Technology posts

Picture this. You are driving your car on the highway, and you decide to tweet about the lack of traffic on your morning commute. By hitting a button on your steering wheel and speaking when prompted, you can easily tweet to your followers without even glancing at your smart phone. This is technology that we may eventually see in our cars. With social media becoming more and more a part of everyday life, and phone-related driving accidents increasing, it is not crazy to think this could happen. One of the benefits of this feature would be the safety it brings to drivers. Unfortunately, drivers can’t…

Virgin Galactic, a space tourism company within Virgin Group, launched a spaceship into sub-orbit on Monday. They’ve been trying to design a commercial aircraft capable of launching tourists into space since 2004. The spaceship, called SpaceShip Two, completed its first powered flight over the Mojave Desert on Monday. The founder of Virgin Group, Sir Richard Branson, said that the flight could not have gone more smoothly. A special twin-fuselage jet carried SpaceShipTwo for forty-five minutes as they climbed to an altitude of 47,000 feet. The spacecraft was then released from the jet and…

The social media explosion means that it’s easier than ever before to keep in touch with old friends and to hook up with some new ones at the same time. Sites such as Facebook and Twitter are great for sharing news too and the majority of users will happily head online to announce details of a new job or a new arrival in the family. Both of those sites, Facebook in particular, are great for sharing your vacation with others. It’s a perfect opportunity to show off your skills as an amateur photographer and to let your friends know of all those exotic places you’re visiting — but is it just your friends…

There you are. It’s 1993 and you’re sporting he hair, the youthful look of post-teen angst, the smile of one dedicated to making it in a Clinton-era, computer driven world. You know that it’s time to get into computers but you don’t know where to turn. No worries – Kim Komando is there to help you. You pick up a VHS copy of “Komputer Kindergarten” and you start the process of learning DOS. Unfortunately, it takes a while to get to that portion of the learning because this isn’t really kindergarten. It’s preschool. Best of all, looking back 20 years, it’s actually quite hilarious. This isn’t a knock against…

There are a few risks that come with social media. Few of them are very serious, but it is always a good idea to be cognizant of them to be on the safe side. Social media profiles are not often hacked unless they are popular or influential ones. If your social media profile is becoming popular and you are becoming influential on social media, then you may wish to consider increasing your security on there.   Run a social media virus/malware scan There are now a few anti-virus and anti-malware programs that offer to run scans on the things posted on your Facebook wall. Norton (for example) offers…

Well, it wasn’t easy, but integrating more technological resources in schools is finally starting to pay off. Eighty-seven percent of parents think that effective implementation of technology is important to their child’s success in school, and 50 percent label it as extremely important. And a respectable 64 percent of parents think their child’s school is doing a good job with incorporating technology into student achievement. Many teachers find the use of technological devices for classroom use beneficial to their lesson planning and sharing information between other teachers. It…

Perhaps I’m ignorant, but it struck me as somewhat shocking that only one-third of the world population is online. I didn’t think it was too high – perhaps 50%-60% – but for it to be as low as it is took me by surprise. We’re definitely making advancements. Latin America is over 40% now, and the saturation of North America, Europe, and Australia is all pretty high. Still, in this digital age, one would think that the wonders of the internet had hit a higher mark than it has worldwide. Asia has the highest percentage of mobile internet usage. Tablets and smartphones are often less expensive and more accessible…

Earlier this week, NASA launched three smartphone satellites, called “PhoneSats”, into orbit. They rode into space aboard the maiden flight of Orbital Science Corp.’s Antares rocket from NASA’s Wallops Island Flight Facility in Virginia. They were sent into orbit as a part of test to determine whether a consumer-grade smartphone can be used as the main flight avionics of a working, low-cost satellite, and it certainly can. The three PhoneStats, which may end up being the lowest-cost satellites ever flown into space, have been transmitting signals and sending photos down to earth. Several…

Military technology has advanced in recent years to the point that many domestic law enforcement agencies and politicians are promoting the concept of using them to fight crime. In the news most recently has been the potential use of drone technology to perform surveillance as well as to take out suspected dangerous criminals during moments of “imminent threat.” Now, one who was perceived as a symbol against the use of domestic drone technology seems to have switched sides. Rand Paul, the libertarian Senator from Kentucky and son of former Texas Congressman Ron Paul, made comments Tuesday…

I just recently blogged about the top car technologies we will most likely see in the future of cars. One of those features was the ability to fly in your car. Ironically at Hyundai’s annual Idea Festival, a flying “car” was showcased at the event. The prototype designed by Hyundai engineers is a hover-type vehicle with a driver’s seat in the middle. The term car in this sense is one that should be used lightly, considering this vehicle was controlled by an outside operator with a remote control and not from the cockpit. The design seemed so simple. A bunch of rotors, 16 to be exact, surrounds…