Full year overview

Tech article 1 – Deepseek

Recently an AI bot that goes by the name deepseek was introduced to the market and it instantly got huge amounts of attention. One of the reasons for this was the fact that it was created in China. Before its release it was commonly believed that the US had control over the AI race and that the competition was domestic but when deepseek came out it shook this belief causing companies like Nvidia to break stock market records by losing nearly 600 billion in one day. One other reason for the huge impact deepseek had was how much it cost. Deepseek is estimated to have cost around 6 million dollars to train whereas chat-gpt cost 100-200 million dollars. This is huge because it shows that they trained something nearly as powerful for much less. This gap may also be because chat-gpt was the first so it had to train organically but Deepseek could have used Chat-gpts work to speed up their process. 

My thoughts

My thoughts on this technology outbreak is that if the worst case scenario is true being that Deepseek really is just a more effective way of doing the same thing than this is very bad for north america but if the more likely truth is that deepseek just used Chat-gpt to train itself that there is nothing to worry about. If that is the case then the only thing China has shown in this is that they can copy America’s work which is fine because then they will always be behind. I also think that there is very little information on this right now so the market crash was understandable but I think that it was extremely exaggerated.

Tech article 2 – LiFePO4 battery

A large portion of electric car batteries contain Cobalt, in their cathode (where the positively charged electrode is located. The problem with Cobalt is that it is mined in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where mining is not sufficiently regulated. In the Congo Mining conditions are terrible and child labor is often used. Additionally there is very little Cobalt in the earth of the United States which is a problem both economically and politically. A solution to this is the LiFePO4 battery which was created by John B. Goodenough at the University of Texas in 1996. LiFePO4 is cobalt-free and instead uses iron phosphate instead, which is much more easily sourced both ethically and geologically. Until recently this battery was not able to produce the same levels of effectiveness as Cobalt batteries, until in 2020 when BYD  was able to create a high density variety which is now equal to or occasionally more powerful than Cobalt batteries. This is a huge step forward in the future of American batteries because now American electric car companies, for example Tesla, can now produce their batteries more domestically and requiring less importation.

My thoughts

My thoughts on this are overall positive because China controls a large portion of the Cobalt mining and if Cobalt was required for electric car batteries, China could pretty easily control a monopoly. This would be terrible for the US because the future of automobiles is electric and a large portion of the American economy is car manufacturing. This would also affect us because a large part of Canada’s economy is the US which effectively means that if they have less money to spend on our products we will sell less. Alongside economics, I also think this Innovation is great because of the unethical mining it will avoid. The Democratic Republic of the Congo has 70% of the world’s Cobalt Supply but the mining as I stated earlier in the Congo is not ethical and is filled with child labor. By initiating an alternative we  lift the pressure off of child labor mines in the Congo.

Tech article 3 – Aria Gen 2, Meta smart glasses

Back in 2020 meta released their first iteration of smart glasses, which unfortunately were only available for researchers. meta is doing this again with their new Aria Gen 2 smart glasses that are centered around AI features.  Meta has made improvements from their original design, like an improved lightweight frame and Advanced Eye tracking system that can detect blinks and estimate the center of pupils. Additionally the glasses contain a significantly improved microphone,  that according to meta is a game changer for audio and Loud environments. The glasses contain a total of five cameras, one for eye tracking, and four for CV, But still manage to not be exceptionally bulky and to only weigh around 70 grams. 

My thoughts


My thoughts on this topic are that smart glasses would be very cool to have in everyday life, being able to watch movies well at the same time as having a conversation with someone you don’t feel like talking to, sounds amazing. As amazing as that sounds I would predict that in most scenarios similar to what I just described it would be perceived as impolite to wear the glasses and you would likely have to take them off. Aside from that, I think the glasses could be used in two main ways. First of all for directions, especially in foreign places where you don’t know where you’re going. The second thing I think they could be used for is translation. My mom works in Richmond hospital and she has told me that she often has to have a translator in the room for patients that don’t speak English. These glasses would quickly solve that problem by using its microphone and speakers to translate on both sides. Also in places like a hospital, the hospital could provide a second pair of glasses to the person that doesn’t speak English so the conversation can move back and forth. I think that that use would be utilized commonly so I think that making these glasses would be successful. Also they would be entertaining for the average consumer, who is just trying to have fun

Remembrance Day Poppy

This is an example of a vector piece of art.

Winter projects 1 – Photoshop

This is a photoshop project that includes pictures of my favourite pro skier Jesper Tjäder, in multiple outfits, mid road gap jump.

Winter project 2 – Adobe illustrator

This is a digital art Christmas tree in a room. I made this using my illustrator tool. I learned in this project how to use shadows.

Winter project 3 – Adobe illustrator

I used similar skills as in my Christmas tree project, also using shadows.

Halloween Video Project trailer

I made a trailer using premiere pro and I imported the videos I used from youtube.

Halloween Video Project

I used stop motion and lego to create a creepy story with high detail for a stop motion film.

New project 1

I made an edit of my favourite skier Jesper Tjäder

New project 2

I made a ski edit of my friend Max. I used premiere pro and imported multiple videos.

New project 3

In English class I used my learning to create a vlog that included clips of me talking and clips of the movie I was talking about. Additionally, I edited my sound to avoid long pauses between words, I used premiere pro.

New project 4

This is a audio only project where I took the catchy part of the song worth it by Fifth Harmony which originally lasted only around twenty five seconds until I extended it to around 50 seconds. First is a picture of the premiere pro edit screen as proof I extended the sound, and second is the video audio