If you take a close look at your monthly bill from the company providing your internet service, you will most likely find a monthly “rental” fee of several dollars a month.    If you learn how to “Keep Pace” with this technology, you will find a way to eliminate that charge and save some money !

NOTE:  The remainder of this blog entry assumes you are NOT using Comcast for your telephone service (which uses a different modem)

What is the issue ?

Internet Service providers typically charge a monthly “rental fee” for the device that enables your Internet service (referred to as a modem).     Comcast recently increased the rental fee to $7 a month which equates to:

12 months x $7 monthly rental = $84  per year

This $84 is in ADDITION to the cost of the monthly internet service.   As new internet modems are usually between $50-$100, the payback period for replacing your modem is usually around 1 year.

So how do you get started ?

The first step is making sure a replacement is a viable option for you.    So you should first:

• Call your Internet Service provider and verify you can purchase your own modem
• Verify the vendor (and model number) of  modems the Internet Service provider supports.   For Comcast, the following modem is supported:

Motorola SB6120 SURFboard

Shopping for your equipment !

Internet Modems are available from a number of retail outlets / online stores.    It doesn’t matter the source or where you purchase the modem, although you might experience more favorable return / exchange policies using a local retailer should something go wrong.

And while it is rare to see these modem’s go on sale, you can usually find a retailers discount coupons somewhere on the internet.

What is involved in the actual upgrade?

Once you have the modem in hand, the installation / replacement is rather straightforward.   Before you start the upgrade. you should consider getting a baseline of how fast your connection is with the current modem you are using.    The speed of your connection can be obtained following these steps:

1. Open a browser (such as Internet Explorer) and visit  http://speedtest.net/
2. Click on the button that says “Begin Test”
3. When the test finishes, record the speeds in the Download Speed / Upload Speed boxes.

Once you have your baseline speeds, you can then move on to the installation:

1. Contact your internet service providers technical support and tell them you are ready to replace your cable modem
2. They will ask for specific information about the modem (its usually on a label attached to the bottom / side of the modem)
3. The technical support person will ask  you to turn off the cable modem.   This means you will disconnect the wires attached to the modem (there is no need to mark these cables — there is only 1 way for them to be attached)
4. You then connect the wires to the new modem (the plugs are not interchangeable — there is only one possible connection for each wire)
5. If you are using a router, you will be asked to turn that off during the replacement process (it gets turned back on after the new modem is up and running)

Once the internet connection has been re-established, you can go back to  speedtest.net and re-run the speed test.   Just remember the numbers being reported will almost ALWAYS be different — the purpose of this step is to make sure the values are approximately the same as before)

What else do you need to consider?

While the upgrade process is relatively straightforward, some things to remember:

1. If your internet modem stops working YOU are responsible for getting a replacement. (The modem does come with a 2 year limited warranty — odds of it failing should be very low)
2. If your internet modem is NOT plugged into a surge protector — you should do so ASAP (power surges do bad things to electronics)
3. If you do not return the modem back to your Internet Service providers, you will continue to see the $7 monthly rental charge
4. Expect to see a form letter from your carrier once you stop the “rental” about how your modem may not provide you with the same speeds/functionality.   You can ignore this letter

And save the old modem for a few days.   If for some reason you experience problems (or just aren’t happy) you can always switch back.

To “Keep Pace” with future technologies

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Now that the Jeopardy “Man vs Machine” challenge is over, lets spend a little time evaluating what Watson did (and what it didn’t) to get a better understanding of how applications like IBM’s Watson will “Keep Pace” in the future

So what did we witness ?

Regardless of your knowledge of the underlying technology, the performance of Watson was impressive (and entertaining).   Just the steps needed to answer a question in a span of approximately 3 seconds (the time to read the question) consisted of:

• Break apart the words of the “answer” into discreet pieces
• Analyze the the pieces against its database
• Identify relationships and possible answers
• Calculate “degrees of confidence”
• Make the decision to answer the question — meaning “press” the button

Very impressive to say the least.   But should mankind be worried ?

What Watson did REALLY well !

Some of the things that stood out:

1.  When it “knew” the answer Watson could press the button  instantaneously.   Several articles have stated that it took Watson exactly four milliseconds — So a key problem for the human contestants was trying to beat Watson to the punch (the contestants looked very frustrated at times with this aspect).

2.  The ability to derive CORRECT answers .. QUICKLY !

Ignore the man behind the curtain ..

