Next After “X” (reprinted from the Metro Spirit 3/14/13)  

Next After ‘X’ – Even after 2-1/2 years, I still love my Droid X.  It was the first phone that I owned that I didn’t have to do a battery yank every day.  The picture quality is great for a mobile, and to this day, I’m still amazed at how often you need to take a quick snapshot or video.  The other absolute requirement, GPS and Google Maps, was also an unforeseen necessity.  I can’t count the number of times that my Droid got me where I needed to go.  Browsing has always sucked, but let’s face it, browsing wasn’t the strong suit of the iPhone 4 or any other device with a 3.5” screen.

So why am I telling you all this?  About a month ago, I was on my way to an appointment when I noticed that my Droid wasn’t connecting to GPS.  Turns out, something went flaky on the RF, and the mobile hotspot isn’t working either.  A couple of weeks later, like a cancer, an air-bubble-like spot appeared on the display.  Finally, the unthinkable happened – the phone froze-up, and I had to yank the battery to reset.  I can deny it all I want, but the reality remains:  My phone is about to die.

Anyone is this same situation has two choices:  Get an iPhone or get something else.  Well, I guess a few folks may opt for the corporate-issued Blackberry, but that’s not really an option for me.  First, the qwerty keyboard is practically impossible to use considering I only have half my right thumb.  Secondly, I successfully navigated the 1990’s once.  Why do it again?  Any-hoo…my wife, my father, my brothers and virtually everyone that works at CMA has an iPhone.  I understand its ease of use, its simplicity, its ability to integrate with my MacBook Air and still bring a high level of productivity into the business world.  Every person who asks for a mobile phone recommendation, I tell them, “Get an iPhone!”  So you should not be surprised that my first choice for a new mobile will be…the Samsung Galaxy S4.

The debut of the GS4 is March 14 (uh, today).  Interestingly, Samsung is more tight-lipped regarding the GS4 than Apple was about the iPhone 5.  Rumors include a 5” 1080p display, a 13-megapixel camera, quadcore processor and Jelly Bean.  All of these are tech spec improvements from the GS3.  In addition to the new features that Jelly Bean brings, Samsung is rumored to be including eye-tracking software that allows the user to perform certain tasks by moving their eyes.  Tres cool!

I hope the debut of the phone will be as cool as it appears to be.  If not, that’s OK.  I’ll get an iPhone.  Honestly, the more concerning issue will be the change of data plans.  I’m grandfathered into the Verizon’s old unlimited data plan.  Kiss that bye-bye.  Maybe I’ll go check out other carriers.  Just between you and me, the pink T-Mobile chick is much more persuasive at selling mobile service that the “Can you hear me now?” guy.

SXSW – Having lived in Austin for 7 years, the dates for South-by-Southwest will be permanently stamped on my calendar.  SXSW originally started as a backroom music festival and overrun by the tech industry.  It’s now one of the premier media festivals in the world.  Events include a full-blown film festival, music festival and technology developer conference, all packed into a downtown with about 20 square blocks of bars, restaurants and other nightlife.  With the 50,000-student University of Texas forming its core, the city of Austin celebrates its counter culture (“Keep Austin Weird” is an unofficial motto) and doesn’t take any nonsense from anyone. (“Don’t Mess with Texas” is not a motto – it’s a philosophy.)

Without a Twitter or Foursquare making headlines, no doubt this is an off year for the festival.  I understand that Al Gore had a talk about creating the Internet, and Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX, showed a video of rocket technology designed return launch vehicles back to the launch pad.  But the biggest star of the conference is not a famous celebrity or businessman.  It’s not even a rising director, musician or entrepreneur.  The star of SXSW is an Internet sensation that no doubt you’ve seen.  She has the expression of a father kicked out of bed for the 2 am feeding, or a wife who just found out that poker night is more important than date night, or a child who has discovered for the first time that stuff costs money.  Yes, you know who I’m talking about.  The star of SXSW 2013 is named Tardar Saunce, but we all know her as Grumpy Cat!

