So I wasn't initially sure as to what I was gonna post today, at first. It was a big day for science as several articles on black holes popped up, and then there was the dig at Stonehenge to finally try to figure it out.
But in the end, I had to go another direction. Back to technology. I love it. I love watching the direction our society is moving in with regards to advanced technology. This next beauty is from the Boys and Girls from MIT. Her name is GLaDOS and she would love to share some cake with you. Just kidding! Her name is Nexi. Nexi is the latest plaything from those wacky MIT guys. This one is hoped to be able to sit and interact with humans to figure out how best to integrate. She is Mobile, Dexterous and Social. I'll tell you what, I really wouldn't mind being in the test group for this project. I can sit the Nexi right next to my Apuripoko. But I digress. This is truly one of the most expressive robots I've ever seen. It makes me wonder though. Ever read I, Robot? The original, not the book based on the movie based on the book. Whatever happened to the square headed, clearly not human, robots that were supposed to come first? Looks like we are wanting to hope straight to human-like, right out the gate, when we get a real working humanoid. However... I'm still waiting for Synthetic rights. It's coming and you all know it.
Thoughts! Go!
As a passing thought, if anyone out there wants to get their favorite, hatted blogger a gift, this little cutie will do the trick. Or this convenient solar paneled recliner, I mean generator.
Showing posts with label technology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label technology. Show all posts
Thursday, April 3, 2008
The Michelin man is watching
So, as I'm sure most of the people who read my blog have to read most of the web sites that I do, so I'm sure you've heard about the writer for the Times that wrote a flaming article about games. After all EVERYONE WROTE ABOUT TODAY, so I won't.
So this is a fun thought. With all the new and fun ways that the government has to poke in on our business, I just discovered a new one today. Phones, cameras, wire tape, internet, and car tires. That's right, the next new insidious tactic for monitoring the average American sounds like a device from 1984 and slips snuggly into the very innocent looking car tire. According to the article if you've bought a car since 2005 you most likely are the host of a TPMS, like the unwitting host of a bot fly that hasn't yet made it's presence immediately obvious.
Am I being over dramatic? Perhaps, perhaps not. Each TPMS device is paired electronically with a special receiver in your car. With this, those who might wish to, could monitor every moment of your vehicular adventures, whether moving or stationary, they can track every movement of every day. No I don't think I'm being over dramatic.
But what of things like OnPublish PostStar, you may say to me. Dear reader... for one, not all vehicles are mandated to have OnStar. And those that do CAN have this device disabled. How do you disable a TPMS? You take your tire off. But how could you possibly know if you were getting a new tire without one? Especially since every new car, starting in 2007, was been required to have TPMS installed. Next we'll have to hide beside our TV's so as to avoid Big Brother's view.
So this is a fun thought. With all the new and fun ways that the government has to poke in on our business, I just discovered a new one today. Phones, cameras, wire tape, internet, and car tires. That's right, the next new insidious tactic for monitoring the average American sounds like a device from 1984 and slips snuggly into the very innocent looking car tire. According to the article if you've bought a car since 2005 you most likely are the host of a TPMS, like the unwitting host of a bot fly that hasn't yet made it's presence immediately obvious.
Am I being over dramatic? Perhaps, perhaps not. Each TPMS device is paired electronically with a special receiver in your car. With this, those who might wish to, could monitor every moment of your vehicular adventures, whether moving or stationary, they can track every movement of every day. No I don't think I'm being over dramatic.
But what of things like OnPublish PostStar, you may say to me. Dear reader... for one, not all vehicles are mandated to have OnStar. And those that do CAN have this device disabled. How do you disable a TPMS? You take your tire off. But how could you possibly know if you were getting a new tire without one? Especially since every new car, starting in 2007, was been required to have TPMS installed. Next we'll have to hide beside our TV's so as to avoid Big Brother's view.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Eye know eye want one
I know, I know. I am late posting for yesterday. Life things happen sometimes. However, if things go right, I should be able to have multiple posts today.
First on todays agenda, though, time to go back to the future! No, they aren't making another movie in the wake of all the other movies from the 80's trying to make a profit off a sudden, late, 4th installment. Nope, the future, my friends, is now.
