Guns and violence are not going to change anybody's mind.
The only hope as I see it is to make friends with the Muslims.
We don't have to oppress them, we could try being nice .
There is a long tradition in UK of using horrific sentences to dissuade crime. Surely it is better to improve security by throwing a few CEOs or other well-paid company officers in Jail if they let their systems get hacked. "We should spend the money on MY BONUS not on the BORING computers"
What do you know about expensive web connections? Power outages? Spelling in societies where few people rely on the written word? What are the chances of getting a laptop stolen? A tablet? a Phone?
A visit will surprise and interest you.
I'm very old, IBM 360 anyone!
It's much better if the subject matter is interesting. I've worked on all sorts of problems from accounting (ugh) to robotics (Yea) in many countries in the world.
Currently I'm working on a way to use computers to help seniors and their carers live better lives. The carers are busy and there are more seniors than ever before. It's called Stay-in-Touch.ca and runs on an Android tablet or a dongle.
I have a specific need (apart from meeting a super salesman) to port some functionality to send pictures to grandma from an iPhone, from facebook, twitter and so on. We can do it from Android, of course. Work on your own and sell the apps. I provide the API. There is an infinity of projects in this vein.
(Apparently this old programmer can't figure out new lines in slashdot!)
www.Stay-in-Touch.ca includes a "Hard-of-Hearing" function. It is text or speech-to-text at your end which comes through as text to "Grandma" She picks up the phone and speaks. Then you reply. Runs on an Android Tablet for Grandma and a web-Page for you!
I'd love you to test this.
Stay-in-Touch.ca is an app designed for getting older people started on using tablets. You can send him pictures of your life and they just come in a gallery. Videos and text messages too, Skype with no touch? When he has gotten some notion of what the wonderful world of teh web is all about, then he can use the other apps too of course.
If you keep looking at Android tv dongles and can't think of what to do with one...try this app!
I am the luckiest man still alive. I have a family whose members do interesting things. There are young ones growing up some well, others not doing so good. However long I live I expect and hope it will stay like this. I am not a burden yet (except occasionally) and at whatever point I die there will still be developments I would like to see how they turn out. Others will need my house, my space to live.
On the other hand if I go to a shopping center and see the seniors walking slowly around not having nearly as much fun as the frazzled mother with two toddlers. I heard of a senior the other day who was an expert at Solitaire. I do not want to be like that.
This is pretty exactly our target demographic. We have a goal of zero user interface for the senior. At the moment the system plays a gallery of pictures of family events and runs youtubes, as well as a "phone your hard-of-hearing grannie" . We are aiming to be able to set up channels and have the son choose for his father / grandfather what he would like to watch. A new TED lecture at 3:00pm eery day for example.
Not for everyone, but for people whose elders do not want to learn a new complicated computer system it's just the thing.
The goal is to offer significant functionality without ANY user interface. Runs on Android Dongles ($50) attached to an LCD screen or modern tv. Of course if the elder is willing to learn to use a mouse it's more fun to control your own entertainement, but at the extreme end it's aimed at keeping him in hi own home longer.
check out www.stay-in-touch.ca contribute your ideas!
Nevil Shute worked on the problem of making sure that aircraft were properly repaired. When the engine cowling is closed who knows if the work was done properly? His solution is a new religion of aircraft mechanics. Ordinary people pray 5 times a day, but we are special people responsible for keeping aircraft safe, we need to pray 50 times a day, each time we start a task, and each time we finish a task.
The book he wrote "Round the Bend" by Nevil Shute is widely available in the bookshelves of elderly engineers.
The problem is still alive and dangerous today and we approach this with code walk-throughs and such like.
The elderly often live isolated and confusing lives and would profit from Skype Google Calendar and other specialized apps. It's not the cost of the Tablet or computer, but the repeating monthly charges that is the stopper. We make an app which can operate without any button pushes on the part of Grandma. It shows family pictures, medication reminders and has a way of keeping in touch by telephone, all without any input from Grandma. Several other features require that Grandma is able and willing to press a button, playing videos of the new baby for example, but we are working on that button press. Skype needs a click to receive a call, and another to end it.
Well done FreedomPop (and Mom too)
Obviously not the solution for everybody.
We write apps for Android Tablets (for old people actually). All the data like Name, email, pictures, and messages are stored in the Android tablet and kept on the Cloud only until they are downloaded. They are encrypted, even the pictures, while waiting on the Cloud database. In the registration part of the app the user does type in his email, but we do not keep it.
