How to Hold a Conversation with a Kitchen Appliance!

How often have you just wanted to know what was going on with your cooker, oven, washing machine etc.? Well, with the latest development from tech firm LG, you might just be able to. The Oliver Rawlings blog this week welcomes you to the kitchen appliances that talk back!

How often have you wanted to know what’s in the fridge or have you forgotten to set off your washing machine after you’ve just left the house? Well now with LG’s new text chat service you can work your appliances no matter where you are, as it allows you to control them by text!

The LG Text Chat Service

South Korea based international technology firm LG Electronics has recently announced the launch of a text chat service that allows you to control your kitchen appliances no matter where you are.

It works like this. Say you’re on your way home from work and you’re not sure whether you’ve got any milk in. You think you might need to go pick some up from the corner shop, but if you’ve already got some in you don’t want to buy more. With this service all you need to do is text and ask, and your fridge will let you know.

It’s a really new service and at the moment it’s only available in South Korea, but LG are planning to expand to other markets, such as the US, in the future. They’ll need to get on it, as rival tech company Samsung has already released similar air conditioner, fridge and washer smart-aware appliances with its Smart Home Service.

A Niche Market

Whilst I personally believe that this technology could one may be the future, experts have suggested that in the short term, it may only appeal to a niche market. The BBC spoke to principal technology analyst at the Davies Murphy Group consultancy, Chris Green on the matter and this was the opinion he expressed.

Specifically, Green said that "I'm sure 10 years from now we will want more smart-aware appliances, but for now this represents a live beta-test," and that "it's the equivalent of Ford building a concept car. It's about showing what can be done and seeing if there's an appetite for it."

Oliver Rawlings readers, this technology is only in its infancy, but the potential is enormous. One day we could all be setting our washing machines off or checking our fridges by text whilst enduring that oh so long commute back home!

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Top Four Benefits of Cloud Computing

There are few web tools as useful both in your professional life, and in your personal one, as cloud computing, yet nowhere near as many people are benefitting from it as they could. That’s why this week on the Oliver Rawlings blog, I wanted to list my top four benefits of cloud computing.

As a tech buff, the way people react to new technologies annoys me sometimes. What they should see as a tool that they can use to ease the burden and the pressure in their everyday life, they often see as change; people don’t tend to like change. That’s what I think has happened to some people’s opinions of cloud storage.

Cloud computing is internet based computing. Where basically before people would download services like Microsoft Word and Excel, and use them on their computer, saving documents to their computer, a cloud based service has these programmes all on it, so you can use it anytime, anywhere. You can also access your saved documents anywhere through the cloud.

So now we know what it is why should, whether at work, at home, on the bus, in the supermarket etc. you be joining the cloud?

1) Its Flexible: Have you ever tried to move a document you’ve saved on your computer? You have to invest in a USB or email it to yourself, which is a pain in the you know what and means you have to find somewhere with internet. With cloud computing, it’s as simple as using your device somewhere with internet.

2) Its Cost Effective: Buying windows programmes such as Word and Excel is pain, and it’s expensive. Who needs the hassle and the impact on their bottom line? Because with cloud based services you’re not paying that much for a lot of essential programmes, it’s far more cost effective.

3) Its Safer: It really is safer folks. Have you ever been in that heart-breaking position where you’ve been in writing a very important document and your computer has crashed? You can recover the document somewhat, but often it doesn’t save everything you’ve done. Don’t need to worry about that with the cloud!

Its Interconnected: Think about it like this. When you’re using the cloud at work, everybody has access to it, simultaneously, with no effort at all. That’s makes working together on a big project, sharing information etc. so much easier, because you have a common place to develop the project and store it.

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Alan Turing: The Life and Times

The announcement of ‘The Alan Turing institute,’ got me thinking about the legendary genius. Who was he, how did he live his life and what was his legacy?

Anybody who readers the OliverRawlings blog knows that I have a major interest in technology. The way technology changes our world with every new discovery, every practical application, fascinates me. That’s why I’ve long been interested in the life and times of Alan Turing.

