What Google Fiber Means Now and 4 Implications for the Future

Google Fiber will change the world. Granted, that's a big claim. So, let's dig into a bit.

What is Google Fiber?

     Google Fiber is Google's project to build a broadband network infrastructure using fiber-optics to selected cities.

 They offer the following plans:

 
     Now, if you did not catch it, the speeds for the paid monthly internet are 1 gigabit per second - about 100 times faster than the average person's internet connection. We will get to the implications of this later on. And even the free internet at 5 megabit's per second is a decent speed for the price of FREE for seven years ($300 construction fee makes it technically $3.57 per month). I pay $50 a month right now for 12 Mbit/s for a service that is 85 times slower than Fiber's gigabit and even if I only had access to the free internet for a downgrade in speed I would gladly jump on that and save myself $3,900 dollars over the next seven years.


Where is Google Fiber?

     It is live in Kansas City, Kansas; and Kansas City, Missouri since September 2012.

     And announced just 3 days ago, Google will bring Fiber to Austin, Texas and have connected homes by mid-2014.


What Google Fiber means now?

     Well, for one it is stimulating competition. As the hardware of computers have advanced to the point where the average user's computer is now very capable - internet speeds, while increasing, have not kept up with the processing speeds of computers, and the United States is lagging behind at 12th place (in early 2012) in average connection speeds.

Source: The Verge

     Despite the big name internet suppliers being capable of incredible internet speeds, they have been a little too friendly with each other and done little to improve services over the last few years. Literally hours after Google announced it would take Fiber to Austin, AT&T announced that they too would build a 1 gigabit fiber network in Austin so long as it is granted "the same terms and conditions as Google on issues such as geographic scope of offerings, rights of way, permitting, state licenses and any investment incentives." Now that is both humorous and sad, I think; funny because it makes AT&T look embarrassingly poor in service and public relations, and sad because it takes Google's constant stream of innovations to get the oligopolistic internet industry to remain competitive.

     For those who are lucky enough to live in Kansas City, Kansas; Kansas City, Missouri; the possibilities are endless, and in fact, entrepreneurs and startups are flocking to areas where Fiber is live, most famously the Kansas City Startup Village, Hanover Heights on the map, where entrepreneurs and startups are gathering to collaborate and leverage their resources and take advantage of 1 gigabit internet speeds. On the Kansas City Startup Village's website there are currently 20 startups listed in the community.

     But you can imagine the possibilities of not having to wait for any download. When Google Fiber first went live in KC, Mike Demarais, Threedee startup founder said, "It's unbelievable. I'm probably not going to leave the house."

     So it's giving a Kansas City small businesses that cannot afford their own high-speed network a huge opportunity. Check out this example from the Wall Street Journal.

What Google Fiber means for the future?

     Here is where things get interesting.

     While 1 gigabit speeds will not happen for America overnight, expect them to shoot up quicker then you think as service providers scramble to remain competitive or at least prepare themselves for real competition.

     But when it does happen, and we all get 1 gigabit speeds or better, everything will change, and here are four major changes you will see:

• Health care will be revolutionized. Imagine videoconferencing your doctor - seeing each other in high-definition, speech crystal clear - and consider how much difficult travel could be avoided for elderly, handicapped, etc. A doctor could see many more patients per day and patients would not have to wait as long for appointments. Google has announced it will bring Google Fiber to schools and hospitals for free in Austin, Texas.
• Digital educations will bolster. If you haven't read my post on Sugatra Mitra's proposal to revolutionize the education system using a digitally-based model, I suggest you do as it relates the importance of students having access to internet. But even within the traditional education system, according to the FCC, "students with broadband at home have a 7% higher graduation rate."
• The digital entertainment industry will explode, again. With YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, and the myriad of online gaming communities, digital entertainment has grown exponentially the last few years and has only been hindered by slow internet speeds. With 1 gigabit, entire HD movies can be downloaded in a matter of seconds. Imagine how many YouTube videos you could watch in a row if buffering did not exist, and you get the idea.
• The online experience will change entirely. With 1 gigabit download speeds, companies could make extremely interactive, highly visual, moving, dynamic, and ridiculous websites and never have to worry about "average page load time". We are seeing this already with Microsoft's Xbox 720 - rumored to not have an optical drive, but rather only have downloadable games - these games would be huge in file size, some 50 GB, and this would only make sense where internet is competent. With gigabit internet speeds, any amount of content could be taken on. 

