Technology Futures

FaceBook and MySpace have been interesting experiments in the social uses of the Internet. As the use of these social networking sites evolves, a better understanding of the effects of those uses also evolves. Not only are employers using the sites to evaluate potential employees, it turns out that a significant number of colleges are also using the sites to evaluate potential students.

Zap electric cars will be built in Kentucky. They have been built in China, but the cost of hauling them from China has become too expensive. So manufacturing is moving closer to customers, and the Energy Economy is going to unfold much like this--getting energy and energy saving devices as close to customers as possible.

Wired's Gadget Lab reports that new audio capabilities have been built into the new iPod Touch. The first generation Touch did have the necessary hardware to support voice in, so voice memo applications did not work, and neither did VoIP applications. But the new Touch has support for voice input, meaning you could run a VoIP app and make phone calls with the iPod when you have access to a WiFi hotspot.

3M may finally be the first to market with a real pocket projector. Numerous companies have pre-announced these gadgets for several years, but the sticky note company may grab an early jump in this emerging market space with their $359 device.

It does not have the light power to provide a good image for a large room full of people, but for desktop use, impromptu small group presentations, and even cheapo home theater use, it is likely to be very popular.

The debate over the terms of Google End User License Agreements (EULAs) continues. Last week there was much discussion online about the EULA for Chrome, the new Google Web browser, which resulted in a change to the EULA that no longer gave Google the right to use anything you uploaded with the browser.

Slate has an article about a phenomenon that network administrators have known for many years: a handful of Internet users gobble up a huge portion of bandwidth. Five percent of users typically consume 50% of a service provider's total capacity.

New data for 2007 and 2008 shows that the Internet demand has continued to grow significantly year to year, with an aggregate growth rate of doubling every two years. Growth is "down" slightly from 2007 to 2008, meaning the rate has dropped from 61% to 53%, which is still a huge increase, and is consistent with the fifteen years of data we now have on Internet bandwidth demand.

With the release of Chrome, the new Web browser from Google, a side story has developed, as it appears that the End User License Agreement (EULA) for Chrome gives Google an irrevocable right to use any content you might post using the Chrome browser. As it turns out, the legal language in the Chrome EULA is cut and pasted from Google's other EULAs, including the Google services like their word processor and spreadsheet.

The New York Times has a story about an emerging problem with wind power: the power grid can't handle it. Putting massive new energy generation sources out in the middle of nowhere won't work if you don't have high capacity power lines that can carry the electricity to where it is needed. So one of the hidden costs of wind power (or solar, or any other new generation source) is getting the power to the right place at the right time.

This brief report discusses the fact that airlines are dropping nonstop flights even to and from major cities like New York. For business, this is devastating, as the increased cost of tickets can, to some extent, be moderated via other cost-cutting measures. But sending business people on trips that take all day instead of three or four hours is devastating, because you can't recover the lost time spent traveling.

This Slashdot article quickly gets into a down in the dirt technical discussion, but the question about full time video to elderly parents is an indication of what is coming. If you browse through the comments, what you quickly realize is that people are already doing this routinely. What is missing is high quality "like you are there" connectivity.

Using EVDO cellular data technology, you will be able to buy a Chrysler with built-in Internet access. The pricey feature includes everything you need to plug in a laptop and surf the 'net while traveling down the highway. You will have to have a cell tower within range, but the Chrysler option and what is likely to be many more competing systems, including after market add-ons, is likely to be popular with anyone who drives a lot.

In a series of broadband planning meetings earlier this week, I heard about several companies that were seriously considering moving their operations to another city if the local electric power infrastructure was not improved. The firms said they were experiencing multiple outages per month that often lasted an hour or more.

A radio report this morning indicated that for the first time, more than half of college students are living at home. The high cost of college is causing a spike in enrollments at local two and four year schools, where the students can commute and avoid the high cost of room and board. In a recent conversation with folks at the University of Memphis, they indicated a 20% jump in enrollment for online classes.

A new study out from Forrester says 9% of the workforce is already working from home for their employer, and another 22.8 million are running their own businesses out of their home. This adds up to a major demographic that is turning neighborhoods into business districts.

According to Suzanne Morse, a long term commitment to quality of life issues in Chattanooga won the city a coveted Volkswagen manufacturing plant, which is estimated to be worth up to $1 billion in investment for the area.

"Cloud computing" has replaced "Web 2.0" and "social networking" as the latest buzz phrase. IT folks love buzz phrases, and the IT landscape is littered with them. Whatever happened to "client-server," "relational databases," "artificial intelligence," and "fifth generation?" All of those buzz phrases were based on solid and useful technical advances that were grossly oversold as the answer to everyone's problems.

The iPhone continues to break records. According to some estimates, Apple has sold 3 million phones in the first 4 weeks after the updated iPhone 3G was released. Last year, it took Apple three months to sell 1 million. One estimate suggests that Apple will continue to sell 800,000 phones a week for many months.

NBC, which has exclusive rights to broadcast the 2008 Olympics in the United States, is apparently upset that people are simply not bothering to wait for prime time to watch NBC's repackaged broadcasts. Instead, viewers are simply going to the Internet and watching the Olympics on the Web sites of media outlets in other countries.

Widespread availability of affordable broadband should bring better access to health professionals, especially in rural areas, where some kinds of specialists are not available locally. Wired reports on the results of a new study that shows that just using relatively low cost Webcam technology for diagnosing stroke patients results in better outcomes.