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Things are getting so good, so fast! And so cheap!
(See also my further comments below.)
Over 250 free courses in the liberal arts and sciences.
Download to your computer or mp3 player.
Economics
American Economic History iTunes Feed Stream J. Bradford Delong, UC Berkeley
Economic Geography of the Industrial World iTunes Feed MP3s Richard Walker, UC Berkeley.
Financial Markets YouTube iTunes Download Course Robert Shiller, Yale
Game Theory YouTube iTunes Download Course Ben Polak, Yale
Macroeconomic Analysis iTunes - Feed Steven Wood, UC Berkeley
Microeconomic Analysis iTunes Feed Gordon Rausser, UC Berkeley
Money and Banking Feed MP3s Dean Balm, UCLA
Reading Marxs Capital Google Video David Harvey, City University of New York
Economic Geography of the Industrial World iTunes Richard Walker, UC Berkeley
Geography of US Presidential Elections iTunes YouTube Martin Lewis, Stanford
Geography of World Cultures - iTunes Martin Lewis, Stanford University
Global Geopolitics iTunes Martin Lewis, Stanford University
Globalization iTunes Feed MP3s Robert Acker, UC Berkeley
Natural Resources and Population iTunes Feed Nathan Sayre, UC Berkeley
World Regions, People and States iTunes Feed Nathan Sayre, UC Berkeley
Foreign Languages To start learning 37 foreign languages, please see our extensive collection of Foreign Language Lessons. Geography
http://www.openculture.com/freeonlinecourses
In keeping with my general theme over the last five years, I am much more interested in how to get things I want and need at much lower cost and reduce future expenses than in trying to make more money...
Higher education used to be like TED lectures: You pay $8,000 for a ticket and you can get into the room to hear the lecture.
(Fantastic lectures, many now with subtitles in multiple foreign languages. http://www.ted.com/
For example, start with
http://www.ted.com/talks/hans_roslin...ever_seen.html )
About 2005, the TED lectures went online for free. The same thing is happening with college courses.
I have had an iPod Touch (iPhone has similar capabilities; other iPods and computers cannot run apps, I think.) for a couple of months now, and I was using it as, well, an iPod. That is because I did not understand:
1. What apps are
2. That many are free or very modest cost of $1 to $20
I almost shelled out $600 for a couple of Japanese-English electronic dictionaries because my old ones were so antiquated. Then, just by poking around, I found that there was an app that did exactly what I wanted... and it was free! Called "Kotoba", it is based on well known dictionary. Less junk in my briefcase. Perfect.
So, in effect, right off the bat, the iPod Touch was free... actually better than free.
The iPod Touch has a button that plays podcasts and audiobooks at double speed. It is amazing that I can cram in an hour of an economics lecture in my half-hour train ride to the office. I have managed to go through 10 hours of astronomy podcasts in 5 hours using the double speed while just doing normal chores, cooking, etc., on a Saturday.
This is why if one were to get an iPad, it could turn out to be essentially free, depending on your needs.
Again, you need to poke around in the apps yourself because no one else can find what will be useful to you. Even if you do not have an iPhone or iPod Touch, you can poke around in the apps in iTunes. Apps will not work on a computer, but you can at least see if there are any you might be interested in.
I used to read in the late 90s about international long distance falling from say $1 a minute to 5 cents... It didn't seem possible. Skype worldwide lets me call essentially unlimited to Europe, North America, and much of Asia for a flat $150 a year. I put the Skype app on my iPod Touch, and with a WiFi connection, can just call worldwide (and receive calls for free from a US domestic number to anywhere with WiFi even in other countries). My cell phone bill has gone waaay down.
I used an electricity meter (very useful, about $20) to measure the electricity used by my MacBook. About 20 watts per hour for normal continuous use (no video). The PCs in the office use 100 watts per hour. My old computer up to 2004 used 200 watts per hour, mostly for that hulking CRT.
So, in a span of about 5 years, I went from 200 watts to 100 watts to 20 watts, and if I understand correctly, the iPad runs at under 10 watts.
This is a perfect example of what I mean that I am not talking about sitting in the cold and the dark. I am saying we can get the same thing for much lower energy demand and much lower cost, like 90% less... and have the same standard of services... and that it essentially does not cost anything in the long run when you consider cost of device plus energy use over the service life of the device. (Although there is that pesky Jevon's Paradox.)
The LED lighting transition is starting. They are still too expensive and depending on type, give off ugly light, and some burn out due to poor quality. But it is time to buy one and try it because there are a number of issues that will be unfamiliar (like lumens, no ballast, light quality). I bought a 6.9 watt Toshiba LED (not available in the US yet) 6 months ago and have it on about 18 hours a day in the kitchen. Excellent color, indistinguishable from an incandescent.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, instead of Japan reaching grid-parity for photovoltaics in 2020 as forecast just 2 years ago, it has reached grid parity already, due to sharp falls in manufacturing costs.
Gagarin to the Space Shuttle in 20 years.
Not understanding that the Milky Way is a galaxy among billions and that the Universe is expanding, to being able to see to the end of the Universe and the beginning of Time in 30 years.
The Human Genome in 15 years. (See from time index 3:40 http://www.ted.com/talks/ray_kurzwei...nsform_us.html )
So, ask around and poke around. None of these things were available just a few years ago. More than 95% of people I mention these things to have never heard of them. The bugs have been mostly worked out.
As the saying goes: The future is already here... it's just not evenly distributed.
