of its design this printers can only produce basic objects and can make anything too complex. They are one of the most inexpensive options available though and can be used and run into many environments.

Because of the increase in popularity of 3D printers there are more unique designs popping up, along with new uses and functions.

Where do Bitcoins come from?

Now in my last post I talked about Bitcoins and their creator, plus the uses and the fact that the Chinese government has taken an odd interest in them, but how do they work? While one of the reasons that bitcoins actually have a lot of value is because they are limited. There is only 21 million bitcoins in exist and most of them have not been found yet. The reason for the limiting is so it can still hold a value. Because they are limited in the amount it means each bitcoin is harder to found then the next. It is predicted that the last bitcoin will be mined in 2140, so there is still plenty left to mine.

There are three distinct ways to mine bitcoins. You can purchase them from any sort of exchange that sells bitcoins or you can exchange services for bitcoins. The second way is where bitcoins come from, and that is using programs and algorithms that are endless, and your computer processes the data searching for parts of blocks. Once the blocks are put together it forms a total block, and that is a bitcoin. The problem is because there are a lot of bitcoins out on the market, it can a long time for one bitcoin to be mined, with an average computer it could upwards of 3 years to mine a full bitcoin, which would not be even close to profitable. There are computers that are being build to mine bitcoins but a good one can cost about twelve thousand dollars.

The final and most popular way to mine bitcoins is called poolmining, where you sign up and rent out your computers power and processing abilities to a group or company that over the internet uses your computer along with dozens or hundreds of other computers and you make money on the percent of blocks mined, it pay is based of the amount of work your computer did processing. But once again the amount of money make is no where near the cost of maintaining and powering your computer. So there are points when the cost of bitcoins make it worth the price of mining them, but most of the time it is people doing it for a hobby. I have given pool mining a try over a weekend, and made myself about a dollar fifty, so no not worth my time but it was a interesting experience.

Bitcoin

Bitcoin’s are a new currency that was created a few years ago. Because of its popularity it has successfully turned into an entirely new currency that has taken off. Bitcoin is a entirely online currency that was created by an unknown person at the time it was introduced. Investigators have discovered that they were created by a man named Nick Szabo who was going by the alias Satoshi Nakamoto which means Steve Smith in Japanese. Bitcoins are a online currency that can be used at many websites in the place of or payment options. The price of a single bitcoin has altered drastically ranged anywhere from 5 cents to its highest point which was November last year where it was over 1,100 dollars for one Bitcoin. At one point Nick Szabo, who is in possession how about millions Bitcoins, which made him a billionaire at one time, purely from a currency he created. At the moment Bitcoin’s are worth about 450 dollars a piece.

Bitcoin’s are available for use on many different sites that allow the use of bitcoin as payment or in ways of exchange. They can also be used in exchange for many services and some companies take bitcoins as payment. Bitcoins have increased greatly in popularity in the last year and because of it, they have created millionaires and hundreds of very wealthy individuals. The massive spike in bitcoins can almost be entirely attributed to the buying of Bitcoins in China. When the Chinese started buying Bitcoins singlehandedly that caused the price of Bitcoins to almost triple in price. The reason for the increase of buying in China is that the government is encouraging the citizens to buy Bitcoins which is an oddity to most people who look at the situation.

The experts claim that the reason is the Chinese government have realized that the yuan is a currency with many problems involved and that it will never grow in popularity in other nations. They believe the Chinese government see things like Bitcoin as a way to create a rival to the United States dollar bill.  Even still people are still wondering two things, why are the Chinese so interested in Bitcoin, and is Bitcoin just a fad that will wear off or will electronic currency that will take off. Either way right now Bitcoin is a powerhouse on the online market and I see potential in the a currency that is completely online.

Find My Phone Apps

Find my phone apps have been in use for a while but are seeing a rise in popularity with the rise in smartphone theft. But an unsettling trend is that more people are using the app to track down the criminals and paying them personal visits. This dangerous because no matter how cases you hear that the people confronted the criminals get their phones back with no confrontation, there are many stories of violence on both sides. Many phone recoverers's bring weapons along, like hammers, knives and firearms in order to threaten the thief. But many times this just causes more violence and increases the risk.  

The police are very against this idea, of people taking the law into their own hands. But a big problem is that police can not go and retrieve the phones themselves without violating laws nor can they send the time going around and knocking on doors asking for phones back. But they warn that they do not endorse vigilantism. Because of this dispute they are pushing for phone companies to install the kill switch. Another idea is that people might be using this kill switch as a way to lure people in and rob them or worse.

