Researchers at Stanford University are working toward creating a better battery. That process involves a lot of technology and chemistry, but in the end the result would be higher-efficiency batteries for electronics as well as other devices, including cars.

I still believe that the future of self-powered devices lies in the fuel cell. That technology has lagged for years now. I’ve written blog posts that claimed we’d have “within years,” but that’s never come to pass.

If this new lithium anode technology proves stable and cheap — and it doesn’t cause any dimensional warps between here and where monsters live — then it could prove to be a boon for the mobile technology industry.

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Apparently you can tell when the stock market is going down due to various keywords being searched on Google. At least that’s what’s being said in the article. Of course, they’re looking back at crashes. So far, humanity has yet to precisely predict market crashes, although wise investors can generally smell a crash coming.

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And I just replaced my Samsung phone’s battery with an third party battery. Guess I’m not putting the phone under my pillow!

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The NSA can’t spy on you when you use a typewriter. Granted, you can’t access Facebook from a typewriter, but why would you want to? Nope, you can write on a typewriter blissful to the thought that no one else can see what you’ve written. Well, unless you publish the document, but otherwise it remains free of the digital realm.

According to the article below, sales of typewriters in Germany are surging. Is it time for me to write Typewriters For Dummies?

RT News Link

Wamblog entry about the Kremlin switching to typewriters.

The lack of interest over Windows 8 isn’t a joke. It’s palpable.

When I was in a local computer store recently, I asked the owner how many Windows 8 units he’d sold.

“None.”

Well, he sold a couple at first, but they returned and wanted Windows 7 installed instead.

Now Lenovo, which sells far more computers than the local “Mom & Pop” store I frequent, has announced that it will no longer be shipping Windows 8.1 tablets. The reason: A lack of interest.

Hello, Microsoft?

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After two years of declining computer sales worldwide, things have finally flattened out. That may mean the industry is in for a turnaround, but it may not.

I figured computer sales would slump because many people are switching to tablets. For the typical human, a tablet (or phablet or phone) can do the work they otherwise did on a PC. Computer sales had to go down as those folks made the switch.

Also, you have to consider that today’s PC is much better made and more reliable than systems of the 1990s, when the industry experienced insane, year-over-year growth. Back then, I’d buy a new system every two or three years. Now I average about 5 years for a PC, sometimes longer.

One item that may be playing into the increased sales in a tangential way is Microsoft’s drop of support for Windows XP. That decision motivated a lot of business owners to buy new systems — or refurbish their existing models. They would get a new motherboard, solid state drive (SSD), and Windows 7. That’s technically not a new computer, but it’s a sale!

Gartner

A joke was making the rounds several years ago: Some politician was using Google Maps and wanted to know why he couldn’t see his car parked in front of the building.

The truth is, Google Maps uses satellite imagery that often months if not years out of date. That’s fine for getting around or becoming familiar with an area, but not useful if you want to see where your car is parked.

Enter Skybox. Their goal is to have very fresh satellite images available, maybe three times a day. They can do it with only a small number of satellites. It’s fascinating stuff, and it will affect how you use Google Maps in just a few short years.

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Coming soon to a public library near you: A 3D printer. Pretty cool, and apparently you can print illegal stuff too.

Now I have to figure out what illegal 3D printing is.

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I ranted about it before (see rant link below), but now apparently my admonitions are ringing true: Samsung is shuttering its Video and Media Hub. And good riddance!

Way back when, I subscribed to the Media Hub. I paid about $30 to “buy” two movies, and I watched them. Then Samsung upgraded the Media Hub and “lost” my password, my account, and my movies.

No refunds are coming for the media you have in the Video and Media Hub; Samsung is urging users to move the material to some movie hosting site. Yeah, like I have any faith in that.

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My Samsung rant from earlier this year.