Gaming Evolution

The clip was produced for a presentation made by game developer David Perry at the TED Conference in Marin County.

Are You Staring At Me ?

"Two Swiss scientists said they had been able to identify a part of the brain that may be responsible for the "out-of-body" experiences of patients who came close to death.

Electrical stimulation of a key area of the brain near the temple upset the mind's perception of the body..

The brain generates an image of the body in the mind. But this is an external image as if the body were projected under, facing or behind the person. "In the first two instances, the patients still recognises their own image; in the latter, however, they sense another, sombre and menacing, presence."

I hate it when that happens.

ITER - Sign me Up.

"The EU and six nations have signed a treaty launching a multibillion-dollar experimental nuclear fusion research project, aimed at emulating the power of the sun to provide limitless, clean energy.

The facility is to be built in Cadarache, in southern France, over a decade starting 2008.

The release of energy from a fusion reaction is 10 million times greater than from a typical chemical reaction, such as burning a fossil fuel.

'.......we will be able to derive as much energy from a litre of seawater as from a litre of petrol or a kilo of coal.'"

Pentagon launches Operation "Hands Around The Oceans".

100mw Sino Solar

"China, seeking to ease its dependence on coal to fuel its booming economy, said on Tuesday it will build the world's largest solar power station in the poor but sunny northwestern province of Gansu.

China has also stepped up investment in energy projects abroad and nuclear power."

Shine on.

Forking Futures

"As part of their 50th anniversary celebrations NewScientist asked over 70 of the world's most brilliant scientists:

What will be the biggest breakthrough of the next 50 years?"

Navigate by Author or topic.

One things for sure, the future ain't what it used to be.

Really Smart Weapons

" Israel is using nanotechnology to try to create a robot no bigger than a hornet that would be able to chase, photograph and kill its targets.

It is one of several weapons being developed by scientists to combat militants. Others include super gloves that would give the user the strength of a "bionic man" and miniature sensors to detect suicide bombers.

It's illogical to send a plane worth $100 million against a suicidal terrorist. So we are building futuristic weapons."

It is also very much fun and at the end of the day that is what we are all about.

Grow your Own

"Scientists for the first time have grown human heart valves using stem cells from the fluid that cushions babies in the womb..

The Swiss experiment follows recent successes at growing bladders and blood vessels and suggests that people may one day be able to grow their own replacement heart parts — in some cases, even before they're even born."

Is there anything amniotic fluid can't do ?

Liquid Armor

Thin, flexible and only slightly heavier than kevlar.

Your soft underbelly thanks you.

Growing Smarter

"Researchers have found a way to spur the growth of neural stem cells in the brains of adult mice with an eye toward harnessing the brain's innate capacity for repair.."

Make mine a double.

Sim You

"Social policy makers and town planners will soon be able to play 'SimCity' for real using grid computing and e-Science techniques to test the consequences of their policies on a real, but anonymous, model of the UK population.

They are using data recorded at the 2001 census to build a model of the whole UK population.

The model can be projected into the future to explore the effect of different demographic trends and also to test the consequences of policy decisions."

Don't even think about rioting.

Dude, I think that Sub's following us !

"Defense officials said the Song-class diesel-powered attack submarine tailed the USS Kitty Hawk undetected, surfacing within five miles of the aircraft carrier -(within range of its missiles and torpedoes)- Oct. 26 before being spotted during surveillance flights.

Don't mind us, just go about your business.

Next up, the popular bump and run that worked so well with the AWACS back in '01.

Prequalify your Embryo

"The test, called pre-implantation genetic haplotyping, looks for a genetic 'fingerprint' of a condition, such as CF, sickle cell disease, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, Huntington's disease and spinal muscular atrophy.

It looks at the whole DNA of a cell from an embryo, rather than focusing on a specific mutation in one gene, making it quicker to spot diseases. The researchers also look at genetic clues for the disease in the mother and father. If a certain number are present, it suggests the embryo is affected."

Talking back to Elders gene marker rumored to be next.

Ye Olde Google Earth

"Google offering historical maps on Google Earth.

Includes : World Globe 1790, North America 1733, United States 1833, Lewis and Clark 1814, New York 1836, San Francisco 1853, South America 1787, Buenos Aires 1892, Asia 1710, Tokyo 1680, Middle East 1861, England, Wales 1790, London 1843, Paris 1716, Africa 1787, Australia Southeast 1844

In the olden days, they didn't even know where their nearest Milky Way neighbors were......No Way....Way.

US/Auzzy Hypersonic Cooperation

"Australia's Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) and the United States Air Force have signed an agreement to advance research into hypersonic (Mach 5 or higher) flight.

The HIFiRE project will see up to 10 hypersonic flight experiments conducted over the next 5 years at Woomera in South Australia."

