"Smart Mall" in Dubai metro stations

Rta and etisalat have partnered up and have come up with an innovative way to go grocery shopping while going on the metro. Currently at 5 metro stations including the Mall of the Emirates metro station you can purchase groceries from a wide range of products (currently 300) and have it delivered to your house for free. This system will be further expanded in the future to more metro stations as well as Damac Properties, Dubai Internet City, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank and Baniyas metro stations.

Smart mall being used at the Mall of the Emirates metro station

How it works

It is a very simple system that uses touch technology on a wide screen with larger icons so its easy to use and two people can use it at the same time. There is no need to log in or create an account. All you have to do is key in your address and mobile number while shopping for the first time. Then activate the smart cart and select the items and quantity after which you must swipe your credit/debit card to complete the transaction. The goods will be delivered to your chosen address at the time given.

Stakeholders

• People using the metro
• People who have a metro station closer to them than a super market to purchase food from 
• Business that want to know if their product is popular compared to their competitors
• People who don't own cars to transport grocery's to their house

Social and ethical significance

This is beneficial because it helps people shop on the go and save their time and effort. Customers can set a time of delivery and have the items delivered at their doorstep. There is a good user friendly interface since the system has large icons to tap on as well as large text to read and the system is all controlled with a large touch screen. Although on the other hand this may cause some issues with anonymity and security since it is a large screen everyone around the person using the smart mall will see their information, such as where the person lives and possibly their credit card information.  A solution could be to allow customers to pay through their Nol card, or their mobile phone (Etisalat Balance) since they have an online database that has all customers addresses so they don't have to type it in on the big screen where everyone can see this will also allow a quicker purchasing process. Another suggestion to fix the address issue would be to have a small screen on the side with a keyboard so that they may type in their address without anyone seeing.

3D printing T-Shirts

In recent years there has been a massive advancement in 3D printing technology. Electroloom, a brand new start up company have created a 3D printer that allows the user to print fabric. It can create garments in any size. 

How it works: 

• A dye is added to a solution
• The solution is put into the machine to be released through nozzles
• The nozzles spray a minuscule amount of the solution an a time for the fibre extraction to work
• it sprays it onto the mould which then can be pealed off after 8-14 hours
• There is a high electric force which turns the solution into fibres
• The process it uses is called electro spinning which is also used for bio tech 

This invention could have a huge positive impact since development of this product could lead to faster production which could lead to the printer being sent to poorer countries to provide clothing. It can make clothes out of silk, acrylic, cotton, and polyester. The problem currently is that it is very expensive which would mean that less developed countries might not be able to afford it and it takes a very long time so it would be better to just sew one. This could link into digital divide since these less developed countries lack the modern technology that is 3D printing which would help less developed countries with a lot of factors in their daily life. This certain 3D printer links into people and machines due to the fact that the 3D printer is creating an object the people can use.

The stakeholder in this case are:

• Engineers
• Clothing Businesses
• Charity companies 

Article

TrackR the portable tracker that helps you from losing things

TrackR

TrackR is a tiny tracking device which you can put onto your valuables in case you lose them somewhere and see where you lost them through your phone through an app. It has a tiny GPS to help locate the item, it also has a speaker so if you are close to the object you can click on the app to ping a sound which will send a command through Bluetooth to the tracker to make a beeping sort of noise. Since the tracker uses Bluetooth, if you are too far from the device it wont detect where the device is located which can be a problem which could lead to the device being useless.

Summary of how it works :

1. First the user download the app on their phone to connect to the device.
2. Then through the app the user must pair his phone to the tracker.
3. Once the device is paired with Bluetooth the user can see where the tracker is located through the app.
4. After it is setup the user the user now may put the tracker wherever he/she wants.

Some social/ethical concerns are the fact that the gps tracking device could be an invasion of privacy since the company will be able to access your location through your phone and your device. The device also uses bluetooth which is a short range wireless connection, this means that anyone near the user could connect to their device and find out where their device since there is more than likely very little security in such a small device. Since the app allows you to locate other peoples devices this could possibly help robbers steal valueless from people using the tracker. Some solutions for these problems could be making the device slightly larger and possibly connect through wifi instead of bluetooth since wifi in world wide unlike bluetooth which is not only slower than wifi but it also has a short radius compaired to wifi connection. Another solution for the security is for people to create a password with the device so that no one can see where their tracker is unless they know the password to the device to access it.

Some positive points are that this can be a very helpful device since it is quite common that people lose their wallets although there is only a one in five chance that people will actually recive their wallet back

The stakeholders in this case are:

•  the user using the tracker
• other people around the user that are also using the tracker 
• the company selling the tracker 

Slack the next big communication app ?

