Start of Engineering Economy Report

I'm working on a report for my Engineering Economy class. It's essentially a summary and synthesis of research done by others. I chose nuclear fusion for my topic. This is what I have so far. The introduction section is by no means complete, but I don't want to write anymore tonight.

"Abstract

Energy from nuclear fusion promises to supply those utilizing it with cheap, clean, and abundant electricity without major harmful waste products, thus beating competitors. Nuclear fusion is not, however, ready for mainstream use; years of research lie ahead.

While affordable green energy is an admirable goal, other economic factors apply to the energy source, and must be considered. This report will summarize and synthesize research that has been conducted regarding the effects of fusion energy from different economic minded angles, taking into account societal, political, and environmental factors, as well as the monetary benefits.

Introduction

Since humans have been around, harnessing the raw power of the sun has been a dream of man. Mankind is not content with solar energy, which grabs only fleeting remnants of the energy of the sun, but instead lusts after the very energy that makes our star burn so bright. Nuclear fusion is the process the sun uses, and it is a method we’ve been working on since the success of the Manhattan Project. Fusion has been shown to work on Earth, both in an uncontrolled sense in so called hydrogen bombs, as well as in a more controlled tokamak reactor. The rub with fusion for energy is that researchers have not been able to engineer a system which creates and sustains a nuclear fusion reaction with less energy than the reaction generates. More research will be required: that point is not up for debate. What needs to be considered is the economic impact that further research will create, and whether or not it is worth continued investment.

Authors Han and Ward discuss the economic impact of nuclear fusion research in their article “Revised assessments of the economics of fusion power.” Their research will be the main focus of this report, being that economics factor heavily into the societal and political effect of energy in general, and fusion specifically."

[End]

What do you think? Let me know in the comments: I'm open to any and all criticism.

Smartwatch rant

Fair warning: I jumbled all of my thoughts here into one mega paragraph.

Android Wear is better software than what we know of running on Apple Watch, but that's not going to matter in the near future. Apple Watch is a far more elegant solution hardware wise, and that's what most people are going to care about. Every existing Android Wear smartwatch makes some sort of design sacrifice, whereas the biggest/only gripe with Apple Watch is that it is square (which I honestly don't think is a problem, and may actually be part of the solution). Android Wear watches are also universally too big, meaning that their appeal to women is extremely negligible. Android Wear watches are also not uniformly customizable in the way that Apple watch is. Sure, you can get some models in different colors, and some offer interchangeable bands, but the former isn't that great of customization, and the latter isn't incredibly user accessible. Apple's solution is elegant; they make tons of different colors and styles of great watch bands, and users can swap them easier than they change phone cases - no tools required. 

Let me know what you think in the comments. 

iOS 8 is what sold Android to me

iOS 8 is what really sold me on Android. And I'm not talking about the bugginess of iOS 8, or some of the debacles with the software launches (iOS 8.0.1). Hear me out:

iOS 8 turned me on to Android because it helped me realize what I've been missing.

Now, Apple fans, hold onto your hats, because I'm not saying that iOS is bad, nor that Android is perfect. For me, Android 5.0 is doing a lot of things right, and is the better ecosystem for me. But that doesn't take away from the Android ecosystem and what it has to offer.

The Apple ecosystem is great. I really appreciate how much the operating system thinks for me, and makes my usage seamlessly good. I originially jumped into the Apple ecosystem because I didn't *want* to think about my phone.

Over my two years of using my iPhone, though, I came to realize that it is something that I would think about no matter what. And as I did think about it, the lack of customization started to bother me. Some of Apple's decisions bothered me - they worked, but I felt like something else might be better (swype typing, for example). I also wanted to change my default apps.

The thing was, though, that I could still justify Apple's decisions being that I couldn't make customizations and experience them all day every day (I tested Android devices every time I could, but that was for short periods of non-real-world use).

iOS 8 changed this for me. I have widgets in my notifications center. I have SwiftKey enabled as my default keyboard. I can (more so than before) use my own apps instead of Apple's apps through extensibility. And it actually works, and improves the experience.

And I want more.

Android does all of this customization, but it does it smoother and better. Additionally, I haven't seen the developers on iOS support widgets the way that they do on Android, which is unfortunate.

I haven't had major problems with iOS 8, so again, don't read this as one of those "iOS sucks now, so I'm switching" kind of posts. The third party keyboard support isn't perfect (it's pretty laggy to load) but other than that, I haven't had major issues. It's been as Apple-y (smooth and thought free) as ever.

But even more than the customization is just the reality that I will think about my phone, and that's not going to change. I manage my RAM on my iPhone, even though iOS can and will do that for me. I manage the storage on my device, even though iOS can do that for me. I manage battery life, even though Apple does a lot to make me not have to.

iOS 8 wasn't the only factor in my desire to switch, as I will detail soon in a future post, but it was a factor.

Let me know what you think in the comments below.

Apple Watch is clunky, but...

Apple Watch is clunky in it's first iteration, and I will absolutely support anyone making that argument. The thing about Apple Watch, though, is that in spite of that clunk, it's reimagining what a watch is and should be while at the same time retaining key attributes of watches as they are. In a very real sense, it's the iPod of the wrist.

Android Wear is a great platform, and I kind of want an Android Wear watch. I'm sure that the next round of Android Wear watches are going to be really good, and the platform will continue to grow. Google (and OEM's) did a really great job of adapting Android to fit our current idea of a smartwatch. Motorola did an awesome job of fitting that into a modern round watch.

But that's the problem: they fit smartwatch technology onto a watch.

The Moto 360 is a round touchscreen with a leather strap, so it looks like a regular watch, and it behaves like a smartphone. That's the definition of a smartwatch right now. And that's great.

Apple Watch, on the other hand, is something different. Yes, it's still a touchscreen that delivers notifications, and it still has a strap. The complaint is that it's not a round face, so it's a little more phone than watch. But Apple Watch isn't trying to be a normal watch; most people don't wear normal watches right now. The interface is gross, I agree, and I'm not sold on the contacts button or the crown, but it's trying.

The crown is a new way to interact with devices which is reminiscent of watches of the past, but does something completely different. Most of Apple's bands reimagine the traditional clasp mechanism into something far better and more modern. Most importantly, Apple want their watch to do something, rather than the notification hub with other limited features that Google is pushing with Android Wear. Wear is still a good platform, and it's far more sophisticated than Pebble, but Apple Watch is doing a better job reimagining what a smartwatch is than either of those platforms.

In fact, one might even say that Apple Watch isn't a smartwatch the same way that iPhone isn't a smartphone. iPhone is an iPhone. Apple Watch might just be its own product category.

Let me know what you guys think in the comments. This was literally a stream of consciousness writing (zero editing) so let me know if I even make sense.