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Technology has been the fulcrum of human knowledge and civilization’s progression. Every epoch in history has been significantly defined by technology. In fact, technology is the fruit of the human drive for knowledge. It is the culmination of man’s brilliance and ingenuity. Technology has paved a new, improved way to obtain quick financing when needed, through an installment loan or a low-rate personal loan, among other forms. It has given people significant power and advantage compared to every other creature on the planet. Humans’ use of technology has given people the power to determine their own future, opening a wide array of possibilities.

The bane of technology

Along with the boon of technology comes its bane. It has been placed into inexperienced and unrestrained hands, giving them power beyond comprehension. Technology has provided so much for people, but it in turn has heaped upon humanity, pain, malevolence, conflict and death. From this, we can be certain that technology can yield both good and bad. It all depends on its use and application. This is the social issue of the 21st century — how much use of technology is too much.

Evolution of crime

Recently, a Russian prisoner orchestrated a theft from his jail cell using a mobile phone. Technology’s empowering effect also means it can be employed in crimes. Technology makes it easier to carry out criminal deeds. Crimes have evolved with the progression of technology. New technology brings with it new ways of committing crimes. This extensively challenges the government in terms of law enforcement and crime prevention.

Government measures

Government, law enforcement agencies and crime prevention units struggle to contain crimes. These are affected further by the extensive use of technology in modern age. Usually, commission of crimes using technology often is not differentiated by those without, and it is sometimes punished similarly. This situation only heightens the use of technology in criminal undertakings. Tougher measures are required when common day appliances become means by which laws are violated, rights hampered and law and order jeopardized.

Sources

BigPond News

http://www.parliament.uk/documents/post/pn064.pdf

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In the news, allegations have surfaced accusing China of forcing various entities in the technology industry to give Chinese establishments technology. Allegedly, this is required as part of their cost to do business in China, although China denies this. China’s increasing integration with the global economy has contributed to sustained growth in international trade.

The new wave of Chinese economics

China’s exports have recently become more diversified and have achieved greater penetration of industrial markets. This has been accompanied by a surge in Chinese imports from all regions — especially Asia, where China plays an increasingly central role in regional specialization. Tariff reforms have been implemented in China since the 1980s, and with its recent WTO accession, China has committed itself to additional reforms that are far reaching. Sustained implementation of these commitments would further deepen China’s international integration and generate benefits for most partner countries.

China emerges as a global power

Approaching this from a skeptical point of view, all the economic policies and trade processes that China is seen to be following could be a ruse in order to conduct or pursue its agenda in terms of increasing its advancement, even through illicit or prohibited means. It’s not as though China’s markets are free enough to have financial options like bad credit cash loans and installment loans. As China emerges as a global power, it is important to understand what role it will play and the security perceptions it has of both Asia and the world.

China’s view of U.S. society

The most important issue for China today is political stability at home. Any attempt to influence the status quo is not welcome and is deemed to be interference in China’s internal affairs. Many Chinese believe that the United States represents the core values of Western Civilization. Several believe the U.S. is in conflict with the Eastern civilizations represented by China. As a result, Chinese leadership views any American influence as a challenge to China’s political stability.

China aggressively pursues technology

In the 21st century, the status of superpower or world power requires a certain degree of technological advancement and progression. This is the age of information technology, and the fundamental resource of most modern and fast developing economies is technology. For a country to be powerful, it needs to possess a significant amount of advanced technology.

China is the world’s most populous country

Let’s assume for the moment that the allegations are true. Will the U.S. or any other country really do anything about it? Will the U.S. do as they said and really “push” China on the issue? That is highly unlikely. China is the world’s most populous country and the second largest energy consumer behind the United States. Rising oil demand and imports have made China a significant factor in world oil markets. Given this fact, China is a necessary part of the international economic system.

There would be significant repercussions if China is antagonized in any way. This means that by setting aside international trade policies, China can do pretty much what it wants in most cases. Given its status and place in the international arena, who can really do anything about it?