This is another major reason for companies to install kill switches. But still the companies refuse to do so because theft is a major income for them. They make a lot of money through stolen phones and are not fans of people going out of getting their phones back because it loses them money. They say that the kill switch could easily be used to destroy peoples phones but if the phone is properly backed up. It should not be that large of a concern by the people. There is certainly a large debate between, whether you should go track down your phone in person or call the police and do it safe thing. There are good points on each side of the argument. One point is that if the cops are not going to do anything then what's the point. The phone is not cheap and there is a good chance that the person is just holding onto the phone looking to contact people. But another point of the other side is that the person will not be looking to give back the phone if they stole it. So the I am spilt down the middle, if a person gets their phone back on their own, but if a person is beaten up or killed while trying  to get their phone back , its their fault.

Apple vs Samsung

Recently Apple and Samsung have been battling it out over the idea and rights to the idea that samsung stole the ideas from their product the I phone and used it to make their products in the galaxies series. Samsung has had problems with violating patents when they are creating their own products. They have admitted to violating other contracts and patents from other companies but refuse to say that they stole anything from Apple and even have countered Apple’s claims with claims of their own.

In the end, both sides got much less money than they asked for. In the month long trial, Apple accused Samsung of violating five patents covering mobile software features, asking for $2 billion in damages. Samsung accused Apple of violating two patents and sought $6 million. The jury decided Apple would owe $158,400 in damages to Samsung for infringing one of the two patents.

“We agree with the jury’s decision to reject Apple’s grossly exaggerated damages claim,” Samsung said on Monday in a statement. “Although we are disappointed by the finding of infringement, we are vindicated that for the second time in the U.S., Apple has been found to infringe Samsung’s patents. It is our long history of innovation and commitment to consumer choice that has driven us to become the leader in the mobile industry today.”

Apple declined to provide a statement on Monday aside from reiterating what it said last week. After hearing the initial verdict, the company said the ruling reinforced “what courts around the world have already found: that Samsung willfully stole our ideas and copied our products.”

I think that neither of these companies lawsuits’ were really  into the fact that the other stole “ideas”. I think it is more on the fact that they are each others competitors  and they went to prove who is the more influential and more powerful. It was just a big show of force between the two companies, it just ended up being a stalemate with each company getting a few million dollars from each other.

Several legal experts have said the outcome was a defensive victory for Samsung, since it was able to sway the jury to reduce the amount it would owe so substantially. For a company that generates mountains of cash so quickly, $119.6 million is not much. As for Apple, each Apple retail store brings in $13 million in revenue a quarter on average, according to estimates by Asymco, a research firm. There are about 420 retail stores worldwide.

Is Twitter an Absurd Company?

Why is the company Twitter or TWTR as its stock is called, a terrible and absurd company? No I don’t mean that the use of it as a media device is bad, even though my personal opinions are that it is a generally a waste of time with all the nonsense like people tweeting what they are doing all the time. The company as a whole is a bad idea because it is not successful at

all.

Yes the company does make a lot of money through ads, paying for followers, and donations. But the amount of loss this company faces each quarter is astounding, they have had 13 losses quarters in a row. They don’t any positive income, nor do they even do that much work for the a lot of money they have to spend. People are starting to ask questions and wondering if all the promises the company has made are true. They continue to say that they will start making money and see positive gains, but they have been saying that for a year. They have adding features desperately trying to make money but they just seem to spend even more. They have thousands of employers, but what do they do? Why is there so much spending in the under levels of the company if they are losing so much money?

The problems is obvious, the people who own the stock of twitter need to just sell it. It is worth nothing, the company will continue to lose money until people finally lose faith and just pull out. They have recently just had a major crash in stocks and a lot of people are starting to pull out. Twitter continues to tell investors to just hold on, they will start making positive income soon, but the huge problem is the Twitter’s growth has slowed greatly. Not that many people are joining and the ads are not making nearly enough money to support the huge company. Twitter will follow most media sites and will lose a lot of its popularity. Right now the growth is falling way under predictions from the company and unless twitter starts lower its costs they will eventually fail. A large reason is because when Twitter became public the stock shot up way higher then it should have because people had a lot of expectations for it because the success of facebook.  

OnePlus One

The new smartphone coming out of OnePlus is hyped to be groundbreaking and being called a “Flagship Killer” product. One of the reasons that the product is supposed to be groundbreaking is because of all the new hardware that is launching with it. Not only is it the most powerful phone that is coming on to the market, it is also set at one of the cheapest prices only being 300 dollars. It is launching with the newest processor from SnapDragon, leaders in the advancements of phone hardware.

Another advancement was the increase in screen size of the phone, but without increasing the size of the actually phone that much. It has a quad-core processor, each 2.5GHz which makes it extremely powerful compared to its rivals. It packs 3 gigabytes of RAM, which is equal to many of its competitors. But the fact that it is a more advanced type of RAM  that allows it to run multiple Apps effortlessly at once. Its powerful camera outclasses many other smartphones allowing it to take breathtaking shots.

