Engenius

Tech Predictions for 2011

2011-01-03T01:39:00.002-07:00

There were so many unpredictable things that happened last year. Haiti was ravaged, Wikileaks shook the world, Google killed yet another product (Nexus 1), and so much more. However, it is still so entertaining to try and predict what will happen over this next year. Some events will be very easy to predict while others are entirely unpredictable. My hope is that the combination of expectation and speculation should produce an interesting picture of where the erratic world of tech might be by the end of this next year.

Will the biggest news be 20 megapixel cameraphones or cyber warfare? Find out what I think here, starting with the most obvious:

10. Multi-core processors will show up in mobile devices

Ok, so there are a plenty of processors that are faster than 1 GHz and many with several cores on a single die. But as of now, there are NO smartphones or tablets that are widely sold with these processors. Qualcomm has already announced the third generation of the Snapdragon processor that will feature two cores clocked at 1.2GHz. TI has announced that the OMAP 4440 chipset which will be up to 1.5GHz dual core. The NVIDIA Tegra2 will also be dropping this year with dual cores for tablets and possibly smartphones. What will this mean for us? We'll see HD video recording, video chatting, augmented reality applications, up to 20MP in a cameraphone, and soo much more. So, smartphones will get faster... duh! Well, what about something less predictable, like stereoscopic 3D televisions.

9. Stereoscopic 3D TV will lose the glasses

I am fairly confident that one of the larger tech companies (Toshiba?) that produces these sets will begin to release them in the US this year. They may not show up till Q2 or Q3, but i'm sure they will make a huge splash at CES which may open the floodgates of interest. Although many consumers may still be weary of 3D, the ability to experience this without specialty equipment will likely attract a lot of attention. Now, from flat panels back to handhelds, lets talk about video chatting.

8. Mobile video chatting will become very popular

It's not difficult to expect that the adoption of video chatting from cell phones and other mobile devices will come to a serious head this next year. The number of devices that support this is increasing continuously and 3.5G devices and subscribers will continue to increase throughout this year. The Apple iPad 2 and the Blackberry Playbook will likely be the most anticipated tech stories for the start of this year and both will support video chatting. If the adoption of other heavyweights including the iPhone 4, Samsung Galaxy Tab and HTC Evo 4G is any indication of what to expect from similar devices over this next year, then it's fairly safe to assume that video chatting will be everywhere the same way that Bluetooth headsets sprung up everywhere. However, I don't expect everyone to have it in the same way that many people, myself included, have found no use for Bluetooth headsets.

7. Web apps and the cloud will change how you use computers

Cloud computing in this context means the movement of applications and processing power from the client devices like PCs and handheld devices to web servers. Web apps are dedicated applications which are hosted on web servers to provide access to specialized functions (e.g. Google Calendar). There are a myriad of cloud computing solutions and web applications that are available online for many different purposes. The big change that I expect is that consumers will get more comfortable with the idea of having a majority of their content hosted and simply accessing these resources from whatever devices they use. Chrome OS (Operating System) will be released for laptops this year which will mark a significant milestone for this trend. At the same time, the momentum behind tablets seems like it will continue to drive increased adoption throughout the year. What this means is that many people will relegate the contents of their hard drives to the internet and adopt a cloud computing model which relies heavily on web applications. Should be an interesting to watch, just like 3D.

6. The year of stereoscopic 3D is coming... again

Ok, so it was pretty much a consensus that 2010 was the year of 3D. Want proof? Read this Oh No They Didn't! blog entry or any weekend edition of a newspaper from last year. Based on this, I'm going to make a prediction that 2011 will be the year that consumer stereoscopic 3D really begins to make a big splash away from the big screen. I expect that by year's end, we'll have seen stereoscopic 3D handheld gaming system (already on the way), 3D cameras and camcorders (already available), 3D tablets, 3D laptops, 3D phone apps, 3D websites, and I even believe that there might be an announcement of 3D billboards, although I don't think we'll see any actual installations this year. There's going to likely be a lot of fuming and fussing over compatibility between displays and glasses as well, which is another reason why I believe that although glasses-free systems are very limited, they will still capture a big segment of the stereoscopic 3D market.

5. The social web will become a new layer of the informational web

I believe that this year will see the first signs of a social layer to the web that basically extends beyond standard web sites to provide an experience of the internet that is both new and different. Technologies and standards like OAuth and OpenID will enable people on diverse social networks to interact actively. This will mean that you don't need to register for every website and service that you want to get access to. Honestly, just having to fill out a five-segment form has dissuaded my curiosity in many, many forums and other websites. So instead of clacking in another form, all you need to do is click a button that authorizes a service like, Google, Paypal or Facebook to share the required information with that particular website. What we will begin to see is services that extend this functionality so that people can communicate across various social networks and tools that allow you to take just the elements of your social network with you as you browse the web. E.g., you might be able to Facebook chat with someone on Gmail while you're shopping on eBay or browsing elsewhere on the web. All this without tabbing back and forth between windows. This is a sign of a true 'social' web because it abstracts your social contacts, information and services from the particular websites and providers. It will be similar to how cell phones work: you won't be stuck calling only the people on your network...

4. Smartphones will become priority targets for viruses

So-called smartphones tend to adopt a central role in our lives because the phone has become an integral feature of the world we live in. This devices gain unrivaled access to our personal information, habits, social connections and even geographic location. It is no wonder that privacy is a huge concern and the possibility that an app may sell personal information to advertisers is quite worrisome. Some application developers are actually undergoing a class-action lawsuit that alleges misuse of this privileged information. But while the legality of information propriety winds its way through the courts, one dangerous behemoth looms on the horizon for smartphones: malware. Since the information on your smartphone is basically a gold mine for all types of information, malware will begin to show up in larger numbers just has it has in pc's. Of course, if you only download verified, legitimate applications from the app stores, your chances are greatly reduced, the risk is still there that an e-mail attachment or website visit might expose your device to computer viruses. Just as the danger for viruses on Apple computers increases with each new device, the same will go for smartphones in the near future. I'll even go as far as to predict there will be a virus made especially for the iPhone / iPad family of products and it will not be pretty.

3. Cyber wars against companies and countries

This is one of the more baseless predictions that I am making, but we did see signs of this in the news last year.

The was an attack by WikiLeaks supporters against PayPal, MasterCard, Visa and other companies.
The Stuxnet virus was allegedly targeted at specific industrial infrastructure in an Iranian nuclear power plant.