The Outback mate...a bloody good place for lobbing very fast things around.

Iran Cops a Peek - Allegedly

"Iran's Arabic language television station broadcast footage it claimed showed a US aircraft carrier cruising in Gulf waters it said was taken by an unmanned Iranian drone.

The brief minute-long film, which comes near the end of Iran's latest 10-day war games, "Great Prophet II", showed wobbly aerial footage of an aircraft carrier stacked with war planes as it sailed."

Unnamed US sailor quoted as saying drone was towing banner with text, "Seaman Stains, Marry Me, Me Love you Long Time".

Fate of Rumsfeld's Vision

"Rumsfeld envisioned a military powered by information that relied on technology to deliver more effective, more dominant, and more connected armed forces.

He set out to restructure global basing posture and succeeded. He enlarged special operations.

We have a strong precision-strike capability now.

But...the fate of many of Rumsfeld's reforms may now be determined by his two least successful challenges.....: finding Al Qaeda's leaders and the war in Iraq.

At least until the next major stand up fight.

Wiki Self Correction 2 - Cocky Academic Critic 0

" Halavais hypothesized that the obscure errors would "languish online for some time. Instead the Wikipedia volunteers eliminated all the fabrications within three hours of being posted.

And the volunteer checkers even admonished Halavais for making stuff up."

And he didn't even post about religion or politics....Behold the jealous, protective power of the WikiMind.

Gordon Moore on Gordon Moore

"In terms of size [of transistor] you can see that we're approaching the size of atoms which is a fundamental barrier, but it'll be two or three generations before we get that far - but that's as far out as we've ever been able to see.

We have another 10 to 20 years before we reach a fundamental limit.

By then they'll be able to make bigger chips and have transistor budgets in the billions."

Media to start proposing new 'Laws' exponentially in 3, 2 1 ...

Hubble to be even Hubbleyer

"The terrific thing about NASA chief Michael Griffin’s decision to launch a Hubble servicing mission—the telescope’s fifth since 1990—isn’t simply that the spacecraft will be able to limp along for another four years.

After astronauts visit Hubble on this latest mission (set to launch no earlier than May 2008), the telescope will be more powerful than it has ever been, thanks to some incredible new instruments being tested now.

If all goes well, the servicing mission should keep the new, improved Hubble working until 2013, when its successor, the James Webb Space Telescope, is set to launch."

You get all this (and more) for the price of 2 days military ops in Iraq.

Flat Flexible Light Emitting Capacitors

.."capacitor has a layer of phosphorescent gel coating the top of the dielectric substance. So, when the current passes from the front electrode to the rear electrode, the capacitor emits light.

...pretty much superior to any other light source in every possible way.

Except cost."

Gigapixel Machu Pichu

Combined from over 400 images, over 1500 megapixels.

Couple more generations of digital sensors and google earth can offer this functionality from the top of lampposts the world over.

Bob Burnquist's Mega Ramp

"Some times it's just close your eyes and Go."

Zero-G Liquid Play (I mean..Experiments)

If like me you've been wondering what the unbounded gravity dynamics of a heterogenous nucleation might be, well here you go.

Toriton Plus - Waves Making Waves

Laser-based system that uses water as a music controller.

Sony PS1 - Audiophile Rebirth

"..look for a PlayStation with the model number SCPH-1001, which is the unit with separate audio and video RCA output jacks. That particular model allows audiophiles to use their own (expensive) audio cables to get “perfect” sound.

Compared to a Pioneer DVD/CD/SACD player, the Sonys sounded clearer and cleaner. They also held their own against top-of-the-line, Class A+ rated Sony SACD machine.

You should be able to find a console for $25 or less on eBay, and there'll be a bunch of neat video games thrown in as well."

Sounds Fun.

Artificial Gut

"British scientists have built an artificial stomach ..... physically simulates human digestion.

The model gut's focus on the physical and chemical reactions that take place in the stomach promises to provide a more detailed understanding of food structure and its impact on digestion.

...device may ultimately help in the development of super-nutrients.

"It's so realistic that it can even vomit."

If only you could eat what I've eaten with your gut.

Got Sol.

"....advances in solar cells and the mirror- or lens-based concentrator systems that focus light on them could soon make solar power as cheap as electricity from the grid."

Total footprint of a plant generating one gigawatt of power (the size of a typical utility) including the reflectors or lenses, would be only two to two-and-a-half square miles."

The collectors concentrate the Suns power 500 - 700 times.

Also handy for incinerating giant mutant bugs.

Have it your way.

"Imagine a machine with the ability to manufacture anything.

Now imagine that machine in your living room.

What would you build first? Would you start a business? Would you ever buy anything retail again?

