Phlux

Phlux

Quantum Computing

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Smart Homes

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Future of Transportation

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Letter From The Editor In the modern day and age, there is no stronger connection force than technology. It reaches every corner of the world, and to every walk of human life. Every day, new discoveries are made that allow us to better ourselves and the world.

Each step forward in technology, reaches greater heights, and improves us in ways we would have previously thought impossible Despite the universality of these developments, people don’t understand the immense influence that every inner working of technology has on us.

Through Phlux, we want to show the past, present and future, of our world through technology, and how each step of development has changed us individuals and as a population.

By doing so, we hope that there is a better understanding of how much impact technology has on our lives, and appreciate all that our technology does for us. And with that, I hope you enjoy Phlux.

Happy Reading,

go “Let’s tomorrow

invent instead of worrying about what happened yesterday

”

-Steve Jobs

PHLUX Edition 1

Features

Processed

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Dwave’s new processor and the future of quantum computing.

By Alex Pham

Give Communication Some Slack

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A new service has created a billion dollar industry by reimagining email.

By Alan Baade

Home is Where the Heart is

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Kasita is revolutionizing the way we think about living by creating new smart homes.

By Shreya Ramanathan

The Future of Transportaion

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How ridesharing, hyperloops and the design of our cities will change the way we move.

By Evan Ellis

Spotlight on Security

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Duo is at the forefrunt of manufacturing the secrity that is required for our increasingly online lives.

By Gilberto Trevino

Processed

by Alex Pham

D-Wave’s newest processing system and the future of quantum computing

D-Wave’s quantum processor inside in its 2000Q system.

Image courtesy: D-Wave Systems

y

y software.

sonal benefit.

There are many ways to protect and strengthen these vulnerabilities such as two-factor authentication and simulation, each having their own pros and cons.

“Our experience in testing security products has shown that many times a product is good for protecting against one method but not another,” Johannes said.

Most methods of cybersecurity do a great job in certain fields but may perform poorly in others. No one cybersecurity company has perfected protection but with new developments within each company, they will grow closer to doing so.

Duo, a cybersecurity company based in Austin, is most notable for developments in two-factor identification. This two-factor authentication keeps hackers who fish usernames and passwords from clueless people from being able to log into your accounts and find other, more useful information. Duo especially recommends the

“push” authentication where when accessing the user’s account from an unknown device, the user must push a button on their mobile device to authenticate whether or not they were the ones logging in.

Push authentication also offers the location of the device logging into the user’s account. There are of course other forms of two-factor authentication where you may need to answer personal questions or enter a code sent to the user’s mobile device or email but push-factor is amongst one of the more simplistic yet efficient types of two-factor authentication.

Duo is also a SaaS (Security as a Software) company which makes life easier for both the consumer, and the vendor.

“They don’t have to update it. Anytime there is a problem, they can ask somebody else to fix it for them,” said Nather, “So, there’s a lot of cost they that reduce by, you know, by using SaaS instead. And another advantage for them is that gen-

is to test

rsecuthreats more and urity is protect s on the ess or

cts of the cyremnants errors,” tive ent of

n here for d these own per-

The interior of the Duo building. Duo is best known for their two-factor authentication. Courtesy of Duo Security.

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Transportat Revolut

How techno transforming an i Written A Lamborghini Aventador sits in the showroom of Aston Martin of Austin. Photo taken on October 22, 2017 by Evan Ellis.

Alternative Stories Our Smartphone Dependence

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Self-reliance on smartphones is increasing quickly.

By Alex Pham

From Brick To Slick

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The evolution of smarphones highlghts the advancements of previous generations.

By Shreya Ramanathan

Who’s Winning the Self Driving Car Race?

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Which car manufacturers are leading the newest way for you to (not) drive?

A Look Into the Past of VR

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The history of the most immersive way to watch a screen.

The Prime Way to Encrypt

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Encryption secures everthing that goes online, but how does it work?

Creators Alex Pham (left) Alex’s bulging muscles and trimmed mustache give him the confidence he needs to wear a double chin in photos. His long sideburns add to his statue-worthy posture and will one day be chiseled as a monument next to fellow former (class) President Abraham Lincoln. He hopes to one day drive through town with his women’s sunglasses on, and blast classical music while his kid cries in the back-seat.

Alan Baade The boy who described himself as “a living god”, enjoys exercise and “being better than you” (as said in a recent interview). His striking good looks and agility, relative to the ground, compliment his ever-growing intelligence, but not his stationary height. When bored, Alan creates taller than necessary code to compensate for his height.

Gilberto Trevino Born and raised in Austin, Texas, Gilberto Jesus Trevino Ledesma Mancha Guzman is a man of many words. He is always hard at work no matter where he is, no matter who’s watching and no matter the time.

Never distracted, Gilbert is most efficient with his time and no person nor object can pull him from the grind.