There are two items I discovered yesterday in my march through massive information intake that caught my attention for this post. Kevin Warwick, a cybernetics professor at the University of Reading, has wired the nerves from his forearm into a computer and was able to make a cybernetic arm across the country respond in the the same manner as he moved his arm. Now granted, this news is somewhat old in that it was 2002 when this experiment took place, but read the article. Warwick is nothing if not dedicated to his idea to march us right into the cybernetic age. I don't know what sort of advancements this man has made, but I know I'll be keeping my eyes open for his next upgrade.
And speaking of upgrades, this is what I'm talking about! An eye. A freaking cybernetic eye! Where does the line start?
First on todays agenda, though, time to go back to the future! No, they aren't making another movie in the wake of all the other movies from the 80's trying to make a profit off a sudden, late, 4th installment. Nope, the future, my friends, is now.
There are two items I discovered yesterday in my march through massive information intake that caught my attention for this post. Kevin Warwick, a cybernetics professor at the University of Reading, has wired the nerves from his forearm into a computer and was able to make a cybernetic arm across the country respond in the the same manner as he moved his arm. Now granted, this news is somewhat old in that it was 2002 when this experiment took place, but read the article. Warwick is nothing if not dedicated to his idea to march us right into the cybernetic age. I don't know what sort of advancements this man has made, but I know I'll be keeping my eyes open for his next upgrade.
And speaking of upgrades, this is what I'm talking about! An eye. A freaking cybernetic eye! Where does the line start?
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Electolysis Elitests
So, trying a new format today. One I'll probably be sticking to from now on. Especially since I had considered it myself, and received confirmation from several readers that they would prefer it this way. One blog, per topic, in detail. So here is the first.
I'm going to be keeping my eye on this. I see this and I see hope for humanity. The only thing I can pray is that this technology doesn't become prey to those that would profit from seeing it go away. I'm going to go ahead and place the link here and at the end of my little rant. So what exactly do we have here.
For those of you who don't know about the Hydrogen economy, let me break it down a little. Basically it is the idea of using water and the act of electrolysis, or breaking water down to its basic components of Hydrogen and Oxygen, as a means of creating power. However, with current technologies it remains a technology that is too expensive for the benefits that it bestows. Or at least it used to be. Southern California based QuantumSphere Inc. has some interesting new technology that blows the competition out of the water.
Current electrolysis technology consists of using high dollar Platinum metal to aid in the separation of water to its base elements. This makes using this method as a form of power becomes very costly. Platinum is used as the conductor of the electricity other metals run the risk of not releasing the Oxygen, but instead bonding and reacting to it. Enter QuantumSphere, who has created a nanoparticle coating that can be applied to less expensive and more reactive metals, making the act of electrolysis much simpler. They also state that, because it is a simple coating, they can easily and quickly use it to retrofit current electrolysis machines. They boast an increase of 85% efficiency and project that with some more time and effort, they can push the 96% efficiency mark. These numbers are astonishing and phenomenal. And the best part... you could make your own hydrogen right at home to power your nice, new, clean, Hydrogen-cell battery powered car. Or home generator. Are you seeing where this is going? And how far away is this technology to you and me? Closer than you may believe. To quote directly from the article, "The first commercial product inspired by QuantumSphere's technology will debut later this year: a battery using a cathode coated with the startup's nanoparticles, thereby increasing its energy density 5x over alkaline cells and boosting power by 320 percent. The first commercial nonrechargeable batteries with this increased capacity will be announced by an as-yet-unnamed major U.S. battery maker in the second half of 2008." Please, God, let it be true.
Please read the article. Don't let the technical jargon get you down, push on, read what you can. This is fascinating and NEEDS people to get behind it before it is scooped up and swept under the rug.
I'm going to be keeping my eye on this. I see this and I see hope for humanity. The only thing I can pray is that this technology doesn't become prey to those that would profit from seeing it go away. I'm going to go ahead and place the link here and at the end of my little rant. So what exactly do we have here.
