Assignment Six

1)The three topics that I am choosing to do some research on are:

a) When will cars be fully automatedWhen looking up research on when will cars be fully automated, I found a person's page that talks about that and some other things about where the car is heading. The site is: http://chris.pirillo.com/what-will-cars-of-tomorrow-be-like/. He has set it up where he talks about where cars will be tomorrow. For example: Cars with no wheels, Renewable Energy, Free Content, Full Heads-up Display, and Automated Driving. He goes into a little bit of detail on the topics, and there there are other people who comment on these, so you get more then one persons thoughts on the matter, which i think is cool. The most interesting thing to me was to be honest the whole page. I enjoyed reading people's thoughts on these topics. I agree and disagree with some of the things mentioned on here. I don't know really know of any questions but one "Where will the car be heading to?" I think that is everyone questions though.



b)When will the broadband Internet speed/download speed offering reach 1 GBPS
When looking up research on when will the broadband Internet speed/download speed be offing 1 GBPS, I found a site that talks about our Internet speed vs other countries Internet speed. the site is: http://www.physorg.com/news170447728.html. The site is about how we are ranked 28th in Internet connection speed. Where as other countries are already having faster connection speed. It also talks about how were are falling further behind these countries and it does not look like we are gonna get a faster connection soon. I found the site to be very interesting and very much fact fully on where we stand with other countries on connection speed. I do agree with the site, but I also disagree because I do think that we will get there on connection speed. I don't know how long it will be, but I believe that we will get there. Now with that being said when we get there will these other countries already have another higher connection speed the answer is more then likely.

c) Will Mac take control of the software from Microsoft.
When looking up research on when will Mac ever take over Microsoft I found a interesting site which is: http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=788398&page=2. On this Forum it lets different people with different thoughts discuss where Mac and Microsoft are heading. Most of the people on here are discussing the pros and cons of each company. Mac has these but Microsoft's doesn't or Microsoft has these but Mac doesn't. I think these site has some good information about what the two have done and where the two may go with there past. I would have to say that I agree with these site I didn't see anything that I disagree with.

2)My topic is "Green energy" technologies and I am going to branch out and pick 10 triz and apply them to Green energy technologies.
*Branching out: Energy efficient means for example light bulbs.

• illumination of dark
• programmable color (mood detection, example if I am sad the light is blue)
• programmable direction
• can display information
• heat less bulb

* Triz Topics

• Segmentation: Lights, Applications, installation
• Taking out: remove the heat, but keep the light
• Local Quality: make it where there is a dimmer and directionality
• Assymetry: 3-way lighting---- 1 click turns on 2 lights, 2 clicks turns on 3 lights then 3 clicks turns on all 5
• Universality: Lights can light up a room and not heat a room
• Preliminary action: while making energy efficient bulbs make them smaller at the same time
• Continuity of useful action: have the lights have a sensor on them so they can detect when someone is in the room or not( will eliminate people not Turing off lights when they are done)
• Color changes: Lights change to your mood........Blue for sad, yellow for happy, etc.
• Turn Lemons into Lemonade: make a recyclable light bulb
• The other way round: have the light bulb click in instead of screw

Tara

Assignment Five

After looking at intrade.com I have found 10 predictions that I want to invest in. Here is a list of the topics, if I think it is high or low, the price of each contract, and the total amount that I wanted to invest in that contact.

1) US unemployment rate in Dec 2009 to be greater then 10%, Lower, $6.90 per contract, I will invest a total amount of $138.00 which is 20 contracts.

2)Average global temperature for 2009 to be among five warmest years on record. Higher, $5.50 per contract, I will invest a total amount of $110.00 which is 20 contracts

3)Pearson to be charged with manslaugther, homicide or other unlawful killing of Michael Jackson. I feel the same, $7.50 per contract, I will invest a total amount of $150.00 which is 20 contracts

4) A federal government run health insurance plan to be approved before midnight Dec. 31, 2009. I agree with the percentage, $2.90 per contract, I will invest in a total number of $42.00 which is 20 contracts.

