Fire-Wired Blog

This article was first published by dmcityview.com If such a thing as the “ethics of war” exists, the modern fringe is defined by unmanned aerial vehicles, more commonly known as “drones.” Besides spying on people, keeping pilots out of the sky and being extremely efficient killing machines, drones have another trait — they’re really cool. Before you get upset and label me a warmonger, tell me, if you had the chance to pilot one of these overgrown remote-control planes from your backyard, would you? Two weeks ago, I attended the 2013 National Association of Broadcasters conference. One of the more popular camera toys I got to play with were remote-control helicopters mounted with high-definition cameras. Companies such as DJI, Rotor Concept, Freefly and many more filled the exhibit hall airways with innovations. While I stood in line with thousands of conference attendees, anxiously awaiting my turn to pilot a drone, I heard plenty of “oohs” and “ahs,” yet not a single concern ...

This article was first published by dmcityview.com The cable television industry is capitalism at its most corrupt. Outside of refusing to partake, cable and satellite subscribers have close to zero recourse in bringing down the cost of the service. While it would seem the fate of TV viewers is sealed, one provider has stepped in to potentially stem the tide of ever-climbing cable bills. Verizon Fios proposed last month to change its payment model to a system where networks are paid for their content based on the actual number of views they receive, not the current system of set, negotiated rates. Cable bills are, for the most part, comprised of “carriage fees,” which is the amount networks get paid per subscriber to their service. The amounts are rather small with payments anywhere from $4 for ESPN to less than a nickel for networks such as MTV2, LOGO and BBC World News. While those carriage costs don’t seem like much by themselves, many networks refuse to sell their content unl...

This article was first published by dmcityview.com No longer relegated to the fictional worlds of Iron Man, James Bond and Star Trek, sometime within the next two years your friends and family will start sporting computerized watches, glasses, rings and potentially more. You may have heard of Google’s much buzzed-about “Project Glass,” a.k.a. “Google Glasses,” a computer-powered set of glasses that allows its user to record video, take pictures, search the Internet, make and take phone calls and analyze real-time data through heads-up displays (think the “Terminator 2” scene where Arnold is scanning body types in the biker bar). What you probably haven’t heard about are the watches and rings. Apple’s long-rumored, next industry-melting innovation is said to be the iTV, a television that marries the power of smartphones with the content of the entertainment industry. Now comes word that the iTV could possibly sport an innovation on top of an innovation; replacing the classic remot...

This article was first published by dmcityview.com The Internet has taken a proverbial wrecking ball to countless industries: recording, publishing, newspaper, brick-and-mortar retail and so many more. At times it seems like no field is safe. So what is the most likely candidate to be reduced to rubble next? Higher Education. This is truly the information age, with almost everything you could possibly want to learn available online — in many cases for free. For instance, the most popular videos on YouTube are actually “How-To” tutorials. There are entire networks on the site devoted to teaching viewers everything from fixing a flat tire to calculating the mass of a gas giant planet. By itself, YouTube isn’t upsetting the Higher Education system. You can’t get a medical degree or graduate from law school on YouTube. Where the collegiate system is slowly starting to feel pressure from the Internet is through “eLearning” websites. These online venues provide skills training without ...

This article was first published by dmcityview.com Just when it seems all smartphones are starting to feel the same, one developer has completely thrown the market for a loop. Two words: X-ray photography. Through a light-capturing advancement known as hyper light-refraction, the application “PERView” is able to amplify the ultra-violet light that bounces off cloth fibers, rendering them invisible to certain smartphone cameras. While this technology isn’t truly “X-ray vision” and doesn’t provide skeletal imagery, it does allow the user to see through the cloth materials of its photographed subjects. PERView’s developer, Timothy Saddman, unveiled the application last week explaining that his initial idea was to create a tool to help security agents check for weapons. It wasn’t until Saddman tested his innovation at a shopping mall that he discovered his “jaw-dropping” achievement. Privacy rights groups are labeling the application as “depravity of the crudest order” and “invasiv...