3D Printing Immersion

This post will be about 3D Printing, which is featured in IMMERSION 2015, a summit for everything new and immersive technology. You can read more about the topic and summit at http://immersiveeducation.org/news/paris-announced-site-immersion-2015.






     3D Printing is a technological marvel in this day and age. From creating simple statues, to full blown cars and guns, 3D printing is incredibly advanced. Students are now even more able to create something from their imagination. All they need is a knowhow of 3D printing and they are on their way to creating whatever their heart desires.

     The classroom can be fully and completely changed with the thanks of 3D Printing. Engineering students can make prototypes and models. Graphic design students can create 3D models of their creations. Chemistry students can create models of compounds for further inspection. What is possible with a 3D printer is all up to the user.





   Students are not the only ones to gain from 3D printing. Teachers can also use 3D printing to its fullest potential. By printing up teaching materials, they can more effectively give models and teach students better. Classes become immediately more interactive with the use of 3D printed models.





     3D printing is a process in which an object is printed to a fully 3D model scale. Under computer control, many different objects can be created to a precise and form factor. A computer model must be created first before a 3D model can be even conceived. The materials needed are specific to a 3D printer, you cannot find materials like that in your local convenience store.

     The process in which a 3D printer prints is extremely mathematical and requires some engineering skill. Instead of doing a face of an object at a time, it is by layer, from bottom to top. Each and every horizontal layer is layered on top of one another. This creates an object only a 3D printer is capable of creating.



This is an assignment from the Immersive Education course that I am taking at Boston College. The course is called Collaborative Computing. For details, visit the immersive BC portal at http://ImmersiveEducation.org/@/bc

Wearable Computing Immersion

     In this post I will talk about Wearable Computing, a new immersive technology featured in the upcoming IMMERSION 2015 summit. You can read more about the topic and summit here at http://immersiveeducation.org/news/paris-announced-site-immersion-2015.





     Wearable computing is a new technology that has only sprouted up in the post couple of years. Just as the evolution of phones went from flip phones with only call and text capabilities, to mini computers and tablets in our pockets, our watches are now capable of doing things like going on the internet, tweeting and even taking a call. There are many new wearable devices that are capable of such activity.

     The originator of the "smartwatch" is the Pebble. Even though it is rather mild compared to the capabilities of new smartwatches these days, the Pebble set the standard as to what smartwatches should come with. For example, you can see your texts on the watchface as they come to your phone. Developers even create applications that can use Yelp, make the device become a GPS, and even use as a calculator.

     Google Glass is one of the newest wearables in the market, but also the only one that delves into glasses as its product of choice. You can see texts appear before your very eyes, take pictures with them, and even call people, all on your glasses. People are even thinking about using them in museums, to pop up information about exhibits as you pass by and look at them. The future is just around the corner for this brand new product.

The Samsung Gear is the next step above the Pebble. It has far more capabilities than the Pebble, such as being able to call and communicate directly from the watch, take pictures and videos with the camera, and use its huge array of applications from its app store. Even though the watch is jam packed with all these features, it has sadly suffered. The quality of the calls and pictures are not that great, and a lot of applications are iffy, but all in all it is a great product.



The Apple Watch is the newest competitor in the smartwatch market. And it is by far the most capable and powerful of its kind. Promised to have a skin sensor for heartbeat, it will have all the standard Apple device applications and more. The extent of how great and powerful this watch will be is left up to time to tell.


                                                                   

The Myo Armband is, for now, one of a kind. This wearable will have more interactivity with the real world than any other product listed. The Myo Armband has gesture control capability, meaning that a shake of the wrist could mean turning on and off devices, or a swipe with the hand could mean the next slide in a presentation. What you can do with the Myo armband is very open and has yet to be fully explored, making this a very intriguing product.






This is an assignment from the Immersive Education course that I am taking at Boston College. The course is called Collaborative Computing. For details, visit the immersive BC portal at http://ImmersiveEducation.org/@/bc 

Virtual Reality Immersion

     In this post I will be writing about virtual reality featuring in the IMMERSION 2015 summit. You can get more information about virtual reality and this summit at http://immersiveeducation.org/news/paris-announced-site-immersion-2015.






     Virtual reality is an up and coming technology that is sweeping the world as we speak. New gear and technology pop up almost every day. And the more technology there is, the more immersive it gets. Virtual reality is just one step into the future of both gaming and learning.

     The Oculus Rift is the first of its kind, the original if you will. It is a mask that covers the eyes with two screens on both sides, for both eyes. This allows wearers to experience 3D immersive gameplay and interaction between them and the game. Head movements count to moving the camera in game, thus allowing for a higher degree of interaction.



