20 People Who Changed Tech: James Watt When the sun finally came
out in Britain in the 1720s, agriculture blossomed … and prices
fell. Suddenly, many of the 97% of the population who made their
living off the land had to find some other way. Instead of
making crops, some had to make products. - Cloud Perception vs.
Reality - It's not TCO or TCA, it's the cost of information that
really counts - Does America's Next "Road to Prosperity" lie in
Rural Sourcing? - Effectively Controlling IT Change - Bank
Improves Crisis Management Communications with Help from
BlackBerry Problem: The existing metals were too brittle and
wood was too soft for manufacturing. So iron was needed for
gears and wheels, but iron ore was underground and the mines
often flooded. The usual solution was to have horses go round
and round in a bucket brigade, but that method was costly and
inefficient -- and it left lots of poop. Enter James Watt, a
technician at Glasgow University who was doing repairs on an
early version of the steam engine.