I can't wait till the day I see that on my screen. Perhaps that day is not far off.

     Computers have become so capable that their evil-fighting potential is seriously impressive, but many of their applications are limited to their ability to receive and send information quickly, and thus computers' favorite new sidekick Google Fiber enters the scene to help save the day. What a team.

     Computers - 6. Evil - 0.

ORIGOSafe to Stop Distracted Driving & Save Computers' Morality

     About 16 people in the United States die every day from distracted driving (and another 1,370 are injured). -Department of Transportation

     How many of those do you think are caused by cellphones? Well, the Harvard gentlemen and gentlewomen estimated in 2003 that about 2,600 deaths were due to cellphone distractions every year. That would mean about 44% of all distracted driving deaths are due to cellphones.

     While no one has ever appreciated texting while driving, 50% of Americans now believe that texting while driving should be punished at least as harshly as drunk driving. -New York Times / CBS News Poll  Makes sense - as studies have shown that using a cellphone while driving is just as dangerous as drunk driving.

     So pretty serious stuff, but what the heck can we do about it? (If you're still not convinced and need that emotional appeal watch this video.)

     Well, there are some devices that block text messaging and apps that do the same, but if the user wanted to, i.e. your naturally rebellious child, they could simply uninstall the app or remove the device; and either way could still "mess around" with their phone.

     That's where Origo enters the scene with what I think could be the solution or at least the next step to preventing all these deaths.

     It is a phone docking system that is installed in your car and prevents the car from starting without the phone being docked. You can make and receive phone calls via Bluetooth and hear navigation and the phone is charged while in the dock. If the parking brake is engaged and the vehicle is idling, the phone can be removed and the phone can be removed whilst driving, but an alarm is triggered and the administrator (that's you parents) is alerted immediately, and the user is then unable to start the car on the next trip without a code from the administrator.

     Watch Origo's video:

     You can order them on Origo's website for $279 and professional installation for $125. Seems pretty cheap considering the alternative. Right now they offer docks for the Samsung Galaxy S3, iPhone 4, 4s & iPhone 5. 

     Seems to be a realistic approach to stopping irresponsible driving, don't you think?

     While computers are doing much good in the world and fighting evil everyday, their powers can be abused, and in such instances, must be restrained for the greater good, and that is where wonderful ideas like ORIGOSafe maintain computers' morality. 

 

Actually, Spiderman borrowed this quote from Supercomputer.

     Computers - 5. Evil - 0. 

Top 5 Computer Protagonists from Fiction

     Probably due to the fact that computers, by definition, are not human, they are often categorized as evil and antagonistic. Thus it is always fascinating when a computer plays the part of a hero in a story. I brainstormed a list of all robots and AIs that played the part of the "good guy" in any written or visual work and then objectively ranked them based primarily upon the number of times they saved humanity and then their likability and abilities as deciding factors.

#5 - Sonny
from the 2004 film I, Robot, starring Will Smith

     When I first started thinking about potential characters for this list, Sonny immediately came to mind - not because he is so widely known, but because I, Robot is my youngest brother Joe's favorite movie. On one twenty-four hour drive to Florida for family vacation, he successfully got us to watch I, Robot four separate times. That being said, Sonny did not receive any special treatment in his placement. Sonny is an anthropomorphic service robot, but is different from the other robots, in that he has human feelings and a personality; he even dreams. He helps Detective Spooner (Will Smith) unravel the mysterious death of a prominent roboticist and subsequently prevents an autonomous supercomputer V.I.K.I., who had determined humans were too destructive for their own good, from organizing all the robots to hurt humans.

     Despite having no real following, outside of my brother Joe and myself and, I bet, only a handful of others, Sonny is a great protagonist, with hyper-intelligence, creativity, bionic strength and agility, and human feelings - pinning him at the #5 spot.


