CES Well Under Way

With the Consumer electronics show under way, there are some pretty cool gadgets and concepts that are being shown. One of the things that we can expect from Intel is that if you decided to get an ultrabook, it will have a touch screen and a battery life that boasts about thirteen hours while a laptop but ten when the screen is popped off to become a tablet. With the application development getting more sophisticated, your password could be the use of facial recognition along with the unique sounds of your voice. Finally, you will not have to remember an extensive passwords. Your overworked mouse might finally get a little bit of rest this year. Intel-based systems will be able to use eye-tracking, voice-recognition and advanced hand recognition sensitive enough to sense your individual fingers. Depending on the situation, you may find yourself using any or all of these tricks to control your computer instead of using your mouse.

Application Development for Other Devices

With the Consumer Electronics Show coming next week, we will get a glimpse of where the technology of the year is headed. The annual event is the largest gadget conference in the world, where major technology companies and scrappy startups can show off their latest innovations. There have been some big changes at this year's conference. Longtime headliner Microsoft has dropped out of CES, and mobile devices are increasingly saving their big announcements for the Mobile World Congress event in February. Along with the changing landscape of mobile application development and devices, some of the other big things and changes that you will be able to see are home automation and online cars. Between the Nest thermostat and being able to control the lights with your phones, there is going to be very little in the home that will not be connected. here will be self-driving and assisted-driving cars, which use a combination of mounted cameras, sensors and GPS to can take the wheel completely or just help a driver into a tight parking spot. Cars will continue to integrate apps, voice control and entertainment into the dash, some even running on the Android operating system.

Sometimes Time Wasters

As wonderful as gaming apps are, sometimes it feels like these mobile application development companies are after our free time that could be put to much better use. I will admit that I have spent plenty time making birds fly, spelling out words, and drawing pictures that would make stick figures look like art. So how much time do you actually spend playing those games? Could you think of anything else that you could do with that time instead? With the new year in just about full swing, you are probably starting to get away from those new year resolutions that were made on the last day of last year. I am just putting it out there, a tiny little reminder, that time is more precious than you think. It is fine to play those games from time to time. I find Doors and Rooms exceptionally addicting but if gaming is turning to hours, there might be better things that you could be doing. Pick up a book or learn something new, or even better, get things organized and ready for the new year so that you do not end up searching for things.

Shopping Apps: A Complicated Game

First of all, I want to talk to these people that need a phone service or a mobile application in order to help them shop. Who has that much time on their hands and when did shopping become so complicated that we need technology for it? Either way, there are several apps out there that answer any food question that you might have. One of them is called Fooducate which gives a grade for the food product that you scan the bar code of. Grades are based on both the honesty of the labeling on the product and its overall health and nutritious value. For a box of reduced fat Ritz crackers, for example, it warns consumers, “Contains transfats! Even though the label says 0!” Even better: The app suggests healthier alternatives for foods that don’t make the grade. If you don't have an Android or iPhone, you can visit the mobile website and enter the product name. Although not so high-tech, the Dirty Dozen app contains the most-requested bit of info when it comes to toxins and food: what types of produce are most important to buy organic (the otherwise Dirty Dozen), and what items don’t matter so much (the Clean 15), all updated annually by the Environmental Working Group. The mobile website also enables non-smartphone users to check produce on the go.