Showing posts with label Mobile Technologies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mobile Technologies. Show all posts

Sunday, April 09, 2023

Our Response to AI: IA

I listened to a very informative podcast episode on the Harvard EdCast, the conversation centered around the topic of "Educating in a World of Artificial Intelligence." The podcast highlighted the need for education to evolve and adapt in order to work alongside the growing field of artificial intelligence (AI). The conversation focused on the concept of Intelligence Augmentation (IA). IA, which I heard for the first time, refers to the use of technology and tools to enhance human cognitive abilities, rather than replacing them entirely with artificial intelligence. The goal of IA is to improve human performance and decision-making by augmenting human intelligence with advanced computational and data processing capabilities.

The podcast highlighted the need for education to evolve and adapt in order to work alongside the growing field of artificial intelligence (AI). Specifically, it suggested that AI should be used to complement human intelligence, rather than replace it. Educators should focus on developing human skills that cannot be easily replicated by machines, such as critical thinking, problem-solving, creativity, emotional intelligence, and practical wisdom. 

A simple example I can think of how AI can help with IA is the language translation. I, myself, make use of translation tools time to time, I usually end up making intensive editing to get the result I want. It seems that AI powered language translation tools can provide quick and accurate translations, however I often come across that they struggle with nuances in language and culture. By using IA, a human translator can work alongside AI to provide context and cultural understanding, enhancing the accuracy and nuance of the final translation. In this case, the AI is augmenting the human's cognitive abilities by providing advanced computational and data processing capabilities, resulting in a more effective and accurate translation.

The podcast emphasized the importance of understanding the distinction between what AI does well (reckoning, or calculative prediction) and what humans do well (practical wisdom). While machines may be able to perform certain tasks faster and more accurately than humans, they are still limited in their ability to understand and respond to complex human emotions and experiences.

Given this distinction, educators need to consider how much of what they are teaching is reckoning, and how much is practical wisdom. By emphasizing practical wisdom, they can help prepare students for a future where AI is likely to play a major role, while also ensuring that they have the skills they need to thrive in a rapidly changing world.

Vedat YOZKAT

https://www.gse.harvard.edu/edcast


Sunday, February 20, 2022

The Rise of the Digital Ecosystem

The rise of the digital ecosystem is a phenomenon that has been taking place in recent years, and it is set to continue growing at an exponential rate. The digital ecosystem is essentially a network of interconnected digital technologies and services that work together to enhance the overall user experience. This ecosystem encompasses everything from social media and mobile apps to virtual reality and the Internet of Things.

One of the main drivers behind the rise of the digital ecosystem is the proliferation of smartphones and mobile devices. With over 5 billion people worldwide now owning a smartphone, these devices have become an essential part of our daily lives. They provide us with a constant connection to the internet, allowing us to access a wide range of digital services and technologies.

Another key factor in the rise of the digital ecosystem is the increasing availability of high-speed internet and the growing number of connected devices. The Internet of Things (IoT) is a prime example of this, with more and more devices being connected to the internet every day. This includes everything from home appliances and cars to industrial equipment and medical devices.

The digital ecosystem also encompasses a wide range of services and technologies such as virtual reality, artificial intelligence and big data. These technologies are enabling new and innovative ways of interacting with the digital world, and they are set to revolutionize the way we live and work.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been a major contributor to the rise of the digital ecosystem. It has the ability to process and analyse large amounts of data, making it a valuable tool for improving the performance of various digital technologies. For example, AI is being used to enhance the capabilities of virtual assistants, making them more intuitive and better able to understand natural language. In addition, AI is being used to improve the performance of self-driving cars, making them safer and more efficient. Another important area where AI is contributing to the rise of the digital ecosystem is in the field of predictive analytics. By analysing large amounts of data, AI algorithms can make predictions about future events, which can be used to improve decision-making and optimize business operations. This technology is already being used in various industries such as healthcare, finance, and retail, and its application is expected to grow in the future. AI is also being used to improve the performance of various digital services such as search engines, recommendation systems, and social media platforms. By analysing patterns in user behaviour, AI can personalize these services, making them more relevant and useful to users. In summary, AI is a vital component of the digital ecosystem, and it has the potential to drive significant improvements in the performance of various digital technologies and services. As the capabilities of AI continue to improve, it is expected to play an even greater role in the rise of the digital ecosystem in the future.

