The Future Individual leverages the power of the web

In the course of over a decade, since the dawn of the internet in the Philippines, I am becoming more of a librarian.... and less of a memorizer of facts; Lets face it --- factual, non-sensitive information you acquire after college should be relegated to the web --- it does electronic processing and sorting much faster. People should develop their analytical and social skills and leverage the power of the web to retrieve the facts they need at the right instance.

That is, unless, your computer gets destroyed, there is no backup, and your internet connection suddenly shuts down.

Turning Waste Heat Into Power

Turning Waste Heat Into Power

The Information Paradox of Mindanao

Back in Grade School, in the Ateneo the Cagayan elementary library, I came upon a very nice European Science Fiction Comic Book. It was a very well illustrated story of a human-like civilization in a futuristic city assisted by a World Computer. Sounds Familiar? If it isnt Yahoo, its google. to get your email or your search engine running, requires a very large complex, with thousands of units working in unison to give answers to millions of people every day.

And we use these services for a very minimal fee.

The difference between my Google and the World Computer (WC) in my childhood novel is this; Google is a very powerful information sorting, classifying and disseminating machine. The WC knows how to talk to its disciples in English ( or Tagalog or Bisaya), and gives wisdom and practical advice on local matters.

Now that does not mean Google is just a sorting machine; it can literally find dead on any particular piece of information on almost any topic ever discussed, which is quite quite powerful, if you know how to search for it. Google satisfies my need for this 10000000000%.

Its the local content that disturbs me. I literally know more about the world than I do about the activities here in Mindanao. I hardly know whats happening in the neighbouring provinces outside of that which appears in Media.

And that, I guess, is where some of my next searches will begin....

Ebooks

Question: What are ebooks? they are literary or technical references found in the internet that can be downloaded to your computer. You use a special software known as a "reader" to read these books.

For those who find reading with a computer inconvenient, a special device known as an "ebook reader" is used which is basically a thin flat lcd screen ( for viewing) with a built in hard disk ( to store the ebook itself). the most popular ebook reader devices are the Amazon Kindle, the Sony ebook reader, and just recently, the Apple Ipad, which is a computer that can function like a reader device.

There are many sources of ebooks on the internet.
Some, like Amazon, the online bookstore, also sells its own collection of ebooks.

Most ebooks come in a file format known as PDF ( which requires the Adobe Acrobat Reader software to view in the computer).

There are many kinds of ebooks, but PDF is the most commonly supported standard for storing them.

PDF ebooks can be found in the following internet sites:

Commercial Websites

1.0 Ebooks.com - this website has the largest collection of PDF ebooks on any kind of topic. This is a commercial website so the references here are purchasable by credit card and have some copying and printing limitations, and requires the user to download a special Adobe Digital Editions Reader, that enforces the copyright protection.

http://www.ebooks.com/

Partially Commercial Websites

1.0 Scribd.com - This website allows you the ability to create your own ebooks using its special web-based software. You can then give them for free on a specially created webpage in scribd, or offer them commercially, purchasable by credit card .If you are searching for High Tech Engineering and Science References, many can be found here.

http://www.scribd.com/

2.0 Feedbooks.com - For those who have an ebook reader device, and want to read some literary and fictional novels, you can find many classics here.

Many of the novels here are original or taken from classical literature of which the copyright has already expired and it is free for everyone to read.

http://www.feedbooks.com/

3.0 bookboon.com - FREE TEXTBOOKS - Thats what this website promises. All the references a student might need are being developed here.

http://bookboon.com/int/student

Afterthought

Real Physical Books will always be with us. Its cheap, durable and reusable. However, ebooks will slowly replace them since they are compact ( you can store thousands in a reader device), easily retrievable ( where there is internet connection), and many are free and very up to date.

In my personal opinion, the libraries of the future will not require large buildings or contain mountains of books. They will be everywhere; any PC can be a repository of ebooks.

