Tech Beat

The next time you start dreaming of a vacation, consider coming to New Mexico. Incredible landscapes aside, this state is a great place for technology and science aficionados to visit. From observatories, to military technology development, to the world's first private spaceport, New Mexico offers something for the geek in all of us.

Last September, Del Norte, Humboldt, Mendocino, and Trinity counties embarked on a regional broadband project The project is being managed by HSU and is funded by a variety of sources, including the California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF), Humboldt Area Foundation, McLean Foundation, RREDC, and the Headwaters Fund. This month the team has briefed the Board of Supervisors in all four counties.

On May 25, 2008 the spacecraft named Phoenix landed on the northern polar region of Mars. Normally this wouldn’t be considered relevant for a Humboldt County technology article—we are, after all, a bit far from Mars—but since I work for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Knowledge Architect, I thought I would dedicate this column to some of the technology being used to share NASA’s missions with the public.

Like many of the small businesses I work with, I typically avoid recent technology. Cell phone and e-mail? Use ‘em all the time. Blackberry and a blog? Nope. I am, in the parlance, a late adopter. In a successful marital negotiation, I did just talk Tish into “investing” in a DVR. I’ll do more yard work on the weekend if I can just watch NASCAR at night. (This, kids, is key to a marriage that lasts.)

By now, we have all had to endure a Powerpoint presentation, and a hapless few of us have actually had to put these presentations together and deliver them in from of an audience. Neither of these are particularly pleasant experiences and I suspect that all of us have some Powerpoint horror stories to relate.

You may not think that choosing a web host is important, but when your website goes down, your selection of a web hosting service will become critical.

How do you go about the task of choosing a host? Whether you’re finding a host for your new site or migrating an existing site to a new host, you’ll want to find a hosting service that will meet all of your needs.

We knew this was coming. We’ve all been waiting and wishing for something like this. We knew that eventually someone would figure it out, how to develop an innovative, stunning technology that diminishes, or completely breaks, our dependence on foreign oil and in so doing, changes the world. Well, lament no more about the high cost of gas, my friends, because there’s a new fuel in town, and it’s making great waves—literally. What is this new, magic fuel that will surely change life as we know it? Water.

YouTube. MySpace. Facebook. Internet fundraising. What do these all have in common? These four technologies have had a huge effect on the 2008 presidential election, and will continue to have an effect on future elections. From giving the people a voice to making it easier for people to contribute, these technologies have allowed the American people to be directly involved in the political process.

It ain't easy to be a telecommuter. Some people dream of severing the tether to their desk and long for the opportunity to work at home. They see adventure, freedom and personal control versus the commute, oppression and lack of control that sometimes goes with a show-up job. My favorite tech magazine, TechRepublic.com had an entertaining but informative expose on whether you are really cut out to tele-work.

The test for tele-worthiness covers several areas ...