GeekwithEnvy

Richard Vincenti Jr

It is Time for More Star Trek or at Least Better Science Fiction on Television

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Star Trek The Next Generation was a great show and I think it’s about time that we bring Star Trek back to television. I was sitting at my computer thinking about the hit television series The Big Bang Theory after I watched this seasons first episode, and then I started thinking about Wil Wheaton and the rest is history. I want the sci-Fi series back and I think as long as it’s done well it should be able to gain an audience.

Michael_Dorn_by_Gage_Skidmore
Michael Dorn by Gage Skidmore

In a recent interview with Wired, Michael Dorn -who played Worf in the Star Trek series- mentioned that todays science fiction television lacks the optimism that previous television series like Star Trek The Next Generation had. Dorn talks about how we need a show that can help us escape from all of the day-to-day crap that goes on in the real world and that can leave us with a positive feeling.

I believe there is a large audience out there for a new Star Trek project but as Dorn mentions in the interview, sci-fi has taken on a different look and the original formula that made Star Trek work back then will not work now. The series would most likely need to take on a new approach in order to get a green light and gain viewership. Dorn also mentions how it would be nice for Star Trek to be a catalyst for change, which I think we need desperately.

I’m not saying that there isn’t any good sci-fi out there, I am just saying there isn’t enough. Many new shows fail to hold my interest and the quality of the storyline and production effort are just laughable. In a day and age where reality television has dominated the air waves, I believe it’s time to move on toward better writing.

There are so many great sci-fi stories out there could easily make for great television, it just seems that networks don’t care to look for them, especially if they don’t all involve some type of post apocalyptic storyline. Again, there are a few good shows out there including one that I think is done really well,  the Fox series Fringe. Fringe pulled me in right away and I love the idea of playing around with parallel universes and trying to understand complex issues with time.

For now we can only hope to see something come together that will inspire us and capture our imaginations. Don’t forget that we don’t have to wait for big television networks to bring us a good story though, there’s plenty of great sci-fi out there to read and if your looking for a place to start I would like to direct you toward the science fiction and fantasy themed book club, Sword and Laser.

 

The Windows 8 Desktop and Moving on From the Mouse

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The desktop computer has been number one in homes around the world until recently. We demand portability and technology has forever changed because of it.  Laptops and tablets have replaced our big box desktop computers and it seems very few are missing them. However, desktop computers are still necessary for many things and are still widely used by businesses and those who just need a little more than what a laptop can offer.magictrackpad_handWEB

For the longest time companies like Microsoft had been trying to emulate the Windows desktop experience on portable handheld devices, which was ok but not ideal for a touch screen. Eventually, things began to change and the mobile OS began to stand out on it’s own.

Apple’s iOS  and the iPhone changed how we thought a mobile OS should work. Mobile operating systems began to be developed and designed primarily around touch input . These changes worked so well that software companies started creating OS software for desktops that integrated many of the UI features of mobile operating systems into the desktop experience, and it worked.

OSX is a great example of how bringing mobile features to a desktop UI can work really well. Many iOS users will likely find it very easy to get into OSX as it has a similar feel to it. Microsoft has done the same with Windows 8, which looks and feels a lot like Windows Phone.

So, we have a touch based UI on the Windows PC and this is where the main disconnect for Windows 8 comes into play. I have mentioned before that Windows 8 overall looks pretty good  and should work very well with any tablet but it feels downright weird to use with a mouse in a desktop environment. One of the features of OSX that I really like is the ability to use gestures on the touchpad and this is exactly what I think Windows 8 needs in order to feel right.

The mouse has long since been a part of our graphical user interface experience and never before have we needed to move away from it, until now. The touchpad with gestures, in most scenarios will make your interaction with Windows 8 on both desktops and laptops much smoother. With the exception of maybe gaming, I can’t see why I would need a mouse when you can have a touchpad that offers everything you need and more.

Forget 3D Glasses I Want Virtual Reality Gaming

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When I was a kid I imagined that the games of the future would include virtual reality and while gaming technology has come along way, theres still plenty of room for innovation.Red Or Blue Pill

While many great game titles have been released over the years, gaming technology has remained pretty much the same. Consoles will continually upgrade their graphics capabilities, tweak their shape, size, and the way we control our games, but I want to be able to jump into my games and truly become a part of that world in every way possible. The idea kind of reminds me of the movie The Matrix, eventually you should be able to be that connected to an experience.

Fortunately, there are many smart people who are interested in making virtual reality happen, including some at Sony Entertainment and Valve. Chet Faliszek of Valve has mentioned that they are actively working on a virtual reality project and Microsoft has filed VR based patents. So, it would seem that companies are taking virtual reality seriously, and it’s about time.

What makes this so interesting is that VR technology really is still in it’s infancy, nothing has been perfected and no one is sure who is going to have that breakthrough moment and create something amazing. Most people involved with VR are fiddling around with all kinds of ideas as they mash up screens,mirrors, circuit boards, cables and software to create a truly unique experience.

With VR you also have to consider how that type of gameplay differs from sitting at your computer or on the couch playing with a normal, hand held controller.  Virtual reality will require you to move around much like Kinect for Xbox 360. Chances are you won’t always want to burn 500 calories chasing and killing zombies but I guess it would be nice to at least have that option.  Now what would really be amazing is if you could control your character just by thinking.

Many of the technologies needed to make all of this happen already exist, it’s just a mater of of making them all work together. As for now, we can all remain hopeful as we watch and wait to see who comes out with the best VR solution.