Now if you were watching closely,  subtle flaws could be identified with Watson’s performance.    Some of those flaws are based on:

• Computers have an IQ of ZERO
• Computers still can’t “think” OR reason like human beings
• Watson wasn’t designed to THINK — it was designed to play Jeopardy (and understand the games nuances)

So with that as working background, some elements to watch on the eventual rerun:

1.  Short answers — If you watch day 2 of the show — somewhere around the middle of the show was a period of “answers” that were very short (i.e. a few words).  It appeared as though Watson didn’t have enough information to get an answer with a high enough confidence — and this allowed the human players to catch up.

2.  Reason-ability.   In the first “Final Jeopardy” the category was US Cities and Watson eventually came back with an answer of “Toronto”.  The response from IBM was that “Cities” was not specifically mentioned in the “Answer” — but both humans were able to tie the category and question together.   Watson couldn’t

3.  Limitations — Watson was programmed to answer questions based on the rules of “Jeopardy”.   You would be hard pressed to make it do something else — OR — answer questions that weren’t in its database.  It is likely that Watson didn’t have enough information to associate the US Cities referenced in the “answer” s to World War II battles

We can rebuild him .. Better, Stronger, Faster …

The beauty of the Watson demonstration is that the technology is at an interesting point where it may be able to apply this approach to tasks that are truly data intensive.   It can evolve to be yet another tool that people use to get their jobs done.   It will be VERY interesting to see what IBM does next with Watson.

But as we know — technology marches on.    And right after the Jeopardy challenge, the following Wall Street Journal blog discusses something that should be BETTER than Watson and is only 4–5 years away !

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2011/02/16/computer-scientist-racr-will-eclipse-watson/

To “Keep Pace” with future technologies

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The following user submitted question led to today’s entry:

“I am ready for a tablet computer — what should I get?”

A simple question that unfortunately doesn’t have a simple answer.    However by looking at the current state of tablets and key purchasing decisions — you to can “Keep Pace” with tablet computer technology!!

It seems like only  yesterday

Released in April 2010, the Apple iPad has not only established the standard for tablet computers, it has forced a number of technology companies to release competitive products.

So what are the tablets currently available?

The current selection of available tablets consist of:

• Apple iPad Tablet
• Samsung Galaxy Tablet
• HP Slate 500 Tablet
• Blackberry Playbook Tablet

What tablets are due “soon”

Expect to see more vendors releasing tablets, but the most interesting candidate is:

• Motorola Xoom (Announced a few weeks ago, availability “soon”)

And what tablets are “rumored”?

Competition being what it is, the industry is rife with rumors about:

• Apple iPad 2 (The 1 year anniversary is right around the corner)
• Google Tablet (No link, but this product has been rumored for some time)
• Microsoft Tablet (Many rumors exist as well, due to an HP preview last year)

With so many choices, what do you buy?

While the “safe” answer is to go with the industry leader (i.e the iPad), some things consider:

• When do you want it? —  Are you looking to buy a tablet immediately or are you content waiting a few months until the market leaders become clearer?

• What will you do with it? —  Do you have a specific use for the product in mind, such as taking it on an overseas trip, taking school notes, reading books or watching video’s?

• What is the software platform? — The iOS (Apple) and the Android (Samsung, Motorola) are the platforms that will provide the greatest selection of applications.   Tablets not based on Android / iOS platforms will be subject to the laws of supply / demand which may limit the number of applications developed for that platform.

• Is the device marketed for personal or business use (or both !) — Some early tablets aligned themselves with the business market (i.e. the Blackberry Playbook) so they may not be satisfactory in non-business settings.

• How much does the device cost? — Tablets typically range in price between $500-$850, and the actual cost is dependent on features such as tablet size and installed memory.   Vendors looking to gain market share may use aggressively pricing tactics.

• Determining how it will connect to the internet?- A tablet is most useful when it is connected to the internet.   Tablets  connect to the internet in one of 2 ways:
  1. “3G”  - This means the tablet can independently connect to the internet, just like your phone.   This requires a separate data plan for the tablet independent of the data plan you have for your phone.
  2. WiFi — This means the tablet is dependent on a WiFi network to connect to the Internet.    Newer cell phones have “hotspot” functionality where the phone can share its internet connection with a WiFi device (i.e a tablet)
  • NOTE:   Some tablets (like the iPad) come in 2 different configurations (3G and NON-3G).  If you purchase the NON-3G, you can NOT add 3G functionality at a later point in time.