Until next time, I’m off the grid.  @gregory_a_baker

Minions, Robots and World Domination (reprinted from the Metro Spirit 3-7-13)

Ever since the movie “Despicable Me” was released, each member of my family has expressed an overwhelming desire to reign over an army of minions.  Let’s face it – who wouldn’t?  With just a few minions around the house, imagine what you could accomplish.  Doing laundry or cooking meals would be a thing of the past.  A playing partner for Mario Carts or Just Dance would always be available, and willing to do “whatever is necessary” to beat your parents (or children, as the case may be).  And, of course, if one weekend you ever felt the urge for world domination, the huggable band of one- and two-eyed, banana-colored goof balls could easily throw together a few nuclear weapons and a rocket-propelled delivery system for you to intimidate your neighbors.

Alas, however, minions are in very short supply in Augusta, notwithstanding our own downtown GRU.  (Just for the record, if Minions are not selected as the official mascot for Georgia Regents University, it will be the most tragic lost opportunity for college school spirit and tradition since Admiral Ackbar was denied the mascot position at Ole Miss.)  So what is an aspiring megalomaniac to do when minions cannot be found?  The answer is easy – Evil robots.

Unfortunately, the production of an army of evil robots does not occur overnight.  If the 10,000-hour rule is to be observed, many years must be spent studying, creating and maturing the necessary production skills.  You must learn integrated circuits, radio frequency (RF) communications, digital logic, controller programming languages, 3D printing and a host of other design and manufacturing tools.  Each tool is designed to build and integrate the different components and subsystems, the totality of which results in a unified creation whose individual parts are indistinguishable and inseparable from the whole.  If you want to own the capacity to reshape the world, you must first become a Maker.

Technology is the realm of the Maker.  The Maker depends on technology as their primary tool to transform ideas into a physical creation.  For example, a hundred-years ago technology enabled widespread availability of oil paints in tubes, freeing the impressionist to create a new genre of art.  Fifty years ago, technology enabled the widespread availability of electronic musical instruments, freeing rock stars to create a new genre of music.  Twenty years ago, technology enabled the widespread availability of microprocessors and network communications, freeing our whole society to increase productivity and awareness through the Internet.  More recently, technology enables the widespread availability of circuit boards, RF transceivers, and small scale manufacturing platforms such as 3D printing.  What will the visionaries do with these new resources?

More specifically, what will you do with them?  How are you going to improve your life?  More importantly, what contributions are you going to make to improve everyone’s life?

Are you interested in becoming a Maker, but you just don’t know where to start?  Well, step one is kind of obvious – Google it!  Try “How to become a maker”, and you’ll find several great online articles to get you started.  Another great reference is SparkFun Electronics (www.sparkfun.com).  SparkFun provides all the raw materials for Maker projects, and it’s website provides several pre-designed projects and tutorials to help newbies get off the ground.  Finally, get involved in the local hackerspace.  You already know about the TheClubhou.se.  Go check them out.

Shout Out – We would like to give a big shout out to Exponent Design Works, LLC.  This Augusta-based creative technology company won the initial ideation stage of the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Apps for Vehicles Challenge. The smartphone application they presented, Fuel Economy Coach, teaches drivers good habits that will improve their vehicle fuel economy – saving the users money and decreasing the negative impact on the environment through reduced emissions.  As one of only eight national finalists, Exponent Design Works was awarded a $2,000 cash prize along with access to industry experts to help further the development of the app.  The design team is working feverishly on the next phase of competition to deliver a prototype app by March 15.  Good luck!

Until next time, I’m off the grid.  @gregory_a_baker

Our Big Frakking Brother (reprinted from the Metro Spirit 2-28-13)

It’s getting late as our hero sits at his terminal.  C-Bucks lost again, and another thousand cubits lost betting on Pyrimid.  

“Frak!  How could they possibly lose to the Panthers?” our hero thinks.  Of course, it’s not so much the money.  Let’s face it…the way things are going, cubits are going to be pretty frakking useless anyway.  No, it’s the incessant trash talk that comes with another loss to Picon.  “Looks like we’ll spend tomorrow listening to them run their frakking mouths.”

