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For the innovator in us all that would see a healthier and happier world! Together, we can make everything easier for everyone.
Cloud, Servers, Software Development, 'as a service'
Software development has evolved from siloed developers to pipelined processes, distributed computing and modular programming, then to the current API gateway, container (Docker and Kubernetes), microservices and SOA, edge computing, embedded systems, and ‘as a service’ paradigm. DevOps, the whole shebang! It is team-centric planning to untangle complexity from the outset or preclude forseeable problems. Starting with infrastructure architecture, to coding, building, dockers and containers, SREng and deploying, managing, and maintenance to the final working software. Successful software development (succeed on service level targets): articulation of service level objectives/indicators and error budgets or acceptable errors. There is a burgeoning market for companies that codify or automate the development process. The current leaders include GitLab, Agile Management, and Atlassian. DevOps addresses the question “How do we solve this problem?”. SRE addresses the question “How do we deploy, maintain, and run to solve this problem?”.
The cloud: cybersecurity, data centers and their location and distribution, cloud storage, virtual desktops, IAAS, PAAS, SAAS, DBAAS, NAAS, online collaboration and meeting, Web 3.0, wireless, data streaming, and the AI cloud. More than half of businesses operate an on-premises server infrastructure. With continued construction of monolithic data centers and cloud provider competition, economical and accelerated deployment occurs mostly in hybrid cloud architectures which can be consumed largely as ‘as a service’ product.
Computer Hardware: highbandwith memory and buses, sensors, data processing units, graphics processing unit, arithmetic logic unit, CPU, and the motherboard. Will the smartphone overtake the personal computer or will a hybrid technology emerge? A monitor and input devices are the only requisites for virtual desktops in the cloud.
Sustainable Energy
In no particular order.
1. Solar farms are transforming deserts. The desert, however, is unhospitable and remote work is the most improbable. We need caretakers of the solar power generators. 2. Water batteries are putting forth an undeniable case. 3. Geothermal sounds easy but I am unfamiliar with geology and cannot comment otherwise. 4. Wind power has a major flaw. 5. Hydrogen is rippling through the news as is 6. high-energy density significant in green energy storage and EVs, hybrids and their ilk. 7. Will data centers consume more energy than the construction and manufacturing industries? Most writers on the internet say no. 8. Waste-to-energy sounds like a clear winner making two friends with one gift. We need a real solution. New and safer fission reactors are under or are planned for construction. ITER start is scheduled for 2025 with US National Ignition Facility achieving ignition “over and over”. Sustainable energy is the single most urgent technological leap anticipated by current society.
Batteries and Farms
When Michael Jordan's advertisement for renewable batteries aired. I should have paid very close attention to a person who not only made good choices playing a sporting game, but also in many other business enterprises.
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Batteries can power happiness. For moments in the day, when the world surrounds us, some escape to their phones or metaverse. Many of these havens require batteries. Electronics which used to be plugged into wall sockets have become rechargeable with the arrival of lithium-ion. Batteries have life sustaining purposes as well in hospitals, during natural catastrophes, and in remote locations lacking high voltage lines. Until solar can sustain our electronics beyond TI solar calculators, we need batteries and their dependent industries, particularly the recycling industry.
Robotics
The long awaited driverless taxis or potentially, a world without car ownership are still science fiction, but robotics is ubiquitous. Our dependence on robotics have its roots in automated manufacturing of cars, electronics, and even cutting and sewing. Automation now extends to making deliveries and serving food, as well. The ideal is to integrate robotics into the economy for all tasks that are hard to mentally accept doing for a human. I bused tables, washed dishes, and greeted customers at restaurants and grocery stores. Robots pose a tenable threat to the jobs of laborers. All executives assure that there will not be a loss of jobs but its redefinition. The accepted motivation for the investment in robotics is human liberation from difficult work. With LLMs or even SLMs, artificially intelligent tutors will change education and the personal assistant industry within the next year for early adopters. It is the psychological fatiguing mission of economist to charter a course to a new paradigm thereby averting the catastrophe of which some remain vigilant.