1945: First atomic bomb exploded near Alamogordo, New Mexico 

Whenever these kinds of anniversaries come up, I always find myself thinking about the genie that we have let loose upon the world. Today is the 63rd anniversary of the day the United States tested the first atomic bomb in 1945 near Alamogordo, New Mexico. The following month we dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, leading to the end of World War II.

People still debate that action. Should we have bombed a deserted island within view of the Japanese High Command instead? Was it necessary to bomb two cities in Japan instead of just one? I can’t get into these debates, because I wasn’t there as a part of the decision making process. I wasn’t there when we were at war.

But now it seems as if the genie has turned against us. Our government won’t come right out and say it, but I believe their biggest fear is that one of the “unfriendly” nations out there is going to get their hands on a bomb and detonate it within the U.S. That’s why we resort to saber rattling, economic sanctions, and other activities to deter anyone else from getting the bomb.

You have to wonder - will future historians talk about us as the first country to use an atomic weapon on another country, and also the last country to have a nuclear weapon used on it?

I don’t get very excited about software apps, so when something really special comes along, I want to share it with everyone. Note: I am *NOT* getting paid or compensated in any way, nor do I gain any additional benefit by posting this.

If you are like me, you are constantly coming up with things you wish you could store and easily retrieve. Things like ideas that I try to remember to jot down in my paper notebook, items I find on the web, photographs, whatever. I’ve tried at least three different “notebook” type applications on my computer, and none of them have really done the job. I always forget to keep my paper notebook handy. The problem is, I am not always sitting in front of my computer when these things that I want to remember come about.

The first cool thing about Evermind is that it is an Internet application. You download the basic program to your computer, PC or Mac, on as many computers as you like. Then whatever information you enter is uploaded to Evermind’s server, and it is all synchronized.

Next cool thing is - the basic service is free of charge! If you decide that you are really going to use this tool seriously and want to save a lot of data, their premium service only costs $5 a month or $45 per year.

Next cool thing - all of this information is indexed and searchable! You can create multiple notebooks. So let’s say you are writing a book. You can create one notebook that contains everything you want to save about your book. Character names, dialogue, even snapshots of people you want to model your characters after. You can upload this using your iPhone (I think other smartphones work too, but I haven’t worked on that aspect yet) and it will be waiting for you when you get back to your home office.

Let’s say you are at a friend’s house, or an internet cafe, and this amazing idea strikes you. You can use any computer on the internet to access your information, even without the basic program installed! This is simply a really great application and I am all signed up. 

Check it out here:  http://www.evernote.com

Be sure to watch their demo video. There are still some features I am trying to figure out, but what I have figured out already makes this a killer app!

I’m a photo nut and actually do some freelance photography on the side. So I keep up with the latest news in photography. My camera offers 10 megapixal images, which is considered enough to enlarge a photograph to billboard sizes and is used by professional photographers. Canon recently came out with a new model of the Rebel that offers 12 MP. I personally don’t think there is much of a difference between 10 and 12 MP.

But now I have read about a new camera from Denmark called the Phase One A/S P 65+ digital back camera system. This baby offers a whopping 36, yes 36! megapixal resolution. For a moment my heart sank, because I just dropped a good amount of money on a new Nikon D80 digital SLR camera. I figured this camera would last for several years, maybe even the rest of my life. When I heard about a 36MP camera and compared it to my measly 10MP camera, I thought maybe I bought too soon. But I’m okay - it turns out that this new camera STARTS at $39,900. Yes, almost $40 thousand dollars for a camera. That doesn’t even include a lens! I don’t think I will be buying one any time soon.

photo credit: neys

Sometimes my local paper will run a large photo, along with a brief caption. They leave off the important stuff like the actual details of the story.

Today they ran a picture from the L.A. Times with the caption:

“A Los Angeles municipal worker empties a bale of plastic balls Monday into the Invanhoe reservoir in Los Angeles. The Department of Water and Power released about 400,000 black plastic 4-inch balls as the first installment of about 3 million balls, which are expected to form a floating cover over seven acres of the reservoir. The idea is to protect drinking water from sunlight, which can fuel the formation of harmful substances.”

Of course, the photo shows a guy dumping large black plastic balls into the reservoir as they form a small island downstream. My point? I don’t get it! Our drinking supply has been exposed to sunlight for billions of years. Why is it suddenly causing “the formation of harmful substances?” What harmful substances? Now, I’m pretty sure if I went and dumped 400,000 black plastic balls into the nearest river, there would be hell to pay. Plastic breaks down under UV radiation, and we all know that decomposing plastic is not part of our normal daily requirements of vitamins, minerals, and trace elements. What gives?

David Pogue posted on the New York Times blog about a new digital pen from LightScribe called the “Pulse SmartPen”.  It comes in a pen-shaped anodized aluminum barrel and includes a camera (does everything have to have a built-in camera?), microphone and audio. It also has a bright but tiny black-and-white screen that displays messages, menu commands and even little animations. It includes a non-removable, rechargeable battery (6 to 7 hours a charge), a headphone jack and contacts for a U.S.B. charging cradle. Read the rest of David’s post here.

Now, I love gadgets as much as the next techy-nerd guy, but this one doesn’t have much appeal for me. It reminds me of the old story about how the U.S. spent millions of dollars during the space race to develop ink technology that could write at any angle, for use in space. The Soviets response was that they already had one, it was called a pencil.

Now, how do I get on the list to receive cool electronic toys so I can write my own reviews? <grin>