Smarter than a Dumb Human

-:VB:-


This post is exactly about what it sounds like. Mobile phones... or should I say "smart phones".
Gone are the days of the wired phones my friends (except the developing countries). Everything's pretty much wireless these days.

Almost everyone has a cell phone, call rates are affordable - thanks to the competitive companies, high speed bandwidths are accessible, and what not. For some, it is a medium of communication, for some it is about their social networking and for some it is all about work.

Since the QWERTY keypads and the flip phones, whooda thunk that there'd be touch screen tech out there as well. Today, we are surrounded by such phones and gadgets that have made things easier for us.
This leads us to the concept of 'Smart phones'

Let's just think back for a moment.
Now everyone out there was sooo excited about the new iphone 5S coming out, but people did not have a clue what was different from the previous versions. They only wanted and iphone, regardless of the hardware they are getting.

So, in a smart phone, the hardware is the real deal, as well as the software.
But, to many, it doesn't matter coz all they wanna do is brag around everyone with their branded phones and swish it around saying "I got a smart phone, I got a smart phone, nya nya nya nya na...." and all that crap.
Oooh look at me, I got an iphone!
I own a smart phone!

Many don't even know the meaning of these words.
"Smart phones"?
Seriously? Couldn't they have come up with something... say... smarter? Many wonder why they are called so.
The wikipedia definition is:
A smartphone (or smart phone) is a mobile phone with more advanced computing capability and connectivity than basic feature phones.

Smart phones are meant to make your job easier, as they are mini-me versions of computers, their fast racing quad cores, octa cores, gbs of data storage, bandwidths and RAM, many gigahertz speeds scenario makes up today's digital age.They are made to works as computers without being one, at affordable prices, with mobility and calling factors at their behest.

And what do people do with them?
--They play 'Candy Crush', 'Flappy Bird', 'Subway surfer' and what not! What the hell!
Why didn't you buy a PSP for god's sake? That would've been cheaper and better, than spending thousands for some functions you don't even know exist in your phone.

--If you  wanna spend bucks for only Talking or texting, and not using other functions, why not buy a keypad phone for a couple of hundred bucks?

But the fact stands that people don't know how to use a smartphone. Many don't even have what they want to buy, and why they want to buy it.
They buy a high end smartphone, and what do they do with it? Play flash games, text and call, the usual stuff. But shouldn't they be using the other functions which made the phone cost so much? Like the documents viewers, and the readers, and the editing supports, the ram-crunching business apps... and what not!

Today we have phones that are not only a piece of technology, but every piece is a masterpiece in itself. every bit of technology is a revolution. Be it from something as small as a flash drive, right up to a music player.
This is an age of smart phones.

What I want to say is - Phones are becoming smarter and people are becoming dumber with every passing day.
Look at yourself today.
Do you remember a single number from your phone directory?
Do you even know your own phone number?
When was the last time you even read a physical book. I mean literally held it in hands?
Or read a newspaper for that matter?
When was the last time you actually wrote to someone?
When was the last time you pressed a button on a phone or dialed a number?
When did you last go through lots of books and magazines and newspaper articles for your projects for hours just to get a pic, or a clipping or a report?

I know. It is tough to answer.
With smartphones, all these questions sound weird, and why not coz we never think about them, about how much easier our lives are today.

We've got apps for so many things.
Don't know a song? App for it.
Shopping? App for it.
Recipes for cooking? App for it as well.
Learning? App for it too.
News, music, videos, live feeds, games and what not. Everything is at our fingertips... literally.

As a matter of fact, phones are much smarter than us now. We share all our intimate secrets online, on chat windows, on our profile pages, on social networking sites, personal info about our lives, etc.

Our phone holds all of our accounts, and we are logged into each one all the time. Our banking info, our email i.d., our passwords, our pics... and the latest....  Biometrics!
It even tracks where we are, where we were, where we are going, where we are headed, the elevations, what we are eating, how much we walked, our heartbeats, and what not.
Our pics, videos, and the geological tags, auto recognition, face recognition, auto login features, voice recordings, your chat histories, browsing history, which direction your phone is in, how fast are you traveling, etc. etc.
Our mobile backups and data stored online across multiple websites - all in one place.
Search engines like Google even auto-suggest what you are trying to find based on your search history.
Some people can't even calculate properly. And there are apps for that as well - Basic calculators and Scientific calculators.
Anyone heard of Abacus? Well, there's an app for that too.
 Now  tell me a single person capable of doing all this. Let alone the games and other features.