• The cost of the data plan — In most instances, you will need to select a monthly data plan. The cost/configuration of data plans vary by carrier and center on how much data will be transferred in a given month.  Because it is difficult to estimate data usage, this will be the hardest question to answer.

How do you Keep Pace ?

As  with any new technology, expect to see advances in tablets for the next few years — which means something better will always be “just around the corner” — so no “best” time exists to purchase a tablet!

In the meantime, some things you can do to “Keep Pace”:

• Visit a technology store (i.e. Best Buy, Staples and Apple) and ask for a demonstration.  Bring along this guide to help you answering the questions listed above!
• Pick up and work with several tablets to get a feel for how each works.
• If you have a specific software application in mind, contact the vendor and see if a tablet version exists.
• Find  friends that have tablet computers and ask them about their experiences with the device.

To “Keep Pace” with future technologies

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]]> http://keep-pace.com/keeping-pace-with-tablet-computers/feed/ 0 http://keep-pace.com/enjoying-superbowl-xlv-sunday/ http://keep-pace.com/enjoying-superbowl-xlv-sunday/#comments Sun, 06 Feb 2011 20:15:44 +0000 George Pace http://keep-pace.com/?p=1457

As today is Superbowl XLV, lets look at some of the technologies associated with the game!

The Stadium

Cowboys Stadium is the venue for this years Superbowl, and details about the stadium are available at:

http://stadium.dallascowboys.com/

Some specific links on the page

• The map of the Stadium
• Fly by Videos
• Photo Gallery

The Teams

Pittsburgh Steelers

• Web Site                                    http://www.steelers.com
• Official Twitter Account    http://twitter.com/STEELERS
• Official Facebook Page       http://www.facebook.com/steelers

The Steelers have published the following notes for tomorrow’s game

Steelers Superbowl Game Notes

Green Bay Packers

• Web Site                                   http://www.packers.com/
• Official Twitter Account    http://twitter.com/PACKERS
• Official Facebook Page       http://www.facebook.com/Packers

The Packers have published the following notes for tomorrow’s game

Packers Super Bowl Media Guide

The Commercials

And of course, what would the Superbowl be without the commercials ?

http://www.superbowl-commercials.org/

In case you missed it, the iPhone 4 will soon be available for the Verizon Wireless network!   But should you rush out and get this “latest” technology ?    This entry focuses on decision criteria that will assist you “Keep Pace” with smart phone purchasing decisions.

For Existing Verizon Customers

Lets assume you have been anxiously waiting for the iPhone on Verizon.   Now that you can purchase an iPhone 4, consider the following:

1.  Since the original introduction, Apple has released a NEW iPhone EVERY YEAR (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone)

• iPhone  - June 29, 2007
• iPhone 3G — July 11, 2008
• iPhone 3Gs — June 8, 2009
• iPhone 4 — June 7th, 2010

While no one can guarantee Apple will announce an iPhone 5 in 2011, a review of Apple’s release history (and the ongoing competition with Android phones) it would seem reasonable to assume a new iPhone is in the wings.

2.  Reconsider the “2 year” contract

Cellular phone companies advertise phone prices based on a TWO year contract.   This means you are “stuck” with your phone for 20 months before you are allowed to upgrade your phone.

What you might not know, is that a ONE year contract is an available option ( you just  pay a little more– usually starting at $70 ).   This one year option allows you to upgrade your phone in 12 months.   As mobile phone technology is changing rapidly, this option is for those that like to “Keep Pace” with mobile phone technology.

3.  Consider an Android Phone

Android Phones are a strong alternative to the Apple iPhone.   If you compare an Android Phone to an iPhone, you will see notice several differences

• Androids come in a number of sizes (sometimes referred to as “form factors”).   The iPhone comes in ONE size (a 3.5″ screen size) while Android phones start at 3.5″ and go up to 4.3″.
• Android phones allow you to replace the battery — iPhone’s do not
• Most of the applications on an iPhone have an Android equivalent

Motorola recently announced the Motorola Droid Bionic that looks to be a VERY strong competitor to the iPhone.    The Bionic is a large screen phone that is scheduled for delivery in the 1st half of 2011.

4.  Other Mobile Phone features coming in 2011

Mobile phone technologies rumored to be in the next generation of smart phones include:

• Phones containing multiple “brains” (i.e. processors) that will make certain phone functions faster.
• Phones with “4G” support, which is the name of the next generation of wireless networks.   While 4G promises to be faster than existing networks, it is only available in a few select cities (for the time being).
• Front facing cameras — Adds a second camera to the front of the phone (facing the user) that will enable video calls.