                                                                             
     The Samsung Gear VR is Samsung's response to the ever-popular Oculus Rift. The Samsung Gear, on the other hand, promises more features. These features include a sharper image, movies exclusive to the system, and a connection to the Samsung Store. While promising more, people are less likely to flock to this system due to how new it is compared to the Oculus Rift.







     The Google Cardboard is Google's absolutely adorable version of the Oculus Rift. Thankfully, this version is a whole lot cheaper. You can either make this from cardboard you already have, thanks to the instructions they put up on their site, or you can buy cheap, premade cases for it. Apps are specifically made for the "system", hosting interactive games and even concerts.



     One reason why virtual reality can be such a good alternative to learning is because what is impossible in every day life is entirely and completely possible in a virtual reality. Now we can solve math equations with car speeds and other situational problems by acting performing them in a real world. You can entirely tell a student to look through a building for history when there is a recreation of it online as a virtual reality. They can even experience the life of a particular job they are interesting in before they even walk down that path of life.

     Another reason why virtual can be successful is because of the sheer fact that a virtual reality is a game. And kids absolutely love games, no matter how poorly made they are. As long as fun can be had, it does not matter whether a game is absolutely terrible or not. What truly matters is that its fun, and the more fun the kid has, the more attention they will pay to it.


This is an assignment from the Immersive Education course that I am taking at Boston College. The course is called Collaborative Computing. For details, visit the immersive BC portal at http://ImmersiveEducation.org/@/bc 

Virtual Worlds Immersion

 

 In this post I will talk about Virtual Worlds that are featured in The Immersion 2015 in Paris. You can learn more about Immersion 2015 and Immersive Education at http://summit.immersiveeducation.org/.

     Virtual worlds are exactly what they are called. In these worlds you can do almost anything. From recreating buildings to learning about ecosystems, you can do almost anything in a virtual world. In a virtual world, anything is possible.
     One example of virtual worlds is Minecraft. In Minecraft, you can explore a massive randomly generated map and do whatever you like. People explore caves and defeat many creatures, but schools have found ways to use this game as a learning tool. Schools are able to use this to get students in architecture, to recreate famous buildings across the world.

     Second Life is another example of using a virtual world for learning. Second Life is a world where you can create and do practically anything with anyone in the world, much like Minecraft. Many realistic depictions of locations can be created in this game, for example, this recreation of 1920's Berlin. Students at the London College of Fashion held a show on Second Life and had their pieces displayed in the game.

     Virtual worlds can also be used to recreate experiences. For example, on the Meshmoon application, I visited a locomotive museum in Germany, allowing me to view all the exhibits without actually going there. There are also simulations of natural disasters, like earthquakes, tornadoes and tsunamis. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association created these worlds so that viewers can simulate what it is like under that situation.

     One can even go on field trips in a virtual world. There are many sites on the Internet dedicated to giving less fortunate students a chance to visit a museum or an aquarium. They can even visit simulations of Native American tribe lands if they do so wish. The possibilities are simply endless.






This is an assignment from the Immersive Education course that I am taking at Boston College. The course is called Collaborative Computing. For details, visit the immersive BC portal at http://ImmersiveEducation.org/@/bc 

Editing Facebook

Before: 

After:

I edited my profile picture to an adorable baby turtle and I changed my cover photo to a more humorous version of my current cover photo. I also got rid of my AIM and edited some rather childish info I put down when I was younger.

Testing Youtube

This shows that I am subscribed to the Immersive Education channel. What that does is that lets me be notified on the latest uploads from the channel as soon as they are uploaded.

Liking Posts on Facebook

The screenshots show that I have liked both posts. It says Unlike, clearly meaning that I liked the post before. If I didn't previously like the posts, it would say Like instead of Unlike.

Testing Twitter #2

For this episode of Testing Twitter, we are retweeting another tweet from the Immersive Education account. This time, the tweet has numerous colorful and flashy pictures, which is sure to capture the attentions of people moreso than its text-only counterpart.

Testing Twitter

Professor Walsh just put out a tweet, which is a message about Immersive Education and Boston College. By retweeting, we are expanding the message's reach to a greater audience. Retweeting is tweeting the original on your own account, thus saying the message to your own followers.

On the Road to Mastering Youtube

1. What to Watch

The "What to Watch" page is a page with only the most popular videos on Youtube at that very moment. This is a very collaborative effort on many different fronts. For example, a news site could go over all of the clips on the top row in numerous news segments. However, on Youtube, you can know what is going on in pop culture by just watching the videos. Instead of going on the radio and going through numerous stations to listen to pop music, you can look at all of the middle row to listen to the latest hits. As a viewer, Youtube makes a lot of things easier.