The operating system it runs off of is a modded version the android system that was the highest rated among operating systems by users. It has a new type of sensor built into it that will allow you to use gestures and signs in order to use functions without touching the screen. It has a new type of battery that is designed to last as long as possible with special sensors that limit use and its backlight  allows so it does not allow extra use. The battery is allowed to run all day long, plus a new system in the battery that allows it to charge faster.

Another big selling point for the phone is its ergonomics, that are specially designed for use and being held by a person. It has light sensors built into it to change the lighting of the screen as to lower battery use. The Wifi device inside it is stronger than other devices in order to give it longer ranges so it is easier to stay connected.

This phone is not out yet, but if it follows through even most of the features it promises it will indeed be groundbreaking. The fact that it is priced so low is amazing considering it is hundreds of dollars cheaper than the flagship phones on release. This is definitely a phone to keep your eye on.

Are Smart guns the future?

There are new guns coming out on the market that are called smart guns. They have devices built into them that make you have to be verified as the owner of the gun to shot it. You have to register in order to activate the gun and it keeps track of you when you use it. The new ones use watches that you wear to activate the , so you have to be wearing the watch in order to shoot it. The hope is that because of all this safe constraints gun related violence will go down.

A lot of the crimes committed with guns are usually illegal guns that are not registered and used by people who have records that make it illegal for them to own firearms. The creators of smart guns are hoping that the increase in gun safety will help lower crime rates. But the main problem is that people have shown that they do not want the “personal” guns. Because of the rules you have to follow to activate them, people think they will lose all their use in important situations. Like if a burglar breaks into someones home, and that person does not have their watch with them the gun is useless.  

But the counterargument is that people will not be able to steal and trade in illegal guns, nor will guns be able to be used by criminals that should not have guns. That people will not be able to use them in any crimes because of how will it is documented. The biggest problems are that there are guns on the market that do not use smart technology. Because they are available completely undermines the use of smart guns. Why would a person handicap themselves against people who are the committing crimes like robbery and murder.

Another big problems is the reliability of the guns. If one little thing goes wrong the gun will not work. Many of the smart guns made in the past have not been reliable at all and there have been many problems with them.  One model of a handgun have a fingerprint scanner on the grip to prove that your were you to be able to fire it. But the problem was that it did not always work or sometimes it would for someone one who was not its owner. I think that technology needs to advance more before we see smart guns as a popular safety barrier.

Keyboard configurations

Keyboards have changed a lot over the course of time. One of the configurations is Dvorak.The Dvorak Simplified Keyboard is a keyboard layout patented in 1936 by Dr.August Dvorak and his brother-in-law, Dr. William Deeley. Over the years several slight variations were designed by the team led by Dvorak or by ANSI. It puts a lot of the most used keys in the home row and the most used combinations are easy to use as well. Dvorak proponents claim the Dvorak layout uses less finger motion, increases typing rate, and reduces errors compared to the standard QWERTY keyboard. This reduction in finger distance traveled is claimed to permit faster rates of typing while reducing repetitive strain injuries though this has been called into question.

The standard that we use now is called QWERTY. The name comes from the first six keys appearing on the top left letter row of the keyboard and read from left to right: Q-W-E-R-T-Y. The QWERTY design is based on a layout created for the Sholes and Glidden typewriter and sold to Remington in 1873. It became popular with the success of the Remington No. 2 of 1878, and remains in use on electronic keyboards due to the network effect of a standard layout and a belief that alternatives fail to provide very significant advantages. The use and adoption of the QWERTY keyboard is often viewed as one of the most important case studies in open standards because of the widespread, collective adoption and use of the product. The actual reason the keyboard is used mainly popularity, many people say that there are better configurations of keyboards that are faster and better for your hands.

The Colemak keyboard layout is another alternative to the standard QWERTY layout, offering a more incremental change for users already accustomed to the standard layout. It builds upon the QWERTY layout as a base, changing the positions of 17 keys while retaining the QWERTY positions of most non-alphabetic characters and many popular keyboard shortcuts, supposedly making it easier to learn than Dvorak for people who already type in QWERTY. It shares several design sensibilities with DVORAK, such as minimizing finger path distance and making heavy use of the home row. An additional defining feature of the Colemak layout is the lack of a Caps Lock key, an additional Backspace key occupies the position typically occupied by Caps Lock on modern keyboards.

How protected are you?

Well last week the heartbleed bug was running rampant and everyone was watching out of it but how safe are you online? Well it turns out the heartbleed bug was going on for months and it just came out that it was a serious threat and affecting millions and was a major problem but no one know about it. It turns out that only a handful of people who work at this companies are the reason if you have the virus or not. The threats online are so  severe that you are warned not to use debit cards online and be wary of sites, watch what you download, your information is never safe online. Why is this such a big problem and why has it been a problem for so long?