Evan Ellis (right) His sharp jawline and stunning hair allows him to shred through the wind at Flash-like speeds. His speeds not only extend to his legs but his mind too, allowing him to look down and frown upon those who can’t code (“plebeians” he calls them). He hopes to one day create his own software tech-company with a passive aggressive tech-support.

Shreya Ramanathan (top) Known for her ability to keep a straight face, Shreya has no problem acing interviews and photo shoots.

Though her poker-face is one that intimidates all, she always finds a way to sneak a sly grin into a rare few of her photos. In ancient cultures, finding photo or painting where a Shreya is smiling was considered good luck and fortune for 10 years. Since then, we have discovered that this is in-fact false and that it only provides 5 years of fortune.

Our Smartphone Our Smartphone Dependence Dependence T By: Alex Pham

modern smartphonehas hastransformed transformed hehe modern smartphone considerably since inception and is considerably over the its years, becoming now universally excepted.

One of a valuable tool. Beginning with one thethe firstcommercially commercially available portable phones, first available portable phones, the Motorola Dynatac 8000X, was manufactured the Motorola Dynatac 8000X, the bulky and from 1983 to 1994. Its bulky design along with large nature of the phone, along with a cost of its expensive cost -- over $3000 when new -over $3000, it prevented it from wide-spread prevented the idea from taking off. Since 1983, usage and incredible popularity.

Since 1983, over over thirty years of phone development has thirty years of phone development has occurred, occurred, lowering the overall price and making them more interconnected to humanity’s lowering the overall price and making them more information-based society. information-based interconnected to humanity’s Despite the high cost of purchasing and society. maintaining a many cellular device, almost everyone Regardless of socioeconomic factors, has a phone. Over 95% of Americans have at many people own a phone. Over 95% of Americans least owned one cellphone, and over 77% of have at least own a cellphone, and 77% of Americans own smartphones, accounting for Americans own smartphones. approximately 306,945,000 Which and accounts 248,787,000 for approximately 306,945,000 and 248,787,000 Americans respectively.

Americans respectively.

Along with the advent of social media and the bythe Alex expansion of the Internet, worldPham has become much more interconnected. Smartphones find themselves as a usable tool for Communication have eased with the further development of the phone and the expansion of online networks. Modern communication Along theinstant advent of social media provides withwith nearly communication to and the expansion of the theincreased world has someone halfway across theInternet, world. The become much more interconnected. Modern interconnectability has created a dependence of cellular communication provides instant access sortstohas causedallsome use world. devicesThis wherever one people overtothe increased mayinterconnectivity go. has created a worldwide Phones, through their widespread use, provide dependence on our devices, making it almost importance in our lives.

The dependence on impossible to go anywhere without one. dependence on devices canof lead devices The can lead to nomophobia, the fear beingto nomophobia, theAsfear being without without one’s phone. newoftechnology, such one’s phone.

With the rapid rise of our as phones, become mainstream, the reporteddigital companions, reported psychological and psychological andthe physical effects become topics physical effects become topics of discussion and of discussion and concern. Going further into the concern. Going further into the Information Information will most thefurther further Age willAge most likelylikely leadlead to to the development of allof devices, technologically, and the development all devices, technologically, totaland global Making themMaking more the interconnectivity. total global interconnectivity. key them parts of one’skey lifeparts and eventually more of one’s lifemay anddictate dictates the flow of information actions. the flow of information and and actions.

Sources: “Mobile Fact Sheet.” Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech, 12 Jan. 2017, Rainie, Lee, and Kathryn Zickuhr. “Chapter 1: Always on Connectivity.” Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech, 25 Aug. 2015,

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Processed

by Alex Pham

D-Wave’s newest processing system and the future of quantum computing

D-Wave’s quantum processor inside in its 2000Q system.

Image courtesy: D-Wave Systems

The field of quantum computing is planning to revolutionize computation. Quantum computing is still relatively new, and suffers from the lack of development. Although the field remains relatively early in its development, it still has the ability to be a valuable resource for solving problems in a few minutes that could take traditional computers hundreds of years.

The development of quantum processing is different than traditional computing. Traditional computers abide by classical computational architecture, and encode information into bits of 0 or 1. Quantum computers encode information in a qubit, and rely on quantum physics. A qubit (quantum bit) is similar to a traditional bit, however that a quantum bit can exist in a superposition, meaning that it can be in a state of 0, 1, or some combination of both at the same time.

A string of qubits can be in any superposition of its bit-string configurations. This can be used to enrich the kind of information that can be represented, allowing for a quantum computer to sort through a large number of possible solutions in a relatively short amount of time. Quantum computing today is

in its infancy, a single computer system can occupy an entire room, and the expenses are cost are very high. “[Quantum computers are] not just like the computers that we have today, except some factor faster.” Scott Aaronson said, a professor of Computer Science at the University of Texas. “People often

“People often ask, is it a million times faster? Is it a billion times faster? But that’s not the right way to think about it.” -Scott Aaronson

ask, is it a million times faster? Is it a billion times faster? But that’s not the right way to think about it...

