By OSITA OMESIETE
sac-ranger@alamo.edu
This digital age is rapidly moving toward flash memory.
Microsoft co-founder William “Bill” Gates has said he expects DVDs and Blu-rays to become obsolete within the next 10 years, according to a Jan. 11 article on Techtron, a technology blogging website.
In an Oct. 26 article from Time Tech, Time magazine’s technology website, Philip Schiller, senior vice president of world marketing at Apple, said, “Old technologies are holding us back,” in reference to why optical drives are removed from the next generations of Mac computers.
Fun with Physics Friday has a use for them. Fun with Physics Friday provides weekly activities for students that can consist of anything from dismantling lawnmowers to building homemade lava lamps.
The activities take place 1:30 p.m. every Friday in the MESA Center in Room 204 of Chance Academic Center.
All students are welcome to participate. Fun with Physics Friday is collecting reflective discs for their latest project.
The goal is to collect 700 discs to attach to a 10-foot satellite dish to reflect the sun’s rays to generate heat at its focus point. Astronomy Professor Alfred Alaniz compared the phenomenon to sunrays hitting a magnifying glass, then creating heat.
This is only the beginning, Alaniz said.
“If we accomplish this, we can do many other things like purify water, add more power to solar panels and burn tortillas,” he said jokingly.
Thirteen white collection boxes have been placed in departments around the college. As long as the discs are still reflective they can be used, he said.
For more information, call Alaniz at 210-486-0060.
