Technology today (Post 10)

Technology is a big part of peoples lives today. The latest United States census shows that eighty one point four percent of Americans live with a computer in the home, a huge feat considering the fact that a personal computer useful to the normal person has only come out in the last twenty to thirty years. People use computers everywhere nowadays, and computers have also used computers to improve older technologies.

One way we use technology is in how we go about our daily lives; We surf the web, buy things online, talk to one another, and for a lot of people nowadays, their job is entirely computer based. Using computer technology, one never needs to leave the safety of one's home. This was all made possible using the internet and computers. Sure, catalogs existed before the advent of the internet, but nothing offered the seer amount of different things you have access to online nowadays. This is a drastic change from he 60's and 70's movement to commute for everything you need to live; We have moved from where you need to leave the house and travel, to where you never need to leave your own home.

One way computer technology is improving upon already established tech is in the automobile. Computers have made their way into cars, controlling some safety functions and keeping track of the overall condition of the car. Some of the safety functions include Anti- lock braking and the air bags. As far as keeping track of car condition, this means that it displays the “check engine” light when needed, and can interface with a device to give the specifics on what is wrong with the engine. This is all fairly kept away from the general immediate concern of the driver; if someone had never heard of a computer in a car, they would probably never know there was one. Google has been developing, with recent success, a fully autonomous, self- driving car. This car uses a combination of radar, cameras, Google maps technology, and laser range finders to see where they are on the road, along with other traffic. The car has already been field tested and has logged over 140,000 miles. This is a very impressive feat, as such a complex task has never been done before using a fully autonomous machine. It can be easily seen where this technology will make its way into the normal lives of people everywhere.

Unites States of America. Department of Commerce. Census Bureau. In the United States: 2010. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Oct. 2012. <http://www.census.gov/hhes/computer/files/2010/table3B.xls>.

Official Google Blog: What We’re Driving at." Official Google Blog: What We’re Driving at. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Oct. 2012. <http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/what-were-driving-at.html>.