In The News

Swiss scientists design a turbine to fit in human arteries - this little gizmo could create enough power to run pace makers and other suck bio-implants... as long as they figure out a way to mitigate the turbulence it causes.

Laser used to transfer data at 26terabytes per second - now that is FAST! and unlike similar projects, this one does it with a single multi-colour laser. So it's cheep(ish).

Is Graphene a miracle material? - a great article on a new wonder material... watch out for this stuff, it's going to be making a big impact.

Grand Co-operative driving challenge - building smarter driverless cars that can communicate with each other to make better use of the road. Cool.

Teaching robots to read - It's not quite at a human level... but this sort of research is what is going to make personal robots possible. Keep up the great work!

In the News:

A new nano-material detects explosives - nanotech is finally finding it's way into usable applications.

UK cancer charity tidies up Wikipedia - A great example of how crowdsourcing can work.

Fusion propelled starship - I love it when the stuff of sci-fi becomes reality.

Robots at the Smithsonian - a new robotics exhibition... full of cool stuff.

Machines to pass turning test by 2029 - I want my robot butler!

In The News:

New surveillance robot, and it knows how to hide - these little UAVs are getting smarter and smarter

Rome's Air Force super computer made out of PS3s - 1,716 PS3s linked into a massive super computer for image processing.

Artificial leaf may be a breakthrough in solar energy - another step closer to a viable energy alternative.

Nanotech implant checks for Cancer and heart attacks - where can I buy mine?

China to overtake the US in science in two years - a lot sooner than commentators thought... this should be a wake up call for the western world.

In The News:

Geminoid-DK: possibly the creepiest android yet built - another master piece by Japanese roboticist Hiroshi Ishiguro. This thing is so far down the uncanny valley that it's scary.

Printing a human kidney - a TED talk demonstration of this amazing technology... we're fast approaching the immortal tipping point.

Masdar city runs into problems - the ambitious project to build 'the city of the future' in the middle of the desert has run into funding problems during the recession.

50 000 Japanese download the Android flashlight app after disaster - mobile computing is saving lives... go google!

Death and the Powers: A robot Opera - an opera combining human and robotic performers... and it's getting good reviews.

In The News:

Creationists in America at it again - this time they're co-opting the arguments of a pro-evolutionist to try get "intelligent design" back in schools... what's wrong with these people?

Taiwan researchers turn to silk for flexible devices - cool tech... and i'm looking forward to the day I can blog from my tie.

Cyber attack against South Korea - at what point does a digital attack warrant a physical response?

Electronic gadgets maybe be effecting your sleep detrimentally - no way! you mean the long hours I spend watching videos instead of going to sleep is preventing me sleeping? wow...

Warner Brothers to release movies via Facebook - This makes a lot of sense to me. If I had a cheap, easy, available platform to watch movies online, I might not pirate as much as I do... maybe... possibly.

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:

Meditation alters brain structure - New research provides scientific evidence of what many cultures have taken for granted for centuries: Meditation improves your brain.

Artificial retinas see well enough to balance a pencil on it's tip - a bit step to functional robots.

Apple App Store reaches 10 billion downloads - TEN BILLION! thats a lot of apps....

Android Smart-phone to be sent into space - ... this a test to check it's viability to run satellites... can you iPhone do that? didn't think so.

Computer program recognizes human emotion from conversational analysis - this should make it possible to actually have a conversation with a robot without wanting to rip it's head off.

The Lamentable Limits of Language

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

I may have mentioned this before but I think it's an important point, so you'll have to bear with me. 

Regular readers (all five of you), may have noticed a new section to my blog. Namely the 'Word of the Week', I'm doing this largely to highlight cool words that I find and to expand my own vocabulary. Why should I want to do such a thing? Well.... The English language, or any language for that matter, is a seriously flawed tool. We have words that sound the same but mean different things, or different words that mean the same thing... Frankly it's amasing that we can have any sort of meaningful communication.

However, until someone comes up with a technological means to share our thoughts directly; we're stuck using language with all it's little foibles and pit-falls. If you've ever tried to have a philosophical, religious or political argument with someone, then you've probably ended up arguing about the meaning of certain terms (like 'reality', 'god' or 'communism') instead of dealing with the issues themselves. A lot of this cannot be avoided: basic words  get co-opted as jargon by various disciplines, often meaning vastly different things depending on the context or who you're talking to.

