Femto Imaging, The Future of Photography

Today I watched a very entertaining video on ted.com featuring Dr. Ramesh Raskar, Associate Professor of Media Arts and Sciences at MIT. In the video, he discusses a new type of imaging called "Femto Photography" to a large audience at the University.  Basically, he and his team have developed (pun intended) a new type of camera that can capture images in trillionths of a second, a million times faster than high speed cameras.

Current high speed cameras can capture a bullet in slow motion passing through at object, such as a piece a fruit or a cinder block.  This new camera can actually photograph photons of light as they travel through the same objects.  In this presentation, a video made using a composite of frames taken from the new camera actually shows a beam of light travel through a plastic bottle.  Unexpectedly, it shows the light reflect off of the various surfaces of the bottle, creating an image of what looks like waves rippling in a pond.  The frames on the femto camera are so fast, that a video just a few seconds long becomes gigabytes of data.

Dr. Raskar then goes on to explain possible future applications of this new type of imaging and that's when things start to get really interesting.  Imagine a camera that can see inside a human body without the need of x-ray or can be used to "see" what's around a corner.  The applications for that second part are virtually endless.  Imaging could be developed to help doctors make better endoscopes or even help soldiers stay one step ahead on the battlefield.

Another really interesting aspect of femto photography is its use in art.  Shortly after high speed cameras were invented, photographers found they were able to record images never seen before by the human eye.  This new camera should allow photographers to go one step further and create images more spectacular than anyone could have imagined.  Picture (again pun intended) a femto camera taking pictures of a lightning storm... Could be pretty amazing!

As with most TED Talks videos,  I found it very entertaining.  Dr. Raskar does a good job of making the presentation fun by using a variety of images and videos to keep his audience engaged.  A few small puns aside (I like puns), he presents the information in a very straight forward manner, which is easy for someone with a limited understanding of photography to follow. 

Dr. Raskar and his team have open sourced all of the data on their new invention, which will hopefully allow researchers all around the world find new and exciting ways to use this amazing technology.  I'll personally be looking forward to seeing what crazy new inventions pop up in the near future.  I don't think anyone would mind a femto camera in their new iPhone 10.

Social Media in the Business World

Social Media in Business: A Tool for Good or Evil

The use of social media by companies has risen in the last few years and with good reason.   Businesses have found new and interesting ways to promote their products, publish updates on the newest happenings of the company, and to engage in dialogue with consumers.  

One business that does a great job of this is a fitness supplement company named Muscle Pharm.  As an avid weightlifter, I have a lot of personal interest in Muscle Pharm and Facebook and Twitter are the best ways to find out what's going on.  Their Facebook page currently has 150k followers and their twitter account 175k.  They do an excellent job of engaging with their customers, and by doing so, help build brand loyalty.  Muscle Pharm is very popular among fitness nuts and mixed martial arts athletes and they tailor much of their social media usage towards this demographic.

Some of the interesting things you may find posted by Muscle Pharm are daily exercise routines, product updates, sales offers, and even any new celebrity endorsement deals they might have made.  As a result of this, many fans of the company use their Facebook and Twitter posts as makeshift message board to discuss more in detail about what was just posted.  This is an ingenious way to get people interested in the brand to communicate with each other, all the while being surrounded by logos and advertisements of Muscle Pharm. 

Here is a link to a good article regarding Muscle Pharm:  http://finance.yahoo.com/news/musclepharm-sees-substantial-growth-international-120000134.html

Another company that utilizes social media, but not always in a good way is the restaurant Applebee's.  They currently have just under four million likes on Facebook and 100k followers on Twitter.  They mainly tailor their use of social media towards people who are already customers of their restaurant.  The funny thing is, whomever is in charge of social media for Applebee's seems to have a better understanding of Twitter than Facebook.  If you use a social media app to check-in at an Applebees and post that check-in to Twitter, there's a chance someone from the restaurant may respond and thank you for your patronage.  They seem to use Twitter to engage their customers and it appears, at least to me, that they do a fairly decent job.

Facebook however is a different story.  As some people may already know, there was a recent story about a waitress who was fired after she posted a picture of a receipt a customer signed.  A lot of people took to social media to voice their concern and many of these people posted comments on Applebee's Facebook page.  Applebee's usually uses their Facebook page to post pictures of menu items and does not engage with customers, however this changed after this incident.

Applebee's began to directly respond to comments posted on their page, mostly in a negative way.  Many customers took to their respective social media tools to express their anger with Applebee's, which in turn generated more buzz about the topic.  Within a few days, there were thousands of comments on Applebee's page and were even rumors of Applebee's deleting user comments that it didn't find to their liking.  As a result of this, sales in the short term dropped significantly at many of their restaurants and there was major reshuffling in their social media deparment.  

A good article about this: US restaurant commits "social media suicide"

Social media can be a great tool for companies big and small to generate buzz about their products and to engage in conversation with loyal customers.  It can also be used to create controversy and damage a company's image and sales.  It all depends on the people hired to use it.

What are your thoughts???

Why I Am At MATC

My name is Zachary Sharp and I'm currently an IT Networking major at Milwaukee Area Technical College.  Before becoming a student, I served six years in the United States Air Force.  During my time in the Air Force I had a chance to learn a lot of new skills.  I spent two years at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, CA where I learned the Korean language.  After leaving DLI, I went on to Goodfellow AFB in San Angelo, TX where I learned about cryptology and intelligence.  Upon finishing training in Texas, I moved to Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson, AZ.

In Tucson, I served as an analytical operator aboard the EC-130H Compass Call, which is a broad spectrum jamming platform.  Over the next few years, I deployed twice with US Special Operations Command.  The training for my first deployment included learning about radio wave propagation, cellular and satellite phone technology, and wireless transmission.  I found this to be extremely interesting and I new upon leaving the military this was something that I would really like to study and learn more about.

After separating from the military in May of 2012, I moved home to Wisconsin and soon enrolled in school.  I chose the Networking field because it contains a lot of technology with which I already have experience.  I'm very excited to learn more about this constantly evolving career field and and anxious to graduate and pursue a new career.  Eventually, I would really like to work in a federal job, possibly with the military, where I get to use the skills and tools learned from both my military service and my education at MATC.  I love to travel and this type of career offers plenty of opportunity to not only maintain current networks, but have input on the construction of new ones. 

It's definitely a good time in my life right now and I'm excited for what the future may bring.  Stay tuned...

Zac