One of the most downloaded things is antivirus security and business are run off of people needing their computer cleaned out of virus and Trojan horses. The biggest problem is the general populations knowledge of computers. Most people don't bother learning the basics of computers let alone the advanced stuff like reading and learning how to really work the in depths parts of computers. This is all understandable because it is a lot to learn can be very confusing and does not make a lot of sense. So companies try to make it very simple and easy to use, simplifying everything, generally just giving people yes or no questions, doing short titles and hiding all the complicated stuff behind cute little images of folders and icons. But the problems is hackers and virus are easily able to hide behind this very brief data given to you and get access though a yes or no question that you don't realize you are making. Because you using a computer is so easy you can accidentally download something wrong. Everyone does this and only a few people can really fix it. People don’t have the time or dedication to learn all this things and how to protect ourselves from them. The fault lies with the people you do trust, the people you hire to fix the problem. So make sure you know what exactly is wrong with your computer when you take it in and try to get the people who helped you to explain everything. Little things like this can go along way to protect yourself the next time.

Kill Switch is a good thing?

A new feature is hopefully being added to smartphones at the start of next year that will have a big impact of crime hopefully. The idea is that it is a device in your phone that you could have activated to completely brick your phone and just make it useless. The idea is that it will completely deter theft of smart phones. If your phone is lost or missing and this might not be the best idea but if your phone is stolen you can completely disable it, rendering it useless. Because there is no point in stealing it, officials are hoping that it will cause them to be stolen less. Now if you can recover your phone the companies say they can retrieve all your data, photos and contacts, so there really is no apparent downside.

But the main concern from companies is that hackers might be able to hack into their computers and just start disabling phones. This is not really really a large issue most officials who back this idea say, because the companies should be able to get you your information back. Lawmakers are some of the strongest supporters of this movement because they believe this will greatly lower the theft of smartphones which has been growing rapidly in the last few years. The companies have been mainly against this idea, saying it's counterproductive and they deemed it not possible a few months ago. But increase in pressure from the customers have lead them to change their mind and in Minnesota, there is currently a law trying to make it mandatory to have this feature in phones for a company to sell. The companies are resisting this change because it would cause a drop in the money they make for replacing phones. If the amount of phones stolen drops so does the amount of warrants that are taken out to help if your phone is stolen. Many customers are switching to phone providers that encourage the kill switch, like Apple, who included a similar feature in their new IOS they just rolled out. The main fear for the supporters is that not enough will use this feature and that it will be left unused so people continue on stealing smart phones.

The Heartbleed bug

The heartbleed bug is a huge bug that was just uncovered by some big security companies that was allowing access to people’s information. Just about every major site has been infected with this virus. It has been around for about 2 years but was just discovered but the outcry has been large. This bug has allowed for thousands of people’s information to be stolen from all sorts of sites.

The heartbleed bug is a bug that opens up a hole in services that allows peoples to gather information for the site with having to have a password or username. It is very deadly on a site that has the ability to remember your password and automatically logs you in because the bug allows that person to enter as you anytime its wants. It allows access to emails, passwords, credit card access and other information.

The heartbleed bug also affects other things than just computers, it has been found in other devices like phones and smartphones. Information tapes have been found on things like video conferences and was found in things like the switches for the internet, which are used everywhere. It has been found in cameras and in hard drives so just about very type of information has been compromised.

The effects of this bug while been felt for a long time. The big companies will be compromised for a long time but changing your password and not being auto logged in will be not be enough. Even when new patched that will stop this bug come around, it will never be safe because small business and medium size business will not be able to stop the bug. The companies that the large companies outsource to or go through or use the services of, will affect the  large companies all over again. Experts are saying that is the bug of the century and the aftershocks of this will be felt for a long time. Because this bug has been active for a long time, there really is not anything to do about it, expect to just sit and wait. Some suggest it would be better to continue as you always have but monitor your bank account and emails closely to see if you are being affected by the bug.

Advancements for Smartphones

Advancements in cell phones that you might see in a year or 2 year. These are some new things that are being developed that will greatly improve on certain smart phones but not entirely new phones. The first advancement is a way to improve vibration. Everybody has missed calls and texts from not feeling the vibration so there are companies working on new ideas that could help improve a silent way to get messages, because having your ringer on is not practical in most places nowadays.  One company is trying to make the phone be able to send a pulse into your body that makes you aware of the phone. I am not sure on this because I don't think people would be willing to use this, even if it cause no pain. Another way to improve is the increase in the power of the vibration. Like if your phone is on a table it will vibrate hard enough that it will flip over and if its in your pocket it will turn and twist to get you to notice it. There will be pads on it or a special cast for your phone that makes it so it is no loud nor make a lot of noise as it moves on a hard surface.

