SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
A Middletown Thrall Library Blog
In this blog we post science and technology news and information you might find interesting!
Phoenix Mission
May 14, 2008
NASA's latest mission to the planet Mars is called the Phoenix Mars Lander,
which is said to be "designed to study the history of water and habitability
potential in the Martian arctic's ice-rich soil"
(from the Mission page at
the University of Arizona).
For news, images, animations, and other information ab
ut this mission you can visit these sites:
Human-Computer Interactions in 2020
April 9, 2008
On April 2, 2008,
Microsoft Research published
a report and details of a forum held on March 15-16, 2007
called "HCI 2020: Human Values in a Digital Age."
HCI stands for "Human-Computer Interaction."
Microsoft indicates the purpose of the forum "was to gather luminaries in computing, design,
social sciences, and scientific philosophy to discuss, debate and help formulate an agenda
for human-computer interaction (HCI) over the next decade and beyond."
Their report ("Being Human: Human-Computer Interaction in the Year 2020")
examines "how emerging computer technologies will change our lives by 2020."
Accompanying the report is a separate downloadable guide for readers (see link below).
The guide helps clarify the intentions of this study through statements such as the
following: "If we devote time and thought now to understand how ongoing technological
progress will alter our interaction with the computer, we can begin to see how we may
live in the future."
You can read more about the HCI meeting and its findings by following these links:
Arthur C. Clarke
March 19, 2008
Arthur C. Clarke, one of the most prolific and visionary
fiction and nonfiction authors of all time, has passed away.
You can learn more about the author at the
Arthur C. Clarke Foundation website
which provides
a biography
as well as a
bibliography of the author's major works.
Most popular perhaps for his story
2001: A Space Odyssey,
Clarke became a major inspiration among science fiction
writers as well as scientists and others in and beyond academia,
as he imagined and anticipated a number of technological developments,
including space satellites, cryogenic suspension, and even the infamous
"Y2K Millenium Bug."
The BBC has published
an interesting article outlining his "predictions."
Here are some more links to help you discover or rediscover this author's literary and scientific contributions:
BOINC!
Feburary 1, 2008
BOINC stands for "Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing."
The BOINC project makes freely available software that enables you to "Use the idle time on your computer
(Windows, Mac, or Linux) to cure diseases, study global warming, discover pulsars, and do many other types
of scientific research."
Popular projects include
SETI@home, where your computer
can participate in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence by analyzing radio signals
from space, and
Rosetta@home,
which conducts protein analyis in hopes of helping to find cures for major human diseases.
Here's how it typically works: once registered at BOINC, you get to select one or more projects that
interest you, download their software, and then choose how often your computer participates in those
programs.
In technical circles, this kind of setup is known as "distributed computing," since the project
is divided up into smaller projects and distributed to computers worldwide. By tapping the
processing power of thousands of computers, these projects can achieve results that would
otherwise take even a "supercomputer" or "mainframe" years to complete.
You can find more information about BOINC by clicking here.
Messenger to Mercury
January 14, 2008
Another exciting space exploration mission is currently in progress:
MESSENGER, which stands for "MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging."
Described by NASA as "the first orbital study of the innermost planet," the MESSENGER mission promises to yield new insights into the planet that orbits closest to the sun in our solar system.
Click the MESSENGER link above to visit the website and to see some of the first images to be provided as the probe draws closer to the planet.
New NASA Website
December 3, 2007
NASA, the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration, has a new and improved website.
Aside from a more modern appearance,
there are new features, such as blogs, tags, widgets,
and feeds, along with new paths to existing web pages
about space exploration.
Click here to check out the new NASA portal!
Mapping Antarctica
November 29, 2007
LIMA, the Landsat Image Mosaic Of Antarctica
is said to bring "the coldest continent on Earth alive in greater detail than ever
before through this virtually cloudless, seamless, and high resolution satellite
view of Antarctica."
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), British Antarctic Survey (BAS),
NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), and the
National Science Foundation (NSF) created the LIMA mosaic
from over than 1,000 images.
Once at the LIMA website, you can scroll and zoom around
Antarctica and check out many fascinating land formations.
Maps and fact sheets are also available at that site.
Amazon Kindle
November 20, 2007
Amazon.com has introduced its own eBook reader called Kindle.
You can
check it out at their site,
which has some video demonstrations and technical specifications, including which
kinds of eBook files it actually supports.
