One Step Closer to the Jetsons

Sci fi worshippers and Jetsons fans the world over have long been dreaming about the reality of the jet pack. In fact, for years many of us have been left feeling bitter and disenchanted, due to the fact that the Jetsons clearly lied to us. Not only do we not have any jet packs, we don't have any flying cars, either. Quite the contrary, you can't even take the frigging train now without being crammed in beside the other passengers like sardines and suffering through a nine hour trip with someone breathing questionable breath into your face as they attempt to sleep on your shoulder. Unless of course you have the riches required to get a sleeper car or bedroom.

Of course, if you have an extra hundred grand lying around, now you actually can buy a jet pack. Yes! They are coming into existence! The Martin Aircraft Company of Christchurch, out of New Zealand, is one of many companies perfecting the art of jet pack travel. Currently, their version -- which runs on two turbojet engines instead of a rocket engine -- is at the head of the pack. The way things are going, it might be affordable for the rest of us somewhere around 2030, so hey! Start saving!

Making your computer faster

I've recently done a few things to my laptop that has SIGNIFICANTLY improved my performance, so I thought I'd share those really quick.

Obviously, a memory upgrade is easy, quick, and very inexpensive. That's a no brainer. Do it now and max it out.

I've also purchased a solid-state internal hard drive. Booting up and shutting down in Windows is agonizingly slow - as most of you know. With the solid-state drive, it's extremely fast. Just a couple seconds. I never thought Windows could run like this. The solid-state drive is pretty expensive though, and you may not get one as large as you want due to the cost constraints, so I would recommend using it for your more active files and programs, and system directories.

Finally, I've noticed that occasionally my machine will start running at 100% CPU utilization when I'm browsing the internet. I've found that this is due to flash. Flash ads, etc. end up going haywire for some reason and take my machine. I've installed flash ad blockers for both firefox and IE to prevent this from happening. And now it doesn't!! Just do a search in Google for flash ad blocker and you'll get plenty of free solutions.

Hope that helps!

The Memorial Diamond

So, today I have what some folks may consider a morbid bit of technology for you. This picture features a memorial diamond, though it is just one style of many.

What is a memorial diamond? Basically, it is a diamond made from the ashes of your loved ones, should they choose to get cremated.

Death is a touchy subject for a lot of people, especially when it is the death of someone you love. I, for one, am ridiculously close to my parents, both of whom have expressed an interest in being cremated. Usually in such cases, ashes are either buried or placed in an urn, which is in turn put in a place of pride in your home.

With the LifeGem Memorial Diamond -- and with other companies which do similar work -- you can still do that, but you can also take a portion of your loved one's remains and have it made into a diamond, which is then set into a ring -- or a necklace, or bracelet, or any other piece of jewelry you fancy, I would imagine.

This may not be a piece of technology made to help humankind, it may not be the most helpful invention. However, there are a lot of people out there who dread the thought of being parted by the people they love most, and I just think that something like this gives you a way to memorialize them and keep them close to you forever. And I, for one, quite fancy that idea.

Tattoo Removal Goes Ultrasonic

So ... let's say you get a stupid tattoo -- or one which could potentially get you sued by the nose-less, baby-dangling King of Pop. Of course you can get tattoos removed these days, but it's something of an ordeal. Time was, it could also cause serious scarring, but technology just keeps getting better.

The latest news in tattoo removal involves ultrasonic measures. Getting tattooed is rather simple. The ink contains carbon particles, which are suspended in water. That water diffuses when the ink is introduced to your skin through the needle. The ink itself then spreads into the surrounding tissue. It is literally embedded in your skin, which makes removing it quite difficult.

These days, abrasion, surgical removal, and laser treatment are the most commonly used techniques. However, even as advanced as they are, infection is still a high risk, as is scarring. Recently, however, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh has come up with what he says is a completely non invasive technique for tattoo removal. Specifically, ultrasound is used to collapse the particles of pigment, thus removing a lot of the ink.

Medical Center Implements New Technology

Vanderbilt University’s Medical Center’s Center for Experiential Learning and Assessment is implementing some exciting new technology which promises to be groundbreaking for medical students and physiologists. A new, twelve thousand square foot lab has just been constructed – at the cost of five and a half million dollars.