I think there's a good chance that more of these semi-organized ddos attacks and infrastructure-targeted viruses will begin to show up in droves. I don't think they will cause significant harm, but I'm sure they will be all over the news.

2. Beginning of the end for plastic cards??

Now, I am in no way saying that plastic form-factor credit cards are going away, or really anywhere for that fact. But considering the continued adoption of smartphones, it is only natural to expect that people will be more willing to let their phones pay the bill. However, security, reliability and acceptability are important to consumers and you also have the classic chicken-and-the-egg scenario. People may not want to ditch the card because what if the restaurant doesn't have a way to accept payments from the phone. Business may also not want to invest in the technology if there is not sufficient customer interest to make it sensible. And there are other concerns too e.g. what if your phone dies? But the undeniable fact here is that if everyone else is doing it, you will do it too. And since everyone will have a smart(er) phone, it will only make sense for businesses and individuals to move towards this technology. Check out the way Hatians are adopting this: http://www.pri.org/business/nonprofits/mobile-banking-flourishes-in-haiti.html. I think that widespread adoption in the US will begin to show up by the end of this year.

1. Facebook will finally support video chat

This prediction is almost entirely speculative, but I just don't understand why Facebook does not natively support video chatting or partner with an entity that does like Skype. Facebook is making strides in other areas however, including e-mail and combined messaging services, the 'new' profile pages, and the push to get Facebook developers to use Oauth 2.0. This is why I'm quite sure that they have explored the idea and might have some pre-beta version floating around somewhere in Facebook. With increasing demand and adoption of video chatting on a massive scale, I think that Facebook will either have to support this natively or watch a lot of their chat usage drop away. Noone will quit using Facebook, they just won't use Facebook chat quite as much.

The take-away

There is no certainty about the direction that technology will go over any year. Although announcements of products are typically made months ahead of release, surprises abound without ceasing. Products at times show up on the market with little or no expectation, some expected products get delayed or shelved indefinitely, while other products get released but then removed from the market within weeks of the initial release. All this makes it quite difficult to speculate about where consumer technology will be in 12 months and that is also what makes it interesting. For the moment, however, I will enjoy this arbitrary opportunity to reflect on the past few months and to plan for the next. Since it is this difficult to know what next best thing will be, I'm trying hard to enjoy the tech stuff that I have now for as long as I can - landfills and developing countries could use less tech waste anyway. I hope that you have a happy 2011!

Challenges to Help Engineer a Better World - Engineering's Grand Challenges

2010-10-01T04:45:00.006-06:00

It seems that the unifying characteristic that defines engineers across the board is: problem solving. No matter what particular field of focus or technical expertise, whether it is design, drawings, manufacturing, production or maintenance, an engineer will typically be the go-to problem solver.

So, when a panel of experts compiles a list of Engineering's Grand Challenges, it is a way for society as a whole to call on engineers to solve the greatest problems of our time. Although, in this sense, these engineers, or technological architects, will include inventors, researchers, high school students, hackers and just about anybody that is willing to learn, think up novel solutions and work ideas into real, usable products.

One of the popular categories of the Grand Challenges is solar energy. Recent discovery in this field addresses the issue of cleaning solar panels in hot, dusty climates where such technology is likely to be deployed in earnest. Originally developed for use on mars, self-cleaning solar panels uses an alternating electric current on the surface of panels to sweep charged dust particles across the surface. [TR] Ultimately, this sort of rethinking is directly in tune with the goals of the Grand Challenge: innovative solutions.

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The categories for the Grand Challenges are:

Make solar energy economical
Manage the nitrogen cycle
Advance health informatics
Prevent nuclear terror
Advance personalized learning
Provide energy from fusion
Provide access to clean water
Engineer better medicines
Secure cyberspace
Engineer the tools of scientific discovery
Develop carbon sequestration methods
Restore and improve urban infrastructure
Reverse-engineer the brain
Enhance virtual reality

Each of these is discussed in greater detail on the Grand Challenges website. They feature interesting comments, media and links to additional resources. Although the site does not satisfy as a one-stop shop for finding out where the cutting edge research is happening for these fields or how to get involved, it is a great source of inspiration! Find out more at: http://www.engineeringchallenges.org/cms/challenges.aspx.

There are many other avenues beyond the three covered in this series through which you can help engineer a better world. The worst thing to do is nothing. Do some research. Join or organize a team. Register for a project. Or, just spread the word. Thanks for reading!

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Challenges to Help Engineer a Better World - X Prizes

2010-10-01T04:44:00.004-06:00

I recently wrote about the excitement revolving around solar-powered vehicles and autonomous vehicles. Another recent mention of the future of vehicles in the news has been the Progressive Automotive X PRIZE race whose winners were announced on September 16, 2010. The essence of the X PRIZE is unrivaled innovation spurred by competition within small teams. This was indeed the case with the recent winner Very Light Car, a four-passenger vehicle by Edison2 which recorded an impressive 102.5 MPGe (Miles Per Gallon Gasoline equivalent)
X Prize

The X PRIZE Foundation is a non-profit organization rooted in the belief that dedicated teams in pursuit of a prize can revolutionize the world and benefit humanity. The idea is that "an X PRIZE incites innovation by tapping into our competitive and entrepreneurial spirits." - http://www.xprize.org/x-prizes/overview . The original X PRIZE, renamed the Ansari X PRIZE, was awarded to Mojave Aerospace Ventures' SpaceShipOne on October 4, 2004 in the amount of US $10 million.

Winning this prize was no easy fit. As described on the website, the winner must launch a spacecraft capable of carrying three (3) passengers to 100km above the Earth's surface and repeat this, within two weeks. SpaceShipOne did just that! Also, by successfully completing this momentous spaceflight without significant government assistance, a new industry of private spaceflight was ignited, flames of which are just now being seen [LAT].

Now, don't be gloom if you missed your shot at the Ansari X PRIZE, there are two other active prizes. Here are all of them so far:

Ansari X PRIZE - $10,000,000 (Won by SpaceShipOne) - Carry 3 people to 100km above the Earth's surface twice within 2 weeks.
Progressive Automotive X PRIZE - $10,000,000 ($5m Won by Very Light Car) - 100MPGe production-capable car that is also safe, affordable and desirable for consumers.
Archon Genomics X PRIZE - $10,000,000 - Sequence 100 human genomes in 10 days for less than $10k per genome.
Google Lunar X PRIZE - $30,000,000 - Safely land a robot on the moon which subsequently travels 500m on the lunar surface while sending images and data back to Earth. Hurry, deadline for registration is December 31, 2010!