External image of D-Wave’s 2000Q system. Image courtesy: D-Wave Systems

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A quantum computer is this amazing resource, that would be able to give you dramatic speed ups of the best we know how to do with today’s computers, but mostly with a few special problems.”

D-Wave, a privately held quantum computing company, has offices in Vancouver, British Columbia; Palo Alto, California; and Hanover, Maryland, and holds over 130 patents. On January 24th, 2017, D-Wave Systems announced their 2000Q, or 2000 qubits, quantum computer system. As D-Wave released on their website: “[The] reduction of the temperature of the computing environment below approximately 80[millikelvin], is required for the processor to function, and generally performance increases as temperature is lowered - the lower the temperature, the better. The latest generation D-Wave 2000Q system has an operating temperature of about 15 millikelvin. The QPU and parts of the input/output (I/O) system, comprising roughly 10 kg of material, is cooled to this temperature. Most of the physical volume of the current system is due to the large size of the refrigeration system.”

Although D-Wave markets the system to be “suited to tackling complex optimization problems like machine learning” on the company website, according to a Scientific American article published on January 25, 2017: “D-wave’s qubits are much easier to build than the equivalent in more traditional quantum computers, but their quantum states are also more fragile, and their manipulation less precise. So although scientists now agree that D-wave devices do use quantum phenomena in their calculations, some doubt that they can ever be used to solve real-world problems exponentially faster than classical computers.”

D-Wave Systems is not the only company that is looking into the development of quantum computers. Google is currently working to approach their goal of 49-qubit chip, which would satisfy their goal of “quantum supremacy”, the potential ability of quantum computing devices to solve problems that classical computers practically cannot.

Alan Ho, an engineer from Google’s quantum AI lab released the fact that the current 20-qubit system had a measure of error, by a system known as “twoqubit fidelity”, of 99.5%. The goal for the 49-qubit system would be to reach 99.7% fidelity. Fidelity being a measure of the “closeness” of two quantum states, which can be adapted as a measure of error.

Photograph of Google’s 9 qubit device. Image credit:Julian Kelly

According to Ho, it may take until after 2027 until practical error-free quantum computers exist: meaning that usable devices are still a while away.

Along with the ongoing development within other companies, such as Microsoft and IBM, the field will only continue to grow.

“Quantum computing is still very new” said Anna Swenson, a D-Wave representative. “There are many problems that no one knows how to solve yet...

Ultimately, the industry benefits from more smart minds tackling these problems. With that in mind, we’re excited for the work of Microsoft, Intel and others, and look forward to learning from what the accomplish.”

Despite all of its current development, quantum computing still remains in its relatively early stages.

They will most likely not meeting the critical mass and widespread usage of traditional computers today for a few decades. Aaronson believes that, “Most of what we do today, in terms of the traditional computer, it does perfectly well. I don’t think you need a quantum computer for work processing, for checking your email, or play Angry Birds, or anything like that… It’s hard for me to understand that why one would need a personal quantum computer.”

Quantum computing, and its development, remains still an expensive, and time consuming field. Aaronson says, “Quantum computing remains, mostly, a basic research field.”

“We don’t know how much this is going to cost, we know much more about the mathematics of it.”

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said Aaronson.

Looking forward, the progress of the development of quantum computing seems to headed in a way that discourages personal quantum computers, as the cost and overall effectiveness diminish the usefulness of the computing device. It may be able to solve seeming “unsolvable� problems by our standards of traditional computing, or massive data computation,

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but the costs of development and research would far outweigh any personal possession. However, with the added contribution of major companies such as IBM and Google, along with researchers such as Scott Aaronson, the progress, although slow, should become more noticeable in the few decades to come.

Inside the D-Wave 2000Q System enclosure. Image courtesy: D-Wave Systems

Give Communication Some The Software that created a billion dollar industry

By Alan Baade Image and Logo courtesy of Slack

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Slack is a software which maximizes productivity by re-imagining email through the use of userfriendly interfaces and AI, catching the attention of its users from NASA to Google.

Connecting teams with the apps, services, and resources they need to get work done, Slack has completely redesigned conventional forms of communication. The software uses seperate chatting channels to allow for specific and organized conversations and direct messages. The software also allows you to seamlessly attach many different file types, creating a more direct experience when communicating with colleagues. Within a few years, Slack has created a multi-billion dollar industry by revolutionizing virtual communication and increasing productivity between workers. While remaining entirely secure, Slack increases group communication through easy permissions, quick access to documents, and reliable data usage. rLoop, a company developing a sonic train to revolutionize travel, uses Slack because of its benefits to communication in groups when not all members are present. When talking about his favorite method of communication within his group, Amir Khan, the design and analysis lead at rLoop, said that he enjoys the simplistic layout which Slack has.

“It has different channels which represent different teams,” said Khan. “It’s like a messaging board, everyone communicates in channels which can be

viewed, searched or followed up quickly. This way our conversation never gets lost and people can catch up on a meeting they couldn’t make.”