2. The Subscribe Button

The Subscribe button is much like the Follow button from Twitter and the Like button from Facebook. The Subscribe button is used so viewers can see the newest videos from their favorite content creators as soon as they are uploaded. This brings in an audience of fans who want to keep as up to date as possible with their favorites.

3. Channels

A Channel is like a Page on Facebook. Constant updates and the closest thing for viewers to see the newest content. A channel is where people can upload videos and send out messages to their subscribers. This is a collaborative effort between subscribers and the channel owner. They both work together so they can both have a great experience both making content for the viewers and as viewers of the content.

4. Search Bar

The search bar allows for searching of any kind of video at any time. While it may seem like a very standard feature, there really is a collaboration behind it. Let us say that you missed a part of a television show the other night, or you just remembered a funny scene from a show back in your childhood. Youtube's users have more than likely found and uploaded it to youtube years ago. So with this, wishes of people wanting to catch something and people fulfilling that wish work together, in a sense, collaborate together to make each other happy.

5. Upload

Uploading is the main source of getting your videos on Youtube. Videos can gather views and popularity swiftly and even be featured on news segments and talk shows. Some videos shoot nobodies into the most famous people ever, for example, like Justin Bieber. This is the effort between Youtube and the uploader, to gain views and possibly popularity.

On the Road to Mastering Facebook

1. Like

The list of likes that a Facebook user has is literally what it sounds like. "Likes" are what the person likes and enjoys. Usually, the company or person running the page sends out messages talking to their respective communities, and also lets fans talk with one another about that specific page. For example, I enjoy watching the television show American Horror Story. I want updates about the show and want to be able to talk to like-minded individuals about the show, thus liking the page about the show will fulfill both wants.

2. Statuses

Statuses are a public display of how a person is feeling at the moment, current thoughts, what they are doing at the moment, and ways for Facebook users to talk to their friends. Statuses are great for talking about opinions with friends and just communicating in general. This brings out a collaborative effort of communication between friends discussing views, beliefs and interests.

3. Tagging

Tagging people is a means of notifying the person tagged that they have been called, acting like a pseudo-Bat signal. You can tag a person in statuses, posts, and comments, bringing attention to the one tagged about something important or amusing. Tagging is a means of bringing people closer by calling upon friends to common interests.

4. The Friends Function

The Friends function is a huge factor to Facebook's success. The Friends function shows your literal friends, who you have added on your Facebook account and who is not added. You can request with anyone to become a Facebook friend. You can even suggest friends to your other friends to increase their friends count. This function allows numerous people to come together and stay friends, even though only once or so. It is a great feature to keep it touch with friends from ages ago, and to stay in contact with new friends.

5. Groups

Groups are exactly what they sound like: a large gathering of people. Although for Facebook, a group is a way of gathering a large amount of people for events and interests. This is the definition of collaboration as it brings together many different people who like the same thing and can talk about it in any way they want.

On the Road to Mastering Twitter

1. Favorite

A "favorite" in Twitter terms and most of other social media platforms means to like a certain post so much that it is a "favorite". Whether the post be some insightful knowledge on a subject or just a funny joke, people can "favorite" it and keep it in their list of "favorites" for them to look back upon. Here, Eugene Park AKA Pobelter won in a competitive game of League of Legends, thus the humorous tweet. Thus, because I found it so humorous, I favorited it. This allows for communities and fans to interact with people to express what they like or dislike, via favorites.

2. Retweeting

"Retweeting" is a process in which a person can take an original tweet from someone else and relay the same tweet to their own followers and fans, with all the credit where credit is due. This allows for like-minded people to say the same message over and over again across many communities, or spreading the word of an important message about a person or group. Personally, in this tweet, I find it so funny that I had to show my followers, thus the retweet.

3. Replying

Replying should not be a new concept to anyone who is familiar with using a computer and the internet. For those unfortunate enough who are not familiar, replying is the process of responding to a message with your own message. In this picture, I enjoyed what Pobelter said, so I commented with a comment saying "What a lovely poem lol", lol meaning "Laugh Out Loud", also indicating I laughed. Replying on Twitter is one of the most direct ways to interact with people. This allows the transfer of ideas from one another and to have a conversation with anyone, as long as the messages can be kept under 140 characters.

4. Following

Following is not as creepy as it sounds when it comes to Twitter. On Twitter, following means that all future tweets, retweets and messages will be received by the person who followed. This allows for the person who was followed tweet out announcements to their followers and messages. The number of followers is a quick way to gauge a person's popularity. If the person has little to no followers, than it's just a personal account. However, if a person has a considerable amount of followers, that means they must be famous from some form of avenue.