For those of you who don't know about the Hydrogen economy, let me break it down a little. Basically it is the idea of using water and the act of electrolysis, or breaking water down to its basic components of Hydrogen and Oxygen, as a means of creating power. However, with current technologies it remains a technology that is too expensive for the benefits that it bestows. Or at least it used to be. Southern California based QuantumSphere Inc. has some interesting new technology that blows the competition out of the water.
Current electrolysis technology consists of using high dollar Platinum metal to aid in the separation of water to its base elements. This makes using this method as a form of power becomes very costly. Platinum is used as the conductor of the electricity other metals run the risk of not releasing the Oxygen, but instead bonding and reacting to it. Enter QuantumSphere, who has created a nanoparticle coating that can be applied to less expensive and more reactive metals, making the act of electrolysis much simpler. They also state that, because it is a simple coating, they can easily and quickly use it to retrofit current electrolysis machines. They boast an increase of 85% efficiency and project that with some more time and effort, they can push the 96% efficiency mark. These numbers are astonishing and phenomenal. And the best part... you could make your own hydrogen right at home to power your nice, new, clean, Hydrogen-cell battery powered car. Or home generator. Are you seeing where this is going? And how far away is this technology to you and me? Closer than you may believe. To quote directly from the article, "The first commercial product inspired by QuantumSphere's technology will debut later this year: a battery using a cathode coated with the startup's nanoparticles, thereby increasing its energy density 5x over alkaline cells and boosting power by 320 percent. The first commercial nonrechargeable batteries with this increased capacity will be announced by an as-yet-unnamed major U.S. battery maker in the second half of 2008." Please, God, let it be true.
Please read the article. Don't let the technical jargon get you down, push on, read what you can. This is fascinating and NEEDS people to get behind it before it is scooped up and swept under the rug.
Monday, February 18, 2008
In celestial news this week, it appears that there will be a nice lunar eclipse to view on Wednesday. Really a fun event if there is anyone who has not witnessed one before, and it will be the last time we get to see one until 2010.
La LA la la la laa, la lala la laa. That, for those of you who cannot hear music from words written on a screen, is the theme to that classic childhood cartoon, The Smurfs. Now, regardless of your views on the origin of this cartoon, this preview for the upcoming movie looks promising. I know I'll be lining up to watch. However, the idea was passed around at how funny a live action attempt would be at this. Discussed was how David Cross would make an excellent Gargamel, and how Vin Diesel should be Handy Smurf.
And finally today, in keeping with my past rants about the future, I bring you two different articles concerning artificial intelligence. From the BBC network comes the bold claim that Artificial intelligence should be able to reach human level by 2029. A bold claim indeed. They go so far as to imply that this simulated intellegence will be able to also imitate our emotional intelligence. Just imagine chatting with someone online and not being sure if you are speaking with a person, or a machine...
Which leads me in to the second article brought from Scientific America in which David Levy discusses the, not just possibility, but probability of sex, love and even marriage to robots by mid-century. Intruiging. Reading the article, I find that David follows a wholly pragmatic view of the whole situation. I will grant him that many humans to react positively to any sort of attention, I fear that his love for technology has blinded him to the unpleasentries of humanity. What we would have is entities that have all the capability of a human, being used (and I don't use that word lightly) in any number of ways, simply by minor adjustment to programming. And then the question of robot rights comes up. Are they just machines? They will have the intelligence and emotional capabilities of humans, so do we give them rights like humans? How far do we go? While I applaude science and what it can achieve, I'm afraid that in this little chunk of the future brought closer and closer to us, I will watch with a cynical eye.
Even though I started the last paragraph with "finally", I will have the real finality here. Giant, bowling-ball sized, prehistoric frog with fangs and armor. Beelzebufo... Devil Frog.
La LA la la la laa, la lala la laa. That, for those of you who cannot hear music from words written on a screen, is the theme to that classic childhood cartoon, The Smurfs. Now, regardless of your views on the origin of this cartoon, this preview for the upcoming movie looks promising. I know I'll be lining up to watch. However, the idea was passed around at how funny a live action attempt would be at this. Discussed was how David Cross would make an excellent Gargamel, and how Vin Diesel should be Handy Smurf.
