This year it’s Climate Change.

So what will I focus on?

Well, it’s a broad topic ranging from greenhouse gas emissions, to pollution, to melting ice caps, to alternative fuel sources.

I think it would be best to present some of my opinions on how to tackle Climate Change.

But put aside whether or not we humans are causing Global Warming, even if we aren’t, take it as a sign that we need to change our habits of gas-guzzling vehicles, atmosphere-destroying factories, and ecosystem-devastating deforestation.

The biggest solution I think is just to raise awareness. Climate Change has gotten a lot of attention recently, and I’ve noticed in particular, a lot of awareness throughout the younger population. President Barack Obama already has placed a lot of attention on the issue.

If people know about how their daily actions are impacting the world, they’ll change.

For Non-Sibi (not for one’s self) Day, one group went through a week’s worth of trash at the school and discovered all that could have been recycled just thrown away. Our dorm did something similar; Retrieving water bottles, paper, cans, etc, from the trash.

Recycling plastics reduce the carbon dioxide spewed into the atmosphere to create new plastics. It would allow us to make completely new bottles, or even clothing out of these.

You hear about all the “carbon capping”, “carbon trade systems”, etc. but I think rather that focusing so much on limiting our emissions, we should focus on the roots: how we get our energy.

Although I approve strongly of wind turbines, solar panels, hydroelectric dams, etc, I’d like to point your attention to nuclear power.

Nuclear power has received a lot of bad attention. An accident like Chernobyl changed people’s view of nuclear power drastically. Nuclear bombs don’t help that image either.  But in Europe, nuclear power plants are sprouting up everywhere, yet here in the US, we still don’t like the idea. About 14% of the world’s energy comes from nuclear power, which produces virtually no emissions.

But lets face it. The Chernobyl disaster occurred in 1986. It’s 2009 now. It occurred because of one major thing: human error. The operators of the nuclear plant violated operating procedures and this caused the reaction to go out of control. Now, with sophisticated technology, this can’t happen again. Sensors would detect something wrong, with several levels of redundant protection, and would immediately stop the reaction. There, no Chernobyl.

Also, people worry about a nuclear power plant just blowing up like a huge atomic bomb, but this can’t happen.

So just to wrap it up. We have one Earth, and if we destroy it, we’ll have no place to live. (yes, you can argue about terraforming, but leave that behind you) We ALL need to take action to prevent the devastating effects of climate change. And you don’t have to do much. Start with simple things like switching conventional lightbulbs for fluorescent ones, recycling, and turning off your electronics when you don’t need them. These may seem small, but when multiplied across the amount of people around the world, it makes huge difference.

Happy Blog Action Day!

If you are interested, the promo video for Blog Action Day 2009:

More info:

http://www.world-nuclear.org/

http://www.phyast.pitt.edu/~blc/book/BOOK.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power

I just wanted to wish all the ReflectionUpon Blog Readers a Happy Chinese New Year (even if you aren’t Chinese) and for a joyful and prosperous 2009. It is also known as the Spring Festival (春节) or the Lunar New Year (since it corresponds with the Lunar Calendar).

By the way, it is the year of the Ox, which means that if you are born in this year (which are aren’t since you are reading this), you have the zodiac symbol of an ox and supposedly you are likely to have certain characteristics (see this page on Wikipedia). The Chinese cycle of animals repeats every 12 years, so if you were born twelve years ago, you also have the ox for a zodiac symbol.

In China, this is a huge celebration with fireworks, parties, performances (such as the dragon dance), and food (such as dumplings). There is also a tradition for the kids to receive a red envelope from the adults with money in then.

Some more info on Chinese New Year is available on Yahoo! (see here) and on Wikipedia (see here).

Image from mtholyoke.edu (link)

Palm Pre

The biggest (in my opinion and CNET’s, is the Palm Pre. This iPhone competitor is a touchscreen phone with a slide out QWERTY keyboard and a cool new Palm OS called WebOS. This OS is filled with cool animations, gestures (multi-touch ones), and seems to be very intuitive. Now, I bet you are thinking along the line of: Doesn’t the iPhone have that already? True, but this Palm does have the ability for you to multitask and it has an actual keyboard (the jelly button kind like the one on a Palm Centro). In addition, it does have copy and paste. Multitasking (not just being able to play music in the background like the iPhone) works by having multiple “cards” on your main screen which you can flick back and forth from. And these aren’t just static views, they are live mini-views of the open apps and you can interact with them too.