There are also several other X Prizes coming down the pipeline, so keep a look out and start getting your team ready today. Learn more about future X Prizes here: http://www.xprize.org/future-x-prizes.

If the humanitarian aspect is more in tune with your aspirations, then the United Nations' Millenium Development Goals might be your niche. Otherwise, if you're looking to innovate on the very leading edge of engineering and technology in almost all aspects of society, take a look at the Grand Challenges for Engineering as compiled by the National Academy of Engineering. These Grand Challenges comprise the greatest impedances to social advancement at the time when the panel of experts was convened to compile the resource. They serve as a benchmark for the leading edge in technology and the trailing edge in social development producing an inspirational perspective of how far we've come, yet how much more we are facing right now. It is a call to action for engineers and all other members of society, sitting idly by while the world spins is no longer acceptable. It is vital that we contribute our time, talent, education and innovation in whatever ways we can - the Grand Challenges are a good way to start exploring. Click here to continue reading >>

Go to part: 1 2 3

Challenges to Help Engineer a Better World - Millennium Development Goals

2010-09-30T04:45:00.015-06:00

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The General Assembly of the United Nations in New York wrapped up today [AP] with stern rhetoric regarding the need for novel, sustained action beyond rhetoric on the part of delegates. Ultimately though, failed talks on war, nuclear proliferation and the irreverent provocations of Iran's President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, are in stark contrast to the only significant take-away from the assembly: reaffirmation of anti-poverty efforts through the Millennium Development Goals.

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
The United Nations convened for the Millennium Summit in September 2000 and committed to a fifteen-year deadline for combating extreme poverty and the myriad preventable health issues facing women and children across the developing world. The Millennium Development Goals are eight (8) definite milestones toward the elimination of such poverty and disease by 2015 and improving the general welfare of the global human society:

End Poverty and Hunger
Universal Education
Gender Equality
Child Health
Maternal Health
Combat HIV/AIDS
Environmental Sustainability
Global Partnership

These are lofty goals indeed, but the UN is an organization steep in such radical idealism, without which, the gloom and hopelessness of reality can not be dispelled. Ultimately though, the MDG's are a challenge to policy-makers, non-profit organizations and citizens of both the developing and the developed world to seriously tackle such monolithic problems with innovation and determination.

Fast forward to this past week, the UN summit manages to secure US $40 billion over the next five years to specifically address the portions of the MDGs regarding Women's and Children's Health. Although the pledged amount alone is not sufficient to solve any of these problems entirely, it is an encouraging reminder of the dedication of the international community to fulfill it's promises to the developing world. To find out more, visit the gateway for the efforts at: http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/.

Now, if you're looking for other big ideas on how to improve the state of our world, look no further than the X PRIZE! The X Prizes are a distinct and widely recognizable avenue of innovation and technological development. Click here to continue reading >>

Go to part: 1 2 3

7 Steps to Achieving Internet-Browsing Nirvana (2)

2010-09-20T01:10:00.007-06:00

So, you have completed the first part of the exercise and your browser is now ready for the web in all its glory. Now, it is time for some real soul-searching to holistically tune your internet browsing experience to match your spirit. These last two steps will take some time, some honesty and some self-evaluation, but in the end you will certainly feel much less cluttered and hopefully much more productive.

Step 6 - Search your Soul

Evaluate the way you access information

I find that in order to get an accurate picture of my internet browsing takes about a week. Some of the things I don't do daily will most likely come about in a week. If they don't, they probably also do not affect my internet browsing enough to be significant.

So, if you have a pretty good memory, or have the appropriate settings for your browser history, you should try to identify which types of online tools you use the most and what you use the tool for:

Research
Current Events
Entertainment
Communication & Publishing
Commerce

You probably already notice that many tools fall into more than one of these categories and you possibly use some tools for more than one purpose. However, the goal is simply to help you organize them so you can get a better idea of what exactly you do online. Though my complete list is much longer, here are my major internet tools:

Research - Google search, Bing, Wikipedia, AllRecipes, Career Builder, Indeed, Google Maps
Current Events - Seesmic, Twitter, Google Reader, Facebook, iGoogle, TweetMeme
Entertainment - YouTube, MegaUpload, Torrentz, Yahoo! Sports, Pandora, Stitcher, Frostwire, Digg, Tumblr
Communication & Publishing - Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Blogger, Gmail, Just Host, Google Docs
Commerce - Craig's List, Amazon, Google Shopping, Buy.com

Also, don't forget to include other programs on your computer that connect to the internet in one way or another or services on your smart phone do the same. Possible examples include: Sidebar for Windows, BlackBerry Maps for BB Smartphones.

Once you have your services listed, identify the services that give you the largest volume of information and that you the most difficult time getting through all the information available. I listed mine in bold font above. If your tools are anything similar to mine, you might also notice that current events are the most difficult category of information to deal with. And this seems sensible, there is a LOT happening all at once and these services try to bring them all to you at once. A lot of people may also list their e-mail service, and I would have a few weeks ago. However, it seems that priority inbox has given me a great way to handle the information overload issue in my inbox.

What I hope you have gotten from this step is that you use the internet in a lot of very specific ways and that you don't use every tool for everything it can be used for. So, the way in which you experience the internet is quite literally unique and different from any other person. Now you may feel special that your internet browsing kharma is special and unique, but it does pose one daunting problem - there is no single, sufficient method to solve your information overload.

To decide which combination of methods is best for you, continue to the final step, Nirvana awaits!

Step 7 - Hit Refresh

Improve filters, consolidate sources, integrate access

So, now that you have an idea of what you do with the internet, you're now ready to take your browsing to the next level.

Before continuing, remember that as I mentioned earlier, everyone will have a different way in which they use each different tool so it is near impossible to come up with a catch-all recipe. However, I spent a lot of time evaluating the information consumption habits of many other people and I have been able to resolve the solution down to the simple recommendations:

Improve your filters
Consolidate your sources
Integrate your access

There are many different filtering methodologies available, like the aforementioned priority inbox and others in the form of spam blockers, feed aggregators, personal filters, crowd-sourced filters, tags/labels, recommendations, ratings and many others. There are also various access models including but certainly not limited to toolbars, plugins, extensions/add-ons, personalized home pages, bookmark/favorites bars, and a slew of desktop applications.