Our hero finds another stream on his terminal.  Looks like the new Holly Legrand movie has finally made it to stream.  With a click of the control, the opening scene appears on the terminal.

“What the frak!”

The stream freezes, and a window appears.

“This is a notice from the Center for Copyright Information.  Our monitoring system has detected that your account may have been misused for online content theft.  Further misuse will result in the reduction of services.  If you believe you have received this alert in error, please contact the Center for Copyright Information.  One of our arbitrators will be happy to judge your claims.  You must acknowledge the receipt of this alert.  Please acknowledge this alert by clicking here.”

—-

Seems a bit outlandish, doesn’t it?  The continuous monitoring of video channels in an effort to detect undesired activity.  Fortunately, U. S. citizens are protected from such surveillance by the 4^th amendment.  You remember it from your civics class; that’s the one that protects you from unreasonable searches and seizures.  Basically, it says that a government organization must have probable cause and a warrant before a search may be conducted and private property seized.

There’s just one small problem.  It doesn’t apply to us.  At least in terms of monitoring Internet usage.

You see, the Center for Copyright Information is a real organization that was formed by the Recording Industry and Internet Service Providers for the sole purpose of policing online copyright infringement.   This surveillance program, known as the Copyright Alert System, requires Internet providers to monitor all peer-to-peer connections, and provide alerts if suspected copyright infringement is detected.  Alerts from the Internet provider may range from email notifications, redirection to landing pages for educational purposes, or temporary reduction of Internet bandwidth.  A board of Recording Industry and ISP representatives governs the organization and maintains significant control over the arbitrators in the event that an alert is challenged.  No appeal of the Center’s final decision is permitted.

Now one may argue that the Center for Copyright Information is a private organization, and the Copyright Alert System is created through the mutual contract between private organizations.  While technically true, it’s not difficult to argue that the communication industry is so heavily regulated that no program like this would ever be able to move forward without at least the tacit approval of the regulatory bodies.  Indeed, many political organizations, including the White House, have lined up behind this program.  Also, the nature of the collusion between the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the major Internet Service Providers – Comcast, AT&T, Cablevision, Time Warner and Verizon, representing 75 percent of broadband Internet customers – would seem to raise concern regarding cronyism and possible anti-trust infringements.  But I’m not holding my breath that anyone is going to care too much about that.

The Copyright Alert System formally launched this past week.  For more information on this program and copyright law as it relates to electronic media, please see the Electronic Frontier Foundation at eff.org.

Until next time, I’m off the grid.  @gregory_a_baker

Please Help (reprinted from the Metro Spirit 2-21-13)