#4 - WALL-E
from the 2008 Pixar film WALL-E

     WALL-E is probably the most beloved character on this Top 5, as is the nature of Pixar films. Waste Allocation Lift Loader, Earth-Class, is his namesake, programmed to clean up Earth by compacting waste, but in the year 2805, WALL-E is the only one left. After 700 years of life experience, WALL-E develops sentience, and a great deal of curiosity. After falling in love with EVE, Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator, when she visits Earth, the pair proceed to save the humans aboard the starliner Axiom from morbid obesity and inspires them to return to Earth with the seedling plant WALL-E had discovered.

     Although WALL-E, in his fragility, would probably not fare well if it came to a fight - his helpless romanticism, hard work ethic and usefulness, sentimentality, and good-will make him a favorite computer protagonist and gives him the #4 spot.

 #3 - Cortana
from the Halo video game series

     Cortana is the only computer protagonist on this Top 5 that is designated as female, which brings up an interesting topic: robots and artificial intelligences are rarely gender-neutral. But I'll save that for another day. Cortana is an artificially intelligent character who was AI for the United Nations Space Command Pillar of Autumn and then chose Spartan John-117, her best match, and the pair go on to save all of humanity from sure destruction by alien races multiple times, including the Covenant, the Flood, and Prometheans. She was developed from the cloned brain of a human, and was unique in that she was a "smart" AI, meaning her creative matrix could expand. She has no true physical form, but projects an avatar of herself with holograms, taking the form of the human she was developed from. After 8 years of existence; however, Cortana enters rampancy, i.e. craziness from too much information accumulation, and becomes rather unpredictable and this rampancy leads to an uncertain end for her in Halo 4.

     A prominent character throughout the Halo saga, Cortana is unforgettable in her personality, humor, humanity, despite her recent instability, and her hacking abilities, knowledge-base, and strategy-formulations, bring her all the way to #3.



#2 - Optimus Prime
from the Transformers franchise

     Originally a toy, Optimus Prime has grown into an iconic figure for justice to many through his character portrayal in comics, TV shows, animated films, and the recent live-action films directed by Michael Bay. His origin is unclear and varies depending upon the continuity, but he is almost always seen as leader of the Autobots, a robotic race who is in a perpetual war with the Decepticons. A fearsome warrior, revered on the battlefield, he is responsible for saving the lives of humans countless times. His character and morals are so good that his history is littered with sacrificial deaths. There is nearly no continuity where he has not been killed saving or protecting someone else. Almost to the point that it is unfair, he is always brought back to life.

     A real inspiration, whose extremely high moral character, justice, empathy, selflessness, and sacrificial attributes, coupled with his fierce battle capabilities and impressive weaponry bring Optimus Prime to #2.



#1 - R2-D2
from the Star Wars universe

     Dubbed as George Lucas' favorite actor, R2-D2 was one of the first inductees into the Robot Hall of Fame. R2 is one of four characters who appeared in all six Star Wars movies, Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and C-3PO are the other three. He is the only character to know the entire history of the Skywalker family, never mind the fact that he was there. He is an R2-series astromech droid manufactured by Industrial Automaton. In the first movie, The Phantom Menace, R2 was first a part of the Naboo defense forces on Queen Padme Amidala's starship and in the sixth movie, Return of the Jedi, plays an integral role in rescuing Han, Luke, and Leia from Jabba the Hutt. R2 has such a long and rich history that it is difficult to even begin to count his accolades and so I will let someone else:

R2-D2 is the Swiss Army Droid. In six movies, we may not have seen all his capabilities. I know that whatever R2 needed to be able to do to get out of a jam, R2 could do. He evaded lasers, set up smoke screens, lit oil fires, served drinks, linked to computer terminals, tasered Salacious Crumb, fixed the hyperdrive on the Millennium Falcon, and launched light sabers. So for putting the machina in deus ex machina, my vote goes to R2-D2. -Sasha's Lab on EVE vs. R2-D2 Flickr post. 

      For his seemingly endless capabilities, resourcefulness, spunkiness and loyalty, and the fact that he is still alive (and never died) in his respective universe, R2-D2 is placed at #1 of all computer protagonists.


