Technology

It seems every polling day sees pundits hyping up "the first real Internet-era election", but the 2008 US Presidential race really has brought us close to that point. A study of 2,251 adults suggests that 46% of Americans have followed the elections ... either through the Internet or via text message. That's up from around 33% in 2004. However, that figure is a little vague as it incorporates gathering information, sharing opinions and influencing others -- three activities which most likely cover very different numbers of people. (Source: cnet.com ) And yet, the study did also find 35% of adults ... (view more)

The competition between microprocessing developers has reached new heights, as each attempt to cram the most power into the tiniest possible space. IBM is looking to cool down their vertically-stacked chips by using one of the most abundant and ... natural sources on earth: water. The company is certain that water would be a much more efficient source than air at absorbing heat, even if the amount of water being used is minute. One potential danger associated with downsizing chips is that the circuits in these processors, although miniature in size, still generate a considerable amount of heat. ... (view more)

A collection of entrepreneurs are now hoping to do for billboards what clicks have done for Internet advertisers. Billboards are slowly becoming equipped with small cameras that record the age, gender and duration of time consumers stare at ... advertisements. The information is then transmitted to a central database for analysis. Advertisers measure the success of their products by paying close attention to the demographics of their audience. This data can easily be collected if extracted via Internet, television, and print resources, but what about seemingly immeasurable advertisements like ... (view more)

You are sitting on the beach of a tropical paradise, sifting through the family photos that you have just taken on your digital camera. Your momentary reflection period is interrupted by a family member telling you to "go long" and you allow the ... camera to fall in the sand as you make a game-saving interception during a round of beach football. At the end of the day you pack up your belongings and walk away, leaving your camera behind. Imagine that a stranger comes along and picks up your camera. Would you want him looking at your digital memories? Of course not! But what if the stranger was ... (view more)

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have taught two monkeys how to feed themselves with a human-like robotic arm using only signals from their brains. The rate at which technology improves has continued to break down the ... walls of the impossible on a daily basis. Ideas that were once reserved only for futuristic television shows like The Jetsons and Futurama have slowly crept into the realm of possibility. Sitting in front of your computer screen in North America and sifting through the pages of Le Monde from Paris does not seem to impress us anymore. Typing out a ... (view more)

As the population gets older, new applications begin to reflect that shift. Many are assistive devices to help older persons cope with their aging; in fact, there is such a plethora of new technology applications that it deserves a category of its ... own: call it: "geron-technology". It's no surprise this type of technology is emerging. The market is growing. The CDC estimates that the number of persons older than 65 will increase from 35 million in the year 2000 to more than 70 million by 2030. In Europe by 2030, the largest single age group will be over age 65 and the average age is expected ... (view more)

Last week, I wrote about environmental watchdog Climate Counts' criticism of Apple's sustainability policy. On the heels of that report comes a new initiative by Hewlett-Packard to create a 'green printer'. According to the Climate Counts study, HP ... scored 68% success, putting it in the "striding" category, as opposed to companies "stuck", like Apple, or just "starting", like Dell and Nokia. (Source: climatecounts.org ) Since, 1992, HP has been intent on improving its environmental record. The company's website claims that it has endeavoured to use recycled materials, minimize containers and ... (view more)

Watch out. As industry marketers and publishers turn their attention to providing mobile content, spam and the web's unscrupulous are following suit. Ferris Research, based in San Francisco, estimates that 1.5 billion unsolicited text messages will ... be received by American consumers. That doesn't sound like much when you take into account that 48 billion text messages were sent in December of 2007 alone, but if you are a cell phone consumer that pays 20 cents a message, that can add up to big bucks! (Source: nytimes.com ) According to Juniper Research, $1.7 billion of "mobile adult content" ... (view more)

If you went out and saw the recently released "Iron Man" movie, chances are that at some point during the film you envisioned what life would be like to own a suit that gave you superhuman abilities. What would you do if your strength was amplified ... 5 times? 10 times? 20 times its current capability? A robotics technician in Salt Lake City has developed an actual "Iron Man" suit that, when worn, increases human strength by 20 times its current capability. The robotics firm, Sarcos, now holds a lucrative contract with the United States Army to develop the 150-pound "Iron Man" suit to be used by ... (view more)

With the number of jobs in North America spiraling and the price of gas skyrocketing, consumers were recently given more bad news when it was announced that droughts in Asia would eventually lead to a universal increase in the cost of rice. So what ... can we Westerners do to help? Log onto a computer and join the crusade! While not a crucial commodity here in North America, rice has become a staple food for more than half of the global population. In Asia alone, more than 2 billion people receive up to 70% of their dietary energy from rice. In response to the shortage, some national governments ... (view more)