The day that HD-DVD officially “died”, didn’t quite have the “Where were you that day?” feel like other tragedies tend to bring about. It was on that day that Blu-Ray would become the official HD movie format. But just because they are the exclusive format, does that mean it’s going to be successful?

Going by current numbers, the HD movie market isn’t doing all that great. People are still mainly investing in standard definition DVD, and haven’t moved on yet. HDTV sales are slowly chugging along, as most of the general public just haven’t invested.

I believe that one cause for the apprehension among people, is just how fast HD technology is moving along. A reason unseen by people for the lack of interest in HD technology is how long it takes before something newer and better is released. The leaps in technology in the past, have taken alot longer to occur than in recent years. By the end of this year, there will be 3 different versions of Blu-Ray players that can be purchased. One version let’s you view the movie as most people have come to know. Another version let’s you view the movie with picture-in-picture special features. While another version that is slated to release soon will offer online compatibility with their movies. Or you could bypass all these options and buy a PS3 which can do it all.

With all these different versions, most people are just leaving it alone and sticking with standard definition. The #1 thing that you can do to upset and turn away consumers is by confusing them with the technology that you’re selling. The majority of the wealth in the country is owned by the “baby boomer” generation, and I’d almost guarantee that half or more couldn’t tell you that Blu-Ray has different hardware versions. So for everyone’s sake that invested in HD technology, let’s hope that Sony and other manufacturers cant turn it around and make the consumer aware of the greatness that is HD.

I can just see Dr. Evil turning his pinky up in excitement over the Large Hadron Collider. I’d venture to say that most of the general public has no idea what a particle collider is, or what it does. If the media would stop their reports of Britney Spear’s latest episode, and reported on this there would be a larger debate over its’ existence.

So what about a Large Hadron Collider, could cause such a fuss that it’s more important than Britney’s escapades? Well in the dumbest way of explaining it, there’s a small chance that the device could bring an end to life on Earth as we know it. The LHC, as most experts refer to it as, is a huge particle collider that is being built in the hills of Switzerland and France (yeah, this thing is big enough to span across two countries). It is 17 miles in circumfrence, and is buried nearly 100 meters underground. The project is spear headed, by the brilliant minds over at CERN. These people were responsible for the beginnings of the internet, and a number of scientific breakthroughs in the past 30 years.

So just why is CERN creating a device that could produce such a disastrous outcome? They are trying to research certain sub atomic particles, which before would have been considered impossible to study. More specifically, they are trying to produce, what is called Higgs boson. The theory of Higgs boson, is how massless matter develops into matter which has mass. Finding Higgs boson could lead to discovery of how the universe started, and where it is going.

The problem with the LHC, is that not even the smartest minds in the world know what this thing is going to produce. Most of the experts agree that nothing that is harmful to humans will be created. Some theories that have been speculated on is that the collider could produce micro-blackholes. Blackholes, you may have heard or seen in science fiction novels, and on the Discovery channel. While the LHC wouldn’t be powerful enough to create a blackhole as we know it, it could still produce a miniature sized one. Most experts believe that if such a blackhole were to be created, it would almost instantly breakup. But there is another side to the argument that says there is a chance that such a blackhole could get caught in the Earth’s gravitational pull, and end up enveloping the entire planet.

Walter Wagner, a nuclear safety officer, believes there’s enough chance of a catastrophic event that he has filed a lawsuit against the construction of the collider. While not completely ending the construction and research, he believes that more time is needed to asses the safety of the machine. He wants another four months to do the safety checking. Before the lawsuit, the collider was being prepped to “switch on” in May. But it looks as though that date will be pushed back to later this year, or early into 09.

I really don’t know what to think about this situation. I would like to believe all the brilliant minds that say everything is going to be groovy. But they aren’t even positive of what this machine is going to produce. So I’m not too upset about the delay that Wagner is causing with his lawsuit. But I definitely want to see what the LHC produces, I’m kind of hoping for demon aliens to pop out like in DOOM.

There are 10 million subscribers to Blizzard’s ever popular World of Warcraft. If you compare that number to the population of the world, it’s minscule, but as game population is concerned it’s, pardon the pun, “massive”.

It looks as though Blizzard is taking the fighting outside of Azeroth and into the courtroom. Blizzard is preparing to take on Michael Donnelly, who created the Glider program for WoW. With the program, users can assign key tasks to undertake, without any human involvement. Anyone outside of the World of Warcraft might ask, How could this benefit the player, isn’t the point of playing a game…to actually play?

Well in a sense, you would think a program such as this couldn’t really have much of an effect. But games such as WoW, that are based on community style tactics have a balance that keeps the game fair for all players. The economy is the key issue here, as most people use the Glider program as an easier means to gather gold and resources. It’s much easier to let a program do the work for you, while you go off taking care of errands and what not.

People that use these kind of programs casually aren’t the big issue at hand. WoW has become so big that in-game currency has become a huge market for real-life currency. To throw a personal twist into the story, I actually know someone who dropped out of school and quit his day job to sell WoW gold online. It’s these kinds of problems that Blizzard is trying to stop with its’ fight against bots, and currency selling.

