Imagine that all our walkways and our roads generate electricity. Imagine that by simply clicking your remote control, you're supplying it the electricity it needs to work. Imagine if we could harness all our daily motions into energy, with clothes that charge our cellphones every time we move. That's amazing, right?
Here's a link to some inventions harnessing piezoelectricity:
Energy-harvesting Street Tiles
Battery-less Remote Controls
Electricity-generating Clothes
3D Printing
Imagine a future in which a device connected to a computer can print a
solid object. A future in which we can have tangible goods as well as
intangible services delivered to our desktops or highstreet shops over
the Internet. And a future in which the everyday "atomization" of
virtual objects into hard reality has turned the mass pre-production and
stock-holding of a wide range of goods and spare parts into no more
than an historical legacy.
Such a future may sound like it is being plucked from the worlds of Star Trek.
However, while transporter devices that can instantaneously deliver us
to remote locations may remain a fantasy, 3D printers capable of
outputting physical objects have been in development for over two
decades and are starting to present a whole host of new digital
manufacturing capabilities. 3D printing may therefore soon do for
manufacturing what computers and the Internet have already done for the
creation, processing and storage of information.
This is amazing. I can't wait for this technology to become cheap, accessible, and widespread. But then again, there's a word of caution for those who are still lavishing in the euphoria of this suddenly-real technology's potential:
Everyone's now aware of 3D printing — they’ve read about it in the
papers, on blogs or seen it on TV. The mentality now seems to be that,
in the future, we'll be able to download our products or make them
ourselves with CAD programs, apps and 3D scanners, then just print them
out, either at home, or in localised print shops. Which in turn will
supposedly decentralize manufacturing, bringing it back to the West. But
like the cupcake, Daft Punk’s latest album, or goji berries, 3D
printing is severely overhyped — and I should know, because it’s what I
do for a living.
Crush
24 April 2013
I remember my classmate in college who really had a huge crush on another classmate, Donna.
It was a sad case of unrequited love infatuation and our class had a lot of memories at the guy's expense. One time he, out of frustration, almost leaped off the sixth floor of the Finster building if it hadn't been for Dave and Nathaniel who held him back. Another time we teased at the idea of a love team in the making even though Donna didn't want to have anything to do with him. But the most enduring memory I've had of my classmate was him sitting on one of the benches of the D-Building, crying his eyes out. That's because he really was in love with Donna but knew he won't get any love back.
Having a crush sucks. Big time.
Of course, he has probably outgrown his feelings for Donna today but I'm pretty sure he's a fan of the song Pangarap Lang Kita by Parokya ni Edgar:
At kahit mahal kita
Wala akong magagawa
Tanggap ko na aking sinta
Pangarap lang kita
I bet we guys can sympathize with this unfortunate classmate of mine because we've been there before. At one point of our lives (or probably more), we've pined for a girl, knowing that she's forever going to be beyond our reach. It sucks. It really does.
Tale Of Two Parents
Sometimes, the only time you get to appreciate your blessings is if you know other people's misery. That statement isn't politically correct but it is quite true.
I had a conversation with a colleague of mine, who is entertaining the thought of resigning, and it started with him asking me if my parents went berserk over knowing that I was leaving the company.
I said no and I got curious enough to ask if his parents did. My hunch was correct because he said they went ballistic. They were quite proud that their son was working in the company and couldn't probably fathom the idea of him leaving such a stable job.
I knew the reasons why he was leaving. I also knew that, given his knowledge and background, he can do so much if he were working in another company more suited to his course.
After that exchange, I said a prayer of thanks that my parents didn't overreact to my decision. It's something to be thankful for in the long run.
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