Interesting News

Today has been a very interesting day for news.  But before I get to that here's an update on life.  I didn't get the chance to go snorkeling like I wanted too.  I had a great time watching the New Orleans - Chicago game since it was in a large group and we could give our host a bad time.  (New Orleans is his team and they lost).  Tonight is the return of Battlestar Galactica, one of the tv shows that I have been hooked on.  Sure, I like most Americans, consume lots of media -- but I try to spread it around.  But in case anyone is wondering, including any advertisers/marketers out there since I'm in the middle of the "most coveted" demographic, the 18 - 34 male, I only follow a few shows- Battlestar Galactica, Heroes, and Lost.  All of them are serialized shows and since my schedule doesn't always allow for seeing the broadcast, I download them from iTunes.  But on to the interesting news...

Books

I have been trying to find a cheap, portable way to travel with my books.  Since I read for several hours a week and I travel a lot, I want a portable alternative to the traditional book.  My PDA can work for some items, but the selection of books are limited and the price is too high.  Also, the screen is smaller than I like.  Google might have the answer, though.  Google is entering the realm of e-books and is also talking about making the items available for purchase by the chapter or by renting.  While I don't think I would purchase just a chapter of a book, I do like the idea of renting a book -- if it will be cost-effective.

Storage

The bigger news is the advance in storing information.  Right now the medium used to store these words and images on your computer is a magnetic platter.  It takes up physical space on your hard-drive.  What if you could store a picture by light?  I'm not talking about a cd or dvd (optical media) what about the actual light?  What about a single photon?  It is possible now!  Researchers have stored a 100-plus pixel image on a single photon.  The image on the left is the picture from the photon while the image on the right is the orginal.

Have a great week!