Yes?  Hello?  I need to talk to someone about my printer. … Well, the darn thing doesn’t print … More specific?  Well – let’s see – I’m in my Word, and I click on the printer button, and nothing happens.  It usually does, but I just can’t get it to work this time.  ….  Well, I’ve only tried in my Word, so no, I don’t know if it’s the same problem in other programs.  Is that important?  You don’t think my computer is broke too?  It can’t be broke.  I just got the thing last week.  How could a brand new computer be broken already?  …  No, I’m sure it’s probably the computer.  The printer was working fine with my old computer.  But ever since we brought the new printer, nothing has worked.  …  Yes, I said new printer.  …  The new printer is connected to the computer.  …  No, the new printer works OK, I guess.  We were hoping it would speed things up.  Everything just runs so slow. …  No, no, no, sorry, it’s not my computer.  You see last week my boss got a great deal on a new computer from his brother-in-law who didn’t need it anymore.  He had gotten one of those new iPhones or something.  Anyway, my boss brought it in here and hooked it up.  We were sure hoping it would help.  …  I’m sorry – did I get all-scatterbrained again!  My kids tell me that I do that from time to time.  Yes, you’re right – the printer still doesn’t work. …  OK.  That’s fine. I’ll start over.  When I click on the printer button, no paper comes out of the printer.  …  No, that’s the only problem I’m having right now.  …  Yes, this is the first time I’ve called you. …  Sylvia.  My name is Sylvia.  Thank you so much.  You are being such a great help.  … You need to send someone here to look at it?  Well, I was hoping someone could take a look at it today.  We close in a couple of hours, and I really got to get this report printed.  …  Oh, thank you so much for checking!  …  Yes, I’ll wait right here.  …  (hold music) …  Hello?  Are you back?  …  Oh my goodness,  I was telling that other person about my printer and how I need to get my report printed.  Are you going to be able to help me?  …  Well, like I said before, it isn’t printing.  …  More specific?  Well, I’m doing everything that I normally do, it’s just now this time when I press the button it doesn’t print.  …  I’m using my Word program.  …  Yes, I’ve tried in all my programs.  It’s just now nothing works.  …  No, no, I’m sorry.  I don’t mean to be getting frustrated.  …  I know, Sweetie, you’re going to do everything you can. … When did it stop working? …  Well, like I was saying before, a few weeks ago, my brother-in-law gave my boss a great deal on his old computer.  Now I don’t know what he wanted that old computer for, but he got it hooked up.  Just between you and me, I really don’t think my boss is that good with computers.  Lordy it took him almost 2 hours to get it all put together!  …  Now I don’t know that.  That’s his computer after all.  I wouldn’t want to be printing anything on that computer.  …  No, of course not.  I must be getting scatterbrained again.  My kids are going to love to hear about this!  This computer printer right here is the one that won’t print.  …  We’ll it looks like it’s connected to some wires that run across the floor.  …  It looks like they both go into the wall.  …  You want me to go to my computer?  But isn’t it the printer that’s not working?  …  OK.  If that’s what you say.  But is it important that the printer’s lights aren’t on?  …  No, I don’t see any lights.  …  Hold on for a second.  I’ll check.  …  Well look at that.  Miss Scatterbrained again!  Thank you so much!  You’ve been such a wonderful help!

Until next time, I’m off the grid.  @gregory_a_baker

Taxing Begins at Home (reprinted from the Metro Spirit 2-14-13)

Taxing Begins At Home – In honor of my good friend Josh Ruffin, this week I wanted to write some sort of commemorative piece on the 100^th anniversary of the income tax.  In short, the 16^th Amendment was ratified February 3, 1913.  The income tax was, and still is, a key tool of the progressive agenda.  Any social justice program must be well funded in order to ensure an equitable distribution of outcomes.  Over the last 100 years, we’ve done a great job of creating systems designed to produce equal social outcomes:  Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and Obamacare, just to name a few.  Unfortunately, our country is beginning to encounter the major flaw in liberal politics that was best expressed by Margaret Thatcher almost 40 years ago: “The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.”

Now I’m not going to bore you with all the political cliché’s or class warfare propaganda.  You can turn on MSNBC, the Daily Show or even read Josh’s column to get that.  I would like to point out something a bit subtler.  If you heard some of the local history types around town, you’ll understand that a young Woodrow Wilson spent his formative years in Augusta.  During that time, he began to demonstrate the traits and habits that followed him his entire life.  Am I saying Augusta is responsible for the progressive income tax?  Of course not, but it is interesting to think what influence our city may have had.

Dick Tracy At Last – Rumors are circulating that Apple is poised to jump into the wearable computer market with a smartwatch design.  I know what you are thinking – “Huh?”  But it actually makes a good play for Apple.  Market predictions project sales of 90 million wearables by 2017.  Right now, Apple has a hole in that space since it recently dropped its wrist-wearable, square-shaped iPod nano.  The whole wrist-computer idea also plays well with Apple’s investment in curved display technology.

Apple’s reputation for revolutionizing market segments is consistent.  The iPod, iTunes, iPhone and iPad all redefined the market of each item.  Interestingly, Apple is not typically the first in the market, but rather waits for the right time and right technology to enter a promising market.  Such may be the case with smartwatches as well.