CA Governor Signs Self-Driving Cars Bill

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California Gov. Jerry Brown recently signed a Self-Driving car bill at Google’s headquarters. The bill is designed to help lay out safety guidelines for self-driving cars.Robot Driving Car

Google co-founder Sergey Brin talked about how autonomous cars will make our roads much safer and will allow others who would not normally be able to drive, to have a personal, safe, and reliable mode of transportation.

It all sounds like science fiction but autonomous cars already exist and the technology is getting better. We already have cars that park themselves, so why not keep going and take the technology further?  My current question is, would you ride in a car that you’re not controlling? I don’t know exactly how I feel about this but if it had been through extensive testing and had a override switch, then I guess I’m game. A few questions come to mind when I think about self-driving cars. I would imagine that if you take human error out of the equation you can increase travel speeds. Why not have speed limits of around 200mph?

Being able to have cars navigate themselves though dense fog,heavy rain or even driving at night would be a huge benefit for anyone. Perhaps we can wipe drunk driving out of the picture for good as your car can take you home safe and sound.

My major concern here with anything that becomes computerized and automatic is can it be hacked? Actually, we should be asking how will it be hacked because this technology will be vulnerable just like anything else we create and something like this could be dangerous in the wrong hands. There would have to be some digital connection to your drivers license that identifies a driver or passenger, kind of like in the movie The Fith Element, and there would have to be some way to detect whether or not drivers are using a “modded” vehicle that may allow them to exceed regulated speeds or drive irradically.

Another major concern of note here is liability. These self-driving cars will inevitability mess up at one point and damage other cars, property or people, and who will be responsible? How do you determine who was at fault? Computer “A” hit Computer “B”? Send the bill to the auto manufacturer? These are all questions we will have to answer when we move into a world with self-driving cars.

The bottom line seems to be that the potential safety advantages of having a self-driving car are what will push this technology forward. With law enforcement cracking down on texting and making phone calls while driving, this seems like an obvious direction to head. We really have nowhere to go but up here, traveling by car is a dangerous task. Perhaps we will be looking back many years from now and talking about  how crazy it was that people used to drive themselves around and how inefficient and scary that must have been.

Guide To Understanding The Technology of OLED and LED LCD

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Many of us hear the terms LED LCD and OLED and assume that they are pretty much the same thing, and some people might not even know the difference between LCD T.V’s and LED LCD T.V’s. One reason for all of this confusion is the way that manufacturers market their products and how they refer to the new “technology”  that they put into their devices.LED Abstract Image

A liquid crystal display (LCD) does not emit light itself, it requires some type of back light in order to see whatever is on the screen.  LCD screens basically control light, sometimes they let it through and sometimes they don’t, this is what produces the image we see. Using voltage and transparent conductors, each pixel can be controlled precisely.

When LCD screens first came on to the market they were primarily backlit by CCFL or Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamps. These CCFL lamps are usually positioned at the edges of the LCD screen and then a light diffuser is used to spread the light across the entire screen. This method of backlighting works really well but dose not produce a very good black. The reason this method doesn’t produce a good black color is because the CCFL lamps remain at full intensity even when displaying the darker part of images, which results in a glowing effect on the screen. Often we hear commercials for T.V’s mention that they have blacker blacks, they are referring to the contrast ratio which is directly related to how backlighting is managed.

More recently, manufacturers have been using small LED lights to illuminate the LCD screen. The LED’s can be placed at the edges of the screen and the light they produce can be diffused just like the CCFL back lighting method. LED lighting uses much less electricity and are much smaller than CCFL’s, which mean you can have a thinner, lighter, and more energy efficient display panel.

In order to achieve a better contrast ratio manufacturers began to dim the backlighting when darker images appear on the screen but this method only helps when the majority of the screen is dark, which is rare in most cases and means that the contrast ratio is basically the same for the majority of what your watching since the display almost never dims. So, how can we get a better contrast ratio for every image that appears on the screen?  This is where WLED comes into play. WLED uses an entire array of LED lights that span the entire area of the LCD display. WLED allows for dimming in very specific locations of the screen which results in a very good contrast ratio. Another variation of WLED backlighting involves using RGB LED lighting instead of pure white LED’s. RGB LED  backlight screens produce superior color compared to an all white WLED display and also have a solid contrast ratio.

So now that we have a basic understanding how how LCD screens are illuminated we can start to look at why OLED is actually quite different.

Organic Light Emitting Diode or OLED technology, as the name suggests,  is an LED that uses organic compounds that emit light when electrical current is applied to them. As we mentioned before LED LCD T.V’s use and LCD screen that is backlight by LED lighting, with OLED displays, the OLED itself is the display, which means there is no need for a backlight. Since OLED displays lack a backlight they offer extremely dark blacks and very vivid and precise colors. OLED’s are basically flat in comparison to traditional LED’s which resemble little bulbs. With OLED’s being so small, manufactureres are able to make extremely thin and even flexible displays.  OLED is relatively new and still has a lot of issues including saturation problems. OLED is also quite expensive at this time due to a difficult manufacturing process.

So where does Apple’s Retina display fit in? Well Apple does utilize LED backlight LCD screens that are similar to other displays, except Apple has squeezed in more pixels which creates a higher pixel density, so high that Apple claims the human eye can not see pixelation from a normal viewing distance.

So next time you head out to buy a new display, you can walk into the store with confidence now that you have a better understanding of  how todays display technologies work.