Many are wondering if technology is to much for our laws because in a case that would have been impossible to contend to five years ago, Courtney Love is being sued for libel by a fashions designer for supposedly slamming the woman on Twitter. But as technology grows faster than the laws that govern free speech online, its not just the rich and famous finding trouble.
Consider this case between Amanda Bonnen and Horizon Group Management LLC. Horizon is suing Amanda for $50,000 because Amanda said this on her twitter account, “Who said sleeping in a moldy apartment was bad for you? Horizon Reality thinks its ok.” The suit is still in court. Many legal experts say that internet cases are being watched very closely and are trying to be addressed under the American Law. Many questions arise from being sued stuff that happened on the internet, for example: how can society balance accountability with free speech? And if information-from private thoughts to public data- is so readily available, how do we define what constitutes privacy?
Many legal experts say it is hard for the American Law to keep up with emerging technology. “Generally, it is at least five years behind technology as it is developing,” said Andrea Matwyshyn, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, who tracks the intersection of law and technology. Law can not take the place of our manners, it can only take on the most extreme and outrageous cases. As the end of this article came to a close it is interesting if Congress will ever be able to catch up to our growing economy because now-a-days everyone relies on technology. I guess only the future will tell if America can keep up with this growing account of technology.
Reference:
Tanneeru, Manav. “Can the law keep up with technology?” CNN: living with technology. 17 November 2009. Web. 17 November 2009. http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/11/17/law.technology/index.html
Researchers in London are working on a breakthrough technology called limb technology, which is a prosthetic hand that can actually feel. There are many different techniques for artificial limbs, but the smart hand so far is the most advanced at our time of age. The smart hand gives more control than any other system in the world.
This technology allows sensory information to be detected and transmitted from several sensors in each prosthetic finger, which means that the users can now feel objects they are holding. Scientists say, “The big difference between out system and others is the sensory feedback.” This has never been done before and is a step forward into making human needs easier to receive.
This prototype can be available within two years to many humans across the world. But the draw back is that this new technology is only for those amputations that are below the elbow. However, there is hope for people that have had an amputation at the upper arm. The U.S. is trying to develop a system that is similar to the limp technology, but instead of controlling it with your muscles, it will be controlled by a foot pedal in the bottom of your shoe.
However, neural interfaces have been trialed in animals; there is still a number of problems that need to be dealt with before this technology can be made for humans. This neural interface has to be implanted in the body, which brings problems of biocompatibility says Sebelius, a scientist in London. The problem most doctors and scientists are worried about is that the body may reject the new interface and if this happens you can form a lot of tissue around the interface which then the product will not function correctly. In all, this is a step closer to making many humans able to feel again.
Tutton, Mark. “The artificial hand that can feel.” CNN, Vital Signg. 6 November 2009. Web. 7 November 2009. http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/11/06/artificial.hand.feel/index.html
“Italians have to go a long way to escape the mobile phone, a very long way.” This is a quote from an Italian astronaut who thought he could escape text messaging from space, well he was wrong. There is a new service in Italy called Riella SpA which allows its subscribers to use their cell phones to control their heating and air conditioning be sending SMS (short message service) messages.
This is a fact that there are more mobile phones in use in Italy than there are homes: 49 million cell phones for a population of 58 million. This new technology (SMS) messaging can also find location information, chat and even do online matchmaking within as little as thirty minutes. They just launched an online photo album that can be viewed from a mobile phone.
There are also messaging services aimed at businesses; the “SpA will set up a private online phone directory for your company. Send the Rubrica Mobile service the name of an employee in an SMS, and it will reply with their fixed-line and mobile phone numbers.” The company has also created something for everyone because they do not want to leave anyone out. They created TIMs SMS Vocali which is a service for people with poor or no eyesight. It will allow these couples to send and receive text messages by talking or listening to an automated text-to-speech server. They also offer an online phone book, call screening, voice mail and fax mailbox control. This is just a new step to making human life easier on everyone.
