Top Teen technology in world, 2005-2008

Home Networking

Ultra-wideband (802.15.13a): Bayangkan suatu saat Anda dapat menonton TV yang secara nirkabel dapat mengirim tiga program yang berbeda ke layar monitor yang berbeda pula. Ini tak lain berkat kemajuan teknologi nirkabel baru yang disebut Ultra-wideband (UWB), yang bercatu daya rendah, hemat biaya dan mampu mentransmisikan data 45 kali kecepatan Wi-Fi yang ada saat ini. Tak lama lagi, teknologi ini akan berada di ruang keluarga Anda dan siap Anda dan keluarga gunakan.

Wireless Broadband

WiMax (802.16d & 802.16e): WiMax ( Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access ), meski dikatakan tak akan menggantikan Wi-Fi yang ada sekarang ini, namun sebagai jejaring nirkabel yang mampu menjangkau area yang lebih luas, sekitar 30 mil (50an kilometer) dan transmisi data berkecepatan tinggi, tak terelakkan akan sangat berpengaruh juga nantinya. WiMax, saat ini, boleh dikata sebagai teknologi yang sangat dinanti-nanti, terutama oleh kalangan operator dan, bahkan, diprediksi akan mengubah peta industri telekomunikasi dan Internet. Teknologi ini juga sekaligus akan menjadi tantangan berat bagi para penyedia jasa Internet (ISP) yang ada sekarang ini, terutama yang kecil dan menengah.

Supply Chain
RFID: Teknologi yang satu ini dalam kurun dua tahun belakangan ini sangat banyak dibicarakan orang, terutama dari kalangan industri ritel. Namun, RFID ( Radio Frequency Identification ) tags, memang belum banyak digunakan. Tetapi, kepeloporan Wal-Mart telah mendorong perubahan besar-besaran dalam supply chain . Tahun 2005 mendatang, Wal-Mart telah berkeputusan untuk mengharuskan semua para pemasoknya menerapkan RFID tags . Wal-Mart sendiri, pada Januari 2005, setidaknya sudah menerapkan 4 persen RFID reader di jalur ritel dan distribusinya. Hal ini tampaknya akan diikuti oleh para peritel lainnya di seluruh dunia.

Computer Memory

MRAM: Magnetoresistive Random Access Memory diperkirakan akan merevolusi industri PC dunia, terutama karena teknologi ini memiliki kecepatan 1.000 kali lebih cepat dibandingkan nonvolatile flash memory dan hampir 10 kali lebih cepat dari DRAM ( Dynamic Random Access Memory ). “Nonvolatile” berarti bahwa dengan teknologi MRAM memungkinkan mempertahankan memori meskipun sumber dayanya terputus. Selain itu, konsumsi energinya rendah, sehingga sangat cocok digunakan untuk komputer dan ponsel masa depan.

Software

Antispam software (yang bekerja efektif): Ke depan, serangan email spam terhadap komputer Anda tak akan semakin berkurang, malah akan tambah menumpuk. Selain kecepatan perkembangan spam, yang juga berpeluang membawa serta virus, maka piranti lunak antispam (yang benar-benar efektif), diperkirakan akan semakin banyak dibutuhkan dan digunakan. Tujuannya bukan saja untuk menghadang arus spam, melainkan juga menangkal potensi terserang virus dan penurunan nilai produktivitas kerja.

Content Protection

Digital Rights Management: Windows Media digital rights management (DRM) merupakan suatu platform yang fleksibel yang memungkinkan melindungi dan mengamankan pengiriman dan berlangganan konten, misalnya musik atau video, yang akan dimainkan baik di komputer, perangkat portabel atau dalam suatu jejaring. Hal ini akan menguntungkan bagi mereka yang berkeinginan menciptakan, mengirimkan atau memainkan konten yang terproteksi dan dapat dinikmati oleh para konsumen di mana saja diinginkan dan pada perangkat yang mereka senangi. Teknologi ini akan membuka jalan utama komersialisasi konten (musik atau video) melalui jalur maya. Ada banyak jenis solusi yang dikembangkan, selain dari Microsoft.

Open Source

Linux: Peranti lunak open source memang bukan hanya Linux. Namun, munculnya Lindows, yang berbasis Linux berhadapan dengan Windows, yang dikembangkan Microsoft dan bersifat proprietary , dan telah digunakan oleh sebagian besar pengguna komputer dunia, mungkin akan menciptakan peta baru dalam pengembangan peranti lunak. Ke depan, perkembangan Linux dan peranti lunak open source lainnya tak bisa dianggap ringan. Adopsi Linux akan terus meningkat, meski menurut Microsoft, Linux masih belum akan mengancam penggunaan Windows setidaknya hingga tahun 2007. Tahun 2004 ini, menurut IDC sekitar 11% pasar server yang terjual di Amerika menggunakan Linux sebagai sistem operasinya, sedang Windows 34% dan Unix 37%. Keputusan beberapa negara untuk menggunakan open source belakangan ini, tampaknya akan menjadi momentum baru adopsi open source , termasuk Linux, secara lebih intensif.

