It’s the end of another year and the end of a ground-breaking decade. Let’s look back at what’s been accomplished in the years of 2000–2009, focusing on technology.
Technology
Windows has entered a new era
The decade—indeed, the century—began with Windows 2000, which I consider the first great version of the operating system. XP was the version that brought widespread success, and people just seem to refuse to upgrade; even today, almost three quarters of the computers on the net are on XP.
Despite the dismal failure of Windows Vista, it too brought change, which was followed by the enhancements of Windows 7. Compare my desktop today to the ugly screens of a decade ago:
Apple deserves an honourable mention for the ground-breaking work they’ve done on the Mac, elevating it to a newly trendy status.
Portable media players have completely changed
A decade ago, CD players and tape-based Walkmans were still the norm for ‘portable’ audio players. The iPod, launched in 2001, entirely changed the game. (I suppose this and the iPhone were the “comeback of the decade”.) It was no longer a device that played removable media. That was followed by thousands of other portable media players, to which the public generally refers inaccurately as “MP3 players”, reflecting the popularity of the 15-year-old MP3 format that has also been notorious for illegal file sharing (see below).
Cell phones and mobile devices have become ubiquitous
These devices used to be ugly, huge and heavy objects. As we move into 2010, cell phones have become more compact (usually this means thinner and lighter) and more powerful.
In China, about 739 million people have cell phones; that’s more than there are Internet users in China (which is about 360 million).
Mobile devices have become truly powerful. The iPhone, purportedly the most popular cell phone of 2009, is one of the biggest platforms for software development. And it has a touch screen. RIM’s BlackBerry, initially launched in 1999, is the most popular smartphone among business users.
Ordinary people begin to embrace ultra-portable netbooks for lightweight computing. The move to mobile is probably the most noticeable trend in end-user gadgetry in this decade. Continue reading »
Not really a spacewalk, just a bit of floating outside the module.
Please enable Javascript and Flash to view this Flash video.The normal episode for Frederick Time will either come out tomorrow or not at all this week.
I watched the spectacular opening ceremony for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing this morning. It was simply amazing.
Exceptional fireworks, amazingly coordinated dancers and artists (thousands of them!), excellent majestic music, and fabulous high-tech shows. Amazing!
Since I’ve categorized this under “Graphic Matters”, I might as well show you some pictures.
There’s more after the jump.
Continue reading »
With just 5 days to go until the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, there’s a lot of hype on the Internet (with those on one side criticizing whatever, and those on the other preparing for a great opening ceremony). What interests me, though, aren’t the articles written by the CBC, like “Skies over Beijing clear ahead of Olympics” or “China’s web censors easing off: report“, but rather the reader comments on those articles.
Let’s start with something about the environment:
Andy the Engineer: “China’s success has been built on the back of the environment – they have ruined beautiful rivers, strip mined scenic mountains and poured every type of vile and disgusting exhaust you can imagine into the air – and the Olympic Games will broadcast this to the world.”
Let’s word this more accurately and less xenophobically, shall we? It is the success of the WESTERN WORLD (including Canada — we have our fair share of this blame) that has been built on the back of China’s environment. And India’s. And Taiwan’s. And Japan’s. And … well, basically every early-industrial nation with cheap labour.
I’m fed up with people whose entire wealth is based on the use and abuse of people and resources in other countries who then turn around and act as if they are morally superior to those same exploited people. Grow up.
- MichaelWH
See what they have to say after the jump.
I had to create an entirely new category (Environmental Matters) just to accommodate this post and future posts on similar subjects.
Before we continue: I’m not a journalist, the Timelog isn’t a news agency or newspaper, and it has never been my intention to give breaking-news coverage of current events. Look to more reliable sources for that news (hopefully not CNN), and come here for my take. Like I’ve previously stated, I’m not always neutral.
A few days ago, Sichuan province in China suffered a devastating earthquake measuring 8.0 on the Richter scale that could be felt throughout a large portion of China. People as far as Beijing and Taipei could feel the ground shaking. (My relatives in Northeast China did not.)
