10 Emerging Technologies 2008

The MIT Technology Review presents 10 technologies that are likely to change the way we live:

Modeling Surprise
Combining massive quantities of data, insights into human psychology, and machine learning can help manage surprising events, says Eric Horvitz.

Probabilistic Chips
Krishna Palem thinks a little uncertainty in chips could extend battery life in mobile devices--and maybe the duration of Moore's Law, too.

NanoRadio

Alex Zettl's tiny radios, built from nanotubes, could improve everything from cell phones to medical diagnostics.

Wireless Power
Physicist Marin Soljacic is working toward a world of wireless electricity.

Atomic Magnetometers
John Kitching's tiny magnetic-field sensors will take MRI where it's never gone before.
Offline Web Applications

Offline Web Applications
Adobe's Kevin Lynch believes that computing applications will become more powerful when they take advantage of the browser and the desktop.

Graphene Transistors
A new form of carbon being pioneered by Walter de Heer of Georgia Tech could lead to speedy, compact computer processors.

Connectomics
Jeff Lichtman hopes to elucidate brain development and disease with new technologies that illuminate the web of neural circuits.

Reality Mining
Sandy Pentland is using data gathered by cell phones to learn about human behavior.
Cellulolytic Enzymes Frances Arnold is designing better enzymes for making biofuels from cellulose

Need Your Electric Line Buried?

Although the temperature outside is still hot, winter is not too far off. The ice storms of 2000 and 2007 can still evoke memories of dark city streets, candlelit homes, and food cooked on a gas grill. Click on the blue title above to read "The Oklahoma Corporation Commission's Inquiry into Undergrounding Electrical Facilities in the State of Oklahoma." One of best reasons to bury electrical lines is that Oklahoma ice storms seem to be occuring more frequently than they used to. (Acquired online from Oklahoma Crossroads.)

China Completes 3rd Space Mission

China successfully completed it's third manned space mission after the return of the spacecraft Shenzhou-7 landed Sunday. It was also marked the first spacewalk by a Chinese astronaut, 42 year old "Zhai Zhigang". Click on the blue title above to read additional news articles.

Love Your School? Hate It? Unigo wants to Know

This month a new Web site, called Unigo.com came online. Unigo is a free, gigantic, student-generated guide to North American colleges for prospective applicants and their families. The site was recently profiled in the College Issue of the New York Times.

Unigo is the brainchild of 23 year old Jordan Goldman and all the content on the site is student generated. To date no one has profiled SWOSU, so be the first and check out Unigo.com

2007 American Community Survey Released.

Today the Census Bureau released new data from the 2007 American Community Survey for our nations' social, economic, and housing characteristics, including state rankings. Click on the blue title above to peruse.

Among the findings:

* the number of foreign-born Americans is at a all-time high of 38.1 million
* 12 million of them were born in Mexico
* homeowners with mortgages in California and New Jersey have the highest mortage payments in our nation of $2,314 per month in California and $2,278 per month in New Jersey!
* the second lowest monthly mortgage payment in our nation is that of Arkansas, with $921 per month

Free Movies, Free TV

IMDB now offers movies, TV shows, for free

The (IMDB) has begun offering over 6000 movie and TV shows on the site for free today, offering the streaming films with "minimal advertising interruption."

Col Needham, founder and managing director of IMDb.com, added, "We're excited to offer our users a simple online experience to watch full-length movies and TV episodes for free...our goal is to show our users every movie and TV show on the Internet for free on IMDb.com."

The new move will however also provide a new revenue opportunity for the giant e-tailer Amazon, which owns IMDB.

"On title pages where IMDb does not have the content available for free, users can click on the Amazon Video On Demand button to rent or purchase the video from Amazon," an Amazon spokesperson said. "It's great to offer customers choice. They can decide whether to watch an ad-supported movie or show on IMDb for free or rent or purchase a movie and show immediately from AVOD without commercials. So it's really the best of both worlds for TV and movie fans."

The content is coming from CBS, Hulu.com, Sony Pictures Television, and more than 500 independent filmmakers but it is unclear how the advertising revenue will be split.

You can check out the new IMDB video section here: IMDB featured videos

Don't Read This Garbage!

Did you know that the ancient Romans actually had scheduled garbage pickup in some cities? Click on the blue title above for some interesting tidbits about the history of garbage. Most of the article (from Oklahoma Crossroads) details the history of garbage in the United States and Oklahoma.

Parent's Day Activities

Saturday, September 13, is Parent's Day at SWOSU. Many activities are planned for the day.

Pancake Breakfast: 7-10:30 a.m. in the University Grill. This is a fundraiser for the men's basketball team. Cost is $5.00 for an all-you-can-eat breakfast.

USTA Adult Tennis Tournament: The event will be held at Rader Park and the SWOSU courts on both Saturday and Sunday. The tournament is sponsored by the Weatherford Tennis Association. For details, call Bruce Belanger (580) 819-1504.

35th annual Southwest Festival of the Arts: This is a great opportunity to shop for handcrafted items. The festival is held at Means Park from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m.

Watercolor Art Show: The show is in the Art Building here at SWOSU from 3-5 p.m. Admission is free.

Tailgate Party/BBQ Dinner: The dinner will take place inside the Wellness Center from 5-6 p.m. It is sponsored by the SWOSU Alumni Association. Cost is $5 for adults and $3 for children under 12.

Football Game: SWOSU plays Angelo State University at 6 p.m. at Milam Stadium. Admission is free with a SWOSU I.D. card.

There will be a giveaway of five $500 tuition scholarships during Parent's Day. Students or family members can register for the scholarhip drawings throughout the day at participating business in Weatherford. The winners will be announced at halftime of the football game.

Winners of the Dawg Days Video Game Tournament & Organizational Fair

The Al Harris Library would like to congratulate Dustin Thompson (pictured above), the Xbox Champion, and Brandt Arganbright (pictured below), Wii Champion, for winning their respective tournaments. Erin Ingraham, Circulation Supervisor and Tournament Co-Sponsor, presented each winner with prizes. The Library appreciates all of the students who participated in this year's Dawg Days video game tournament.


The Library would also like to congratulate these winners whose names were selected from our library t-shirt drawing at the Organizational Fair: Chelsey Scheffler, McKenzie Smith, Crystal Mars, & Johnny Moore.

Technology, Entertainment, Design

The TED conference, invites leading thinkers to deliver mind-blowing lectures about technology and society. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader.

Their website makes the best talks and performances from TED available to the public, for free. More than 200 talks from our archive are now available, with more added each week.

Check out TED: Ideas Worth Spreading