One of the most notable effects of the rise of the digital ecosystem is the way it has changed the way businesses operate. Companies are now using digital technologies to improve their operations, increase efficiency and drive revenue growth. The digital ecosystem is also playing a key role in the rise of the gig economy, sharing economy, crowd-sourcing, crowd-funding etc.

In conclusion, the rise of the digital ecosystem is a trend that is set to continue growing in the coming years. It encompasses a wide range of digital technologies and services that are interconnected and work together to enhance the overall user experience. With the proliferation of smartphones and the growing number of connected devices, the digital ecosystem is revolutionizing the way we live and work. Businesses and individuals alike must adapt to this new digital world in order to remain competitive.

Vedat YOZKAT

This article was originally published on the book "Geleceği Kodlayan Çocuk" by Vedat Yozkat


Sunday, June 27, 2021

The Future of Connected Devices

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a rapidly growing network of connected devices that are all connected to the Internet and to each other. This includes not only our smartphones, tablets, and smart TVs, but also everyday devices like tea makers, washing machines, refrigerators, traffic lights, and wearable technology. By connecting these devices to the Internet, we are able to increase energy efficiency, reduce human impact in production, and ultimately save costs.

One example of this is in the manufacturing industry, where machines and machine parts can be connected to the Internet to increase production efficiency and reduce costs. For example, a factory could use IoT-enabled machines to monitor and optimize production processes in real-time, reducing the need for human intervention and increasing efficiency.

But the benefits of IoT extend beyond just the manufacturing industry. In our homes, IoT-enabled devices can make our lives more convenient and efficient. For example, a smart thermostat can learn our personal temperature preferences and make adjustments accordingly, saving energy and reducing costs. A smart washing machine can recognize our clothes and choose the appropriate program, and even order detergent when needed. And a smart tea maker can brew our tea at the perfect temperature, and even order more tea when running low. These are just a few examples of the many ways IoT is making our lives easier and more efficient.

However, as the number of connected devices continues to grow, so do concerns about security. With so many devices and protocols governing how they communicate, it is essential to ensure that these devices are secure and that the data they collect is protected. This is where AI comes in, as it can be used to monitor and analyse large amounts of data from connected devices, identifying potential security threats and implementing countermeasures to protect against them. Overall IoT will bring many benefits for society, but we need to be aware of the security concern and take necessary actions to prevent any harmful cyberattacks.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is expected to revolutionize various industries in the near future with its wide range of applications. Some of the most notable examples include smart homes, connected cars, and industrial internet, which are expected to bring significant improvements in terms of efficiency, convenience, and cost-effectiveness. In the field of smart homes, IoT-enabled devices will be able to control and monitor various household appliances and systems such as lighting, heating, and security. The connected cars will allow for real-time monitoring of the vehicle's performance, automatic diagnostics, and improved navigation. The industrial internet, on the other hand, will enable real-time monitoring of industrial equipment and machinery, leading to improved efficiency and reduced downtime. Other applications that are expected to see significant growth in the near future include healthcare, retail, and agriculture. Overall, the IoT has the potential to greatly enhance the way we live, work and interact with the world around us.

Vedat YOZKAT

Monday, May 15, 2017

Outsourcing IT

In the current business environment with ever-increasing organizational complexity, the use of outsourcing services has become almost necessary to simplify the operations. Regardless of its scale and scope, IT is definitely one of the most important choice for outsourcing that can help organizations to stay up-to-date with the latest technologies, reduce complexities, lower the costs and do the things more efficiently. IT outsourcing services should be designed with flexibility, scalability and agility in mind to properly provide first-class support for the various sizes of enterprises. With proper planning and execution, outsourcing IT services would allow enterprises to focus at their core businesses while enjoying the great benefits that vary from cost saving to risk reduction.