Some commentators and news services on the web
are responding to this development and exploring related eBook format support matters.
If you are new to the world of eBooks, you might not know that eBooks can be stored in many different formats:
Some eBooks (also called "e-texts" or "etexts") available on the web are stored as plain text (.TXT),
such as files made available through
Project Gutenberg.
Many texts are stored in the Adobe PDF Portable Document Format. PDFs are very popular around the
web, since they can preserve the way documents were intended to appear. Many government documents
we feature in our
blogs and our government information services
like
GovSites are PDFs.
Some texts are stored as HTML (HyperText Markup Language - the same format web pages are made of),
while some can exist as Microsoft Word Document (.DOC) files or Rich Text Format (RTF) files.
Adobe has the Adobe Reader, while Microsoft has its Microsoft Reader, as do Mobipocket and Palm
their own readers and requirements. Other companies, such as Sony, offer their own eBook readers
as well, and there are more file formats out there.
Why so many formats? Because various technologies connected with electronic text
have been in development for many years in different areas around the world, information
has been published in whatever format(s) might have been considered "best," cheapest,
most efficient, or supported at the time.
As word processors and computers developed advanced capabilities, new formats were created.
Such activity generally continues today, bringing about new technological
possibilities while, in some cases, introducing potential compatibility issues,
new limitations, and even demands for new computer software and/or specialized hardware.
In addition to different formats, many texts,
such as those available
the Ramapo Catskill Library System (RCLS), require special DRM (Digital Rights Management)
compatible viewers, since those texts are digitally protected and can be viewed only
for certain periods of time and/or on specific eBook readers.
The same is true of eAudio books: they exist in different formats and will only play on certain media players.
Some MP3 players support the
"Plays for Sure" standard,
while other media players like the iPod can support other special (proprietary) formats.
If you're interested in players compatible with library system eAudio books, you can follow
the OverDrive link provided at the RCLS eFiles site
that offers some suggestions.
If you'd like to learn more about eBook and eAudiobook players, check out the "Guided Tour"
and "Need Help?" pages at the
RCLS eFiles website.
Will there ever be one eBook standard that plays on anything?
As eBook technology matures, there are emerging standards, such
as .epub, that might make eBooks more compatible and "interoperable"
with different eBook readers and computer operating systems.
You can read up on some recent advances in some of those efforts at the
International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF),
"the trade and standards association for the digital publishing industry."
Back to the Moon
October 27, 2007
China National Space Administration (CNSA) has launched
a new probe to the moon. You can follow the mission on their website.
Japan's own KAGUYA moon probe mission (SELENE), which we referred to in
an earlier blog post,
now has
its own dedicated website.
NASA has some information about why there is continued interest in Earth's moon in its
Moon, Mars, and Beyond website.
NASA also offers
an extensive article summarizing prior moon missions.
For more information about the moon, check out these links:
Apple OS X Leopard
October 26, 2007
Apple's latest OS X
computer operating system is called Leopard. You can
read more about Leopard's "300+ new features" at
Apple's OS X web page.
Allen Telescope Array
October 11, 2007
The
SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute
has announced the activation of 42 (out of 350 to be built) new radio telescopes
designed to scan the universe for signals potentially indicative of
intelligent civilizations existing beyond Earth.
You can their press release at the following link:
Allen Telescope Array Begins Scientific Observations
Dawn, New Horizons
October 10, 2007
Two new and exciting space exploration missions from
NASA are underway:
- Dawn - NASA states, "Dawn will investigate two of the largest protoplanets in the main asteroid belt, Vesta and Ceres."
- New Horizons - Described by NASA as "a one-way journey to the Kuiper Belt and beyond; unlike some missions that return back to the Earth." Recently, while en route to Pluto, the spacecraft helped bring about a number of new discoveries about Jupiter and its rings and moons.
For more information about past, current, and future missions at NASA and elsewhere
in the world, including Japan's current mission to the moon (SELENE), check out our
Space Exploration links in our Ready Reference web guide.
You might also want to check out our
Resilient Rovers post in this blog
to catch up on the latest news on the Mars rovers.
Google Docs
September 19, 2007
Google has expanded its online services
to include
Google Docs, an online
word processor and presentation software suite that can read popular
file formats and enable you to edit existing files as well as create
new ones. It is also said you can share documents, spreadsheets, and
presentations with other users.