5.Trends and Hashtags

Trends on Twitter are what is currently popular on Twitter at the moment of checking. Trends change by the minute, by the hour, considering what is talked about on Twitter, to what just happened on a television show. Hashtags also follow that. Hashtags are little sayings that can be connected to an action or a show. For example, a hashtag could be used for an exclamation: "I just had the worst day #OhMyGod" or it could be used for something like a joke "The Jogging Dead #HowToRuinATVShow". Companies can use hashtags to rally their audience for anything they could be marketing.

Class 3, Assignment 1: Making Friends on Twitter, Youtube and Facebook

Class 3, Assignment 1: Twitter, Youtube and Facebook

I have followed, liked and subscribed to all Immersive Education platforms.

Nintendo 3DS Hardware Review

     Hello, my name is Alex Lau. For those who don't know me, which is all of you, I am a nerd. I play a lot of video games and watch many television shows like Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead. Today I'll be reviewing an amazing piece of hardware that seems like a rarity among other young adults such as myself these days: the Nintendo 3DS. The Nintendo 3DS was made by, of course, Nintendo and released to North America on March 27. 2011. The hardware was released to the public at a hefty price tag of $249.99. Since then, the Nintendo 3DS has taken a price cut, reducing the price to a more manageable $169.99. As per the pattern for Nintendo products, many other iterations of the Nintendo 3DS have been made. These new additions to the 3DS line are the Nintendo 3DS XL, a bigger version with more power and battery, the Nintendo 2DS, which allows games to be played without the 3D effect to accommodate to people who have trouble seeing the effect, and the New Nintendo 3DS and 3DS XL, a new, greater version of the 3DS with more features than ever. 

a Nintendo 2DS, 3DS and 3DS XL. Notice the differences in button placement, physical size, and screen size.

the New Nintendo 3DS

     What the Nintendo 3DS does is play games with a 3D effect. While this effect may cause headaches for some people, or some people are just entirely unable to see the effect, it has proven its worth in the gaming market over the years since its release. Many different games and series have published new entries exclusively for the 3DS, such as the Street Fighter series, the Metal Gear Solid series, the Resident Evil series, and the Tekken series. Other highly-acclaimed games have also been Nintendo 3DS exclusive, like Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo 3DS, and Mario Kart 7. Other than playing games, the 3DS has many more incredible tools and applications in its software. For example, you can record up to ten seconds of sound and manipulate its pitch and speed, along with overlaying many different vocal effects to it. There is also a built-in internet browser that comes in handy. The camera can take 3D pictures and also scan QR codes. However, one of the most fascinating features is a feature called Streetpass. Streetpass is when a 3DS owner walks by another 3DS owner and they are both carrying the device, the two 3DS's will transfer game data between each other, allowing for a whole new level of socializing exclusively between owners of 3DS systems.

A basic example of how Streetpass works

     Two competitive products against the Nintendo 3DS are Sony's Playstation Vita and Apple's iPhone. Sony's Playstation Vita is an advanced handheld gaming device that plays Sony exclusive games. While more expensive at a price tag of $199.99, formerly $299.99, the Vita is vastly more advanced graphically and power-wise. Despite the obvious power over the 3DS, the Vita falls short on great games compared to the Nintendo 3DS. Great games on the Playstation 3, like Uncharted and Assassin's Creed, had very sub-par, mediocre entries to their series on the Playstation Vita system. While the fight between handheld dominance looks like it is set between the Nintendo 3DS and the

Sony Playstation Vita, the real fight is between handheld gaming and iPhones. iPhones provide a wide audience with many games of varying quality for basically a dollar. 3DS games are $40 or more. It is getting increasingly difficult for Nintendo to make games at a $40 price point when there's $1 games on the iPhone like Doodle Jump or Cut the Rope or Clash of Clans making millions of dollars from addicted fans and uneconomical tweens without an idea of the value of money. Who knows what moves Nintendo and Sony will make with their handhelds in the near future.

The Playstation Vita and its main menu

     As a gamer, I have enjoyed many hours of playing numerous games on my own 3DS. I have enjoyed traveling through the lands in Pokemon, beating the ever-living snot out of my friends in Super Smash Bros., racing against people around the world in Mario Kart 7 and caring for my little village-town in Animal Crossing: New Leaf. This device has Streetpassed with people visiting Boston from Japan, Malaysia, Spain and even Madagascar. I have made so many friends just because I had a 3DS. This device is my favorite handheld I have ever had. And it will stay that way for years to come.

This is an assignment from the Immersive Education course that I am taking at Boston College. The course is called Collaborative Computing. For details, visit the immersive BC portal at http://immersiveeducation.org/@/bc/