©Mark Ollig
As we close out this year, I’d like to express appreciation to my readers for spending a few moments of your time here each week.
In today’s column, I want to review popular topics covered over this last year, which I hope you will enjoy.
The Jan. 5 column focused on a promising, rare mineral which could bring a revolutionary change to the internet.
Perovskite, also known as calcium titanium oxide, is a mineral discovered in the late 1830s in Russia. It is named in honor of Count Lev Alekseevich Perovski.
Because of its exceptional optical and electrical compatibility properties, perovskite-silicon solar cell layering substrate technology is being used for improving solar cell efficiency.
Recent tests show a 28 percent increase in efficiency when using perovskite in the construction of clean-energy solar panels by the Oxford PVTM – The Perovskite Company, based in the UK.
In addition to its improved solar panel efficiency, perovskite’s superconductivity properties allow for dramatic speed increases for transmitting data.
Ultra-fast data transmission speed occurs when passing high-frequency light-wave spectrum levels through perovskite wafers operating at 1 Terahertz (1THz).
In 10 to 20 years, we may see 6 or 7G (generation) wireless broadband technology data transmitters incorporating perovskite. Stay tuned.
The Feb. 16 column addressed concerns about the internet’s future by the creator of the World Wide Web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, and others.
Berners-Lee called his web creation: “A tool which serves all of humanity.”
“I imagined the web as an open platform that would allow everyone, everywhere to share information, access opportunities, and collaborate across geographic and cultural boundaries,” Berners-Lee stated this year.
Along with the good things about the web and the internet, we are all too aware of its negatives.
We worry about data security in light of the growing cyber threats and theft of private data.
The volume of classified, encrypted data intelligence, vulnerable to being compromised by cyber attackers, is of great concern.
Creating improved internet firewall borders to safeguard our data continues.
March 9’s column focused on 5G wireless broadband technology showcased at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona.
Demonstrations showed how 5G technologies would improve the operation of robotics, building security systems, autonomously driven cars connected to the internet, and the energy management systems within smart homes and businesses.
MWC demonstrated real-world applications using 5G technology within rural agriculture applications, such as remotely controlling farm machinery, and using information-gathering aerial drones.
Internet of Things (IoT) devices, social media content usage, facial recognition devices, and internet online policy and regulations were other topics discussed during MWC 2018.
The June 1 column described the digitizing of the Vatican Library.
In 1995, the Vatican began planning the digitizing of its massive archive library of manuscripts, printed books, drawings, paintings, photos, coins, medals, and other materials, so they could be seen, studied, and researched by the public using the internet.
The complete digitizing of all the Vatican archived collections won’t be completed until 2036; however, many thousands of historical documents and items are viewable online right now.
The Vatican Library internet website can be reached at https://www.vaticanlibrary.va (“.va” is the Vatican’s internet country code). The site is in Italian, but you can choose the English language translator.
The DigiVatLib website is located at https://digi.vatlib.it (“.it” is the internet country code for Italy).
The June 29 column revealed the US Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) publicly announced its newest scientific supercomputer, called Summit.
Summit is now the world’s leader in supercomputer processing speed. It can process data at an incredible 200 quadrillion floating-point operations per second (200 petaflops).
Summit’s processing power allows it to quickly analyze massive amounts of data.
The Summit (AC922) supercomputer was built by IBM.
It supports cutting-edge artificial intelligence and data-intensive applications.
Sept. 28, the column focused on the 60th anniversary of NASA.
The National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 officially began the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Oct. 1, 1958.
NASA’s roots can be traced back to March 3, 1915, and a US government agency called the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) established by President Woodrow Wilson.
NACA’s job was to “supervise and direct the scientific study of the problems of flight, with a view to their practical solution.”
Orville Wright was a member of NACA from 1920 to 1948.
NACA’s aerospace personnel and technical assets were transferred to NASA Oct. 1, 1958.
The Nov. 23 column was a historical look back to the late 1960s, when approximately one-half mile of submarine (marine copper-paired) cable was placed along the bottom of the Winsted Lake by the local telephone company.
Now, we turn this column’s sail into the wind and journey forward into 2019.
Of course, there will be more stories about social media, and the internet, artificial intelligence, 5G, new ground-breaking technologies, quantum computing, high-tech companies, and the latest computing devices and gadgets.
Every once in awhile, we will look back at the history and memorable events shaping this increasingly technologically-networked world.