Computer System

Grid Computing: Konsep grid computing sendiri memang bukanlah hal baru. Secara garis besar, konsep ini berangkat dari prinsip “tidak boleh ada PC menganggur”. Mesin virtual yang disebut grid computing ini tidak memandang sistem operasi (OS) atau platform perangkat keras yang diajaknya berkolaborasi. Ketika Anda membutuhkan data, Anda akan mendapatkan sebanyak yang Anda butuhkan, kapan saja Anda inginkan. Inilah visi Grid Computing : data dan komputasi yang ada di mana saja dan selalu tersedia. Teknologi ini diperkirakan akan menarik banyak orang yang akan menarapkannya, khususnya kalangan perusahaan atau enterprise.

Peer-to-Peer

Datapod, sekarang menjadi BeInSync. BeInSync adalah teknologi jejaring peer-to-peer dengan enkripsi SSL untuk mengamankan data yang ditransmisikan. Dengan teknologi ini, seorang pengguna yang memiliki beberapa komputer, misalnya di kantor dan di rumah, dapat menggunakan BeInSync atau DataPod untuk menjaga arsip, email, buku alamat atau alamat web yang sering dikunjungi akan tersinkronisasi satu sama lain. Ketika data diperbarui di satu komputer, secara otomatis ia akan memperbarui yang lain. Pengguna juga dapat berbagai data dengan pengguna DataPod lainnya. Yang menarik, pengguna bukan saja dapat berbagi data dan informasi, melainkan dapat mengaksesnya darimana saja diinginkan atau ketika tengah dalam perjalanan. Teknologi ini diperkirakan akan banyak digunakan, karena ia memberi fleksibilitas dan kebebasan yang lebih besar, sambil tetap menyinkronikan setiap data dan informasi yang diperbarui.

Digital Magazine

Zinio: Teknologi majalah digital ini diperkirakan akan merevolusi industri penerbitan dunia, karena ia menguntungkan tidak hanya bagi pembaca, melainkan juga penerbit dan pemasang iklan. Kenikmatan membaca majalah dalam edisi cetak dibawa ke dalam format digital, sehingga Anda tetap dapat membaca konten majalah yang sama, grafis yang sama dan tampilan yang sama tetapi di desktop atau laptop. Selain memberi pengalaman membaca yang baru, juga lebih bebas dan menyenangkan. Hingga kini, tak kurang dari 19 juta orang telah membaca sekitar 120 jenis majalah ternama dunia yang telah didigitalkan dari sekitar 40 penerbit besar mancanegara di lebih dari 200 negara.

Sumber: http://acehfoto.com/blog/?p=91c

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Ancient Roman Life Preserved at Pompeii

By James Owens

On a fateful summer morning in A.D. 79 Mount Vesuvius buried the vibrant Roman city of Pompeii—and many of its citizens—beneath tons of volcanic ash and debris.

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Cast of victim of the Vesuvius eruption in Pompeii, Italy

Photograph by Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

"Darkness fell, not the dark of a moonless or cloudy night, but as if the lamp had been put out in a dark room," wrote Pliny the Younger, who witnessed the cataclysm from across the Bay of Naples.

The darkness Pliny described drew the final curtain on an era in Pompeii. But the disaster also preserved a slice of Roman life. The buildings, art, artifacts, and bodies forever frozen offer a unique window on the ancient world.

Since its rediscovery in the mid-18th century the site has hosted a tireless succession of treasure hunters and archaeologists.

"Pompeii as an archaeological site is the longest continually excavated site in the world," says Steven Ellis, a classics professor at the University of Cincinnati and the co-director of the Pompeii Archaeological Research Project: Porta Stabia.

"Because of this, what we find in Pompeii is that every step in the development in the science of archaeology was tested out in Pompeii—with mixed results," he says.

For early archaeologists the disaster of the city's final days was the primary draw, unearthing buildings and streets as they stood at the time of the eruption.

"Today we are interested in the development of the city," Ellis explains. "What was there first and how did it get to the point it was when it was destroyed?"

The People's Pompeii

Ellis's team is particularly interested in a corner of the city near the Porta Stabia gate that is a bit off the beaten archaeological path.

"It's kind of a lost neighborhood of the city. When they first cleared it of debris in the 1870s they left this block for ruin (because it had no large villas) and it was covered over with a terrible jungle of vegetation," he says.

Much research has centered on public buildings and breathtaking villas that portray the artistic and opulent lifestyle enjoyed by the city's wealthy elite.

"We're trying to see how the other 98 percent of people lived in Pompeii," Ellis says. "It's a humble town block with houses, shops, and all the bits and pieces that make up the life of an ancient city."

But while his quest is knowledge of the living Pompeii, Stanford University's Gary Devore, the project's co-director, notes that the eruption still resonates because of the intimate connection it created between past and present.

"We're digging in an area where a lot of Pompeians died during the eruption," he says. "I remind myself all the time that I can investigate in such detail this ancient Roman culture as a direct result of a great human disaster.