None!
So correct me if I am wrong in saying that Phones are becoming smarter and humans are becoming dumber.

Don't tell me that it is humans who made the phones, coz it wasn't all of us. It was those few who learnt to use their brains in the correct manner and gain from it. They all know their work by heart. How much do we all even remember what we have learned?

It is now up to the existing humans to take a step ahead from this towards making us brighter and smarter... not dumber. We don't want apps and machines to correct us someday do we?

Meanwhile in some parts of the world, wars are raging, battles are going on, people being killed, the ecology being threatened....
And what do we do? Comment, share, like? That's it?
Take a step to improve this world. To improve your life and others around you. You have a device capable of saving thousands or even millions of lives, capable of making you heard.

Humans will never be dumb. We can never be. Even a lunatic has a basic understanding of this world.
I simply hope we don't turn out to be idiots by the turn of this century.
Maybe we will be smarter than our phones someday....

Thanks for reading, and I would appreciate your inputs in the comments section below...

Are we using Alien Tech today? #5

-:VB:-

Previous

So, are we really using Alien Tech today?
Depends on how you want to look at it.

You can turn a blind eye towards all of this, and go back to playing Candy Crush on your iPhones. Or, you can think over it, and maybe for once you might actually see what is happening around you.

All these advancements are maybe a false predicament. Maybe the governments of this world are  trying to fool you into believing that they are really this much powerful. But, if they are so powerful, how did events like Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings happen? How in the name of God did humans go from TNT sticks to Nuclear power all of a sudden?

How did the Chernobyl disaster happen? If we create something, we have the capacity to stop it. How could this have not been prevented?

How did the Hubble telescope get to be so powerful that it can view galaxies light years away from us? We are struggling to work at the Nano-level, and at the Genetic-level but we can see very bright and clearly into the vast emptiness of space with accuracy and sharpness.
What are the possibilities of this happening?

Maybe we might learn the truth about all of this, and maybe we'll never be able to get the facts straight.
But, we can always keep our mind open to the possibility of this happening.

All we have to do till then is keep searching for answers to questions that we are unsure of, for events we cannot map, for times we cannot calculate, for history that we cannot justify, and for proof that that we are most uncertain about.

All this to understand something, for answers which we may never get...


That concludes this string of posts.
Thanks for reading, and do tell me if my posts are Wise or Wicked...

Are we using Alien Tech today? #4

-:VB:-

Previous

Moving onto more advancements.

LHC - The Large Hadron Collider, can create conditions that precede the formation of the universe itself.
But we cannot guarantee the safety of launch and return of our own space flights.

Cloning, Viruses - We can create bio-weapons, new forms of life, play with DNAs and Genes, but we cannot safeguard our species from illnesses and deformities. None of this fits together. Som.ething as simple and as ancient as the common cold still remains untreated

Now, all of this is very odd, as it is impossible to believe these facts.
What if Area 51 is for real?
What if Aliens are here on this Earth living amongst us?
What if we are secretly kidnapping them or holding them as hostages and promising them freedom in exchange for their technology?
What if we have destroyed them and stole their technology, and modifying and using their technology for our purpose and benefit?

None and yet everything among this might be largely possible. Why these questions arise, is the most important questions of them all.
Firstly, it is human nature to take something that we don't have and use it for our benefit. Why do you suppose most wars happen? For resources, for profits... it's all strictly business.
Secondly, we take something that is not our's and label it as ours. Look at countries attacking and acquiring other countries.

These are what the history of humans is built upon. Selfishness drives us to great lengths, and compels us to take some really gruesome steps.

All our tech is really hard to have faith in when we have people like these....

Next

Thanks for reading, and do tell me if my posts are Wise or Wicked...

Are we using Alien Tech today? #3

-:VB:-

Previous

There are so many devices that have been churned out from thin air in the past few centuries.
Take the steam engine, or satellites, or automobiles for example. Where were these technologies for the past thousands of years since mankind is on this planet.
Why now?

All of a sudden, it is not possible for us to create something as remarkable as the internet, or wireless telecommunication. If ours is an ever-evolving brain, shouldn't these and millions of ideas have come up in those earlier years? How did we come to possess this unbelievable technology?