Approximately 32500 people have now died.
A short while ago, I was watching a memorial program hosted on CCTV4, the media channel for overseas Chinese people. It was difficult not to relate emotionally to the event.
But that program demonstrated to me the strength of China and its peoples. Know the following:
- More than 130000 rescue workers have been deployed. Not to mention the hundreds of helicopters, planes, and other military equipment used to get them there. Or the life sensing equipment that has allowed them to rescue and treat as many as 55000 people.
Donations have at least exceeded $1.3 billion USD. At the end of the program, a large number of representatives from various companies were on stage, each carrying a red card with their donation amounts. Some of those representatives stood for individual donors. In total, the donations showcased on the program exceeded 6 billion yuan.- Students from the disaster-stricken areas will find it less difficult to get a good education. The minimum marks will be lowered to allow more students to qualify, and certain donors have taken on the burden of paying for these students’ university education.
We must applaud their rescue efforts.
The armed forces had pulled 21,566 people both dead and alive from the debris, treated 34,051 injured people, transferred 205,370 people to safety, airdropped 307 tons of relief supplies and repaired 557 kilometers of damaged roads.
Compare that with the relief efforts following Hurricane Katrina.
Anyhow:
These rescuers are as heroic, if not more, than those American volunteers who helped out in the aftermath of September 11. Yet, only 3000 people died in those two towers. This natural disaster has impacted a large portion of China, larger than many European countries.
One of the donors near the end of the program said something that can be translated roughly to the following:
Any loss, if divided by 1.3 billion, is bearable.
Any contribution, if multiplied by 1.3 billion, is an ocean of love.
Donate. A simple word. My family has already contributed to the Canadian Red Cross, though that has left us wondering if we chose the right place to contribute. CCTV4 has provided account numbers for wire transfers, and we feel that might have been a better place.
If every person of Chinese descent contributed an amount, we can all ensure a better future for the survivors of the quake. After all, we amount to one-fifth of the world’s population. (My next post will be about Chinese pride. Maybe a few graphics.)
I recently saw something while using StumbleUpon that really resonated with an important message I would like to point out: China is not only becoming the next super-power, it is already extremely powerful in the world simply due to trade. Ironic, isn’t it, that capitalism is what allows a semi-Communist country to hold some power over the rest of the nations?
What would products cost if the US banned trade with China as part of “sanctions”? What would be the economic impact? How would consumers respond, or more importantly, how would 2+ billion Chinese people react?
Consider these questions, and get back to me (using the comments feature).
Thousands of Chinese demonstrators from Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal gathered on Parliament Hill today to rally against boycotts of the Beijing Olympics and to oppose Tibetan independence.
A pro-China demonstration on Parliament Hill on Sunday attracted about 5,000 Chinese-Canadians from Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto eager to show support for the troubled Beijing Olympics.
The planning of this event had been orchestrated online, facilitated by thousands of willing volunteers who wanted to show their support for China. There were some hiccups with the chartering of buses, when (allegedly) an opposing entity threatened the busing company. However, sources state that a Chinese-Canadian businessman arranged (out of his own pockets) for more than 30 buses to transport demonstrators and the elderly to Parliament Hill.
This event is an instance of powerful Chinese patriotism which has brought thousands together against “media distortion” and attempts to disrupt China’s hosting of the Olympics.
A few hours ago, approximately 5000 protestors also gathered in Australia for the same cause.
Isn’t it strange, though, that news of these events aren’t on the media… aren’t found on the homepage of Google News (the last time I checked)… aren’t even mentioned?
Interestingly, Jack Cafferty (whom I had respected previously) on CNN made a comment that “…they (Chinese) are basically the same bunch goons and thugs they have been in the past fifty years.” Absolutely intolerable!
Watch him make his offensive comment:
The following video, “The true face of Western media”, was previously noted here as a YouTube video. Since then, I have obtained permission from the creator of the video to republish and redistribute his/her video to get the message out. The original AVI was uploaded to blip.tv and below is the high-quality Flash conversion:
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