There is
a tour of Google Docs
as well as a
Google Docs Help Center
with answers to frequently asked questions.
Symphony
September 18, 2007
IBM has announced a new line of
office software called Lotus Symphony,
which IBM has described as "a suite of free software tools for creating and sharing documents,
spreadsheets and presentations."
You can read IBM's
press release about this software at this link,
or you can
click here to visit the Lotus Symphony website to learn more
about this software.
If the phrase of "free office software" sounds familiar, you might remember
a comparable offering called
OpenOffice, which we covered earlier in this blog.
Resilient Rovers
September 12, 2007
Remember the Mars rovers? Well, they're still out there,
exploring the planet while sending us back remarkable
images.
The two rovers, named Spirit and Opportunity,
were launched in 2003 and landed in 2004. They were each
originally scheduled for 90 days of work.
Years later, they continue to defy expectations, despite
harsh weather conditions and challenging terrain.
Recently they braved a massive planetary sand storm.
You can read about their extended missions and view
their amazing images at these official NASA websites:
Other non-NASA related websites include:
See the Stars!
August 22, 2007
Google (in partnership with
NASA,
Sloan Digital Sky Survey, and the
Digital Sky Survey Consortium)
has updated its
Google Earth software
to include images of and information about planets, stars, constellations, galaxies,
and other objects in and beyond the solar system.
As with Google Earth, you can zoom, pan, and rotate the display, randomly navigate
the area, as well as search for known celestial hotspots. Google's software
is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.
If Google Earth is not your thing, you might want to check out
Stellarium, an open source planetarium
that simulates the night sky in 3D, showing you both the stars as well as
illustrations of the constellations in real time. Stellarium is said to be
available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.
For even more heavenly views and astronomical information, check out
the
Astronomy and
Space Exploration
categories in our
Ready Reference web guide.
For more information, check out the many related
books and videos available at Thrall and
throughout the library system.
High Speed Internet
August 10, 2007
If you are thinking about upgrading your Internet dial-up connection to high speed ("broadband"),
the
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has published
a helpful Consumer Fact sheet:
High-Speed Internet Access - "Broadband".
Their fact sheet answers some of the following questions: What is broadband? How does broadband work? What are the advantages of broadband? What types of broadband are available?
Learn about DSL, wireless, fiber optic, cable modem, and satellite Internet services.
For more information about Internet access and other advanced topics, such as setting up your own
computer network at home or your place of business, check out these searches in the library catalog:
Internet,
computer networks.
Windows 7
July 23, 2007
According to recent reports appearing in
technology media news and other news sources,
including
ZDNet and
CNET,
Microsoft's next version of the Windows operating system (formely codenamed "Vienna" and now referred to by
its developers as "Windows 7") could debut in as early as three years (2010).
While Microsoft has not yet, as of this blog post, released new and more specific
details regarding the successor to its latest operating system
Windows Vista, elsewhere there is:
If you are a Windows user who still hasn't caught up to learning about
Windows Vista yet, check out
this blog post and be sure to come to the library
and check out our computer book collection.
Weird Life
July 10, 2007
A report just released from the
National Resource Council
suggests the search for life elsewhere in the universe be expanded to consider
"weird life," which is explained by NRC as "life with an alternative biochemistry to that of life on Earth."
Click here to read their press release and to read their full report online. An
"Executive Summary" is also available (PDF format;
Adobe Reader required).
Cyberbullying, Teens, Internet Safety
June 30, 2007
The
Pew Internet and American Life Project
has released a report concerning the topic of Internet-based bullying among teenagers:
Cyberbullying and Online Teens.
Their report focuses on "a range of annoying and potentially menacing online activities."
Another website,
OnGuardOnline.gov, explores the many issues
teens and other users may encounter when frequenting "social networking" websites:
Social Networking Sites: A Parent's Guide.
At Thrall.org we offer a variety of related materials,
including
a one page printable "Social Networking" handout for all users
as well as
a brief online course called "Web Awareness."
Additional titles on the subject of Internet safety
are available in the library system.
Get the facts and start enjoying safer and more positive online experiences today!
Energy Awareness Report
June 19, 2007
As part of
1E's Energy Awareness Campaign,
a new report has been released concerning energy consumption of computers in the United States:
U.S. PC Energy Report 2007 (PDF format;
Adobe Reader required).