Questions to ask to Keep Pace !

As no  “right” answer exists to which phone you should purchase (after all this is a personal decision), some things to consider when in the Verizon store:

1. Do you consider the iPhone 4 to be a “I have to have it” — if so — buy it !
2. Take a look at the larger screen Android phones.   Put one in your hand and type a note to see if it feels better
3. If your are still going to go with an iPhone — do you go with the iPhone 4 or  wait for an iPhone 5?
4. Do you upgrade before Verizon changes its unlimited data plan promotion for the iPhone?
5. Do you go with a one or two year contract?
6. For Advanced Users:   Do you get a phone that has 4G support now — or do you wait for your next upgrade?

To “Keep Pace” with future technologies

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The following news story came out the other day .. which serves as the basis for this entry …

Hello, Big Brother: Digital sensors are watching us

As digital privacy is an important (and increasing complicated ) topic, it would be impossible to discuss it in just one blog entry (so expect to see more discussion on this topic in future entries).   This entry is to start the process of privacy awareness, so lets take a closer look at how you can “Keep Pace” with digital privacy !

You can’t control what you can’t control — or can you ?

Unless you become a hermit or choose to wear masks in public, it will be hard (if not impossible) to avoid having your image captured by the growing numbers of security camera’s or public webcam’s.    So while you may not have control over what goes on in public settings you can focus on those things you DO have control over — namely how you “give away” personal information without even realizing it

Privacy isn’t so private anymore

If a stranger came up to you and started detailed questions about your personal life, the odds are you wouldn’t answer them.   And why would you?  There are many reasons why you keep personal information to yourself.

But you do give away personal information all the time and technology assists in that process.   Its just slower and less obvious — consider the following:

• Credit Cards
• Loyalty Cards
• Rewards programs

From the users perspective the value of these “technologies” focuses on financial incentive (cash rewards / discounts) or convenience.    But in exchange for that value, you are giving up small amounts of personal data — which in this case consists of what you have purchased and when (think of it as your buying habits/patterns).

In most cases, this is an acceptable trade-off .   The user receives financial benefit(s) and the retailer receives the benefit of an information store that can be used to deliver products / services that improve the customer experience.

You don’t know what you don’t know

The “privacy journey” takes an interesting turn when you start considering other technologies:

• Internet search engines
• Social Networking tools (like Facebook)
• Location based applications (4Square)
• Digital Pictures (wait till you hear about this one)

The equation of getting value while giving up personal data is still valid.  Even if you understand what it is you are giving up, you might not understand the possible impact — consider the following:

Internet search engines — When you use a search engine (like Google) you leave behind a history of your search habits.   Read about this case where the defendants search history was used against him ! —   Murder, She Googled ..

Social Networking tools — When you use a service like Facebook, you are encouraged to engage in sharing information with your network of  “friends” (some of whom you probably don’t know that well) and you can unintentionally share information you might not want others to know about.   Consider the impact of this article .. “Facebook: The best way to catch a cheating spouse?”

Location based applications — There are an evolving group of applications  (i.e. foursquare) that allow you to “check in” your current location with a mobile device (such as your phone) which will alert your friends to your current location.   An unintended consequence of using these tools is that you may give away patterns of your movements — or worse — you are telling people you aren’t home !

Digital Pictures — It is common for people to take pictures with their smart phones, and immediately upload the picture to the Facebook or Twitter.    Few people know that mobile phones apply location data  to each picture (called geotagging) and that information can be read by other services to identify where the picture was take.   So if you are on vacation and start taking pictures, people can deduce where you are (or aren’t !)    Read - Digital Photos hide Data !

What are basic ways to start “Keeping Pace” with digital privacy?

The purpose of this entry wasn’t to scare — rather inform.    As technology does provide value it is important to become aware of the possible privacy issues and act accordingly.    For the time being digital privacy is not something you can “set and forget”

To “Keep Pace” remember protecting your digital privacy is ongoing and something you shouldn’t neglect.   Some basic questions to keep asking yourself when you use any technology include:

• Knowledge — Understand what the service is and the types information it is giving out
• Scope — Consider who is going to have access to your data
• Content — “Think twice, publish once” — Understand the information you are about to give up
• Settings — Understand using any service get familiar with any privacy settings you can turn on / off.