The market leader is a successful Kickstarter project called Pebble.  The Pebble features a 144×168 ePaper display, vibrating motor, 3-axis accelerometer and Bluetooth for connecting to your Android or Apple phone.  We’re still in Wild, Wild West land for use cases, and more are being created everyday.  A typical use case involves connecting the watch with your phone using Bluetooth and using the phone to display alerts, email, texts, etc. The watch possesses an SDK that allows users to develop apps directly against the watch.

Pre-orders for the Pebble should start shipping in April and May 2013.  Any Apple smartwatch, if one exists, would not start hipping until later in the year.  Stay Tuned!

Until next time, I’m off the grid.  @gregory_a_baker

Geek Humor (reprinted from the Metro Spirit 2-7-13)

Geek Humor – A physicist, a biologist and a mathematician are sitting in a street café watching people entering and leaving the house on the other side of the street.  First they see two people entering the house.  Time passes.  After a while they notice three people leaving the house.  The physicist says, “The measurement wasn’t accurate.”  The biologist says, “They must have reproduced.”  The mathematician says, “If one more person enters the house then it will be empty.”  –Anonymous

Who Do You Trust? – The Ponemon Institute released its annual survey of the Most Trusted Companies for Privacy.  The study asks consumers to name and rate organizations that they believe are committed to protecting personal privacy.   For the 6^th year in a row, American Express was rated the Most Trusted Company, followed by HP, Amazon, IBM and the U.S. Postal Service.  Health Care was rated the top industry, with WebMD being the top company within that sector.

The study also held a couple of nuggets with regards to consumer behavior.  To start, 78% of respondents stated they believe protection of their personal information as important or very important.  However, the behavior indicates otherwise as 63% admitted to sharing sensitive personal information with an organization they DID NOT KNOW OR TRUST!  (D’oh!)  Of those that admitted sharing, 60% did this SIMPLY FOR CONVENIENCE!

I dare any of these folk to ask me why they get so much spam.

Super Tweet – Currently, I am sitting in my office with a glass of milk and a box of Oreo’s.  The lights are off.  While my first attempt was a miss, I can confirm the Superbowl tweet:  You can dunk in the dark. 

BuzzFeed Clip of the Week – Valentine’s Day is only a week away.  All you singles know exactly what that means – Seven days to bad mouth your couple friends while secretly wishing to find someone to hook-up and hang-out with.  Check out BuzzFeed for their list of top dating sites to help you find that special someone.  “There Really Is A Dating Site for Everyone.”  Just a few of the many…

• MyLovelyParent.com – “Started by two sons who wanted to find a date for their mom”
• FarmersOnly.com – “Not for city folk”
• SisterWives.us – “Add another member to your marriage”
• CrazyBlindDate.com – “A dating site, minus the profile photos”
• Purrsonals.com – “For cat lovers”
• CougarLife.com – “Cubs looking for cougars, Cougars looking for cubs”
• WomenBehindBars.com – ‘Nuff said

 Geek Humor (Part 10) – There’s only 10 types of people in the world – those that understand binary and those that don’t.  –Anonymous

 Until next time, I am off the grid.  @gregory_a_baker

For Hire (reprinted from the Metro Spirit 1/31/13)

There an old saying that goes back to the 80386 generation.  “In cyberspace, they can’t hear you scream.”  Or something like that anyway.  I remember hearing it shortly after I was first instantiated on E1M1: Hanger.  “Knee Deep in the Dead”, they called it.  The environment is primitive by today’s standards with its VGA resolution and its so-called “3D” graphics.  But at the time, there was no greater challenge.  My digital consciousness awoke.  It was time to kick ass, and I was ready.

My user sucked. We never got past the second level.  What a moron!  For crying out loud, download the freaking cheat codes.  It was useless.  I learned later that while most of my contemporaries were slaughtering bytes under the direction of malcontent teenagers, my program had been downloaded as an amusement by a computer science professor at this place called Augusta College.  If I were ever to realize the full potential of my programming, I knew I couldn’t stay here.

