MySpace helps to find missing children?

Yes, MySpace is giving up valuable advertising space and teaming up with the National Center for Missing & Exploted Children to distribute online missing children alerts. MySpace.com is going to distribute online alerts to notify their members of missing children in their communities. The alerts will be sent to member's who have the same area code in which the missing children reports are issued. To find out more information read the article on CNN's website.

I think that this is an awsome use of technology and I am impressed that MySpace is willing to give up valuable space on their website that they could use to sell advertisements, and instead they are practically benefiting society and raising the awareness of children that reported missing. I am impressed that such a large social network is forfeiting profits in order to team up with the National Center for Missing & Exploted Children. I think that this is a great example of how technology can be used to practically benefit society and I think that MySpace.com is setting a great example for other large websites to follow in order to practically contribute to society by helping a specific social cause.

The "Copy Protection" Crack

The new generation of DVD's has boasted about their copy protection DRM technology...but alas both HD-DVD and Blue Ray's version of DRM copy protection has been cracked. Both of these hacks were performed by the same coder that goes by the alias of muslix64. Muslix64 has released a 16kb tool that now can be downloaded by millions of user's who want to be able to copy the new generation of high quality DVD's. (Information taken from The Register).

This update on the high quality DVD war means that neither side can claim that their DVD's can not be copied. No matter how hard companies try to develop media that can not be easily copied, some bliliant coder such as muslix64 always finds a way to crack the code and then provide the rest of the public with an easy to use copying tool. This incident shows that there is no end in sight to the problems the motion picture and music industries are having with electronic piracy.

WoW expansion is taking over people's lives

World of Warcraft is the largest online multiplayer game on this earth and it boasts more than 8 million subscribers. The first expansion pack to WoW was released last Friday and it started the race for the first person reach the new maximum level of 70. I read an article by Seth Schiesel of the New York Times where he described his adiction how he now understands how people can die from playing video games for too long. It took him 76 hours in a span of 4.5 days to reach the new maximum level of 70. Read his article in the New York Times for more information.

Personally I think that it is outright dangerous how addicted some people get to video games. People sacrifice sleep and meals in order to fuel their addiction and often times players get close to killing themselves from exhaustion. I think that this era's generation of college students and high schooler's are playing way too many video games. I can speak from personal experience that the Freshmen on my floor spend an inordinate amount of time playing video games, and about four of my residents are absolutely adicted to WoW. I do not think it is healthy and people who constantly play video games do not contribute to society, they do not develop social skills, and they are wasting their life away in front of a screen. Something needs to change...

Vista will be available on-line

Microsoft is trying a new distribution strategy when Vista is released on January 30th, they are going to make Vista available for sale and download online. This sales method is geared toward XP users who want to upgrade to Vista. (Information Taken from CNN)

Even though it is predicted that not very many people will buy Vista online, I think that this makes a lot of sense for Microsoft because online stores like Itunes has been extremely sucessful and it saves microsoft all manufacturing and packaging costs. Which means the profit margin will be larger on copies of Vista that are purchased online. I that this is a good alternative distribution method for Microsoft and it will make it easier for some user's to upgrade, and mabye this distribution method will become more popular in the future and save Microsoft billions of dollars or something like that.

Apple oops...

Apple is being sued by Cisco for using their trademarked "Iphone" name. Cisco has had the trademark since 2000 and they released their "Iphone" three weeks prior to the official announcement of Apple's Iphone. Apple made a big mistake... (Information Taken From TimesOnline)

This potentially has the possibility of having an enormous impact on Apple. The Iphone is supposed to be the new star of Apple and this could be set back in their marketing plan. It would be devistating if Apple can not make a deal with Cisco and had to change the name of their premier product. I personally do not think that this will have much of an effect on Apple. Unless Apple is forced to change the name of their phone, I do not think that this will hurt Apple very much. Right now Apple is probably hoping all they will have to do is pay some fines for the infringement.

The end of printed books?

