41 years ago a meteorite fell from the sky in a firey ball before exploding a few miles over the Chihuahua region in Mexico. The chunk that was found is still the largest carbonaceous chondrite meteorite of all time. This black chunk of what most people thought was just another meteorite has actually made huge contributions in science. But the meteorite is acctually a diamond.

Diamonds form deep under the earth’s crust under great pressure when carbon bearing materials are heated and the carbon changes composition and rearanges itself into a more stable form. This means that it is much more stable and therefore harder and stronger. Space diamonds, however, are produced under the same heat circumstances, but in zero gravity, meaning no pressure. So the only place where these diamonds can form is in the few seconds afer an exploding star.  These diamonds appear black because dust from the star attatches to the newly formed carbon diamond. These diamonds are not only extremely rare, but cannot be compared to any substance on Earth. They are better conductors of heat than copper, they are stronger than any other diamonds and they are easier to make a synthetic copy of. This means that in the near future we may see black diamond computer chips or even drill bits, but all that is sure is the fact that space diamonds have changed the course of Earth’s future.

What an exciting decade it has been, echobloggers! The noughties saw the boom of interactive technology such as itunes and 3G  ‘superphones’. The ipod came into it’s own in the mid noughties, and 2006 saw the first song to reach number 1 on downloads alone (Crazy: Gnarls Barkley), marking a profound change in the way we value music. Websites such as facebook, Myspace and twitter (I don’t count bebo because it sucks) took the us by storm and fully launched us into the world of the recreational stalker. Looking back 10 years ago, we wouldn’t have comprehended this. Our future was to be dominated by Y2K, the millennium dome renewable energy and life on Mars. The question we must ask now is, what is actually going to catch on in the 2010s?

There's an app for that...

3D TV: yes, according to CNN, Three-dimensional images are expected jump out of movie theaters and into living rooms by next year. Sony and Panasonic say they will release home 3-D television systems in 2010; Mitsubishi and JVC are reported to be working on similar products. However, I am suspicous. Channel 4 attempted to gain publicity with their 3D week back in November, which didn’t exactly take off. Surely our TVs are too small for this to make a real difference? Any thoughts readers?

ivasion: 2008/09 saw the iphone’s rise to power, and the long, drawn out deaths of many beloved pieces of technology as the smart phone cannibalised them one by one. First on the chopping block was the short lived sat-nav. Then Tom-tom recently produced a $100 dollar app for iphone that made the mini tour guide obsolete. How sad.

Also on the endangered species list is the flip video recorder, that PC world pronounced dead upon the release of the iphone 3GS. Apple boffins have declared that the iPhone is now cannibalising the ipod, which is a shame because mine is quite little and probably wouldn’t put up much of a fight. So, as the new decade begins we say goodbye to the gadgets we were raised on and turn to a future of super-phones, 3D television and things that can do more than one thing.

In an attempt to be hip and with the times, Blackberry has followed the lead of Apple and Google in introducing an app store to its devices (the very few that are good enough to actually have such a modern thing), and while this may bring relief to Blackberry users under the age of 30 who are desperately trying to defend the purchase of the device – which they no doubt already regret – there are a few problems, we have discovered. It turns out that Blackberry apps are not only expensive, but are on average three times the price of their Apple equivalent, and are cheaper in no categories. None at all, really. Anyway, if you already have, you are no doubt considering switching at the end of your 18 months.

The report that gives these figures on the apps was done by Distimo, an app store analytics and research company, last month, and the findings are really raising some eyebrows. The minimum price is, after all, about £1.75, compared to the paltry 75ish pence on the Apple Store. Now we don’t want to spoil the RIM party, but have a look below. iPhone and Android users, chuckle and give yourself a small, subtle pat on the back as long as no-one is watching. Blackberry owners, weep softly.

The pricing in Blackberry AppWorld