Google Voice

Google is on fire.

The giant search engine is no longer just a fountain of quick, easily-accessed information; it has transformed itself into an email hot spot, an internet document storage bin, health and diet tracker, location tool, and now it is a phone. The product Google has been pushing recently is a feature that anyone with a gmail account can use: Google Voice.

Google Voice was initially started 2 years ago to centralize and organize the sometimes confusing world of cellphone data and calling. It's only just hit mainstream because, up until a few months ago, you needed a special invitation to be able to access the site. Google has expanded their program so now everyone can have a Voice account

While it is inherently cool to have people call your computer and speak to you as they would on a phone, if you are one of the many people today who has an operational cellphone, why would you bother with Google Voice? That's the beauty of Google Voice: it's not a phone service, it just uses your computer as an interface for your phone, allowing you to screen calls, "listen in" on voice-mail as it's being made, and view your voice-mail box as you would your email. And the number is tied to your account, so my understanding is that you can log in to any computer and still have access to your phone account. If you ever lose your phone, you could use your Google Voice account to call it, or to monitor calls made by a minor (or the person who might have taken your phone).

Google Voice is able to recognize that you may have multiple phones at your disposal, and it will sync the voice-mailboxes into one spot, transcribed in an email or a text message, should you so choose. Based on the identity of the caller, or the time of day that a call is made, Google Voice also acts as a call blocker, preventing telemarketers from calling at 3 in the morning (it's happened to me, and it wasn't pleasant). Google Voice will also ring all of those phones at the same time, so if you're really waiting for that call, it's the best way to ensure you don't miss it.

There are other cool features that Google Voice has, such as conference calling and the ability to record a call. Google Voice warns that there are Federal and state laws that may prevent you from legally recording a call without consent from both parties, but the fact that you can is extraordinarily empowering. As I mentioned before, the voice-mails will also be transcribed into your Google account, and if you ever need to search for a small piece of information, it's never more than a search bar away.You'll also be able to send those transcribed messages to any other email account you want.

Although Google Voice is only available at this time in the United States, it doesn't prevent international calls from being made. Google Voice works with any mobile carrier, and for the year of 2011 the service will be free, including texts. If you ever switch your phone, carrier, or location, the Google number you chose will remain the same because "it's tied to you."

The Smart Security Grid

One of the biggest issues of the modern day is, without a doubt, energy. We are obsessed with how to use less and generate more of it, or at least take what we have and use it more efficiently. The Obama Administration has noticed this (of course), and expanded the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to provide for the development of new electric grid technology, which holds the key to advanced energy management and pecuniary savings. Because it is such a large undertaking, the project also promises job creation and energy independence. But this sounds too good to be true, so what's the catch?

The downside to a giant grid is lack of security. The grid is obviously an interconnected web of networks that would be extremely vulnerable to attack from hackers and worms in the system, and because it would be such a central part of how the country runs itself, any attack could result in a massive loss of electrical services. Attack isn't the only downside to a large grid; this kind of project has never been done on such a large scale, and there are definitely unforeseen problems in putting so much energy into one place.

Even if all these disadvantages are disregarded for a moment, there is still the problem of how to run the grid itself. With so many different utilities, providers, and consumers scattered across it, the need for a consistent operating system is imperative. Which system should be used? Experts are still working on that one, and it's not as easy as it sounds. Even if a framework was agreed upon, it would almost immediately have to be updated because of the rapid pace at which technology in general changes. The grid would need to evolve itself constantly to keep pace with demand.

In order for this project to be worked out, the general public of consumers must be educated about what this change could mean for themselves. Many times we will just see the good of a situation and blind ourselves to the bad. "Oh, better energy management? Sign us up!" we might be tempted to say, but the truth is that this issue is about more than reducing our carbon footprint. We might end up paying more (in dollars) for the giant energy grid, but because no one wants to pay more for something they already have, the majority of people might not even bother to switch. And that's not even considering the omnipresent issue of a lack of a generalized framework and cybersecurity network in place yet.

