Tuesday, May 8, 2007

sounds like a good idea to me


I was recenly reading an issue of Wired and learned about shot spotter technology. I have actually heard about it before because it has been implemented where I live(Rochester, NY). When a gun is discharged the technology used sound sensors and triangulation to find ut where the shot came from and even the type of gun. Authorities are notified and dispatched to the location. Shotspotter is borrowed from army technology, it seems like a trend that once the army has used it for a while it goes into civilian production.

3 D films

A high tech 3 dimensional film surge is expected by 2009. Nasa created technology to help train astronauts for making repairs on space shuttles and it is now going hollywood. The new generation on movie experiences will be in the realm of 3 dimensional features. Many film studios are remaking their filsm for 3 d re release. I found it interesting that one release is called avatar, which is related to second life avatars which we learned about in this course. And 3D goggles will be provided but the eyestrain will be less then that of the old movies, since the technology is now better calibrated.

efficent trash


I found an article about a portable biorefinery that turns decomposable trash into electricity. I haveread about farms that use methane from cow manure to create electricty but this one I found particularly interesting. This biorefinery can use kitchen scraps to create portabel power for troops, from 2,500 pounds of trash a day it can power 3 mess tents. I want to know when I can run my car on food scraps like in Back to the Future part 2





http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/05/02/mobile.bioreactor/index.html

Video Project


This post is a bit later then it happened. I have a few of the old posts recorded in a notebook, I just need to transfer them to the internet. I met with my video group the other day, we had a panel discusion about technology and how it has related to our lives. I had hoped to do something more creatve with this assigment but we had scheduling conflicts and I decided to just put together what we had made and hoep for the best. I wish I had more camera angles and an external mic for this project. Ours seemed on par with others so I am glad we accomplished what we did.

ipod battles

Musical Pirating is a major controversey on the internet today. It seems often that we see a story about a college student being procesuted because of illegal downloads. Itunes makes it possible to download songs right off the internet for a small fee without having to worry about piracy. Steve Jobs is now working on getting Itunes mp3's onto other mp3 players. It is looking like that the mp3's ables to be trnaferred onto 3rd party mp3's will cost $1.30 a song as opposed to the 1 dollar we're used to.