Information Overload

Over the last century, society has changed and developed in such a way that we demand instant gratification, becoming popular through the technology boom along with the development of the internet. Is our ability to simply turn to Google for information or reply to a Facebook update really necessary for our self actualization? We are being bombarded by logos, icons, text, false information, advertisements and the occasional popup describing male genital elongation. This presents some large scale problems:


Too much screen time increases insomnia and anxiety but more evidently, it stunts social growth in children, prevents face to face social interactions, and decreases physical activity. Removing the physical and personal connection with someone makes it increasingly difficult to communicate effectively. At the same time, 30%-33% of Americans are now obese because of lack of exercise and bad diet. There is no excuse for that!

Too many distractions lead to forgetting about what you need to do to make yourself happy. If you are linked in all the time to keep up with what your friends are doing, you may forget that you need something more than reading a twitter message on your smart phone. It would be easier to just meet and talk about your life with them over a beer instead of over the internet. Some people become obsessed with something online that is simply not real. 'Escaping reality' online is causing detrimental problems for people finding lovers, spreading false information quickly and deteriorating social and physical health.

Many people seem to enjoy the ability to disconnect with the existent world by connecting to an online one. The problems above are only a select few of a global shift in the way we interact with other people. Some may say that we are increasing our sociability and reach to the rest of the world but I don't think sitting with your family and updating your Twitter is being social.

E-Waste and Ethical Recycling

I have mentioned in a past posting about how our fast moving technology is leading to an unsustainable future. E-waste is any electronic waste such as TV’s, Computers, electronic gadgets that become a part of the waste system and is increasing due to our fast moving technology. The largest difference between regular trash and e-waste is the presence of many chemicals residing within. These valuable yet toxic metals present a large problem, mostly the contamination to the area around where the e-waste is dumped and eventually into the water sources. So like in my past post, I recommended recycling your e-waste to help the environment; this being an ethical and sustainable practice right?

I have recently gone to a volunteer session at Free Geek, a Canada and USA ethical salvaging centre, where I learned some very key ideas involving recycling. Contrary to popular belief, recycling centres are not always sustainable, efficient, ethical, or environmentally friendly. A large portion of them do not recycle everything that is within the product such as certain chemicals or heavy metals. Many organizations simply ship e-waste to other countries such as Africa or China where some is salvaged for money and the rest is dumped. This presents a huge problem especially with the increase in e-waste within the past 10 years. Estimates of around 40-50 million tonnes of e-waste is dumped around the world yearly; that number steadily increasing with the increased perception of obsolete electronics. Not only are these recycling organizations not recycling efficiently or sustainably, there are just not very many of them at all!

Concepts surrounding the idea of recycling are at times misconceptions so one must do some research into which recyclers are ethical. Call and ask who their downstream recyclers are and if they are withholding that information, you know something is not right. It is the consumer’s responsibility to use their electronics for their entire lifetime and ensure proper disposal for this is the only earth we all have to live on and what you can do affects how we live!

Facts and Definitions

Planned Obsolesce: A marketing strategy used to create new software in order to make the old electronics running it obsolete.

Vista Layer: The millions of tonnes of electronics dumped due to Microsoft creating Vista, an inefficient operating system designed to get the consumer to update their computer. (Planned Obsolesce)

Canada has signed an international treaty called the Basel Convention which is used to prevent the export of e-waste to other countries (recycle within the same country). Canada has not enforced this treaty due to lack of funding so e-waste is still shipped across borders.

The average lifespan of a computer in 1999 was 6 years, now it is 2 years.

Pictures from trade2save.com, freegeekvancouver.org, thetechbrief.com

Cloud Computing

What is it?

Cloud computing is a relatively new phenomenon within the IT technology sector and is changing the world. In a nutshell, the ‘cloud’ is the term used to represent the information on the internet available for user download. For example, when you tweet a message on Twitter the message is put into the cloud for all to see, search, and download to their screen. Twitter is a public cloud, but there are private clouds such as Facebook where the content is limited to your ‘friends’. The image below shows how all of these interconnected devices and business servers all put content into the internet cloud which is immediately available for anyone with a browser to view. Cloud computing is a revolutionary concept which affects the general public and businesses worldwide.


Problems

Obviously, this easily accessible world of cloud computing can raise some concerns within the general public. Just recently, a company designed around social online shopping named Blippy allowed some users credit card information to become part of the source code in its website. Google’s search engine then indexed the content, making it available in the cloud for the public to search and access. Privacy is naturally the biggest concern that people have with this new technology because people halfway around the world can learn things about you in very remarkable ways. Another power behind cloud computing is the traceability of your movement on the web. Your computer gives off a unique signature to the internet when you are browsing which can be used to trace and gain information about you, the user. I have code running on this blog that tracks site hits from what location, browser, IP address, website, etc etc. Most web users I can guarantee do not know this. Being ignorant of the implications of putting data into the cloud is becoming increasingly dangerous. Soon the people using online functions will have to decide to give up their privacy or demand for an alternate system. My advice to you is: do not put anything online without realizing the potential of others using that data for other means!

Have you Heard of the Floppy?

The Problem

I had to think back to remember what a floppy disk was too! Sony recently announced that they would be ceasing their production of floppy drives in their Japanese factory. Believe it or not, floppy's were invented in the mid 1970's which is only 35 years ago! They have already become completely obsolete and now bordering on extinct! Other things like the CD player, CD's, and Walkmans (just to name a few) are quickly following in the floppy's footsteps

This raises concern about our lives and the ever increasing need to be sustainable. Western society has been completely transformed by this technology rage and with that comes the speed at which it changes. A cell phone that arrives today, being cutting edge and amazing, will be relatively obsolete almost guaranteed within a year. The original iPhone for example cannot do half the things that the newest 3Gs version can do.


