Blog 1 - Hall

HVAC- In Evernote, I found an interesting article on thermostat innovations. The article was called  "The Brilliant Air Vents You Never Knew You Needed" and published by WIRED. The company Keen Home has created an HVAC system that makes your 3,500 square foot home as efficient as a 2,000 square foot home. Their innovation is a very simple concept which is, why heat rooms with no one in them at the same rate as rooms in constant use. As someone living in an old apartment where most of the heat I pay for is immediately lost to the thin windows I am very interested in more efficient HVAC systems. Whereas I liked their idea of closing the physical vents depending on the time and average usage of the room I am not sure I liked the approach. Keen's model is you set up each room's profile but they base it all on averages not the current activity of the room. If they are going to go the approach of being the most efficient I think they should take it a step further. They mention if you set a room as a home office it will heat/cool the room weekdays 9am to 6pm. I am sure if your normal hours are different you can change that, but it mentions if you log a couple late hours in the office you need to go to an app and adjust the temperature. The app looks great, but only really uses colors instead of temps  because "“The human body can’t tell a difference between half a degree, so if they want a room warmer or cooler, they’ll do it both through visual colors and through words ‘cooler’ or ‘warmer,’ ” on the app, Fant says." Personally, I know I like my room to be 68 at night not light orange so I am not all about that concept. That's not my real issue though, as technology improves and sensors are cheaper why would they not set the room up to recognize someone's presence. If this was done, not only would you cut out the app to manually adjust rooms but they could have a program that learns your routines better than you may program it too and then it could override those routine averages if the routine is different. So the 6-9 home office won't be heated/cooled if you do not show up to your office on a particular Friday. I remember hearing 5 to 10 years ago Bill gates had sensors put in his clothes so that the HVAC system in his house would recognize he entered a room and only heat the surrounding rooms and


Sensors
The first part of the Article "The Tech That Will Invade Our Lives in 2020", published by Tech Fix, was about smart homes and the sensors required to make it happen. It mentions how with more sensors in every door, light, watch, refrigerator, and every other possible appliance the smoother they will all work. Since sensors send lots of data this will all become more possible as 5G and wireless networks are improved to handle larger amounts of data. With 5G sensors in cars, trains, stoplights, and roads will be able to communicate.


AI
The University of Warwick published an article called "Artificial Intelligence System Learns the Fundamental Laws of Quantum Mechanics". They discuss the benefits of using AI to solve complex math and physics problems. By teaching AI the simple laws of quantum physics it can solve complex problems in seconds on average computers rather than days by hand. The article eludes that we have answered just about all the questions we can in chemistry and physics and to answer the more complex questions AI will be required.


Database
"Your Data Were ‘Anonymized’? These Scientists Can Still Identify You" By Gina Kolata raised a question I have always had about "anonymized" data. Privacy is not what it used to be and data has tremendous power these days. I have always wondered if you took someone's web history, removed all addresses, social media logins, and subscriptions and just looked at their google searches if you could narrow down, who they are, where they are from and what they are into. If there are records of everything you search you can categorize people with searches. Already in online markets and social media if you were to search on amazon for a Rubik's cube the adds on your Instagram would start showing deals on Rubik's cubes even though you don't distinctly remember connecting your Instagram and Amazon account. Kolata looks more at releasing medical records that have been wiped of person records but she says you can still take enough of it to narrow down who the individual is like a game of guess who.


All of these articles have relevance to the future because even though the technology is rapidly improving it takes a while to be affordable and accessible enough for the general public. In "The Tech That Will Invade Our Lives in 2020" they had high but realistic expectations for the future of 2020. 5G will be in most major cities by the end of the year. That will be the next big revolution. This will enable more sensors, autonomous cars, and so much more.
My favorite thing I read was that  Apple, Google, and Amazon have made an agreement when it comes to smart home appliances that they will all be compatible with each other. That is huge. Right now their other phone and headphone products compete and are limiting each other. With the three workings not together but adjacently will only allow more growth in technology.











Sources:

Rhodes, Margaret. “The Brilliant Air Vents You Never Knew You Needed.” Wired, Conde Nast, 3 June 2017, https://www.wired.com/2015/01/brilliant-air-vents-never-knew-needed/.

Chen, Brian X. “The Tech That Will Invade Our Lives In 2020.” The New York Times, 1 Jan. 2020. Evernote. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/01/technology/personaltech/tech-trends-2020.html

University of Warwick, "Artificial Intelligence System Learns the Fundamental Laws of Quantum Mechanics" January 12, 2020
https://www.evernote.com/pub/view/aengineer/ae-510/e97c83ba-6bd0-4800-aab5-407cc45a09d0?locale=en#st=p&n=e97c83ba-6bd0-4800-aab5-407cc45a09d0

Kolata, Gina, "Your Data Were ‘Anonymized’? These Scientists Can Still Identify You" July 23, 2019, https://www.evernote.com/pub/view/aengineer/ae-510/9c59477a-2a4e-48f2-b932-0ef7071c6fac?locale=en#st=p&n=9c59477a-2a4e-48f2-b932-0ef7071c6fac


Comments:

Andrew, I think it is wild to think about printing bridges, boats, houses and more considering the time it takes to print an object that is the size of a fist. However, I am pretty certain we will see it happen in our lifetime. It is going to take a combination of robotics, AI, and sensors to get there but I am sure it will happen.

Walker-Elders B1
I agree that no one should be anti-technology because they fear a takeover but it is a very real thought. The people who are developing this type of technology need to be well aware of the powers of this and keep it into consideration and I believe all the frontrunners of this development are well aware and consider all that. I don't know if it is unreasonable to think in our lifetime we will see a conscious AI.

B1: BIM, 3D Printing, Structures, Future
Any Architect and or professional in construction management should love the idea of 3d Printing buildings. It has the potential to create new shapes, materials, and textures at a level or precision that was previously impossible. The limitations of manufacturing materials will be drastically decreased and that is very exciting.