And finally today, in keeping with my past rants about the future, I bring you two different articles concerning artificial intelligence. From the BBC network comes the bold claim that Artificial intelligence should be able to reach human level by 2029. A bold claim indeed. They go so far as to imply that this simulated intellegence will be able to also imitate our emotional intelligence. Just imagine chatting with someone online and not being sure if you are speaking with a person, or a machine...
Which leads me in to the second article brought from Scientific America in which David Levy discusses the, not just possibility, but probability of sex, love and even marriage to robots by mid-century. Intruiging. Reading the article, I find that David follows a wholly pragmatic view of the whole situation. I will grant him that many humans to react positively to any sort of attention, I fear that his love for technology has blinded him to the unpleasentries of humanity. What we would have is entities that have all the capability of a human, being used (and I don't use that word lightly) in any number of ways, simply by minor adjustment to programming. And then the question of robot rights comes up. Are they just machines? They will have the intelligence and emotional capabilities of humans, so do we give them rights like humans? How far do we go? While I applaude science and what it can achieve, I'm afraid that in this little chunk of the future brought closer and closer to us, I will watch with a cynical eye.
Even though I started the last paragraph with "finally", I will have the real finality here. Giant, bowling-ball sized, prehistoric frog with fangs and armor. Beelzebufo... Devil Frog.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Catching up
Good Morning Tea Party goers. Thought you had me figured out out with a Monday-Friday schedule with the weekends off. But oh-ho no! I switched things up on you.
Actually, no, I was just lazy the last two days as I took it off work and had to spend some time with my new Xbox 360.
So, to make up for the lack of posts, there will be posts today and tomorrow instead. Look for last weeks Idiot of the week to follow today.
The first thing that I want to talk about has a slant more toward an old flame of mine. The theater. This week in the New York Times there was a review on "The Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island." It truly makes me sad that I am not in New York to be able to witness this. This beautiful work of stage incorporates a backdrop of hand-drawn sets projected onto a white screen. I really can't do it justice. Check it out for yourself.
In the realm of performance arts, I'm sure that you have all heard of the unfortunate passage of Heath Ledger. What you may not have heard is the outcome of a movie that he had been working on before his passing. It's called "The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus". It appears that three top actors will be paying a tribute to the actor in this movie. It seems that Ledger's character falls through magical mirrors, and they have adapted the movie to have these actor's portray Ledger's character in these different worlds. And they did get quite the talent.
Also, if you like Batman at all, you have to follow this link. Just trust me, go and watch the video. It's gorgeous.
On a more technical note, all hail BitTorrent who has taken another step toward keeping the ability to transmit information freely something we can all have. It appears they have created a new form of encryption that would allow it to bypass the blocks that have recently been placed by Comcast and other ISP's that hinder Torrent.
And finally for today, a bit of a funny. We all remember Calvin's amazing idea to draw eyeballs on ping pong balls to place over your eyes so you can sleep in class? Looks like someone decided they had to perfect his idea.
Actually, no, I was just lazy the last two days as I took it off work and had to spend some time with my new Xbox 360.
So, to make up for the lack of posts, there will be posts today and tomorrow instead. Look for last weeks Idiot of the week to follow today.
The first thing that I want to talk about has a slant more toward an old flame of mine. The theater. This week in the New York Times there was a review on "The Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island." It truly makes me sad that I am not in New York to be able to witness this. This beautiful work of stage incorporates a backdrop of hand-drawn sets projected onto a white screen. I really can't do it justice. Check it out for yourself.
In the realm of performance arts, I'm sure that you have all heard of the unfortunate passage of Heath Ledger. What you may not have heard is the outcome of a movie that he had been working on before his passing. It's called "The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus". It appears that three top actors will be paying a tribute to the actor in this movie. It seems that Ledger's character falls through magical mirrors, and they have adapted the movie to have these actor's portray Ledger's character in these different worlds. And they did get quite the talent.
Also, if you like Batman at all, you have to follow this link. Just trust me, go and watch the video. It's gorgeous.
On a more technical note, all hail BitTorrent who has taken another step toward keeping the ability to transmit information freely something we can all have. It appears they have created a new form of encryption that would allow it to bypass the blocks that have recently been placed by Comcast and other ISP's that hinder Torrent.
