Technology - Josh Cheek

20
August, 2020August 19, 2020

The software developer specializing in imaging and design tools wants to create a universal camera app for smartphones. If there is something in which Adobe excels, it is in the development of professional software related to design and the graphic side. The company is recognized worldwide in this field. Many of its applications, from the basic triad of designers ( PhotoShop, InDesign, Illustrator ) to video editing ( Premiere, After Effects ) to more specific programs, such as Dimension (to work in 3D), are part of the workday daily of many users.

adobe

Its business model shift from licensing to subscription has been successful and the company now has a strong position on the global software map. But apart from the paid subscription, the company offers other ways to access its products. Some old versions of its applications or limited in functionality are available, both for computers and mobile devices. It is a way to gain popularity among the less professional and maintain a broad brand image, regardless of the niche you dominate.

Precisely this strategy of gaining popularity at a general level may be behind Adobe’s intention to create a universal camera app. This accessory is essential today in mobile phones. Each manufacturer has its own photographic sensor but also develops its camera software. This is a key aspect of the final quality of the photos. This was demonstrated a few years ago by Google’s range of Pixel smartphones. He launched a device with a good sensor, without being the best on the market by any means, that took some of the best photos of the moment. The magic was in the camera software, which by means of corrections, estimates, automatic modifications of certain parameters, achieved an amazing result.

The creator of the computational functionalities of the Google camera software was Marc Levoy. Now Adobe has hired this imaging expert to create a universal camera app for smartphones. Any mobile phone can access quality software to take photos, regardless of the manufacturer. This is the intention of the company and it seems that they have formed a team to do it.

The Camera as a Key Factor in Smartphones

Adobe’s idea may be to create a prestigious universal camera app that everyone can access. The objective, in this case, would be to reinforce your image to sell subscriptions to your paid suite. But it could also offer a paid version of this application, intended for professional photographers if it really acquires a great differentiator with respect to the options that manufacturers offer by default.

The company already incorporates camera software in some of its applications, such as Photoshop Camera or Lightroom. It does not start from zero, therefore. Not to mention his long experience in the graphic world. Although Adobe will have a difficult time creating software that is up to the standards of the best manufacturers. These have the advantage of being able to integrate the development of the camera app on specific hardware. For a universal app, Adobe will have to have different hardware and will not be able to achieve the integration reached by manufacturers, who coordinate the development of the sensor with that of the software.

The camera has practically become the main attraction of smartphones today. Manufacturers are striving to include more and more functionality and raise quality. So Adobe has chosen a field very conducive to gaining notoriety. Of course, it would be useful to learn how to make the most of a universal camera app, which you can also use on the next mobile.

Technology

16
July, 2020

There is nothing closer to the customer than the technology with which you interact in your own home or office. For this reason, and in line with the philosophy of the company ‘People First’, Telefónica has evolved the devices at the customer’s home, adapting their technical characteristics to their expectations and improving their experience.

Smart Homes

This year MWC19 has been the showcase where Telefónica has presented the new generation of xHGU and xPORT equipment that offer its customers greater coverage, capacity, efficiency, safety, and control overconsumption.

With this new generation of home devices, Telefóncia positions itself as the market leader in WiFi connectivity with efficient devices that ensure interoperability and high technical quality.

State-of-the-art xHGU router

The latest generation xHGU router improves connection capacity and speed with a performance of up to 10 Gbps in access (thanks to XGS-PON technology ).

Smart WiFi amplifier

For its part, with the Smart WiFi amplifier, the first device with WiFi 6 in the Spanish market, a performance of up to 5 Gbps is achieved, with easy self-installation through the Smart WiFi app.

With the evolution of devices in the home, Telefónica maintains coherence in the strategy using four basic pillars for decision-making (interoperability, specification and cost control in the framework of the Marco Polo project, a long-term strategy with our partners and quality in WiFi connection) with the mission of maintaining the absolute leadership in WiFi connectivity in all our footprint focused on the client.

Technology

15
July, 2020

PS4 is an incredible gaming console, however, it’s not without its shortcomings. The console was launched on 15 November 2013, because the unique PS4 has been upgraded to a PS4 slim. The console additionally obtained a mid-cycle improve within the type of the PS4 Professional, which is extra highly effective than the bottom console.

PS4 Won't Turn On

Nonetheless, some points associated to the ability provide remained persistent throughout completely different consoles. Listed here are widespread PS4 points that you simply could be going through.

Effective Ways to Solve “PS4 won’t turn on” Issue?

Following are the best solutions that can help in repair and fixing the ps4 won’t turn on given the error.