If you were to revive an 80s era person from hibernation, and show him this world... how do you think he would react?
Right! He would drive a stake through your heart thinking of you as a vampire, or burn you for witchcraft. :)

Seriously, the person would be devastated.

Think about the flash drive. We haven't found a replacement for something as precious as saving trees, but we have pocket sized Hard drives that can store Zentabytes of data.

Touch screen phones - Might be a tad bit funny, but think over it. How is it possible to develop something so complex and make it yet sooo affordable. How you can touch a screen, and connect to the world?

Automobiles - This is the most obvious one. Inventing a wheel takes thousands of years, but creating a vehicle takes only a few decades? Who believes this crap?

As I go on posting, I am curiouser and curiouser...


Next

Thanks for reading, and do tell me if my posts are Wise or Wicked...

Are we using Alien Tech today? #2

-:VB:-

Previous

If you think about it, it's been centuries since the wheel was invented.
Till date I don't believe that there is something as innovative and as creative that has been made by mankind. Of course, we may have reached the moon, but there is no next best thing after the wheel.

There is hardly any evidence of how these ancient technologies came into existence. Take some long lost civilizations for example, like the advancements found at Machu Pichu or devices like the Antikythera mechanism and others.

The scientists are able to explain how these developed after years of research, but developing something even remotely close to this, with so much technology, resources, and ideas, no one has even come close to something that can beat the Wheel!

My belief is that... what if ... these aliens visited our planet before their planet was destroyed, and gave us the idea of the wheel?
OR
If the aliens found out that we were the dumbest in the universe, and they tried to make us smart?
OR

Possibilities are endless. But, the real topic at hand is - do we possess their technology?
I might have to agree on this one for once. I do doubt it!
 
Next


Thanks for reading, and do tell me if my posts are Wise or Wicked...

Are we using Alien Tech today? #1

-:VB:-

Everyone has that tiniest speck of belief within the deepest depths of our minds that aliens do exist in the universe! thanks to the movies and stories, we are now thinking what no mind ever thought before.

Hell, sometimes I don't even know if people are really sane...

Thank you Mr. Spielberg for putting E.T. within our minds and giving us a perspective of how to handle alien life! :P

Thank you Ridley Scott for making us believe that the "Alien" is a very scary creature that will burst our chests to be born into this world.

I would also like to thank the Conspiracy theorists, and those novelists who introduced the terms probing in a... well... in an inappropriate manner. If not for them, I wonder where all this would have ended up...

But, all this does make make you want to think twice about things. We can never be really sure as to how a topic like Aliens came into existence. You never know, it may be true after all....

My doubts arise with the technology that we possess today. Have you ever looked at all those gadgets around you and wondered how they were invented? I mean - you have been on this planet since your birth, but you for sure have not invented any single gadget, let alone a wheel, how do these inventions get invented?

The wheel itself took decades of insanity.... I mean Humanity to evolve.
How do these creations get created? How come we never think of any of this?
Come on... I mean, believing in the billion minds, billion ideas theory is utter nonsense.


For once, even a singing and dancing frog will make sense...

My answer to all of this would be: ALIENS!

Next


Thanks for reading, and do tell me if my posts are Wise or Wicked...

Tech Help #4 The "DOWNLOAD Special"... Hurrah...

-:VB:-

This time I'll cover some various topics related to downloading different things off the Internet.

01] To download YouTube videos, you can use a few addons in firefox.These are easy to use, and lots of these are available on the firefox website.

02] To download videos from websites such as Facebook, or any other website, you can use YouTube Downloader.
[Obviously, you have to pay for the full version]

03] Many people use p2p clients such as µTorrent, Bitcomet, Bitlord, Limewire. However, I think that the best one is µTorrent. Torrents are easily available online. Much information can be found everywhere on the Internet.

04] Download links can also be found on many websites, which contain files split into multiple files and uploaded on some sites such as Rapidshare, Megaupload, etc. Many websites require you to become a member in order to get those files. Some charge you, while some are free.

05] Many websites provide free and live streaming television online, music, and movies. Some are free, many are not.

06] There are many download managers available today, that allow quick and easy downloads. The thing is that all of them are demo or trial versions. Full versions are available, but at a cost.

