Moore’s Law Falling Behind?

Moore’s Law is basically the idea that computing power doubles every 18 months. More or less that’s been the case, but lately they’ve having a bit of trouble keeping up with the trend. Never fear, a Princeton professor believes he has an answer.

I thought it would never get better than my Dad’s first portable, but then I saw this! All I know is that it will be tough to measure the computing power of this machine after sampling some of it’s, uh… output?

Update 4/21: My Dad emailed me a picture of what his first portable really looked like.

Trauma Pod Is Freakin’ Cool

I’m just going to come out and say it and I’m sure that many in today’s social climate will take offense, but this time, I’m actually fine with that. Here goes: People who think there’s never a reason to fight a war are hopelessly naive. (see below) There. I said it.

Unfortunately, there are times when war is the right thing to do. So in order to reduce human casualties as much as possible, there is the Truama Pod.

Click for Video

This is in the news because the Pentagon is going to put some money towards the concept. I think this is a wonderful idea. And I’m not alone. The same people I criticized earlier agree with me. See? We’re more alike than we’re different. 8^)

Brain Mapping Forces Technology Change

Dilbert creator, Scott Adams, is suffering from a brain mapping problem called focal dystonia. It’s a very strange situation where activities that are performed too frequently, force the brain to adjust what you can and can not do.

See if you notice the difference between these two cartoons. The first one was created in 2001, the second just recently. [Click to enlarge]

Scott has had to start using a Wacom tablet to continue his strips while accomodating his condition. Quite bizarre but I wish him well and commend his never-give-up attitude. [via Presurfer]

Googlezon Dominates

Epic 2014 is a 8-minute newsreel from the future. It’s also a cchilling prediction how what might happen as media and technology merge. Not bloody likely but entertaining none-the-less.

Ethics in the 21st Century

Susan Llewelyn Leach has an interesting article over on The Christian Science Monitor called Only the Ethical Need Apply. The premise is that as technology expands to take more jobs from humans, those that remain will be under a larger microscope.

I think she surfaces a fine point, but it doesn’t go far enough.

For starters, who defines what are good ethics and what are bad? Certainly there are actions people accept today that would not be tolerated 50 years ago. I would expect the reverse to be true as well.

A related corollary (accessibility) is that the media determines what you and I get to see and hear.

Now more than any other time in history the media broadcasts an immense amount of information to the Four Corners of the globe. It’s up to the individuals to sort through what is available; but not everything is available.

Like the professors that teach our young people, the Editor-in-Chiefs of the news power brokers are largely skewed to one side of popular thinking.

The most recent ASNE study surveyed 1,037 newspaper reporters found 61 percent identified themselves as/leaning “liberal/Democratic” compared to only 15 percent who identified themselves as/leaning “conservative/Republican.” [source]

Thus the information being transmitted has already passed through the media filter, increasing the importance of alternative news sources like the Internet.

Depending on your worldview, this could be a very exciting time to be alive. Or a very scary one. [via Thunderstruck]

How Long Do Discs Live?

Anyone who’s rented the latest action-thriller from Blockbuster knows that DVDs are fragile objects. Who wants to drive back to the store? Or worse, have to mail it back to Netflix?

Unlike the floppy discs, which protect the data covered disc with a retractable “door”, DVDs and CDs only use a thin reflective layer of polycarbonate. So how long should we expect them to work?

Well, the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Government Information Preservation Working Group (gotta love their acronym, GIPWoG) is debating how to label the longevity of discs. Any info would be helpful, but they should really work on a better way to protect the data inside of the disc. Titanium comes to mind.

Making with built-in expiration is just plain wrong.

Heard It on My Watch

How would you like a watch that can receive news broadcasts and stuff? And it’s only $150! Sure it’s made by Swatch but how cheap-looking could it be? Oh… very cheap. The idea sounds great, we won’t have to have those extra pool of minutes from our mobile company but if you think about it, the screen is awfully small. How would we input our requests? Do we even get to? I’m guessing we’d need to subscribe to MSN Direct as well. Hrm.

Definitely something you’ll want to test drive before you buy.

Kentucky vs. Utah

For the sixth straight time, Kentucky beat Utah in a tournament. Don’t you think Ute fans cringe on Selection Sunday when they hear Kentucky’s name called in their bracket? In a game that was far from pretty, the Wildcats won 62-52. Only due to Azubuike’s free throws down the stretch were the Cats able to climb above .500, shooting an abysmal 10-19 from the line. Fortunately, Utah only shot 14-28. Crikey, mate!

Google Execs Pass the Buck

Even though the founders of Google are millionaires several times over, it’s admirable that they didn’t give themselves bonuses this year. Now if only more companies would follow this positive example; congressmen too!

Please, No Phone Spam

Technology like this just shouldn’t be made. The harm far outweights whatever benefits there might be. Sadly the author of this piece didn’t consider the negatives.

Smart adidas Gonna Fly Off the Shelves

You know you’re big-time when you get a highlight on the AOL Welcome popup. What does adidas pay for this? Whatever it is, it’s worth it. Other news is far easier to ignore but this stuff is money. Anyway, I got sidetracked.

Have you heard about these new shoes? The adidas 1 claim to be the world’s first intelligent shoes. They have a built-in computer that senses the kind of surface you’re running on and adjusts the amount of support they give you.

If it works, “Wow!”
If not, still “Wow!”

Some people will buy just to give them a test drive… well, unless they’re like $600, which they might very well be.

Father of Pong

Nolan Bushnell is the father of Pong, among other things. A lifelong entrepreneur, Bushnell has been building businesses and dreaming up new ideas since the early 70s. His newest endeavor is uWink. While nothing earth-shattering innovation wise, it could really be a big money maker. Read about this and more in an interesting interview with a true pioneer in the gaming world.

Movie Quote Madness

The First Five Movie/TV Quotes that come into your head (must be from different movies/shows).

1. “These pretzels are making me thirsty.” -Kramer (Michael Richards) in Seinfeld, The Keys
   I can’t not think of Seinfeld references. It’s impossible.
2. “Eyell bee bahk.” -The Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) in The Terminator
   Our generations version of Clint Eastwood.
3. “We have a pond in the back. We have a pool and a pond. The pond would be good for you.” -Ty Webb (Chevy Chase) in Caddyshack
   The movie is filled with ‘em, hard to pick just one but this one came to me first.
4. “No lieutenant, your men are already dead.” -Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving) in The Matrix
   At the films start, you just knew that whatever was coming next was going to be cool.
5. “I was born a poor black child.” -Navin R. Johnson (Steve Martin) in The Jerk
   I was just thinking about this film recently. Who knows why.

[via Llama Butchers]

Lexus Lust

When you drive the same car for 11 years it really starts to wear on you. Especially tough when those around you are constantly getting the new shiny ones. (Gene, you know who I’m talking about, right?) Well, my lust has been aroused with the launch of the new Lexus IS. My scheming officially starts… NOW! [via Andrew Pryor]

Introduction to Ajax

Jesse James Garrett does a walkthrough of Ajax—the newly emerging technology found in applications like Google Maps. Because the Ajax engine puts some logic on the client side, responsiveness goes through the roof. Now if they can only marry this concept with Flash we’d have a truly rich multimedia experience.