Fix “PS4 won’t turn on” issue by reconnecting the power cables

This should be the first solution to be applied as sometimes reconnecting the power cables can easily sort out the problem by resetting the PS4 and removing corruption issues from the gaming console.

Detach the power cord from your PS4 and wait for at least 30 seconds.
Now, attach the power cables back to your gaming device and press the power button to check if your console is working or not.

Repair and fix “PS4 won’t turn on” issue by inserting a disk into the PS4.

Sometimes, when you insert a disk into your PS4, it can be turned on as the console can detect the inserted disk and start by itself.

Plugin the power cable to your PS4 console.
Now, in the disk drive of the PS4, insert a disk. Do not completely insert the disk, keep pushing it slowly to check if the console turns on automatically or not.
After this, take out the disk and see if this method works to fix your gaming console or not.

Resolve “PS4 won’t turn on” issue by rebuilding the database

If the solutions mentioned above fails, try this one, which works for most of the cases. PS4 comes with a feature that lets you rebuild its database; doing this will clean up the data and resolve everything on the hard drive.

Attach the gaming controllers to your PS4 console and then connect it to the USB cable.
Press the power button and hold it till you hear the beeping sound twice. After two beeps, release the button to run your PS4 device in Safe Mode.
Now, using your controller choose “Rebuild Database”, option 5.
Wait for some time for the process to be finished.

See for dust in your device to get rid of “PS4 won’t turn on” issue

When the above-mentioned troubleshooting solutions fail, try doing this.

Dust can play a vital role in shutting down your PS4 console; it can hamper your gaming experience. Clearing out the dust inside your device can be a beneficial approach to resolve the issue “PS4 won’t turn on”. There are a couple of hacks you can apply such as blowing in through the vents or disk drive to clean the dust particles accumulated inside or remove the top plate of the console to wipe out the dust etc. after following such approached; you can turn on your console and check if it’s working.

Technology

06
July, 2020July 4, 2020

The World Economic Forum published in April 2012 its study on the global state of Information Technologies, called the Global Information Technology Report 2012. Within its multitude of pages, a subject has caught my attention: a reflection on the impact of technologies in education.

Laptops in the Classroom

There are no clear parameters for the efficiency of information technologies in schools, as obsolete parameters based on the number of computers per student continue to be used. This parameter made sense when students did not have access to ICT on a personal or family level. The focus was on access to the technology itself. But how is the situation today? Spain in 2009 had approximately 8 computers for every 100 students in schools. On those same dates, the presence of computers in homes was around 65%. That without counting smartphones or mobility products. The numbers speak for themselves.

The focus must clearly shift from the existence of ICT in schools to the use made of them. And there ICTs collide not only with the difficulty of how to measure their use but with the idiosyncrasy of measuring the quality of teaching. ICT becomes one more pedagogical tool and not (only) a learning subject (let’s face it, it is very likely that some students today know more about computing than some of the teachers). In this context, talking about the “Computer Room” is as obsolete for me as if we were talking about the “Writing Room”.

As part of the educational ecosystem, a cold question would be whether investing in ICTs at school is more or less profitable than other possible investments (for example investing in improving teacher training). And obviously there is no answer to the question, but the mere fact that the question exists should make us reflect.

Information technologies can help change the way in which education is delivered, but as in many other branches of our lives, they will be limited to supporting or accelerating changes that must take place independently of the technology itself. These changes require a change of mentality in the way of facing education, much less focused on knowledge in this ” Hyperconnected World ” (and this is the subtitle of the WEF report ), and much more relevant in experimentation and reasoning. And this is not achieved simply by “buying computers”.

Technology

05
July, 2020July 4, 2020

A nursery is a set of agronomic facilities in which all kinds of plants are planted, germinated, matured and hardened. It is a very useful metaphor when applied to the field of innovation, as we can call the physical or virtual place where new ideas or projects are born that are duly supported so that they can move forward and develop. This is the case of the Educational Innovation Nursery, an initiative that was born in Argentina and that constitutes a community workspace, focused on innovation and collaborative work, through a social network of teaching and learning.

innovation in education

Basically, the Nursery aims to contribute to the professional development of teachers who work in Argentine classrooms and are interested in critically reviewing their teaching practices and incorporating innovation components including ICT into them, through the design and application of collaborative projects.

As a broader and more ambitious objective, this project aims to contribute to the creation of a network of Ibero-American teachers who work in communities of learning and practice, so that each school and each classroom becomes a producer centre of open innovation. and distributed.