How to contact the user? We put a record in a table which is checked periodically by an active user's android and they can get the message. Payment is tricky since the PayPal record contains the email of the payer and teh AndroidId of the user's tablet, It's just a matter of throwing away data that does not belong to me!
Alzheimer wandering is very stressful for the family, especially the partner. http://www.alz-locate.com/ outlines the way this works... free for 2 weeks, and the $20 for 2 years.
A son living in a distant city can get a call from his grandmother "Fred didn't come back from his walk. Can you see where he is on your computer?" The old Lady just has to keep the phone charged and in his pocket. The watcher can do the rest. You can tell her where he is.
For/. readers the encryption and hashing are quite interesting. No person's name ever gets into the system, and everything except the optional email is irreversibly hashed (the email is there only for a forgotten password). There is no need to know who the watcher or the wanderer is, just where he is!
The most important thing about terrorism and car-jacking and home invasions is WHY. If we keep our heads in the sand about why people fly planes into big buildings then we will make little progress to persuade them not to, or even stop them once they start to plan it.
John
The comments are all short term and mostly personal. If we stopped building better roads and built better public transport then the usability would sway the other way. If you add the costs of road building to the costs of driving then it's horrendous and not self-sustaining.
The availability of public transport is shaping the cities of America and will continue to do so as teh ration of public to private costs and benefits changes
The ethical issues in a domain where unethical behavior is unlikely to be discovered directly is a very interesting problem. In Quebec we had some bridges collapse because the work was poorly executed. We can pry into others business and write programs without bothering to test them, we should do these things better.
Neville Shute in Round the Bend discusses this problem in the setting of the expanding airlines just after world war 2, expanding into the Far East. He describes a form or religion of aircraft engineers. The suggestion is that the solution to this ethical problem cannot be solved in the domain in which it is presented, cannot be solved as a business or technological problem, but at a deeper human, spiritual level.
This OLPC is going to change the world. I've got mine now and it is wonderful exactly what is needed IMHO. They are trying to do something that is very very hard and they need all the encouragement and kind words that are to be found. I hope they solve their delivery problems smoothly soon. No lack of talent in this group of people.
Slashdot Mirror
Why ever would someone think that it is interesting to find a way to break this. This is obviously a fantastic effort, he needs friends to help.
It's hard sometimes to see what the offence is. My app was suspended for reasons that were not clear. Yeah for transparency
Guns and violence are not going to change anybody's mind. The only hope as I see it is to make friends with the Muslims. We don't have to oppress them, we could try being nice .
What are the real costs for the home extending its wifi to another resident? Or for extending it to them all?
There is a long tradition in UK of using horrific sentences to dissuade crime. Surely it is better to improve security by throwing a few CEOs or other well-paid company officers in Jail if they let their systems get hacked. "We should spend the money on MY BONUS not on the BORING computers"
What do you know about expensive web connections? Power outages? Spelling in societies where few people rely on the written word? What are the chances of getting a laptop stolen? A tablet? a Phone? A visit will surprise and interest you.
I'm very old, IBM 360 anyone! It's much better if the subject matter is interesting. I've worked on all sorts of problems from accounting (ugh) to robotics (Yea) in many countries in the world. Currently I'm working on a way to use computers to help seniors and their carers live better lives. The carers are busy and there are more seniors than ever before. It's called Stay-in-Touch.ca and runs on an Android tablet or a dongle. I have a specific need (apart from meeting a super salesman) to port some functionality to send pictures to grandma from an iPhone, from facebook, twitter and so on. We can do it from Android, of course. Work on your own and sell the apps. I provide the API. There is an infinity of projects in this vein. (Apparently this old programmer can't figure out new lines in slashdot!)
www.Stay-in-Touch.ca includes a "Hard-of-Hearing" function. It is text or speech-to-text at your end which comes through as text to "Grandma" She picks up the phone and speaks. Then you reply. Runs on an Android Tablet for Grandma and a web-Page for you! I'd love you to test this.
Stay-in-Touch.ca is an app designed for getting older people started on using tablets. You can send him pictures of your life and they just come in a gallery. Videos and text messages too, Skype with no touch? When he has gotten some notion of what the wonderful world of teh web is all about, then he can use the other apps too of course. If you keep looking at Android tv dongles and can't think of what to do with one...try this app!
This is very good. The small fry that the trolls target cannot do this. Go Bite them hard!
Google could organize it and make it available. Check Stay-in-Touch.ca
I am the luckiest man still alive. I have a family whose members do interesting things. There are young ones growing up some well, others not doing so good. However long I live I expect and hope it will stay like this. I am not a burden yet (except occasionally) and at whatever point I die there will still be developments I would like to see how they turn out. Others will need my house, my space to live. On the other hand if I go to a shopping center and see the seniors walking slowly around not having nearly as much fun as the frazzled mother with two toddlers. I heard of a senior the other day who was an expert at Solitaire. I do not want to be like that.