Improve Filters

Depending on where you get your information, the filtering methods may be easy to control. For example, most e-mail services will allow you to moderate spam-blocking by black-listing or white-listing messages depending on the origin or content of the message. Others will further allow you to classify messages for labeling or distribution in your inbox beyond just spam blocking. Another example is in facebook where you can view the 'Top News' by default or switch to 'Most Recent' as an unfiltered alternative. On Twitter, you can set up lists of users feeds or save searches in order to aggregate the most-likely relevant information for you.

Finding out if the particular tool you're looking at has these features should not take very long. Setting them up and tuning them so that they get you exactly what you want, however, will take time and a lot of trial and error. A possible strategy for doing this may be:

Using whichever method(s) available in your service, filter out nearly everything such that only the MOST relevant information to you at a particular point in time gets through
Relax some of the restraints on the filters you set up to allow some more information through
Add some new constraints as necessary when you see more junk start to slip through
Iterate by relaxing and replacing to you reach a balance where NONE of the information you care about is being blocked and very little junk is coming through.

With the right filters set in place, you should already feel a significant decrease in the total amount of information that is streaming through your services. If you still see a lot of stuff you don't want, you may have to sacrifice some of the things you might care about and apply stricter filters as necessary.

Consolidate Sources

This is another point where having a written list of your online services would be really helpful. On this list, you should already be able to identify some of the services that are similar just by thinking of them or looking at how they are categorized. Now you should make an important decision:

Trim the fat, or
Bring them together

The advantages of cutting off the excess or repetitive services are that it will save you time and reduce the total amount of information you need to deal with.

You may not feel comfortable cutting off other services as they may have their peculiarities which you don't want to give up. In these cases, you will probably benefit from using a content aggregator that brings the information from various sites into one service. Examples include:

Sharp Reader - Desktop Client

Swift River - Dedicated and intelligent feed aggregator and filter client

You should also consider customizable home pages which are available from many sources online. These will greatly reduce the time it takes you to get to the information you want by placing the most recent updates right on your home page and let you decide how much or little you want. Examples:

Finally, note that some services will also allow you to couple not just the feeds but also your updates as well. An example of this is that Twitter will allow you to update your status through Facebook, and vise versa (although in a different way). So explore the services you do have and see what sort of APIs and connectivity that they offer. Third-party services that enable tethered publishing include:

twitterfeed

FeedBurner

Integrate Access

To maximize your overall experience, you should take these simple steps to integrate all these tools so that they flow well with your browser itself and your other points of access. You may have just completed the first of these as part of the last exercise:

Customize your homepage
Customize your favorites/bookmark bar
Add extensions and toolbars
Install desktop clients
Update your smartphone apps and mobile browser bookmarks

The majority of these will not take more than just a few minutes if you spent the time evaluating your services and consolidating as much as possible. I would like to stress the importance of utilizing the appropriate toolbars and extensions at this point in time.

First, I would advice against using more than one toolbar. This will require greater resources from your computer which is generally undesirable. Also, and possibly more importantly, is that a toolbar may be used to store your bookmarks and your favorites so that you can access them from other computers. If you use more than one, you might accidentally store these favorites in a location that you might not have access to from another computer.

Second, don't get too crazy with extensions. Extensions and add-ons will allow your browser to do a lot of impressive, interesting and useful shenanigans, but be careful what you get. Some extensions may be malicious and crash your browser, or even mine your browser for information about you. Most sources for browser extensions feature reliable filtering and rating system which should help in identifying the unhealthy extensions. Also, having unnecessary extensions will undoubtedly require additional resources from your computer when you use its features. For this reason, you may want to limit the number of active extensions in your browser by deactivating or deleting those you do not need or want.

Finally, get on your smartphone and point your mobile browser to some of the sources that you use the most. You will find that a majority of these sites will feature either a mobile version of the site or a downloadable application dependent on your device. These will allow you to access the information you want on the go which will make you a very happy panda!

And there you have it, the secrets to unlocking Nirvana revealed to you, basically:

Improve your computer and your browser
Look at the services you use online
Filter out the stuff you don't want and combine the stuff that you do
Make it easy to get to your new refined pools of information

Not at all difficult, just takes some initiative and time for you to feel lighter, happier and more effective as you browse through the vast and infinite reaches of the net. Thanks for reading!
Welcome to Nirvana!

7 Steps to Achieving Internet-Browsing Nirvana (1)

2010-09-15T20:36:00.006-06:00

Do you want to unleash the latent capabilities of your computer and yourself? Do you want to be able to access and sort through information at lightning speeds without the pain and annoyance of slow, inefficient browsing? If so, get on the path to trouble-free, effective access to the internet through this guide to enlightenment.

The concepts are fairly simple:

Remove unnecessary software from your computer
Update your browser
Install plugins
Test your browser
Fine-tune browser settings
Evaluate your tools
Improve, consolidate, integrate!

I have split the process into two parts. Steps 1-5 will comprise the first part. If you have a typical computer and just need to tune up your browsing experience, this first part shouldn't take longer than 15-30 minutes. However, it is meant to be a generic resource so you may come across a lot of information that does not apply to you.

Step 0 - Identify the Cause
Test Connection Speed [Skip this step if you just want to get straight to the fun part]
Before, we get started tweaking, it might help to find out why you're so dissatisfied with your internet. There may be many reasons that explain your crippled internet experience. I narrow them down to these three reasons:

Your internet connection may be awful
Latent software on your computer may be unnecessarily bogging down your device
Your computer hardware may just not be sufficient for your needs

The easiest way to find this out is to run an internet speed test which will give you an idea of your true internet connection speed. The sites listed below will basically return a value for your download speed, your upload speed and your latency (or lag). If the latency is too high, the server may be too far away and the results may not be representative of your actual connection speed. Try a closer server or search for another internet speed test for your region.

http://www.speedtest.net/

http://www.dslreports.com/speedtest [I have only tried the Flash-based test]

http://www.pingtest.net/ - This information will likely not be important to you. It is from the makers of the speedtest

You may want to compare your average value with what you're actually paying your internet service provider (ISP).

