One of my new coworkers has been teasing me about my rather antiquated music technology. She's an iPod user, I use mp3 CDs with multiple albums on each CD.
Her humorous jabs about iPods vs. mp3 CDs got me to thinking about the rate at which technology is advancing.
At what point will Apple come out with an iPod powered car.
New from Apple--
The iCar, the first automobile to run on music!
Seriously though, looking at how computer technology has advanced:
In 1991 I started out with a 16mhz computer with a 2400 baud modem, 40MB HD
By 1995 I upgraded to a 100mhz 486 with a 28.8k baud modem, 800MB HD
In 1999 I upgraded to a 210mhz P3 with a 56k baud modem, 2.1GB HD
In 2001 I upgraded to a 900mhz P3 with a 56k baud modem, 40GB HD
In 2003 I upgraded to a 2.1ghz P4 with Cable modem, 150GB HD
As early as 2000, cell phones still were big, bulky, and impractical. By 2002 they were ubiquitous.
To put it in terms of automobiles-- imagine going from a horse & buggy to a Ferrari F-150 in 15 years...
But it hasn't panned out that way. Why isn't the same amount of research and development being put into automobile technology... into alternative fuel sources? Is it collusion between the auto-manufacturers and big oil?
It seems to be working backward, I mean leaving big oil companies in charge of looking for alternative fuel sources is like making the fox responsible for guarding the hen-house. But at the same time, asking the auto manufacturers to work on vehicles that run on alternative fuel without an infrastructure for those fuel sources in place is corporate suicide. It just seems like it's taken far too long for the auto manufacturers to start working with Big Oil towards shifting the focus away from fossil fuels.
Does anyone else see the huge disparity between how quickly computer and telephone technology have evolved in the past 10-15 years and how slowly the auto manufacturers and oil companies have been to start searching for cheaper and more viable fuel sources?
Friday, April 28, 2006
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5 comments:
There's no doubt that the oil companies have us by the short hairs, and have no plans of letting go. And there are no more bigger examples of this than the huge windfalls that both Exxon and Chevron recently announced. Unfortunately, I don't see an end in sight, either.
Auto companies and the oil industry buy up patents for viable alternative technologies. Why? Hmmm.
Exxon just posted the fifth highest quarterly gain in history and the signs are that it may be the lowest gaining quarter that it will post this year.
DUDE! I just read about an iPod powered car and ordered one. Get with it already!
Serioulsy....I love your Mp3s!!!! Cause you are generous with them! And I download songs onto my
IPOD !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
you really, really, really do need an ipod ;)
Great points. I've never thought about it. Big oil [and the governments that are in bed with them] are probably getting in the way.
Yes, the auto/oil industries don't really operate as true capitalists. IE, compete with one another. I've a friend near San Francisco that saw an oil company purchase a piece of land that had geothermal energy potential, simply to prevent that option from being explored.
I still use a CD too. I can get over a hundred songs on there, and I can't possibly listen to more than that on any given day.
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