This is pretty exactly our target demographic. We have a goal of zero user interface for the senior. At the moment the system plays a gallery of pictures of family events and runs youtubes, as well as a "phone your hard-of-hearing grannie" . We are aiming to be able to set up channels and have the son choose for his father / grandfather what he would like to watch. A new TED lecture at 3:00pm eery day for example. Not for everyone, but for people whose elders do not want to learn a new complicated computer system it's just the thing. The goal is to offer significant functionality without ANY user interface. Runs on Android Dongles ($50) attached to an LCD screen or modern tv. Of course if the elder is willing to learn to use a mouse it's more fun to control your own entertainement, but at the extreme end it's aimed at keeping him in hi own home longer. check out www.stay-in-touch.ca contribute your ideas!
Nevil Shute worked on the problem of making sure that aircraft were properly repaired. When the engine cowling is closed who knows if the work was done properly? His solution is a new religion of aircraft mechanics. Ordinary people pray 5 times a day, but we are special people responsible for keeping aircraft safe, we need to pray 50 times a day, each time we start a task, and each time we finish a task. The book he wrote "Round the Bend" by Nevil Shute is widely available in the bookshelves of elderly engineers. The problem is still alive and dangerous today and we approach this with code walk-throughs and such like.
The elderly often live isolated and confusing lives and would profit from Skype Google Calendar and other specialized apps. It's not the cost of the Tablet or computer, but the repeating monthly charges that is the stopper. We make an app which can operate without any button pushes on the part of Grandma. It shows family pictures, medication reminders and has a way of keeping in touch by telephone, all without any input from Grandma. Several other features require that Grandma is able and willing to press a button, playing videos of the new baby for example, but we are working on that button press. Skype needs a click to receive a call, and another to end it. Well done FreedomPop (and Mom too)
Obviously not the solution for everybody. We write apps for Android Tablets (for old people actually). All the data like Name, email, pictures, and messages are stored in the Android tablet and kept on the Cloud only until they are downloaded. They are encrypted, even the pictures, while waiting on the Cloud database. In the registration part of the app the user does type in his email, but we do not keep it. How to contact the user? We put a record in a table which is checked periodically by an active user's android and they can get the message. Payment is tricky since the PayPal record contains the email of the payer and teh AndroidId of the user's tablet, It's just a matter of throwing away data that does not belong to me!
Power to the People
I looked through the document and could not fins an author.
Alzheimer wandering is very stressful for the family, especially the partner. http://www.alz-locate.com/ outlines the way this works... free for 2 weeks, and the $20 for 2 years. A son living in a distant city can get a call from his grandmother "Fred didn't come back from his walk. Can you see where he is on your computer?" The old Lady just has to keep the phone charged and in his pocket. The watcher can do the rest. You can tell her where he is. For /. readers the encryption and hashing are quite interesting. No person's name ever gets into the system, and everything except the optional email is irreversibly hashed (the email is there only for a forgotten password). There is no need to know who the watcher or the wanderer is, just where he is!
We have one in Montreal for example .
The most important thing about terrorism and car-jacking and home invasions is WHY. If we keep our heads in the sand about why people fly planes into big buildings then we will make little progress to persuade them not to, or even stop them once they start to plan it. John
The comments are all short term and mostly personal. If we stopped building better roads and built better public transport then the usability would sway the other way. If you add the costs of road building to the costs of driving then it's horrendous and not self-sustaining. The availability of public transport is shaping the cities of America and will continue to do so as teh ration of public to private costs and benefits changes
The ethical issues in a domain where unethical behavior is unlikely to be discovered directly is a very interesting problem. In Quebec we had some bridges collapse because the work was poorly executed. We can pry into others business and write programs without bothering to test them, we should do these things better. Neville Shute in Round the Bend discusses this problem in the setting of the expanding airlines just after world war 2, expanding into the Far East. He describes a form or religion of aircraft engineers. The suggestion is that the solution to this ethical problem cannot be solved in the domain in which it is presented, cannot be solved as a business or technological problem, but at a deeper human, spiritual level.
This OLPC is going to change the world. I've got mine now and it is wonderful exactly what is needed IMHO. They are trying to do something that is very very hard and they need all the encouragement and kind words that are to be found. I hope they solve their delivery problems smoothly soon. No lack of talent in this group of people.