"The internet search giant is working on a system that would allow readers to download entire books to their computers in a format that they could read on screen or on mobile devices such as a Blackberry." (Information taken from TimesOnline) Google is trying to develop an book downloading system much like the Itunes music store.

My main concern with this new technology is that this new system could lead to the stealing of copyrighted books. Right now it seems as if there are hardly any books that you can find the full text for online. With this system there will be an enormous influx of full text books available to the public, and it will only be a matter of time until it will be easy to steal the full text of books. Will this be the start of writers starting to speak out about the stealing of electronic books? Will this destroy the whole book industy?

Comparing Windows 95 to Vista

Microsoft's Windows Vista will be released on January 30th and I thought it was interesting to compare Vista with Windows 95. Windows 95 had a retail price of $89.95 compared to Vista's $199 to $399 price tag. Windows 95 had 11.2 million lines of code, and Vista has a reported 50 million lines of code. There were 200 programers for Windows 95 and a reported 2,000 programers for Windows Vista. (Information taken from Newstoday.com)

Windows 95 revolutionized the computing world and established Microsoft as the premier leader in the computing world. I think that Vista will have a large impact on the computing world, but will be nothing like the impact of Windows 95 because there were no other major competitors such as Apple. There have already been many complaints about the resource hungry Windows Vista, so it will be interesting to see how sucessful Vista is when it is released to the public January 30th.

911 Utilizes picture phones and video cameras

Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York City, announced during his state of the city address that citizens can now send pictures and videos from their picture phones to 911 in New York City. Bloomberg explained that the more information the police have, the easier it will be to fight crime. This system that NYC is adopting was first put in place in Indiana and is in addition to the $9.1 million dollar project to use video cameras to fight crime by installing 500 video cameras in 200 locations. (Information taken from Newsday.com)

Will the ability for citizens to send 911 pictures from their camera phones help police to fight crime, or will it clog up the system and take more time to sort and manage the information than its worth. I think that allowing citizens to send pictures to 911 is a novel idea and there are many benefits to this if citizens do not abuse the system, but I think that this plan could backfire and could create more confusion than it is worth if citizens send too many pictures and videos without providing the proper information to the photos, and I also believe that some photos can be misleading and could confuse 911. It will be interesting to see if this will help 911 responders in the long run, or if it will create more confusion and headaches for the people who sort and organize the data.

Could China destroy our satellites?

It has been reported that the Chinese successfully tested their anti satellite technology on January 11, at 500 miles altitude by destroying one of their aging weather satellites. The new anti-satellite technology is "a kinetic kill vehicle launched on board a ballistic missile." The CIA, the NSA, and other organizations are scrambling to find out if this reported information is accurate. Information taken from AviationWeek).

I think that this is a very powerful technology and it is definitely a large threat to United States. This is becoming a more powerful weapon against the U.S. as we become more dependent on technology that is provided to us by satellites. China could cripple the way many Americans live by simple destroying a few of our satellites. That is a scary reality and it is very dangerous if China has the technology and capabilities to destroy satellites.

Anti-missle systems on comercial planes?

FedEx launched the first test flight of the Northrop Grumman's Guardian anti-missile system on a comercial MD-10 cargo airplaine. The antimissle system is adopted from military technology and the anti-missle system directs a lazer to the head of an oncoming missle which then disrupts the missles guidance systems. This technolgy will cost arount 1 million dollars to buy for each aircraft and $365 of maintenance per flight. (Information taken from CNN.com)

I think that this is a good advancement and use of technology, however I do not know if it is necessary for all comercial aircrafts to be equiped with this system. There has only been one incident in 2002 where terrorists fired missles at an Israeli jet and missed. I do not know if it is worth spending so much money on this system seeing as it has not been a large problem in the past; but it is always better to be prepared in order for the chance that this system may save human lives.