There are several different functions within IT services that could be outsourced to move the enterprises away from complex IT environments. Most obvious and mostly outsourced IT service is service desk outsourcing. Service desk outsourcing is designed to address client issues promptly and effectively either with on site or remote support capabilities. Outsourcing companies can ensure consistent quality by keeping highly qualified service desk staff in a shared talent pool to help enterprises get the best services at a reduced cost. Another common IT outsourcing option is cloud based services. Cloud based services can help enterprises to reduce the operating costs, mitigate risks, improve utilization and reduce complexity. Cloud based services can offer software, storage, computing and other types of IT infrastructure under a monthly billed operational expense instead of a capital expense. Network outsourcing would be another option for enterprises that would like to minimize the network downtime and reduce the network operating costs while establishing more secure and robust network infrastructure. In network outsourcing, enterprises have the option of outsourcing the entire network or a part of it at different levels of operations such as outsourcing only the network administration, virtualization or hosting the entire network. IT security outsourcing is yet another outsourcing option to ensure highly secure internal and external IT networks with frequently conducted security audits for constant improvement. IT departments in organization would manage a high volume of assets including hardware, software, services and contracts. Asset management outsourcing services would address the total lifecycle of these assets to to provide a rapid return on investments. By properly managing assets, organization could lower the asset costs and place themselves on the safe side for the software license audits. A lesser known outsourcing option is business analyst outsourcing. A business analyst is an IT professional who analyses and studies an organization’s business processes to enable efficient and accurate IT implementation. Business analyst outsourcing comes into play when enterprises who want to meet the needs of businesses without moving away from their core business focus, use outsourcing support for finding and developing business systems and services. Other IT outsourcing options may include IT consulting, IT audit, IT equipment rental, etc. Furthermore, some enterprises might not have the internal resources to quickly comply with new regulations; flexible, scalable and agile IT outsourcing companies would help in such cases to provide outsourcing services in specific areas such as e-invoice, e-archive hosting services.

In summary, IT outsourcing would help companies to reduce their IT operation costs, mitigate risks, help focusing their core operations, get access to a larger knowledge base and talent pool, free up internal resources to put in to effective use for other purposes, gain access to resources that might now available internally. No matter what reason is behind for practicing outsourcing option, benefits are similar for most of the enterprises and IT outsourcing quickly become a core component of their business strategies.

Vedat YOZKAT

Sunday, November 20, 2016

Internet of Things

In a simple definition, the Internet of Things (IoT) is basically a large Internet network that is created by connecting all kinds of electronic devices to the Internet and to each other over the Internet.

Our computers, tablets, phones, smart watches and smart TVs are already falling under this definition, all of which are already connected to the Internet and to each other at some extent. The Internet of Things concept adds all other electronic devices that would normally not come to mind, such as tea makers, washing machines, refrigerators, traffic lights, wearable technology devices and more. And of course, including, machines and their parts used for production or non-production purposes.

So why do we want to connect all these devices to the Internet and each other?
For machinery and machine parts used for production, as one would imagine, it would make it possible to increase energy and production efficiency, reduce human impact in production, and as a result, reduce costs.

How about the tea maker, why does it have to be online again?
For example, when your smartphone wakes you up in the morning, your smart phone can tell your tea maker to brew tea. Your tea machine can know how many packs of tea left at home and can automatically order when it gets low. Your washing machine can recognize your clothes, choose a program accordingly, and order detergents when necessary. The thermostat you use at home or at work can learn the personal temperature preferences of you and other individuals, so it can make the most efficient adjustments automatically. It is possible to provide more of these examples. Also, I would like to mention that the examples that I give here are not fictitious examples, and that devices that can do all these things are either on sale or being prepared for sale.

In this new world where devices will be in constant contact with people and other devices, all the devices and the protocols that governs how devices communicate will be dependent on software. As the number of devices on the Internet will increase exponentially, security concerns will also be increased in parallel.