(See also my further comments below.)
Over 250 free courses in the liberal arts and sciences.
Download to your computer or mp3 player.
Economics
American Economic History iTunes Feed Stream J. Bradford Delong, UC Berkeley
Economic Geography of the Industrial World iTunes Feed MP3s Richard Walker, UC Berkeley.
Financial Markets YouTube iTunes Download Course Robert Shiller, Yale
Game Theory YouTube iTunes Download Course Ben Polak, Yale
Macroeconomic Analysis iTunes - Feed Steven Wood, UC Berkeley
Microeconomic Analysis iTunes Feed Gordon Rausser, UC Berkeley
Money and Banking Feed MP3s Dean Balm, UCLA
Reading Marxs Capital Google Video David Harvey, City University of New York
Economic Geography of the Industrial World iTunes Richard Walker, UC Berkeley
Geography of US Presidential Elections iTunes YouTube Martin Lewis, Stanford
Geography of World Cultures - iTunes Martin Lewis, Stanford University
Global Geopolitics iTunes Martin Lewis, Stanford University
Globalization iTunes Feed MP3s Robert Acker, UC Berkeley
Natural Resources and Population iTunes Feed Nathan Sayre, UC Berkeley
World Regions, People and States iTunes Feed Nathan Sayre, UC Berkeley
Foreign Languages To start learning 37 foreign languages, please see our extensive collection of Foreign Language Lessons. Geography
http://www.openculture.com/freeonlinecourses
In keeping with my general theme over the last five years, I am much more interested in how to get things I want and need at much lower cost and reduce future expenses than in trying to make more money...
Higher education used to be like TED lectures: You pay $8,000 for a ticket and you can get into the room to hear the lecture.
(Fantastic lectures, many now with subtitles in multiple foreign languages. http://www.ted.com/
For example, start with
http://www.ted.com/talks/hans_roslin...ever_seen.html )
About 2005, the TED lectures went online for free. The same thing is happening with college courses.
I have had an iPod Touch (iPhone has similar capabilities; other iPods and computers cannot run apps, I think.) for a couple of months now, and I was using it as, well, an iPod. That is because I did not understand:
1. What apps are
2. That many are free or very modest cost of $1 to $20
I almost shelled out $600 for a couple of Japanese-English electronic dictionaries because my old ones were so antiquated. Then, just by poking around, I found that there was an app that did exactly what I wanted... and it was free! Called "Kotoba", it is based on well known dictionary. Less junk in my briefcase. Perfect.
So, in effect, right off the bat, the iPod Touch was free... actually better than free.
The iPod Touch has a button that plays podcasts and audiobooks at double speed. It is amazing that I can cram in an hour of an economics lecture in my half-hour train ride to the office. I have managed to go through 10 hours of astronomy podcasts in 5 hours using the double speed while just doing normal chores, cooking, etc., on a Saturday.
This is why if one were to get an iPad, it could turn out to be essentially free, depending on your needs.
Again, you need to poke around in the apps yourself because no one else can find what will be useful to you. Even if you do not have an iPhone or iPod Touch, you can poke around in the apps in iTunes. Apps will not work on a computer, but you can at least see if there are any you might be interested in.
I used to read in the late 90s about international long distance falling from say $1 a minute to 5 cents... It didn't seem possible. Skype worldwide lets me call essentially unlimited to Europe, North America, and much of Asia for a flat $150 a year. I put the Skype app on my iPod Touch, and with a WiFi connection, can just call worldwide (and receive calls for free from a US domestic number to anywhere with WiFi even in other countries). My cell phone bill has gone waaay down.
I used an electricity meter (very useful, about $20) to measure the electricity used by my MacBook. About 20 watts per hour for normal continuous use (no video). The PCs in the office use 100 watts per hour. My old computer up to 2004 used 200 watts per hour, mostly for that hulking CRT.
So, in a span of about 5 years, I went from 200 watts to 100 watts to 20 watts, and if I understand correctly, the iPad runs at under 10 watts.
This is a perfect example of what I mean that I am not talking about sitting in the cold and the dark. I am saying we can get the same thing for much lower energy demand and much lower cost, like 90% less... and have the same standard of services... and that it essentially does not cost anything in the long run when you consider cost of device plus energy use over the service life of the device. (Although there is that pesky Jevon's Paradox.)
The LED lighting transition is starting. They are still too expensive and depending on type, give off ugly light, and some burn out due to poor quality. But it is time to buy one and try it because there are a number of issues that will be unfamiliar (like lumens, no ballast, light quality). I bought a 6.9 watt Toshiba LED (not available in the US yet) 6 months ago and have it on about 18 hours a day in the kitchen. Excellent color, indistinguishable from an incandescent.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, instead of Japan reaching grid-parity for photovoltaics in 2020 as forecast just 2 years ago, it has reached grid parity already, due to sharp falls in manufacturing costs.
Gagarin to the Space Shuttle in 20 years.
Not understanding that the Milky Way is a galaxy among billions and that the Universe is expanding, to being able to see to the end of the Universe and the beginning of Time in 30 years.
The Human Genome in 15 years. (See from time index 3:40 http://www.ted.com/talks/ray_kurzwei...nsform_us.html )
So, ask around and poke around. None of these things were available just a few years ago. More than 95% of people I mention these things to have never heard of them. The bugs have been mostly worked out.
As the saying goes: The future is already here... it's just not evenly distributed.
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