Next, open up 2 or 3 of the most graphic- and computing-intensive applications that you have on your device. I opened Solid Works, DivX Plus Player and BlackBerry Desktop Software all at once. While these are loading, run the test again. You will notice one of three scenarios:

Everything remains the same: This likely means that your computer hardware is fine and you should consider purchasing greater bandwidth. Otherwise, it may mean the applications you opened were not sufficiently stressful; however opening an HD movie in DivX Plus should do the trick for most computers.
Download speed alone drops: This likely means that your computer is struggling either because of hardware, software of both. This guide will help you quickly alleviate the discomfort.
Download speed and upload speed drop: This likely means that your computer has some serious hardware short-comings and this guide will only help some of that. Consider upgrading your memory or in seriously debilitating cases, replace your operating system.
Some other combination: This is difficult to diagnose without further information as there may be several scenarios involved.

Step 1 - Get rid of the Old!
Remove unnecessary software
Delete unused or out-of-date software from your computer as these can keep you from experiencing Nirvana. To find these on a PC:

Open the Control Panel
Select 'Programs and Features', 'Uninstall a Program' or 'Add or Remove Programs'
At the top of the column of the list of programs, right click and select 'More...'
Find and select the checkbox next to 'Used' and click 'Ok'
Click on the header for the new column such that the list is now sorted from 'Rarely' to 'Frequently'. NOTE: The first few items may be small APIs that are listed as 'Frequently' but are separated from the full programs on the list.
Remove the software that you use rarely and/or feel you will not need in the future.

Delete unnecessary toolbars, plug-ins, and extensions in your current browser

Try to remove these using an option within your browser if possible. In addition, you may need to follow the steps described for uninstalling unused software to remove these toolbars and plug-ins. If this does not work to remove a toolbar, you may need to carefully read through the list of installed software or make advanced edits to your registry. In rare cases, you may need to uninstall your browser entirely. REMINDER: Be wary of the terms you agree to when you download software!

The following three tips are from articlebase.com:

Remove temporary internet files
Clean up disk errors
Remove unnecessary background processes

If you want some help with these, check out the original article: http://www.articlesbase.com/computers-articles/top-5-steps-to-optimize-your-web-browser-experience-877577.html

Replace your Operating System (Helpful in Extreme Cases ONLY!)
If you're dealing with a seriously troublesome computer that all you try to do with it is browse the internet, consider removing your entire operating system (OS) and replacing it with a lighter OS. This may seem an extreme measure for internet browsing, but the honest truth these days, is that most computer are simply hubs for internet connectivity. If this is the case for you, consider a stripped-down and light-weight operating system that will let you do just that. Examples:

Step 2 - In with the New
Update your internet browser software.

If you're not using a stripped down Web OS, you will need to use a stand-alone web browser. Pretty simple, go to the site and follow instructions to download or update your browser.

Mozilla Firefox 3.6
Microsoft Internet Explorer 8
Google Chrome
Apple Safari 5

Coming Soon:
Microsoft Internet Explorer 9 *Beta*

I will refrain from taking any sides as of right now regarding which browser you should use. You need to experience them for yourself and decide which is in tune with your energy. What I recommend that you NOT do, however, is simply go with the same browser because you have always used it and think it is the best. Try something new for long enough, and you may be pleasantly surprised. I personally have Firefox, Explorer and Chrome installed on my computer and use all three depending on the situation. I have not tried the Beta for Explorer 9 that was released today, but I did find a seemingly reliable download source and listed it anyway.

Step 3 - Get the Basics
Install basic plugins

Plug-ins give your browser access to software that require greater control over your computer. These plugins will let you do things like play games online, view videos, and even use online word processors. Note that some of these tools may be phased out fairly soon with the increasing adoption of new internet standards and popularity of tablet and mobile devices.

This very useful tool from Mozilla might give you a good idea of what you need: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/plugincheck/

The Basic Essentials:
Adobe Flash Player
Adobe Acrobat Reader

Others:
Java
DivX Plus Web Player
Apple Quicktime
Adobe Shockwave
RealPlayer

Step 4 - Time for a Joy Ride!
Test Browser Performance

First, follow the instructions outlined in Step 0 to test your connection speed.
Next, the following tests will look at how your browser renders pages and if it meets standards:
Acid3 Test
Sputnik
HTML5 Test

After testing the connection speed/bandwidth and browser compliance, check out the following resources that will push your browser to the very pinnacle of web browsing requirements today:

IE9 Test Drive
FishIE Demo
Apple - HTML5
Chrome Experiments

DO NOT be alarmed if your computer wheezes and coughs while trying to run some of these scripts, you will not come across very many of these kinds of websites anytime soon anyway. They are just meant to give you an idea of what will be possible and how your computer and browser measure up.

Step 5 - Tweak the Knobs
Modify Browser Settings

Based on the test from the previous step(s), you may need to make some additional tweaks to optimize your browser. The following pages may help tremendously:

eHow - A general guide to optimizing the four major web browsers

Mozilla Firefox - A guide to optimizing Firefox by PC World
Internet Explorer - A guide to optimizing Explorer by Microsoft
Google Chrome - Chrome Tips and Tweaks

After you have dusted, cleaned and tuned your browser into shape, you are now ready to tune yourself. The next two steps will help you match your online tools with browser extensions and your overall aura so that the World Wide Web will feel feel like it extends from your fingertips - perfect harmony.

I will cover steps 6 and 7 in Part 2 of this series. These are the tips that will really help boost your browsing experience by removing the clutter from your web presence and streamlining your information consumption. Have any questions about these first steps, drop a comment below and I will be sure to get back to you soon.

Solar Vehicles - Pushing the Bounds of Technology and Design

2010-09-09T01:55:00.000-06:00

Mechanical Bike
I've been doing a lot of work on my sister's bike recently and pretty much merged the parts of my older bike into it. After replacing a few parts and several failed attempts to tune the brakes, I finished today and went on a much anticipated victory lap around our neighborhood. Now, I put a lot of effort into this Frankenstein of a bike just to get it moving (and stopping) well, so I have much respect for a guy that can make a bike run on the sun. That's right, a solar bike!

Solar Electric Bike
Hama Zero's Fujin is an electric bike which can charge it's batteries using sunlight. It runs up to 45mph, which is suitable for most roads and should be able to complete a 30-mi trip with just a 9-hour bath in the sun. In the video below, the creator of the bike, Mr. Yamawaki, discusses the bike and the inspiration for reducing it's rolling friction.

The reason such technology is so interesting to me is more than just amazement at the workmanship that it takes, but also it's influence on and statement about the current industry of solar energy: On The Go!