Source:

RePEc: http://ideas.repec.org/p/imf/imfwpa/04-36.html

iPhone users, get ready for the Opera Mini!

Users of the iPhone now have a way to browse the internet quickly in congested urban areas – Opera Mini for the iPhone. The Opera Mini app was approved by Apple for its App store on Monday, rather unexpectedly. The Opera Mini app markets itself as a web browser, but the Apple App store specifically forbids alternative browsers. So, like low interest loans for bad credit, Opera Mini managed to find a way around bad circumstances.

Opera Mini remotely renders pages

The Opera Mini browser is an Apple iPhone app that creates a web-browser-like experience — without actually being a web browser. Instead, the Opera Mini app for iPhone does not render web pages on the iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. Instead, when the Opera Mini app calls up a web page, it is rendered remotely on the Opera Mini servers. The Opera Mini servers then send the web page to the iPhone using OBML markup language. This means that the Opera Mini App for the iPhone functions more like a document reader than a web browser.

Opera Mini App released already

Though the approval process through the iPhone store took a while, the Opera Mini App for the iPhone should be available Tuesday morning in the iPhone store. Not only is the Opera Mini App free, but it should help save you money. You won’t need to get an online payday loan to pay your cell phone bill anymore, because Opera Mini compresses web pages, reducing the data load on your cell phone plan.

Opera Mini will help in congested areas

Even though the Opera Mini does basically exactly what Apple has said it would not allow, the Opera Mini was most likely approved because of user experience issues. In large urban areas with heavy iPhone usage, web browsing and many applications have been running very slowly. Though AT&T has promised they will increase network coverage, the Opera Mini’s compression and remote-rendering system will help reduce the network load of all those iPhones. To download the Opera Mini App, just go to m.opera.com from any web browser – including the one on your iPhone.

(Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/grilledcheese/ / CC BY-ND 2.0)

U.S. Rare Earths owns deposits of minerals used in making computers and cell phones.

U.S. Rare Earths is a company that “holds the only known U.S. deposit of heavy rare earths with a concentration worth mining, according to a recent report by the U.S. Geological Survey,” says Fox News. So what does it all mean? Rare earths are used in all types of developing technology, such as hybrid cars, wind turbines, computer hard drives and cell phones.

U.S. Rare Earths and technology

Scientists have predicted that the world faces a rare earths shortage, but U.S. Rare Earths could prevent technological innovation in this country from being crippled. In the past, the U.S. has gotten most of its rare earth minerals from China. Now it is up to U.S. Rare Earths to develop its heavy rare earth mineral deposits.

Naturally, U.S. Rare Earths stock is a hot commodity as investors realize the potential for this company to make a killing. Some investors are probably getting instant cash loans as we speak to make sure they buy in to U.S. Rare Earths before the price per share skyrockets and even the biggest guaranteed payday loans out there won’t cover the cost.

Details on U.S. Rare Earths

Scientists’ predictions say the rare earths shortage will hit in about 10 years. Jim Hedrick, a former USGS rare earth specialist, says some developers are already experiencing a shortage. U.S. Rare Earths owns land rich with heavy mineral deposits on Lehmi Pass, which is on the border between Idaho and Montana. U.S. Rare Earths also owns mineral deposits in Diamond Creek, Idaho. On the periodic table of elements, heavy rare earth are the minerals ranging from terbium to lutetium.

U.S. Rare Earths’ founders started the company 15 years ago with the Lehmi Pass deposits. At the time, they were only interested in the concentration of thorium, which provides an alternative to nuclear fuel. After 15 years and countless technological innovations, U.S. Rare Earths finds itself in the position of owning the only known rare earth deposits in the country. For the time being, U.S. Rare Earths is concentrating on mining the Diamond Creek land in Idaho because it is closer to civilization and thus more “mining friendly.”

Rumor has it this year will see a lot of advances in 3-D technology. Image from Flickr.

