These are a few of my favorite things. Thing 7-Techie

Writing about one thing that interests me in new technology is hard, because there are lots of things that interest me.

Just today I picked up the TIME magazine issue of November 12, 2007. The cover story, in case you have not seen it, is Best inventions of 2007. They choose the Iphone is the best, but then went on to spotlight many other inventions in 12 categories, Cars & Buses, Aircraft, Space, Robots, Entertainment, Law and Order, Living, Environment, Architecture, Fashion, Computers, and Health. Here are three of my favorites:

• ATM for Books: this could have a major impact on bookstores and libraries. How about the ability for a customer to print out and buy a Civil Service Test guide. Ondemandbooks.com




• Good Morning Sunshine: I am not a morning person, and don't like to be awakened by jarring noises. This invention is a pillow with built in lights that create a natural sunrise to wake you up. NICE! Prototype.




• The $150 Laptop: At that price we could buy one for every customer and pass them out at the door. Not the most powerful computer, but governments are buying them in bulk for kids in developing countries. Laptop.org.

I also recently read an article in New Yorker that I think we all should read: Future Reading Digitization and its discontents. by Anthony Grafton November 5, 2007. It is basically a summary of some of Google's plans to digitalize all the books in the world (not really) and how some people think it will not happen or to the extent that some think it will. And if it does, what does that mean for old dusty libraries? I end with this from the article: " But these streams of data, rich as they are, will illuminate, rather than eliminate, books and prints and manuscripts that only the library can put in front of you. The narrow path still leads, as it must, to crowded public rooms where the sunlight gleams on varnished tables, and knowledge is embodied in millions of dusty, crumbling, smelly, irreplaceable documents and books."♦