Krkegley’s Weblog

Over the course of the semester, we have learned about Globalization as a whole, but for this project, we focused on a specific global cause, issue, or topic. For my topic, I chose technology. At the start of this semester, I let myself embrace the ideals of a technologist. Taking technology to a world view, I learned that technology can shape the way the world functions. For the disabled and elderly, technology can bring them the means for independence. For developing countries, we are able to look ahead, and try to predict what the implementation of technology may do for a society. The markets are also heavily controlled by technology.

We often times do not think other countries to be quite the same as us, in one of our Q-class videoes, a man was quoted as saying that he was just like us–he carried around a cool cell phone, just like us, the only difference was that he still lived in a shack. For many of us, we are not aware of how globalized parts of the world are. Technology is one of the leading factors to globalization, we cannot stop it. If this indeed is the case, we must stay educated, we must look at the trends. In a global society, one must keep with the times, and the best way to do that is to stay educated.

This is a post to show that I have commented:

http://jacpitts.wordpress.com/

All comments have been placed in the breaking news section.

This is just a post to tell that I have commented on the following blogs.

pazhar.wordpress.com

agirven.wordpress.com

To the Breaking News Section I have added a couple of new articles. One relates to the new DSi, a revamped model on the Nintendo DS which relates a little more to cellphone and mobile technology. China will be adding security to their Internet cafes, and recently, researchers at Osaka University have written the smallest letters possible.

You can find all of this on my Breaking News Page.

From Slashdot, the Android phones from Google will also contain a kill switch, much like Apple’s iphones. From an original post at Technologizer, the kill switch being implimented is an overall good thing. Unlike Apple, Google has been upfront with the kill switches implementation, long before the ability to purchase.  “Google has a built-in “kill switch” to remotely disable applications that violate their developer agreement. ” Despite the fact that Google is being upfront, they have a long road in trying to get developers to come create software for the open-source Android.

A link to the original Article can be found here.

Slashdot recently had a report, here that says that people in Japan can now rent a robot suit for use in home. The robot is meant to serve those with mobility issues, and runs reading the brainwaves of those people. Apparently, US markets are still skeptical about use here, but European markets are ready to commit to this. You can rent the robot in 3 models, and they run around 2,200 dollars a month. The company is looking to rent out 500 of these models to Japanese residents over the next year.

I think this is pretty amazing, because for those with the money, they now have the ability to get the help they need, without constant supervision. My mother has mobility issues, and is constantly in need of others to help her get around. Robot technology is so popular in Japan, so I can see a market for this sort of thing existing.

Link to the article can be found here.

Link has died: Go here.

Quite breaking in fact: The World Bank has been under “cybersiege” from 6 different IP addresses, 2 originating from the same location in China.  An interesting topic, since the ethics of this organization were just brought up in my Q-Class last week. It’s such a coincidence that this story was leaked so soon afterwards as well. In other news, Sony’s E-Reader is getting a much needed update to compete with Amazon’s model, and may even be sold through a new Best Buy that will be springing up in Beijing. Check out the Breaking News Section for all of this.

This doesn’t quite fit in with my topic, but I think I should talk about a YouTube video I wanted to share. For all of those not yet with an iPhone, and are looking to possibly get into it. Google is releasing it’s own phone software called Android. This video takes a look at how the platform runs on a couple of different types of phones. I remind you, this is a platform, NOT an actual phone, so the software can be integrated into many different phones in the future.

I’ve added some Breaking News updates, concerning China and technology. One article is about a piece of policy that China has begun to enforce, and will implement in May, a little bit of commentary concerning governments by me as well. Another is about the possibility of China receiving the iPhone, which is pretty ground breaking in that an entire country may get a piece of technology that is still far from being in the hands of Americans en masse. Can anyone imagine what might happen in China if the majority of the population had easy access to the 3G iPhone? I’m rather excited.

I’ve added another Article to the Breaking News Page. This one is about the TechCrunch Conference and has a focus on the 5 Japanese companies that made a showing there. All of the companies are web application based, which shows us that not all revolutionary things coming out of the Internet are from the US side. Some of these places are pretty unique as well, so you should check it out.