Virtual Rome
June 12, 2007
After over ten years of work, the
University of Virginia, the
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Cultural Virtual Reality Lab,
along with
UCLA's Experiential Technologies Center and
Politecnico di Milano
have announced the first edition of
a virtual version of ancient Rome.
This project, known as "Rome Reborn," seeks to recreate ancient Rome with unprecedented detail and accuracy. The collaborative project is said to be ongoing and will contain even more details and refinements in successive versions.
Here is the University of Virginia's press release for more information.
Safari
June 12, 2007
Apple is now making its popular
Safari web browser available
to Windows users as a beta version.
Wireless Electricity
June 8, 2007
Researchers at
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
are reporting they have successfully conducted what they call "WiTricity"
(wireless electricity) in a recent experiment involving a lightbulb powered
wirelessly across two unconnected coils.
You can read about their "WiTricity" project at this link.
The report suggests possible future applications of this technology may include wirelessly-rechargeable laptop
computers and MP3 players along with other consumer electronic devices.
Google Maps Update
June 1, 2007
Google Maps has a new feature
called "Street View" which allows you to zoom in on some areas,
such as New York City, and see 3D panoramic views at the street
level.
These views are actual photographs capturing everything
(and everyone) that was at that location when the pictures were
taken by Google.
Google has
a video introduction to this new feature as well as
a help page.
The
Adobe Flash Player plugin is required.
Our
Ready Reference guide contains
links to other maps sites you might find useful.
700 Years
May 17, 2007
New York Public Library
has published a new digital exhibition at their website:
"Pictures of Science: 700 Years of Scientific and Medical Illustration"
They describe their exhibit as having "more than 340 images from the thirteenth through the early twentieth century, in the fields of astronomy, chemistry, geology, mathematics, medicine, and physics, as represented by manuscript illuminations, engravings, lithographs, and photographs."
You can browse or search their collection.
Large Hadron Collider
May 15, 2007
Have you heard of the
Large Hadron Collider?
Scheduled to begin preliminary testing November 2007, the LHC has many scientists' hopes up. It is believed the LHC can help them reveal some of nature's deepest secrets.
Colliders are large tunnels built by scientists to study collisions between particles of matter. Studies of such collisions in the past have allowed scientists to understand more about matter and to peer further into the mechanics of the physical universe.
LHC is not the first collider, but it is said to be among the largest and most powerful of them. What also makes the LHC notable is its mission: "To smash protons moving at 99.999999% of the speed of light into each other and so recreate conditions a fraction of a second after the big bang."
The "big bang" is what many people in and beyond the scientific community believe the universe originated 13 to 14 billion years ago.
The
LHC FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions page) provides additional information on the project, along with some sci-fi-like concepts such as
"mini big bangs" and
"tiny black holes."
For more information on colliders and related concepts, try these links:
Cosmic Cultures
May 9, 2007
SETI (the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence)
has published an interesting article about culture as it might arise throughout
the universe:
"Culture in the Cosmos"
If you find the topic of life or
intelligent life beyond Earth interesting, you might want to explore some of these links as well:
Brightest Supernova
May 6, 2007
Scientists at the
Chandra X-Ray Observatory website
have published information on what is being called the "brightest supernova ever."
You can read their report here.
For more information on supernovas (also spelled as
supernovae) try these links:
Inspired by Nature
May 3, 2007
IBM has announced it will be developing computer chips
said to be inspired by nature.
Here are links to their press releases:
If you'd like to learn more about microprocessors and related technologies, try these links:
This Month in Exploration
May 3, 2007
NASA highlights past explorations which happened in each month of the year:
This Month in History
If you'd like to read more about explorations, either historic, current, or space-related, here are some links for you to try:
Silverlight Beta Download
April 30, 2007
Microsoft
has
released a beta version of its new Silverlight media player
for both Macs and PCs.
You can learn more about Silverlight at the above link as well as
this other blog post.
Unlimited Potential
April 26, 2007
Microsoft has launched a new ambitious outreach and education initiative that is global in scope. They are calling their endeavor
"Unlimited Potential," which they describe as
"helping individuals and communities around the globe achieve their goals and dreams through relevant, accessible, and affordable technologies."
Building Bots
April 26, 2007
The
Robotics Institute at
Carnegie Mellon University, with support from
Google,
Intel, and
Microsoft has announced development of a series robots they say anyone can build using "off-the-shelf parts."