And finally for today, a bit of a funny. We all remember Calvin's amazing idea to draw eyeballs on ping pong balls to place over your eyes so you can sleep in class? Looks like someone decided they had to perfect his idea.
Friday, February 8, 2008
When do I get the glasses
Have I mentioned that I love Transmetropolitan? 'Cause if I haven't, I need to say that I love Transmetropolitan.
In any event, there is a class of citizens that is frequently seen in this gripping story, known as The Listeners. What does a Listener do? Simply. They put on their surveillance vests and walk around The City, watching... listening. Letting their suits get a live feed from the people and things going around the world and dumping it right into the media feed. This is awesome. A brilliant idea... if done correctly. And once again, we are one step closer to that future, thanks to these little numbers. Screw covert ops, get these things on field reporters, junior columnists, high school students, anyone who'll take one. Get them OUT there, seeing, hearing, feeding. I wonder how the world would cope with an available network that just shows you the REAL real life every second, of everyday.
Microphone and camera. And GPS. It's like Christmas. Imagine. It's 2 am in the morning. Your falling low on your Mountain Dew fuel and you're getting ready to actually sleep. Suddenly, you want to know exactly what is happening in Tunisia right now. You go to The Listener's web site, put in the coordinates you want, and *POP*, up jumps a list of 13 Listeners in Tunisia. You decide you want to see what akz1-255 is up to. You click. Instant, streaming video and sound of the live streets. If you think you might also find this intriguing and would like to see this possibility become real, contact me. I'll let you know what I've found.
In other, unrelated news, I just found the confirmation of a conversation I had a few months back. A few years ago, we got all excited in the car industry over alternative fuel sources. Hoorah, suddenly an option to not have to rely on crude oil and the Oil Companies. However, and interesting point was brought up to me. These fuels are really new. We don't know much about them. Sure the vehicle industry is accepting them so quickly. Just picture, 10 years from now they release a study that says ethanol fumes kill migratory birds, or something like that. Suddenly, the oil and car companies are coming back saying "Look at that! Just look how great gas and oil are! We MUST go back to the old ways. They were already so environmentally friendly!" Well, it's no eulogy to Woodstock, but lo and behold...
Hmmm. Didn't see that one coming, now did we?
Next we'll be told that Electric cars are the cause to Global warming and hunger.
In any event, there is a class of citizens that is frequently seen in this gripping story, known as The Listeners. What does a Listener do? Simply. They put on their surveillance vests and walk around The City, watching... listening. Letting their suits get a live feed from the people and things going around the world and dumping it right into the media feed. This is awesome. A brilliant idea... if done correctly. And once again, we are one step closer to that future, thanks to these little numbers. Screw covert ops, get these things on field reporters, junior columnists, high school students, anyone who'll take one. Get them OUT there, seeing, hearing, feeding. I wonder how the world would cope with an available network that just shows you the REAL real life every second, of everyday.
Microphone and camera. And GPS. It's like Christmas. Imagine. It's 2 am in the morning. Your falling low on your Mountain Dew fuel and you're getting ready to actually sleep. Suddenly, you want to know exactly what is happening in Tunisia right now. You go to The Listener's web site, put in the coordinates you want, and *POP*, up jumps a list of 13 Listeners in Tunisia. You decide you want to see what akz1-255 is up to. You click. Instant, streaming video and sound of the live streets. If you think you might also find this intriguing and would like to see this possibility become real, contact me. I'll let you know what I've found.
In other, unrelated news, I just found the confirmation of a conversation I had a few months back. A few years ago, we got all excited in the car industry over alternative fuel sources. Hoorah, suddenly an option to not have to rely on crude oil and the Oil Companies. However, and interesting point was brought up to me. These fuels are really new. We don't know much about them. Sure the vehicle industry is accepting them so quickly. Just picture, 10 years from now they release a study that says ethanol fumes kill migratory birds, or something like that. Suddenly, the oil and car companies are coming back saying "Look at that! Just look how great gas and oil are! We MUST go back to the old ways. They were already so environmentally friendly!" Well, it's no eulogy to Woodstock, but lo and behold...
Hmmm. Didn't see that one coming, now did we?
Next we'll be told that Electric cars are the cause to Global warming and hunger.
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