week 3

search engines such as http://google.com have become infinitely popular lately due to the ease with which all sorts of information can be instantly found. it is a very useful tool for research on the web. search engines have become more and more comprehensive. with mega companies like google and yahoo profits have gone through the roof. this has allowed for these companies to seek almost limitless new progressive ideas. from keeping track of popular searches for marketing and sales to storing our personal information on their computers. internet engines have become more than just a useful tool to quickly find information. the revenues that these companies see are astronomical and are nowhere near slowing down. that leads me to believe that thhe future of many things are going to be influenced y these companies including the internet. just as microsoft and apple blew up into mega conglomorate companies with unlimited resources others will too. these revenues allow them to venture into many new fields in technology. this leads to new technology being developed at an exponential rate. if yahoo turned down a $42B offer, that speaks volumes about where they think the future of their business is heading. as companies like these continue to integrate areas of our lives into compatiblity they will gain power and money. the big plan is to combine our cell phones, computers and tv's into one handheld device. thats a nice idea it will be very convenient for everyone. the unfortunate thing is the consequences of having one company in charge of so many various aspects of your life. especially when a company like google keeps searches your information and then sells advertising based on your preferences. they can really make it easier to hit your target demographic. what about the new G phone? everything right there in your hand run by google. will we start getting sales calls based on a search we ran? will google start working with the gov. if people dial a flagged phone number? where are we going when we give these huge companies access to our private lives? what if google decides that it isnt unconstitutional to record and save all phone calls on there phones? save all recordings for 100 years? categorize by key words? categorize calls by any means? they arent the govt. so the supreme court may agree with them. then what can they be solicited by the govt? as a matter of natl security? its a very complex issue and we will need on point people to bring the proper cases before the supreme court and the right justices to protect our rights before we are immersed in a world where corporations have far too much power over the individual person.

smart cars

during the industrial revolution everyone was excited about the new efficiency with which we could now manfacture, produce, and ship products.it was fantastic, people were coming up with new ideas creating new versions of old ideas and thus bcreating the world we know today.it was without a doubt the fastest growing and innovating age man has ever known. fantastic right? well yeah but with all the new "stuff" http://encarta.msn.com/ came some unforseen problems. people of the day could not have had any idea that what they were doing would create issues for generations to come. granted they did revolution ize the world and that type of leap cant come without some gliches.it was only about a hundred years later that we began to realize the magnitude of what had happened. the main fuel source for all of our new "stuff" is oil. a dirty fuel that can be found deep in the crust of the earth. it creates smog and pollutes our atmosphere. in one hundred years we have done more damage to the earth with oil than all of mankind in the previous thousands of years. oh yeah, we cant live without it. kind of creates a problem doesnt it? well now in the midst of another great revolution, the technological revolution, we are attempting to find ways to deal with the problem we have created. because oil is our number one fuel source and it is so incredibly destructive to the planet that supports our lives we have decided it is time to try and fix this. the first and most common everyday usage of oil is byy every person over the age of 16. the car is a staple of everyday life for americans and is constantly emitting nasty oil waste products. scientists have begun trying to find an alternative source of fuel http://eere.gov/ to power our transportation. other source sof fuel are available but i believe the biggest challenge is going to be incorporating them into everyday life for the average citizen. giant leaps have been made with the introduction of new smart cars http://smart.com/ that offer more fuel efficient alternatives to the V8's we know so well. while we have come a long way from the gas guzzling muscle cars of the 60's and 70's we are still a long way from fully integrating an enviornmentally friendly fuel source into everyday life in america. when opec created a suplly shortage in the 70's america's answer was to create more fuel efficient cars. kind of fixing the symptom and not the illness. while other countries like brazil decided to take themselves out of the oil dependency that we currently enjoy. their answer was to find a new fuel source and start integrating it immediately. crazy idea right? well it took three decades but they are currently http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/21/AR2006062101769.html using a little more than half the oil they were when that crisis hit. they utilize an indigenous sugar cane and convert it into fuel. talk of utilizing our own corn stalk http://http://www.abc.net.au/tropic/stories/s1905459.htm as the new fuel source. wouldnt you love to tell opec to take a hike...

dark side of the internet

The internet is a fast up and coming entity that can put a world of information and communication at your fingertips. people have come accustomed to being able to instantly access any information from their desk. this is an incredibly useful tool in the fast paced world we have come to know. being able to shop, talk, pay bills, work, and network on the internet have all become indispensible parts of everyday life for the majority of americans. few stop to think in their hectic hustle and bustle lives what is the cost of this readily available internet option. watching a single episode of "cold case files" can spark even the novice email user to question where the internet is bringing us and what could be the consequences of our browsing history. in a past episode a forensic scientist re- examined evidence that had previously been stored away. the case was twenty years old and the samples were useless in an age without dna. until the cold case detectives http:/aetv.com re opened the case withthe newly available dna testing. after examining the forensic evidence they matched it to a known sex offender and convicted him of murder. is this the type of situation we can expect with the future of the internet? twenty years from now could potential employers have access to software that can pull up a comprehensive record of every internet search we have EVER conducted? its a scary thought but thats the direction we're headed. if google has the capability to access everything on our computers and marketing firms employ full time positions tasked with monitoring our internet activities we must assume that the government is way ahead of them. so a word of caution to all the web masters out there; be careful what and where you go on the net. its a service open to the public so don't forget that whatever you do on it is just that:PUBLIC! it could be compared to checking out an embarassing magazine then putting anenvelope in every persons mail box telling them what you did. and hoping they dont open it. if you surf the web your info is out there its just a matter of some one deciding to open it up. and dont be fooled whatever methods you use to hide your activities may work today but who knows what fantastic new technology some enterprising youth will develop that can make your discreet activity public.