Have a great 2019.
As we close out this year, I’d like to express appreciation to my readers for spending a few moments of your time here each week.
In today’s column, I want to review popular topics covered over this last year, which I hope you will enjoy.
The Jan. 5 column focused on a promising, rare mineral which could bring a revolutionary change to the internet.
Perovskite, also known as calcium titanium oxide, is a mineral discovered in the late 1830s in Russia. It is named in honor of Count Lev Alekseevich Perovski.
Because of its exceptional optical and electrical compatibility properties, perovskite-silicon solar cell layering substrate technology is being used for improving solar cell efficiency.
Recent tests show a 28 percent increase in efficiency when using perovskite in the construction of clean-energy solar panels by the Oxford PVTM – The Perovskite Company, based in the UK.
In addition to its improved solar panel efficiency, perovskite’s superconductivity properties allow for dramatic speed increases for transmitting data.
Ultra-fast data transmission speed occurs when passing high-frequency light-wave spectrum levels through perovskite wafers operating at 1 Terahertz (1THz).
In 10 to 20 years, we may see 6 or 7G (generation) wireless broadband technology data transmitters incorporating perovskite. Stay tuned.
The Feb. 16 column addressed concerns about the internet’s future by the creator of the World Wide Web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, and others.
Berners-Lee called his web creation: “A tool which serves all of humanity.”
“I imagined the web as an open platform that would allow everyone, everywhere to share information, access opportunities, and collaborate across geographic and cultural boundaries,” Berners-Lee stated this year.
Along with the good things about the web and the internet, we are all too aware of its negatives.
We worry about data security in light of the growing cyber threats and theft of private data.
The volume of classified, encrypted data intelligence, vulnerable to being compromised by cyber attackers, is of great concern.
Creating improved internet firewall borders to safeguard our data continues.
March 9’s column focused on 5G wireless broadband technology showcased at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona.
Demonstrations showed how 5G technologies would improve the operation of robotics, building security systems, autonomously driven cars connected to the internet, and the energy management systems within smart homes and businesses.
MWC demonstrated real-world applications using 5G technology within rural agriculture applications, such as remotely controlling farm machinery, and using information-gathering aerial drones.
Internet of Things (IoT) devices, social media content usage, facial recognition devices, and internet online policy and regulations were other topics discussed during MWC 2018.
The June 1 column described the digitizing of the Vatican Library.
In 1995, the Vatican began planning the digitizing of its massive archive library of manuscripts, printed books, drawings, paintings, photos, coins, medals, and other materials, so they could be seen, studied, and researched by the public using the internet.
The complete digitizing of all the Vatican archived collections won’t be completed until 2036; however, many thousands of historical documents and items are viewable online right now.
The Vatican Library internet website can be reached at https://www.vaticanlibrary.va (“.va” is the Vatican’s internet country code). The site is in Italian, but you can choose the English language translator.
The DigiVatLib website is located at https://digi.vatlib.it (“.it” is the internet country code for Italy).
The June 29 column revealed the US Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) publicly announced its newest scientific supercomputer, called Summit.
Summit is now the world’s leader in supercomputer processing speed. It can process data at an incredible 200 quadrillion floating-point operations per second (200 petaflops).
Summit’s processing power allows it to quickly analyze massive amounts of data.
The Summit (AC922) supercomputer was built by IBM.
It supports cutting-edge artificial intelligence and data-intensive applications.
Sept. 28, the column focused on the 60th anniversary of NASA.
The National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 officially began the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Oct. 1, 1958.
NASA’s roots can be traced back to March 3, 1915, and a US government agency called the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) established by President Woodrow Wilson.
NACA’s job was to “supervise and direct the scientific study of the problems of flight, with a view to their practical solution.”
Orville Wright was a member of NACA from 1920 to 1948.
NACA’s aerospace personnel and technical assets were transferred to NASA Oct. 1, 1958.
The Nov. 23 column was a historical look back to the late 1960s, when approximately one-half mile of submarine (marine copper-paired) cable was placed along the bottom of the Winsted Lake by the local telephone company.
Now, we turn this column’s sail into the wind and journey forward into 2019.
Of course, there will be more stories about social media, and the internet, artificial intelligence, 5G, new ground-breaking technologies, quantum computing, high-tech companies, and the latest computing devices and gadgets.
Every once in awhile, we will look back at the history and memorable events shaping this increasingly technologically-networked world.
Have a great 2019.
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