CNN has been airing a documentary about North Korea. As the hour-long program shows, dissidents are smuggling in digital cameras and recording the public executions of political activists, as well as glimpses of the country's famine and poverty. They are also using cell phones, which only work near the Chinese border, to speak with outside reporters. They are defying the isolationism imposed by Kim Jong Il's regime.
With new technological wonders every month, it is easy to get caught up in Apple's newest iPod or Microsoft's new Xbox 360 or the next Motorola RAZR. These fun gadgets, which I myself have been known to tout, make life easier and more enjoyable. It is more difficult to remember transformative technologies that do more than provide entertainment--they change lives.
All technologies are tools. The CNN documentary was a powerful reminder of what those tools can accomplish.
Related Stories: | Topics:Technology, technology + computers, Cable News Network LP LLLP, North Korea, Apple Inc., Microsoft Corporation, Kim Jong-il |
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Recent Comments | 4 Total
November 24, 2005 at 3:42pm by Claude Gelinas
Isn't technology innovation supposed to be THE main driving force behind our future economy?
In my view, it's clear leading edge research will help us reinvent just about everything we view as "it" today.
Think about optics (lasers, photonics), nanotech (including the health applications), new materials, alternative energy sources and mix all that with an ever more sophisticated social web.
In 2010, we'll be busy reinventing everything around us, from microwaves, to cars and even the way we define our "social ecosystem"! And we'll be loving it.
Hang on! This "hi-tech" ride is only gaining speed ; )
November 27, 2005 at 11:26am by mahendrakumardash
Tools can reach any where anytime.And the advancement made makes the world narrower.
Any effort made to distance one will rather
make him nearer.
ekadasia@yahoo.groups.uk
November 27, 2005 at 2:55pm by olivier blanchard
Imagine the world without high speed internet. Without blogs. (Soon, without RSS.) Without cell phones. Without text messaging. Without DVDs. Without digital cameras. Without mp3 players. Without camelbacks.
Check this out.
December 4, 2005 at 11:07am by Xrew
In our time, this technologies helps millions people in the world. Its improves our lives, made it easy. Thanking digital technologies peoples feelings that they not alone.