Technology and Copyright Law

The copyright laws of America have been around for many years. When they were created the concept of digital media did not exist. Technological advancements have changed the way Americans consume digital media and pose a significant challenge for those wishing to enforce their copyrights. Consumers want the ability to use the media that they purchase for whatever legitimate personal uses that can. The producers of the media fear that having such an open media will allow for piracy to occur too easily. As a result of these two opposing mindsets, America has two laws which often contradict each other; the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and Fair Use. There seems to be no simple solution to this issue. However, much of the problem appears to rise from the way the market is currently demanding media and the refusal by the producers to offer it in such a way. I feel that if the producers were to accept the changing market and offer their media at reasonable prices in the digital format that users want, then buyers would not need to pirate it to get it in the format they want.

Technology in our Cars

Technological advancements in the automotive industry have historically been focused on either the performance or the safety of the car. In general, tasks that the driver would normally perform have been left to the driver. Several groups, including a group of Stanford graduate students, are looking to change that. The Stanford group of students is making a car that can drive itself. Although many other groups have succeeded at this before, their cars were not able to navigate complex courses at any substantial speed. In contrast, the Stanford group is looking at making their Audi TTS autonomously navigate Pikes Peak at near race speeds. Racing Pikes Peak is no simple task. Pikes Peak is a complex race course that challenges even the best professional race car drivers. If their car succeeds to drive such a complex course with no driver, what else will their car be able to do in the future? The future of how we transport ourselves could change dramatically.

Women in Computing

When a student begins their college career, they must decide what it is they enjoy doing. It really is that simple to do. There are no majors that hang up signs that say "no girls allowed," nor are there any that say "no boys allowed." However, there are some majors that are very polar in terms of gender. Perhaps the American culture has raised us to believe that some majors are more suited for one gender or another. This may rightly be the case, or may play a significant role. Yet when it is time to decide what major to choose one must ask themselves, "Do I enjoy doing this?" If the answer is yes, then gender biases should not stop them. I am not experienced enough to say if there truly is any gender discrimination in these majors. It seems to me that perhaps the real issue may be that one gender, for whatever the reason, simply might not enjoy that type of work.

360-Degree Display

It is fun to watch technology strive to create the future technologies imagined in the science-fiction of the 1980's. Star Wars, Star Trek and many other science-fiction shows demonstrated many technologies that seemed great, but that were well out of reach for the technology of the day. Many of these technologies are starting to be developed. The 3-D holograms of the science-fiction world have started to be developed. Sony has unveiled the first display that has a 360 degree viewing angle in which you can see an object in full 3-D. Unlike other attempts at 3-D displays, with this display there is no need to wear special glasses to see the image. Although a device like this may not be the best type of screen to place in the movie theater, it has the potential to be useful in many other situations.

How Secure is Technology?

Crime has been a part of all written history. There has always been somebody who could not be trusted. However, with the introduction of the computer the number of ways in which criminals can accomplish their malicious intentions have dramatically increased. Previously, criminals had to risk actually going someplace to do whatever it is they wanted to do; they ran the risk of being seen and caught. With a computer and the Internet they no longer have to leave their home. There is a great deal of anonymity on the Internet. This was especially problematic during the early development of the Internet where the network was based largely on trust. There were relatively few security measures taken to secure a computer attached to the Internet. This allowed criminals to get access to great amounts of information fairly easily and with little risk of getting caught.

Since those early days of the Internet, many things have changed. People started to realize that there was a great risk in giving free access to a computer attached to the Internet. Passwords became stronger, and encryption began being used when sending and receiving sensitive data. Communities of people that were concerned with computer security formed, and they started publishing the problems they were finding. This brought great awareness to the problems that existed.

With the rise of each new technology, we should always be concerned with the security of our sensitive data. However, as a whole, the world has become aware that great attention needs to be given to making new technologies secure. This does not mean that their efforts are perfect. Many security holes still exist in new and existing technologies. With that in mind, perfect security is not what we desire. Perfect security greatly reduces the usability of anything. Think of what it would take to make your house perfectly secure. It would quickly become a very hard place to live in. The same is true of technologies. There will always be some risk of criminal activity, but is that risk great enough to overshadow the benefits gained by the technology? In the past, perhaps this was the case. Today, the benefits are great and the risk is ever diminishing.

The Future of Batteries

With the ever-increasing demand for rechargeable portable energy there has been an increasing push for new technology to improve conventional batteries. Conventional batteries take a relatively long time to charge and can be charged only relatively small number of times. Ultra capacitors could be the battery of the future. Capacitors, by their nature, charge in seconds and do not suffer any of the longevity issues that conventional batteries suffer from (they can be charged hundreds of thousands of times). There is, however, still research that needs to be done. These ultra capacitors currently provide only 1/25^th of the power that conventional batteries provide. New manufacturing techniques show promise in closing this gap within the next few years. One of the main applications for this type of battery would be electric cars. Electric cars never became very popular; one reason was that on long trips when the car needed to be recharged it took hours to do so. With these batteries that problem is solved. The car could be charged at a filling station in the same amount of time, and in the same fashion, as a car being filled with gasoline.

Genealogy Work and Computers

Before the 1990s genealogy work was tedious and limited to a select few who had access to hard copies of historical documents. There was vast amounts of information available in documents scattered around the globe, but no easy access to much of it. The rise of the internet and the common place of personal computers in nearly every household changed that. Thus everybody who had a computer could access millions of genealogical records and then share the information that they had gleaned from those records to the world. This ease of access caused an explosion in the number of people who are actively doing genealogical work. Technology has affected everyones life in many ways, some good, some bad; however, it has been a blessing to genealogical work.