Journal 5, Microsoft Surface

There is going to be a new way you will use your coffee table in a few years. Microsoft Surface is a new and unleashed interactive computer that is none like any other. This computer does not have a mouse or keyboard. You only use the motion and touch of your hands. Microsoft Surface is a 30 inch screen built into a table that can sit anywhere. It uses cameras around the table to read the motions of your hand which is then projected on the screen. Surface will be used in restaurants to take orders or in a bar to keep up with the tab. Surface can also give you directions to your next destination and then sync the instructions to your mobile phone. You will also be able to download pictures from any wireless camera or phone and edit the photos on the spot without a cable. Surface will make ordering at a restaurant easier or changing directions more efficient. Either way Microsoft Surface is a revolutionary idea that will speed up our daily lives.

Imagine going to a resturant and not needing a waitor to take your order. Imagine going to a bar with your buddies and the table knows your drink and keeps track of the tab on the spot. Imagine going into a snowboard shop and searching through all of the snowboards and finding the one you want but you do not like the design. You will be able to take a card below the snowboard and take it to Surface for personal customization. You will be able to color the board with designs and shapes to your liking. Once you are done you can either checkout or save that board to your windows mobile smart phone for later customization. Surface will be a really neat devise that I hope will come down in price from about $10,000 so that I will be able to put one in my house.

Wikipedia Surface

Good Youtube video

Microsoft Surface Website

Journal 1, September 6

With all of this stimulus money comming through the pipes Google and General Electric have partnered up in pushing "Smart Grids" . Smart Grids is a combination of electrical hardware provided by GE and software provided by Google to reduce the amount of energy we use in our homes each day. An example of this would be like a gas pump. When you are filling up your car you get to see the amout that it costs right there. If you had a meter right beside your water fosset you would naturaly tend to use less water. Well Google and GE have put prototypes into homes to keep track of the amount of energy a family uses. With the meter sitting beside the switch people tend not reason with themselves and leave the lights off when they are not nessesary. If the free market will push this idea through it will solve alot of the energy problems. If %25 of americans installed a Smart Meter 1.6 million cars would be off of the road and 9.1 million tons of CO2 emissions would be reduced. "Google.org has commited over $100 million in grants and investments as of September 2008. In the energy area, those investments target renewable energies, like high-altitude wind extraction, solar power, and geothermal systems, but also plug-in vehicles."

I think that if this idea catches fire, it will change the way we use energy. I know for a fact that if I could see how much it costs to take a shower I would not take the long hot shower. I might keep it hot but not as long. Just seeing the bill like a gas meter is enough to get people to save energy. The only problem with this idea will be is if it costs alot of money to install. That will be the downfall. I would not want to install a piece of equipment that is going to change my routine and is expensive. This will be great for the planet and great for the wallet only if it is worth the investment or the hassle.

http://blogoscoped.com/archive/2008-11-17-n20.html