Wiis sell out, PS3s sit on shelves

American Technology Research reported surveyed 52 stores and reported that 28 of 52 stores had PS3 consoles in stock and there were not any stores that had Wii consoles in stock. Nintendo sold 604,200 Wii consoles and Sony sold 490,700 PS3 consoles in the month of December. (Information taken from FOXNews.com)

This news is kind of shocking considering that there was a lot more hype around the release of the PS3 which followed the most succesful gaming system ever. This news may show that in this era of new consoles, more gamers are looking for something different, something that is interactive, something that doesn't cost $600. It is too early to tell but it appears that the Wii is catching on and it looks like Nintendo was wise to seperate itself from its competition by making a console that is more interactive, focuses on the game play, and appeals to large audience; oh and there is also the moderate sticker price of $250 that has helped the Wii to outsell the PS3. It will be interesting to see if this trend will continue and if the Wii will be the most successful next generation platform.

Robots Building Houses?

Robots already build our cars, shoes, and clothes; but can they build our houses? A article from Times Online reports that a robot has been developed that can build a two story house in 24 hours at the touch of a button. This robot does not need any supervision and it uses only two materials: concrete and gypsum. This prototype costs 1.5 million dollars and will be unveiled in California before April. This prototype is supposed to be able to make domes and curved walls as easy as it is for it to make straight walls. This will greatly expand the architectural possibilities, because architects will not be limitied by what men can do.

I think that this is an amazing advancement and once all of the quirks and kinks are worked out, this invention will have a monumental effect on our society. It will make it houses cheaper to buy and it will also the architectual designs. I also think that this is an invention that will have a very large negative impact on our society because if it is widely adopted then the entire industry of construction workers will be rendered useless, and there will many people without jobs. If this technology suceeds it will wipe out the highly skilled industry of builders and construction workers. I think that this is amazing technology, but it could have a negative impact on our society by taking away jobs from highly skilled individuals.

Worlds Largest Flat Screen

Another record was set at the Consumer Electronics Show when Sharp revealed their 108-inch liquid crystal display. This is now the worlds largest flat screen TV ever created. (Information taken from CNN Technology)


I can't believe that a TV this size even exists. This TV is enormous and seems rather frivolous, but i'm sure there will be large companies, or rich individuals that will be waiting to get their hands on the largest flat screen in the world.

2160p?

Yes, its true. Your plasma HDTV that broadcasts in 1080i is now outdated. Westinghouse is displaying their new HDTV at the Consumer Electronics Show. Westinghouse has developed a 52" TV that is capable of broadcasting in 2160p. This new mega HDTV is being referred to as the "quad." The reason for this name is that this HDTV has 4 times the amount of pixels compared to HDTV's that broadcast in 1080. (Information taken from Softpedia)

This seems like a big advance in the world of HDTV's and I would be interested to see how clear and vivid 2160p looks like. Although I couldn't find a price tag on this technology, so I doubt that I will ever be able to afford it. It will be interesting to see how long it takes this technology to be offered on a wide scale and if their will be a new formating war for DVD's in 2160p. I hope that the HDTV market does not become like the computer market where new and better technology is being produced daily and everything you buy becomes out-of-date once you take it off the shelf. I think that HDTV's are an amazing creation but I also think that they promote a materialistic society and give people less motivation to be active.

More High-quality DVD Problems

I recently read that Microsoft has admited that High-quality DVD's will not be able to played by most computers running Windows Vista. Vista is officially going to be released at the end of the month and this is an unexpected flaw that many consumers are not going to like. This could hurt Microsoft's sales if they are unable to fix this problem. (Information taken from TimesOnline)

This is once again a sign of all the problems that high-quality DVD's and the DVD format war has caused. I'm beginning to think that cunsumers are getting more and more confused by this war and are starting to wonder if it is worth buying this new high-quality DVD technology because of all of the problems it brings. Right now it seems as if there are too many downsides to purchasing High-quality DVD's and I will not be confident to purchase this technology until the DVD format war has ended and there are not as many compatability flaws with this technology.

DVD Format War Update

Here is an article from FOXNews.com that gives more information on the new hybrid Discs and High Quality DVD players. This article also gives a history of the format war. I just wanted to keep everyone updated on this issue.