The new lab contains two programs: the Program in Human Simulation and the Simulation Technologies Program. The former will allow students to go through clinical practices, which will lead to improvements in their interpersonal skills.

Mannequins will be used to simulate human patients. They are computer based and, as such, are physiologically similar to humans. The individual mannequins will be used to portray individual patients, not to mention family members, doctors, nurses, and any other people students will be in contact with during real time and real life situations.

Cisco Unveils New SAN Technology

My precious computer geek, l33t brethren, rejoice – Cisco is unveiling some new technology. Specifically, they’ve developed a new Storage Area Network, or SAN, which they promise will improve the performance and scalability of SAN systems. As well, the management of the systems will be much simpler, the date will be safer, and the SAD services on virtual machines will be better. The premise behind this new technology is to help users create, from design to construction, the next generation of data centers.

The new SAN is part of an expansion of the Data Center 3.0 series of Cisco’s products. They expect it will make data centers respond better, in addition to making them more resilient and efficient. The SAN technologies include three new modules from the MDS 9000 line as well as new features found in their SAN OS. Its new name is the NX-OS. The new switch modules has eight gigabits. You can use them in any combination, and they will increase both port density and performance, by into a preexisting Cisco chassis. The bonus is that this will not require any major upgrades.

MBI Breast Cancer Technology

There’s some brand new technology out, beneficial to women. It’s a new screening tool, designed to detect breast cancer. The clincher is that it can work three times better than the typical mammogram, thereby finding tumors faster and earlier. Furthermore, it can find tumors in women who have very dense breast tissue, which mammography has had problems with for years.

A mammogram is essentially an X-ray of a woman’s breasts. In comparison with the new technology, the old standard was found to find less than one third of the tumors discovered by the new technique.

The technique is called molecular breast imaging – MBI for short. It promises to make the process of finding breast cancer tumors faster, easier, and less invasive. For instance, patience will no longer need to be injected with the radioactive agents, which are absorbed by the tissue and used to make the tumors themselves show up in the X-ray. Instead, MBI uses cameras. It has a very low risk of radiation, but the makers are working to make even that small risk a non issue.

NASA's Nasty Little Virus

So, get this junk, y'all. NASA has worms. Seriously.

One of the awesome, super special astronauts has a worm in his laptop -- and this is not the first time NASA's been infected, it turns out.

This is disturbing on so many levels, and I am not soothed by the fact that NASA has dealt with it before, nor am I soothed by the fact that they don't really seem to see a problem with this little malware boo boo. I mean, what else would they say, that they were scared to death? That they're terribly afraid that mission data and other important, space related stuff was in jeopardy? Of course not. NASA isn't honest, no one that big is. That's like believing politicians tell the truth.

My biggest problem here -- and it seems to echo in a lot of the blogs and news reports I've read on this -- is how can they be so sure nothing was seen, taken, accessed? How do they know? It's all well and good to pat the public on the head in the hopes of making them think that some little super smart, sixteen year old hacker is just up to some mischievous tricks, har-de-har, those darn kids, but that does not answer the question of how in the frigging world does the International frigging Space Station attract malware? How? What? Huh?

We'll know the answer, I guess, when Russia blows us up or something.

Gaming Technology

Keep up with the latest in the gaming industry over at Technology-Wizard.com, a gaming technology that covers the latest games and gaming industry news. Gaming technology has never been covered like this before.

"We can rebuild him. We have the technology."

Well ... kind of. See, Nike made this. It’s the PreCool vest. The way it’s made, it’s supposed to take longer for the core temperature of your body to heat up to the point where you start getting exhausted. Right now, it’s being used during the Olympic Games over in Beijing – just as a prototype, of course.

You fill the vest up with cold water, which adds about 8 pounds onto you. The fabric keeps you from freezing, there’s insulation, and even a layer of aluminum that will reflect heat.

Naturally, it’s supposed to help you when you’re out on the playing field. Supposedly, like you’re the Six Million Dollar Man, it will make you faster, stronger, healthier – just better, basically.

And a little known fact: it’s actually styled after the mini dresses that were popular in the 60s.

You know, my birthday was Sunday...

