For a breakthrough on data storage capacity, think about storing bits and bytes on DNA.
I have no idea what the technology is, but scientists have written data to DNA and read it back successfully.
Tag: technology change
Your smartphone could be a hostile spy in your office
There are a few downsides of the astounding technology we have today.
A team from a Navy research office has announced a malware application that can use your phone to create a 3-D image of your office. Such a program could you be used to steal information from your office. For example, bank account numbers visible on checks, info on broker statements, info on your computer screens or calendars. Could also be used to figure out what nice stuff is in your den or living room.
This isn’t a concept paper or theoretical discussion. It is software that is in existence today and has been successfully tested.
Continue reading “Your smartphone could be a hostile spy in your office”
American middle class isn’t stagnating but is better off than in the ‘70s
A frequent comment at several blogs I follow and discussion on this blog is the dramatic improvement in life generated by technology over the last few decades. Look here, here, here, and here. For a longer term perspective, look here.
Don Boudreaux and Mark Perry expand the discussion beyond technology to explain the middle class is much better off today than in the 1970s. Check out their article in the Wall Street Journal – The Myth of a Stagnant Middle Class.
The claim they are addressing is the idea that only the richest people are better off over the last 30 years:
Continue reading “American middle class isn’t stagnating but is better off than in the ‘70s”
What if we laid off 70% of all workers? Wouldn’t we go back to the Stone Age and stay there forever?
That’s the lead question in an article by Kevin Kelly at Wired, Better than Human.
He asks:
Imagine that 7 out of 10 working Americans got fired tomorrow. What would they all do?
Well, we’ve been there, done that. And thrived.
Downside to cameras everywhere and the near-zero cost to record data
We are being recorded and logged and photographed everywhere we go. We need to be aware.
I’m not sure we have all caught on to the extent that we are tracked. Andy Kessler ponders where we are in his Wall Street Journal article, In the Privacy Wares, It’s iSpy vs. gSpy – Big Brother is watching us. But we are watching back.
Boundaries of monitoring
He reminds us there is a log and probably a photo from every time you interact with a toll booth, cell tower, ATM, or commercial security cameras, of which there may be as many as 30M around the country.
As cheap as storage is, those records will be retained for years, if not decades.
Ponder the new boundaries of the monitoring:
Continue reading “Downside to cameras everywhere and the near-zero cost to record data”
Who inherits your digital music, books, and movies? Who controls your social media after you die?
Can you give your digital books or movies to your heirs? Can your family gain access to your social media sites after your death to preserve your memories and content?
Our legal system hasn’t quite dealt with those questions. At the moment, the answers to those questions are probably no.
Hours of labor to buy basic home appliances – 1956 and 2012
Café Hayek takes a leisurely tour though his newly acquired copy of the 1956 Fall/Winter Sears catalog and shares the preliminary results in The Future: Back to the Past.
Maybe things weren’t so great in the good ol’ days.
Continue reading “Hours of labor to buy basic home appliances – 1956 and 2012”
14 bulky electronics gadgets from 1980 fit in your pocket today
Check out the photo –
Thanks to capitalism all of these things now fit in your pocket.
If you wanted to move those things from one room to another, it would take half a dozen trips back then.
Continue reading “14 bulky electronics gadgets from 1980 fit in your pocket today”
Human tissue from 3-D printing
The technology is in its infancy, yet bioengineers are creating human tissue through computerized adaptive manufacturing, or 3-D printing right now. Today.
A Wall Street Journal article, Printing Evolves, An Inkjet for Living Tissue, has details.
Scientists can build tissue, such as a blood vessel, one dot of tissue at a time, just like other 3-D printing applications. Around the tissue a separate nozzle places a water-soluble gel, called hydrogel, that works like a mold to hold the tissue in place until the dots of tissue knit together. After the printing is done, the tissue is stored in a solution that provides nutrients. Then after a few weeks to stabilize, the hydrogel is washed away.
Robotic cheetah, pack mule, and dog
Way cool. DARPA is working on some amazing things. A robotic cheetah that currently can run 28 miles an hour. Also, a robotic pack mule that can walk over rough terrain, obey simple instructions, and follow its leader (master?) without instructions. It can right itself if it tips over. A dog that can walk across a rocky surface, up a 45% snow-covered hill, or carry 400 pounds:
Check out the National Geographic article, Animals Inspire New Breed of War Robots.
Check out the pack mule:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=xY42w1w0TWk#t=21s]
Check out the cheetah: Continue reading “Robotic cheetah, pack mule, and dog”
The technology revolution has just begun – part 2
What will develop next after the astounding technology changes of the last 30 years? We have no idea.
Previous post described my brain stretch from an article, The Next Great Growth Cycle, by Mark Mills.
His main point is we can no more tell today where technology will be in 30 years than we could predict in 1980 where we are today.
He then points out three major technology transitions that are already here and will have a huge impact in the future:
Continue reading “The technology revolution has just begun – part 2”
The technology revolution has just begun – part 1
It is hard for my brain to stretch that far, but when I try really hard, I can grasp that the astounding technology change we’ve seen in the last 30 years is no more than the opening chapter for the future.
My latest brain stretch is courtesy of The Next Great Growth Cycle, by Mark Mills.
He describes the astounding technology growth from 1950 through 1980 that left people wondering what could possibly come next.
Sitting in 1980…
Continue reading “The technology revolution has just begun – part 1”
What 30 years of change looks like
Change in technology, the all-white old-boys network, and turnaround time are just a few of the things Mark Schaefer has seen in the 30 years since he started his business career. He discusses the changes in his post, 30 years of business change in one blog post.
One of the changes I’ve benefited from is the growth in personal opportunity. The entry cost to start anything new has dropped dramatically.
In my case, the cost of starting a new accounting firm is minimal.
Did you know the U.S. drilled the last drop of its oil two years ago? – peak oil #7
Seriously.
We don’t have any more oil to drill. Let me prove it to you.
In 2000, we had 21 billion barrels of proved oil reserves. Proved reserves are the amount that is economically and technically feasible to produce.
In 1999 we produced 5.9M barrels a day. Prediction for production in 2000 was 5.8M bopd. That latter number is equal to 2.11B barrels a year.
That means as of January 1, 2000 we had 9.92 years of oil that we could economically and technically get to. In other words, we ran out of oil back in November 2009 or earlier.
Travel cost by stagecoach in 1870s – part two
So what was the cost for cross-country travel by stagecoach in the 1870s?
I previously mentioned some of the fun exhibits in the Seeley Stable and Wells Fargo museums in Old Town, San Diego.
Putting together several of the information displays gives this information:
The Butterfield Overland Mail stagecoach run from St. Louis Missouri to San Francisco, California covered 2800 miles.
The fare was $200.
Travel time was 24 days. That means the overall average travel speed was 3½ or 4½ miles per hour including changing out the horses and rest stops.
Let’s convert that into weeks of salary
Continue reading “Travel cost by stagecoach in 1870s – part two”