Security

I speculated recently about the amount of lithium recently found in Afghanistan - like oil in Iraq - could become the number one resource for the war to continue in that country. In a post, titled, "The Smartphone Wars Seek Trillion Dollar Spoils," I believe that mobile phone manufacturers will compete heavily to secure this resource. In the Congo, a similar scenario has already played out with 'conflict minerals' with more dire consequences.

Computers are not only saving trees these days -  they have almost eliminated any need for the traditional 'paper trail' we were so accustomed to using just a short decade ago. In the year 2010, wherever you travel throughout the social media space, you're leaving digital breadcrumbs for all to follow.

It's hard enough dealing with Twitter's Fail Whale on a daily basis, and the number of phishing attacks occurred on Facebook - now, we might have to contend with the possibility of both networks being turned off with one flip of a switch? When did Big Brother relocate to the States?

Do you know how many of us old folks have bad knees, bad hips, bad vision, and terrible problems with balance?  A lot of us, and though I admit I don't know the exact numbers on these old-age infirmities, I can tell you that this S² Liner designed by Cheol Min Park is what we need to protect us at home.

The HyGreen by Xhale is a device that detects alcohol-based cleansers that are used in hospitals.  To ensure that hands are properly cleansed between patients, hospital staff hold their soapy hands under the HyGreen sensor and the gadget will clear the worker to move on to the next patient.

As oil was one of the major factors for our six-year tour of duty in Iraq, the vast deposits of minerals recently found in Afghanistan may have the same type of effect in protracting our stay in that country.

Worthy of a George Clooney spy movie (Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, comes to mind), the intrigue of this story is riveting. Unraveling across continents, high levels of government, potential treason and investigative journalism are all intertwined and unfolding in real-time through social media channels that might eventually expose cover-ups in the war zones of Afghanistan and Iraq.

As much as Facebook is engaged in its own skirmishes on US turf regarding privacy, the social networking platform is fighting an entirely different battle in Afghanistan. Facebook IM functionality and other military social networks allow analysts with the US Army, Air Force and Marines to hunt down insurgents, avoid civilian causalities and collateral damage and ultimately save American lives in Afghanistan.

May 27 marked the anniversary of the birth of Rachel Carson, celebrated author and wildlife conservationist. When her book Silent Spring was first published in 1962, New Orleans state bird, the Brown Pelican was on the verge of extinction, due to pesticides and pollution. Almost 50 years later, that same bird faces a similar fate from another man-made disaster.

The Semantic Web is coming and an oil disaster like the one we're experiencing in the Gulf might help move up its timetable. Since Web 3.0's semantic technology is predicated  on everything in our physical world being tagged with its own Internet address - once in place - any body will be able to monitor any type of operation via  the Web - even off-shore drilling.

Thirty-one years ago to the day, Tian'anmen Square (aka, Gate of Heavenly Peace) was the site that witnessed the massacre of thousands of student protesters. Each year on its anniversary, the Chinese attempt to eradicate all memory of the horrifying events that occurred on June 4, 1989.

The first rule about Skinbook is you "don't show any skin!" on Skinbook. While, Time Magazine described it as "Facebook for 21st Century Nudists," this is not a network for titillation or voyeurism. No pornographic images nor sleazy comments under users' photos are allowed. Even the headless body shots that are allowed on Twitter are verboten on Skinbook.ning.com...

As of June 1, with 'Alex' as the nom de plume of the first, the hurricane season is officially underway and will run its course from now until November 30, 2010. The clock is ticking away for the BP clean-up in the Gulf to ward off any possibility of a 'perfect storm' combining the oil spill calamity with the climatic forces of hurricane winds.

Butterflies, peacocks and even beetles have long been wearing colors far beyond the grasp of even the European fashion industry. With their iridescent wings, carapaces and feathers, these fashionistas of the insect and animal kingdom have long rubbed our noses in the fact that they're prettier than we are. Now, thanks to research done at the University of Cambridge, these colors can be duplicated, and may lead to advancements in bank note security, along with ever-more dramatic seasons of "Project Runway".

Microsoft has publicly released a tagging system that will allow users to leave a breadcrumb trail for the firm, its advertisers and just about anyone else to follow. Attaching QR barcodes to products, street scenes, magazines, business cards and such when viewed through smartphone camera can redirect users to programmed URLs that can contain content, photos or videos.

More than 30 days have passed since Mark Zuckerberg launched his first Open Graph salvo across the bow of the USS Facebook at the F8 Developers Conference. During that time over 30 million search topics relating to "facebook privacy concerns" are now registered on Google. 

Facebook has invited members of the House and Senate to attend a special privacy-centric briefing. Based on the ongoing backlash from its user-base and the blogosphere, Facebook will be facing off with perhaps its toughest critics, namely Senators Begich, Bennet, Franken and Schumer.

Tired of the endless debates about who voted for who and in what quantities, and burned out from watching endless hours of pre-election, election and finally post-election party coverage, researchers at the Universities of Surrey, Birmingham and Luxembourg have joined forced to create a Vote-o-Tron that can not only use paper ballots, but accurately count them.

What makes the cover of a Time Magazine have longed been a cherished tradition of speculation by readers the world over. Like the old refrain from the song "New York":  "if you can make it there - you can make it anywhere."  Of recent date, the two major social networks of the day have taken center stage on those covers -one lauded for how it changed the way we communicate, while the other critiqued for perhaps pushing that communication too far.