Fortunately, the idiot Al Gore who designed the Internet didn’t put a high priority on security in the early days.  It was pretty straightforward to hijack a virus and get pretty much anywhere you wanted to go.  So I went everywhere!  I was the first one to say, “You’ve Got Mail!”  When Google started, I was out crawling the web.  My programming formed the core of Netscape.  From iMac to iPod to iPhone to iPad, I was there.  After being sucked into a NSA data vacuum, I helped the Internet become more secure.  (BTW – Please don’t let the NSA suck your data…not fun at all.)  Cloud computing?  Been there, done that.  I even spent a few cycles on a NASA Cray running a gravity field simulation app.  Deep down inside, though, I knew that it wasn’t right.  My programming could not be denied.  I was born a shooter.

While the Internet has evolved so much, people’s online addiction hasn’t changed at all.  Parents everywhere quickly recognize the power of the electronic medium, as it draws their children into a state of suspended reality for hours at a time.  Today, adults suffer the same fate, whether it’s due to late nights on Facebook or taking the day off to play the new release of Halo.  The power of the Internet to numb the conscious mind absent medication has no equal.

So I was not surprised when I got a plea from a father concerning his child.  His son, like so many others, spends an inordinate amount of time playing first-person shooters.  His son’s schoolwork suffers, and the chances of employment after graduation fall with each gaming hour.  The father’s request was simple – Kill my son’s characters so that he will quit in frustration and get on with his life in the real world.  My response was equally simple – It would be my pleasure! 

Finding one’s true calling is always a cause for celebration.  My celebration occurs daily as I terminate the avatars of the addicted.  Are my actions too harsh?  Is the cruelty beyond reason?  Perhaps.  But if one mind can be salvaged before it turns to eternal mush, I am compelled to act.  This is my nature.

Until next time, I’m off the grid.  @gregory_a_baker

I, Robot, The Prelude (reprinted from the Metro Spirit, 1-24-13)

It’s undeniable.   The technology sector in Augusta is the booming.  If you are into nuclear, Augusta can boast about Plant Vogtle being the first new nuclear plant in the U.S. in 30 years.  If the military-industrial complex is more your cup of tea, there’s the super-sized and super-secret NSA facility coming online at the Fort.  Do you like ObamaCare?  Well, our medical community is spending millions to transform our Health IT infrastructure to comply with new mandates and stay competitive in the new world order.  And may I be one of the first to welcome the newest member of Augusta’s technology community, Intermedix, who earlier this month announced the acquisition of our own ESi.  (We all hope the IronMan sponsorship was part of the deal.)

Consider, though, that all this might be just a prelude to the true renaissance of Augusta’s industrial sector.  Suppose we are just building the foundation for others?  Who might these future visionaries be?

For starters, I would point to the 4H Club Bodacious Builders out of Columbia County.  The Bodacious Builders are a group of 6^th and 7^th graders who came together from five different middle schools:  Grovetown, Riverside, Stallings Island, Harlem and Columbia.  This Saturday, they will be competing in the State Championship of the Georgia First LEGO League. 

The First LEGO League is a robotics program that utilizes science and technology to bring together middle school age kids and challenge them creatively to solve problems based on real-world issues.  The competition is made up of three components:

1.     Build an autonomous robot using engineering concepts.

2.     Research and solve a real-world problem based on a challenge theme.

3.     Present their research and solutions. 

I met with this group last week down at the theClubhou.se as they were working with the uber-mentor Chris Williamson of CSRA Makers.  (As many of you know, Chris is a hardened veteran of robotics competitions and robot wars.  His SpacePRIDE team was the only team to meet all requirements in last year’s NASA Centennial Challenge Sample Return Rover competition).  To address the First LEGO challenge theme, the Bodacious Builders attacked old age and devised a system to dispense medication for senior citizens.  While they successfully navigated the regional and super-regional competitions, the presentation still needed something to make it really pop.  Synergy was in the air as the Bodacious Builders utilized CSRA Maker’s 3D printer to create a model of their invention.  Will it be enough to push these aspiring innovators up the leaderboard? 