Another big now idea is bendable phones. Sony is trying to create a phone that can bend and twist. Now its just a small amount but the use of it would be it would make phones a lot more durable and harder to break. They would also fit in just about any pocket, which is a huge problem with the problem that the increase in the size of phones is making them bigger then peoples pockets.

The next big advancement is companies are working on a new battery. They are working on batteries that will had enough energy for several days of use. The bigger advance is a company based in Iran. A group of scientist were working on a cure for Parkinson's and come upon a way to charge batteries nearly instantly. The battery has a new compound of chemicals that can charge fully in under 1 minute. They have a working prototype that is the size of a cigarette  packet but they are working on making it smaller. They say that their product will be on the market soon and I for one can’t wait for this.

Is the penalty for hacking too high?

Is the punishment for hacking to high? If you look at the crime itself, what is hacking? The law has trouble because the crimes you can commit using a computer change every day, new things are being developed that can be hacked and there are new ways to access data that might not be not be illegal but still violate laws. The punishments for hacking are very high, with tens of thousands of dollars in fines and up to 20 years in prison. Is that to high for a price for some minor crimes? While because the law is still new, the penalties have changed quite a lot recently. There are other situations that someone hacks a company but does not actually cause any damage but still violates so laws.

Recently a man was convicted to 20 years in prison and several thousand dollars in fines, and the man killed himself. The crime he committed was he hacked a company and stole some information, but the sentence he received was worse then so murders get. So there are so people advocating that the penalties be lower, mainly the prison sentences and an increase of the fines the people have to pay.

There are 2 kinds of hackers, black hats who are hackers that are doing it on their own and hacking into companies for stealing information and money. And there are white hats, that not always hired by the companies but they hack companies to show weaknesses and loopholes they can find and then advise the company how to prevent further hacks and help them close the holes. Some of this kinds of hackers have not been hired by the companies and are just doing it on their own so even though they are not malicious, they can be arrested for this crimes. A handful of the most famous white hat hackers are actually have asperger and do not know what they are doing is necessarily bad and wrong.

There have even been large groups of people who ban together and create hacking “clans”. The most notorious are MOD or masters of destruction, MOB has been stopped by government and the rest have gone underground but a few other groups have taken up in their stead and because they are so powerful they have the ability to bring entire company to their knees, so should this malicious groups be arrested for the same laws that other hackers that are not necessarily bad?

Do Pro gamers make enough money to live off of?

How much do Pro gamers make compared to the a regular job. Well the highest paid pro gamer at the moment, who lives in the United States, makes about 400,000 dollars a year but that's not mainly from him and his team winning tournaments and bringing in prize money. This money mostly coming from salaries, sponsors and money from things like streaming and doing other small things. There are other ways for making money from gaming to, Reginald a League of Legends player who switched from playing to managing his team, TSM not only does he make money off his team, but he is a smart investor and he runs a business based off his team selling merchandise. He has not gone public with his money but it's speculated that he is a millionaire and one of the ways he has done this is by making his team super popular, he has them stream on Twitch and they do things with fans and he advertises plus getting a lot of sponsors for his team.

This are the higher end Pros that are famous and make a lot more money than the average Pro. On average the lesser known and average skill level teams make about 85,000 to 100,000 which is still pretty good but that is average so half the players make less than that. But another time you have to take into notice is that most teams live in player house’s that are owned by the team and the players do not have to pay for housing expenses. Traveling is also not an issue because usually the sponsor's or the people holding the tournament pay for the travel and hotel costs. The average american makes about 50,000 thousand dollars, so the average Pro player makes more than most and it is a dependable job to support yourself. But compared to other professional athletes, most gamers do not make nearly as much money. Plus its no easy ride to just become a Pro gamer and the time required to practice and to get  good enough does take a lot of time and talent. This does not leave a lot of time to get another job so they have to rely a lot on gaming. There is also a age period just like other sports where after about 30 your reaction time is just too slow to be able to compete with the younger Pros. So, yes the average Pro gamer does make enough money to live off on and it is comparable to other having a full time job.

Is Pro gaming a real job?