Some of these troubles can be avoided if all participants in a discussion have a good grasp of the language they're using. If we have a large vocabulary to chose from, we can select the words that best encapsulate the subtle meanings and emphasis of the idea we're trying to convey.

So if you've found, heard or used a cool word recently, drop me a mail or post a comment and I'll share it here.

In The News:

A Robot In Every Korean Kindergarden By 2013 - I think that with the state of education in South Africa and the quality of teaching in rural schools, a slightly more advanced version of these things would be a massive boon to this country.

Real Time Holograms Beam Closer - So cool.... "Help me Obi-Wan Kinobi, you're my only hope".

50th Anniversary of SETI Commemorated With New Observing Project - the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence has been running for 50 years... wow.

Implanted Retinal Chip Allows Blind People To See - a new wave of cyborgs are about to hit the street... cool.

Precognition study at Cornell University - and it's coming up positive...

Word of the Week:

Specificity (noun):
The quality of being specific rather than general
E.g.:  add a desirable note of specificity to the discussion
E.g.:  the specificity of the symptoms of the disease

I hope you enjoyed this weeks post, as always if you liked it: post a comment and tell your friends. See you next week.
-Odd

"It's a strange world of language in which skating on thin ice can get you into hot water"
-Franklin P. Jones

New horizons

Since I'm doing the hand-overs, I guess it's ok if I break the news here. With the coming of the new year, I'm going to be starting a new job.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone at NetsurIT for the opportunity, training and comradeship. This is a truly awesome company and I'm going to miss everybody. Having said that, I am really excited about the new opportunities at IS Partners and I can't wait to get stuck into the new year.

I'm going to be doing much the same work (SharePoint administration and configuration), but IS Partners' clients are a in a bit of a different space from NetsurIT's. I think the corporate maturity will be a bit higher, so I'm looking forward to having some configuration briefs that are a little more complete. I'm also looking forward to working with the SharePoint team that they've got setup, and getting into configuration for the BI and Content Management that they are so strong on.

In the News:

Using bionic legs to rewire stroke victim's brains - an interesting new use of modern prosthetic technology

NASA solar sail gets lost - this awesome piece of tech that I told you about a little while ago is now floating off into space unnoticed... bummer

When computers go wrong - an interesting article on some of the worst digital screw-ups

Worlds smallest battery - nano-batteries might not sound like a big deal, but it's a cornerstone piece of tech.

Researchers build self-healing plastic - now if only they'd build me an ADSL line that would fix itself after it's been struck by lightning

Word of the Week:

Farouche - adjective

1. Sullenly unsociable or shy,


2. Fierce

Another week, another post. The April archives are in too, so you can have a look at those. As always, tell your friends and leave a comment. Peace.

-Odd

"Thus the metric system did not really catch on in the States, unless you count the increasing popularity of the nine-millimeter bullet." - Dave Barry

The Censorship Trend

We all know about how the Chinese government censors the Internet, and the problems it has caused for Google and by extension the US government. Only a terrible dictatorship like the Chinese could possibly want to filter the Internet, right? WRONG! It could be that they're the only ones who can pull it off.

Australia has been trying to push through a similar filtering scheme (although they probably won't stop words like freedom and democracy), but they've been forced todelay the implementation.

This should make us all wonder about our governments and what they have in mind for us. If they didn't tell us that they were filtering our Internet access, would we even notice?

In the News:

Japanese Consortium Projects a Humanoid Robot On the Moon By 2015 - That's just 5 years away.

Robots In Space - NASA has plans for a space robot... And they're calling it R2... I'm seriously geeking out... it's so cool!!!

FDA Approves Vaccine For Prostate Cancer - Not 100% effective... but it's certainly a start

More Energy in Less Space with New Ultracapasitor - power is always the biggest problem for small devices, this should help.

NASA Announces Wednesday Media Teleconference About Search For Extraterrestrial Life - wish I could attend ^^

UK Docs Perform First Remote-Control Heart Surgery - early days still... but it's a fully successful test of a technology that will let the top specialists to save lives all over the world.

Whew... just made it.... almost didn't get a post out this week... it's been hectic at work (despite the public holiday). But I did make it, and you're reading it... so it's all good ^^ Have a great weekend.

-Odd

Instrumental

 

The cataclysm is here

... and no, I haven't turned into one of those crazy guys on the side of the road with the big placard forecasting the end of days. What I'm talking about is World of Warcraft: Cataclysm.