Mobile Energy Sparks Imagination
It seems that everywhere you look, solar energy is taking to the streets, the skies, and even in space! There seems to be a general shift in the design paradigm at the fringes of engineering and technology. While the production industry is focused on improved efficiency and lowering costs, the design side is looking to meet non-traditional needs to renew excitement about the technology. Sure when we hear news about full scale photovoltaic plants being built, concentrating solar power generators and even government rebates for home installations, we get excited. But what really ignites the imagination is news about solar briefcases for third-world healthcare and stuff like this: Solar power on a bike. Wow!

Solar On The Move
I don't know why such technology strikes a deep harmonious tune with me. Maybe it's the stark contrast to oil spills, atmospheric pollution and exploding oil rigs. It could also be the faint dream of perpetually available, free energy - a beautiful, though fanciful dream indeed. Nontheless, I chose to put together a quick mock-up of solar vehicles that I have heard about recently in the news:

Solar Motorcycle - Fujin
http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/05/hama-zeros-solar-bike-fujin-runs-thanks-to-the-sun-not-on-it/
I would give anything to get my hands on this thing!

Solar Car - Infinium

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/07/30/students-go-sun-day-drive

Solar car's are not brand new, but a nod from the White House gives the impression that these achievements are nothing to be sneezed at.

Solar Plane - Solar Impulse

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10550430 [+VIDEO]
Heard about this guy, Bertrand Piccard, and his plan to fly without fuel sometime last year, so it was almost surreal when I heard his plane completed a 26-hour flight! Flying through day and night without a single drop of fuel is the amazing brand of inspiration that can effect a true paradigm shift regarding solar power.

Solar Satellite - IKAROS

http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/solar-sail-spacecraft-100902.html
Solar panels have indeed been used in space for decades now, but never has the power of the sun been harnessed to provide thrust anywhere. IKAROS, a Japanese probe, recently demonstrated that it has actually gained thrust from the incidence of light from the sun alone. That, is AWESOME! So, not only can you utilize sunlight in photovoltaics and solar thermal applications, you can also propel a craft with sunlight using a solar sail.

It seems that though it is difficult to predict the realistic potential for solar energy to expand in the energy market without financial incentives (carbon tax, etc), the imaginative potential for it's use is vast and seemingly limitless.

--
I'm sorry if the collection of articles seems somewhat incongruent. I did not go hunting for these articles, I just ran across them through my regular news consumption (various blogs and podcast references).

Anxiously Awaiting AUDI TTS Pikes Peak Climb (Autonomous Vehicle)

2010-08-26T11:00:00.000-06:00

As the much-anticipated Pikes Peak Challenge for the autonomous vehicle by Stanford University approaches, I decided to take a look back at Odin and some research I did on the Victor Tango team and the DARPA urban challenge.

The Challenge
The Defense Advance Research Projects Agency is an arm of USDOD which has been birthplace for some of the greatest developments in technology of the late 20th Century, including the internet! DARPA had the first Grand Challenge in 2004 which featured a 150-mile road race with the most successful competitor reaching 7.38 mi. The second competition, held in 2005 featured a 132-mile off-road race was finished by five competitors and paved way for the Urban Challenge which was held in 2007.

Awesome-O
Last year, for my Introduction to Robotics course, my partner and I were tasked to research an application of robotics of our choice. Being an autonomous vehicle fanatic, I essentially did all the research myself and let him take care of compiling the presentation. After selecting to study the third-place finalist, Odin, I shot an e-mail over to the professor in charge of the project who replied with two papers: one about navigation, the other about driving. I had previously learned a lot about path-following and simple algorithms from our very own autonomous vehicle:

Awesome-O - Our maze-solving robot

However, the two papers that I read exposed me to an impressively familiar combination of hardware and software tools used to produce an hierarchy of functionality that was much more reliable and drove full-scale vehicles.

Odin | Boss
The Victor Tango team of Virginia Tech utilized a slew of LabVIEW and NI software and interfaces to work with the many sensors, controllers and other instruments to achieve autonomy. The navigation paper describes a state machine architecture which identifies objects, sets goals and maneuvers around obstacles to reach a set destination. The following video from Wired provides an idea of what it takes for the competition champion, Boss (Tartan Racing), although I'm not sure what the flux capacitor is used for. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lULl63ERek0

How can you get a car to drive all by itself?
Basically, the vehicle first receives instructions about where it needs to go and possibly how it should get there. It is also supplied with information regarding where it can or cannot go including some areas where some behaviors are restricted i.e. passing. By utilizing various combinations of instruments (LIDAR, RADAR, Differential GPS, INS, and various Optical Cameras), they are able to create a very accurate model of where the vehicle is and what is in its immediate (and sometimes distant) environment. From there, the software is able to 'make decisions' about how to behave and what exactly to do. Once an action decision is made, it is then carried out usually through drive-by-wire interface to the throttle, steering, shifting, and braking systems. The end result is an autonomous, driverless vehicle which can robustly reach a set destination irregardless of obstacles and the behavior of other vehicles. The whole is indeed greater than the sum of its parts:

Commercialization
The Urban Challenge was in 2007 and a lot really has happened since then. Most notable might be the commercial adoption of several autonomous features for parking and accident avoidance in luxury vehicles although this trend began way back in 1999 with the Japanese Nissan Cima. However, these commercial vehicles certainly have their limitations as well:

Shelley to Speed up Pikes Peak!
After winning the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge with Stanley and placing second in the 2007 Urban Challenge with Junior, the Stanford Racing Team is betting against all the odds and limitations to brave the arduous Pikes Peak race next month (September 2010) with Shelley, an Audi TTS, named after "Michèle Mouton, the first female driver to win the uphill climb." - http://news.stanford.edu/news/2010/february1/shelley-pikes-peak-020310.html

"Unlike Stanley and Junior, who sense the road with radars and cameras, Shelley will follow a GPS trail from start to finish. The trick will be to stay on the road at race speeds while sliding around the corners."

Although the vehicle is not quite as autonomous as its predecessor, it is facing a daunting challenge and intends on doing so at ridiculous speeds. "If anything goes wrong on the summit, someone on the team can flip the "kill switch," Shelley's only remote control feature."

