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.