07] Everyone knows how to download Images, so no point in discussing that.

08] Music is also available online for free. Many sites provide them. Some sites provide with a free clip of the song, so if you like it, you can download it. And of course - some sites are pay sites. The 'iTunes Store' is well known for its wide range of ebooks, music, movies and trailers available at ve4ry low rates.

09] Many Search Engines like Google, Bing, etc. are very useful if you have to find some of these things. Torrents, links, whatever you desire can be found.

10] Many Pay sites allow you to become a member via Invitations. So, if any of your friend is a member of such sites, check if he/she can send you an Invite. But be careful, coz many sites require you to maintain a particular Download-to-Upload ratio, and that is hard to maintain.

I can't provide with the websites or softwares, you can simply google it.
Google with proper words, and I guarantee that thou shalt not be disappointed.

Thanks for reading. Do tell me if my posts are wise or wicked.
VB signing off..

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Tech Help #3 File Formats

-:VB:-

Many complain about 'How to open a certain File?' There are various types of files that have come up today. I'll be mentioning some of the necessary ones.

So here it is:

01] ".pdf" - is a document file [Portable Document Format (PDF)] and usually used for eBooks - For this, use Adobe Reader.

02] ".iso, .mdf, mdf, etc..", use DAEMON Tools Lite

03] ".html. mhtml" - are webpages and can be opened directly in a web-browser that is installed in your PC.


04] ".txt" - are text files and can simply be opened in a Notepad. [for windows users]

05] ".jpeg, jpg, gif, tiff, raw, png, bmp, giff, etc." - are image files - use Picasa or Irfanview.



06] ".mp3, wma, ogg, wav, flac, vox, m4a, ra, rm, etc." - are audio files - use VLC player to play them.

07] "wmv, divX, Xvid, avi, mp4, mpeg, mpeg4, m4v, mkv, ogm, ogg, H264, etc." - are video files - use VLC player to play them.

08] ".rar, .cbr, .cbz, .zip, .7zip, etc.."  - These are Compressed file formats, and to get the file, they must be extracted. For this, use Winrar.

09] ".cbz, .cbr,..." - These are comic book archives [probably useful to comic-book fanatics like me]. You can use Comical, CDisplay, or ComicRack to view the comics directly without extracting from the archive.

10] ".001, .002, etc" - These are also Compressed file formats, but they need to be joined. For this, use HJSplit or FFSJ.

11] ".doc, docx" - are MS Office Word 97-2003, 2010 documents formats respectively.


12] ".ppt" - is a powerpoint presentation file, and can be viewed if you have MS Office 97, 03, 2007, or 2010.


13] ".azw, .opf, .tr2, .tr3, .aeh, .fb2 ..." - are other ebook formats - most of them do not require special softwares, they open directly in windows.

14] Many people complain about using a proper Office solution for their PCs - like MS Office, etc. but the problem is that, either the softwares are costly, or hard to find. In such cases you can use OpenOffice. It can be downloaded and used completely free of charge for any purpose. It is just like MS Office, with a difference.


I think I have covered most of the common terms. Do comment on my post.
VB signing out..

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Tech Help #2 The Usual

-:VB:-

Here's the next addition to your 'Tech Help'. In case of any problems, get back to the website of the product for proper instructions about Installation and usage.

01] Use C-cleaner to clean your PC. It removes all the unwanted files, temporary files, etc. and fixes registry errors as well, thus making your PC work smoothly. It is easy to use.

02] Ever had such an annoying message given by Windows?

Then Unlocker is the solution! Just right-click the file/folder, click unlocker, and it will display the program using the particular file/folder, which can be unlocked by clicking 'End process'.

03] To view Images and Photos, I would recommend Picasa, or, Irfanview.

04] If you have problems viewing video/audio files, mp3s, music, movies, clips, or some weird formats, you can download VLC media Player. It plays all types of video/audio files. You don't need any other fancy media player which boasts of options. Don't go by its looks. Believe me, it is the best there is.. Go Figure..
Another media player which you can use is the KM Player.

05] If still there are any Problems with viewing video/audio files, download XP Codec Pack.
Install it, and then try playing your files again.

06] To convert multimedia files into various formats, you can use AVC.