Slack also has the feature of incorporating other document editors, such as those in Google Drive, to allow for easier and compatible access to different types of files. In order to write documents which multiple people may want to view online, Khan uses Google Software.

“We use Google Docs, Slides, and Sheets for storing documentation,” said Khan.

Despite their active use of technology, the team at rLoop does not use newer software to organize for meetings, nor to originally contact people. For most companies, email still remains the quickest way to start a conversation.

“The initial step is contact someone via email if we need something either for long or short term goals, then depending on people’s schedule we organize a meeting,“ said Khan, “[for meetings] I usually prepare an agenda beforehand any meeting with the group and each item has its own specified time which helps to keep the meetings under the allocated time and helps with proper communication.”

Slack has many functions when it comes to working online. Through different file types and software, a person could use Slack as a foundation for multiple different projects. With slack, almost all projects may be uploaded and shared, increasing

“It has different channels which represent different teams...It’s like a messaging board, everyone communicates in channels which can be viewed, searched or followed up quickly. This way our conversation never gets lost and people can catch up on a meeting they couldn’t make.”

-Amir Khan 8

Slack has many apps which you can download to personalize your page and increase productivity. Screenshot courtesy of Slack.

Geoff Belknap is currently the chief security officer at Slack. He previously worked at Palantir. Image courtesy of Geoff Belknap.

cooperation within groups.

“There is no limit on the files Slack can store,” said Geoff Belknap, the Chief Security Officer at Slack.

Another benefit of Slack is their dedication to the user experience, they do not make money by selling your information, so all of their features help support functionality.

“Slack’s business is based on a subscription model, not your personal data. So, if you delete a message, file, or even your entire team, the data is removed from all running systems immediately,” said Belknap.

Some companies or people may be cautious to use Slack due to the fact that it may seem threatening to give all of your private files to a service. However, this software is secure enough that major companies such as Google trust Slack’s security. In response to a question about what he does for a living, Belknap uses his dedication to security.

“My job is to worry. Professionally. So that our customers don’t have to. But, when I’m not busy with worrying, I lead the teams that are responsible for ensuring the security of our platform and products,”

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Slack uses different channels to allow for easy communication. Screenshot courtesy of Slack.

said Belknap.

Through the process of Slack’s data encryption, there is very little to worry about when it comes to your private messages being accessed. As long as a person’s data is not entirely essential to be kept private, they should not have to worry about security.

“I think we do as good a job as can be done. But, companies should review their threat model and do a full vendor review for any cloud service provider.

We make this easier for them by making lots of information about how we do security available right on our website” said Belknap.

In order to store data, Slack uses Amazon’s servers for reliable access. This service has nearby servers to everywhere in the US, allowing for smooth and secure communication with data centers.

“We have the benefit of companies like Amazon who have built storage services, like AWS S3, for platforms like ours. This lets us to massive amounts of file storage quickly and securely,” said Belknap.

The specific manner of Slacks security involves standard encryption services, with numerous failsafes.

“We use standards-based approach to secure all our data in transit and at rest,” said Belknap.

Slack is a service built around the ease of communication in a team, allowing user-friendly customization. The permissions in Slack are managed in a similar way: “Permissions largely fall on the shoulders of team owners and admins,” said Belknap. “They can use the administrative controls to decide who should have the ability to do things like add apps, integrations and bots, or even invite new team members.”

Through allowing easy communication, Slack has created a way to enhance productivity. It creates a new way for people to work, allowing businesses to better keep track of how they work together.

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FROM BRICK TO SLICK: The Evolution of Cellphones from the 1980s to now

5.65 in, 6.14 oz

iPhone X: 2017 - Facial ID - Depth sensing camera - Dual lens - Wide angle lens - Full screen display - 5.8 in display - Price when new: $999

Samsung Galaxy S4: 2013 - Rival to the iphone - 5 in display - Price when new: $650

5.3 in, 4.6 oz

Motorola Dynatac 8000x: 1983

13 in, 27.8 oz

-First commercially available mobile phone -Price when new: $3,995

IBM Simon Personal Communicator: 1994

8 in, 18 oz

-World’s first smartphone - Price when new: $1,100

3.7 in, 4.13 oz

4.5 in, 4.7 oz

Sanyo SCP 5300: 2003

- First phone with a built-in camera - 0.3 megapixels capability with basic flash and digital zoom - Price when new: $400

iPhone (1st Gen): 2007

- Game changer in the cellphone industry - Multi-touchscreen, and apps - 3.5 in display, (diagonal) - Price when new: $499

Sources: “The History and Evolution of Cell Phones” by Amanda Ray “Iphone X vs, Samsung Note 8: supersize meets super-supersize” by James Rogerson “From J-Phone to Lumia 1020: A Complete History of the Camera Phone

Who’s Winning the S General Motors General Motors has a huge fleet of self-driving car test units in California. Over the past year it’s cars were in several minor crashes, although none were cause by the autonomous units themselves.

GM doesn’t have a deadline, but once the cars are ready it will use them as fleets, picking up people when summoned.

