New Technology

1. I think that blogging is a much better way to express a student’s ideas through writing. In traditional writing techniques the student had to write about a specific topic, like the wikis where each student had to write about whatever the assignment was for that day, and through this the student would find it hard to express his ideas, his likes and dislikes, and even his feelings sometimes. Through blogging each student had their own website to express themselves how ever way they wanted and the good thing about that is that they could post other stuff that they weren’t able to post on wiki spaces. When I say stuff, I mean like videos of their favorite comedian or links to websites that that student visits, and even pictures that they want to put on fro fun so that the other students and even the world can see clearly what type of person that student is. Also in blogging you can choose whatever you wanted to talk about and not have one specific topic that you have to keep writing about. Since each student chooses their own topic to their liking, I think that they are able to express themselves more and show their likes and dislikes more easily. That also shows their interests by what they choose to talk about, like me for an example, I like technology and especially technology on cars and I also like cars so I chose to write about “New Technology” because that’s what I’m interested in , and in my opinion by choosing a topic that I’m interested in I found that I am able to express myself more easily. Why I think you chose blogging instead of traditional writing techniques is because in wikis rarely anybody visits the site, but in blogs everybody likes blogs because most of them are interesting and creative; also because blogs are a way that students can connect to students and teachers around the world.

2. Other than the obvious, writing a lot, I accomplished many things during blogging in Language arts. Firstly I think that my language skills have improved greatly because of the grammar that was integrated into the blogging during class, and by improved I mean I started to look for big vocabulary words that I could use so that my writing is more clear to the readers and visitors of my blog, and also because it makes my sound very smart. I also started using a range of sentences. I started out using many simple sentences but then I started to write with all the types of sentences; simple, complex, compound, compound-complex. I think that I also got better at researching for information and choosing which websites are reliable and which are not reliable.

3. What I learned during the blogging part of L.A. is that research on the internet is not that easy and that not all the information that you write about is on the internet like when I wrote about imaging techniques, I found the information in a book I found at home about technology and it was a great source for me since it provided information about the subject I’m writing about and it means that I didn’t have to look it up on the internet when I could have just opened the book and found the information. Also I learned that giving your blog an interesting name and a creative look, like an advertisement, attracts more people to visit your website. Also that picking a subject is important because most people might like technology than sports and if you write about sports than less people would visit your site and comment about your writing.

4. Inside school this blogging activity will help me excel in writing, only that’s what I hope would happen. And also it would help me in classes that require a student to have voice and be able to express his ideas in a creative ways. Outside school I think that it would help me keep in touch with my friends in school and also to keep in touch with teachers and even to keep in touch with people that I have met online due to blogging; sadly I didn’t meet anybody. This is what I think blogs are useful for me in the future.

Macro photography

Macro photography makes a small subject, such as an image of a human eye on a liquid crystal display (LCD) screen, appear life-size or greater. A special camera lens with a powerful magnification lets the photographer focus from just inches away. Macro photography can reveal details that are very difficult, or impossible, to make out with the naked eye. Some Scientists also attach cameras to microscopes to capture object in even greater detail, this technique is called photomicrography.

Doppler radar

This imaging technique helps meteorologists to track storms, tornadoes and even hurricanes; and it can even measure an objects speed and direction. A transmitter on the radar sends out a barrage of radio waves into the sky, and these travel at the speed of light, which is pretty fast. They reach the target, which is usually the droplets of water in clouds, and then they bounce. When the waves come back to the radar a computer calculates the milliseconds it takes and then calculates how far the water droplets are which. The radar can also figure out how much water a cloud contains from the strength of the reflected radio wave. This system creates a detailed picture of weather events in the area which is found useful.

Ultrasound

Ultrasound is a medical imaging technique often used to check a baby’s development in its mother’s womb. A probe is placed on the skin above the womb, and it sends out millions of pulses of high-frequency sound waves, at least 100 times greater than those within the range of human hearing. These pulses go into the womb and then bounce back. By measuring the time it takes for the echoes to return to the probe, a detailed image is produced on the screen of the machine. This imaging technique is similar to the Doppler radar. To produce 3D images, many scans of the body are taken and combined by a computer to create a 3D image.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging

MRI allows doctors to explore the body’s structures, such as the brain’s network of nerve connections. An MRI scanner bombards the body with radio waves that cause vibrations in atoms held in position, by the scanners powerful magnets. These tiny movements produce the information for a computer to build up a very detailed 3D image. MRI helps doctors diagnose serious conditions, and provides clues about the workings of the human body.