Is being a pro gamer actually a thing or is it something a teenage boy says as he talks all his "skills pwning noobs"? There have been video game competitions since 1972, but the first major one was in 1981 backed by Atari. Recently video game competitions which are now referred to as e sports (electronic sports) have taken off with in increase in the popularity of live streams and use of the internet. They have been very popular in places like South Korea since the 2000’s but have not successfully launched in the United States. Recently with huge growths in live stream watchers and viewing websites they have taken off in the States. Websites like Twitch.tv and Own3d.tv really caused the popularity of e sports to increase greatly. Many times e sports had be on television but never received many views and they would only last a few years each. But with live streams e sports had found their place, with many competitions gaining tens of thousands of viewers, if not more. Because of this the events are growing larger and larger each year with millions in dollars of prizes during the seasons.
 Sponsorship are becoming a large benefactor to the growth as well and the companies not only help supply the funding but also the equipment required for the competitions. The current games that popular right now are games like DOTA 2, League of Legends, Starcraft 2, Counter Strike and many other games. Fighting games have been popular for a long time but have distanced themselves for other games and do not generally go by e sports. Pro gamers are almost always part of a team organization.  This teams get sponsors of their own and gives gamers the ability to earn a team salary, so winning tournaments and competitions are not the only way they can make money. 
A large trend that is happening in major team based games are that the teams are all being to live together in one big house, sometimes called a team house or gaming house. Because countries like China and Asia have had serious competitions longer than any other place generally leads them to be the best in most areas, but many European countries have caught and North America has caught up as well though still slightly behind. So yes, being a pro gamer is actually a thing and there is in chance that in the U.S it might one day be as popular as other sports.

Virtual Reality

Virtual reality is back in the news and is growing more popular than ever. A company called Oculus VR is working on a major project called the Oculus Rift, and so far its a success. They started out on Kickstarter where they were extremely successful in raising enough money for their project and have begun testing their new products with buyers. It has grown in popularity because of the company’s presence at just about every big convention and in everyone they are allowing demos or showing something new off. The new VR experience is so amazing and in depth that special precautions had to be made with first time users at the exhibits, you have to sit down with your back to a wall while an employee sits with you and helps explain you through it. It is supposed to be extremely distorting but feels amazing when you get used to it. 
What it is is a headset with HD displays on the inside that have huge fields of view. It has a gyrostabilizer that makes the world move as you move and is said to make it extremely immersive. There have been talks between game development companies and Oculus, and there are speculated that deals have been made, so you might start seeing games that make use of the Oculus Rift soon. 
You can buy a “dev kit” or developer kit from their website, but when they announced they sold out very quickly. You can place an order for one and they are surprising only 350 $ which is very cheap for what they do. There have been other advancements in accessories for the Rift, with things like a treadmill that moves with you, so while you wear the headset you can walk on the treadmill and actually move your character in the game. They have extended over they’re displays and exhibits in conventions as well. They have a digital model of Westeros, the imagery continent that the popular show Game of Thrones and the book series A song of Fire and Ice. They’re lasted big news is that Facebook has offered to buy their company for 2 billion dollars. They have accepted and Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook says he will also begin developing for educational purposes as well.

Moving to Mobile, but for how long?

In general the technology growths today as well as just the increase in the market for PC’s are to found found in the mobile areas. With the increase in popular with smartphones, tablets, and laptops it makes sense. Because of the increase in popularity of smart phones people want to do other things on the move. They want to be able to watch their favorite shows while on the go, to do all sorts of things like update Facebook from the Doctor’s office or Twit while driving. This push for more mobility has caused a lot of the focus from developers to switch to improving mobile technology instead of all around advancements.

Inside of looking to design a processor that has double the power of other processors but instead looks to make the current processors smaller and cheaper. This is not generally a good thing. If you look at the price’s of new hardware for PC’s you will find the prices going up and not that many advancements as there use to be. This trend can not continue on its current path. You can not just keep making the parts smaller and smaller, the size makes it so it uses way more energy and wastes a lot more as well making the unit give out faster. Something needs to change in order to be able to keep the advancements coming. The technology used needs to change, like the use of nano tubes and fibers, or something less radically, like creating smaller and more useful heat sinks for your phone to be able to cool it off.

But will the craving for newer and better mobile devices wear off after a while or will we keep heading in this direction?  While hopefully a new and better thing comes and takes its place. Like VR or a advancement, my hopes is though things like like glasses and watches, wearable s because the current smartphone craze needs to die off eventually. At the moment smartphones should not really be called just phones, they are a lot of things, like a mobile computer, a social media platform as well as things like writing papers on them or playing games. Unless there is a new advancement things will keep going towards mobile but the rate will slow down greatly, it already has with small little things like , adding a fingerprint scanner that does nothing really and a slightly larger battery but the faster processor uses up all the extra battery life it gives you.

Should you build you own computer?

