Futurist

There are 396 posts filed in Futurist (this is page 35 of 40).

Google Fiber picks Kansas

I was sorry to hear that Google passed on North Carolina for its Google Fiber project. Kansas City, Kansas won out.

I hope it had nothing to do with the animosity our state’s current leadership has shown towards high-speed broadband, but you never know.

After a careful review, today we’re very happy to announce that we will build our ultra high-speed network in Kansas City, Kansas. We’ve signed a development agreement with the city, and we’ll be working closely with local organizations, businesses and universities to bring a next-generation web experience to the community.

via Official Google Blog.

Update 9:26 PM: All hope may not be lost for NC after all.

Artificial Leaf

Fascinating.

Speaking at the National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in California, MIT professor Daniel Nocera claims to have created an artificial leaf made from stable and inexpensive materials that mimics nature’s photosynthesis process.

The device is an advanced solar cell, no bigger than a typical playing card, which is left floating in a pool of water. Then, much like a natural leaf, it uses sunlight to split the water into its two core components, oxygen and hydrogen, which are stored in a fuel cell to be used when producing electricity.

With a single gallon of water, Nocera says, the chip could produce enough electricity to power a house in a developing country for an entire day. Provide every house on the planet with an artificial leaf and we could satisfy our 14-terrawatt need with just one gallon of water a day.

via Artificial Leaf Could Be More Efficient Than the Real Thing | Wired Science | Wired.com.

Broadband op-ed in News and Observer

The News and Observer ran my opinion piece on municipal broadband today:

Don’t block broadband
BY MARK TURNER
Published in: Other Views

RALEIGH While farm life has never been easy, at one time it was significantly harder. In the mid-1930s, over 97 percent of North Carolina farms had no electricity, many because private electric companies couldn’t make enough money from them to justify running the lines.

Aware of the transformational effect of electrification and recognizing the need to do something, visionary North Carolina leaders created rural electric cooperatives, beating passage of FDR’s Rural Electrification Act by one month. Through the state’s granting local communities the power to provide for their own needs where others would not, over 98 percent of farms had electricity by 1963, and our state has prospered.
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Ignoring the have-nots in a digital society

Want to use a computer? Take a number

We took the kids to the Cameron Village library last Sunday and loaded up on the kids’ books. As I usually do (being the curious sort) I took note of the crowd making use of the library’s computers. I always like to see what kind of folks are depending on the library’s computers. Like many of my visits there, I found a crowd at the computers. There wasn’t even a single workstation available.

As my kids were checking out their books, I listened as a mom and her 10-year-old son pleaded with the librarian to get a computer. I guessed that he had a school assignment he needed to complete.

“What if they’re not doing anything important – playing games or something?” the mom asked. “Could they give it up then?”

The librarian shook her head. “As long as they’ve got time left on their reservation, they can use it however they like. Now, if they get up and walk away, leaving it unattended, then you could step up and use it.”
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Could the Internet be shut down in US?

Wally Bowen of the Mountain Area Internet Network ponders whether the U.S. could be cut off from the Internet the way Egypt was.

After seeing what some anti-spam servers can do, I can say wholeheartedly that it can.

On National Public Radio last Saturday, host Scott Simon opined that a “central shutdown” of the Internet as occurred in Egypt was “unthinkable if not impossible” in the United States given the “thousands of Internet routes and providers” here.

Simon noted that Egypt’s four primary Internet service providers could be shut down “with just a few phone calls.” But the U.S. has only four companies — Comcast, Time-Warner, AT&T and Verizon — controlling most of our broadband access. More than 90 percent of U.S. broadband users have only one or two providers, a cable or telephone company, to choose from.

via Could the Internet be shut down in US? | citizen-times.com | Asheville Citizen-Times.

Coming of age in America

I have often thought that in America we do a lousy job at bestowing adulthood upon our children. Coming of age rituals for Americans are all over the map, with no rhyme or reason. Instead, we have several milestones scattered throughout various years in a way that leaves kids wondering when they’re officially grown up.

The first big milestone is becoming able to drive. Even that varies in age from state to state but definitely by the age of 16. After one gets one’s driver’s license, there’s another two years before one gains the right to vote and be drafted into the military.
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Free media streaming, solved!

On a happier note, tonight I figured out the last piece of the puzzle of my free media streaming project! I have paired the red5 Flash media server with Adobe Flash Media Live Encoder to create stunning live video, all ad-free. The total cost of my software: $0. It’s just what I’ve been looking for.

I began by downloading and compiling the red5 software on my hosted CentOS server. This involved running a few “yum” commands to install the necessary Java dependencies but that was little challenge. Then I walked away from the project for a bit and when I returned I could not remember how to start red5. After a few more Googles, I discovered red5 had to be started from the /usr/lib/red5 directory on my server.
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Cutting the cable

A friend of mine, fed up with the high cost, just canceled his cable television service after another friend showed him how he could watch his shows on the Internet or through streaming services like Netflix. Another friend got a Netflix-streaming Blu-Ray player for Christmas and is considering doing the same. They both will likely save a bunch of money.

Netflix reported yesterday that they’ve reached the 20 million subscriber mark. They have a $10 billion market value: more than some Hollywood studios. Netflix’s stock jumped over $16 to close just shy of $200 a share on the news.

As I’ve been saying many times, cable television is going through a sea change in how it does business. If cable doesn’t offer a-la-carte programming, people (formerly known as “consumers”) will get it through Netflix or through other Internet sources.

Telemedicine at the dentist

A crown I had put in 11 years ago began to ache over the last few days so I made the first appointment I could to see my dentist. An x-ray was called for, so the dentist positioned the x-ray emitter at my mouth. This time, though, instead of the usual bite wing he placed a bite wing with a cable on it in my mouth.

After snapping the x-ray, I turned to face the dentist and was surprised to see my x-ray was already displayed on the screen. Cool! No more waiting around for the x-ray to be developed. The dentist could view the problem immediately, too, which means he can put more patients in the chair each day.
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The coming oil crisis

After thinking over yesterday’s announcement that Southwest is changing it’s Rapid Rewards frequent-flyer program, I was reminded of Southwest’s savvy negotiating of its oil contracts. Its keen ability to manage its fuel costs helped Southwest remain profitable through our last recession while its rivals collapsed into bankruptcy.

I also thought of last week’s analysis saying the surging worldwide demand for oil, driven by China’s voracious energy appetite, would likely result in nearly doubled gasoline prices by 2012. This is after gasoline prices doubled over the past two years. This week the average price of a gallon of gasoline on the East Coast is $3.07, whereas the price two years ago was $1.65 (and yes, I am fully aware that these prices will one day seem hilariously low).
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