Ford has invested over 1 billion dollars over the course of five years in a startup called Argo AI. The car manufacturer has also teamed up with Lyft to test and develop a fully autonomous car to compete with Tesla and other companies. They are also teaming up with Domino’s Pizza to test self-driving pizza delivery cars. Ford plans to launch an autonomous driving service by 2021.

Ford

Volkswagen unveiled the “Sedric” concept car this year, a fully autonomous vehicle that looks like it came from the future. Despite it’s concept status, the car is meant to display possible technologies that might show up in later models. The Volkswagen Group plans to build over 30 all-electric vehicles over the next 10 years, and a fully self-driving car by 2019.

elf Driving Car Race?

BMW BMW has also been working on self driving cars as well. At the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show, BMWshowed off its fully atonomous Series 5 car.

The car company plans to have a fully autonomous electric vehicle by 2021, although you can probably expect a self-driving car before the end of the decade.

Volkswagen

Tesla is by far the leader in self-driving cars.

Almost all Teslas are equiped with autopilot, a semi-autonomous software that is on the verge of real autonomy. Although Tesla is not the first company to have lane-assist and other semi-autonomous features, it sets itself apart by doing over-the-air software updates to implement new features. Elon Musk plans to have full autonomy within three years.

Tesla

Sources “Who’s winning the self-driving car race? It’s not the company you think” by Richard Read “RANKED: The 18 companies most likely to get self-driving cars on the road first” by Danielle Muoio “Meet Sedric, Volkswagen’s Vision for Self-Driving Cars” by Kirsten Korosec

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Kasita Prototype in Austin Photo by Kasita

Home is Where the Heart is By: Shreya Ramanathan

The future holds smart homes that will know us by our heartbeats.

a

Interior of a Kasita prototype home. The interior is completely customisable, but utilises energy efficient appliances. Photo courtesy of Kasita s both the carbon footprint from an app. Because these types of homes are and population continue to grow, “intelligent�, over time the app and coordinated we need to utilise our space in appliances are able to learn the patterns of home the most effective way possible. usage the owner. This means, whenever you forget This means adopting the smart to turn off the lights or change air conditioning, the home trend where homes use app can do it for you. Smart homes therefore help much less space and energy. conserve an immense amount of energy.

Pollution has dramatically increased over the The problem with smart home ideas, is that there past two decades. One of the most prominent are so many different apps for each module in your reasons for this increase of pollution is the increase house; an application controlling the A/C, another in global population. As the population around the controlling the security system, and another one world continues to grow, the amount of space and with the lights. Having a separate module for every resources is not increasing with it. The amount of space that we have on earth is still the same. At the rate people are using resources, these resources will be depleted in the next couple of decades.

One of the most prominent solutions to this problem are smart homes. These homes is one of our only hopes in conserving the resources.

Smart homes are homes that utilise home automation.

This means that various appliances, and systems within the home, such as air conditioning, lighting, and A stackable Kasita prototype in an urban environment. These homes are not electricity can be controlled only energy efficient. but take up very little space. Photo courtesy of Kasita 18

“The world is running out of space and we now have a solution” -Boris Pilev

appliance in the house doesn’t make homes feel smarter, just more complicated. The solution are companies that combine all of these apps and smart home controls into one simple system- something that controls the entire home. There are many different ways to adapt to a smart home lifestyleinstalling a small module that monitors all the home systems at once, such as Kirio, a central home nervous system that combines solar energy with home automation to reduce the energy bill, or even a micro home that helps completely reduce your carbon footprint such as Kasita.

The key difference between a regular and smart home is that regular homes have appliances that function independently, and aren’t intelligent in the sense that they can communicate with each other. This is what a smart home does- it has many appliances that all communicate each other.

“A smart home is something that is efficient, and takes up a minimal amount of space,” says Boris Pilev, head of people operations at Kasita. “Our homes can be controlled with one app.”

One of the most successful and upcoming startups of this year is Kasita. This company capitalises on the smart home industry, and micro-homing solutions.

This company is a precedent for the upcoming trend of tiny homes that are revolutionising the real estate.

“Kasita utilises every inch of space, which I think is unique. We are able to create a luxurious living space within around 300 square feet, our company” A Kasita is the name of the 300 sq ft home modules that come in a box like shape. These homes are extremely innovative because while having the luxury of living in a full sized home, you are in a tiny home with an extremely small carbon footprint.

With companies like this taking use of the increasing demand for smaller and smarter homes, there are also downsides to this. For many, the idea of living in a constantly monitored and intelligent home brings up security concerns. A single hacker

can steal every bit of the information collected by the app, which could lead to an increased weak area for the home. “The only issue of smart homes is the vulnerability it has in comparison to a regular home, we are working hard to get rid of that” says Eric Bear. But, the pros of smart homes outweigh the problems that are rapidly being fixed by many companies.