His name has entered popular discourse in recent years due to his personal life. Alan Turing was gay in a time where it was illegal to be gay in Britain, and got caught. He was tried, convicted and chemically castrated in 1952. He died from cyanide poisoning at the age of 42 in 1954.

This injustice has led in recent times to a campaign to strike down Turing’s 1952  conviction for homosexuality, based on both the fact that it is now no longer illegal and on the great work he did that changed the world forever. He received a posthumous royal pardon. What was that great work?

Essentially, Turing was a mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst, computer scientist and philosopher. He is perhaps most famous as being a significant contributor to the moderncomputer, through his ‘Turing Machine.’ This means that he’s basically regarded as the father of modern computer science.

The implications of this are enormous. Think about how much the computer has contributed to our world. So much modern technology depends on computer science, that without it, this world would still be stuck in the 19^th Century. Forget smartphones and laptops, we never even would have got the basic computer.

This wasn’t Turing’s only contribution to the world in his lifetime. During the Second World War, he worked at Bletchley Park, the government’s infamous code breaking headquarters. He was vital to the effort to develop the Enigma machine, the device which enabled the allies to understand and manipulate coded Nazi messages.

Again, the magnitude of this work on the modern world is astounding. Have you ever read one of those dystopic novels about how the world went to hell in a hand basket because the Nazi’s won the Second World War?  Yeah… Alan Turing had a large role in stopping that.

Despite his tragic and undeserved end, Alan Turing was a great British hero, and his work influenced modern life in numerous ways. I’m glad that the man himself is being remembered and celebrated as the genius he undoubtedly was. 

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What was the Deal with Flappy Bird?

Anybody who reads the technology section of their chosen online news provider will have heard about the debate that has risen around flappy bird. What is flappy bird and why is it such a big deal?

For those of you Oliver Rawlings readers who have been living under a rock for the past few weeks, flappy bird is an app-game, in the same mold as Angry Birds and their ilk.

Specifically it’s a kind of retro style smartphone app game featuring 2D graphics that are a throwback to the days of the 1980’s. Basically you have to direct a flying bird, which keeps moving of its own accord to the right, through a set of obstacles.

Easy right? Nothing special about that right? Wrong. It’s unbelievably hard to actually do.  Seriously that little bird is annoying. However, people tend to like hard and annoying, for some reason. This has led to flappy bird becoming the most addictive app game since angry birds (I still prefer classic snake for the nokia though).

Addictive means popular in this modern world. Since it was first introduced in March, it has boomed in popularity and has become a staple on app screens across the world. You couldn’t go anywhere by the end of 2013 without hearing about that annoying little flappy bird.

However the game clearly peaked too early. The creator of the game got so annoyed with it that they decided to discontinue it. Furthermore Google’s app store has now banned a series of flappy bird clones that became popular in the wake of the discontinuation.

However this isn’t the end of flappy bird. A whole  new generation of flappy clones such as flappy bee are now becoming popular; it’s clear  there’s still a strong public demand for this most annoying of smartphone games.

I really think that this international incident, as trivial as it is, says something intrinsic about human nature. As a community we are fascinated by what we cannot do and what we cannot have; it’s the whole ‘grass is greener’ thing for the modern day.

So it stands to reason that the more difficult the game is, the more addictive it is, the more popular it becomes. Crazy but true. It looks clear, Oliver Rawlings readers, that we are looking at the future. Humanity is always looking for that next adventure, that next challenge. It appears that even smartphone app games are no exception when it comes to this most basic of human truths. 

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Black Friday Madness Hits British Shores

Anyone who reads the Oliver Rawlings Blog knows that I find modern culture fascinating; some of the things that people do in the modern world defy belief and they make fascinating subjects to debate and analyse.

