SOMETIMES, we go full circle.
If you see old movies from the 1940s, you will see that most planes didn’t have windows since they transported only goods, but not passengers.
Obviously, they started putting them because of the passengers – it makes the flying experience much better to see the view, and of course, can also help people not feel claustrophobic.
Putting in windows takes a lot more work. If you don’t include them, it will improve the plane’s integrity and strengt (the window is almost always the weakest link, and the source of pressure drops), make it stronger and lighter, and save on fuel costs.
In the future, airplanes may go windowless again, and it is being built in some new planes recently. The Boeing 777 for Emirates airline is now being done without windows. It will use cameras and big screens to show the views of clouds and the scenery below. It can show it clearly, and in bigger screens.
The other thing that is almost always obvious and has been with us for over a hundred years is that we need to drive a car. But maybe not for long.
Recent technologies have allowed us to dabble in cars that drive themselves – and it may come sooner than you think. There have been numerous tests worldwide, but the Japanese government has set a deadline for itself – come Summer Olympics 2020 in Tokyo, and it is possible that you will be able to visit there, and experience driverless cars and taxis.
As new things come, some of the older things have to go. Yahoo! was considered one of the pioneers of the internet and a poster child of new tech. There was a time when almost everybody used its search, email, and chat group. On one of our forums over 15 years ago, we asked for email addresses, and practically more than 80 percent used Yahoo.
Maybe not anymore. Recently, Yahoo! announced that it was closing Yahoo Messenger on July 2018. This was definitely one of the most popular and innovative services at the turn of the century. They did not announce any replacement, only that they are developing a new app, Squirrel, which may take its place.
Also this week, IBM unveiled Summit together with the US Department of Energy. This supercomputer can purportedly perform 200,000 trillion calculations per second, which is double the speed of Sunway Taihu, a Chinese supercomputer that holds the crown of the world’s fastest computer. So for now, the distinction is now back to the US after being held for many years by China.