Visual Data

Google has been trying out new ways to represent data. For some reason people seem to think that looking at tables of numbers and words is boring. Up until now people have used the help of pie charts and bar graphs to visual data. This has helped, but after a few graphs and charts it is still snoozeville for most. So as one of Google's pet projects it is working out how data can be translated to data people care about. Here is an example of one of Google's visual data projects. They have a 3-D Globe, like Google Earth, and they display the different languages that Google around the world. Global Search Graph

Now one can easily assess that the graph maps out the civilized world and where people are connected to the internet. However, the one thing I pulled away from my high school statistics class is that data can be manipulated. Some things to consider would be the popularity of Google in each area. Sure the big cities maybe able to get Google, but some cultures Google might not be as good. Heck even here in the states we have a lot of people using other search engines. Who knows, podunk Russia may prefer Yahoo over Google. Another thing to consider is that in developing countries, may people assess the internet using smart phones. This is because it is easier and more cost effective to install cell towers periodically rather than running cables to every remote town in China. Smart phones might not always use Google as their default search engine. Another consideration is language. Google supports over 130 languages, but there is about 165 living languages of the world. So in order to use Google, you must speak or understand one of their languages, such the odd languages are not used as often but that big dark spot in Africa could be explained by the lack of support for the tribal language (from a mobile device of course).

The point is, Google's attempt to visualize data is a noble one. Translating spreadsheets into visual masterpieces is no easy task. I just thought I would give a warning that what you see is just one interoperation of that data.

What I'm Not

I spent the day working on my sister's website. I am often asked by friends and family to help them with various web projects. I enjoy doing this and it helps me gain a little more experience. The problem is that very few people understand what I can do and what I cannot do. As far as the website, I can rock out HTML, CSS, even some JavaScript. What I can't do is design. My poor sisters site looks terrible, she is happy with it so I didn't tell her otherwise. She just trusted me to design and build her website. She even tried to get me to write the content for her website. Heck it wasn't until I meet my friend Erin who taught me about color choices that I finally got a decent wardrobe that looked good on me and my house decorated how I wanted.

Anyways, I think all too often people just see that you can do one thing and then automatically assume you are a jack of all trades. In their defense it is just because you know more than they do about the subject.

April Fools Pranks

I love April Fool's Day. Oddly enough my family is usually excited to see what prank I pull off this year. The key it to do something harmless that doesn't make a mess or cause any embarrassment. Of course some of my tricks fail, like I should have realized my husband pours his morning milk in a blue glass so dying the milk blue wasn't very effective...perhaps red next year.

There is a lot of fun computer tricks that can be done with the same theories of harmless fun. My favorites are changing the font, background, or autocorrect function on the victim's computer. Lifehacker has spelled out a few of their favorites with instructions on how to pull them off.

Harmless Geek Pranks by Lifehacker

Google Becoming a Social Butterfly

The latest in Google technologies is +1, which allows users to link their social network to search results. This sounds confusing at first, but really what Google hopes to accomplish is creating a "Like" button on search results.

The good thing about this is that sites that your peeps in your network like or use will show up first, thus helping Google to accomplish their ultimate goal of having the most relavent sites listed first. It is like calling all your friends and asking them which website they would recommend for finding the best way to get rid of the weeds in your garden (or whatever you google).

The bad thing is this enters a gray area of privacy that many people will be up in arms about because they think there is a secret big brother government agency that cares that ran out of eyeliner for your hot date. Ok that might be a little extreme, but there are people who are concerned about how much of their personal information is out on the internet. The fact is identity theft is far more prevalent offline than online. If you think about it logically it makes sense, if someone was smart enough to hack into your bank account then they are smart enough to hold down a real job and make an honest living. On the other hand it takes no brains, or self respect for that matter, to shift through people's trash to find their bank statements. Obviously there are exceptions to the rule that are the root cause of people's paranoia, but as a general rule people are more likely to stock you in the real world than in cyberspace.

With Google going into uncharted waters, I wonder if combining one's networks for site recommendations is a good thing. I think the answer lies in its implementation. If Google tries to get too personal or pushes the boundaries of their privacy policy it will flop.

I just hope that if it takes off it will reduce the number of website posts on Facebook to sites and YouTube videos I am not interested in viewing. One disturbing monkey video later makes me hesitate to click on my friends likes that say "Hey check this out!"

3DS Review

While walking through London this weekend, we ran into a Nintendo demo setup for the new 3DS. It is the latest Nintendo DS that allows you to play your games in 3D without the use of funky glasses. The option for 3D graphics is optional, so if you get tired of it or your eyes hurt then you can switch it off for awhile. The 3D features actually have a slide bar allows you to adjust the 3Dness of your gaming experience. We didn't mess around with it too much, but that is how you turn off the 3D.