07] To recover deleted files, you can use -  PC INSPECTOR™ File Recovery or Recuva. , in some cases, files can never be recovered. Use it only if it is really necessary and for very important deleted files, coz Recovery takes a time depending on the size of the file. So if it is just some movies or songs, don't even bother...

08] Copying files becomes tedious sometimes, and some files get damaged due to certain problems such as power failure, lack of memory from RAM, etc. Teracopy is a software which assures proper copying regardless of any such problems.

09] For music lovers, I would recommend Winamp, but if you do not want to use lots of softwares, use VLC Player instead - as I said earlier, it plays everything. Some also like to use iTunes - a software much useful if you have Apple-products like ipod, itouch, or ipad. I don't like to use it as a music player on my PC, coz it renames the songs, and sorts every song into different individual folders.

10] This one is for those wanting to know, what is IN your PC. Many have no clue as to what their PC comprises of. I would recommend SiSoftware Sandra Lite (the System ANalyser, Diagnostic and Reporting Assistant) is an information & diagnostic utility. It provides information you need to know about your hardware, software and other devices.

Part 3 up next...
VB Signing out...

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Tech Help #1 Basics

-:VB:-

I have seen many of friends having a bad hair day. Especially their PCs. So I've decided to get y'all a few Tips and a bunch of handy softwares that will do the trick, without you having to go all crazy about your computers..

So here goes:

01] Check the plugs and connections of all the accessories, the monitor, the CPU, etc.

02] See that the switch is switched on. [Believe me, that is the root cause to many problems]

03] Never lay hands on the insides of your PC, if you are unaware of its working.

04] You should have atleast 512 mb of RAM.

05] High Definition Videos, and Games won't work unless you have a good Graphics Card.

06] Never let your hard-drive get filled up completely, always keep at least 700 mb free on each respective drive/partition.

07] Backup your important files in an external/portable hard-drive, or in pen-drives, or by burning the data onto CDs/DVDs from time to time.

08] In case there are sound problems, try updating your audio drivers from the internet, or re-install them from the CD provided to you alongwith the product. If still the problem persists, check your speakers, and connections.

09] Have a good and updated antivirus, to protect your PC. I would Recommend: [Click the name of the product, to go to the official website]

• AVAST
• ESET
• AVG Antivirus

These are freely available for download, and are really effective. Some need registration [Do it, its easy, and not problematic]. Even if you don't register, it's fine, after a few weeks, you have to download a newer version. The antivirus gets updated automatically.

10] Use a good browser for surfing. I would strongly Recommend - Mozilla Firefox.
The reason being its flexibility and ease of surfing, plus you can also add multiple add-ons.

Next addition coming soon...
VB signing out...

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Tech Help - 'Things to keep in mind'

-:VB:-

Hey People,
My next series of posts will be based on troubleshooting your PCs. However there are some rules and limits that I must maintain.

These are as follows:

01] Software will be mentioned whether freeware, shareware, or paid.

02] I use Microsoft Windows as my OS, and sometimes Linux. However I have not used any other OS like Mac, etc. So all my posts are roughly based on software pertaining to Windows. Many of the software are also available for other platforms like Mac, Linux, etc.

03] I have used all of these software, and they have worked properly for me, and that is the reason why I am suggesting the same for you guys.

04] I'll not provide you with the software, but I'll only be providing links to the official websites of these, so that you can get the real stuff, instead of the pirated, corrupt, faulty, and virus-containing software.

05] Some of the software are Payware. But MOST of the software are either Freeware, or Shareware. You DO NOT have to pay for any of these. These are available for download, free of cost. Do not download from those sites which require you to pay for free softwares. Always go to the official website of the product.

06] You can use some software, without paying or registering. Although you can use most features that way, and believe me, you can definitely do well without those features.

07] I cannot mention websites which provide full version software for free, or serial keys, or codes, or cracks, or keygens (because of legal and copyright issues)

08] If you are new to using these software, follow the instructions carefully, to avoid any mishap.

09] During installation, many software require you to install their toolbar in your browser - if you want to install it, then it's okay, but if not, be sure to tick out the proper options, to avoid installing the toolbar into your browser.

10] It is entirely upon you to download and use these softwares, and it'll only make your PC-experience easy.

Use these software properly, and for any doubts or queries you can refer to their official websites.
I hope you enjoy them.... Happy troubleshooting ;)

Do tell if my posts are Wise or Wicked...

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