Vedat YOZKAT

Tuesday, April 05, 2016

The Dark Side of Connectivity

As we rely on computers and connectivity for an increasing number of reasons and connect a substantial number of devices to the Internet, our lives get exposed and vulnerable to a greater extent. There are various ways to damage or exploit one's computer, mobile or other connected devices.


The best known threat of all is the viruses. With harmful intentions, viruses are tiny computer programs that are not intended to be run by the device owner. Automatically and without users' permission, they copy and run themselves and they always have another additional motive that would range from harmless message spreading to crashing the entire system. There is a never-ending race between the security companies and the virus developers. In a vicious circle, virus developers create an unknown virus, while security companies write a protection against it as soon as the virus is out. Some viruses are extremely simple and easy to attain protection while some others are elaborately written with high technology coding techniques. There is even an advanced virus called Mytob that is not only spreads itself to the computer, but also alters the virus protection programs on the computer to disguise itself as legitimate. Another interesting virus called GPCoder encodes all the files in the computer, asks for money to reveal the encryption password. This virus is the first blackmailer in the history of the computer viruses that is now categorized as RansomWare.

Similar to viruses; worms, malicious macros and trojans somehow copy themselves to the systems and forward themselves to the other victims in the same network. Worms specifically utilize the mailing systems or networks, attaining the addresses in the vicinity, they copy or send themselves to the every system in the environment. In some cases, they basically spread messages, other times they execute harmful actions such as bringing the entirety of the network to its knees. Macros spread themselves with Office programs or similar macro-using software. For example, one can receive a spreadsheet from a known source and open to process it, all of a sudden a macro runs automatically and perform an action that is not intended in the first place. With users' insecure download habits, trojans are easy to distribute. There are a significant number of computer users who incautiously open, receive or download email messages from other sources. Some of these files are considered to be Trojans, the user thinks it is just an amusing video or his/her favorite mp3 song, however along with this intended content, these files also have vicious content that would harm the computer, this is called malware. Just as the historical Trojan horse, thought to be a gift in reality there were soldiers inside it. In order to collect private information such as account numbers and passwords, trojans are opening the necessary ports to allow external connections. These types of trojans are also called Spyware. Taking control of the network, spywares are redirecting victims to some not pleasant addresses instantaneously, for example, the user would click to open a newspaper site in contrary the spyware redirects to the user to a porn site.

Another widely common security threat is the email spams. An immense number of unwanted email messages are distributed to users' mailboxes by the second. These types of unwanted emails are called spams. Number of people or companies exercise spam as a naive marketing tool. Supposing, if they send enough number of emails, they would have a chance to let people acknowledge about their company and products and they will have a market share as an outcome. Over the time, it becomes annoying to receive unrelated emails, even the ones that would be beneficial treated as junk mails. Furthermore, some spam emails contain malware to harm the hosting systems. Another email using scheme is called phishing. This term comes from fishing, it is exactly same as throwing a line into the sea and wait for someone to get hooked. Relying on people's ignorance, phishers send vast number of email messages and expect someone to fall for it. In their messages, they either claim they are from a bank or they are in need of the target's financial assistance to transfer a vast amount of money through the bank account. Sometimes, they even claim the lottery winner and ask for filling out a form which usually contains personal and financial data to claim the prize. Phishing is also called on-line identity theft, their primary motive is to steal as much personal and financial information as possible.

With the rise of number connected machines and increase our dependencies to these devices, the stakes are getting higher. Not only are these threats affecting our computers, network systems and mobile devices, other online devices such as smart TVs, smart home systems and other connected devices that are collectively called Internet of Things (IoT) would be adversely affected. Of course, using anti-virus programs, firewalls or having strong passwords would facilitate to reduce the risks; however, no matter how much money is invested and how top of the line security systems are installed, eventually, it always comes to the people. The users should always be aware of these types of threats, maintain their systems up-to-date, utilize the passwords cautiously, not submit personal, security or financial data through mails or Internet no matter how authentic and reliable the sources may appear.


