TECHNOLOGY TIDBITS
March 2000
Number 51
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YEAR 2000
For most of us, Y2K was a non-event. We still had electricity and the phones worked. Merchants were able to accept our credit cards and payments from the government were properly deposited in our accounts.

That doesn't mean that everyone escaped untouched. The U.S. Senate Special Committee on the Year 2000 Technology Problem has published "Y2K Aftermath -- Crisis Averted". Contained in the report is a 13-page list of Y2K problems reported from around the world. Some of the reported "Y2Kglitches" are: seven nuclear power plants in the U.S. experienced minor problems in "non-safety" systems that were quickly repaired, $50 million in Medicare payments were delayed for a day due to problems with the electronic transfer with a bank. 911 systems experienced problems in Charlotte, Minneapolis and Orange County Florida. Carson City, Nevada had a 30 minute power outage. Long distance telephone service was affected for three hours in central Montana. Cash registers failed to work at Godiva Chocolates' New York store and 800 slot machines quit working in Delaware.

The complete report can be downloaded at: http://www.senate.gov/~y2k/documents/final.pdf (Source: ComputerWorld, 3/6/2000 and "Y2K Aftermath -- Crisis Averted", 2/29/2000).

FUEL CELLS
Tired of having to recharge your cell phone batteries at the end of every day? As soon as next year, cell phones and other small electronic devices may be powered by small fuel cells that can provide power as long as 30 days. The next generation of fuel cells generate electricity using methanol and water delivers as much as three to ten times the power as that of lithium ion and the rechargeable batteries currently in use. (Source: PC Magazine, 3/21/2000).

WEB SITE OF THE MONTH
Refdesk.com http://www.refdesk.com is this month's web site. The site contains over 20,000 links to reference sites such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, non-corporate and government resources. The site was started in 1995 by Bob Drudge a family therapist in Salisbury, Maryland. If the name seems familiar to you, it's because he is the father of Matt Drudge the web reporter. One nice feature is that advertisements are limited to one per page. (Source: Wall Street Journal, 3/16/2000).
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Technology Tidbits is published monthly by Jerry Price, Eau Claire, Wisconsin
© 2000 Jerry W. Price

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