Science Tech 2008: Large Haldron Collider

Science Tech 2008: Large Haldron Collider

Author JoeDigital | 09.01.2009 | Category Science, Technology, Technology Viewpoint

The year 2008 brought about something that highest of all high techs have longed to have for years. What I’m talking about is the fabled Large Hadron Collider, at CERN.For many, the LHC was as mysterious, and carried the same alarm as the thought of nuclear power reactors once did. Since it is designed to work with some of the smallest particles known, there was little knowledge to back up theories behind what it was intended to do. For most, however, fears of a black hole suddenly swallowing the Earth were just amusing statements.

Making history as the biggest physics experiment ever built, the LHC was designed primarily as a tool to search for the Higgs boson, which is theorized to carry the force that gives all matter in the universe its mass. The LHC went online as planned, and initial tests were very positive, but a transformer was damaged in the first days, and an elecrical short caused severe damage to one section, knocking the LHC offline again for several months.

Just as the Hubble Telescope began it’s continuing journey of history making, initial flaws are delaying the great discoveries that are sure to be made, but the LHC is still expected to be fully operational as early as the second quarter of 2009.

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U.S. Digital Converter Funds Depleted

Author JoeDigital | 08.01.2009 | Category Consumer Electronics, Technology Viewpoint

Coupons for Digital Broadcast converters are running out!

17, 2009 is the day when television as we have known it for more than 50 years enters a new century. By the order of the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC), that is the day when all analog broadcast of television programming will cease, and digital broadcast will begin. For cable and satelite users, this isn’t a big deal, but millions of americans don’t have cable, and for them Digital ConVersion Boxes are required, and have been sibsidized in part by the government. The problem is, money is running out.

Current estimates show that the fund will be depleted long before every household that needs a converter has been taken care of, leaving as many as eight million U.S. homes on a waiting list for more of the coupons.

Converter boxes are available without the coupon, at most stores that sell home electronics, but the coupon was itnended to relieve a fincancial burden for entertainment for households that would otherwise be unable to make the transition.

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Palm Plans New OS and Smartphone for CES

Author JoeDigital | 07.01.2009 | Category Technology Viewpoint, Telecommunications

Palm, which has suffered recent economic concerns along with so many other companies, is expected to make an impressive showing at CES this week. It had already been expected to display its new mobile operating system, which has been dubbed Nova, and the rumor mill now has it that the company will show off the first handheld device using the new operating system, in the bargain.

The new smartphone, which is said to use a pulldown QWERTY keyboard could be just what the company needs to make a comeback from traumatic losses in revenue suffered last year, which showed 2nd fiscal losses of nearly 90%. Palm also recently announced a boost of $100 million from Elevation partners, and it is hoped that influx of new money will give the company necessary impetus to make a comeback.

Palm devices, just as with the Apple iPhone and Verizon G1, are able to download and install mini applications. Palm even has a Palm Apps store where the programs can be downloaded. You can check out the Palm App Store, if you’d like.

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Nokia Predicts Thriving 2009

Author JoeDigital | 07.01.2009 | Category Technology Viewpoint, Telecommunications

Despite bleak market outlooks, Nokia Promises to rise above

In spite of 2008 wrapping up in the red for many businesses, large and small, Nokia has stepped up to the plate and said that it expects to do burgeoning buiness in the coming year. For many, this seem to be exceptional bold claims, considering that most analysts are predicting a continued worsening in the economy to drive sales lower, even for companies specialized in mobile computing.

“2009 will be challenging for our industry,” Said Nokia chief Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo. “However we have a strong, enviable base to build on and I believe we will continue to strengthen our position on many fronts. Building on our operational flexibility, Nokia is acting to reduce costs appropriately in the current slowing environment. At the same time, we remain fully committed to making the investments to build the future of our exciting industry and Nokia’s continued competitiveness.”

With so much turmoil in the economy, and telecommunications advancing exponentially, it will take far-seeing companies with determination to rise above to weather the next couple of years, but Nokia seems confident that they will remain, as now, one of the world’s leaders in cellphones and mobile communications.

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Atomic Scale Computing

Author JoeDigital | 05.01.2009 | Category Computers, Technology, Technology Viewpoint

Since the advent of the transistor in 1947, the power of computers has grown exponentially. Every year that goes by, the speed and power of computers has increased dramatically, causing many to wonder when the so called ‘doubling effect” will end. Until recently, many researchers had considered the wall within sight, but recent discoveries on the molecular level have changed all that.

Funded by the European Union, the CEMES Nanoscience and Picotechnology Group (GNS) has put together some of the brightest minds from 15 top academic and industrial research institutes, working on the problems of nano-computing and atomic scale computing. It will still be a few years before these machines are on the market, but the steps taken today will help guide near-future business ventures.

The goal is to create a logic gate, a single ON/OFF switch, in a molecule, and computing by comparing such set states at the molecular level. If successful, and early results indicate that the field is not only promising, but emerging, whole new levels of computing technology will open up, increasing the current speed and storage levels beyond anything currently imagined.

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CES 2009

Author JoeDigital | 04.01.2009 | Category Computers, Consumer Electronics, Technology Viewpoint

One concern for the upcoming CES 2009 is the current worldwide financial shae-up. Many vendors are expected to cut back on their level of participatiion, while other are expected to ramp up and roll out the best they have available, hoping to draw in some consumer recognition and sales to follow up on 2008′s overall slump.

Mircosoft is expected to unveil Windows 7 at CES 2009, bringing the latest evolution of the software gient’s operating system into play at a critical time. Microsoft has been facing potential competition from many directions recently, including Google and various Open Source software offerings, and the company seems to pinning a lot of hope on cornering portions of the mobile computing market in 2009.

In addition to Microsoft, you can expect IBM, Intel, and Hewlitt Packard to put ina  good showing, and other companies ar certain make make at least honorable appearances. 

On the downside, this year’s attendance is expected to be quite a bit lower than in previous years, with pre-registration currently the lowest it has been since 2006. For those who attend CES for the party-like atmosphere, you may be a little this years, as tightening budgets are going to hamper the freebies and incentives that have been so common at conferences in the past.

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Buy the Future, Cheap!

Author JoeDigital | 16.12.2008 | Category Technology Viewpoint

One of the few possible upside of an economic slump is that you can now buy what you’ve always wanted to buy. Be it a house, a car or that new television. The focus however should Alternative Energy Stocks. Petroleum might have slipped 70% from a high of $147 a barrel in July and a predicted $200 a barrel but according to forbes.com Alternative Energy companies are here to stay.

From hybrids being the rage earlier this year to the stocks of companies like Canadian Solar, Energy Conversion Devices and First Solar rising to meteoric heights. The recession has wiped the smile of their faces and turned the stock near worthless.

People seem to forget that fossil fuels are still exhaustible resources and cannot last forever, combine that with the fact the global warming hasn’t slowed down clean energy makes all the more sense. With the fall in the prices of shares of green companies roughly in line with the fall of crude prices, now would be an opportunity to buy the future cheaply.

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