Mike's Megabits

At the risk of dating myself I pose this question… Remember when you had to go to your house and go to the kitchen or living room and DIAL a phone… And besides payphones, this was all you could make a phone call from? Fax machines were pretty cool too… 300Baud Modems were pretty cool new things? Then came those cell phones installed in cars… Then the “brick” like huge handhelds? Things have gotten smaller and smaller, until some insanely small phones came out… Flips etc. Then camera’s in the cell phones, followed by music and video…. That’s was great right? But why stop there?

We are no longer in the cell phone era… We have now entered a new era of computing. Handheld Devices… You can do just about anything from a handheld device now. I was having a discussion the other day, recalling using a Encyclopedia for my school work. The library for research… NOW, if someone asks me a question I don’t know, two seconds later I can look it up and find out anything I might want to know.

I made the move to a Blackberry Curve last Christmas, after coveting them for a really long time. Data rates were highway robbery for some time, but jumped into the Curve as soon as the unlimited data plans came out. So now, here I am. After all these other simple phones that came before, I now can take pictures and send them to my facebook friends anytime. I can send and get my emails. Run my whole business from it.

…BUT…

Now…. Now, there are DEVICES that you can do MORE on. Touchscreens, powerful processors, slide out keyboards too! Big (for a handheld) screens, full color, resolutions getting better and better. Movies, music, websurfing, emails, texting, VIDEO CALLING, more and more and more….

I am now looking at the other units out there. Yes, I am considering leaving RIM and moving into something better. RIM is announcing a new OS for their products, and new stuff is always in the pipe, but it seems that the others are doing things one step ahead. YES Blackberries are historically centered around business users (I can relate), but these days someone could still do all their work on these other handhelds, yet have so much more.

I have been looking at a Google Based OS Motorola… I have heard they will (possibly) be releasing a new android OS handset around Christmas this year. Good timing, as my BB anniversary is in January 2011 The milestone looks like a really great machine, and a newer one would only be better. While I hear a lot of people are switching from their BB’s to a new iphone, I just can’t bring myself to be assimilated. I guess its my preference to have an actual real keyboard, which the milestones have….

Would it be weird to invest in Apple in the stock market, yet not own ANY Apple devices?

March 8, 2010 Australian Broadcasting Corporation

An international team of scientists has developed a new type of semiconductor that could lead to faster and more efficient computers with over double the average existing hard-drive storage capacity.

The new research centres on a class of semiconductor called magnetic quantum dots.

These crystals — so small they’re measured in billionths of a metre, or nanometres — were first developed about 15 years ago and are used in computer chips, solar cells, LEDs and diode lasers.

Semiconductors act as a switch, altering or moving the movement of electrons in a circuit. Quantum dots have the ability to also allow electrons to give off photons on command.

The new work, reported today in the journal Nature Materials, describes a class of quantum dots that not only control electrons, but also have good magnetic properties allowing them to read the electron’s spin.

The research team claims it’s the first successful synthesis of magnetic quantum dots above room temperature.

The researchers were also able to demonstrate electric field control using the quantum dots at temperatures up to 100 Kelvin, or –173 C.

Prof. Jin Zou, chair in nanoscience at the University of Queensland’s Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis, said that by detecting electron spin, scientists can find new uses for quantum dots.

“Quantum dots with magnetic properties have multiple uses both optical and magnetic,” said Zou.

Zou said the key was getting just the right concentration of manganese mixed in with the germanium matrix of the quantum dot.

“Manganese has characteristics that in combination with other semiconductor atoms, allows magnetic properties to be achieved,” he said.

“But the amount must be small — just five per cent — so as not to lose the qualities you’re after,” said Zou.

2 years of research to reach goal

It has taken the team, which included researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, and computer chip maker Intel, two years of research to achieve their goal.

Zou said the research could lead to advances in computer technology.

“The new technology could lead to faster and larger storage hard drives that use less power, as well as new ways of communications,” he said.

“It could also open up new frontiers like spintronics, a very hot topic internationally,” said Zou.

Spintronics, also called magnetoelectronics, is a relatively new technology that relies on a quantum property of electrons, called spin, that is closely related to magnetism. While electronics exploits only the charge of electrons, spintronics can use both their charge and spin.

This show is really cool. I’m a big fan of futurism (Age of Intelligent Machines… etc) so this show really struck me as very interesting. Check it out!

Visions of the Future: The Intelligence Revolution. 1st part of 3 part miniseries on the BBC hosted by Michio Kaku. In this new three-part series, leading theoretical physicist and futurist Dr Michio Kaku explores the cutting edge science of today, tomorrow, and beyond. He argues that humankind is at a turning point in history. In this century, we are going to make the historic transition from the ‘Age of Discovery’ to the ‘Age of Mastery’, a period in which we will move from being passive observers of nature to its active choreographers. This will give us not only unparalleled possibilities but also great responsibilities.

There are three parts to this show, so be sure to also look for the other two parts!

If you havent yet heard about the Bloom Box, you should really check this out. With a “energy server” the size of a small brick (today’s standards and tech) it could power your house using “garbage gas” like methane from landfills or even farm waste etc. It will normally run from natural gas but uses so little that it can effectivly cut costs in half or more! I was thinking as well, that if you had a solar panel connected to seperate the hydrogen from water, you could really use the sun to make the gas that powers these “Bloom Boxes” and then you would be completely off the grid. Very exciting time for Bloom Energy and the world. Check out more at www.bloomenergy.com