Excitement and Anticipation
I can't wait to see this car in action! Nerves are already on edge, media is starting to get excited and it's going to be a true spectacle to behold! If I can, I will try to go see it live. However, I still can't find a source which states the exact date in September that the timed race will be held. Now, if you're like me and can't wait, check out Shelley as she makes final preparations for the race:

Further reading:

Check out the August 12 Scientific American article -

Automatic Auto: A Car That Drives Itself

February 3, 2010 Stanford University News article -

Stanford's robotic Audi to brave Pikes Peak without a driver

If you would like a copy of the technical Virginia Tech publications, send me a message @fadeyifemi and I will connect you to my source.

Thanks for reading, hope this contributed a little to your Engineering Genius. Interested in more tech news, check out the T3CH H3LP blog I came across a little while back.

BP's Unnatural Disaster in the Gulf

2010-08-20T11:00:00.002-06:00

After much consternation and mayhem, it seems that public attention and media coverage on the gulf coast has finally waned somewhat. However, one of the scientists I work with asked me: As an engineer, what do you think of the whole situation with the oil spill? Now, talk about a loaded question. Luckily, I had read through the SPE and ASME releases and had been fairly updated on the situation due to the incessant media coverage through TV, blogs, podcasts and more.

Avoiding the Blowout

My very limited understanding of the situation is that the blowout preventers may have malfunctioned for several different reasons and it is likely that it is not just the result of a single fault.

Taken from Mechanical Engineering magazine by ASME

Oil and natural gas in formation are under a lot of pressure. Well drilling operations will usually stop short of puncturing the reservoir and instead the well is cemented until production. In the case of an overpressurefrom reservoir forcing fluid up the pipe during drilling, blowout preventers are installed in order to seal off the drill pipe. Blowout preventers are hydraulic-powered shear rams which are meant to crush the drill pipe and form a seal.

In the Macondo blowout, the 450-ton, ten-year-old Cameron blowout preventer valves failed to function properly. The blowout preventer’s shear rams designed to cut through the drill pipe and seal it also failed to function. As a result, large volumes of oil and gas reached the rig floor and resulted in an explosion, loss of life, and sinking of the drilling rig. The continued escape of large volumes of hydrocarbons has created the massive oil spill that began hit the Louisiana coast in mid-May.

The possible reasons for this failure are numerous, but the few listed in Mechanical Engineering magazine include:

Age - Although not a specific failure mode, ageing may contribute to wear and tear that may have not been identified during maintenance but lead to catastrophic failure.
Modifications - I don't understand what modifications were done, but these may have introduced elements that do not have a predictable effect on system safety.
Valve-failure - leakage of hydraulic fluid may have been sufficient to cause failure
Drill Pipe - thicker than standard drill pipe required for use at such depths under water may have been beyond the power of the blowout preventer shear rams.

Such issues are ultimately preventable but it was the combination of failures in critical systems that doomed the Deepwater Horizon.

Spilling Blame

Now, just as the Mechanical Engineering article suggests, I agree that it is much too early to parcel out blame for the gulf disaster. However, when pressed to make the judgement call I had to provide a somewhat reasonable assessment.

I feel that ultimately, BP owns the well and essentially is responsible for the entire operation, although, separate components of the project were contracted to Transocean (drilling) and Halliburton (cementing). The faulty blowout preventer was likely a product under the supervision Transocean which faults them directly for the failure of the device. Such failure, however, is bound to happen when the predominant atmosphere regarding safety is lax and the focus has shifted to profitability.

Taken from Mechanical Engineering magazine by ASME

Large oil companies, in order to meet unwavering consumer demand for their products, are driven economically to produce and do so with minimal delays, especially when bureaucratic delays plague efforts to drill off the coast of the US. In meeting these challenges however, oil companies seem to have blatantly chosen to abandon safety in favor of the bottom line: Some continually push for access to greater drilling resources behind a ruse that it can be done safely and and reliably. Meanwhile, countless offshore rigs and wells continuously leak oil into the ocean at a mind-blowing rate although most can be prevented with better management, maintenance and replacement of aged equipment. What this disaster has shown me is that though the technology behind finding and producing oil and gas is growing at an amazing rate, it is ultimately the individuals and the cultures surrounding the technology that will chart the course for safety in the future.

There needs to be vigilant dedication to safety in all industries and at all levels
Industry-leaders need to consider the global implications of each project in addressing operational strategies and in selecting contractors
Public relations is a relationship, not just multi-million dollar ad campaigns. It is a dedication to safety in the product or service that is provided. It should start with engineering, not marketing.

So, this is not a time for blame. It is a time to remember that lives were lost as a result of ultimately preventable failures. It is a call to action and a call to change. This disaster has revealed major weaknesses in the strategies and technologies of the oil and gas industry. Action must be taken to improve awareness and dedication to safety and changes must be made to address the weaknesses in technology and response strategies in order to restore public confidence in off-shore drilling and petroleum engineering.

If you are interested in finding out more about deepwater drilling and the Macondo well blowout, download the TechStuff Oil Drilling podcast, and read the Avoiding the Blowout feature in Mechanical Engineering and the somewhat superfluous FAQ on drilling and the spill from SPE. To find the Oil drilling podcast online, in the widget below, click Podcasts then select Oil Drilling Tech from the list.

ENGENIUS CHALLENGE

The answer to last week's riddle: What am I?

A Snowflake!

Yeah, not a very tough riddle, but it's an original! I might try to write another someday soon.

For this week's challenge, head over to Fantastic Contraption and see how far you can get! I got to level 8 and could go further with more time. It is a really fun game but they have recently added ad-support which you will need to skip and live with - I wish they hadn't added so many ads.

Social Psych Experiments

2010-08-13T11:00:00.000-06:00

Not a well-refined exploration this week but a series of fascinating YouTube videos of psychology experiments including the famous Milgram and Zimbardo experiments.

Selective attention test:

Elevators and conformity - funny:

The Asch Experiment - conformity and social psychology:

Highly controversial Milgram Experiment:

Famous Stanford Prison Experiment:

My brother and I had a lengthy discussion about all sorts of experiments that we'd heard about then we looked a few up on YouTube. I see these as reminders of the importance of strong ethical values and the need to uphold these values. It is sobering to think of how working within strictly defined boundaries can have such a powerful effect on all of us.

On a separate note, here's a short poem I wrote for a friend of mine:

Like a greedy angel, I fall from the heavens,

down, down to the ground.

I am never afraid,

I never even make a sound.

But if you try to save me,

if even for a moment you hold,

I will fall apart and lose my lonely beauty,

because my heart is cold.

So, as promised last week, this is also a riddle: What am I?