That’s why the American concept of Black Friday has fascinated me for years. For those of you out there who’ve ever watched an American Thanksgiving special, you’ll know what Black Friday is.  It’s the day after Thanksgiving where American stores put on the craziest, most aggressive of discounts in order to draw in the American shopping public. It always works; after all American’s love a good bargain. It’s basically a day in the year where American companies find new ways to sell stuff. It is a tradition that has been around for years; however it’s only been known as Black Friday for the past two decades. It has now become the most lucrative shopping day of the year.

This is something we’re used to by now; we hear about it every time this time of year rolls around. What we’re not used to is Black Friday hitting our stores. Yes, that’s right; we’ve officially been taken over. It started with Cyber Monday, a similar online tradition to Black Friday where online retailers offer similar types of deals for customers. That one’s gained a little traction over here. Now we’ve got Black Friday. Asda, the supermarket chain owned by American giant Wal-Mart can be particularly noted for putting on Black Friday offers. People have been practically biting Asda’s hands off this year to take advantage of these amazing deals.

On the one hand this is certainly a good thing for our economy. We are only just recovering from the global economic crash that devastated us all in 2008. Consumerism drives the economy; it always has. America has benefitted economically from Black Friday for years; the fact it’s the biggest shopping day of the year means that in this one day alone millions of dollars are injected into the American market every time Black Friday rolls around.

However there is a dark side to it. Every year in America there are always instances of violence attached to Black Friday, without fail. This year alone there were at least two incidents on Black Friday across the pond that involved the use of guns. This year we’ve seen a few incidents of violence here that police have had to come in and sort out. Consumers can get violent when they really want something. Do we really want this spreading over to us?

Whether we want it or not, Black Friday is crossing over to Britain; there’s little we can do to stop it. Progress always brings trouble; however by its very definition it also brings growth and change. Considering the fact our economy is only just beginning to recover, maybe it’s something we need right now?

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Oliver Rawlings Asks Everyone to Remember to Use Technology Responsibly

I think the vast majority of us, especially the author of the Oliver Rawlings Blog, agree that the internet is a wonderful thing. Before the internet, life was so much more complicated; we had to walk to the post office or bank to pay bills, we had to pick up a phone if we wanted a chat with our best mate, we had to turn to an encyclopaedia if we wanted to check something. Now, with the internet, all of this is at our fingertips. Need to pay a bill? Online banking! Want to catch up with a mate in Australia? Skype them! Want to look up the answer to a question on a game show? Wikipedia it! The internet has changed our lives so much we even look for love there these days, however we tend to forget just how dangerous a place it can be, especially for teenagers who haven’t quite learned how to use it responsibly yet.

So why am I bringing this up? It may seem odd seeing as I haven’t been a teenager for a few years now. I’m a (somewhat) functioning adult who knows how to handle myself online. However Iwas on the BBC News website this morning (Monday 21^st October) and I saw an article that highlighted just how much of a problem this is among a younger demographic. The article presents the argument that children between 9 and 11 are engaging in extremely risky behaviour online. It backed this up with survey figures drawn up by ISC2 IT Security Education group, which suggests that these children are playing online games meant for a much older, often adult audience and that many are sharing personal information online.

Also the survey highlighted that 18% of the 1,162 children surveyed said that they had arranged real world meetings with friends online and also that a staggering 55% of children accept cyber bullying as a part of everyday life. For anyone, these figures are shocking. I’m all for young people using the internet; I certainly did, even if it wasn’t quite as advanced back then. But I never used it like this; I was taught how to use it responsibly. The real danger here is twofold. Firstly, this could lead them into real danger, especially as they are the more vulnerable members of society; they don’t know how to handle this sort of thing responsibly. Secondly, they could develop bad online habits; even when you’re my age, agreeing to share all your details online is a bad idea.

I am, as you all know by now, a huge technology enthusiast. I believe it’s a good thing. However, it needs to be used responsibly. I learned how to use the internet, like many of us did, through my IT lessons at school. I learned to be careful, to use this medium responsibly. It seems that maybe the lesson to take from these stats is to start educating kids younger.

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