Should people build their own computers or is it a waste of time? While I believe that building your own computer is a good thing to do and will help you understand them better, but to the average consumer, is it really a viable option? There are DIY yourself computers that come in parts and you just assemble but you also could just take it into a computer shop and have them assemble it for you. There are 4 things that could be a problem though, First, there's the added cost of an operating system license. This would something like Windows or Linux. Second, it can be difficult to source quality retail components. You need to pick each part with care and they have to fit with enough other. Third, PC home brewing takes a significant amount of time and effort. You need to have patience and there is some studying that is required to do it successfully. Lastly if you have a local PC shop build the machine for you, there's a very real chance it could go out of business and leave you without support. There is also quite a fall in PC’s and a large move to mobile. Because of this a lot companies that use to make individual parts that are not used to mobile devices are having to switch their roles and make parts that do work in mobile. The price of parts are going up and just finding the right parts in getting harder and harder. So with all these things is it really a good idea to build your own computer? Well, for the average consumer I would say no, it is not worth the time and effort to build your own, buying a stock computer would suit them better. But to anyone who already has the know how or is looking for a custom, extra powerful computer I would highly recommend building your own. Many stock computers have are higher end cost a lot more and if you look at the specs they sometimes cut corners in hopes to save money, like having a small amount of RAM or a terrible graphics card. If you are scared of the task of building your own computer I would recommend looking at builds, and watching videos on the actually assembly.

Are Wearable what's next?

Smartphones are the current big seller, with one and five people in the world owning one. But are wearable the new craze? Wearable are devices that you wear, things like watches, glasses, fitness trackers and even some stranger things like clothes and tattoo with sensors and even indigestible pills that pass through your body. Big companies are investing in the less wackier types though. Google released their tests for Google glasses, and many companies are working on kinds of watches. Now people most people don’t know but the wearable are not made to replace your other gadgets, but are instead a way to collect data or do other things and relay back to the main device. While I believe they are a long way off, wearable the next step. Imagine if all you notifications were pushing to your watch or glasses. Instead of having to pull out your phone you could use your watch to quick send texts or view emails. You could check everything just as you would check your time. It could do many things to simply make things better and easier in your life. You could go into a store and have everything would be sent to your glasses. You just talk into your watch and just call someone or make a note. The first uses would be health uses, it could measure your heartbeats, you could use it as pedometer or use it to help with workouts. The biggest confirmed product is the Samsung gear 2, which slimmed down its build from last product. The problems that are predicted though is Samsung refuses to link it with smartphones but their own products. This means you have buy a smart watch to match your smartphone which would limit the market by quite a bit. Many companies are predicting that while its a big market and a pausable branch in the industry it will have a lot of failures to start out with. I believe that wearable are not going to be in style this year or maybe next year, but when the hardware catches up, it will definitely be a type of product that will become popular.

Apples empire

Everyone has or knows someone with an apple product. They are everywhere, one of the most popular smartphones are iphones, the iPod and itouch control the mp3 market, and Mac book pro’s are a major player in the laptop market and their desktop’s top’s are very popular among people. But if you take a look at the power behind all their device’s you will see lackluster spec’s and underwhelming performance numbers. If you compare prices with other machines at the same price point and you will be scratching your head wondering why is this popular. Many people think that apple products are better, so they cost more but thats not true. They’re amazing “retina display” is just HD under another name. The main argument that I could believe was “all my stuff is on itunes” and people don’t want to change. But as time has gone things have gotten worse, so now is the time to change. The new Iphone is about as good as last generation smartphones from other companies. The new Iphone 5c is such a waste, costing more than most smartphones and is has just way too old technology. And the only thing new about the Iphone 5s is just the same with a fingerprint scanner. Apple computers are way more expensive than PC’s that are worse than them. The only remarkably about Mac’s are the software, which is the only thing they have patented but it is just a front, Apple has nothing new but how it’s laid out with the individual bubbles and the create of “Apps”. It seems all their effort goes into making their products look futuristic, I mean come on the Mac Pro is just a cylinder. Mac’s have their place, because the computers are designed completely for video editing and creating animations, but there is no reason for someone who does not need it for those things to have one. People are sucked into the fact that, hey it costs the most so it must be the best. But that fact is not true. The software has the looks but nothing else of value backing it up. Learning to use a regular PC is just as hard as using a Mac, I would say Mac’s are harder just because using programs and accessing things are harder on a Mac.

Why is Technology changing so fast?