Agree or disagree? Who would you add?

Gaming Versus Evil

Video games get bad-mouthed by non-gamers quite a bit these days. Is it entirely fair? No, it’s not.

Now, I may be slightly biased, being an avid gamer myself, (I mean, my friends and I have a competitive Halo 4 team, called the News Team. We even have team hats.) But, I’d just consider myself more informed than non-gamers.

Video games do have a powerful potential to influence the user due to their interactiveness, and that’s where crude or overly violent video games are thought to be a negative influence on thought processes for young minds; but could the opposite not also be true?

What if there were video games that took advantage of this powerful influence in a positive way? Well, that trend has been happening now for several years and is beginning to gain traction. It is called Serious Games.

Microsoft should really consider the cape for their next generation of consoles. 

I was first introduced to serious games in September of 2011 when I read an article on the Huffington Post about Foldit, which is an online puzzle video game where the objective is to fold the structure of given proteins; the highest score solutions are looked at by researchers to determine whether can occur in nature. Scientists can then use these to eradicate real-life diseases.

So these gamers, few of whom had a biochemistry background, were able to map out the structure of an AIDS causing monkey virus in just three weeks. Scientists had not been able to do this for 15 years. Now, unlocking this structure is just one small step in the exhaustive hunt for a cure, but a remarkable feat nonetheless.

Seth Cooper rocks the nerdy caveman look pretty well, eh?

University of Washington computer scientist Seth Cooper, who is the lead designer and developer for Foldit said "Games provide a framework for bringing together the strengths of computers and humans." Wow, now that's a quote. I might get a tattoo of that quote.  

But so this serious game trend has been picking up steam and just recently Ben Sawyer was announced as one of ten winners of the 2013 Dewey Winburne Community Service Award by the organizers of the SXSW Interactive Festival down in Austin, Texas. 

Ben Sawyer, Pioneer of the Serious Games Movement

Ben Sawyer helped create the Serious Games Initiative things like Serious Games Summit conferences, Games for Change and Games for Health. Good work, Ben.

Games for Change just released a new Facebook game called Half the Sky Movement: The Game where players play as an Indian woman named Radhika, and go on quests and face many serious real-world challenges. 

Half the Sky Movement: The Game characters.

I completed the first quest, which consisted of Radhika speaking up to her husband about their sick daughter, selling mangoes to get enough money to afford a taxi to the doctor so she can be cured. Once I completed the quest, it asked me if I wanted to pay just $20 for a vaccine in another country.


Pretty cool and interesting idea to attract a much different audience, right? According to Facebook the game has 10,000 monthly users already.

Games for good? Awesome idea, but can it inspire social change? Comment below and give me your thoughts!

Alright, well I’m Zach Rhodes and this is Computers Vs. Evil. Follow me on Twitter and leave a comment below! You stay classy, planet Earth. 

Computers - 4. Evil - 0.

(Disclaimer: Trying something different - reading the blog as a sort of video blog. Let me know if you like this better than the written form. I included both for comparative purposes.)  

Computers to Revolutionize Education & Destroy Ignorance

     "I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." - Mark Twain 

(Note: there is only weak evidence that Mark Twain actually said this, but it gets the point across)

     The purpose of the above quote is mostly for provocative intentions. Could it be that our current school systems are no longer relevant?

     I am now in my last semester of college and I often evaluate my own education - from primary to post-secondary - and my evaluation looks like this: I learned a great amount in various subjects, but the amount of learning I retained in a particular subject was directly dictated by the amount of interest I had in that given subject and more importantly the amount of interest I had for learning in general.

     "Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever." -Mahatma Gandhi

     Gandhi understood that learning is about attitude. For learning to take place, one must desire to learn.

     This is where Dr. Sugata Mitra enters the picture with his vision of using computers to revolutionize the education system.

     Mitra is best known for his Hole-in-the-Wall experiment, where he put freely accessible computers in remote villages and slums in New Delhi and just left it alone. Children with no prior experience and who knew no English became computer literate on their own, and taught themselves enough English to use email, chat and search engines.

