As Promised, a 2nd entry this week

Well, as I said earlier, I am doing two posts this week to make up for being out of town last week for my grandmother's funeral. I was a bit unsure of what to write about this week, but I decided to blog about my thoughts on the potential of cyborgs. Like everybody else in the class, I pretty much used the terms "robot" and "cyborg" interchangeably. But, I was reminded of a great quote used by The Terminator in T3: Rise of the Machines when John Connor calls the Terminator a "Damn Robot" and the Terminator replies "Cybernetic Organism!" So, what are the possibilities of cyborgs? Could we create a half human, half cyborg organism that possesses superhuman strength and added memory and brain power? Well, yes, that does appear to be on the horizon. But, who will this technology be available to? Should it be limited? I believe those are some scary questions that need to answered moving forward. I believe this technology should only be used in instances where it could help someone with a disability, and that they should not enhance a person beyond "average" human capability. Otherwise, we could end up with something like Dr. Octopus at the top.

Kindle 2

So, I may be a little bit behind the times with this one, but while I was in Pittsburgh for my grandmother's funeral, I had the opportunity to try out my mother's Kindle 2. I am aware that the Kindle 3 was just released a few weeks ago, but I fell the Kindle 2 is still pretty close and has a lot of interesting features. If you do not know, the Kindle is basically an iPod for books. You can store thousands of books in a folder sized notebook and browse through them as you please. To turn the page you simply move your finger across the touch screen from right to left, as if to simulate a page turn. It is a truly remarkable technology that makes you wonder, where has this kind of a product been for all these years? It just seems crazy that an e-book reader had not come out before Amazon.com decided to produce the Kindle. The prime implication of this technology is a very promising one, particularly for college students; cheap books. And, not just cheap Tom Clancy novels, but cheap text books, which is where most college students really get hammered financially. It will also make it easy to bring all of your textbooks with you everywhere. My only beef with it is I am not the biggest fan of the screen. I felt more like I was playing a GameBoy than I was reading a novel. But, as with any technology, there is always room for improvement.

It's been a while

I know it's been a while since I made a post, but my grandmother passed away last week and it's just been kind of a blur. I will make up for it by posting twice next week. Anyways, the product I am reviewing this week is a new application that would allow you to pay your bar or restaurant tab from your iphone. It's called tabbedout, and as of now, it only exists in Austin, Texas. Basically, tabbedout has participating locations that are hooked up to the tabbedout network, and you can log on, establish a tab, and cash that tab out whenever you like, even from outside the bar or restaurant. So, you never have to worry about leaving your credit card in a bar and not cashing out your tab. The app does not appear to have any obvious negatives since it's free and supposedly very user friendly, but I'm going to wait and see when it actually makes its way to the rest of the country later this year to pass any real judgment. The question is going to be, can tabbedout really get enough bars and restaurants on its network to make this app worthwhile? If it can, this seems destined to be one of the most popular apps amongst young adults, and the automatic 20% tip will make it a bartender favorite as well.