It amazes me how fast technology has changed over the last century. People were astounded when handheld calculators came out. What would those people say if they saw that people today carry around these super advanced devices that act as computer as well as a phone.  Computers just started showing up in people’s homes in the 90’s, and even then they were mostly glorified typewriters. Today, just 2 decades later everyone has access to computer’s that are way more advanced and most people carry around smartphones like they are no big deal. In the last 60 years technology has changed and evolved at an incredibly fast state. Most people agree that each advancement speeds the rate of advancing, like a small snowball rolling down a hill builds up speed and size as it gathers more snow. But what was the big advancement  that lead to such a rapid increase of speed in advancement?  I think it was the invention of computers. If you think about it before computers life was a lot harder, everything had to be done by hand, you could not “save” a paper, you not just look things up if you did not know something you had to go find a book with the answer. Information in general had to be saved on paper, so business had to have archives of their work. Even things like cartoons, there was no computer animation, so each slide was hand drew. Live action films had to shot and stored on tapes, so to go back and look at footage you had to go through reels of film. In general things had to be organized perfectly or finding information and what you want would be impossible. There was no e-mail or messaging so you had to call people. If you went to the library and could not find the book, there was no check to see if it was checked out unless it was written down somewhere. Computers are everywhere nowadays. All new cars have computers in them, some factories are powered by computers,  when grocery stores had no computers in the check out every single thing had to be counted out and added up. Bar codes did not exist, shipping companies had to kept in consistent contact through phones.  Simple tasks were harder and took more time. But with the invention of computers, everything got faster. Keeping track of things was some much easier. New things were invented that helped computers move everything fast, scientist could spread research and do things more advanced, engineers could make and create things they had never even dreamed of. Life in general got easier and faster. Computers changed the world than any other device has.      

Titan Fall

The guys at Respawn Entertainment must be geniuses in the fps genre. Many of the artists and engineers have worked on the past fps giants. Some of them have been working on games for a long time. A few of the guys worked on the old Medal of Honor games that came out on the gamecube and Golden Eye, games considered to be way ahead of their time and classic’s from their time. They later went on to create their own study call Infinity Ward and from there they went on to create the Modern Warfare series, some of the best selling and considered the greats fps’s ever created. Well, after some falling out some of them left Infinity Ward and created Respawn Entertainment and Titan Fall is going to be their first release, and it’s looking to be great one. Titan Fall is considered one of the first next gen titles to come out and it has been show off quite a lot. Somehow  they created magic again, this game takes many things that other games have done and failed at and they have succeeded at almost all of them. It is extremely vertical with things like wall running, parkour, jump jets and ledge grabs. Just about everywhere is accessible to you. They get mechs right which is hard enough when the game is only about mechs but they managed to fit mechs in beautifully. The titans as the mechs are called, are powerful, strong and can easily change the tide of a battle for a objective but they can also be easily taken out by soldiers on the ground, they can jump on the back of the titan and shot a bunch of important looking parts to take out the titan or ever player has a weapon designed to take out titan’s. Other titans are a huge threat to you if you are walking around in your titan and you have to keep your eyes open for threats. The system they use to get you your titan is great as well, it is not based on killstreaks or performing certain actions, your titan is on a timer and you can do things to shorten that time, like killing the bots running around, taking objectives, killing titans and taking out other players. I thinking Titan Fall is going to be a great game and very popular and I can’t wait to play it.   

Games done quick

What is Games Done Quick?

Games Done Quick is a very popular live stream on Twitch that raises money for charity. But the hook that the live stream is a congregation of the best speed runners in the U.S. and runs for a week non-stop. They have one in the summer called summer games done quick and one in the winter called awesome games done quick. Despite being extremely popular its following is almost a cult because its not mainstream.  There are tons of inside jokes and memes surrounding it and if most people who have never seen it before will be thoroughly confused by the twitch chat where it erupts whenever the fabled Based YSG opens his mouth to do his legendary laugh or Tri Hex and Spiked Vegeta doing their fusion dance to combine their Afros into one mega afro.

This years AGDQ was by far the largest where they raised over 1million dollars for the prevent cancer fund and broke 100,000 watchers at once. I thought last years summer games done quick was better but thats my opinion, nonetheless AGDQ was no push over this year and it was a good time. The biggest problem is how much it affects my sleep schedule. Because it never stops you can never sleep because I do that thing where i tell myself, ‘Ohhhh just one more game and then I will go to bed” then three games later its 5 in the morning and the next five games all look fun and exciting to watch so you have to tell yourself “Ohhhh what's one night without sleep this ends up costing you. SGDQ is during the summer so its not a big deal but AGDQ is during a school week, this year Based YSG granted us 2 snow days and a half day during AGDQ which was good but the days we had school I still stayed up to see the Charles Barkley Shut Up and Jam Gaiden that happened to bro at 3 in the morning so school the next day was a little hard.

So you might be asking what kind of games do they speed run? Well the answer is any kind of game, old, new old classics and random games you never heard of. They speed ran over 120 games this year. But the main attraction is not only the games but also the commentator and the runners, my favorite is Tri-hex, Spiked Vegeta, Bonesaw, and Toufool and YSG.  Now you might be wondering who is great YSG and what does YSG stand for? Well it means yellow shirt guy, his runner name is Blueglass though and he is a Internet meme. He is known because the first GDQ he never the audience and his odd sounding voice and laugh plus the fact that he never seemed to sleep made him a crowd favorite. I hope I have interested you in maybe watching the next SGDQ coming up this year.