As smart homes continue to get more and more innovative, the hope of long lasting resources, and a greener earth is much less bleak. If more people continue to adapt to micro home solutions such as Kasita, or at least use home automation solutions such as Curb, and Kirio, our carbon footprint will be significantly less. “The world is running out of

A standard Kasita prototype in a rural environment.

Standard Kasita are very energy efficient, and has many uses, including shelter after natural disasters.

Photo courtesy of Kasita

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A Look Into The Past of VR 1.

2.

In 1961, headsight headtracking by the Philco Corporation was a top secret military project where magnets tracked head movements.

Created by Morton Heilig in 1957, the Sensorama was one of the earliest known examples of immersive multi-sensor technology.

8.

Modern VR devices started to burst into popularity during 2016 with items like the oculus rift and the Samsung VR Gear.

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In 1995, “CAVE” Automatic Virtual Environment made a three-walled, room-sized “cave” which created more lightweight VR vision.

3.

In 1968, the head mounted display (HMD) system was created by the Lincoln Labratory. It was the first system to replace a camera with a computer.

4.

1980 brought an backpack computer connected to a helmet-cam and viewfinder. The beam splitter sent scences to both a computer -connected camera and the user. The scenes were in real time and though it was not virtual reality, it still falls into AR

5.

In 1984, RB2, (Reality Built for Two) was the first commercial VR system from the company by Jaron Lanier. This system invloved a DataGlove which allowed users to control virtual objects.

6.

In 1993, VR started to expand towards the gaming world. Sega VR created wraparound glasses that debuted at CES in 1993.

Sources: Filmora’s “A Brief History of Virtual Reality,” by Liza Brown Wareable.com’s “The origins of virtual reality” by Jon Axworthy

A Lamborghini A tin of Austin. Pho

Aventador sits in the showroom of Aston Maroto taken on October 22, 2017 by Evan Ellis.

Transportation Revolution How technology is transforming an industry Written by Evan Ellis

For years people have dreamt of a future with flying cars, supersonic trains, and trafficless cities, but some companies are already working on bringing these off the pages of comic books and into our everyday lives.

According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, almost 300 million people take to the streets in America every day, driving a combined total of around four trillion miles every year. This great dependency on the road forces Americans to spend over 14.5 million hours stuck in traffic every day. Since the late 19th-century transportation innovation has lead to a revolution in cities and across the world. The same trip that would have taken many weeks in a covered wagon can now be done in less than a day. With the invention of the train, car, and plane, falling commute times have heralded a revolution of ideas, resulting in an explosion of technology and globalization in the 20th century. As

technology continues to advance, we can expect some more amazing innovations over the next 100 years.

Deep in the heart of Nevada, a metal tube more than four and a half football fields in length sits nestled under the scorching sun.

This is the DevLoop, a track built to test out the Hyperloop, an experimental concept devised to reduce long-distance commute times.

Amir Khan, the design and analysis lead at rLoop believes that the technology will one day be used for everyone.

“The target user is everyday commute person. A lot of things in our life depend on how much we can travel in one day,” said Khan.

Khan said that “The ultimate goal is to be able [to] implement Hyperloop in a lot of cities all around the world and at the same time establish a benchmark on how people can come together from all around the world

A rendering of rLoop’s hyperloop capsule design. The company expects this technology to revolutionize intercity commuting by greatly cutting travel times. Photo courtesy of rLoop.

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Ride sharing apps aim to have a clean and easy to use user interface while applying powerful maping tools. Photo courtesy of Fasten.

and solve problems”.

According to Hyperloop One, the hyperloop will be able to go up to 760 mph, effectively eliminating short distance commute times.

However, some have raised concerns over the comfort of riding in an almost supersonic train.

“It’d be no different than flying a commercial jetliner except it will have better infotainment systems,” says Khan.

People have questioned the feasibility of the project due to the high cost of materials, land, and development of such a hyperloop.

Professor David Levinson, a teacher at the School of Civil Engineering at the University of Sydney, has concerns over the idea: “The only benefit of Hyperloop is exciting students about transport, but the idea itself -whatever it is, the definition keeps changing -- doesn’t scale well.”

Another group thinks they have the

solution to urban congestion, and it’s already being implemented in cities around the world. Fasten, a ride-sharing company located in Austin and Boston, is trying to bring a revolution of transparency to the industry.

Jennifer Brogan, the head of Corporate Communications at Fasten, said “Ride-sharing has become very popular, particularly among urban metropolitan areas.” In recent years, under the guide of big companies like Uber and Lyft, the idea of a taxi service without the designated taxi cars has exploded.

Brogan thinks she knows why: “This is mostly because it’s either more convenient - or less expensive - than other modes of transportation… parking is not only very hard to find, it’s also very expensive. So, you can save money and time by using Fasten.”

The rise of ride-sharing has also brought a new market for designing secure and stylish apps to make ordering a car as convenient 25

as possible for the user. One such company is Faretech, a company based in Phoenix, Arizona, which has over 200 thousand downloads and 8 thousand daily users. Aron Lemisch is the founder of Faretech and thinks the niche in the market his company holds.