Blizzard has shunned these practices, and is continually in a fight to root out cheaters. It’s within the Glider program that Blizzard is having problems with. There is programming in Glider, that allows it to avoid the anti-cheating software implemented by Blizzard. While this sounds like a great way to avoid being caught, it’s what Blizzard is using to sue Donnelly. They are suing Donnelly for copyright infringement because the software makes a copy of the game and puts it into RAM.

It’s kind of sad, that a game has caused so much addictiveness that people need to buy game currency to get by. I personally was a WoW gamer for a good amount of time, and it definitely has an addicting feel to it. I bet there’s a WoW addict right now, who has Glider running and cursing this article, all the while finishing up his bag of Doritos he has resting on his stomach.

The commercials for the digital switch for TV’s have already begun popping up in between our favorite programs. The switch from analog to digital is slated to be completed by February of next year. So just what is going to happen to all those unused airwaves once they become unusable for TV viewing?

Some portion of the TV spectrum has already been sold. Verizon is now the proud owner of the 700mhz band on the spectrum. Google had put in a bid for the frequency, but lost out to Verizon in the end. Google has not given up in the fight for more unused airwaves though.

Google is now lobbying with the FCC, to allow them to use “white space” TV channels for devices. What you might not know about white space TV channels, is that they are some of the most powerful airwaves in commercial use. They are so powerful in fact, that Google is looking to use these airwaves to provide Wi-fi across vast distances in the country. If Google were able to garner permission to use these airwaves for data transmission, it would become one of the most powerful internet providers in the country.

Instead of wanting to start up an ISP, or its’ own network, Google is wanting to provide these Wi-fi airwaves to the masses. They aren’t just doing this out of the kindness of their heart though. Google is in the process of rolling out Android powered smart phones later this year. Android is an open source platform, which is being utilized by many different cell phone carriers. With the white space airwaves providing long distance Wi-fi, the Android powered phones would become more powerful and convenient to use.

There are a couple of hitches in Google’s plan. First, they would have to get the FCC to sign off on their plan, as they are in charge of the white space airwaves at the moment. Second, the FCC isn’t scheduled to release any rules of spectrum use until later this year. Also, if Google were to somehow be able to go through with their plan, there would be interference issues that they would have to tackle. As the spectrum they would be using would be along the same lines as wireless microphones and TV signals.

So it looks like a tough road ahead for Google. But if they were able to somehow implement their plan, then internet browsing would definitely never be the same. Let’s start the chant…Wi-fi For Everyone…Wi-fi For Everyone…

Anyone who has been to the beach knows how fun it is to get caught up in the waves that flow in off the tide. It’s looking like these waves provide more than just fun at the beach, they could also provide power in the future.

WaveBob and Ocean Energy are the two major companies involved with wave energy research. Their research is being conducted in Ireland, where energy produced from oceanic waves is at its’ highest. WaveBob’s energy producing prototype is constructed like a buoy. The buoy rests off the coast and absorbs the energy from the waves. Just one of these buoys is capable of producing a megawatt of power, which translates into 1,000 homes.

(Photo Credit: WaveBob)

Andrew Parish, speaks about WaveBob’s mission and what they hope to accomplish, “This is a giant leap forward for renewable energy production in Ireland . At Wavebob Ltd., we anticipate that power generated by the Wavebob will soon help to lessen our over-reliance on the fossil fuels that currently provide the majority of the world’s power. As an island in the middle of the energetic Atlantic Ocean , Ireland can be to wave-energy what Saudi Arabia is to oil. The more we exploit this unlimited natural resource, the better it will be, not just for the global environment, but also for the Irish consumers pocket.”

As of now, the technology is just in prototype form. WaveBob hasn’t even begun testing using a full scale buoy. But as of now all the research looks positive, and looks to begin commercial production somewhere around 2015. They are also looking to be able to export their wave energy to other places around the globe.

There are some people who just live way ahead of the times. Arthur C. Clarke could quite possibly be the poster boy for that sentiment. Clarke was thinking about technological advances we now have when they were deemed impossible.

During World War II he had developed an idea for communication satellites. The idea of such satellites was deemed such an impossibility that Clarke didn’t bother applying for a patent on the satellites. Although he never received the patent, he would later be commended for the idea through many awards, most famously in 1994 for the Nobel Prize.

Easily, Clarke’s most influence was generated through his writing. Clarke published more than a hundred works of fiction and non-fiction. His most famous was The Sentinel, which would later be adapted into a screenplay called, 2001: A Space Odyssey. (anyone remember that one?) In his writings, he would convey ideas about technologies that at the time were very much science fiction, but today don’t seem so impossible. Ideas, such as space travel, the internet, and space elevators.

Sadly, Clarke passed away a couple of days ago and is no longer with us. To keep with his theme of expanding our horizons, he has left behind his DNA through locks of hair. The hair will be sent to the moon as part of a memorial capsule. Clarke was very adamant about his hair being preserved, as a means for a cloning. The reason being is so an advanced civilization would have the means of cloning him. Even in his later years, he never lost his wonder for the advancements of science and space. You will be sorely missed Sir Arthur C. Clarke.

R.I.P
December, 16 1917 - March, 19 2008