Their
announcements can be read here in their press release ("Carnegie Mellon Unveils Internet-Controlled Robots That Anyone Can Build by Following the Right Recipe") and also
here at the "TeRK" website.
The project is known as the
Telepresence Robot Kit, "Educational Robotics - Vehicles for Teaching and Learning."
You can learn more about robots by following these links to items in the library catalog:
robots,
robotics,
artificial intelligence.
You can also check out the
Science & Technology section of our
Current Interests guide for news sources about robots, artificial intelligence, and related topics.
Earthlike Planet Discovery
April 25, 2007
The
European Southern Observatory
has announced the discovery of another world beyond our solar system,
a planet they are comparing to Earth in terms of size, composition,
and potential habitability.
You can read their press release here.
Some articles from various news agencies can be found in our
article databases, as well as
astronomy websites
indexed in our
Ready Reference web guide.
The subject of "other worlds" beyond Earth (called "exoplanets" by scientists) recently came up
in our
Environment blog in the post
"Non-green Plants on Other Worlds."
At that post you'll find some more links to very interesting information about ongoing exoplanetary
discoveries.
Hubble's Birthday Present
April 24, 2007
Scientists operating the
Hubble Space Telescope
are celebrating its 17th birthday with an unprecedented release of ultra high-resolution
panoramic images of the Carina Nebula.
You can
view these images
in different sizes and formats at their website as well as read some articles
accompanying those downloads.
If you'd like to read up on nebulae, galaxies, or other astronomical topics, check out these
links:
Sun in 3D
April 23, 2007
NASA
has published
the first images of the sun in 3D at their website.
The images come from the
STEREO Mission.
Both
2D and 3D images have been posted at the STEREO website.
If you are a Thrall patron you can explore articles and illustrations
through our
online databases and encyclopedias (including
the complete
Encyclopedia Britannica and
World Book Encyclopedia),
all of which you can enjoy free access to as a member of our library.
Click here to view related titles in the library catalog.
Ubuntu's Feisty Fawn
April 19, 2007
The latest version of the increasingly popular
Linux operating system distribution
known as
Ubuntu has been published today.
"Feisty Fawn" (Version 7.04) contains a number of new features and revisions,
and brings more stability and support, things that has earned this particular
variant of Linux much interest among users interested in exploring
operating systems than ones that have come with their computers.
The Linux operating system, in general, is very capable yet can be a challenge
even for "power users" to install and configure. Ubuntu, which in African
means "humanity to others" (also "I am what I am because of who we all are"),
brings some ease to the installation process.
A "Live CD" is a special version of Linux that runs from the CD drive
and allows you to preview the operating system without installing it.
Here is some more information about that at Ubuntu.com.
Downloads of Linux are typically huge (>600MB) and are therefore inaccessible
to Internet users still on dial-up connections. Ubuntu also offers
a free CD request service you can try.
To learn more about Ubuntu, visit their
What Is Ubuntu
page.
Some books on Ubuntu are also available in the library system.
For even more titles on Linux, visit our growing computer book collection at Thrall or
click here for a list of Linux-related titles.
www.Linux.org is another informative site you can visit.
Mozilla Thunderbird 2.0
April 19, 2007
The
Mozilla Foundation, creators of the popular free web browser
called Firefox, have released the second major version of their free
Thunderbird e-mail program.
New features are said to include improved spam filtration and customizable views.
Internet Radio Update
April 17, 2007
The
Copyright Royalty Board
has published its decision regarding radio webcasts:
"Determination of Rates and Terms for Webcasting for the License Period 2006-2010 in
[Docket No. 2005-1 CRB DTRA] Digital Performance Right in Sound Recordings and Ephemeral Recordings." (document in PDF format)
Reactions to the decision and what it might mean for the future of some Internet based radio broadcasters
are being posted around the web
by various commentators and individuals.
As a timely reminder, members of Middletown Thrall Library can enjoy
free access to classical and world music on the web through our subscription databases, such as Classical.com,
Smithsonian Global Sound, and African American Song.
You also have free access to extensive classical and jazz CD collections at Thrall
as well as audio CDs in all genres throughout the library system through
our library catalog.
Was Einstein Right?
April 16, 2007
The
Gravity Probe B (GP-B) Relativity Mission, a collaborative effort consisting of
Stanford University,
NASA, and
Lockheed Martin, is an effort to determin if Albert Einstein's General Theory of Relativity is correct.