...and if any of you awesome readers that I don't really know would like to get this for me, I'll ... well. Write a post on your piece-o'-technology-o'-choice. Okay?

Seriously, I don't even really have anything to say. I just think this is beautiful. It's the diNovo Edge from Logitech. Mind you, up to this point, I've really only thought of Logitech as a good product that I looked for when I wanted to get something useful but basic for, you know. Cheap. Like, I've got 9856 of their optical mice, one wireless optical mouse, one wireless keyboard (they came in a set, don'cha know?), and two webcams. Why? Because I needed them at the time, they were moderately cool in the tech department, and more importantly, I could afford them.

I cannot afford this. Well, I can, and I'll probably by it eventually because my GF got one for frigging FREE, and I saw it up close and touched it and admired my reflection in its shiny, shiny surface ... and then I had to leave it. And my soul still weeps.

Also, typing is a dream, it is hot as hell, and it's got what they call "backlit stealth controls" and I'm sorry, but that just seeps of awesome like an infection and I want one.

I sing in praise of getting 5 bars on my cell phone.

Good news for us poor shmucks who still don’t have decent cell phone service in our homes. I live in central New York and my cell phone only gets bars in, like, three rooms of a nine room house – only a third of the whole frigging house!

..but anyway! Sprint’s offering up this thing called the Airwave, which is made by Samsung. Essentially, it’s a miniature cell phone tower that works through your broadband. It covers up to five thousand square feet and as many as three cell phones can be used at the same time within its range. Admittedly, T-Mobile’s @Home is similar to this, and it may or may not be cheaper ... and I, for one, have T-Mobile, but whatever, teeny little home based cell phone towers in general are super neat, and considering all the snarking I do about cell phones in general and coverage in particular, it gets a couple of stars from me.

And now, couch potatoes rejoice!

Thanks to a new technology known as WHDI, or Wireless Home Digital Interface, the world of television is changing. This comes as all televisions – or at least television channels – are going to be undergoing brand new make overs, with all of them set to change over to digital in 2009. With Wireless Home Digital Interface, you will be able to mount big screen monitors right on the wall of your living room, bed room, et cetera, as well as surround sound speakers – without a great big mess of unsightly wires. Housewives all over the world are going to be rejoicing right along with their television watching husbands and children (that is a huge bit of generalization, but I’m sure you guys know what I mean). These little boxes will work with high definition TVs and they, too, are set to be available by 2009. Amimon Ltd., a company operating out of Israel, developed these little beauties. Companies like Panasonic, LG, Toshiba, and others are now planing to follow suit and develop their own wireless systems.

Wii enhancements: Wee!

There’s good news for gamers, yet again. The Nintendo Wii is possibly the greatest gaming system ever in life (warning: the preceding was a completely biased opinion and no, the author does not care), and Nintendo has plans to make it even better. Hot on the heels of the wildly popular Wii-Fit, which is has revolutionized the lives of fat-bottomed (warning: the preceding was a Queen reference, who caught that?) gamers everywhere, Nintendo intends to enhance the standard Wii-mote with a wee, teeny box called the Wii MotionPlus. It’s supposed to enhance the Wii-mote’s response and precision, and to make playing games on the Wii an overall more intense experience – namely because it is much more motion sensitive. Nintendo’s also introducing Wii Music, which lets gamers play fifty different instruments, just the way they are really played. The balance board is going to double as part of a drum kit – it will be the bass drum. Ba-dum ching, baby.

Can your cell phone kill you?

Recently in Moscow, over a dozen people were either injured or killed outright. The cause? They were struck by lightning. The underlying cause? Well, a lot of authorities there are blaming it on cell phones. For instance, one woman was struck by lightning while she was talking on her cell phone. People are actually blaming these strikes on several different pieces of portable technology; they consider MP3 players and other music devices to be just as much to blame.

Now, I definitely do not intend to make light of this situation; I used to live in fear of being struck by lightning. However, there is no real scientific proof that the weak electromagnetic fields put off by cell phones and other hand held, metal made devices could lure a stroke of lightning, even though evidence does support the fact that people carrying metal objects when they are struck by lightning may be more fatally wounded.

Still, it bears the question – who wants to be out in the middle of an electrical storm talking on a cell phone anyway?