A Hole-in-the-Wall computer. (Source)

     He then took the experiment further and tested their ability to learn advanced subjects, like say the biotechnology of DNA replication in English. In that particular experiment, children 8-12 years old went from scoring 0% in their knowledge to 30% in just two months. Dr. Mitra then hired a local accountant to simply stand behind the children as they learned and say things like, "How did you do that? Wow, that is incredible."   In other words - encouragement was added to the equation. That brought their scores up to 50%. Children could learn subjects a decade ahead of their time in this style of learning environment.

     So how spectacular of an idea is this? Well, Sugata Mitra just won the 2013 TED Prize (TED is a conference of elite intellectuals and tech-buffs dedicated to supporting awesome ideas) of $1 million to further research this new concept of schooling.

     As laid out in his award speech at TED, Mitra wants to set up self organized learning environments (SOLE) that consist of:

    Give children a computer with access to the internet, and have their teacher simply ask them a question to induce learning and the children will teach themselves the answer. Mitra has already had great success with his first SOLE environments and is now asking parents and teachers to set-up their own SOLE's and experience it themselves. You can even send him the data as part of the experiment and simultaneously enter a contest.

     A major point that Mitra makes in his speech is that our current school systems are centered around tests and examinations, but he points to evidence in neuroscience that says that punishments and examinations are seen as threats and threats shut down the prefontal cortex - the part of the brain that learns - the lesson being that we need to completely rethink how schools are approached. Our society is no longer about having knowledge, but about knowing how to find information quickly, so why are our schools still focused on the former?

Sugata Mitra, being a genius at TED.

     What I think Mitra gets so right is the total integration of schools and computers. Jobs in the future are going to be all about computers, and using them to make your life easier and better. So why then are they hardly used in school? Mitra brings up this point: our children now are using smartphones and tablets before and after school for all kinds of reasons and then we take them to school where they are not allowed to use them and instead given books.

     God bless you, Sugata Mitra, and your love of computers. If you want to be inspired, watch his entire award speech here.

     Computers are (and will continue) revolutionizing education and destroying ignorance everywhere.

     Computers - 3. Evil - 0.
   

Computers Saving Africa - Microsoft's 4Afrika Initiative

     The continent of Africa accounts for 20% of Earth's total land area and has a little over one billion people living there. 

     As you know, it is also the poorest and least economically developed continent. The following picture is pretty telling: 

From: Wiki Commons

     Crazy amounts of money - in addition to basic necessities - have been dumped into Africa; about $50 billion annually, and over $1 trillion total over the last 60 years (yes, trillion). And, not surprisingly, this state of dependency on foreign aid, coupled with poor domestic government policies and rampant corruption has not had a positive impact. Read this WSJ article by Dambia Moyo, author of a book about this exact topic for more on that subject.

     In fact, poverty in sub-Saharan Africa has increased over the last 40 years.

     But now, the focus in Africa is beginning to shift from foreign aid to internal development. William Reno, political scientist at Northwestern has stated that the most economically successful countries in Africa are the ones that "do it their own way." Chinese companies have increasingly partnered with African countries and invested $1 billion in 2007.

From Microsoft's Facebook Page

     Microsoft is now displaying very forward thinking with their just-announced developmental initiative 4Afrika - because Microsoft knows as well as I do that poverty, illiteracy, and starvation can all be eliminated by butt-kicking computers.

     Microsoft is investing $75 billion for economic development in Africa, bringing business training to more than 200,000 African workers and taking 1 million African businesses online, among other things. They will be providing millions of smartphones and a specially designed, cheaper Windows Phone 8, Hauwei Ascend W, to boost internet accessibility.

A Windows-powered mini-computer? Isn't that a PC?   Yes, it is.

     Check out all the goals of this initiative at www.microsoft.com/africa/4afrika

     The significance of this event is best stated by Forbes writer Elise Knutsen, "Ultimately, meaningful development in Africa will come primarily through private sector investments and long-term projects like Microsoft’s, not corporate (or private) philanthropy."

     More computers and more internet access allow educated Africans to take their business further and help bring Africa out of poverty by the people's own strength. 