You can read about their findings at the above GP-B link.
If you are interested in Einstein, check out our
Booklovers blog for information on a
newly published biography as well as links to more information about his work and theories.
Microsoft Silverlight
April 16, 2007
Microsoft has announced a new technology called "Silverlight" they claim will
help them deliever the "next generation of media experiences on the web."
You can read their press release for more information on this development.
Adobe Media Player
April 16, 2007
Adobe has announced the birth of a new media player in the following press release:
"Adobe Unveils Next Generation Internet Video Solution"
Mystery of Disappearing Bees
April 16, 2007
Honey bees are
reportedly disappearing throughout the world,
and many experts are bewildered by the phenomenon known as
"Colony Collapse Disorder" (CCD).
The
American Beekeeping Federation
has an article on the situation:
"Honey Bee Die-Off Alarms Beekeepers, Crop Growers, Researchers."
The ABF also links to the
MAAREC - Mid-Atlantic Apiculture Research and Extension Consortium,
which has a related section at their site called:
Colony Collapse Disorder.
There are some in-depth articles from major newspapers and articles that can be found using our
article databases
(try using
bees disappear as search terms in
Expanded Academic ASAP, or try
New York Newspapers to read the article from the
New York Times).
Articles online include:
You can also try
this sample search (bees disappearing) in
Google News.
A quotation attributed to Albert Einsten reminds us of the importance
of bees in relation to human survival, which depends on bees to
pollinate food crops:
"If the bee disappeared off the surface of the
globe then man would only have four years of life left."
Blogging Code of Conduct
April 14, 2007
Tim O'Reilly of
O'Reilly Media
has published
a draft of a code of conduct for bloggers. Through it he hopes to advocate higher civility in exchanges.
Many blogs feature reactions from readers, and some of those reactions can take
upon different tones depending on what is being responded to in the original blog post.
Sometimes readers react to other readers and engage in debates or emotional exchanges
that can quickly escalate to include topics and opinions unrelated to the original post.
OLED
April 12, 2007
HowStuffWorks.com
has
a brief introduction to OLED technology,
something that will be appearing in consumer devices such as televisions
(and possibly clothing!) in the very near future.
OLED stands for "organic light-emitting diodes," and they are said to be
able to display brighter pictures while using less power than older LED
(light-emitting diodes) and LCD (liquid crystal display) technologies.
To learn more about HDTV technologies in general, be sure to check out our
earlier post on that topic in this blog.
T-Rex Sequenced
April 13, 2007
Harvard Medical School and
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
are reported as having captured and sequenced portions of collagen protein from a Tyrannosaurus rex
fossil estimated to be 68 million-year-old.
You can read about their findings at their site.
You might also want to check the library catalog for some of the many
books and videos about the T-rex
as well as
dinosaurs in general.
As a member of Middletown Thrall Library you have FREE access to the complete online multimedia editions of both
Encyclopedia Britannica and World Book Encyclopedia.
Login using your library card and explore the many dinosaur articles and illustrations they provide.
Other excellent databases offering related articles are freely available to Middletown Thrall Library members, including
Ebsco General Science Collection, SIRS KnowledgeSource, and Searchasaurus.
Solar Power Goes 3D
April 12, 2007
The
Georgia Institute of Technology
has published an article
on recent research and potential advances in solar power technology through the use of
newly developed three-dimensional solar cells.
As more people consider
global warming and climate change
and other
environmental issues and developments,
there is increasing interest in alternative and renewable energy sources.
You can catch up on recent articles on these topics through our
article databases
(using, for example, Gale's Expanded Academic ASAP database or Ebsco's MasterFile Premiere).
Our library catalog also contains titles you might find interesting. Try some of these related
subject searches to see if there are some books or videos you would like to borrow:
Also feel free to call our
Reference Department or
ask our librarians a question online
if you're interested in learning more about solar power or renewable energy sources.
DRM-Free
April 2, 2007
EMI, self-described
as the "world's largest independent music company," has
announced it will be making available DRM-free downloads
to consumers, beginning with
Apple's iTunes store.
DRM stands for "Digital Rights Management" and is a term used to describe
technologies designed to protect digital song files (such as MP3s) from
being improperly duplicated.