5) Verizon to announce it will begin selling the Apple IPhone before midnight Dec. 31,2009. Lower, $1.50per contract, I will invest in a total number of $30.00 which is 20 contracts

6) Google market share to be 75% or more by Dec 2009. Lower, $7.00per contract, I will invest in a total number of $140.00which is 20 contracts

7) Congress to pass a new economic stimulus plan before midnight Mar 21, 2010. lower , $1.50per contract, I will invest in a total number of $30.00 which is 20 contracts

8) A 30 year fixed mortgage rate to be 5.75% or higher on Dec. 31, 2009. Lower , $2.50per contract, I will invest in a total number of $50.00 which is 20 contracts

9) Venue in North America to host the 2016 summer Olympics. Lower , $5.20 per contract, I will invest in a total number of $104.00 which is 20 contracts

10) An assault weapon ban to be reinstated before midnight on Dec 31, 2009. Lower, $1.50per contract, I will invest in a total number of $30.00 which is 20 contracts

I have invested in a total of 200 contracts which gives me a total amount of $824.00 spent. I now have $176.00 left over.

Tara

Homework Four

After looking at my question which was "How long before we are energy efficient?" I am now thinking that yes my question is a little ambiguity. I think that I should have worded it as "How long before we(U.S.) are more energy efficient in our homes". I think that people could interpreter my question many different ways. I mean they could ask what do you mean energy efficient. Do you mean by light or by other items. Yes, I would reword my question to How long before the U.S. is more energy efficient in our homes with the lighting part?

I am going to keep my question are a part of my term project, and am going to continue working on the information that is needed. My next step would be to obtain more or information. Other then that I am not to sure what I am suppose to be doing after that.

Tara

Homework Three

1* "How long till we (U.S.) are more energy efficient in our homes and offices?" was the question I asked in class on Wednesday. We used the Delphi method to discuss how long it would take before this would happen. Before the discussing was done we took a pole and hear is the results: 50,55,60,60,100,200,200-250,infinity,infinity,infinity, don't know. So when finding the median range of this set of numbers it would be 200 years before we would be more energy efficient. Then there was a pole taken after the discussion which were: 60,60,65,100,100,100,100,110-150,150,200-250,infinity. So then taking the median range would now be 100 years before we become more energy efficient.


2* According to the internet and Wikipedia "The Delphi method is a systematic, interactive forecasting method which relies on a panel of independent experts. The carefully selected experts answer questionnaires in two or more rounds. After each round, a facilitator provides an anonymous summary of the experts’ forecasts from the previous round as well as the reasons they provided for their judgments. Thus, experts are encouraged to revise their earlier answers in light of the replies of other members of their panel. It is believed that during this process the range of the answers will decrease and the group will converge towards the "correct" answer. Finally, the process is stopped after a pre-defined stop criterion and the mean or median scores of the final rounds determine the results."
(stated at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delphi_method)
The only difference between the two is that my teachers was more easier to read and understand because he broke it up in parts. Other then that they pretty much say the same things.


3* Some of the weakness that we saw in class was that your questions has be to be blunt and to the point otherwise it is very difficult to get a accurate guess of how long something will take to get here or happen. How can you fix this maybe making sure that when doing the Delphi Method that you have an example of both to show how hard it can be. Other then that I don't know of another way to fix it. I can see a risk of an agreement when discussing the questions because I could see it rising when we had class. How to fix this I am not sure that you can fix this besides making sure it don't get out of hand.

Tara

Homework Two

My topic that I am going to use to evaluate is the difference between incandescent vs fluorescent light bulbs, and which direction they are headed in. Right now most of everyone has incandescent light bulbs in there house with at least one or two fluorescent which are normally in the kitchen. According to the Energy Star website they state that "compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL) will save about $30 over its lifetime and pay for itself in about 6 months. It uses 75 percent less energy and lasts about 10 times longer than an incandescent bulb." These will also save on your energy bills. In my opinion I am going to have to agree with all the research that I have seen. I do believe that in a couple of years then we will have all fluorescent light bulbs and we will not be able to find the incandescent light bulb. With that being said I do believe that it will cut down on the energy usage and cut down our energy bills. The next question to ask is "How long will fluorescent's last until LED lights become to take over and be more energy efficient?" I believe that LED light is to come in the future, and then there will be something that will be better and safer as time comes.

Here are a couple of sites that I researched:
http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=cfls.pr_cfls
http://wattwatchers.org/Assets/kisp/incanvscfl.pdf
http://wattwatchers.org/Assets/kisp/incanvscfl.pdf

Tara Wilbanks