hello barbie

Talking toys?

Some years ago we met a few toys that were able to pronounce a limited collection of sentences, such as "Hi! how are you?" or "nice to meet you!". But when I was a child I could have never imagined that my talking-whinnie the poo would answer back to my question and would be able to hold a conversation!

Now, the world famous Barbie doll is able to to recognize voices, answer questions, propose games and even chat with a kid! It was first introduced in NY's toy festival and first fears are already appearing. It seems like this barbie records conversations, sends them via internet to a Talktoys center which analyzes them and then uses a program similar to those integrated in smartphones to answer back and learn from its owner.

At first sight, it could seem an amazing toy, it is, indeed, a revolutionary doll, however, privacy advocates defend that this product could misuse the information it records, which may, eventually, be sent to third parties and violate privacy rights. In addition, some consumer associations denunciate that to analyze this conversations has no further purpose than studying the market to develop more effective publicity.

As I see it, we have to consider both sides of the coin: this doll is a revolutionary toy that can help children make fun. However, I understand all this fears and worries, because this doll doesn't sound innocent to me at all... I mean that this product is attractive for children, of course, but from my point of view a toy capable of holding conversations with children could not only misuse the information it gathers (not the toy but the company) but also diminish children's imagination, because if the toy answers back... there's no space left for the kid to think! 

september '15

In my last post I expressed my feelings towards 2nd Bat, and I ended up saying that my lack of motivation was probably due to the fears of dramatically changing my life this new September.

I decided I wanted to study architecture about two or three years ago. Back then, I saw University as a long-term dream, as something that happened in films and that, even though was going to come, something far far away from my comfortable life in town.

Now, I'm just five months from it and and my excitement is boosting day by day, as well as my concerns about it. When last year I said I wanted to study architecture, it was "half a decision" because I was still able to change my mind without any compromise... now, in one month I'll have to apply for university and it'll be almost irrevocable. I'm eager to start this grade, though I have to admit that as it approaches I get more and more nervous. This nervousness makes me hesitate: will I enjoy it? is it the right choice?

 Luckily, this weekend I was able to talk to a cousin of mine who lives in Seville and that is in her last year of architecture. Her advise was really useful, and her point of view on the degree, as well as her experience and reflections helped me to see that all this doubts are, again, the result of seeing university everyday closer... Barcelona, here I come!

the final countdown

This school year is known for being a rush, however, I didn't really figure out how fast it goes until I realized there are less than two months left.

I started 2nd Batxillerat really motivated, ready to prepare myself for university and selectivitat, but I've reached a point where rather than enthusiastic for learning I'm just eager to finish this course. I do like what we're studying, some subjects more than others, yet I feel like I'm just working to pass this torture with good marks and be able to get into a good university. Some content just doesn't interest me and some other is just useless for what I want to study.

Sometimes I find myself in the middle of a class wondering how windy is it outside and if I'd be able to sail. It's not that I no longer want to study, it's just that I ask myself why am I doing it. The answer seems clear to me when I think of myself being an architect of success, enjoying a grade that despite being tough will lead me through a new world and will introduce me to a new view of life, a new circle of people, a new lifestyle... However, other occasions I feel pessimistic and I have the temptation of giving up, just finish this two months and then do something creative, something that doesn't require to study, something that just fills me...

All this reflection may suggest that I'm not really enjoying these days, in fact, I've had better times than two weeks with exams every day... I guess this disenchantment is nothing but the result of stress and tiredness mixed with the fears of leaving high school and moving to a new city, with a new community, the doubts of choosing a path in life... the fears to a dramatic change (to better I hope) in my life.

a soulmate

How should a soulmate be like?

Everyone talks about love and soulmates, everyone expects to find or become a prince charming... Do we all have somewhere out there our better half?

Whether it exists or not, we all think obout it and even have some ideas about how would it be... So do I. For this essay I've had to think about myself and someone who could complement me. After a long reflection, I think I may have found some characteristics someone must gather to be my soulmate.

The first thing that came to my mind was that she must love the sea: there's no way we could ever be together if my soulmate disliked the sea. Sea gives me energy, purifies my mind, sea makes me fly... The sea is my life. However, a soulmate is not only someone who shares your passion, a soulmate is someone who makes you feel safe, at home, someone reliable who looks after you and someone whom you want to look after to too. 

In addition to that, I guess my soulmate shoud be someone easy-going but critical at the same time, funny and ironic but thoughtful. Open-minded. I'd like someone down-to-earth but with its head far away: someone challenging for me, someone enthusiastic, and, why not, a bit childlike. This person must be passionate too, and even though I've had problems to admit my simplicity, attractive. My soulmate must be adventurous, someone non-conformist, someone who surprises me every day and someone able to see the little point of happines in the worst situations...