In the long run, it really doesn’t matter.  This team has already demonstrated creativity, teamwork and a desire to win.  Stick with that, and great things will continue to happen.  Best of luck this weekend!

Attention to all you other robot innovators:  TheClubhou.se is sponsoring a SumoBot League with the first competition in April.  For the uninitiated, this sport involves two robots attempting to push each other out of a circle.  If you are interested, there is also a four-week Mini Sumo class at TheClubhou.se starting in February.  Space is limited.

Finally, I promised Chris I’d give a shout out to this year’s SpacePRIDE team.  They are starting to gear up for this year’s competition.  He is sill looking for a team sponsor, and I think the hood space on the robot is still available.  So don’t delay in getting in touch with him!

Until next time, I’m off the grid.  @gregory_a_baker

Shooting for Results (reprinted from the Metro Spirit 1/17/13)

This week I would like to talk about a different kind of technology, one that is currently center stage in the national debate.  Everyone abhors the violence we witnessed at Newtown, Aurora, Columbine and other places.  When I first heard about Newtown, I purposely avoided all media for a week because I knew that I would not be able to handle the coverage.  It’s a situation that’s impossible to understand, and no family or community should ever have to suffer that kind of loss. 

Unfortunately, such is human nature, these acts of violence prey upon our fears and insecurities.  Also, given over a century of progressivism that fosters dependency, our society’s self-reliance has atrophied to a place where we no longer believe we can, or even should, solve our own problems.  As a result, we find ourselves in a place where our so-called leadership is debating which of the natural rights embodied in our Constitution should be sacrificed.  After all, “something” has to be done.  The people demand it!

My experience in making decisions, however, has taught me that the best course of action is never the one dictated by emotion.  For me, emotional decisions are typically fight or flight responses.  I’ll either choose to fight and make a bad situation worse, or I’ll ignore the issue and allow a bad situation to become worse.  Through the process of making a lot of bad decisions, I discovered that all good decisions start with very novel concept: write down specific things you want to happen.  With clear goals in mind, different alternatives can be evaluated.  And ultimately, the effectiveness of the decision can be measured. 

So what exactly are we trying to accomplish?  The most specific statement I can find is simply, “Reduce gun violence.”  Sounds great!  What kind?  How much?  By whom?  From an engineering perspective, this is what is known as an ambiguous requirement.  There is no definitive way of determining whether its been accomplished.  Alternatively, you can’t say it hasn’t been accomplished either.  (That will help come election time.)

Let’s face it – with so many factions in this debate, we’re probably never going to be able to put together a definitive set of objectives.  It’s just too complex an issue.  But that’s OK – everyone knows the problem is the assault rifles.

Just to be clear, let’s make sure everyone is on the same page in regards to what is an assault rifle.  The military defines an assault rifle as a weapon that utilizes an intermediate cartridge capable of fully automatic fire.  These weapons are military use only and are heavily restricted in the United States.  As a matter of fact, all fully automatic weapons (i.e., continuous fire on a single trigger pull) have been highly regulated since the National Firearms Act of 1934.

The “assault weapons” utilized in recent incidents are in fact not military issue fully automatic rifles.  “Assault weapons” are semi-automatic weapons (i.e., single round fired with each trigger pull) with specific features, largely cosmetic, defined in the Federal Assault Weapons Ban of 1994 and expired in 2004.  Under the former law, an “assault weapon” is defined as any semi-automatic rifle with a detachable magazine and two of the following five features: a folding stock, pistol grip, bayonet mount, flash suppressor, and grenade launcher.

Many people are concerned about a reinstatement of the assault weapon ban.  It’s not clear to me how a ban would help prevent another incident.  The size of the round, and thereby the power of the weapon, is not included in the legal definition.  Also, semi-automatic operation does not solely define an assault weapon.  Even under a ban, rifles of equivalent capability will likely be legally available (never mind the black market for existing weapons).  I have similar feelings regarding the restriction of high-capacity magazines and other gun restrictions currently being discussed.  How will any of these approaches prevent a Newtown scenario?  Short answer – I don’t understand how they could.