We have started a brand new year, and we all know what that means: New stuff! The Consumer Electronics Show 2010 will give us an idea of some of the new electronics we can expect to have available this year. CES 2010 takes place in Las Vegas; it begins Thursday and continues through Sunday, Jan. 7-10.

As always, there’s a lot of speculation about what will be revealed at the Consumer Electronics Show 2010. Don’t worry, though, about getting a cash advance in case you are tempted to overspend at Consumer Electronics Show 2010. Most of the gadets at CES 2010 are not yet for sale.

Learning from the past

Looking back at 2009, smartphones, 3-D technology, netbooks and e-readers stand out as innovative developments that became quite popular. Of course, we’ll continue to see developments that enhance these technological devices, and many of those will be unveiled at CES 2010.

We can likely expect faster, cheaper smartphones that can do even more stuff. Rumor has it that some home television manufacturers are exploring the idea of getting 3-D into people’s houses. Will we see even smaller Netbooks? Possibly, but smartphones, which act a lot like tiny personal computers, and Netbooks are awfully close in size already. E-readers probably will be able to do more tasks in 2010.

Consumer Electronics Show 2010 specs

More than 330 new companies join the lineup for Consumer Electronics Show 2010, bringing the lineup to somewhere in the neighborhood of 3,000 companies. More than 20,000 new products will be on display, according to LegitReviews.com.

There are always  plenty of surprises at the Consumer Electronics show, and I’m sure CES 2010 will be no different. Will there be new robots? New electronic pets? Smartphone apps keep getting crazier, so I am sure we can expect some fun stuff to come out of that. I’ll keep an eye out for anything particularly weird and/or useful, so check back for updates on Consumer Electronics Show 2010.

Post office is in big financial trouble

With fewer post offices, mail carriers will have farther to go.

If you are looking for a list of all the post offices to close, that doesn’t exist yet. If you are looking for a list of post offices that might close, I’ve got you covered. If you’re looking for a partial list of post offices to close, I’ve got that too.

If you’re looking for a list of post offices to close, you know that dire financial straits at the United States Postal Service are causing the government to have to shut down several post offices. I guess they don’t have anymore emergency money to keep them all afloat.

How many post offices to close?

I have seen a few different numbers regarding how many locations are on the list of post offices to close, but ABC News reports:

Of the 32,741 post offices in America, the Postal Service is reviewing about 3,200, or nearly 10 percent. The Postal Regulatory Commission, an independent agency, posted 700 of them on a 12-page list at its Web site, www.prc.gov.

The supposed “list of post offices to close,” which you can view by clicking that link, still is titled “United States Postal Service Station/Branches Identified for Full Study,” so no official has yet stated that all the locations on that list of post offices to close will definitely be shut down.

Timeline for post offices to close

ABC News reports:

Postmaster General John Potter has already asked Congress for permission to cut mail deliveries from six days a week to five. The post office does not get taxpayer funds to operate. The Postal Service says no branches will close before Sept. 30.

The postal service stressed that not all the offices on the list may close — and others may be added.

Buzz Demon has a list of post offices to close that it says includes only branches that have been confirmed slated for closure. Check out that list of post offices to close here.

Technology and tradition

The Postal Service is the latest in a long list of businesses that have fallen prey to the internet. People are paying bills online, sending e-mails and doing several other things electronically that used to require a stamp, envelope and trusty mail carrier.

Printed newspapers are now being overshadowed by the internet. I listen to music on the internet rather than radio, and so do most people I know. The internet is quickly replacing phones and pretty much all other communication devices. But for all of the jobs the internet has pushed into being obsolete, it has created more.

Silver lining only silverish

Of course, the fact that the internet has created jobs in web development, computer programming and graphic design is no consolation to postal workers and newspaper carriers who do not have web-related skills.

It’s a tough reality for people to face. I certainly wish I’d have paid more attention in my computer programming class in high school. But 10 years ago I didn’t realize how those lines of programming code could someday translate into paying my rent and securing health insurance for me. I am lucky the internet needs people who can write.