In The News:

New Zealand emergency services computers go offline - they were able to make do while their IT guys brought them back online, but this highlights just how dependent we've become on computers.

IBM Watson (Super computers) vs. Humans in Jeopardy game - two of the champions of this american game-show are taking on IBM's new Watson Jeopardy super computer... after the first round, Watson is tied for first.

Removing a 'dumb' gene from mice makes them smarter - interesting article, but like it points out: we have no idea what other effects removing this gene will have... the whole field of study seems terribly hit-and-miss to me.

Steps towards a robotic eye - I've posted a lot of the build up to this specific piece of tech in earlier News, but this article sums up where we are quite nicely.

Obama seeks big boost in cyber-security spending - looks like we might be amping up to a new arms race... the cyber-arms race.... why do I have a picture of a bear with robot arms in my head?

In the news this week:

There’s been a lot of interesting developments in the news this past week, so I’m just going to give you a rundown of those and do a proper post some time later in the week.

 

NASA Mars Rover Opportunity Grinds "Cool" Rock – Nasa’s mars rover ‘Spirit’ has been having some success, coming across a rock that must have been made by volcanic activity. This gives scientists more insight into the red planet.

Scientists To Breed the Auroch From Extinction – life imitating art, with shades of Jurassic Park, a group of scientists are going to resurrect the giant buffalo-like creature from extinction… cool!

2-D Avatar To Be Pulled From Theaters In China – China bans the movie ‘Avatar’ for promoting anti-authoritarian dogma.

NASA Designs All-Electric Personal Flight Vehicle – Maybe NASA is trying to produce something that's usable by more than just astronauts? I want one!

Correlation Found Between Brain Structure and Video Game Success – I think working for the scientists who did this study could very well be my perfect job. ^^

NASA Will Crowdsource Its Photos of Mars – NASA has put out the call for opinions on the internet, want to see a specific piece of the Martian landscape? Give them a call.

Pope Urges Priests To Go Forth and Blog – The pope is trying to bring the church into the modern world? Then what about his stance on gay marriage? A tad hypocritical if you ask me.

A Case For the Necessity of Science Fiction – I knew it all along.

Colliding Particles Can Make Black Holes After All – experiments similar to those being conducted by the LHC could actually cause a black hole and swallow the earth. But don’t worry… it’d have to be A LOT larger.

 

There you have it, all the cool tech news from the last week. Check back in a couple days for a post on how Augmented Reality will soon be changing the world as we know it.

-Odd

“just because you’re paranoid, doesn’t mean they aren’t really after you”