As Technology Advances

Photo Source: About.com

In the future technology like fuel cells, wind turbines and smart grids will make our economy more sustainable.  Critics say green technology currently on the market is not efficient enough and too costly to pursue advancement and implementation.  To understand the potential of future technology, let’s take a brief look at some milestones from our past.

The Osborne 1 computer pictured above is considered by many historians to be the first laptop computer.  Released in 1981 the computer weighed 24 pounds and cost a staggering $1795.  Although the Osborne 1 was the first microcomputer to come with application software, the 65 kilobytes of memory and lack of disk space for practical business applications eventually doomed the computer.  However, the Osborne 1 proved that the technology was viable and led a small upstart company called Microsoft into the portable computer market.

Another beauty from our past is the IBM Simon.  This mobile phone was the first to include a built-in PDA.  The 20-ounce Simon was full of unnecessary accessories like a digital touch screen, pager, calculator, address book and calendar.  This $900 brick helped spawn the PDA revolution that gives us the Blackberry and iPhone of today.

So remember as leaner, greener technology like a Canadian cellulosic ethanol pump, hydrogen city cars or a rooftop wind turbine available at ACE Hardware is unveiled in the market today, it’s not the cost nor impact of the these items, but the potential their successors will bring in the future that’s important.