“We intend to liberate business owners, with outdated technology, so they may provide the service and convenience users expect in the technology age,” said Lemisch.

“We think the ultimate/ideal future of ridesharing is for it to be free for consumers,” said Brogan, “In other words, we envision a date in the future where a restaurant will pay for your Fasten ride to deliver you to their establishment. Or, your employer will pay to have you brought to and from work every day”.

Another new technology is promising to revolutionize transportation as we know it: self-driving cars. All around the world,

engineers from almost all of the big-name car companies are working day and night to develop autonomous technology. The creation of self-driving cars is essential to the survival of almost any automobile company.

“At the level of today’s Tesla AutoPilot... it should be standard in new cars by 2025. It will take a couple of decades for almost all the existing cars to be retired” says Dr. Levinson, “Conventional driving will eventually be prohibited (say 2040) on public roads at most times”.

The ethics of this new technology are being brought into question. The age-old “Trolley Problem” is becoming relevant again, challenging our ideas of right and wrong and forcing us to consider the question of who dies.

“It is the morality of the autonomous vehicle that is very, very complicated. Think of life or death situations...who, or what, is

A man uses Fasten in the city to avoid the hassle of taking his own car. Ride sharing apps have gained in popularity over the past few years because of their convienence. Photo courtesy of Fasten.

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“It is the morality of the autonomous vehicle that is very, very complicated. Think of life or death situations... who, or what, is making that final decision?”

- Aron Lemisch

making that final decision?” says Lemisch.

“Having cars that drive themselves could potentially mean that many drivers could lose their jobs” said Jennifer Brogan, who said that ride-sharing companies will “want to make sure that whatever way we integrate the technology, we do so with drivers in mind”.

With all of these technological advancements coming out of the private sector, some of the most effective reliefs of urban traffic may come from the cities themselves. In the future, urban planning might help encourage walking or biking and possibly levy out penalties on automobiles.

“I think in core cities, walking and biking (and e-bikes) will become more significant, and driving less significant,” said Dr. Levinson, who says that one of the most effective methods might be road pricing. Like a toll road, such a tax would “charge drivers for

the full social costs, including the congestion they impose on others, the pollution from their tailpipe, and the risk of crashes they impose on others”.

Many companies have already started planning for the future of cities.

“In the future, we imagine that your calendar app will automatically summon a Fasten ride for you to get your to school on time,” said Brogan.

The rise of automation and convenience will continue, Lemisch says that in the future “we will see more and more ‘On-Demand’ services, and less and less waiting for anything, from products to services.”

There is no doubt that we are in the middle of a great transportation revolution. It began in the late 1880s, and it will continue for centuries to come, bringing great disruption and innovation to the world.

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The Prime wa A simple guide to how passwords and messages are sent

By Alan Baade

Source: “The RSA Cryptosystem: History, Algorithm, Primes�

by Michael Calderbank, University of Chichago (2007)

Your Computer

All computers have a public and private key. The public key can be used by any computer to encrypt data, while the private key, which is used to decrypt the message, is only stored on the recieving computer.

Public Key

Using the public key of the recieving computer, your data is encrypted using a one-way function. One way functions are functions that can be computed easily, but which are incredibly difficult to decrypt without extra information. An example of a one way function would be prime number multiplication. It is easy to multiply 23 and 59 to get 1357, but is difficult to find which two prime numbers mulpiply to 1357 without knowing at least one factor.

y to Encrypt Private Key

Escaping complicated math, the private key is the equivalent of knowing a prime number in our one way function. With the private key, messages can be decrypted with ease.

!

Extra Security

In order to prevent rogue employees getting your information, most compasies do not store your decrypted passwords. Instead, they force you to encrypt it in the same way each time you submit your password and store your encrypted password. This is why the companies can not email you your password. If a company shows that it knows your password, avoid that company!

Their Computer When the recipient’s device recieves the message, it is encrypted and impossible to understand. This way, intercepted data can not used. Their computer, or server, needs to use their private key to decrypt the message.

Spotlight OnSecurity Security Spotlight on Why users shouldn’t pass up getting a cybersecurity software. By Gilberto Treviño

NSS Labs’ headquarters. Located in Austin, Texas, NSS Labs is a cybersecurity company whose focus is to test and strengthen personal and coorporate security. Picture courtesy of NSS Labs.

As humanity’s reliance on computers grows, so does their vulnerability to hackers who are out to get our information. We store our private conversations, personal details, lists of passwords, and even bank account details, all of which are vulnerable. Luckily, heroes of the internet would like to help us, and everyday they are striving to allow safe-use for all who have access the internet.

Cybersecurity has been a problem since the late 1980s and the number of cyber attacks has only grown more frequent, and more dangerous since. Cybersecurity has been a growing concern over the past few 30 years but other forces have suppressed

A

them and grown with them. Cybersecurity companies have matched the threats over the years and are becoming more and more popular with time. Cybersecurity is defined as the measures taken to protect a computer or computer system (as on the internet) against unauthorized access or attack.