I spent Monday night in line outside BT Games at Greenstone, waiting for the midnight release of this, Blizzard's latest expansion to the world's most popular MMORPG. It was really great to see all the players that share my fascination with this fictional world. We chatted about what we were expecting from the new areas, how cool it is that the dragon Deathwing has wreacked the old world and swapped stories of our epic victories (and defeats).

Blizzard has really made this game a fantastic success: the game-play is fun, it's visually stunning, the story and lore are engaging and the people it attracts are (mostly) friendly, helpful and fun.

If you haven't given this a try yet (and don't have anything else to sink 20+ hours a week into), then ask a friend for a trial key... it's the only game you'll ever need.

In The News:

US showcase a new firearm - and this thing is some SERIOUS hardware.

Study suggests that being too clean can make people sick - ... makes alot of sense once you think about it.

Iranian nuclear scientists admit Stuxnet attacks - ... they did get nailed by the Stuxnet worm.... makes you wonder who first created this virus and why.

Scientists reverse ageing in mice - and so we're getting closer and closer to being immortal ourselves... somehow I don't think our society will handle it very well.

NASA launches Solar-sail propelled satellite - This is still very much a test of the technology, but it's so awesome to see the stuff that I've been reading about in SciFi for years actually start to come out IRL.

Just in time for the holidays - the UK are selling the HMS Invincible... ya... selling an aircraft carrier in an internet auction... it's a weird world we live in folks.

Word of the Week:

Impetrate (verb)

To entreat; ask for.

And so we're another week down. March's archives have been ported across too, so you can give those a re-read if you're strapped for something to do... or check out the links section. As always: Tell your friends, and post a comment if you've got something to say. Thanks.

-Odd

"I like to play blackjack. I'm not addicted to gambling, I'm addicted to sitting in a semi-circle." - Mitch Hedberg

The Large Hadron Collider does it's thing

Yesterday saw the greatest moment in science since Einstein came up with general relativity... did you notice? I guess not, so here's the lowdown:

The worlds largest particle collider the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) has it's first full power collision yesterday, and it was successful. They've been accelerating some light beams around the gigantic machine for the last few months, reaching 99.99% the speed of light... hard to grasp that sort of figure, isn't it? An article over at the Sydney Morning Herald equates the energy of this light beam with a train traveling at 144km/h .... Let me say that again... a beam of light that will hit you as hard as a train.

With the experiments run off this collision, Scientists are exploring what the universe was like at the moment of the big bang, hopefully providing us with a better understanding of how our reality works and finding the elusive God Particle that is supposed to give mass to everything.

So... no black holes, no giant crater in Europe.... it all turned out well, despite the court cases and miscellaneous doom mongering.

On another topic, I challenge all of you to click through to the link in the news section called Fixing Reality with Online Games. This is a truly exceptional program... and one I hope we can all get behind. Do it! It's good karma.

In the News:

First Anti-Cancer Nano-particle Trial on Humans a Success - tiny machines designed to hunt down and kill cancer cells... how cool is THAT?

Fixing Reality with Online Games - What can I say? This could very well save us all from ourselves... READ IT!!!!!!!!

Hubble Builds 3D Dark Matter Map - Our first detailed schematic of the universe?

A Samsung Robot In Every Home By 2020? - How South Korea is getting it right... a lesson for all of us in SA perhaps?

Zero carbon, zero waste city being built in Abu Dhabi - an ambitious project that I'm fully in support of. Great thinking.

Australia reveals prototype 'bionic' eye - History is going to look back at this century as the century of the cyborg... very cool.

Study shows chocolate reduces blood pressure and risk of heart disease - I can already hear you saying, "see, I TOLD you it was good for you".

...And there we have it, another week, another post. Hope you enjoyed it.

-Odd

"As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality" - Albert Einstein

 

Evolutionary Politics

The State of the Nation address that our bold leader Zuma gave last week was a joke. I haven't heard a single person who was happy with it. A reiteration of ANC dogma was NOT what the thinking people of South Africa were looking for in this troubled time. I for one was hoping for something a little more concrete, not load of promises about how our government will create jobs, fix the economy and bring us all breakfast in bed, I wanted to know exactly how they planned to pull it off.

In South Africa we are all afflicted with the curse of Revolutionary Politics... as I see it, this means that the people who fought for freedom, having achieved it, have no idea what to do with it. Instead of actually working for the betterment of their country, government officials seem content to make empty promises and fill their not-so-empty pockets. This won't change until the electorate gets fed up enough to stop voting as if we were still under apartheid... until they realise that, while the ANC has done great things in the past, they don't have the capability or the motivation to lift South Africa to a more prosperous future.

