The last of this blog

So here I am, 13 weeks in and writing my last post now. It has been a joyous but honestly tedious journey to write blogs every week. I am not so much of a person who share things on the Internet but this process has taught me to be consistent. Also, because of the need to share interesting information on this blog, I have learnt a lot myself, and read things I would not have paid attention to in the past. But with this blog, I am always concern about news regarding technological stuff and the Internet. To end off my blog journey, I came across this blog post which talks about the computer and internet stuff and I would like to share with all...

It was only recently that computer systems became smart enough to identify unknown objects in photographs. Even then, it has generally been limited to individual objects. Now, two separate teams of researchers at Google and Stanford University have created software able to describe entire scenes. This could lead to much better and more intelligent algorithms in the future.

Stanford's work, entitled "Deep Visual-Semantic Alignments for Generating Image Descriptions", explains how specific details found in photographs and videos can be translated into written text. Google's version of the technology, in a study titled "Show and Tell: A Neural Image Caption Generator", produced similar results.

While each team used a slightly different approach, they both combined deep convolutional neural networks with recurrent neural networks that excel at text analysis and natural language processing. The programs were able to "learn" from each new interaction, with algorithms enabling the system to improve its accuracy by scanning scene after scene, looking for patterns, and then using the accumulation of previously described scenes to extrapolate what is being depicted in the next unknown image.

You can read the full article here.

Thank you all for reading my blog and I hope you enjoy reading what I shared. Adios!

Future of the Internet

As we all know, the future is unfathomable. Something no one can be absolutely sure of. However, there is a trend that is predictable and which is in our control - the advancement of technology and the Internet. The Internet is definitely something that will be further explored and extended to different uses, for example, Internet of Things (IoT). I am especially interested in the IoT because two decades ago, nobody would have expected the future to turn out as such. To ancient people (who were all dead by now), what we have now is magic. But fast-forward several centuries later, anything seems possible with the Internet and technology.

The IoT provides so many possibilities in our lives. We are able to connect with not just people, but objects as well. We are making objects come to life and be able to communicate and interact with them. So for those who are interested, here are 10 things you need to know about the IoT: 

So the IoT is possibly becoming a reality soon as Google purchased Nest Lab for $3.2 billion. Nest Labs, based in Palo Alto, Calif., makes smart thermostats that aim to manage temperatures more efficiently while collecting consumer data. Hyde Park Venture Partners Managing Director Guy Turner cautioned that while the Nest purchase energized investors, it didn’t touch off a rash of massive exits. Samsung acquired SmartThings in August for a reported $200 million. That's a good price, Turner said, but hardly at the level of Nest. He said said investors looking to cash in on the Internet of Things quickly don’t need to go hunting to buy obscure startups but instead can invest in established companies. And that GE and Cisco are the closest things to pure Internet of Things plays right now. Zapp is more bullish on startups, partly because of the open-source culture that he said imbues the growing maker movement. He said developers at startups collaborate, share and build on each others’ work, meaning they can innovate quickly.

So companies  are obviously venturing into the business of IoT, but how soon will it become a reality for us? And are you ready for it? 

Citizen Journalism - Do it the Right Way

Today I will be talking about Citizen Journalism (CJ), the impacts of it and how we can all practise it in the right way. 

First, many may ask, what is CJ? 

It is the idea behind citizen journalism is that people without professional journalism training can use the tools of modern technology and the global distribution of the Internet to create, augment or fact-check media on their own or in collaboration with others. For example, you might write about a city council meeting on your blog or in an online forum. Or you could fact-check a newspaper article from the mainstream media and point out factual errors or bias on your blog. Or you might snap a digital photo of a newsworthy event happening in your town and post it online. Or you might videotape a similar event and post it on a site such as YouTube. All these are acts of journalism, and what is similar behind all these acts is that everyone, you and I, we can all participate and be involved in different forms of CJ.

However, there have been much controversy regarding CJ, as some professional journalists believe that only a trained journalist can understand the rigors and ethics involved in reporting the news. And conversely, there are many trained journalists who practice what might be considered citizen journalism by writing their own blogs or commentary online outside of the traditional journalism hierarchy. However, one of the main and new concepts behind citizen journalism is that mainstream media reporters and producers are not the exclusive center of knowledge on a subject — the audience knows more collectively than the reporter alone. Therefore with such distinct, digital users are able to obtain more truth, or maybe even more pseudo facts out of CJ. 

With great freedom comes great responsibility. We need to practise CJ  with responsibility in order to contribute to the betterment of society. I will be sharing about this article which shows how our freedom of acts can ruin the lives of many others who are the unsung heroes. These people are the ones who try their best to keep our Internet safe for laymen users like us. And here is the article. 

Sometimes we do not think much about what we post on the Internet, especially graphic images and videos which provide visuals that speak a thousand words. These are images that will be stuck to our minds and eventually cause a psychological toll on us. After reading this article, I sincerely hope everyone of us can practise acts of CJ in a moral way and we should be responsible on how we do it.