It is, therefore, a way of supporting the teacher who feels like transforming and modernizing their profession, but who often faces this task of innovation alone, afflicted by the frequent misunderstanding of the environment and the pressure of the school day today. In the Educational Innovation Nursery, the education professional will find other innovative teachers like him to share experiences, exchange ideas and collaborate on projects together.

The methodology underlying this initiative is based on a pedagogical accompaniment model, through which:

Each participating teacher/school identifies the strengths in their teaching practices, in institutional management and in the design of projects (linked to the different dimensions of school work) that they consider and propose as innovators. b) Each teacher/school identifies aspects that require revision of the ways of doing and/or incorporation of knowledge and training to enrich the way of doing and/or achieve the proposed objectives. c) Each teacher/school decides the horizontal connection and exchanges with colleagues/institutions that are travelling the same path of innovation and who are at different points along the way (with more or less progress, with more or less experienced), with the purpose of joining learning and practice communities, working collaboratively and learning online.

Two of the most important pieces that make up the Educational Innovation Nursery are the Stonemasons and the Collaboratory.

The Stonemasons are working groups made up of the network of teachers involved in Fundación Telefónica Argentina projects. Each of these groups has a specific work program and, at the same time, develops its exchanges and carries out its tasks guided by purposes, objectives and ways of doing that are common to all stonemasons.

On the other hand, the Collaboratory as a meeting and exchange space for teachers interested in developing collaborative projects that involve students from the schools in which each of them works. By working in learning communities and communities of practice, the aim is to study in-depth the design and scope of collaborative projects in general, and in particular on:

ICT convergence educational experiences.
Educational experiences that link art and ICT.
Values education projects and citizenship training within the framework of mobile youth culture.
The Nursery of Educational Innovation is a project still in seed but that potentially can contribute a lot to the educational community and which I will continue talking about.

04
July, 2020

Teachers send a clear message in a study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, which analyzes the use that adolescents make of new technologies to study: young people must be educated so that they know how to take proper advantage of digital advances in their academic life.

Digital tools

The novelties in the field of education have led us to applications for learning or to the entry of video games in classrooms, but it has also made us reflect. Because the important thing is not that new technologies become a regular element in schools and institutes, but that their use is correct.

In our blog, we have already talked about the need for a change of approach when understanding the impact of ICT in the school world. The important thing is their employment and not simply that access to computers in schools is a reality.

Potential to Exploit

For 77 per cent of the teachers surveyed in the study, the Internet and digital search tools have had an especially positive impact on the way their students carry out their work and research. However, 87 per cent think that these technologies are creating a generation that is easily distracted and whose attention span is diminishing.

Whether or not this is true, opinions reflect reality: the importance of educating young people in the correct use of new technologies. Not only in the field of learning, but also in general. The Internet has unleashed unknown possibilities until a few years ago, but students still have to improve their skills to take full advantage of them.

Accustomed to Speed

99 percent of participating teachers agreed with the claim that the Internet allows access to a number of resources that would not otherwise be available. However, only 65 percent of them believe that the network makes students better researchers. They pose the following problem: Users are getting used to thinking that answers are obtained quickly and easily.

Going into Google and asking about a concept has become the most common way to search for information. Of the results offered by the search engine, users are only left with those that appear in the top 10 positions. A large part of the respondents thinks that this method is conditioning students. Now, anyone expects to be able to find the data they need almost immediately and with just a few clicks. But what happens when that doesn’t happen? Is it enough to go to the second page of Google search?

Although the study focuses on education and youth, this pattern can be applied to many other Internet users as well. With Wikipedia as the new place of reference, old encyclopedias and traditional libraries are losing ground as a source of knowledge, because it is easier to connect to the Internet. Are we getting used to everything coming easily to us, without trying?

Old problems

Despite recognizing many of the virtues of online information, up to 60 percent of teachers think that current technologies are in danger of offering false data that can go unnoticed. Everything that glitters is not gold and everything published on the Internet is not true. This is one of the key points that should be improved with the help of educators. Students should have certain tools to avoid this problem, and can only learn them with help.

Relying directly on Wikipedia is not enough. Checking the sources that are cited on the page or visiting other references are basic notions that should be known, and that any student should take into account when preparing their work in class. Because erroneous or false data should be able to be circumvented if you have the skills to distinguish between truthful and non-truthful information.

Schools could have a lot to say here. Educating your students on the use of new technologies or how to research on the Internet is a task within their reach. And this is something that more than 90 percent of the study’s teachers agree with, who are committed to having classes or courses focused on teaching young people how to use new technologies.

The technology is not the solution itself. Users need to learn how to get the best out of them, and educating young people in that regard is one of the pending tasks. Buying more computers is not as important as teaching how to use them.