Dec 31
Editorial David
2008, 2009, android, DRM, DRM free, g1, google, green, linux, predictions, windows, xp
Last year, I made a post on my LiveJournal, with my predictions for what the tech world had in store for us through 2008. Given that today is New Year’s Eve, I thought it would be a good time to review my predictions!
Here’s a summary of my list; underlined are the ones I think I got right:
- There will be a successful Linux phone
- Microsoft will extend support for XP
- The bandwidth draught of 2008
- Some computer builders to drop desktop PC’s and focus only on laptops
- Google will make a chat bot which will answer all your search questions
- There will be a Facebook killer
- DRM free music sales will take over DRM music sales
- Wireless chargers will trickle through, at last
- Green computing will become a big issue
- Some TV shows will be available on-line before they are broadcast on TV
So, my predictions were about 40% accurate. 
There was a Linux phone, the G1, based on Google’s “Android” platform. Sure it may be early to call it a success, but it’s had plenty of attention on the tech press.
Microsoft did indeed grant XP a six month stay of execution, by means of extending the “Vista Business downgrade” loop hole.
DRM free music world wide really took off this year. In the UK alone, we now have four major DRM free music stores: Tesco Digital, Play.com, 7digital and Amazon.
Green computing is an issue, particularly with the super efficient “Atom” CPU’s found in netbooks.
I was disappointed about the wireless chargers. We were seeing lots of prototypes and hearing lots of talk during 2007, but come 2008 it all went quiet.
So there we have it, looking back on what actually happened in 2008, it’s been a heck of a roller coaster ride in the tech world. Because the circumstances of the global economy are now so different, and so many unpredictable things before the economy tanked, I am not making any predictions for 2009. I think it’s all too tough to call.
Okay, okay, I will make one call for 2009. I hereby predict that all of the big-name “Web 2.0″ social media sites (such as Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Flickr, etc) will survive the global recession.
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Lastly, 2008 saw the launch of this, the fourth incarnation of my personal website. I have been pleasanty surprised with the traffic it has received. While still modest, it’s more than I hoped for. So thank you to everyone who stops by to read this, I am grateful, and I hope you’ll stick with me as I find more to write about in the next 12 months.
Sincerely,
David.R.Gilson
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Dec 31
Editorial David
arbitrary, calendar, celebration, new, year
Because there is no special reason behind when we started counting years, our whole calendar is arbitrary, it doesn’t really mean anything.
Therefore, if you find yourself at some celebration of this meaningless point in time, why not stop saying happy new year, and instead just wish everybody a “Happy Arbitrary Datum Point“.
Thank you for reading
More
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Dec 29
Personal David
help, Maths, Physics, questions, Tech
As is stated on the about me page, I have a background in physics and maths, and I love sharing that knowledge, and I’m a tech enthusiast for good measure too.
Well, I would like to start sharing more of what I know, and to challenge my skills at explaining what I know. To that end, I am inviting everyone who reads this blog to e-mail me your questions. Whether they be about science, maths or technology, just hit me with whatever you need to know.
I don’t promise to be able to answer everything, and I don’t promise to have the time to research everything I dont know, but I do promise to do my best with the time that I have.
So, please, question me, quiz me, challenge me. Send me your questions via my contact form.
I will endeather to post answers at least once a week.
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Dec 27
Editorial David
age, memory, perception, time
Everyone always says how Christmas seems to come around so quickly. I agree with them, it does. Although, we can safely assume nothing strange is happening with the space-time continuum, and I think it’s safe to say that children still find subsequent Christmas’s as great and distant events in time.
So, what is going on with us (so called) grown-ups? Well, as with every good theory, let’s make a couple of assumptions. First, let’s assume that we build up memories at a constant rate, and that we use that constant rate to measure long periods of time in our mind.
Now, consider a 2 year old child. One year’s worth of memories represents a massive 50% (i.e. 1 divided by 2) of their life. When they reach 3 years old, that same amount of time and memories only then represents 33% (i.e. 1 divided by 3) of their life. Hopefully you see the pattern here, and therefore it will be of no surprise to you to read that when that child reaches 20 years old, a year’s worth of memories only represents 5% of their life.
Hence, we as age, a year is a less and less significant portion of our life. As such, our perception of large periods of time seems to speed up. Drawing a further conclusion from this near-universal observation, our brains must measure long periods of time on a basis of comparisson to past perceptions.
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Dec 26
How-To Guides David
audio, conversion, video. cloud, youconvertit, zamzar
Happy Boxing Day everyone!
Need to convert a file you don’t have the software for? Need to e-mail a large file to a friend with a small inbox?
Try these sites: Zamzar and YouConvertIt.
Both of these sites are able to convert a huge range of documents, images, audio, video and archive (e.g. zip) formats. Plus you can give them the URL of an online flash video and your desired format. They’ll convert those too.
To get the converted file you need to supply an e-mail address so that they can e-mail a download link when the conversion is complete. So if the file is for you, use your own, or if you want the file to be sent to someone else, then use their address. YouConvertIt has a specific page for just sending a file to someone without conversion too.
YouConvertIt also has a unit conversion page. So no more need for those manky little diaries, like you probably were given yesterday!
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