If you could purchase any single work of art ever made, what would it be? Why?
I'm going to have to pick two:Number one:The Floor Scrapers by Gustave CaillebotteThe artist's ability to capture all the subtle lights that make a moment into a memory is unrivalled in my humble opinion.Number two:The Kiss by Gustav Klimt.Do yourself a favor and try and see this work in person The passion of their embrace laid bare is like a plane on a whole other world, best appreciated in person, not on a computer monitor.Edit:Locations of the originals:Musée d'Orsay, Musée d'Orsay Station Paris, FranceÖsterreichische Galerie Belvedere museum in the Belvedere palace, Vienna, Austria
What is actually blocking/slowing the Internet of Things to be widely used?
In my opinion it is not blocked. It is slowed, because there are to many protocol descriptions. The iBeacon of Apple is a good example. Apple made its own protocol. It is nothing special. It is just a broadcaster on Bluetooth Low Energy. Other companies have their own BLE protocols and broadcast as well. Even we will have one or two standard protocols on each barrier, then there are a lot of barriers as well.A good example for standardisation is 6LoWPAN:The IoT dream / wishEverything is based on IPEverything has an IP address Everything means really everythingEvery plug at house, every plug at TV, every plug at every deviceEvery sensor at your home like a temperature sensorEvery actor like roller shutterEvery device like an iron bladeEvery dish washer, washing machine or fridgeUp to a cardiac pacemaker in your body Will we have enough IP addresses for all plugs and four persons living in the same house for any house on the globe?The IPv6 address range is 340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,768,211,456This mean approx. 6.67 x 10^27IP addresses per square meter on our globeWhich technologies to use for the IP communication?One answer is 6LoWPANThe facts about 6LoWPANDefined by IETF standardsStateless header compressionEnables a standard socket APIMinimal use of code and memoryDirect end-to-end Internet integrationAvailable onEurope: 868.0-868.6 MHzNorth America: 902-928 MHzWorldwide: 2400-2483.5 MHzWorldwide: IEEE P1901.2 - Narrow Band Power Line Communications on Low Frequency (less than 500 kHz) Worldwide: Transmission of IPv6 Packets over Bluetooth Low Energy draft http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft...Conclusion:We already have tandard for the Internet of Things. The base is IP. Wi-Fi and Ethernet in our laptops, smartphones, tablets and a lot of more are already on IP. 6LoWPAN is just one more option to use IP for smart objects in the IoT.BTW, have you seen the M2M IoT Cookbook
Is it possible to tastefully kill off a POV character? I'm currently writing a novel and I’m struggling on this point.
I’m not sure about the key word tastefully as that’s subjective, but there’s several approaches once you decide to kill of the character who’s telling the story from First Person Narrative.The story ends abruptly with their death. For example:She leveled the .45 at me and cocked the hammer, her eyes spoke of her crazed determination. I raised my hands in peace, but she snarled, “It’s always been about the money, Ryan!”She fired and instantly I fell to the floor reeling from the gunshot. In moments, I felt cold…numb…so sleepy…THE ENDYou continue the story with a new POV. For example:She leveled the .45 at me and cocked the hammer, her eyes spoke of her crazed determination. I raised my hands in peace, but she snarled, “It’s always been about the money, Ryan!”She fired and instantly I fell to the floor reeling from the gunshot. In moments, I felt cold…numb…so sleepy…I watched Ryan die before my eyes, the smoke from the barrel of the gun slowly dissipating. It’s time to run, start a new life as I have the gold statue, the fifty G’s in the satchel and a one way plane-ticket to Ecuador. Was it all about the money? Somewhat, but I wouldn���t have killed him if it was strictly about the money. It was also about revenge as I thought of my father dying penniless no thanks to being ruined by this private dick. I only wanted Ryan’s last moments to think it’s about money so he can understand how pointless his death is.THE END or the story continues with the murderess’ story…Either way works if you have compelling characters.In my book Fallen From the Stars, the POV is First Person Narrative; however I have side stories planned in which the POV is another character; however that story is Third Person Narrative / Omniscient.