Beyond Blinking Lights and Acronyms

2007 Gadget Guide

With the holiday season in full swing you are no doubt wondering what you can possibly give to your favorite techno-geek.  Fortunately the folks at Scientific American have come to the rescue again this year with their slideshow of "20 Gadgets You Want  - Popular applications of science and technology for you to give and get".  I like Scientific American's guide since it always seems to have cool gadgets that aren't just the latest version of last year's computer device.  It's the kind of stuff that you like but would probably never buy for your self.

This year's guide includes (among other things):

• Limited edition Ferrari Segway - About as close as I might ever come to having a real Ferrari.  The only problem is that although it looks like a Ferrari (within the constraints of being a Segway) it is just a standard Segway tricked out with a Ferrari paint job and logos.  So no zooming down the autobahn on your Segway.
• Powers of 2 Binary LED Clock - for those real IT nerds out there.  " It displays the time in binary—the 1s and 0s of computer language. "

But there are 2 that are my real favorites.  Both are practical and one is just plain cool.

The first is a Hammacher Schlemmer Slide- and Negative-to-Digital-Picture Converter  that allows you to easily convert your old slides and photo negatives to digital pictures.  I realize I'm showing my age but if you have a lot of slides and negatives from the pre-digital age this is a great way to convert them.  The only downside is that when you put them on your wish list it will no doubt generate those embarrassing questions from your kids.  You know the ones - "What's a slide?" , "What's film?" , "You really had to take this 'film' stuff to the store to get your pictures" and "I don't understand, instead of taking it to the store why didn't you just email it to your friends through your cell phone?"  This last one of course takes you down another path of life in the stone age before email and cell phones but we won't go there for now.

There is one gadget that is cool, practical and unfortunately not yet available.

An Over Reliance on Technology

The other day a reader, Mark Siegel, sent me an email about one of my earlier posts on email disclaimers.  He also left a little post-script:

Shouldn't "don't won't" be "don't want"?

He was absolutely correct, it should have been "don't want" (which I've since corrected).  Oops I did it again.  I put my brain on hold and over relied on technology, i. e. the spell checker, to make sure things were right.  That's the problem with technology.  It's so easy to use and so right -- most of the time.  When it doesn't work or we use it beyond its capabilities is when we run in to problems.

A few days later I was listening to a story on National Public Radio about airline safety.  The story detailed how much safer flying was due in large part to improved technology.  Since I fly fairly often I should find this to be good news and I do.  However, at the same time it scares me a little.  I just hope some pilot or air traffic controller doesn't do what I did - over rely on technology.

I'm not suggesting that we abandon technology by any means.  I'm just suggesting that we remember that technology can relieve of us work but not of responsibility.  At the end of the day we and not the technology are responsible for our work product.  This is true whether it is spell checking, flying a plane or writing a program.  Just because the computer says 2+2=5 doesn't make it so.  The Educated Nation | Higher Education Blog  has a post from July of this year entitled "Technology Reverses the Smartness" that references a Telegraph UK article that says in part, "An over reliance on technology is leading to a dumbing down of the nation’s brain power . . ."  Not a very pleasing concept.

Looking Back - Lessons of the Antikythera Mechanism

At year-end most TV and radio news show typically take a look back at what has gone on in the past year.  So as 2006 comes to a close I thought it would be helpful if I also took a look back on what has transpired.  Back more than 2 thousand years, that is.  Being something of a history buff I've been fascinated by recent news stories on the Antikythera Mechanism.  Discovered by a sponge diver along with more seemingly glamorous artifacts in 1900 off of the Greek island of Antikythera the heavily encrusted and corroded mechanism lay un-noticed until 1902 when an archaeologist noted a gear-wheel embedded in it.  However, it has only just now been determined how this device was used.

Created sometime around the end of the second century B.C. (i.e. over 2 thousand years ago!) the Antikythera Mechanism is the first known analog computer.  Although it wasn't found completely intact the main fragment has at least 30 gear-wheels and numerous astronomical inscriptions.  The Antikythera Mechanism Research Project has reported its findings in the journal Nature.  The mechanism computed and displayed the movement of the Sun, the Moon and perhaps even the known planets around Earth, and predicted the dates of future eclipses.  I find it utterly amazing and fascinating that they were able to accomplish so much given the knowledge and tools of the time.

Some of the things that I believe this illustrates:

• Simplicity, elegance and focus of purpose in design is enduring.
• The power of observation should never be under-estimated.  It is amazing what you can learn just through observing how the world around you works.  I find it mind boggling to think of the amount of astronomical observation that had to be done to do something like this.
• The power of the human mind is an awe-inspiring thing to contemplate.

As we often react to the every day pressure to get things done it might be worthwhile to contemplate what we can accomplish using computers if we go about it correctly.  Four thousand year from now if an archaeologist should find the remains of your PC what would they conclude you were using it for?

Your thoughts?

Gadget Guide for Holiday Giving

Yesterday we in the US celebrated Thanksgiving where we stop and think about how blessed we are and give thanks for it.  However being the materialistic society that we are where we follow it up immediately with "Black Friday", the official start of the holiday shopping season to get more stuff .  Before you run away thinking I'm about to give you my wish list let me just say this posting is just some holiday gift giving suggestions for that hard to find gadget-loving technology oriented loved one.  Rather than compile this list myself I'll defer to the wise folks at Scientific American.  They've put together a fantastic list of gadget gift items including such things as:

• a USB rocket launcher for your PC
• a flight in Space Ship Two
• Gridpoint Connect (described by one commentator as TiVo for electricity)
• an interesting way to slice your golf ball (check out the video)

Although it may not be as famous as the Neiman Marcus Christmas Book  this one gets right to the heart of the matter without fooling around with all that practical stuff.

Happy shopping!

p.s. If you really want to see my wish list email me.