“Most vulnerabilities are artifacts of Poor design and human error and the cybersecurity concerns of today are remnants of these poor designs and human errors,” said Jessica Johannes, a representative from the public relations department of NSS Labs.

These vulnerabilities have been here for years and a hacker’s goal is to find these errors, and exploit them for their own personal benefit.

There are many ways to protect and strengthen these vulnerabilities such as two-factor authentication and simulation, each having their own pros and cons.

“Our experience in testing security products has shown that many times a product is good for protecting against one method but not another,” Johannes said.

Most methods of cybersecurity do a great job in certain fields but may perform poorly in others. No one cybersecurity company has perfected protection but with new developments within each company, they will grow closer to doing so.

Duo, a cybersecurity company based in Austin, is most notable for developments in two-factor identification. This two-factor authentication keeps hackers who fish usernames and passwords from clueless people from being able to log into your accounts and find other, more useful information. Duo especially recommends the “push” authentication where when

accessing the user’s account from an unknown device, the user must push a button on their mobile device to authenticate whether or not they were the ones logging in. Push authentication also offers the location of the device logging into the user’s account. There are of course other forms of two-factor authentication where you may need to answer personal questions or enter a code sent to the user’s mobile device or email but push-factor is amongst one of the more simplistic yet efficient types of twofactor authentication.

Duo is also a SaaS (Security as a Software) company which makes life easier for both the consumer, and the vendor.

“They don’t have to update it. Anytime there is a problem, they can ask somebody else to fix it for them,” said Nather, “So, there’s a lot of cost they that reduce by, you know, by using SaaS instead. And another advantage for them is that generally the SaaS provider is a lot faster to update their

The interior of the Duo building. Duo is best known for their two-factor authentication. Courtesy of Duo Security.

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software. They generally have a faster software development and release cycle. So, you know, changes get made very quickly like overnight,” said Wendy Nather, the Principal Security Strategist at Duo Security, when speaking of the benefits of the SaaS model.

NSS labs is another cybersecurity

used by companies on their own software and devices.

“By simulating attacks on users we can study the methods that are successful and identify weaknesses in defenses that might otherwise go unnoticed,” Johannes said.

By targeting the weak areas, the products can identify and correct the vulnerabilities

Dug Song, CEO and Co-Founder of Duo Security (Left), and Jon Oberheide, CTO and Co-Founder, poses for a photo. Picture courtesy of Duo Security.

company based in Austin but rather than using two-factor authentication, NSS labs performs controlled attacks on the user’s computer and identifies areas which are vulnerable to real cyber attacks.

“Simulated attacks are actually attacks in a controlled environment much like a simulated accident during crash testing is actually a crash in a controlled environment,” said Johannes. “The attacks target the various vulnerabilities that exist and are designed to use methods and techniques that are common and some that are uncommon but successful”.

These kinds of protection are often 32

discovered by the simulated attacks.

Cybersecurity companies are continuing to fix the problems created by people prior to the current outbreaks.

“A long time ago, we designed a lot of these this security technology for one another, you know,” said Nather. “We were all engineers; we were all technologists and it’s a pretty small group so we designed it for people who think like us”.

Now that cybersecurity is a threat to all people with access to the internet, it’s important that these technologists help their companions from facing these problems too.

“I expect technology to evolve in ways that eliminate cybersecurity as a discipline entirely by overcoming the impacts of human error and ensuring designs have security built in.”

-Jessica Johannes “That’s a big challenge, learning to change what we do to make it a lot easier and more secure (for people not as familiar with technology),” said Nather.

This challenge has lingered for years and these companies are getting closer and closer to achieving an easy-use software for people of all minds. One that can be used by any and all people.

Phishing is a method hackers use to get

Chief Technology Officer of NSS Labs, Jason Brvenik, stands by the desk for a photo. Picture courtesy of NSS Labs.

your information by replicating a commonly used site. They use Trojan software which is downloaded to your computer when accessing the link to take your information when trying to login. Though easy to avoid, Phishing is very effective tactic and causes many people each year to lose their account information to hackers.

Other forms of hacking may include using a keylogger software which is a simple program that tracks the keys you press on your device. Many online banks have given the option to use a digital keyboard where the hackers will not be able to track the IDs and passwords being entered.

By far one of the most well known forms of cyber security attacks is Malware.

Malware, when obtained on the computer can take control of your computer, monitor screen activity and obtain personal info within the computer. Malware can get onto your computer many ways but a lot of the time, a user downloads the software to their computer thinking it is something else.

Malware is hard to catch but it is preventable by not opening mysterious links located in emails or other attachments.

Cybersecurity will continue to grow and match the also growing threats. A single day, month, or year will be enough time to fix our current problems but cybersecurity companies like Duo-Security and NSS Labs will continue helping those not familiar with the threats and one day hope to make everybody understand their vulnerability on the internet, and how they can better protect themselves.

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LetĘźs drive.

Photo courtesy of Tesla