Crushed Dreams

Tuesday, we finished watching the 2006 Documentary Film Who Killed the Electric Car? The film was very well made and was very appropriate to watch during our ongoing study of emerging information technology trends. The film documents the production, limited distribution, and ultimate recall and destruction of the electric car of the 1990's, the EV-1. What a drama! Seriously, the story is very dramatic. It follows a few folks who spent days, hours, even years upon years of their lives originally trying to introduce the EV-1 into society, and ultimately having to try to save their creation. The film follows a sequence of blame shifting questions to try and propose the reason for the EV-1's downfall, and really just shows that it was a combination of conservative, political, bureaucratic, energy wasting, oil guzzling, conservation spoiling bright ideas by the leaders of the country. I'm not a liberal, but come on man. I can see as well as the next guy can see that we need something like this for our society. Like I said last week, our globe is getting more crowded every day (See what I mean??) therefore, we need to reduce our footprint. We need to cut down on our resource use, and this is such a good way to do so. The gas prices will increase exponentially one day to a hundred billion dollars and then we'll see. In the mean time, I'm looking forward to Who Saved the Electric Car? !!! :)

"Batteries are the most dramatic household items. They don't just stop functioning or quit . . . they die. Man, what a shitty life, you're either working, or you're dead." - Demetri Martin

The Green Mile

So last week, our IT class took part in a discussion all about the green. Green IS. Green IS what? Green IS is designing and implementing information systems that contribute to sustainable business processes. I think this is one of the most important trends to study in today's society. The human population's ecological footprint has no doubt been growing exponentially since the industrial revolution. Furthermore, the Earth is four times as crowded as it was 100 years ago. That means that there are 4 times as many people trying to get in on those precious, nonrenewable resources. Therefore, we need to put all of our efforts into making our technology as efficient as possible in today's world. We need to use all of the information and systems in today's flat world to our advantage to learn as much as we can about our world and all of its components. I think there is much evidence that we're moving in the right direction, and also, I think that some of what is happening is an unintentional environmental sustainable conundrum. What I mean is this, with the creation of some basic consumer technologies, like the internet and websites, the iPhone and its Apps, etc., we get the green benefits by cutting down on phone books, paper maps, printed news papers, magazines, so on, so on, all of which will lead to less production of paper, and less deforestation. This is a nice side effect. But all in all, I think some of society is out there trying too. Many companies are using solar energy, green architecture to allow more natural light, thus less manufactured energy, recycled products, monitored emissions, and so on, and so on again. Green is the way to go, and it's our ticket into the future.

Web Two Point Uh Oh

Why do people use web 2.0 technologies inappropriately? Why do people do anything inappropriately? Some people are just messed up. I think that people are motivated by that coin, for starters. If something is free to do, many people will do it. For instance, people will shrug it off as no big deal if they can get all the music they want for free. Maybe some people just think they're really just "sharing" with their long distance friends, right? Other things people do, such as, prostitute themselves on craigslist may be caused by... well, really really wanting to get those tickets! Like the lady who tried to sell her body for world series tickets? Apparently she was even doing it for her husband??? What the WHAT?? That's why people do things... The worst is when ol' crazy husband goes up to the game and finds out... they were selling EXTRA TICKETS AT THE DOOR!! Yikes. I think that if the opportunity is out there, and something is easy to do, people will do it. Free. Easy. Opportunities to make a buck? Psychologically weird people? Creeps. Many, many reasons why people act inappropriately online. Can it be stopped? I think that most ways to try and stop this are already out there. I'm interested to see what else can be done to cut down on the creeps...

Magic

Today's topic: innovation.

Innovation has been a major part of life as I know it. Especially innovation in electronic technology. And these innovations are not random: they are a result of actual life events and the results, so far, have been magic. I can remember thinking (maybe about 5 to 7 years ago) that one day soon there would be one handheld device that would combine all handheld devices, and on that day, we will see true innovation. A new way of living, even.
Ask and you shall receive, right? In 2007, the iPhone was released. Today, I can't think of any device that tops what the iPhone has to offer... internet, phone, PDA, music player, GPS, games, fitness, Apps, Movies, ATM, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc! It's just crazy. And I just got an email today about how, starting this Saturday, Clemson is offering a live game tracking App to follow in Death Valley while our game is in progress... It will even show instant replay videos... What!? Magic.
I think the iPhone has successfully disrupted more than just its competitors, but basically, it has disrupted our whole lives. It can disrupt class or meetings or football games? But it's all good, and technology is taking life to places I never would have dreamed of. I just know that if I were given a little diffusion of something like the iPhone in its full capacity, how could I resist? Rogers knew what was up, over 40 years ago. Humans haven't changed. If given the right technology and a little hands on time, we gotta have it. And we will continue to need it. iPhone Fad? I think not. Life as we know it...? iThinkSo.

Time Management

So, first it's a blog, and now a website? Yikes. I just have things piling up on my plate, but it's all getting eaten today, which is nice. However, I am looking forward to what's going on here. Today in "Emerging IT Trends," we discussed web 2.0 and how google is awesome and Microsoft is not quite as awesome... right? Anyway, google must be awesome because now we get to make a website using, of course, google technology. I hope that mine ends up awesome. I haven't used HTML since highschool really (myspace days-- lolz?) but I think that I want to try and get back into it a little bit. It's fun. And hey, there's always money in the banana stand, right?
DM

First blog post ever?

So I've never blogged before, but I guess I'll just talk a little about life? Jthatch says blog, therefore, I'll blog. I've been pretty busy lately, but maybe this will help relieve some stress. I have like 1000 things to do today, and instead of working, I'm blogging and watching the hit ski classic "Aspen Extreme" on DVD. It's the best.
DM