NOTE:  If you are interested in turning off Geotagging — read this article  Turning off Geotagging

To “Keep Pace” with future technologies

• Sub­scribe to our “Newslet­ter” at www.keep-pace.com
• Become a Face­book fan at Keep Pace Technology
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Learning a second language offers an individual a number of challenges:

• What language should you learn ?
• How are you going to learn (or master) it ?
• How much time are you going to dedicate to learning this language
• How often do you plan on speaking this language?

But what if you only speak one language and find yourself in a situation (such as a business trip or vacation) where it would be advantageous to know enough about the language to:

• Ask where the bathroom is?
• Find out the closet bank?
• Ask for directions ?

And even if you knew HOW to say these phrases .. would you be able to understand the RESPONSES?

Wouldn’t it be nice to have access to a technology that could assist you in the translation process?   Well just recently a mobile application was updated that shows the future of “personal translation” devices that may help you “Keep Pace” with foreign languages!

What is the technology?

Google (yes the search company Google) has provided a FREE web site since 2007 called Google Translate that allows any individual to:

• Select a “from”  language
• Select a “to”  language
• Type in a phrase to be translated

When the “Translate” button is pressed, Google Translate will:

• Translate the typed phrase into the “to” language
• Generate a sound file that contains the spoken version of the translated phrase

To try Google Translate for yourself, it is accessible at:

http://translate.google.com

But wait !! — There’s more !

Google has created a Google Translate application that works on mobile devices such as the Android.   While the mobile version of Google Translate provides the same functionality as web site, the mobile version leverages the phone’s built in functionality of allowing the user to speak a phrase rather than type it.

While this functionality alone is useful (some may say impressive) Google has just recently updated the mobile application to include a new option called “Conversation Mode”.   Conversation mode takes this idea one step further:

• As an individual talks into the phone, the Android phone will convert your spoken words into text.
• Google Translate will take that text, translate it and then “speak” out the translated phrase
• The twist is that when the OTHER person responds,  Google Translate will reverse the translation process !!

Conversation mode is still in its early stages, so this version is limited to English and Spanish languages only.   But it demonstrates that  “personal translators” could be a common technology in the very near future.

How can you “Keep Pace” with this Technology?

If you have an Android class phone, you can download the “Google Translate” application to your phone for free and then you can start using it immediately!

Just find a friend that can speak the other language than you (English / Spanish) and start experimenting !

To “Keep Pace” with future entries

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For those that haven’t heard on February 14th the television show Jeopardy is televising a special match between 2 of its all time winners (Brad Rutter and Ken Jennings) against IBM’s “Watson” Computer

(Jeopardy — Watson Page)

Lets see how you can “Keep Pace” with “Watson“

What is the Technology ?

“Watson” (named after the IBM founder)  is a combination of hardware and proprietary software developed by IBM specifically for this challenge.

Some interesting facts on “Watson”

• Under development for 4 years
• It uses 2,880 computer processors
• It scanned 200 million pages of content
• It can perform  80 TRILLION operations per second
• It is the size of 10 refrigerators

AND — it recently won the  Jeopardy “demo” match between the contestants mentioned above

The IBM Watson press release

NOTE:   IBM is not new to the “man vs machine” wars as they previous built a chess playing computer program called  “Deep Blue”  that beat the then World Champion Garry Kasparov in 1997.

Why is this important ?

Forgetting the “man vs machine” debate, a number of real world applications exist for this type of technology

1.  Helping Lawyers — Imagine a computer that can process reams of data and help find previous rulings (called “case law”) that could be used to help their client’s case

2.  Medical Field — The ability for a doctor to diagnose an illnesses or get information on combinations of different medications in seconds

3.  Business Simulation — The ability to better simulate business decisions using various economic scenarios

Any situation that is “data intensive”  is a candidate for “Watson”

How can you “Keep Pace” with this Technology?

As “Watson” is not commercially available, it might seem hard to imagine what its impact is.   But if we dream just a little .. Watson could …

1.  Create new jobs — While Watson is an impressive piece of technology, it still can’t think / reason (at least not in the traditional sense).   But the power of Watson hasn’t yet been applied to the other disciplines mentioned, so opportunities could evolve in applying / growing the use of Watson

2.   Smarter Robots  - As we know technology gets faster and smaller each year.   Can you imagine the day that the power (or at least a subset of Watson could fit into a computer the size of a human brain?    This would allow the development of new types of robots for menial tasks

3.  Enhance Space Exploration — Can you imagine sending an intelligent “Watson” enabled robot to Mars and having it explore the planet?

What applications could you see “Watson” tackling ?

You can “Keep Pace” with future entries by:

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