High-Tech Fashion and Integrated Personal Computing

2010-08-06T11:00:00.000-06:00

Trends via TrendHunter.com.

Ubiquitous / Wearable Computers have been around for quite a while but they have seemed far too fanciful to me. However, i changed my mind the other day when I came across this Becoming Cyborg blog through two other tech blogs. Now, this is a very attractive wearable computer:

Sleek and comfortable -looking design uses a Beagleboard mini computer and
features an iPhone for internet access.

It looks like he went through several iterations to arrive at this current model, the older models actually just worked with the iPhone as the computer and a different wearable display. Evolution:

Evolution of the concept from bulky iPhone display to wearable Unix computer.

But 'wearability' is not why I'm interested in these designs. I wanted to explore ubiquitous computing and natural interfaces. So ultimately, I'm curious about how computers can expand access to information without obscuring interaction with the real world. I'll refer to this as Integrated Personal Computing till I find a better word. Other similar terms you will find are pervasive computing and embedded computing. However, I think pervasive is more closely related to ubiquitous computing in that it refers to computing everywhere and in everything. Whereas, embedded computing would be more pertinent if the computer were somehow implanted or indistinguishable from the user or in the case of microcontrollers and other dedicated processors inside other devices. I feel that integrated personal computers will ultimately be realized as full-featured computers that are inconspicuous and feature natural user input.

Some wearable computers aren't much more so than my BlackBerry. They're both lightweight, can strap to my body, I enter input with my fingers and get output from a display. Advantage of the wearable display is hands-free viewing, which can be incredibly useful in certain situations. Also, when in the field, processing power almost linearly correlates with productivity. I can't take work out in the field if the computer can't run the software that I need or worse, if I end up staring at this half the time:

A few applications of wearable computing:

Bluntly pragmatic wearable computer

Older implementation of a wearable display

Military application

Emergency Services

Telepresence - sort of an odd idea, read the description here

Leisure - Gaming?

Commercial - Logistics, Inventory management

Aircraft maintenance

Head-mounted displays come in many different shapes and sizes depending on the application. The Myvu brand of head-mounted displays is on par with the sleekest and most lightweight available today. The video below describes how to use a particular head-mounted display which also serves as input for a game.

Another crack at a head-mounted display:

This blog explains some concerns about wearable computing

Aside from the display portion of the user-interface is the user input. This versatility of input may ultimately affect how well an integrated personal computer can be utilized in the real world. Eye-tracking technology may offer accessibility for people with disabilities by utilizing eye-movements for input. This technology may also find future applicability to integrated personal computing as it allows hands-free user interface.

Eye-Tracking

Though not technically hands-free, the KITTY input device utilizes a novel input mechanism which may be inconspicuous enough for textual input in most applications.

KITTY integrated input device acts as a virtual keyboard

Motorola shows off a speech-operated computer that may offer a solution for hands-free input. The technology for speech recognition and command has improved significantly over the years, but as seen in the video, still has the glitches and annoyances that prove cumbersome at times.

The iPod Shuffle is a dedicated music player and not in any sense an open-ended computer. However, the speech output of the system is an impressive tool that may find use in other applications as well.

The Zypad, a product of Eurotech is a wrist-wearable computer that claims to be lightweight, ergonomic, yet full-featured. However, if you take a look at the specifications, with a 400mHz processor, 128mb RAM and 4 hours of battery life, you might be better off buying an iPhone 4 with an arm-band and strapping it to your wrist. I like the concept a lot, but the processing power seems dismal for most applications except stripped-down or dedicated software. These devices may possibly be useful in healthcare or for emergency response but they do not seem ruggedized enough to last very long.

Zypad wearable computer

Mobile devices at the forefront of computing power are much closer to integration on another front: augmented reality. Augmented reality seems to me a balance on the spectrum of virtual reality which supplements information from the real world with digital information. Here are some examples:

Augmented reality research

There are many other related technologies which may prove relevant to the advancement of integrated personal computing including flexible displays, health and energy monitoring devices, haptic technology, smart fibers, and swarm robotics among many others.

There is obviously much more to these ideas than is covered in this short exploration of mine. If you want to find out more about integrated personal computing? Check out the blogs listed above and the following sources:

http://www.computer.org/portal/web/pervasive/home

http://www.iswc.net/iswc10/inc_html/index.html

Turns out there might have been a problem with the 'fun' cipher from last week - I think they wrote it down wrong and it turned out making no sense. If you have any ideas, let me know, otherwise, I'll find some other challenge for the next update.

Tools fix Bikes

2010-07-30T11:00:00.000-06:00

After completely laying waste to the grip gear-shift and both tires on my brother's bike, I made repeated promises that I would fix it, if I just had the right Allen wrench [hex key] to open the gear-shift. And if I couldn't fix it, I would run down to a bike shop and have it repaired.

So, the real kick-in-the-pants motivation to get this done came when my mom asked me to fix the kitchen garbage disposal. After emptying the disposal and resetting the power supply, I realized the allen wrench set is exactly what I was waiting for to fix the bike. So off I was, on a mission with a tool, to take the main gear-shift apart - I felt at one with the universe, and everything would work out. No kidding, this moment really was zen-like.

I pull the gear-shift off the handle bar, tension the gear-shift cable and poke around the pieces of plastic inside the case. After some fiddling, I find the plastic shift-ratchet piece has been popped loose (by my gnarly handling while riding).

Long story short, I move the shift-ratchet back, return the gear-shift and the handle-bar grip to their rightful places then replace both tire inner tubes (after a quick trip to Wal-Mart). The bike is FIXED! So I take my brother's renewed Schwinn out for a test run towards DIA, but on my way back: POP! The rear tire is flat again. Now sad, annoyed and defeated, I walk the bike home and fix up the rear tire with another inner tube. My earlier enthusiasm and inner peace are displaced by disappointment and extremely sore knees. What a blow!

When I have the right tools, solving a problem becomes a joyous, exciting undertaking. But when I don't have the right tool, and the problem continually repeats itself, I get overwhelmed, disappointed and annoyed.

Lesson learned: before getting annoyed with a problem, take a good look at the tools you have access to. Now I'm looking for a more permanent prevention for flat tires - slime is mostly ineffective, so I need another tool. Any suggestions?

Have some free time? Probably not. But anyway, below is an interesting cipher puzzle I found at the library. I'll post my answer later (Not sure if it's the right answer).