I reckon it won't be an easy task to try to find someone like this, but who knows if I might meet a person who'd change all my life within a glance? Who knows if I'll meet someone who'll redefine my idea of love? Time will tell!

  

google news

Google news has been removed from Spanish networks.

A recent change in the Spanish law has caused the closure of the Google news service in Spain. This new legislation obliges every publication to charge any website for sharing it, even if only a tiniest title is shown. Therefore, services like google news, which doesn't make money of its activity, have been forced to remove their portals. 

From my point of view, this new legislation, which theoretically tries to protect the authors and help them get money from their articles, is doing nothing but holding up the access to information. The lack of this wide used service is an obstacle when trying to find what's happening in the world... To sum up, a new maneuver from the Spanish government to control the information and keep us, the Spanish citizens, putting up with everything they say or do. 

In addition to that, the Spanish newspapers are now more difficult to find online, therefore, some of them (especially those read by a minority) are struggling to keep up with the global media and are now likely to disappear.

You can find the "boe" on that concern here. And the whole news on this link.

is internet making the world a better place?

Imagine a world without internet. Try to figure out how would our lives be if we went back to the 80's... Do you start realizing the influence that this revolutionary tool has on our lifestyle?

Internet has not only launched a new way of communication, it is creating a huge library, a massive source of data avaliable for all of us. The oportunities that this tool offers to our society are so amazing that we even forget about the drawbacks.Yet they exist.

I'll start talking about the benefits of this network, some of which I've already introduced above. In first place, I have to mention the data that this brilliant resource offers. The times of looking up words in a thick filthy book are gone, as well as buying expensive enciclopedias that fill our bookshelves with dust and thousands of heavy A-to-Z-books. Now we find all this knowledge with a click on the mouse within seconds. Time is money, and internet helps saving time... Besides, the knowledge you find online is so extensive we couldn't write it all down: we find more information in less time. The only drawback here is that there is so much info we sometimes find untrustable data, therefore we have to contrast it and try to look up only in official sites.

In addition to this online library, we find a fast and easy way of communication. A lot of websites and social networks such as Skype, Facebook, etc. enable us to find people and meet online with friends and family, and even strangers... and here is where the con starts: who could these stranger be? Chatting and sharing with our social circles is absolutely harmless, however, when we start publishing about ourselves online, we miss any control on this info we share and it becomes public. Public means that it belongs to no one and to everyone, then we are exposing all our life to the dangers of being stolen and misused.

Related to both of the points I've analyzed so far, I must add that the information is not only knowledge kept in online enciclopedias. The speed of this resource allows us to use it as a newsfeed: the era of immediate information is here. Although physical newspapers are threatened by online services and might even disappear, I reckon "up-to-second" information is better. Furthermore, with the devices currently available we can reach different sources and contrast them without needing to buy annoying newspapers (at least for me, 'cause I'm not able to read a paper without ending with a lot of odd pages flying around!).

Finally, Internet is creating a new way of trading and a lot of business are being founded thanks to the new opportunities it offers. Publicity is very important sector that keeps funding our favorite websites. A new way of trading means, at the same time, a new way of swindling, therefore, we have to be aware that not all that glitters is gold and must watch carefully what we do...

To sum up, Internet is definitely making the world a better place, but at the same time it can become very dangerous and we have to be cautious when surfing the net!

about the presentation

In the last post I told you about my research paper and how I did it. Furthermore, I added the prezi about it. What I didn't mention, though, is that that presentation had a clear purpose: some days after handing in the project we had to present it orally and defend it. 

The prezi that you can find just scrolling the page a bit down is the resource I used to enhance my oral presentation translated to English. This translation's got a reason: I did the presentation in English as well for my classmates!

By now I'm not able to post the video here due to technical problems with my phone (I've changed it since I recorded myself), however, I'll briefly resume my performance.

Basing on my personal impression and on my mates' comments I think that I did the presentation quite well, there were some things to improve, though. In first place, I perhaps talked a bit too fast at some points of the presentation. In contrast, I went blank twice, what triggered an uncomfortable silence. In my opinion, my presentation was really interesting an I performed a nice body language according to the situation, in spite of that, when I was about to reach the end, I noticed some boredom among my audience, what makes me guess that it was probably a bit too long.

Regarding the language and the pronunciation, I wouldn't like to sound pretentious, but I guess I almost nailed it because some of my mates congratulated me and I was feeling confident about that;) 

Overall, I think I did a nice presentation, I must add, however, that I've done some others better and that I still must improve a lot if I want to become a brilliant presenter.