Technology Trends for 2012

http://blog.lunarpages.com/2012/01/31/10-technology-trends-for-2012/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=10-technology-trends-for-2012

Something that I found interesting when scrolling through my Google alerts today. I found it interesting because a lot of these trends started in 2011, maybe even earlier. I'm not sure if the trends will last through the end of the year though.

"Evolution of Dance" Video

3D Printers

Today, I checked my Google alerts for technology, and I found a site that was talking about a couple of guys making profit off of things they have printed from a 3D printer. It surprised me that the cost of the printer itself is less than $2000 yet it can make things like belt buckles and iPhone cases and who knows what else. I think the reason these new printers aren't as popular as when a new iPhone or Wii comes out is because people are amazed by them. I don't get how they "print" something that is 3-dimensional. I'm curious about what type of materials or "ink" they have in them and what they are truly capable of. It makes me wonder what kind of advances can be made, such as in the medical field. I hope that it in years to come it will become a tool to help the world, not a weapon to destroy it. 

http://www.treehugger.com/gadgets/pocket-factory-going-across-country-proving-making-business-3d-printing-possible.html

Class Reflection

So far in this class, I have not learned a lot that I didn't already know. I already was familiar with email, chat, and joining social networks. Something new to me, though, is blogs. I've never been one to read blogs or have one of my own. I'm not sure if this will be useful to me in the future, but for now it's what makes or breaks my grade.

Another new thing to me is working on a project with someone via web. I am used to the weekend night study groups for a project, but I have never had to do something like this with no personal interaction other than a chat box. As technology progresses and this sort of collaboration become more common, I feel that this is something I will have to learn how to do whether I like it or not.

"Technology Generation"

I've probably heard it my entire life. I am a member of the "technology generation." It never has really occurred to me until this last year that my own mother did not have the same web access I have. She didn't have her own computer growing up. I imagine her family did not even have a computer.

Watching "Digital Nation" really got me thinking about how I feel as we advance even further into technology-driven worlds. By living in a small town, I don't really feel as advanced as some of the people in the video. At the same time I think of how there are those in foreign countries that don't have internet access or electronics at all.

It seems every day there is a new gadget out, and there will be someone you know who wants it. They don't want it for its uses even; they just want it to have it. I think that is our real problem, especially here in America.

We want that new iPad, we want to have internet access everywhere we go. Even if we don't plan to do anything more than to just play a game or check Facebook. It's like we're more obsessive about the type of technology we have, rather than what it really represents.

Most of the time, we're not even aware of the things our phone can do. We don't realize that even by having access to a computer with internet we're capable to develop a program, create a new video game. Even if we do know that we can do it, we're not necessarily interested in it.

Experts say we're moving towards, or are even in, a generation where it's all about information gain. In my eyes though, I think it's more of an obsession. A teacher in this video said that the internet is comparable to oxygen, and we would never dream of taking it away from our kids. But it's not oxygen. It's not essential to our lives.