The Geek Church

This is the first time I really bring up gender roles, and do you know why? I hate gender roles.

You might want to read Joshua 9-10, Proverbs 31, and the entry to see the source of my ire.

Here’s how to link your iPhone camera with an iPad.

Here is an Easy Piano for the Nintendo DS.

T-Mobile is offering a trade-in for the iPhone.

Is Nokia making their own tablet?

Toura is making programs for guided tours by the smartphone.

It is National Cell Phone Recycling Week, and Full Circle Wireless has Five Easy Steps for Cell Phone Recycling.

Skooba Design has some nice iPad bags.

Apparently, your iPad can stay in your bag while going through airport security.

Someone puts a Nikon IR Remote on a Lego Brick. I don’t know why either.

Here’s an interesting baby monitor with the Prism Color Video Monitor.

The Yamaha RX-V367 Surround Receiver is on sale at Audioholics.

Here’s the world’s smallest camcorder, the Muvi Atom.

Will the iPad change Home Theater? Could be.

Uh, Sony’s new Blu-ray XL may not work with old Blu-ray players. Uh-oh.

You can get a Samsung BD-P1590 for $79.99.

Check out this Rawlings Recordable Autograph Ball.

Lastly, these red robots are your guide at this bank.

With some of the recent developments we see with new technology, sometimes it seems as if the researchers who create them are influenced by science fiction. Some examples of this may include GPS systems in motor vehicles, digital cameras and car stereos operated by voice command. Such remarkable innovations certainly do exist and it’s arguable that they were inspired by science fiction from books, television and film. Well, here’s another example to ponder. How about a new breathing mask designed for firemen that looks like a space helmet?

Actually, this innovation is still a conceptual design but it could become standard equipment for firefighters in the near future. It is called the Sidewinder, a self-contained, breathing apparatus. It functions as a mask that enables firemen to breathe when they are in a smoke-filled room during a day on the job. The mask is connected to an air tank that is mounted on your shoulder with a retractable air tube. Other features of the mask include a voice amplifier, flashlight and heads-up display for giving data about the conditions of the user’s surroundings when active.

Currently, it cannot be confirmed that this conceptual design will actually go into development for mass production. Since it’s only a design on the table right now, the features offered by the firefighter mask may work in theory but actual application isn’t necessarily practical or realistic. It certainly looks like something out of science fiction, though. Time will tell whether or not this concept will truly work as a fact and not fiction.

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Movies do have an impact on our society, don’t they? Millions of dollars are spent by film studios and producers to make them and millions are spent by the common man, in terms of ticket and DVD sales to watch them. However, movies can inspire people to be inventors too. Just look at Chad Barraford, a man inspired by the Marvel film, Iron Man.

In Marvel comics, the character of Edwin Jarvis, the butler of Tony Stark (a.k.a Iron Man) was originally a human man but the filmmakers decided to portray him as a self-aware, independent house computer for the movie. Apparently, Barraford liked the concept of a digital assistant so much that he decided to create one for himself. So, the twenty-seven year old took a four year old Mac mini, converted it into a home automation network and connected it to every electronic device in his house, including his home light and security system, his RFID system and his George Foreman grill. Of course, he also named his creation JARVIS after Tony Stark’s butler.

With the use of Google Latitude, JARVIS is programmed to know where Barraford is at all times and is operated by remote control, a wireless mic with the Mac’s built-in speech recognition software and even text messages through Twitter. Chad’s friends and his dogs all have their own keychain RFID tags. However, unlike the JARVIS in the film, Iron Man, Chad’s version is less talkative and is programmed not to divulge sensitive information about his bank account, his relatives or his Facebook activity. In fact, one of JARVIS’ functions is to turn on the lights in the room of Chad’s dog when the pet comes home. This invention was developed in under a year and the financial cost to Barraford was less than seven hundred dollars. Furthermore, he is considering his creation for mass production, so maybe we can all have a JARVIS someday if we’re willing to pay for it.

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