Vedat YOZKAT

Friday, November 27, 2015

The Next Big Thing

What would be the next big thing?
With more brands, start-up or established companies and individuals emphasizing the importance of a solid presence on the market, everybody is working hard to take a market share from the next big thing in the market. In today’s business environment, it is very difficult to point out a single thing that would be the next big thing, however, I hereby try to make assumptions how the next big thing would be like. 
- probably it's something socially responsible
- probably it presents at least a trace of innovation
- probably it uses an existing technology with a twist
- probably it's young
- probably it's environment friendly
- probably it's something cool
- probably it's something simple
- probably it's something crowd sourced and/or crowd funded
- probably it's solving a problem that we didn't know existed
- probably something promoted by a big shot
- probably something disruptive

There is only so much attention from consumers and customers to go around, and the all new products and services are overflowing in all shapes and sizes, it would take a lot of efforts to stand out. 
Be there or else...

Vedat YOZKAT

Sunday, June 07, 2015

AI is Here To Stay

I have met the concept of artificial intelligence and completed my first artificial intelligence project when I met Lisp programming language during my studies as a computer science student years ago. Actually it started as a homework but I got so drawn to it that I could not help myself to continue to work on this fascinating topic. My final work was far away from passing the Turing test which aims to determine whether the intelligence in the background was real or artificial. Nevertheless, it was an entertaining and enlightening experience.

Artificial intelligence or short for AI, is a broad name for computer software that has the ability to perform intelligent tasks such as intelligence, learning, decision making, problem solving, perception and understanding of spoken languages. Apart from this definition, we may also mention applied artificial intelligence software designed for specific purposes, such as artificial intelligence software, which can only play chess or which is designed to evaluate only stock market data.

Today, most of well known technology firms are allocating the biggest share from their budget for AI researches. AI projects may vary in size and content. There are so many concurrent AI projects are being worked  by various sized companies and institutions and the projects may vary from modeling the impacts of global climate change to traffic modeling in major cities, from developing self-driving cars to space research projects, from health research, to translating between spoken languages, from smart chat companions for service industry to making smart predictions from customer behaviors for retail industry and many more. Almost everyday, we hear another astonishing news about the development of AI as it gets more advanced in time we will probably hear on the news that it beat the go champion as it did to chess champion years ago or it started to express itself more artistically such as composing songs or writing movie scripts.

It seems that artificial intelligence will also help to exponentially increase the effect of almost all the emerging technologies in the coming years. It will always come to the forefront in the more efficient use of cloud computing, data analytics, big data and, of course, the virtual reality. Artificial intelligence, regardless of the sectors, will continue to increase its impact on our lives in every area that technology already has an impact.


Vedat YOZKAT

Thursday, August 22, 2013

How Would PCs Survive?

We have been hearing a lot of sales figures that PC sales are slowing drastically. Recent sales figures indicate that tablet sales already exceeded PC sales.

Users, nowadays, prefers mobility and ease of use over performance. Tablets can do variety of tasks such as playing media, browsing the Internet, using the social networks as well as the PCs, if not better.

On the verge of the mobile revolution, is it possible for PCs to survive?

Although the sales figures are not that great, PCs are still getting better. Performance of PCs are being improved gradually to satisfy the game addicts as well as designers, video editors, 3D rendering jobs etc. Besides the better performance, PCs are getting smaller and getting additional features such as touch screens.

Other than using it for business purposes, PCs can convert itself to be the center of household entertainment. All PCs offer a TV and audio system connection. They can be the center for TV-on-demand systems, gaming, music etc. PCs can also offer tablet and phone integration to serve for the storage needs.

Overall, tablets and mobile devices are good for consuming media however PCs are better in creating content. I think they will be still around for the time being.

Vedat YOZKAT

Monday, April 01, 2013

Using QR Codes for Interactive Presentations

QR code is short for Quick Response code. It is considered to be evolved version of barcodes. It is a 2 dimensional barcode with capacity of holding matrix of information.