Other tidbits: the web browser is also very good (comparable to the iPhone’s), the Pre comes with a 3 MP camera, and you can download music through the Amazon Music Store (similar to the G1). There is also GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, a 3.5mm headphone jack (yay!), and 8 GB of internal storage.

No details yet on pricing or release date. But it is supposed to be around the iPhone’s price and released in the first half of 2009. The Pre will be available on Sprint.

Palm Pre Video:

More info:

Palm Pre First Impressions on CNET

Palm Pre Photo Gallery on CNET

Official Palm Pre website

Palm Pre Info on Engadget

The Sony P-Series Lifestyle PC

This not quite netbook like netbook is going along with Sony’s general premium higher end feel for laptops. It has a wide 8 inch screen with a 1600*768 resolution, is less than an inch think, and weights 1.4 pounds. But it has no touchpad, instead, it has a pointing stick. It also has 3G mobile broadband (Verizon), 802.11n wi-fi, GPS, and Bluetooth. The P-Series runs Windows Vista and will retail at $900.

CNET article on the Sony P-Series Lifestyle PC

Engadget Hands-on videos of the Sony P-Series Lifestyle PC

LG Watch Phone

This futuristic watch is also a touchscreen phone. It uses iPhone like gestures to navigate through the TFT capacitive touch screen (1.43 inches diagonally). It looks quite cool though I question its usability as a phone. You would probably need a Bluetooth headset to talk calls since your other option is to take phones with speakerphone. There is also a camera built-in. But the main issue is that you can’t get it (no plans, yet), not unless you are in Europe. The LG Watch phone is scheduled for release later this year and pricing has not yet been released.

Hands-on video of the LG Watch Phone

A CNET article on the LG Watch Phone

So that is basically it for what I though was cool at CES. For more info about it, check out the CES Page at CNET (here) and the articles on CES at Engadget (here). Want to mention another gadget that was at CES that I didn’t mention? Tell the readers in the comments!

Images from CNET and Engadget.

I have a video below of the event. As I said, I interviewed a developer of the Scratch site, which allows users to post up their project for others to use and comment on. The video also interviews some kids who have been using Scratch.

The whole experience was very enjoyable and for those of you who have not tried Scratch yet, I would highly recommend for you to check it out.

Go to the Scratch Website at: http://scratch.mit.edu/

The HP Touchsmart PC IQ1770 is my favorite computer of CES. It’s similar to Apple iMac (in that it is an all in one) but with a touchscreen monitor. It will be released at the same time as Windows Vista and will cost $1,779. It has a touch activated addition called SmartCenter. It has a calendar, a photo editing application, and a basic weather feed. Included with the calendar is a Post-it(r) styled note application to leave notes (or voice notes) for other members of your family.Otherwise, the TouchSmart PC works very much like a typical modern PC. It includes all of the amenities of a system in its price range, including a slot-loading, LightScribe-capable DVD burner (standard definition), an 8-in-1 media card reader, integrated 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, a TV tuner, a Webcam and a microphone on the top edge of the LCD, as well as the usual assortment of video and audio connections.

In MP3s is the Sansa Connect. It has the long awatied feature of wireless downloading and internet radio (Hmm, I guess Starbuck’s wi-fi can come in handy sometimes).The player comes with 4GB of flash memory and offers an SD card slot to add more. The body is sleek and compact, measuring in at 2.05×3.58×0.63 inches, and the bright color screen is ample at 2.2 inches (diagonal). The Connect is due in March and will sport a $249.99 price tag.

In Home Theater is the the LG BH100 and the Phillps Soundbar. The LG BH100 is the previously impossible player. It is the ONE that can play HD-DVD and Blu-ray. The player can deliver up to 1080p output resolution at 24 and 30 frames per second via HDMI, but future-conscious buyers might lament that the HDMI version is just 1.2, not 1.3. The LG also has Blu-ray Java compatibility. All of the standard A/V outputs are present, including 5.1-channel analog audio outputs. Of cource it will still be able to play our traditional DVDs and CDs.

The Phillps Soundbar HTS8100 is a 1.1 virtual surround speaker (one speaker and a subwoofer). But what is different is that it has a built in DVD player (sorry no blu-ray or HD-DVD). It is about 5 inches thick and uses Phillips Ambisound technology. The price tag might scare you though at 1,000 dollars. There is an alternative: the Phillips HTS6600 which is a 2.1 virtual surround and will cost $599. Both will be availible in the second quarter on 2007.

I’ll continue on later, so check back often!