Technology needs not to be orderly or well organized. It just needs to work somehow.

China likes to boast of it’s long lasting culture and like to claim that they have been at the front of civilization for thousands of years (nice timeline here) (although India has actually the oldest records of culture and cities).

Anyone remotely interested in history and technology knows that the old Chinese seem to have invented almost everything way ahead of Europe or were never far behind: paper, printing, movable type, crossbows, gunpowder, rockets, compass, blast furnace and cast iron - to name just the most important ones.

China with it’s man- and brainpower seemed to be destined to take over the world, but they didn’t. Instead tiny Britain conquered the Chinese giant with ease …

So what went wrong with the old Chinese?

Read the rest of this entry »

Anyone remember these sweet little cameras and their huge success? Like today’s digital cameras these old snappers brought easy photography to the masses. Although they were hardly as instant as modern cameras their simple design and cheap manufacturing process made them affordable to almost anyone.

I still love the design of many of these old cams - very classic with the box-like elements, rounded corners and mostly black finish.

More? Kodak Instamatic @ Wikipedia

Click image for a larger version.

I think the Russians built beautiful rockets. The Soyuz series is just fascinating - they really look like space rockets!

Locks are a pretty old human invention - they go way back 4.000 years. This also tells us a lot about the human mind, it’s greed and it’s need for security. But a lock without a door or a box is useless - to this invention is connected to a whole chain of other technologies.

One invention always depends on other inventions.

CNN: Student ‘Twitters’ his way out of Egyptian jail 

This is a typical high-tech non-story. If this guy simply would have called someone nobody would have cared. But because he used a high-tech gizmo suddenly it’s a story.

I think for causing such a stupid commotion he should be jailed - and all his Twitter buddies and the journalists too!

*Thanks to Edosan for not Twittering this to me*

We credit many advances in our world to inventors - but many of them did not invent anything. They rather developed and improved existing ideas into a new technology. The steam engine didn’t pop up in Mr Watt’s head overnight - it was a long process of trial and error in cooperation with other engineers.

December the 17th 1903 - the first real airplane took off with Orville Wright as the pilot. The rest is history as they say. These two brothers were great engineering pioneers and brave souls to try their own ideas. Their planes crashed several times before that historic few seconds - and they had many crashes after that as well.

Next time you get on your cheap flight to Ibiza or Tichuana remember these brave men (and many others) who made this possible just 100 years ago.

More? Excellent Wikipedia entry

Just within a hundred years we spread ‘waves’ everywhere. You can listen to radio or talk via your cell phone in almost every corner of our blue planet. Satellites and WiFi antennas will soon provide full broadband coverage everywhere - so you can tune into the intranets and the full media spectrum of radio, voice and webtv wherever you are.

While a primitive radio set can built with the most basic of electrical components modern communication relies on complex digital technology. I wonder if things like emergency radio will be any use in the future - when nobody owns any equipment to listen to it.

Radio Waves are the very essence of modern communication.

The plate is a strange technology. It’s not a practical bowl to hold liquids. It’s also not as practical as a cutting board for … uh … cutting stuff.

But it’s a great hybrid of both ideas. The higher borders hold back liquids from running from the flat surface like a bowl - and you actually can cut stuff on a plate, which is unpractical in a bowl.

Battleships used to rule the world. The British Empire relied on it’s ability to ‘project power’ with it’s mighty fleet to almost any corner of this planet.

But the floating fortresses became endangered with the invention of the Submarine, Torpedo, and the Airplane. Much cheaper and smaller technologies that could kill such a huge metal beast with a single blow.

Today guided missiles are the ultimate menace to ships. That is why some countries resort to building much smaller and cheaper ships. Big guns are still there, but they are replaced by more and more missiles.

If you society only imports technology it lacks the experience of reinventing the wheel and the progress of adapting this new idea.

Many inventors were far ahead of their societies, but because nor the public or the elite could understand the invention and it’s glory they got forgotten.

Improving society by invention is also about communication, education and integration. That is why progress takes time - ideas, change and technology needs time to take roots.

So the wheel has to be reinvented again and again, so we understand the process, learn from it and appreciate it.

Robots won’t violently takeover the world. We will be so fat and lazy in the future, that we’ll need them to run our affairs for us. Slavery is too tempting for humanity to ignore.

We will run out of oil - sooner or later. But how will be continue then? Will me make a transition back to a new steam age, horses and fuel cells? I am sure we gonna see a huge diversity of old and new energy sources. Even sails for ships could make a comeback. Maybe we will even (finally) see atomic cars.

We are still in the stoneage of green technology and I hope it’s not too late yet. But how long will it take to make people aware how to save themselves? Science is only as effective as it is accepted by us and supported by laws and the industry.

After the Wright Brothers made their historical first flight they toured the world with their marvelous machine.

Joseph Niepce took this picture 1826. Wow!

BBC News: Cement makers come clean 

Cement is one of our oldest building materials - it was already known and used by the Romans. By cement releases a lot of heat and CO2 while hardening. Cement makers hope to reduce the emissions and create a greener cement.

Excellent!

There is still so much that can be improved - like semitransparent concrete. I think this could be a great energy saver for industrial buildings. Great idea!

Where no man has gone before! Apes always led the way - we just followed. They test our medicine, they have to test our vehicles and even fly into outer space for us.

More? Ape-O-nauts.org

Who killed the electric car? Please go and visit the website of this upcoming documentation. What an amazing site and what a chilling insight into the workings of car manufacturers and oil magnates. The go and buy a big gun and shot the bastards!

Make also sure to watch the trailer first to get into the story.

Medicine has made huge advances in the last 100 years - compared to all centuries before today we can heal terrible diseases and injuries - and even replace parts of our bodies. Amazing!

More? How artificial hearts work

Wikipedia entry

The first of 41 satellites. One of the greatest achievements of mankind and one of the greatest PR move ever! America was shocked out of it’s wits by the Russian Beeper in space.

Some videos from that time: Russian Show reel, Dutch report, American reel and great BBC dramatization.

Happy Sputnik day!

It hardly will get any cheaper and our reserves will become less and less …  so let’s use oil for heating and driving sports cars, fight more wars for it …  makes perfect sense …

One day I would like watch a rocket launch - it was told it is a tremendous experience. I have watched countless videos and live transmissions, but it ain’t the real thing. Anyone been to such a great event?