The Reason

Behind these electronics such as high tech storage devices, gaming machines, and cell phones comes the power that is driving them, their manufacturers. So many of the things we buy rely on services provided by their providers, again coming back to the iPhone. All Apple has to do to get people flocking towards their newest product is to restrict the older versions from enjoying what the newer ones can accomplish.

On a different tack, I remember when a 512 megabyte flash drive was over $100! You may only have to think back about two years to remember that, but now 2 gigabyte drives are sold in bins for $15 or less. The demand for space to store unneeded junk on your computer has grown exponentially. All of this begs the question: do we need to throw all this 'old' technology away? The majority of obsolete tech is now sitting in your local landfill, not given to someone who would cherish it! Because manufacturers want to make an extra buck, they move new tech at an extremely fast rate leading more and more to an unsustainable future.


The Solution

How can you be more sustainable in your life? There are many local recycling depots that will take used computers, printers, and an assortment of electronics for free (there is one in Vancouver called Free Geek). They can disassemble them, sell the metal and recycle the plastic. Why are you throwing out your perfectly working MP3 player or Walkman when there are people that could use it? Basically, take all the old electronics that you will never use again sitting on your shelf (I know that there are some) and donate them to an organization. It makes a big difference for those who receive these electronics, for relatively little work on your end!

(Image courtesy of FreeFoto.com)

The Daily Gumboot

I have stumbled upon a very intelligent, sophisticated, and well founded Vancouver based blog named the Daily Gumboot. The mission of the blog is to strengthen community bonds by bringing together interesting issues locally, nationally and abroad. For example, their latest blog post about the newest 'like' function of Facebook raises interesting implications involving our ease to express common interests between one another. Facebook has just made it that much easier to let people know what you like and where to find it. The rule of the blog though is to always remain positive about their posts. So when Theo (the author of the post) brings up the possibility of advertisers using this function to target an advertising market with you in it, she suggests that you "be smart" and "know what you’re opting into." I love the way the Daily Gumboot presents issues in an easy to read manner that raises questions which brings together the online and Vancouver community; one that is becoming increasingly cluttered. They also like pirates I am told, so watch yourself!


Check it out!
http://www.dailygumboot.ca/

Bootup Labs...Oops

Funding Is a Necessity



Bootup labs (bootuplabs.com) is a Vancouver based company "designed to help entrepreneurs build tech startups...from a concept to company." There is huge risk associated with startup companies and having someone get you on the right track is much better than trying to do it alone....right?

Bootup went through a recent funding crisis and had to make the decision between spreading the funds to all 7 companies in their portfolio or reducing their portfolio to 3 and fully fund those. They decided to cut their portfolio which is a tough decision, compounded by their eagerness to help too many people without money at hand. Bootup didnt listen to their clients, see the signs of funding trouble, and attempted to cover up their portfolio decision.

I made mistakes. I was wrong. Lessons Learned.

This goes to show that even established companies can be over ambitious leading to catastrophe which takes a hit on your reputation. It is disappointing that this led to other people suffering due to Bootup labs mistakes.

Art on Photoshop

There is an awesome post on webdesignledger.com about how simple images in skilled hands can create mind blowing and awesome art! I have the top five that I found interesting shown below. See more at:
http://webdesignledger.com/inspiration/40-jaw-dropping-photo-manipulations

Snantlers (my name)

I love this picture because of the subtle change of the feelers of the snail. Many Photoshop images I find are a bit too obvious. This work might not the most difficult to do but it brings together the aspect of snail and deer living within the same habitat; both depending on the plants and living species in it. It is hard to remember that species like these two rely so heavily on one another in order to keep balance in the ecosystem.

Extravaganza

This image brings forth the idea of the link between nature and the human species and shows a level of fragility between human and our environment. The human hand along with the brain is capable of great things but things that can also be very destructive. This work shows that our hands are capable of helping our environment prosper as much as we do as a species.

Home for Dinner

Very cool aspect shown through uprooting a house with a spoon. This work pertains to the declining amount of traditional home style family dinners or the change in family dynamics. There is an increasing amount of people that 'eat on the road' due to time constraints of given industries and society. At home family dinners are becoming a thing of the past whether it be due to kids moving out or social norms changing. When are we really home for dinner or is this generation taking the past necessity for eating at home out of the equation completely?

Addicting Keyboard (my name)

This is a comical representation of a serious problem coming up within a new generation of adolescents. We all know that chocolate is addicting and it releases endorphins to make us happy. We also know (and some experienced) that there is such thing as too much chocolate which results in an unpleasant sickening feeling. More and more young people are becoming addicted to online stimulation causing many social and physical problems. There is only so much time before this generation feels the backlash of a community too plugged in.

Rooted (my name)

This image brings back memories of when I was a kid and scared to death of the dark. I would rely on that night light to keep away all of the unseen scary things. As I grew older, I realized that I am still very rooted to what I have experienced and learned in the past which was shown to me by this light. All of us need this light in times of uncertainty within our life whether it be the courage to push on or your better half helping you along the way.

Again feel free to see more at:
http://webdesignledger.com/inspiration/40-jaw-dropping-photo-manipulations

Make your own photoshop images using these tutorials:
http://iniwoo.net/tutorials/photo-manipulation-tutorials/