Wallpaper with changing designs, bulb-less lamps that shed light from their shades, mediaeval-looking scrolls that unroll to become flexible full-color displays… These are just a few of the new devices the approaching era of printed electronics could bring. In conventional electronics a lot of materiel and energy is wasted in the circuit configuration that carries the electricity. The new design is a polymer that can be printed out form a normal inkjet printer. This ink that is printed becomes the electric circuit where the electricity would light up and produce different colors of light. This is a less wasteful, flexible and a cheaper way to produce light. Polymer transistors, organic LED’s (OLED’s) and other printed components can already be combined to make displays, lights, sensors, and wireless electronic ID tags in companies. But much more is to come. “Printed electronics potentially has tremendous advantages in terms of costs – perhaps up to three orders of magnitude cheaper than silicon,” says Vivek Subramanian of the University of California at Berkeley. What’s more, when electronics are no longer rigid and delicate, it is possible to put them into entirely new places. Subramanian and colleagues are working on putting sensors inside wine bottles that radio the content’s chemical condition to the checkout. The flexible, thin displays that feature in the eBook readers made by Dutch firm Polymer Vision are another example. One version of the Readius prototype unrolls scroll-like from the cell phone-sized gadget, while another has a screen that, when not in use, is wrapped around the device. Impressive, but still only black and white, just like the upcoming printed eBook reader from Plastic Logic we wrote about recently. Similarly the exhibition of the latest printed electronics at the centre in Sedgefield was impressive, but also demonstrated there is clearly more development work to be done. I think that if they come up with a version that incorporates color ten then only thing that I have to say is “How much?”

In hectic cities car accidents happen in many different ways, one way a car accident could occur is when somebody parks and opens the door to get out and the person doesn’t realize that he is opening his door onto oncoming traffic and then BOOM! It is too late. Michael Graf has made this incident a thing of the past with his brainchild. His practical innovation is basically a door that is smart enough to sense oncoming traffic and locks the door if it sees a potential accident waiting to happen. Graf produced his invention at the University of Munich and got help from the renowned car manufacturing company, BMW. He says that his new device would cut down on car crashes is jam-packed cities and also reduce the amount of money a person has to pay for repairs. The current prototype of this machine looks similar to a normal car door; the only distinction between the two is that the prototype has a linear metal rod that is power by an electric motor. When in normal mode, the bar moves freely and doesn’t affect with door. However, if sensors detect a nearby obstacle at the same time as an accelerometer detects an attempt to open the door, the door’s swing is restricted by a linear motor attached to the bar. Also the amount of door resistance is in proportion to the proximity of an object, for example, you might swing a door halfway open without problems before it gets stiffer as it nears a lamp post. The current prototype uses ultrasound sensors located around the car, but the limited field of view of these sensors leads Graf to change these sensors to cameras that can span 180 degrees as to spot dangers and obstacles more efficiently. Reactions from 16 volunteers who tried the new door at BMW’s Munich research centre have been encouraging, and Graf says, “Then we will be able to sense the complete workspace of the door and detect people walking by the car or cycling towards it.” This system is a very basic mechanism, and is already being used in taxi’s that incorporate facilities for the handicapped however BMW has yet to decide if to put this product on the market. Other examples of this technology is being used in parking and blind spot sensors on production cars today, while more advanced systems are on the way. I think that such a basic system should have already put on the market, and I am wondering why BMW has not yet considered putting this safety product on the market, please share your ideas and comment on this post.

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Engineer Adam Wilson has done what some people proved to be impossible he took mindreading equipment and made it fairly cheap and now it is out for use in the community. He used a system called BCI200, which is found in hundreds of labs across the world. This system can do the job of a keyboard but for any software. In the next months to come, cheaper headsets that can control anything from iPods to T.V.s will go public. This equipment is already in use for people with a disability or paralysis and is called an EEG. This technology allows them to control a wheelchair or type on the computer. An Australian company called Emotiv says that they are going to release a similar product, that has 16 sensors placed around the head (see picture) and they control 12 different movements in the game. This game is compatible with any running PC or windows system. Another company called NeuroSky is licensing its set-up to other companies, including Mattel, Nokia and Sega, instead of selling the technology straight to the public. These devices are remarkably cheap comparing them to the EEG that came before them.