Clever car?!?

On the never ending and much needed quest for fuel efficieny, Brittish engineers have developed what they call a "clever" car. Designed more like a motorcycle, with technology that allows it to turn more efficiently, this clever car is "is designed to help the commuter squeeze through the narrowest of gaps and nip into the tiniest of parking spaces." (Sydney Morning Herald). It is a great concept for EU, but this will not penetrate the american materialsitic market, at least for another 7-10 years. Look at the picture and you will understand why.

bout darn time!

The booming online music sector saw sales triple to $US1.1 billion in 2005. This, among many other reasons, leaves me dumbfounded when I hear about bands protesting against digital music. At this point, it should be standard for music agencies to require bands to post their music online, despite the loss they get from piracy. It is their competitive advantage. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the Beatles are finally planning to sell their music online. Bout darn time!

I want an iPhone

Visiongain, a US market research company, is suggesting Apple launch iPhone mobile phone to co-incide with the launch of Helios. According to Pam Duffey, telecoms analyst at Visiongain, "There exists a relationship between Apple and Helio management that goes back to the ROKR iTunes phone, and Helio has declared a target audience identical to iPod's existing market. Helio's top rank executives have also publicly voiced frustration with mainstream carriers and appear to be on a crusade to radically shake-up the industry."

If and when Apple develops a phone, it is likely to dramatically change the phone industry just as they changed music industry.

Fortune magazine recently predicted technology trends for the upcoming year. Surprisingly, they claim that the mammoth and beloved Google will see declines in their business. The article claims that Yahoo will outperform Google because a new concept known as "community-powered search." Yahoo is market leader in this fast-evolving technology with its acquisition last week of del.icio.us. Del.icio.us is similar to MySpace, however, whereas social network site helps members find dates, form groups, and share music picks, del.icio.us helps members find information--websites that others have found useful. (News Corp. (Research) recently bought MySpace, for $580 million.) The article claims that “what others liked” button will be preferred over Google’s “I’m feeling lucky” button.
Another interesting claim? Apple will try to reclaim some of its lost market share in the mp3 industry by introducing new cell phones that compete with Motorola’s ROckR phone.

an obvious but brilliant move.

The Georgia State students are clearly not the first nor last to think about this brilliant idea. Going 55 is absurd, yet they did a masterful job in actually following through on the idea and filming the comical scene for all to see (http://www.campusmoviefest.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/IdeaFlow.woa/wa/showAMovie?movieID=978) But, what really will come out of this, other than a great laugh? As ignorant as it may be to post a 55 speed limit, the sole reason for doing so is honestly not our safety (though "the man" would like you to believe). Just think about the cop that pulls someone over going 75 in a 55......what a massive payday for the government.

Regardless, the movie was brilliant and I hope to see many more like it.

one cool unity

Google alongside Professor Allen Weinstein, the national archivists for the US, have joined forces to "enable researchers and the general public to access a diverse collection of historic movies, documentaries and other films from the National Archives via Google Video (http://video.google.com/nara.html) as well as the National Archives website (http://www.archives.gov)."

I think it would be amazing to gain access to watch video such as World War II newsreels, and the story of Apollo 11, amid many more historic events. It allows for a more in-depth meaning to research for students worldwide.

This agreement has also sparked up the controversial issue of having on line text-books. Publishers worry about copywrite infringement, others claim they have a right to post texts online. Honestly, I am all for which ever one will allow me to buy cheaper!

neonarcissism?

I read an article in the NYT entitled "Here I am taking my photo" in which they study a recent trend of "youngsters" (our generation) increasing their use of photography because of the advent of digital cameras, camera phones and web cams. The article was an interesting read, especially the discussion of how others might view it as narcissitic (because many of the photos taken are self portraits to be uploaded to the web for sites such as myspace). Being a myspace junkie, I definitely have seen and been subject to this type of photography. However, having a digital camera has introduced me to my new hobby: photography. And contrary to what the article implies, I use it for SOOOOOO much more than photos for myspace or facebook.