When Good Tech Goes Bad

Anyone who knows me knows I am all about technology.  Well tonight I had one of those moments where I wanted to throw my computer out of the window.  I am exaggerating of course.  I love my computer,  we've been through a lot together.  Well, I admit I have had my eye on some of the younger models but none-the-less I have remained faithful.

Recently, I had downgraded from Windows 8.1 back to Windows 7.  Having said that, I had to re-install all my programs to bring it back up to where I needed it to be.  This was a mere month ago.  One of the main reasons as to why I made the decision to downgrade was the fact that I felt that my PC (which is about 2 years old) would run a lot smoother with the older operating system.  Windows 8.1 worked perfectly fine, however I just thought that I would get more out of it performance-wise if I went back to Windows 7.

To clarify, my computer is only roughly 2 years old.  It still has plenty of reliability left in it.  Granted that could be considered a dinosaur by computer industry standards, yet I am going to assume you know what I mean. 

With my work, I work with a lot of multimedia.  I record and edit audio, I render video, I create 3D and also 2D animation, I stream music, stream YouTube/Twitch, write blogs/articles, plus much more.  Needless-to-say, my home PC needs to be better darn good to keep up with everything that I need to do on a daily or even a weekly basis.  Aside from all this, I rely on my PC to house my artificial intelligent program Denise.  Who is in charge of my home automation and even my home security!

Despite my optimism for my computer ability to handle all my multimedia, unfortunately that is not reality.  Granted some of my animation and home automation dealings is probably more than the average PC user but still, it isn't anything too bad. 

Now, from what seems out of nowhere, my computer no longer wants to play nice.  I render video, it doesn't respond.  I stream a YouTube video, it doesn't respond.  I attempt to do my work and create an animation video IT DOESN'T’ FREAKING RESPOND!!!!  This seemed to have happened out of no where.  I did not contact a computer virus so it is not that.  A computer with my processor and ram should handle the task I need it with ease, not freeze up on every instance.

To make sure it was not my configuration, I ran a complete diagnostics, virus and malware check, and proceeded to tune it to optimal performance.  It only slightly worked and the performance did not improve much.  So, I am thinking it may be time to get a new computer. 

To do some test, I created a small animation with 4 characters.  I did not even animate the characters to move, they just stood there.  Still, my animation program says NOT RESPONDING.


I am so frustrated right now.

Artificial Intelligent Assistant On Xbox One

It is no secret that I have come up with some really cool and innovative things for Denise as of lately.  This particular project, was beyond cool.  It is also no secret that I am a huge video game advocate.  So why not intertwine the two together?  Yup.  So that is exactly what I did. 

Originally I had come up with the concept of getting Denise to co-host a Twitch stream with me while I play Xbox One.  However there was a problem with that.  Later today, the Xbox One will be receiving a crucial update to the console that will allow the Twitch app to broadcast gameplay.  (Currently, it only allows viewing)  Along with that, I knew that in the coming days and even weeks that there would be a massive amount of talk, broadcast, and YouTube videos about Twitch broadcasting on the Xbox One.  So that idea was out.

I then began thinking of ways I could seriously get Denise to interact with me and also the Xbox One.  In a previous video I showed earlier in the week, I had showed Denise launching Xbox Music, Smartglass, and even streaming videos to the console itself.  While cool, I wanted more.  So, I came up with this.

This was just day one.  I eventually will have her much more integrated with the console and also Windows 8 itself.  There are a lot of people out there who write, blog, and even make videos about their video games but I highly doubt many people are doing things that are as cool as this.

Hey Microsoft! Here I Am!

It is no secret that Microsoft is in development of Cortana.  She is the Microsoft version of a virtual assistant that is set to rival Apple’s Siri.  As innovated as that may be, it is not a reality in March 2014 and is still considered unreleased.

On Friday I happened to see a tweet from Microsoft urging people to share innovative, creative ideas, and projects that they have come up with while using Windows 8.  Microsoft had encouraged anyone who wanted to participate to use the hashtag #iCreatedThis and used an example of a 125-building campus being run from a single laptop.

Naturally, I knew that I wanted to contribute by making a video showing off some of the cool things I have done with Denise on my Windows 8 machine.  Cortana is bound to be cool when the program is actually released, however this is now and I have already integrated my artificial intelligent virtual assistant with Windows 8.  To take it a step further, I decided that I would also integrate the program with my Xbox.  Here is what I came up with….

When I finished the video and posted it I knew that it was really cool.  However I did not expect the massive amount of cool and innovative creations that people would come up with in the days following.  After a day or two I realized that it was likely that my tweet, hashtag, and also my project would be overlooked since Microsoft has millions of followers on Twitter.  I did not think if it as a total loss though, I had created something cool and no one could take that away from me.  Granted I did not create Denise herself, but I was the one who programmed her to do what I got her to do.,

Then out of nowhere, I received a tweet from Microsoft.

So I guess the people at Microsoft did see my project.  Granted that this may have simply been a social media strategist just randomly responding to tweets but still, I saw it as a small win.

Regardless, it is cool.  However the best thing is yet to come.  When I get the program fully integrated with my home, being integrated with only my Windows 8 machine won’t be so impressive.

Denise With Windows 8.1 And Xbox One Integration

In December I had made a video showing Denise giving my #PS4 voice commands.  Since then I have received a new Xbox One.  Naturally, I wanted to get Denise to be fully integrated with Windows 8.1 along with a Xbox One integration.

How would this be possible?  Windows 8.1 already comes with a decent Win 8/Xbox One integration.  What would be the purpose of integrating the two even further?

 

Who cares?

I just want to do it to see what happens.  If I am eventually wanting a full integration with Denise and the Windows 8.1 operating system, a integration with Xbox One is essential.  I am no where near completion of my full integration of Windows 8.1/Xbox One however I made a video describing and showing off some of the results that I have thus far.

Never Been So Happy About A Wire

A few weeks ago I was ramping up some of my projects that involved my Xbox Kinect.  The device has massive potential and instrumental in some of the projects I was going to do.  I owned an Xbox 360 with a Kinect so I already had the equipment I needed.  I needed to download the drivers and also the SDK for the device however I needed to initially plug it into my system. 

It wasn’t until I attempted to plug the Kinect into the PC that I noticed something, the opposite end of the Kinect (which looked like a regular USB) did not fit into any of the ports on my computer.  It did not take long to realize that the plug was proprietary- meaning that it was not a traditional USB but Microsoft’s own version where only their equipment can be used.

I was not happy, why couldn’t it just be a simple USB plug?  Frustrated, I was forced to track down a wire that worked and luckily I found one on Amazon for less than $10.  The Kinect was something that I needed to pull off some of the artificial intelligence projects I was doing so I had no choice but to purchase the wire.

Today the wire with connecting power supply finally arrived.  I was so excited because I could finally download the drivers and the SDK for the device.  This small setback was a huge inconvenience and finally that setback was over.  It was then I realized, holy crap, I am giddy over a wire.

Downloading SDK now….

With this wire now in my possession I can down work on the motion/video aspect of my home security, facial recognition, plus others.  Looks like this might be a late night.