     Computers being used by Africans to eliminate poverty in Africa. 

     Computers - 2. Evil - 0. 

     

An Explanation of Computers vs. Evil

The real Supercomputer.

     Computers vs. Evil is, in my mind, a self-explanatory title for a personal brand that I am building. Since it is personal, let me first give you some background about myself and in that way you will better understand the purpose, intention, and style of said blog.

     My name is Zach Rhodes. This is my last semester at the University of Northern Iowa, where I majoring in marketing. Marketing, for those of you that do not know, is where it's at. Particularly if you're interested in business but also have a creative side and/or personality. If you like to count beans, I'd recommend accounting.

Yes, that is me. 

     I am engaged to be married to the love of my life - Ellen. This is the most important aspect of my existence and I live to make her happy. Happy Day After Valentine's Day, my love!

Ain't she cute?

     I currently work on the Windows UCrew as brand ambassador for the university, which primarily consists of demonstrating the new Windows 8 Operating System to students - 1200 demos over the course of the school year, in case you were wondering. It is a terrific gig; in addition to being paid, I am given very capable instruments in which to blow student minds with (metaphorically, of course). For example, I am typing this post on my HP Spectre XT running Windows 8 Pro and mousing with my Microsoft Arc Touch Mouse, all thanks to this blessed internship. The point I'm trying to make here is that I'm a bit of a geek. Correction, a very big geek.

Blogging action shot. Coffee is a must. 

     Being a geek, I have a natural love for all things computers, including but not limited to: personal computers, tablets (which really should be considered personal computers), smartphones, and all peripheral attachments.

     I have a strong passion for people and helping people in need. It is my belief, and truly a fact, that if everyone who is able would give generously, whether it be time or possessions or money, that all of the strife and sadness in this world would be eliminated.

     It is my passion for humanity and love for computers that I am combining here to create Computers vs. Evil, a personal brand focused on the positive impact of computers on society, and how computers, software, and the internet are being used to help people and improve society in a variety of ways; whether it is for education, health, efficiency, happiness, social, economical, or even more creative purposes.

     So if a blog devoted to creative ways computers are being used for good, then this is the blog for you. Thanks for reading and look forward to many future posts on computers absolutely destroying evil.

(Disclaimer: I realize this post, being my 2nd post, should probably have just been my first post; but as is life - chaotic and disordered - so is this blog.)

   

Skype - Bringing Military Families Closer than Ever

       Everyone, probably from cinema, is familiar with that classic romantic notion of a young, handsome soldier far overseas trading letters with his head-over-heels love interest back home, both of them patiently waiting months for the next reply - faithfully checking the mailbox each day.

Source: Yum Kippur War Thread

     As transportation advanced and mail became more logistical, the rate at which the respective significant other would receive the latest affectionate letter increased greatly, and then with the invention of the telephone - communication in real-time became possible for these geographically-separated couples. 

     With internet came e-mail, and while that has also drastically changed communication between our two lovers, the greatest tool at their disposal is now the videoconference. The hero and heroine of this narrative can now Skype. 

     Skype, having 663 million users globally in 2011, is the most widely recognized videoconference brand.  With Skype one can videoconference for free from one country to another, with just a computer, webcam, and high-speed internet access.

     The ability for the average person to hear, speak to, and see another person that is miles away from them is a truly incredible feat - a phenomenon that has never been possible for the entirety of history and all previous societies and people.

Photo taken by the U.S. Army

     Imagine how powerful that is to a military family, with a mom or dad overseas. Indeed, Skype is bringing these families closer, and allowing soldiers to participate in events back home from the other side of the world.

     There is some concern, mostly pertaining to whether such direct family contact can be distracting to a soldier that needs to stay focused, but you cannot help but feel good inside when a soldier gets to see his son's birth (and talk his wife through her contractions) in Iowa from the Middle East, real-time.

     Now, I do not entirely know how I feel about the Skype weddings - they are certainly unique - but do point out the scope of this young communication form.

     Computers everywhere are using Skype to bring the son to his father, the wife to her husband; allowing military families to be closer than ever.

     Computers - 1. Evil - 0.