Unfortunately, this has caused some problems, including
incompatibilities and limitations, with a major example being
eAudio books in the library system.
which do not work with iPod MP3 players because they use Microsoft's version
of DRM, which iPods do not support.
As a result, many consumers face the possibilities of not being able
to access such files, either through their local libraries or
through downloads they have purchased. EMI's news will be welcome
to many people and could lead to more consumer-friendly ways
for purchasing and playing digital music.
On a related note, Steve Jobs of Apple has
posted his "Thoughts on Music"
at Apple.com, reflecting on the nature of DRM and encouraging the music
industry to consider moving to a DRM-free model for the benefit of consumers.
Copyleft and GPL3.0
March 30, 2007
You have heard of copyright, but have you ever heard of
copyleft?
Seriously!
Copyleft
attempts to preserve the fact an author has created something,
such as a computer program, but then, unlike copyright, defines terms in
which such a creation can be modified and distributed.
The
Free Software Foundation explains:
"To copyleft a program, we first state that it is copyrighted; then we add distribution
terms, which are a legal instrument that gives everyone the rights to use, modify,
and redistribute the program's code or any program derived from it but only if the
distribution terms are unchanged. Thus, the code and the freedoms become legally inseparable."
(quoted from
their Copyleft page).
These terms relate to the
GPL (General Public License),
and, as it concerns most people, these terms define the way some
major software titles and operating systems,
particular those involving
Linux
(
see also this link),
are developed and distributed over the Internet.
Currently the GPL is being reexamined and revised to take into consideration
newly developed technologies like DRM (Digital Rights Management) and other issues.
There is
a draft of GPL3 at the Free Software
Foundation website (updated March 28, 2007) as well as the
original press release (dated June 2005)
concerning proposed revisions in licensing terms.
Intel Previews New Chip Technology
March 30, 2007
Computer chip manufacturer Intel
has published some details about its next generation of chips.
HDTV 101
March 29, 2007
If you're interested in learning about HDTV and the different options
presently available to you, here are some sites for your perusal:
There are
some books on HDTV available as well in the library system that might interest you.
DTV Countdown
March 29, 2007
As reported on
DTV.gov, "Congress passed a law on February 1, 2006,
setting a final deadline for the DTV transition of February 17, 2009." What does this mean?
DTV.gov explains at this link.
Apple Bootcamp Updated for Vista Support
March 29, 2007
As you might already know, Apple's
Boot Camp service
enables users to install the Windows operating system alongside Apple's own operating system, OS X.
Boot Camp has been reportedly been updated to support the latest Windows opearting system, Vista.
Follow the link above for more information.
Digital Molecular Matter
March 29, 2007
An interesting development reported by LucasArts
is said to produce a stronger sense of realism in games
along with more convincing interactity between
players and digital objects:
Through a new technology called
"Digital Molecular Matter",
virtual environments are said to contain objects which,
when interacted with, would react as their real world
counterparts would, taking into consideration motion,
weight, physical forces, and other factors.
Another technology discussed at the same link above goes
by the name of "Euphoria," which is described as a
"behavior-simulation engine" capable of emulating, to
a degree, the unpredictable nature of the real world.
Advances in video game technologies can often lead
to new possibilites in other types of software,
such as virtual reality and artificial intelligence,
which in turn can have multiple impacts and applications
in many fields of study including health, business,
and education.
Apple's OS X Leopard Preview
March 27, 2007
Apple's new OS X operating system, known as
Leopard,
is being previewed at the Apple.com website.
Leopard is said to build upon advances made in the popular
Tiger version of their operating system.
Highlights of
Leopard include
a
Time Machine
backup service,
new e-mail features,
and a desktop manager called
Spaces.
We will be adding
Leopard-related titles as they become available
to our ever-expanding computer book collection at Middletown Thrall Library.
OpenOffice
March 27, 2007
OpenOffice is one of many software titles available on
public computers at Middletown Thrall Library. What is it?
Have you ever heard of Microsoft Office or Microsoft Word?
OpenOffice is a
free and open source alternative
to Microsoft's capable yet costly software.
OpenOffice allows you to use a word processor, for typing
letters/reports/novels/etc., put together presentations
(similar to Microsoft's "PowerPoint presentations"), work
with numerical figures in spreadsheets (as you would in
Microsoft's Excel program), create and search databases,
and do advanced desktop publishing. All for free!
