{(something||other).soft()} » technology http://www.somethingorothersoft.com About Software Development And Other Stuff By Igor Zevaka Mon, 25 Jul 2011 00:03:47 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Apple Tablet – Make the pain stop http://www.somethingorothersoft.com/2010/01/18/apple-tablet-make-the-pain-stop/ http://www.somethingorothersoft.com/2010/01/18/apple-tablet-make-the-pain-stop/#comments Mon, 18 Jan 2010 11:40:01 +0000 igor http://www.somethingorothersoft.com/?p=205 [...]]]> Apple marketing machine has been working in overdrive by continually circulating tablet rumours. Everywhere you go (technology wise) you are bound to hear speculation on what the damn thing is. I can’t wait utill Jan 26 when they finally announce it so we can all be over it.

This Week in Tech has a dedicated half hour every show for the past two months about the iSlate and that’s getting a bit nauseating. I commend Valleywag for making light of the situation.

Now that I offloaded my disgust at the hype around the device I can offer my 2c. The two things that make this a non-niche device are:

  • Haptic display that will give you feedback when you touch it. This, IMHO, will make more-than-two-finger typing somewhat feasible.
  • A hybrid LCD/E-Ink display as suggested by Techdirt. Combining high-contrast and low battery consumption of E-Ink with versatility of LCD can make such hybrid an absulute killer.

As far as I am concerned if the device is less groundbreaking than the above, it’ll flop. I think that in order for Apple to pull this off, the device has to be perceived as the technology of the future, even though the original product is ordinary.

I also think that the hardware itself has to be innovative. There has been a bit of a murmour that the success will depend on the content deals Apple makes for this device. I think that’s less relevant. The content availability hasn’t made the Apple TV successful and I think that because there wasn’t much innovation in the device. It’s almost as though the device needs to be able to play stuff that wasn’t bought through the store (read pirated) easily in order for it to be successful.

]]> http://www.somethingorothersoft.com/2010/01/18/apple-tablet-make-the-pain-stop/feed/ 3 Top 5 sustainability technologies we need http://www.somethingorothersoft.com/2009/08/27/top-5-sustainability-technologies-we-need/ http://www.somethingorothersoft.com/2009/08/27/top-5-sustainability-technologies-we-need/#comments Thu, 27 Aug 2009 04:37:41 +0000 igor http://www.somethingorothersoft.com/?p=51 Plastic recycling. Most of the waste plastic these days cannot be recycled as high temperatures are required to disinfect it. At high temperatures it breaks down and becomes unusable. With effective recycling we could also [...]]]> Been doing a bit of thinking about what technologies we really need today. Here is my top 5:

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  • Plastic recycling. Most of the waste plastic these days cannot be recycled as high temperatures are required to disinfect it. At high temperatures it breaks down and becomes unusable. With effective recycling we could also reduce our dependence on oil.

    UPDATE: New Envion Facility Turns Plastic Waste into $10/Barrel Fuel (link). This is heaps cool – recycling plastic into hydrocarbon fuel(which we still need for a long time). They clain that 82% of the plastic is turned into energy.

    • <li value="4"><strong>Low temperature heat engine</strong>. Let me explain. A lot of engines waste a lot of energy by emitting heat. This applies equally for internal combustion engines and giant steam turbines at power plants. If there was a good way to convert that energy back it would certainly improve the overall efficiency.

    There are a few things out there (like Stirling engine) but for some reason (an I am sure it’s a good one) there isn’t widespread use of those. It would be even better if this technology doesn’t have any moving parts so it can be used in various portable electronic devices.

    <li value="3"><strong>Energy storage</strong>. Batteries are just not going to get that much better or cleaner. Hydrogen is kinda cool but it still doesn't compare with petrol or diesel as far as storing is concerned. You just can't fit the same amount of energy into the same space and weight.</li>

<li value="2"><strong>Carbon neutral high power engines</strong>. This is so we could still have Formula1 cars. Or V8 Supercars. Kidding. We obviously need planes, so there needs to be a way to power those. There is some work being done converting CO<sub>2</sub> into hydrocarbons using either concentrated solar energy or some biochemical process. It would be super cool if those become common use technologies.</li>

<li value="1"><strong>Clean energy</strong>. Doh. There are lots of candidates for this one. Fusion would be nice but we are long away from commercial deployment. Out of solar/wind/tide technologies I especially like this <a href="http://www.drroyspencer.com/2009/08/my-favorite-renewable-energy-concept-the-solar-updraft-tower/">Solar updraft towers</a>. The guy with the letters "PhD" after his name seems to agree with me :) And who says these towers have to be built with concrete? We can just use recycled plastic (and thus solving No 5) attached to lightweight steel frame.</li>
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