From a centralized library, the future will be much more compact reading rooms all around the city. They will contain reader devices connected to a desktop computer with an internet connection.

Basically, that future is already here (internet cafes and business centers), excluding the ebook reader device which is still expensive. Those costs will eventually reduce and the library of the future will be common all around the city.

Every computer can be utilized as an ebook reader.

Thats all for now. Time to snug up to an ebook and get some shut eyes.

Future Technology Now #1 - For the Educator - the Video Cabinet

Dear friends and colleagues,

Good Afternoon. I know I promised to make a booklet about the Future Technologies that would give an added advantage to the Filipino SME or professional. It would be too difficult if I did it all in one setting, and it would be tedious to search for my references on the internet if it were on a booklet.

So I decided that it be published here that everyone in the online world can browse thru in a few seconds, and comprehensive enough that anyone can do it with careful reading of the instructions.

Ok, here it is: The Video Cabinet - A combination of TV and DVD player

What you can do with it: You can play the images of your POWERPOINT Presentations on the DVD

Uses: It can be an inexpensive short-term alternative to purchasing many computers in school, in the far flung barrios. Take this example: your Barrio needs instructional presentations to present to students that require photos or illustrations. Using an existing computer with powerpoint, CONVERT the slides to individual jpg images that you can easily view on a cheap, durable DVD player.

A whole school would need only 1 computer to do the conversion, and cheap 2nd hand or ordinary TVs with DVDs could be used to present the lectures. It would produce realistic presentations and producing it on DVD or VCD is cheap ( only 50 pesos per CD ).

Drawbacks: Since the presentation are images, there is no sound or animation.

Surprises: I used a NOVA DVD player I bought 2 years agro from SM CDO. WIth the remote, I can preview the images I want to present, play it like a timed slide presentation, and ZOOM the images to get a closer view of the Images ( This is very useful in libraries, if you want to scanned important technical handouts and present the information to the DVD)

Requirements: you have to have some basic background on how to use MS Powerpoint, and to burn the images to the DVD using Windows

How to do it:

Please read this very comprehensive article from the University of Buffalo New York on how it can be created:

http://www.its.buffalo.edu/manuals/PowerPoint%20Presentations1.pdf

Sample of Integrated Farming Systems

Farming of the Future - Create your own ecosystem

Free, Reliable Software is just around the corner

Ever since March, I have done some exploring of the free, open-source software available on the web. 

I came to the conclusion  that most of the everyday stuff that you see (maybe the Microsoft Office, the Image editing softwares ( adobe or corel), you can find a community of people developing a similar application that is cheap or you can download at no cost, except that you promote their product) 

During my search I came upon the following:

1. GIMP 2 - the partial replacement to Adobe Photoshop. Basically it can replace most of the basic features that Photoshop is capable of, like mixing images or editing the photo. This software is very similar to Photoshop and has many (but not all)  the capabilties.  It is free to download website: http://www.gimp.org/ 

2. Google Docs - Its the website made by google that has many of the capabilties of your Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint). Its capabilities are similar to the 2003 version, but Google is slowly added its own unique capabilities. Free. You need to create a google account to use it .   http://docs.google.com

3. Google Sketchup - A drawing software that is similar but much easier to use than the Autocad. There are 2 verisons: a Free and a professional (paid) one. It comes with its own Huge Library of 3d drawings made by volunteers, which should grow as more people download their software. http://sketchup.google.com/   

There are  hundreds more free software, some reliable, others that could crash your hard drive, that you can get with a quick search thru Google. If you're careful, you should be able to replace most of it thru an open-source software that runs just as good as the commercial versions.

I always wonder what kinds of new industries you can come up with, now that computing speed is getting pretty quick. Basically, backyard animation or basic product design could be refined with these software.  

Those the desktop cant handle, it could be delegated to some website that provides you the added processing speed, and they could just charge you on an hourly or monthly basis.  Which is eventually what is happening now. But that's another story to tell some time in the Future.