A QR code can be scanned and read by a specifically designed reader device or any type of imaging device with proper software support. Nowadays, all smart phone devices have QR code reading applications to read the QR codes.

QR codes have so many application areas, endless opportunities to discover.
Here is a way that I use QR codes to enable the audience to see the presentations on their mobile devices:  http://youtu.be/GFkAyFE3igQ



Vedat YOZKAT

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Gamification

Learning is an ongoing process; whether in schools as children or in corporate settings as adults, we continuously learn to keep ourselves competitive and up-to-date. In order to make learning endeavors more enjoyable, to keep the motivation at the top level, and to provide continuity during the training activities, a lot of institutions try to devise different techniques. Gamification and game-based learning are two of them. 

Playing to learn is emerging as an educational approach to motivate learners to engage by using game design techniques and strategies in learning environments. The goal is to attract and entertain the interest of the attendees so that they can become more attentive and engaged participants. It is necessary to say that game-based learning is not exactly the same thing as gamification In game-based learning, attendees play an actual game, in contrast, in gamification, game is embedded into the learning activities.

In fact, even if we do not realize it, many companies use these methods to gain customer loyalty. For example, if your favorite coffee place gives you a card with a hole in it for every coffee you buy, and if the number of holes in the card is 5 and you are offered free coffee, the coffee shop is trying to use gamification techniques to assure you coming back again and again.


I think that using gamification and game-based learning in education is more important than in other areas. Regardless of the age, playing games has always been a source of motivation for almost everyone. It is an indisputable fact that we need to increase motivation and participation in all types of education and training. In fact, various methods of gamification and game-based learning have been tried 
by various educational institutions with successful results every time.

Vedat YOZKAT

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Digitalization

Digitalization is translating functions and processes into digital data to improve them with the help of digital technology. It is one of the most widely used terms in the business world in recent years. Companies digitize their businesses to create models that use digital technologies to provide opportunities for generating new revenue and value or to make existing business models more efficient. There is a slight difference between digitization and digitalization. For example, scanning a piece of paper with the help of a digital scanner is digitization whereas digitalization is when digitizing all the business processes and data in a way that businesses do not need a scanner because all data is already in digital form.

Digitalization has gone a long way in recent years and we can say that it will increase its influence rapidly in the coming years. Nowadays, many services, products and processes are digitized data at the source. For example, most of the books you read are created digitally, many television and radio channels are now being digitally broadcast. Maps, films, singles, photographs, magazines, newspapers are few of the obvious examples of digitally produced content at their sources. Concepts and terms such as e-invoice, e-government, e-learning, e-health are utilized more and more every day. After digitalization has become so widespread and proved its benefits for increasing productivity, some other examples have emerged. Digital twins of physical assets are one of them. Digital twins of some physical devices can be created to apply the benefits of digitalization. For example, digital twins of traffic lights can be created in a computer environment to test any improvements before applying to real life. Another example, the digital twins of the wind turbines used in  wind farms can be used to increase the efficiency of electricity generation. 


With the raise of many new technologies and concepts such as digital economy, Internet of Things, big data, cloud computing, AI, Industry 4.0, etc, digitalization will be the driving force behind these technologies and will rapidly increase its influence.

Vedat YOZKAT

Sunday, April 15, 2007

A Flexible Solution for the Modern Workforce

Telecommuting, also known as remote work or working from home, refers to a flexible work arrangement in which employees perform their work from a location outside of their office, such as their home or a remote location. The history of telecommuting can be traced back to the 1960s and 1970s, when technology advancements made it possible for employees to perform their work from remote locations. At that time, telecommuting was seen as a way to reduce traffic congestion, save energy, and increase worker productivity. However, it wasn't until the late 20th and early 21st centuries that telecommuting became more widespread, as advances in technology and the Internet made it easier for employees to communicate and collaborate with their co-workers from a distance. The rise of laptops, and other portable devices made it easier for employees to work from anywhere, and many companies think about embracing telecommuting as a way to reduce costs and improve worker satisfaction.

