About Conrad Myers

Conrad Myers

Conrad has been an avid tech enthusiast all of his life. Going back to taking apart his crystal diode radio transmitter and reassembling it just to see what was inside.

Aside from the latest technology news and gadgets he enjoys, running, camping, motorcycles, a good book or movie and oddly enough...cooking.

He loves to create a dialog with readers and encourages questions and debate on any and all topics.

Conrad Myers's Post Reel

Electronics:

Father of GPS, Roger L. Easton Inducted to Inventors Hall of Fame

Roger L. Easton, pictured at left, is considered to be the pioneer of modern day GPS. As testament to his contribution to the technology is his induction to the National Inventors Hall of Fame. He began his work at the Naval Research Laboratory in 1943. He also helped with the MINITRACK system which was the very first satellite tracking technology.

Active:

Skydiver Attempts To Break Sound Barrier at 760 MPH

The first solo skydive a jumper makes, once they are Category 3 (non-tandem), is from 4,000 feet giving you about 10 seconds of free fall. One extreme Austrian man, Felix Baumgartner wants to jump from 120,000 feet and on top of that he wants to break the sound barrier, which would make him the first free faller to ever attain those speeds.

As a note, for a typical free fall a speed of 50% of terminal velocity is reached after only 3 seconds, after 8 seconds you’ll be at 90%, and to reach nearly 99% it takes 15 seconds. It is possible to attain higher speeds by reducing drag, pull in one’s limbs, or increasing the height of fall, reducing density and thus drag. Competition speed skydivers fly in the head down position and have reached speeds of 614 mph, the record held by Joseph Kittinger from a height of 102,600 feet.

Gizmos:

Minority Report Input Device Created Using Wireless Gloves

Two Electrical Engineering students from MIT have designed a new input device that behaves similar to what was seen in Minority Report. It’s called the Glove Mouse and was actually inspired by the movie.

Tony Hyun Kim and Nevada Sanchez wanted to bring what they had seen and make it a reality. The wireless gloves, which are powered by a cell phone battery, each have LEDs on the back of the index finger which is captured by a webcam. There are also buttons under the index fingers, middle fingers and thumbs. All the information is transferred a another unit via RF and is then sent to the computer.

Energy:

Primer On Home Solar Energy

Here is a short video that gives a pretty comprehensive introduction to solar photovoltaic energy generation. While this video pertains to home installations it gives you a basic understanding of how solar panels operate. Although the idea of harvesting solar energy came on the scene in the U.S. a long time ago, it is only now gaining the momentum it intended from the beginning. Companies are doing quite a lot with solar energy, and creating a lot of desirable products that run off this natural energy source.

Health:

Chip in Pill Tells Doctors Whether or Not You Take Your Meds

No longer will doctors have to worry whether or not their patients have taken their prescribed medications. Thanks to researchers at the University of Florida the pills will now send messages back to the doctor when they have been ingested.

Although still in prototype, each pill is the standard size, with an antenna printed on the surface with ink made of nontoxic, conductive silver nanoparticles. Contained within the pill is a microchip the size of a period which transmits a signal to a nearby receiver. The receiver then sends a message back to the doctor. Currently it is just the transmitting device but in the future it could be built into watches, cell phones or other common items. The antenna breaks down within the body and the mircochip passes through the digestive tract safely.

Computers:

Apple’s Next Money Maker: The iPad

For several months now there has been much anticipation for the debut of Apple’s iPad. There has been wide speculation within the industry of the impact of the new tablet computer. With pre-orders nearing the 1/4 million mark and another 1/4 million available in stores on launch date (Saturday April, 3rd) the iPad could revolutionize the market just as the iPod did for the MP3 market. Apple expects to sell any where from 8-10 million within the first year. If you haven’t already seen it, here is a video of what the iPad App Store will look like.

[click image to enlarge]

[source GigaOm]

Web:

iTunes App Store Is Now On Facebook

The iTunes App Store just got a little more social. Developed by Virtue, a social media app developer, the App Store has a number of cool features. It will now be possible to see which apps are popular, which ones your friends like and which ones are “essential” per the iTunes editors.

There is a featured app category, top apps and even sales charts for both free and paid apps from all different categories. You can opt to get a particular app and it will open up iTunes for it to be purchased. There is also a Search & Share tab where you can easily look for new apps and share things you’ve found on your wall and with friends. Shortly there will be more apps added to the Facebook page and more features are expected to come.

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