Ladies and gentlemen I give you.... 'The Personal Fabricator'.

Combine this with Nano-Scale self assemblers and every day will be christmas. At least until someone corners the nano-goo raw material market.

Video Edit Musician

This man can play neither the drums or piano....but that doesn't stop him.

Your Next Cubicle

"VirtuSphere enables 6 degrees of freedom – one can move in any direction; walk, jump, roll, crawl, run over virtually unlimited distances without encountering real-world physical obstacles."

Resolution defined by head mounted display.

Planning to add force feedback, haptic devices and a number of other
developments (like full body motion capture).

"I left the hatch open" late for meeting excuse now possible.

Big Virtual Blue Push

"IBM is ramping up its push into virtual worlds with an investment of roughly $10 million over the next 12 months, including an expanded presence within the popular 3D online universe Second Life.

The company is also looking to build a private 3D intranet and champion what it calls "v-business.

"IBM's ultimate aim is for inter-world integration, instead of separate islands of virtual worlds, where you cannot cross over from one to the other in a consistent way..."

'Nightmare Traffic' late excuse - use it while you still can.

I got it on like, Like.

"...new Web site called Like.com that bills itself as the first visual search engine, allowing consumers to search for items by appearance instead of just text and then purchase similar versions from 200 merchants' Web sites.

Like.com uses face recognition technology; it looks inside a photo and creates a digital signature that describes the photo's content and enables a more accurate search for similar looking items."

Of course things could get amusingly recursive if they start offering, like, cosmetic work, like.

Indian Man on the Moon

"The Indian Space Research Agency (ISRO) has proposed starting a human spaceflight program, with the first manned flight taking place by 2014 leading up to landing an Indian national on the Moon by 2020, ahead of China."

"We believe that pushing forward human presence in space may become essential for planetary exploration, a goal we have set for ISRO 20 years from now."

New 'Moon Race' now officially on.

Orbital Tree Watch

"Photographs taken from space can track deforestation in developing nations and could be used along with cash incentives to safeguard the estimated 7.3 million hectares (18.04 million acres) of forests -- the size of Panama or Sierra Leone -- lost each year from 2000-2005, according to U.N. data."

"It's quite challenging to get good, cloud-free data but new generation of satellites due in 2012 would improve coverage."

Gaia sighs with relief.

GPU's loaded for Bear.

"..a low-cost parallel data processing GPU system can conservatively surpass the latest CPU-based systems by two to five times in a wide variety of tasks.

...optimized code showed breathtaking performance gains of 20 to 40 times over CPUs."

I love the smell of TeraFlops in the morning.

Rumsfeld Homage - Craig Ferguson

Oh that this was one of the Pentagons 'News' department's first products.

There You At.

"Helio launches new "Buddy Beacon" feature.

Uses GPS satellite technology to track up to 25 fellow Helio subscribers. Their locations are plotted on a map displayed on the screen. User can see the nearest address for each buddy's location. If one user notices that a friend is nearby, a call can be placed directly from the application."

Helio also offers direct MySpace Interface for photo uploads.

Possible future features : 'Parental Datewatch - Safety Zone Alerts' and 'Swingers Lifestyle - Random Hookup Locator'.

Don't You Know Who I Am ?

"Biometrics.gov now fully online......is the central source of information on biometrics-related activities of the Federal government."

DoD Biometrics Task Force, Homeland Security, US Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator, Intelligence Community....

Overall biometrics industry projected at $5.3 billion annually by 2010.

Anonymity, priceless.

China/Russia go Space.

"Russia plans to cooperate with China in robotic missions to the moon and Mars and other space projects.

"We have switched from cooperating on technological elements and devices to developing big scientific projects in space research..."

God speed comrades......See you on the dark side.

High Down Angle

"Science and art merge in a stunning new traveling Smithsonian exhibition featuring planet Earth as seen from above. Some of the satellite images show the home planet as only astronauts can see it, others taken with special instruments show things even they can't see."

New website also complements the national traveling exhibition.

When I was a kid we just went to the beach and dug up crabs for our science trip.

Couple more generations and they'll be be doing Virtual Realtime Robotic exploration of the Lunar regolith.

Holey Quantum Wire

"..non-electronic semiconductor 100 times narrower than a human hair, uses holes between electrons, rather than electrons themselves, to carry currents.

"Here we've got bubbles of nothing that really are something."

Well said Sir.

Big Blue Brother

"IBM debuts digital surveillance technology, code-named "Smart Surveillance System" or "S3."

S3 carries out data analysis of video sequences either in real time or from recordings and allows for the monitoring and analysis of real-world events via multiple sensors, including video cameras, servers, storage systems, software, network devices, radar, chemical sensors or audio inputs.