With advancements in technology, it is now more possible to have all job-related tools and equipment at home. This raises the question of whether a traditional workplace is even necessary anymore. More and more businesses could be conducted from home offices, with technology playing a major role in allowing employees to work effectively and efficiently. The Internet, with its increased availability and lower cost, is a key player in facilitating remote work. In addition, the widespread use of web-based applications allow for convenient and secure use of applications from anywhere. For businesses that require secure transactions, Virtual Private Network (VPN) applications are available to provide secure access to corporate networks. Communication tools can also be easily set up at home, giving employees access to the same communication capabilities as they would have in a traditional workplace. Telecommuting offers numerous benefits, including environmental benefits such as reducing fossil fuel usage and carbon emissions from commuting, social benefits such as reducing traffic and providing work opportunities for disabled and remote individuals, financial benefits such as lower overhead costs from reduced office space requirements, and personal benefits such as improved work-life balance and time management. For businesses, telecommuting provides advantages such as the ability to conduct business across multiple time zones, faster disaster recovery, and improved risk management. 

Companies could also offer employees to have the combination of two options to work from the office or from home, depending on their needs and the requirements of their job. This flexible work arrangement provides employees with a work-life balance and greater autonomy, while also giving companies the ability to benefit from the advantages of in-person collaboration and face-to-face interaction.

In conclusion, telecommuting has come a long way since its inception in the 1960s and 1970s. With advancements in technology and the widespread use of the Internet, telecommuting has become a viable and attractive option for both employees and businesses. It is clear that telecommuting is here to stay and will continue to evolve as technology improves. For businesses and employees, telecommuting offers the ability to work effectively and efficiently from anywhere, providing numerous benefits for both. Whether it is reducing costs, improving work-life balance, or reducing carbon emissions, telecommuting has become a valuable option for businesses and employees alike.


Tuesday, December 20, 2005

What’s next?

Computer technologies is the fastest growing technology since the beginning. Each year new applications are introduced, these applications are not only for high-tech companies and educational institutes but also for the common people and changing our way of life.

Business companies and governmental agencies are investing more and more money in the security systems. Security applications is thought to be major money making tool for IT companies. We could expect in the near future that we will face many electronic security systems in our daily lives. Just an example, Israel is investing more money to increase its airport security. They are installing “Truth Machines” to all airports. Of course, they are not planning to use these machines on every single passengers however they think if they encounter with a suspected person, they could get help from these machines for their interrogations. In the near future, liars are not welcome on board anymore, what’s next? (http://security.nemesysco.com/gk1.html) 

From very huge filming machines to hand-sized mobile telephones, nowadays, everybody could get a simple mobile telephone with all kind of recording capabilities. These small devices could record voice, video and pictures. It is expected that in upcoming years, a big percentage of people will have an access to such devices. This would lead to more discussions about privacy as some are not hesitant to use these devices to record some moments that are not meant to. Some institutions such as museums, movie theatres, concert halls, government buildings etc are installing scrambling devices to block this type of recording devices in their premises. In the near future in communication age, we wont be able to communicate freely, what’s next? (http://www.netline.co.il/Netline/LPjammer.htm) 

We are just barely getting used to our plastics instead of money but it seems that shortly, they will be replaced by our mobile phones. 39 major credit card companies in Japan have just started a new application with which by just showing your mobile phone to the cash register and enter your pin, the payment is automatically charged to your mobile phone bill. It is expected to be widely available soon for other countries too. First barter, then money and plastic cards, in the near future our mobile phones will be replacing all. Who says men show more interest in the technological gadgets, here is a gadget where women enjoy talking and shopping at the same time, what’s next? (http://www.quicpay.jp/) 

 There are so many new applications in the line to change our lives. Some are adopted really fast, some are just ending up in the waste basket. As the computer technology grows as fast, we will be asking this question again and again, what’s next? 

 Vedat YOZKAT