The somewhat new app 'Slack' is becoming a huge success, the reason for this being that it is a communication application that integrates several things including the popular drop box with it as well as it makes creating organised group easier. The app has doubled its value in 6 months, it is now worth over 2 billion dollars making Stewart Butterfield (the founder) a happy man.

The reason why the owner of slack created the app is because he realized businesses seem to be using several different methods of communicating such as email, drop box, text messages and many more. Therefore he realized that there was an opportunity to somewhat put several of the features that businesses use into one app that can be accessed on a mobile phone or a computer. Due to businesses being the reason why he created the app i think both the business community and Butterfield are accountable. The creation of the app has a good social impact since it brings people together making a better work environment since employees can message each other making it a good team communication app. The app is also 'perfectly in sync' between the users mobile device and computer.

Although the app seems like an amazing form of communication it does bring up a few questions about possible problems with the app. Since the app is used for internal communication within a business where employees and managers talk about business plans and private information about the business, it brings up the question "is my information safe?". If someone was able to hack the app and see other businesses private information the outcome would be horrible since the hacker will know every businesses plans that use the app at his/her fingertips, as well as if Butterfield might be secretly selling information about different businesses. A solution for this could be that the users must have a user name and password which will keep their information more secure.

Article

Apple and Wearable technology

Wearable technology is becoming the next big thing, no surprise really since with how technology is advancing now people seen to want smaller and more portable devices. You can see in the market devices are getting thinner and thinner as well as getting lighter. Apple has come out with their own wearable technology the apple watch. There is a fair bit of competition that apple has to go against such as Samsung, Lg and Sony when it comes to touch watches. Although it seems apple has gotten off on the right foot by blowing everyone away with their design as well as the several of wrist band selections you can choose from and not to forget the $10,000 gold watch, which alone has a lot of controversy since with the same amount of money you can buy a Rolex.

    







Ethics 

People who are responsible and accountable in this case would be the consumers as well as the developers of the products. The only reason why multi billion dollar companies spend money researching and making wearable technology is due to the the market wanting it. The implementation of wearable technology could change peoples lives since the may get addicted to it and may focus on using their watch. Another point of wearable technology being a bad decision is because this will increase the expectation boundary making peoples standards higher which may end up making businesses take longer to produce products or even come out with products that doesn't reach expectations. One way to solve this is for the public to stop demanding on smaller technology or for companies be allowed a certain minimum size they are allowed to make device. Although this may lead to an outrage since people may prefer having smaller electronic devices since they are cheaper and possibly easier to use.

Social impacts

The reason the IT development emerged is because of people constantly demanding smaller, lighter and more portable devices, which lead to companies making wearable technology which is easily portable as well as small (like the apple watch).The impacts it has on human life is that it can distract us in life, since it is a fascinating piece of technology. Another impact is could have is that is could end up making people spend hundreds of dollars customizing our watches just to be seen as 'fashionable', 'cool' and even 'swaggy'.

Stakeholders

• The technology market, since they are the ones demanding the technology.
• Large companies such as apple and Samsung, since they are the ones researching and developing the technology as well as making them.
• Investors/shareholders, since they might be in risk if the product fails due to the fact that they will lose money.

Article 

Guys feel free to follow me on twitter @GadgetGeek31

I post tweets that are technology related

Is Photoshop Destroying America's Body Image?

Nowadays Photoshop is used a lot on models, public figures and celebrities. It is used to make the image more 'attractive' to make it look like the ideal photo according to the media. These images effect the public since it gives unreal body image expectations, which may lead to depression for some since they may think they are not 'attractive' according to media.

Social impacts

Photoshop was created to display gray scale images on a monochrome monitor which at the time was called 'Display' but then soon the creator of the software was told to make it into a photo editing software which then lead to changing its name from 'Display' to 'Photoshop'. The stakeholders for this scenario are the models and celebrities whos image is being manipulated through the software, the general public that view the images, the editors of the photo and the company the published the photos. Images being 'photoshopped' affect the models in a positive way since it makes them look more attractive although it affects the public in a bad way due to the fact that they end up having higher expectation on how their body should be as well as some may feel like they are being lied to by the people they might possibly look up to, if someones role model is a celebrity who was photoshopped. A solution to this problem could be to stop using photoshop so photos can be natural and peoples expectations can be lowered for how they want to look.


Ethical issues

The magazine companies are the ones responsible for editing the images of celebrities to make them artificially more attractive. The government could be a accountable since they allow such actions to take place where the public is lied to in a way about how people should look, setting an unrealistic goal to looking attractive. The copyright law can be applied to this scenario since the magazine company edits the photos that they take and have possession over, therefor allowing them to edit them. An alternative ethical decision could be for the magazine company to either slightly edit them for minor things such as red eyes or just don't edit the images at all leave them natural. Although the disadvantage to this could be the fact that it would attract less customers since they will see less attractive images of celebrities in the magazine.



Sources : History of Photoshop and Article