My husband and I were able to play a racing game, which is a good way to highlight a 3D graphic concept. I personally could see the 3D effect, but I thought it would be a lot different. It reminded me of the old holographic stickers I used to get as a kid. If you turn it one way you get one image and if you turn it slightly then another image appears. Usually the stickers produced some sort of action if you moved it back and forth quickly. This is the impression I got from the 3DS. If you tilted the screen a little then the images went a little fuzzy.

Another thing to note, the 3D effects produced by the game console were not the jump out at you type. It really just adds to the scenery and background. It could just be that it was a racing game, and the car was moving away from you. Of course this is ideal because it gave you a first person driver experience.

My husband on the other hand was not really impressed at all. He was over the experience in less than a minute. Keep in mind that he has eye trouble where one of his eyes are weaker than the other. He could still see the 3D, which occasionally he has trouble with at some movies, but he had a much more exciting vision of what a 3D game system should be in his head.

One thing I really liked about the 3DS is the new circle pad game controller feature they have added. It made it easier to move the car around, and I can image it would be easier for other games that required a more fluid motion. The 3DS features all of the great features that the DSi offers, although the camera features allow you to take 3D pictures as well as regular ones.

The 3DS is a new innovated concept, but I am not sure I would rush out and buy one. If you are looking to upgrade your older or wore out DS then this could be a fun. However, if you already have a DSi, then I would not recommend upgrading. I believe this is going to either be the first generation of many 3D game systems to come, or it will completely flop. Take note that I am not a hard core gamer, and I do not get into handheld game consoles. However, since I had the opportunity to test out the new 3DS I thought I would give my input.

App Stores

Amazon just recently opened their own App Store for Droid products. Honestly I do not have a Droid phone, but it has certainly gotten my attention. Before Amazon's App Store opened, most Droid users purchased their apps from the Android Marketplace which is run by Google. Now I am a big lover of Google, but one look at my bank statement will prove I'm a lover of Amazon as well.

After a quick glance at Amazon's developers section, I notice that they have the same terms as Apple for developing and selling apps. While I am not positive, I believe the Amazon store is trying to duplicate the quality control that Apple appears to have on their apps store. Unlike the Android Marketplace, the Amazon Appstore will require developers to submit their apps for approval before posting them on their site. As a consumer, I would think that if the apps costs the same then it would be more ideal to purchase approved apps. Sooner or later there will be a big app virus that deletes all your contacts and makes long distance calls to China right underneath your nose ha ha ha ha.

Since the whole concept of app stores is so new, it will be interesting to see what the future holds for them. Will there be anti-viral/anti-spam apps like Norton? Will more big companies take up selling apps? Or will a big freeware movement come across apps that allows people to download freely whatever they want?

Introduction

I am the person that everyone comes to with their computer problems. I've always loved computers, I've kept up with the changing technologies as I can best afford, and there is more computers in our house than people. Oh course some of them are project computers, but that is a different story. I really started getting into computers when my dad bought a bunch of them at an auction from the local college that was upgrading from the 386 computers. My dad knew nothing about them, but it seemed to look like a good investment. So he took apart all the old computers and made a few working computers. He sold most of them, but he noticed I took an interest in his latest project and kept two of them. See my parents had divorced at that point and he wanted to find a shared interest. We both had no clue what we were doing on these computers, but he made enough profit from selling all of them it was a free learning experience. One that required a plethora of time and patience. What ended up happening is my dad and I would call each other up all excited because we finally figured out if you type in  dir then it would make a list of everything on the computer. How amazing!! Ok well it was cool when we had no way of learning any DOS code, yes this was before the internet.

Moving down the timeline, after my dad and bonded over our DOS commands he decided to give me a computer for my Sweet 16th birthday. Don't worry I got a car after I completed my drivers test. With that computer I was able to type up reports and I got the first taste of what is now know as the World Wide Web! Ok back then it was a green screen and all text based, but it was still pretty cool. Thinking back the green screen might have just been a bad monitor.

Fast forward some more, I recently graduated with my degree in Software Engineering. Yep, I am a programmer. I love writing code! I'm a geek and I'm ok with that. So what makes me different that all the other geeks, well I'm a girl. Well I'm a woman technically, I think I crossed that bridge when I had kids. Female computer geeks are a rare breed. Science fields have been opening up to women for awhile now, and computer science is no different.

The problem I have is that it is difficult to find friends who really get excited over cool tech new technogadgets. Sure girls love the new iPhones that take pictures and come with these cool new styles of covers, but they just lack interest in the programming behind all of it. Likewise, I am not really into networking computers up for an insane WoW session, which is what a lot of my husband's tech guy friends talk about. So that leaves me in the middle with no one to share the awesomeness of Google's latest feature or the latest message forum for coders.  

So I created this blog to get all of it out of my system and to perhaps reach out to other tech geeks who share my interests.