Comunicação entre Veículos

Conforme já tenho defendido anteriormente, a comunicação entre veículos é a funcionalidade mais desejável para conseguir que automóveis viajem sozinhos ou simplesmente evitem acidentes.

A ideia de um carro que se conduz a si próprio através da interpretação de imagem ou até de sensores não acrescenta muito condutor humano, porém a comunicação com outros veículos permite saber com antecedência quando será efectuada uma travagem ou uma mudança de direcção. Permitirá também obter informações como melhores rotas, angulos mortos e gerir prioridades.

O desafio para se obter algum sucesso neste objectivo de comunicação entre veículos, é que será necessário que a maioria deles possua mecanismos de comunicação para se conseguir extrair algum benefício dos mesmos.

De forma antecipada, os taxis do porto estão já a colocar módulos de comunicação entre veículos nas novas unidades, para que a redução de preços comece e dentro de algum tempo, seja possível lançar este objectivo.

No público, veio um artigo interessante sobre este projecto.

Como é que o Google+ tenciona bater o Facebook

Num post anterior, tinha falado sobre como o Facebook estava a mudar perdendo os adolescentes enquanto ganhava maturidade e se transformava numa ferramenta para adultos e empresas.

A nova Rede Social da Google, que se dá pelo nome Google+, encontrou uma forma muito interessante de resolver o maior inconveniente do Facebook.

A maior razão para os adolescentes se refrearem no facebook é a presença dos pais que insistem em seguir todos os passos dos seus filhos. Não menos importante é o facto de a maioria de nós querer partilhar com alguns amigos o lado mais louco, divertido ou pateta, sem com isto comprometer a ligação que tem com alguns contactos mais profissionais.

A grande característica do Google+ é a separação dos contactos por círculos. Aí podemos separar os nossos contactos entre amigos, família e contactos mais sérios, ou quaisquer outras categorias consoante desejarmos.

Assim fica resolvida a grande dificuldade que todos sentíamos no Facebook. Provavelmente este pormenor não é suficiente para derrubar o grande gigante das redes sociais, mas se alguém o é capaz de fazer é a Google.

Micro-Robotics Firefighting

Micro-Robotics is probably the topic that excites me more about future technologies.

You may find some articles I wrote about it in 2009 with the tittle of Micro-Machines. Now I see it wasn't very smart to use such an expression instead of micro-robotics.

It isn't so amazing to say that I identified some patterns 2 years ago, as most of them are a mash of science films and common knowledge about technologies and neural networks.

Now, very small automated machines are using the group orientation patterns to help fire-fighters detecting humans that may be trapped in a fire.

Certainly this decade will be full of great usages for micro-robotics, and this video is a great example.

The place is Carnegie Mellon which is no surprise.

Touch&Go Vs. Last Mile

Touch and Go is a psicologycal and cultural Trend that is becoming very powerful, and might be very destructive by it’s nature.

An easy way to understand is looking at how kids relate to their toys, specially Legos.

I am from a time, when kids didn’t have so many toys. We had plenty, but not so much that we could play with a toy just one time. Today it’s normal for a kid to receive so many toys that he plays with each one just one time. They assemble their puzzle or they Lego, then they disassemble it, and it goes straight to the shelf where it will stand indefinitely.

Now looking at grown-ups, we can spot the same pattern. For some it’s clothes, for other it’s technologies and phones. There is a buy it, try it and throw it pattern that is very common.

Some people would say that this is the face of capitalism and consumism, but it’s important to understand that this is a different kind of consumism. In the limit, this could bring to the end of the concept of property.

Previously, on this blog I have spoken about the reducing importance of property, and the touch&go culture which is very much related to the disengagement trend.

The good side about touch&go is that people are becoming more open minded, trying a little bit of everything which breaks a lot of communication barriers, like we had in the 90’s. The 90’s teenagers were divided between stereotypes: geeks, heavies, athletes, etc. It was harder than today for individuals from different groups to interact.

The down side is the incapability to practice the last mile effort. Last mile is a concept that relates to that little bit of extra effort, that so often makes the difference between failure and success. On sports it’s common to hear about it, when that lust push-up when your arms are hurting makes more benefit than all the others. On martial arts, a lot of athletes give up just before they get their black belt.

On Work and businesses, the last mile usually makes the difference between failure and success. There is a great cultural gap between going for sufficiency or making that extra effort, which makes all the difference.

If on some trends is good to go with the flow, on this specific trend is important for individuals and educators to understand this, and in a way contradict this trend within them.

The 'S' shaped shift and the gay marriage aceptance in USA

A recent article from the New York Times shows that the American opinion on gay marriage has turned favourable recently with a slight increase on the speed of change in the last 3 years.

This increase of change is common in such progressive changes, happening in a S-shaped rhythm. A similar phenomenon occurred in Portugal on the topic of violence over children back in the 80's. Before it was common for parents and teachers to use violence as a consistent method of education.

This S-shaped phenomenon means that there are some early adopters that slowly show a different opinion from the mainstream. At a certain point, the entire society starts changing at a very high rate, until it slows down as a few late adopters insist on maintaining their old habits. This is what happens usually, obviously with exceptions. In some cases, inversions are normal.

What is odd about the case presented in the article about gay marriage in USA, is that the S only took shape around 50%. Usually this happens somewhat between 10% and 30%.

I see two logic explanations for this difference. The first is about the specificity on the thematic, which afects directly more than 10% of the population that has a lot to gain with this aceptance.

The second and most significant is the size of the USA, and the diferences between liberal and conservative states. If such a study had been made in each state independently we would certainly observe the S shape begining at 20% or 30%. Also, if we look at states individually some of them would have a very high rate of acceptance, where others oppose strongly.

This happens because making oppinions is a social experience, and although we all like to think that we make our own oppinions, someone who doesn't take other's oppinions in consideration can't be considered healthy.

Better means of communication improve and acelerate this social process of changing oppinions. Internet allows constant and intensive communication between citizens from different states and countries. This adds steepness to the S-shape, making it happen in lesser time.

Workshop "Automobile Sector in 2020"

Yesterday I gave my first Future Studies Workshop.

This project started by a request made by Innov-XXI, a portuguese company developing a Roadster, Asterio.

This event had also the suport from Beta-I, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Association, and WouldSteps, CoolHunting Association.

Using a process based in Manoa, the output of this Workshop were 4 Scenarios for the sector in 2020:

- Car as a Toy. With development of Economy and Public transports worldwide, most cars are bought for fun. They are very different from each other, consumers know a lot about them, including engineering. The consumer is part of the design and building process. High taxes for cars, oil, parking, highways and cities. Before buying the car, the driver makes a first test drive trough the Playstation.

- Car for Use. For most families, the car is a deep need, but resources rocket and it's hard to buy and keep a car. Consumers are very informed, trough the web about caracteristics and services but not mechanics. Fewer brands worldwide, and personalization is inexisting. Sharing, and renting plans are common. Hibrid cars with plug in are very popular.

- Caos. Oil price is very volatile and lobbies from diferent energy sources make lots of pressure and live in constant conflits. Consumers know a lot about mechanics and make adaptations from one energy source to the other. Taxes and subsidies achieve a very complex dimension.

- Kitt. New cars are mostly eletric, very high-tech and some drive by themselves. The driver never pops the engine, which is sold as a close piece, and knows nothing about the technology. Everything is automatic, like the door that opens when the driver is near, and every information appears to the driver by sms or Augmented Reality. Cars are bought trough the internet, and dealerships disapear. Using Nanotechnology, the exterior can change it's collour according to the driver request.

Thank you to all the participants that were involved.

Full Report