iRobot becoming reality

We watch films like these, iRobot, The Terminator, AI and all the other films like them based on future robotics and technology and we think "that's cool, imagine if that were possible?!".

Well.....here's the thing....

It's happening, this stuff is coming around slowly but surely.
This link relates to the use of fibre optics in the creation of artificial nervous function for prosthetics.

That's right, the sense of touch at the end of that prosthetic hand that links to the human nervous system.

Stop dreaming, this stuff is happening right now..

Check out the link to see what I mean

http://bit.ly/dBDhKk

Bye Bye Plastic??!

http://tinyurl.com/2vftmvg
Wow, 

A new material that could replace plastic and be renewable at the same time.
(hit the source link above to check it out)


I'm liking the idea of this stuff if I do say so myself. that watch looks pretty cool, I'd definitely think about owning one of those. 


I suppose to start off with it would be a matter of cost of production. But if this was taken up it would be a real grass roots solution to the over use of plastics in the World. #


Win all round

And on the 1st day..........ending in something about light....

SOLAR ENERGY!!!!!

Reported recently through a study at Duke University (Durham, North Carolina), solar energy has officially reached a crossover point known as "Reaching Grid Parity" . 2010 is the year New Solar Energy became cheaper than New Nuclear equivalent.
The magic number per Kilowatt Hour (energy needed to power 10x100w bulbs for an hour) is 16cents (US).

Don't get me wrong, this is dependent on a couple of factors and most certainly pertains to economies of scale! But, essentially, a large PV (photo-voltaic) plant can be created which produces cheaper energy per KW than Nuclear. If only I could say that Wales would be the ideal candidate country for such a project......but with our history of weather and this awful summer, we'd have no chance :).

North Carolina is not a Sun-rich State either, so places like Southern California, New Mexico, West Texas, Nevada and Utah would see even greater savings and rate of production per cell.

The Technology in solar cells has progressed quite rapidly in the last decade. The multi-layering of silicon compounds which capture different parts of the spectrum has been broached of late, allowing for an increase in efficiency from around 15% of the suns rays, so a whopping 41.6% roughly. This is known as a Multi-junction system. Add to this the recent development of a different silicon compound which uses (less of something) making it significantly cheaper to produce AND more efficient and we can start to see a real place in the future for mass production of Solar energy.

Also, recent developments in Silicon production have found a way to make silicon melt at lower temperatures than before, which overall would lead to a reduction in costs for all Silicon using gadgets and products (like PV cells for solar energy production).

A German Built Solar Village, has been completely designed from the foundations up to be solar reliant. BUT, the big whoop with this is it actually produces more electricity than it consumes!
Also, the South facing houses have perfect building geometry for the different sun levels of summer and winter. The relative height of the Sun in the sky changes from Summer to Winter. As such, the architect has taken this into account. Shown in the diagrams on the link.

Future developments in clean and renewable energy are coming thick and fast as incentives, research calls and  general interest spikes. I can't wait to see what comes next....

The Introduction to Destruction

Well,

I must start off by saying that I am completely new to Blogging.
Besides the sneaky Twitter update and the Facebook status changes I am really not the type to publicise my thoughts and feeling online too much.
I do however read an awful lot of online content, mostly relating to High Technology and scientific discoveries.
I am a bit of a car buff as well if I do say so myself, and nowadays, that and High Technology are highly intertwined.

This Blog will undoubtedly mostly be about my opinion and thoughts shared on recent news and discoveries. As such you will find links here to source material for you to do your own reading around the subject.

I think that the rate at which we are progressing in the high technology field is just incredible. I literally cannot imagine what we will be capable of in 50yrs time.

If Moore's Law has been correct so far (which I am led to believe it has been), then we will be supersonic in term of technology. As far as I am aware actually, Moore's Law is being surpassed recently in terms of Home computing Processors

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/00/Transistor_Count_and_Moore%27s_Law_-_2008.svg/683px-Transistor_Count_and_Moore%27s_Law_-_2008.svg.png

As this graph shows (thank you Wikimedia Commons), Moore's Law is roughly correct, but in the most recent past, there are many processors that are slightly ahead of the graph. Leading me to believe that we are now developing at a greater rate, and increasing into the future. Like I said SUPERSONIC.

Phones have their own processors too. With smartphones now being as powerful as computers were 10 years ago, that 1ghz Snapdragon processor has revolutionised multitasking performance on may smartphone platforms. I'm an Android user myself and have had the power to multitask for a while. Hell, even back on my old N95 Symbian platform i could multitask. Apple seemed to have bypassed this concept when they released the first few editions of the iPhone, having only just included it now and acting like it's a revelation.......well I can tell you now, it's not. (get over it Apple, you're behind in some areas)

I am however impressed that Apple managed to squeeze the A4 Apple chip from the iPad into the iPhone 4 though, and i'm sure it makes for a speedy appliance, but i have yet to have a go with one.

(I'm happy with my trusty hero for now. It's finally got 2.1 but i'm not so sure if it's any better off for it. It's a touch slow and laggy at times under load, and it's lack of RAM/ROM makes for a restricted content in term of program space. Not if you are a root super user however - using app2SD - my phone is restricted now and I can't root easily so never bothered).

All in all i'm just completely bowled over by how quickly things are progressing. Reading about new developments in technology everyday has inspired me to think outside the box in my own world. I analyse everything differently, assessing how i could make something easier to use, or improve on its current design.

I'll be posting more interesting blogs in the future obviously, this one is a bit of a ramble from me about not a great deal, so I do apologise for that but its certainly an introduction to me ChrisB and the opinions that come along with me. Feel free to comment, if you have something genuinely worth saying....otherwise i'd appreciate not being fireballed.

Thanks for reading if you made it this far (you nutter) and I hope to see you again,

regards,
ChrisB