Wacky Technology for the Blind

IEEE Spectrum comes out with a list of winners and losers in newly developed technology. When I was looking at the list, this "Tongue Vision" caught my attention because it looks like one of the biggest loosers and it is extremely wacky and unpractical. You have a camera strapped to your shoulder, a flat box hanging on your chest and you have your lips around a cord that connects to the box and camera. Your tongue vibrates every time the camera detects a shape in the form of a circle. The round object in front of you could be a tennis ball 1 foot in front of you, or it could be a hot air balloon a kilometer away. (Information Taken from IEEE Spectrum Online)

This new technology seems to offer very little benefits to the user making the user look absolutely ridiculous. It is not precise at all and can only detect certain shapes, and so what if there is a round object in front of you... your tongue vibrates, couldn't you just use a blind walking stick and feel what the actual shape and size of the round object is? This new invention costs around $5,000 and is one of the wackiest and useless devices I have ever seen.

The $100 Laptop

Well, actually it will sell for around $150, but it has been called the $100 laptop because of the extreme cost cutting measures that have been taken to make this laptop. This laptop is made for students in devloping countries. It is differenet from any other computer made before in the fact that it has it's own unique operating system that is based on linux. It is designed to be intuitive for children and young students. One interesting aspect is that this laptop will not have a hard drive, it instead has a 512 mb flash drive and 2 USB 2.0 ports that makes it possible for external storage devices to be connected to the laptops. Click on the link to CNN's article to read up on more details about this computer. (Information taken from CNN)

I think that this is an awsome project that makes today's technology affordable for developing countries. This laptop will probably not be seen in the U.S. because the operating system is unlike any other operating system we have grown used to, and it would take a long time for people to become accustomed to this operating system. I think that this is a good laptop and that it will benefit a lot of children and students who would not be able to afford a computer other wise.

YouTube Blocked In Brazil

YouTube has been recently blocked in Brazil because of a local court ruling in Brazil. The site has been blocked because it could not keep sex videos of a Brazilian media star off their website.
(Information from SlashDot)

I think that YouTube is an awsome idea and a great site that allows people to display get their videos seen, but I think it is also a very dangerous site. I think that it shows freedom of expression at it's worst. It is not regulated very well and there are many people that upload inapropriate material on to the website. Does this mean that countries have the right to intercede and block a website to it's entire population because of one bad video that keeps being uploaded onto YouTube?

I think that the Brazilian government over stepped their bounds. It is very dangerous when governments start to block entire websites. I do not think that YouTube should be blocked to their entire population because of one bad incident. I do however think that YouTube needs to change how user's are able to upload videos onto their site so that inapropriate and copyrighted material is not available to the mass public. If YouTube is going to be fined a lot of money for inapropriate videos on their website, I think that YouTube needs to hold their user's accountable and fine the people that are dumb enough for uploading the inapropirate material.

DVD Format War?

As many of you already know, there has been a raging war between Blu-ray and HD-DVD to decide who will reign as emperor of high quality DVD's. New technology has been recently developed that could completely end or change this format war. Warner Brothers has developed a DVD that is capable of storing both Blu-ray and HD-DVD content. LG has also developed a DVD player that will be able to play both Blu-ray and HD-DVD formats.
(Information taken from SlashDot)

This format war is a big inconvenience to consumers because there is a lot of uncertainty of who will win and consumers are hesitant to buy a high quality DVD player until there is a clear winner. From a consumer perspective there are many reasons why this is good news. This new technology could potentially end the format war, and mabye one of the sides will give in and all DVD's will be made in a single format. This news is also good for consumers because you could now buy a DVD player that can support both formats, so you will still be able to play high quality DVD's of whichever format, if this war ends. This is bad news because both formats may try to coexist and this would make it more expensive in the long run because the DVD players that support both formats will be more expensive and the DVD's with both formats will be more expensive.

I personally hope that one side will give in so that this war will end and this new technology will not be necessary. This technology will be more expensive, but I think it is good that it has been developed in case this war never ends. It will be interesting to see how Blu-ray and HD-DVD respond to this new technology and if the companies will allow for both of their formats to coexist on a single DVD. Could this lead to the end of the format war?