Sayer, P. (2002) Sky is the limit for Italian mobile services. CNN. Com/Sci-Tech. Reference: http://archives.cnn.com/2002/TECH/ptech/05/01/italian.wireless.idg/index.html
Ford, M. (2009) Think you’re a good employee? Office snooping software can tell. CNN/technology. Retrieved from: http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/09/24/snooping.software.efootrprint/index.html
Reference: Yousuf, H. (2009). Ford recall hits 4.5 million vehicles. CNN money/technology. Retrieved from
http://money.cnn.com/2009/10/13/news/companies/Ford_recall/index.htm
Two students had an idea to launch a camera into near-outer space by using a weather balloon, a cell phone, hand warmers and a soft drink cooler. Amazingly the balloon, camera and cell phone made it 17 miles up into near space with no harm done. So with technology expanding and with anyone who has some know-how and some common tools around the house/internet, who says that we need NASA to take pictures of space and spend millions, if not billions of dollars, to do what these students did by only spending $148.
But as the balloon traveled 17 miles up into space, it popped, but only landed about 40 miles away from MIT. Amazingly everything was in perfect condition, the phone was still in working order, the GPS system had worked and the camera was still in perfect condition. It is amazing what technology can do for us, we believe that we need specialized technology to travel into space, yet all we need is a cell phone? This is why I choose this article because it goes out of the lines of networks, telecommunications and mobile technology, but still uses them in different manufacturing ways. If it was not for networks and mobile technology these students would not be able to do what they did and what they did was extraordinary.
References: Sutter, John. (2009). Students launch camera to edge of space, snap pictures of Earth. CNN.com/technology on mobile technology. Retrieved from: http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/09/21/space.camera.icarus.ireport/index.html?iref=newssearch
http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/07/10/rfid/index.html?iref=newssearch
Google’s Battle in Business Software
Google announced that it is trying to create a software, like Microsoft’s, to compete with the mega giants. Google tried there new software with an agreement with GE, which included a software like excel: they created there own word processing and spreadsheet applications called Google Apps. As time went on GE noticed that the programming was slow and insufficient, so GE is thinking about terminating the contract.
Google is trying to expand there business so they are not known as a search engine company, but it seems that it is going to be harder than expected to expand the company. As Google’s 2009 revenue books will show, they are slowing down productivity to only 4% this year. leaving the company to try to bring in revenue by creating these new applications. Company after Company have tried Google Apps. and noticed that it is not safe because instead of storing your private files on your computer, the software will store it to Google’s website; making it public for anyone to see. GE’s Simpson said, “That’s probably our biggest stumbling block to going bigger with Google.”
Many companies are steering clear of Google’s Apps, but Google is trying to work out all the kinks to try to catch up to Microsoft because Microsoft’s Applications cost around $90-$150 while Google Apps. would cost $50. Time will tell if Google will be the next big shot in the business world or if they will fail and have to start their Apps over again.
The topics covered in our book represent some of the criteria in this article. The first topic I noticed was the value chain because this is to see what company can offer and will offer something unique, but at a cheaper price. There is also the supplier power and supplier chain in which is how the supplier, Google, can sell their product and how many companies will buy this product, but Google will have to work on this because many companies are staying away from the Apps. I noticed that Google is also trying to become a buyer power in how they are trying to compete with other companies and they are entering into a threat of substitute products or services and the threat of new entrants because not many companies offer Apps. except for Microsoft and Apple, so by Google stepping in, it shows that there will be more competition between the companies. Google will be stepping on these companies feet by offering the same product, but at a lower price making Microsoft and Apple trying to invent something new; time will tell if Google is made for this business.
References:
Ricadela, A. (2009). Google’s Battle in Business Software. Business Week: Innovation and Technology, 2009. Retrieved from http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/09_30/b4140050489038.htm