OpenOffice can open and save to many popular Microsoft
formats and can also be used to create PDF (Portable
Document Format) files that can open and be printed
in
Adobe's Acrobat Reader.
Developed initially by Sun Microsystems, OpenOffice has since
grown through the efforts of the open source community.
"Open source" means that the source code -- the very instructions
the program uses to tell the computer what to do when running
the program -- has been made available.
To learn
more about open source, please click here.
To learn more about this software click here to visit the OpenOffice website.
SirsiDynix: Changes on their "Horizon"
March 27, 2007
SirsiDynix, the company providing the
library catalog Thrall and all other
member libraries of the
Ramapo Catskill Library System
use, is yet again experiencing some changes in their product offerings.
The ALA (American Library Association) has a report
on the situation.
What does this mean for RCLS? According to the RCLS Director, Robert Hubsher,
there will be no impact on RCLS in the short term, as the current product in
use (Horizon 7.4) is deemed to be meeting the library system's needs. SirsiDynix
reportedly will continue to support and maintain Horizon 7.4.
If and when that situation changes, we'll keep you posted!
Folding@home
March 26, 2007
Stanford University has a very interesting
distributed computing project called "Folding@home"
which ties together computers around the globe
to help them study protein folding and its
linkage to diseases.
Under this "distributed computing" setup, many
computers can work simultaneous on parts of a task
that would otherwise take too long for one computer
(or even a "supercomputer) to complete.
With support from National Institutes of Health,
the National Science Foundation, and major
companies such as Dell and Apple, as well as
the support of many voluntary users,
Folding@home has grown in popularity.
Participation is free and simply involves
downloading some software on to a computer
that can spare some time and help run their
simulation.
If you are interested in participating,
you can
visit the Folding@home website
for more details and computer requirements.
And you thought your Internet connection was fast?
March 26, 2007
Reuters news network has a report
on a new superfast chip currently being developed by IBM. "Superfast" as in being able to download "an entire high-definition movie in a single second" --
really fast!
According to a
related article from PC World, the time and energy-saving chip might become available in various forms to consumers sometime in 2010.
"A Fresh Start for the Internet"
March 23, 2007
MIT Technology Review is reporting
on efforts at Stanford University to help revise the Internet.
Stanford's program, called the
Clean Slate Design for the Internet,
seeks to make the Internet "safer, more transparent, and more reliable."
New report from MIT: "Top Ten Emerging Technologies"
March 15, 2007
An interesting new report has been published by MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) in their
TechnologyReview publication:
Click here to read their report and catch up on "Augmented Realities," "Nanohealing," "Neuron Control," and get a glimpse of futuristic DVD technologies that could possibly fit "100s of movies on a single DVD."
New Free Video Download Service
March 9, 2007
Through a new subscription with Recorded Books, Middletown Thrall Library is pleased
to invite our library members to take advantage of a free on-demand video service
called MyLibraryDV.
Health programs, documentaries, cooking programs, movies and much more is now
just a download and a click away!
To get started, click here.
Thinking about Windows Vista?
March 8, 2007
As you've probably heard by now, Microsoft has introduced a new operating system called Vista.
An operating system (OS) enables you to operate the computer. Vista is the successor to Windows XP.
At Middletown Thrall Library we have a growing number of books in our collection
about Microsoft's latest operating system.
Click here to search the catalog for titles at Thrall and other libraries.
Many of these books contain illustrations and images of the operating system in action,
enabling you to preview Vista's new features (and changes since XP) before attempting
to upgrade your own computer.
For even more information, check out
Microsoft's Vista page
or
browse some recent Vista headlines indexed at Google News.
Downloads
March 8, 2007
If you haven't already noticed, on our
home page
is a
"Downloads" link. This will
take you to a list of some notable and freely available services and software
on the Internet.
Here you will also find links to popular plug-ins, such as Flash,
document displayers such as the Adobe Reader, e-book providers such
as Project Gutenberg, and even free programs for your computer,
such as OpenOffice.
Check through the list and see if there's something that interests you.
Daylight Saving Time Update Information for Computer Users
March 8, 2007
Due to a change in when Daily Saving Time (DST) actually begins,
computers need to be updated so they can properly make the
transition.
If you own a computer, you might want to visit the appropriate website below for more information:
You might also consider contacting the manufacturer of your computer
and any specific software titles installed on it to determine if you
need to make any adjustments or are eligible for any necessary upgrades.