Do you know how much information your energy provider has about you? The answer is a lot. Any hacker or worm good enough to crack into the (currently) weak security system in an energy grid could access your information easily and quickly, and because energy companies are extremely wary of sending out any information about security attacks, you might not even know until it's too late.

This is a rather serious post this week about the dangers of technology, but it's here to highlight the need to understand all sides of an issue before we commit to something on a grand scale. Lesson of the day: do your research.

A New Force To Be Reckoned

Last week physicists working at the Tevatron Accelerator at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Chicago, Illinois, may have encountered the greatest discovery in modern physics since the Manhattan Project during WWII. That new discovery could create quite a stir for particle physicists everywhere, mostly because this "new" particle was wholly unexpected. No one even knows what it is, and because of the sheer surprise of the data, some question its legitimacy. The scientists who ran the experiment estimate its potential error at less than .25% probability, but it's still not enough to publish a hard-core report. Assuming the data are real, this discovery introduces more problems than it solves: Why didn't anyone predict its arrival? How does it fit in with our idea of the atomic model? What is it?

Current speculation of this particle's identity is a variant form of the infamous Higgs Boson, which scientists have been hoping to view in a collision since its proposed existence in the 1990s. The Higgs Boson is theorized to be responsible for the mass found in other particles, and since any freshman physics student knows that energy can never be created or destroyed, the discovery of the Higgs Boson will elucidate the beginning of the universe and show scientists how mass came to exist.

Cool, right?

Of course, with so many different physicists from all over the world working on this project, there are many alternate theories as to what this could be, one of which is that this is a new physical force which works only a very small distances, such as the strong nuclear forces that holds atoms together. Yet another theory is that we have constantly missed something in our hazy understanding of physics, and this is the first clue as to what that "something" is. If this is true, it could have major implications in a major issue in today's physics: how to unify the theory of quantum gravity.

Because the data are so small and, as of now, unsupported, more tests are absolutely essential in the study of this new particle (or force, or representation of a model heretofore unknown). Unfortunately for every particle physicist on earth, the Tevatron is going to be shut down sometime this year, as late as September and as early as when FermiLab runs out of funding money. If allowed to run this same test again, the FermiLab group would have about four times as much data to analyze, enough for either a refutation or a proposal.

So maybe with all the new cloud computing software going into effect, the Government will be able to spare that money and give it to the scientists at Tevatron. Who knows? This could be the dawn of a new age in particle physics.

Adobe Design Achievement Awards

Like any company who produces excellent work, we too like to receive credit and admiration for our work. This is especially the case for the project we have been working on until very recently. Because it is a system bought by Johns Hopkins Medicine, and therefore its property, the actual project cannot be described here; however, we are still able to get credit through the Adobe Design Achievement Awards (ADAA).

ADAA is a competition sponsored by Adobe (the guys who wrote Flash and make PDFs for you) that will award a grand prize of $3000 to the winning individual or team, along with thousands of dollars worth of Adobe products and the recognition of having won. The finalists are flown to Taipei to present at the International Design Alliance, and it is in Taipei that the winner will be chosen. Congratulations Hopkins, your STS team has entered into this contest!

The best part is that anyone who has an idea and executes it has the ability to enter this contest. The rules are that you be a registered student at an accredited institution, the work is your own (and only your own, unless you include all the members of a team), and that out of all the tools you used to create it, half of them are Adobe systems.

There are 15 categories to choose from, although only 12 are feasible (unless you are a teacher, then you have all 15). These categories range from photography and video to browser-based design and new game ideas. The point is that anybody, given a specific amount of free time and access to Adobe products, can enter this competition.

There are three waves of entry submission dates, the first of which has already passed. The next deadline is on April 29, and the final wave starts on April 30 and ends on June 24. If you'd like to be creative and possibly win a trip to Taipei, work on a project in the month after school ends and try your luck!

We are very happy with the end result of our project and hope for the best. Good luck to all!