Tony is a Geek

After working my way through a course on C++ and The Unreal Engine , I noticed some really interesting overlaps between the work I've been recently doing on robots and the work I'm going to be working on next year ( Cognitive computing ). Anyway, just thought I'd link to this great book, that is also available for free to read online (downloadable pdf available, as well as a real physical book). You can use Watson to help out too......

I don't know what you were doing a couple of months ago?.... but I know what I was doing with one of those BMW i8s :-) This was my "office desk" There are times I love my job..... "The Internet of Things is transforming our relationship with the physical world. In Munich Germany, IBM is creating a new global center for collaborative innovation side-by-side with clients and partners. IBM will invest $200 million US to make Watson IoT HQ one of the most advanced facilities in the world. BMW is one of the first collocated partners and together, we will start a new pilot program to explore the role of IBM Watson in the BMW i8 hybrid car. BMW engineers & IBM experts will work together in "collaboratories" to explore Watson technologies for personalization of the driving experience. With conversational interfaces & machine learning, cars will get to know their drivers better."

Interesting, Google have announced their new Android of Things : CLICK HERE to access the PREVIEW certainly something to keep an eye on. https://developer.android.com/things/index.html If you have a Raspberry Pi 3, you can download an image and get going pretty quick.  I'll give it a look over the next few weeks.

This one? or this one? https://vapor.codes/ https://vapor.codes/ "Create modern web apps, sites, and APIs using HTTP or real-time apps using WebSockets. Nearly 100x faster than popular web frameworks using Ruby and PHP. Swift is fast by every meaning of the word. The latest cryptographic ciphers, digests, and LibreSSL's new TLS (SSL) make security easy. With middleware and Swift extensions, you can add custom functionality to Vapor that feels native. The static type system allows you to write less and do more. Vapor apps are very concise and even more powerful. With autocomplete, debugging, and breakpoints you'll spend more time creating and less time fixing. " I like the definition of "fun"......not quite how I would describe it, but, hey-ho, I'll let you decide :-)

some "light" reading for the next month or so....... should keep me busy and out of trouble....or it could get me "into" trouble  :-D

Another week, another "this will solve world peace" Linux Distro.... except, I like the look of this one: http://zorinos.com/ There is an ULTIMATE version that currently costs $15 and adds a load of things. For trial purposes, there is a CORE version , that has all the essentials, minus a few of the custom elements. If I get time this week, I'll do a USB install onto a 64Gb USB stick and see how easy it is to transition over to, or whether it is just like using a Debian / UBuntu distro with a new set of wallpapers....

PolySync Arduino-fest..... but you have to have a Kia Soul...for now: If you’re tired of waiting around to get an autonomous vehicle, PolySync’s  Open Source Car Control Project  (OSCC) development kit can be had for under $1000. Autonomous cars are still in their infancy, and can cost upwards of $100,000. If you’re willing to do some of the work yourself—and trust a machine you modified to drive you around—PolySync has an Arduino-based kit (nearly) available to help you build your own. You can pre-order a kit right now for $649, and you’ll have program each Arduino module yourself when you receive it. You’ll also need a 2014-or-later Kia Soul on which to install it, chosen for its combination of drive-by-wire controls as well as relatively low price. Keep in mind, however, the project is intended for R&D and off-road use only. The OSCC Project is built around a number of individual modules that interoperate to create a fully controllable vehicle. ...

Zigbee...Zigbee....Zigbee..... yep, I have quite a few of these in my "Arduino" stash drawer. Have you used the Zigbee in any of your IoT projects?  If so.....you might want to read on.... " Within the next few years, billions of IoT devices will densely populate our cities. In this paper we describe a new type of threat in which adjacent IoT devices will infect each other with a worm that will spread explosively over large areas in a kind of nuclear chain reaction, provided that the density of compatible IoT devices exceeds a certain critical mass. In particular, we developed and verified such an infection using the popular Philips Hue smart lamps as a platform. The worm spreads by jumping directly from one lamp to its neighbours, using only their built-in ZigBee wireless connectivity and their physical proximity. The attack can start by plugging in a single infected bulb anywhere in the city, and then catastrophically spread everywhere within minutes, enablin...

"Elementary, my dear Watson"..... A fast and Open replacement for Windows and MacOS.  Interesting. CLICK HERE to find out more.

Toys for me to work on over the next couple of months:  Raspberry Pi 3 C programming... Combine Arduino, webcam and a Sherman tank with WiFi capabilities.... and finally, insert some radio equipment and motor into this boat, so it too can be controlled over the internet, etc.... also put a load of sensors on everything to capture data and feed back to Node-Red IoT services. If you have any other/extra ideas of what I could do with these, please feel free to let me know :-)