Lawmakers Forcing People to Unplug While Outside

MSNBC reports that Lawmakers declare war on texting and walking.  The article states that two senators of the United States are trying to pass laws against texting while walking.  These senators also want to make it illegal for anyone to wear earphones in both ears while they are outside.  It seems absurd that Americans have become so rude with and attached to their technology that laws would need to be passed for their own safety.  However, you will not have to think back too far to recall the last time that you saw someone texting on their phone and walk through a cross walk without looking up from their phone.  Also, you probably do not have to think all that far back to remember the last time you saw a jogger with an Ipod that was completely oblivious to everything around them.  If Americans cannot learn to be safe while using their technology, perhaps it is time that the government makes a stand before a serious tragedy occurs.

The Race to Get Rid of Your Wallet

A new market is about to erupt, with many competitors in the race for a major share.  Within two years applications that make mobile phone payments will boom.  These applications could potentially end the need for your wallet because most monetary transactions could be done from your cell phone.  This boom is similar to the PC boom of the Eighties' and Nineties'.  The situation currently at Paypal is similar to the situation that existed at IBM. IBM was a mainframe manufacturer and started branching out to the PC market. Similarly, Paypal is an online payment company branching out to mobile payments.  A second similarity exists: just as Microsoft was a major winner in the PC boom because it provided the operating system that made many of the computers work, I believe that a major winner in this upcoming mobile phone payment boom will be a financial company that makes these transactions actually happen.  Also, as was the case of the PC boom, the biggest winner will probably not be the company with the best application, but will be the company in the right place at the right time.
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Smallish Blog Post 1 - Technology is Ecological

Neil Postman said, "Technological change is not additive; it is ecological" in his article titled Five Things We Need to Know About Technology Change. By this he means that a piece of new technology is not just added to a small portion of the world, but that it changes the entire world.  At first, I thought Neil Postman's statement was exaggerated, but then as I pondered on the statement, I realized that he was right.  I applied the statement on a personal level.  Nearly every time that I learn a new technology, I end up using it in several different aspects of my life and not just for what I learned to use it.  As an example, I took the laptop computer.  At first, I thought that a laptop computer was just for doing school assignments and playing games.  Then as I learned the power and capabilities of it, I started to use it in more parts of my life.  Now I use my laptop computer in some way for almost everything I do.  As one reflects on Neil Postman's statement about new technology, they will recognize the truthfulness of the statement and perhaps realize new ways in which the technology they have can change their life for the better.