Current Technologies as Reported in the Media and How They Assist a Business - Literature review Example

Current Technologies as Reported in the Media and How they Assist a Business Name Institutional Affiliation Date First entry Sources http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/28/disruptions-no-words-no-gestures-just-your-brain-as-a-control-pad/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0http://forumblog.org/2014/09/top-ten-emerging-technologies-2014/ Brain-computer interfaces have hit news following the already achieved success at some clinics where the technology has been tested. This emergent technology makes use of the power of the mind where computers can interpret and read the signals emanating from the brain. The technology has enabled direct implanting of the brain to enable restoration of vision for those people who have lost their sight. The technology is focusing on the likelihood of applying computer-brain interfaces for connection of different brains together. Some researchers from Duke University have shown reports for successful connection of brains for two mice via Internet, and the mice from two countries were able to communicate and perform some simple tasks. We also have some research projects pointing towards emergent direct implantation of memory from the computer to a brain. Mid last year, researchers reported implanting some false memory into the brain of a computer. The success of this technology will be useful to the health organizations. It will assist in the performance of the most sophisticated tasks, such as brain manipulation. However, dealing with the human brain is a subject that requires the application of knowledge that has been relied upon over the years in order to avoid both doubt and errors. Therefore, human will be more declined to the application of this knowledge on the basis that the technology has not worked for many years. Humans may not be willing to have it apply on their most sensitive part, the brain. Further, the technology will be costly following the patents and the cost that has been incurred in research. Therefore, this implies that the acceptance of the technology into the market, even after the final results are out, will require thorough campaign and governments’ intervention to cut down its costs. Second entry Sources http://prezi.com/isinh6g0fpzd/body-adapted-wearable-electronics/ http://prezi.com/ob-yrjcpn7gx/body-adapted-wearable-electronics/ http://www.businessinsider.com/top-10-emerging-technologies-2014-2?op=1 Body-adapted wearable electronics are actually invisible devices such as the ear buds for monitoring the sensors, heart rate, health vitals and the haptic shoe soles meant for communicating the GPS directions by issuing vibration alerts felt on the feet. These electronics have a wide application. For instance, the haptic shoe can be useful to the blind people in assisting them to navigate. Further, one such applied technology is the Google Glass that is worn by oncologists and assists them in performing surgery operations through visual information that is accessed by the voice commands or via other records. In most health institutions and even at home, electronic devices are used for diagnosis and taking of some measurements relevant to health treatment processes. They render the diagnosis operation of the health institutions more effective and faster than before. The fact that they are wearable makes it easy for even untrained individuals to use as opposed to use by only the health practitioners. It also means that problem identification can be done anywhere even at homes or on the travelling vessels. The limitation befalling this technology is acceptance into the market. People are not used to wearing strange items on their bodies, and for them to get familiarized, the product has to be advertise thoroughly. Further, this technology will face the challenge of teaching learners how to interpret its results. Medical readings on things such as temperature requires proper interpretations, otherwise poor reading can be misleading. On the other hand, the cost of new technology is too high due to initial research cost and limited market demand to buy the product. The device may add additional weight to the body, thus making people uncomfortable. It may also be challenging to clean them while changing body clothes. Reflection Though there are many resources on the internet from which I could get information for my blog, more recent works in the field of science and technology have not risen to give prominence to such topics as brain-computer interfaces’ advancement in technology. Therefore, I found google search more effective, in addition to the fact that information on this site could be more current and updated. However, Google search also had its drawbacks too. Deciding upon an appropriate keyword proved a challenge since finding a keyword which would avail effective information, bearing in mind that the keyword literally dictates the information you access. Google search has another major drawback, as much of its results are commercials or adverts that end up with little information. Other results do not carry information that can be attested as being credible. I therefore decided to utilize information from either websites that release news or websites that deal with technological issues. In order to complete my blog entries for a whole week, I had put up with all the difficulties that come with such a task. It was not an easy task to settle on the topic that I would wish to do each week. Some topics really were interesting but they were a bit too common and had apparently been done by a number of bloggers. I at times did use keywords that to me seemed most effective, but I was disappointed since the information that I would access did not fit my expectations, as it did not specifically answer my question. Other sites did carry content that sounded appropriate to my needs. Though, as I went through the content, I came across words that were a bit unintelligible to me due to their complexity. It forced me to avoid using such a site in obtaining information for my blog. However, after successfully writing the entries for my blog, I have come to have a deeper understanding of how technology and business intertwine. This as a result of the experience gained from the difficulties and the effort I made in trying to overcome them. Such knowledge as the need to adopt brain-computer interfaces into the health business organization is bound to create better and improved relations with customers and reduce costs incurred by the firms in training the workers. Therefore, it is apparent that technology can be used to improve the performance of businesses through effectively providing services and making profits. The exercise has been fruitful to me since I have gained firsthand experience in blogging and expanded my knowledge base. The main challenge while undertaking this research was that the resources about emergent technologies are very few due to the fact that the projects are still underway. The scant information available is hard to trace through the conventional sources such as the books. Further, some blogs had conflicting information about the same technology, thus compelling me to re-investigate deeper. Read More