.....includes motion/object tracking and unique indexing and attribute-based search of video events to classify objects into categories such as people's faces, license plates......"

The Revolution will be televised.

Internet Enemies List 2006

Good news - Nepal, Maldives and Libya off the list.

Not so Good - Egypt added.

Reliably Bad - North Korea, Saudi Arabia, China, Cuba, Syria and Iran.

Nothing that an overlapping layer of geostationary satellite feeds wouldn't fix. Then just give them all gmail and blogs and let them have at it.

Nvidia CUDA - new architecture '07.

"CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture), a new computing architecture for using thread computing on Nvidia GPUs (graphics processing units).

GPU computing with CUDA is a new approach to computing where hundreds of on-chip processor cores simultaneously communicate and cooperate to solve complex computing problems up to 100 times faster than traditional approaches.

"CUDA," will also allow the graphics chip to simulate physics processing and aid in general-purpose computing."

Nvidia will offer its new architecture first in its GeForce 8800 graphics processors which are geared toward consumers and gamers. -(great review and in depth architecture here)

Its professional line of Quadro graphics cards, which will hit the market in early 2007."

Another welcome step toward the return of the man-sized drawing table.

Un-Blind Mice

"British and American scientists have restored vision in blind mice by transplanting light-sensitive cells into their eyes in a breakthrough that could lead to new treatments of human eye diseases.

...instead of using stem cells.....for the first time .. it is possible to transplant photoreceptors.

Could also give .. new insights into repairing damage to other parts of the central nervous system."

Prepare for the inevitable "Rights of the photoreceptor precursor cell." debate.

Roadrunner to break 'PetaFlop' barrier.

"Part-funded by the US Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration, the machine is to be built by IBM in conjunction with Los Alamos.......one of the laboratory's primary purposes is to run the US nuclear stockpile stewardship programme.

....Over the past few years IBM's Blue Gene system has continually beaten all records in computational power, peaking at a massive 207 teraflops. A teraflop is one billion operations per second, whereas a petaflop — the holy grail of scientific computing — equals 1,000 billion operations a second. It is estimated that Roadrunner will be able to reach a hitherto unthinkable 1.6 petaflops.

.......the most advanced rival effort is a Japanese project, where, with 110bn Yen (£497m) of government funding, Japanese research agency Riken hopes to have a 10-petaflop computer by 2012.

Ministry of Peace begets Ministry of Truth

Having successfully gagged the independent milBlogs, DoD begins phase two of the battle for our hearts and minds.

".......the new operation is to have four branches:
New Media, Rapid Response, TV and Radio Booking, and Surrogates.

The idea is to massage the domestic media coverage of the war and of the Pentagon in general."

Oceania is at War with Eurasia.
Oceania has Always has been at War with Eurasia.

Parkour #1

"...the participant — called a traceur (/tʁa.'sœʁ/) — attempts to pass obstacles in the fastest and most direct manner possible, using skills such as jumping, vaulting and climbing, or the more specific parkour moves."

Shirt optional.

A Robot May (Not) Injure a Human Being.

"..two cameras; one for day-time and one for infrared night vision, zooming capabilities, a speaker for notifying the intruder, sophisticated pattern recognition to detect the difference between humans/trees, and a 5.5mm machine-gun.”

Asimov grunts derisively as DPRK begins massed nighttime tree camouflage maneuvers.

Viagra - Girlfriend directed Roadtest

Chicks like this deserve medals.

Or foreplay.

360', 3D Projection

It'd be interesting to design narrative content - as opposed to twirling booth babes. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Ultra Wideband

"....supposed to be rolled into wireless USB, 1394 "Firewire" and Bluetooth. Specs are listed at 480 Mbps at up to 3 meters and a drop off of speeds as you go out to 10 meters....'07/'08 ish."

More speed captain.

India apporoves manned space mission.

"..aiming to put an astronaut outside the earth's atmosphere by 2014." ... Still need to get approval for $2.2bill though.

Hey - Maybe Burt Rutan can give them a bulk discount.

Global Warming/Global Government

....the "climate-change" scare is less about saving the planet than, in Jacques Chirac's chilling phrase, "creating world government".

Vote for UN or the planet gets it.

Rainmaker

Container models can produce up to 1,200 gallons of water per day for 7 days without outside electrical source or refueling.

Out of the atmosphere.

Now can we have your oil ?

Oops #1

How was your day honey ?

Chronological Miss Universe

First you will get to dress up and walk around like an osterich.

Then you get to wear the sparkly hat.

So....now. Get in the #@! hot tub.

DeepWeb Search Tools.

Google can only index the visible web, or searchable web. But the invisible web, or deep web, is estimated to be 500 times bigger than the searchable web.

Mmmm...more web.