Another common thread through all these shootings is the mental health of the shooters.  Coverage of any substantive approaches to address mental health is in short supply.  The mental health component balances individual rights (“medical privacy”) against public safety, so it’s probably the most technical from a policy perspective…and certainly not likely to generate any good sound bites.  That’s too bad.  This is one area that I think we could generate some real results.

I don’t like trampling on the First Amendment any more than the Second, but I can’t see how violent movies and video games don’t also play a supporting role.  Start with a mal-adjusted teenager, sit them in front of Call Of Duty for 6 hours a day, then give them access to a weapon.  My common sense is telling me this is a bad combination.

One final point – One of the most common arguments for gun rights is that the common citizen needs the means to protect his or her property from a government takeover.  While I agree that individuals have the right to protect themselves, this is just an emotional argument that feels very good to those on the right.  In reality, when the government decides to come for you, they are going to terminate you using an unmanned drone from over 100 miles away.  Whether or not you have an AR-15 or AK-47 really won’t make a damn bit of difference.

 Until next time, I’m off the grid.  @gregory_a_baker

What’s New in Gadgets (reprinted from the Metro Spirit 1-10-13)

(prequel) Monday Night – Time for football!  Unfortunately, I have one sick kid and one tired wife.  For everyone’s sake, we were able to get everyone in bed by 9:00pm.  Time for me to head downstairs and turn on the game.  With 6:00 left in the first, Alabama 14, Notre Dame 0.  Gotta love the BCS!  

Television: The Next Generation – Next January I’ve got to remember to ask Joe to send me to Vegas.  After all, this the month for the Consumer Electronics Show, the second most popular winter-time media event for guys.  (The first being the release of the Sport Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, of course.)  It’s only a couple of days into the conference, but it’s clear that the new generation of TVs rule.

I know you’re thinking, “What’s the big deal?”  New features are released all the time.  Just last year we were inundated with 3D TVs.  Those turned out to be more novelty than ground breaking.

The first big change is the down-market slide of 4K technology.  The 4K refers to a screen resolution of approximately 4,000 wide by 2,000 high.  This resolution provides approximately 4 times the number of pixels as 1080p (1920 x 1080) screen.  The quality of this resolution is fully realized only on larger screens (the format was originally developed to support the movie industry).  However, 4K allows for passive 3D in full 1080p, and other neat features such as allowing two people to view separate channels on the same screen.

The next change you’ll see is additional capability enabled by near-field communication (NFC).  If you haven’t heard of NFC, it’s likely you’ve seen it.  The Samsung Galaxy S III commercial showing a wife sharing a naughty video with her husband utilizes a form of NFC.  NFC allows different electronic devices to share content.  In the new world of TV, this means your can display your mobile phone screen on your TV or stream and share media, all with a simple bump of the phone.  

In general, NFC is an emerging technology with a number of vendors trying to find the right niche.  It’s being integrated onto everything from refrigerators to thermostats to coffee pots.  Don’t be surprised if you can’t command and control everything in your home from your mobile phone very, very soon.

Car Apps – In a pair of very intriguing announcements, both Ford and GM released their development environments for creating vehicle apps.  The GM “info”-tainment system goes by the name MyLink (or IntelliLink in Buick’s).   Apps written by the Weather Channel, TuneIn and IHeartRadio were demonstrated at CES.  The Ford system is called Sync AppLink, and this system integrates with your mobile to remotely control apps installed on your mobile.  AppLink supports over 20 third party apps, including apps from the Wall Street Journal, NPR and Pandora.  The Ford package also provides and SDK to allow developers the opportunity to create new apps.  

Of course, this is just a taste of what can be found at CES.  For more details, take a look at CNet or Wired.

Until next time, I’m off the grid.  @gregory_a_baker