Depending on where you live in the world, water can be seen as a very valuable commodity. Some places have water shortages, and it can be painstakingly difficult to find adequate aquatic resources. Element Four has created a device that could potentially put a massive dent in the fight for providing water to the masses.

The ‘Watermill’ is a machine that can condense moisture present in the air and purify to make drinkable water. The machine works simply; it draws air in and filters out the dirt and pollutants. Then it cools at the temperature that dew is able to form. Then UV light is used to take care of any disease that could be found in the newly condensed liquid.

There are a couple of obvious benefits of the Watermill. First, is being able to provide water to drier, and more arid places in the US. Second, it’s a more environmentally friendlier way to provide drinkable water than plastic bottles or containers. For the average consumer, the greatest benefit is the savings from the cost of the machine. It’s $1,200, but according to Elemental Four the machine will pay for itself in two years time.

The device will go on sale Spring 2009.

The popular tech columnist, Walt Mossberg now has a YouTube video talking about new WiFi technology coming to the automotive industry. Autonet Mobile has created technology, which will allow for WiFi to be used in different cars. Mossberg is a bit better at me than explaining it:

Wow, is the only thing I can say after watching this video. Since there’s no audio to compliment the images, I’ll give you a brief summary.

KitsuneYume of the Sony PS3 boards is someone who can truly say he loves gaming. He has a disability to where he can’t play games like me, or anyone without a physical disability can. His disability hinders him from effectively grasping regular controllers, so instead of giving up, he devised a solution. He, and an engineer from GimpGear, Mark Felling constructed a controller that could allow him to keep gaming on. With the device, he is able to control his games using his mouth, feet and fingers.

Enjoy the video…

Online banking security is an issue that many people have become severely concerned about. When we go onto our online bank accounts, we want to be safe in knowing that all of our information is being kept private.

This video of the Banking Technology Summit provides a look at larger international banks and how they’re tackling security issues.

For more information you can visit the official Banking Technology Summit site, here.

You might be asking, ‘Didn’t they already win?’ In a sense they did, atleast they beat out HD-DVD for sole possession of the HD movie format. But that’s in the physical sense. Will Blu-Ray eventually be beaten out by digital downloads, or is it all what I refer to as ‘tech sector’ hype?

The question has been raised by a couple of bloggers who have been debating the issue. First, is Robin Harris of ZDNet. He believes that Sony is too slow in dropping the prices of the Blu-ray movies being released. Blu-Ray also has high costs for production, which limits what studios can release films on Blu-Ray. In the other corner we have, Bill Hunt of Digital Bits. Hunt agrees with some of the points that Harris makes but believes that they are taken to an extreme, and Blu-Ray’s death isn’t imminent.

Although I’m not giving Sony a free pass to ignore its problems, I mainly agree with Hunt. This generation just isn’t ready for downloading exclusively for their content. You have the tech savvy bunch who know the glorious wonders of downloads and how they can be used for viewing (even on a TV). That’s just a small portion of the consumer pie though. Most of the people who are controlling the wealth equate ownership with a physical product. In some ways I agree with them. There’s just something about owning a DVD, CD that can’t be replaced by owning a file.

I think the big factor that both bloggers are missing is who Hollywood is backing. I think most of the industry would be heavily distraught if downloaded content overtook physical property. How many jobs would be lost if there was no manufacturing of products, and everything was a download? I don’t think the entertainment industry will allow that to happen. Even if it would induce piracy.

Dare I say that the good ol’ DVD format will be the eventual winner. I used to work at Best Buy, and I can’t tell you how many people just didn’t care about the hi-def upgrade. Their reasoning was that paying $1000-$2000 for upgrading to HD just wasn’t worth it. Who can blame them really? With the economy in the tanker as it is, technology just isn’t as important as in years past.

So, in conclusion I agree that Blu-Ray is far from death. I think Harris’ article wouldn’t have sparked a debate if he had titled it, “Blu-ray will be dead” instead of inferring it had already met its maker. I do think that Blu-Ray has a chance of failing if they don’t catch up to consumer concerns. But if they don’t then I think we’ll just continue to see success in the DVD format. Downloadable content might be a god-send to some, but it’s far from being the norm. That won’t change for quite some time.

The first G1 Google Android phones will go on sale tonight, in San Francisco at 6pm PST. It could be debated that the Google Android phones are releasing at, or even more hype than the Apple iPhone. I guess it would all depend on who you talk to, whether or not one is receiving more hype.

Only one store will be selling the G1 today, with all of the 3G coverage areas getting their chance tomorrow. The big piece of news it the MySpace App that will come with the G1, here’s a press release with information.

LOS ANGELES—October 21, 2008—MySpace, the world’s premier social network and leading mobile social network, today announced a free, new MySpace Mobile experience customized for Android and available via the Android Market. More than two million daily unique users visit MySpace’s mobile website, and according to ABI Research 70 percent of people who use social networks on mobile have visited MySpace.

MySpace has a deep commitment to provide our mobile users with the social tools to discover, share, connect, and communicate on-the-go. MySpace’s mobile lineup includes the MySpace mobile website, http://m.myspace.com, and several integrated applications for specific devices. MySpace has developed applications for Android, Sidekick, iPhone, and is currently developing an application for Blackberry.