"At the end of a day of intense mental processing and physical labor, when the tools are being packed up and put away for the night, I often take a moment to remind myself of that connection with the individuals whose homes and workshops we're digging up," he says.

Preserving Pompeii's Past for the Future

Even after hundreds of years of work, about a third of the city still lies buried. Yet there is no rush to unearth these hidden Pompeii neighborhoods.

Today's great challenge is preservation of what has been uncovered.

Volcanic ash long protected Pompeii, but much of it has now been exposed to the elements for many years. The combined wear of weather, pollution, and tourists has created a real danger of losing much of what was luckily found preserved.

Yet Devore is hopeful for Pompeii's future.

"The current administration of Pompeii [under Pietro Giovanni Guzzo] has been incredibly diligent in focusing on preservation," he says.

Over his 13 seasons at Pompeii, Devore has witnessed great improvements in conservation and preservation of the priceless site.

"As an archaeologist, I'm part of that process in the way that I document what gets dug out of the ground," he adds. "Since archaeology is destruction, we destroy bits of Pompeii as we go along. So it's incredibly important that we record in great detail, with the ability to recreate what we've taken away afterward. That's how we're part of the conservation of Pompeii."

source : national geographic

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"Mummy's Curse" Legend Won't Die

By Brian Handwerk

Movie mummies are known for two things: fabulous riches and a nasty curse that brings treasure hunters to a bad end. But Hollywood didn't invent the curse concept.

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Mummy of King Tutankhamun

Photograph by Kenneth Garrett

The "mummy's curse" first enjoyed a worldwide vogue after the 1922 discovery of King Tutankhamun's tomb in the Valley of the Kings near Luxor, Egypt.

When Howard Carter opened a small hole to peer inside the tomb at treasures hidden for 3,000 years, he also unleashed a global passion for ancient Egypt.

Tut's glittering treasures made great headlines—and so did sensationalistic accounts of the subsequent death of expedition sponsor Lord Carnarvon.

In reality, Carnarvon died of blood poisoning and only six of the 26 people present when the tomb was opened died within a decade. Carter, surely any curse's prime target, lived until 1939.

But while the pharaoh's curse may lack bite, it hasn't lost the ability to fascinate audiences—which may be how it originated in the first place.

Birth of the Curse

The late Egyptologist Dominic Montserrat conducted a comprehensive search and concluded that the concept began with a strange "striptease" in 19th-century London.

"My work shows quite clearly that the mummy's curse concept predates Carnarvon's Tutankhamen discovery and his death by a hundred years," Montserrat told the Independent (U.K.) in an interview some years before his own death.

Montserrat believed that a lively stage show in which real Egyptian mummies were unwrapped inspired first one writer, and subsequently several others, to pen tales of mummy revenge.

The thread was even picked up by Little Women author Louisa May Alcott in her nearly unknown volume Lost in a Pyramid; or, The Mummy's Curse.

"My research has not only confirmed that there is, of course, no ancient Egyptian origin of the mummy's curse concept, but, more importantly, it also reveals that it didn't originate in the 1923 press publicity about the discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb either," Montserrat stressed to the Independent.

But Salima Ikram, an Egyptologist at the American University in Cairo and a National Geographic Society grantee, believes the curse concept did exist in ancient Egypt as part of a primitive security system.

She notes that some mastaba (early non-pyramid tomb) walls in Giza and Saqqara were actually inscribed with "curses" meant to terrify those who would desecrate or rob the royal resting place.

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King Tutankhamun's coffin

Photograph by Kenneth Garrett

"They tend to threaten desecrators with divine retribution by the council of the gods," Ikram said. "Or a death by crocodiles, or lions, or scorpions, or snakes."

Tomb Toxin Threat?

In recent years some have suggested that the pharaoh's curse was biological in nature.

Could sealed tombs house pathogens that can be dangerous or even deadly to those who open them after thousands of years—especially people like Lord Carnarvon with weakened immune systems?

The mausoleums house not only the dead bodies of humans and animals but foods to provision them for the afterlife.

Lab studies have shown some ancient mummies carried mold, including Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus flavus, which can cause congestion or bleeding in the lungs. Lung-assaulting bacteria such as PseudomonasStaphylococcus may also grow on tomb walls. and

These substances may make tombs sound dangerous, but scientists seem to agree that they are not.

F. DeWolfe Miller, professor of epidemiology at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, concurs with Howard Carter's original opinion: Given the local conditions, Lord Carnarvon was probably safer inside Tut's tomb than outside.

"Upper Egypt in the 1920s was hardly what you'd call sanitary," Miller said. "The idea that an underground tomb, after 3,000 years, would have some kind of bizarre microorganism in it that's going to kill somebody six weeks later and make it look exactly like [blood poisoning] is very hard to believe."

In fact, Miller said, he knows of no archaeologist—or a single tourist, for that matter—who has experienced any afflictions caused by tomb toxins.

But like the movie mummies who invoke the malediction, the legend of the mummy's curse seems destined never to die.

source : national geographic

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