It's not all the ANC's fault though, the opposition hasn't exactly covered itself in glory either. Where are the alternative plans? Where is the mass educational drive that will teach the disadvantaged masses about the real power of the vote and how democracy is supposed to work?

Still.... I suppose it's better to have a government that does nothing, rather than one that actively goes out of it's way to screw things up. As long as they keep that kid Julius muzzled, I'll be content (if not happy).

In the News:

How long till human level AI - a nice article about a survey of industry leaders, asking when they think we'll take the big step

Six-legged Robot Teaches Itself to Walk - a neat new robot ^^

Appeals Court Rules On Internet Obscenity Standard - The californian courts have set a worrying precedient with this one.

Where's Your Flying Car (and Your Jetpack)? - apparently... they're nearly here... Cool!

Fall Into A Black Hole At the Speed Of Light With New Simulator - a couple scienctists have developed a graphic simulation of what happens at the event horizon of a black hole. Nice.

Mixing Man and Machine - the world's first cyborg (now ex-cyborg) talks about artificially enchancing the human race.

Digital/Real World cross over - A huge step in Augmented reality, you HAVE TO watch this! it's a very different approach, and I'm seriously considering trying to build a similar rig. This guy is my new hero.

Brain Surgery Linked To Sensation of Spirituality - quite troubling if you're the religous sort (or maybe not... depends on how much of a control freak you think God is, i guess).

Scrapheap Transhumanism - this dude is seriously whacked... I, for one, would not have the balls to do this.

In an unrelated matter, I had an Epicly Awesome weekend... I officially have the coolest girlfriend in the world... so sorry for the rest of you guys ^^. Hope you enjoyed the post. As always: If you've got a comment post it, and if you enjoyed it... click the link on the right to follow... and tell your friends ^^

-Odd

"What do you mean I could be the president, of the United States of America? Tell me something, it's still WE, THE PEOPLE right?" -Megadeth, Peace Sells.

Hello, my name is Odd and I'm a bibliophile

I recently bought the 25th anniversary edition of David Gemmel's masterpiece Legend (and, being the raging geek that I am, bought one for my gorgeous girlfriend so that she has to read it too ^^), and it got my thinking on my reading habits.

I'm not a huge fan of non-fiction (besides textbooks, i don't touch it) or even real world fiction, my textual consumption consists entirely of Heroic Fantasy and Science Fiction... and some people have a problem with that. It would never have crossed my mind that some would find my reading habits frivolous and wasteful, but I spend a fair amount of time reading in coffee shops and I'm often randomly accosted (usually by business types) asking why I'm wasting me time reading whichever novel I happen to be engrossed in.

Usually I just send them politely on their way... they're much to busy and self important to actually listen to any sort of rational (which begs the question, how do they have time to give me greif?), but occationally I do put down the book, set aside the caffinated ambrosia and try educate the unwashed masses.

I think that Heroic Fantasy and even more so Science Fiction are the most important genres that the combined genius of humanity produces. Heroic Fantasy (the good ones at least) open and expand the mind to a degree that non-fiction and real world fiction just can't match. It introduces us to ideas, worlds and situations that (while not physically possible in this reality) mirror, exemplify and extrapolate everything in the world around us.

Science Fiction is an even greater necessity for the modern world. Every piece of technology, scientific theory and every gadget that has integrated so seamlessly into our lives were (at very least) influenced by the work of a SciFi writer. They are the true visionaries of our age, and we can only benefit from tapping into their genius.

So, next time you're in a book store... be expansionist in your thinking: visit the Fantasy/Sci-Fi section... and if you happen to see me in a coffee shop, brain deep in a novel bigger and more complicated than a V2 rocket manual, have a thought before wrenching me back to reality to tell me I'm wasting my time.

In the News:

Europe's LHC To Run At Half-Energy Through 2011 - The LHC is still a long way from full operation.

Dune Remake Could Mean 3D Sandworms - Hope they do a good job on this one, it's one of the greatest Sci-Fi series ever written.

Patient presumed vegetative communicates via brain scan: study - I can think of nothing scarier than being stuck in my own head with no way to communicate... thankfully, science is making progress.

Stanford's robotic Audi to brave Pikes Peak without a driver (w/ Video) - Self driving cars are getting closer and closer

Carbon Based Chips May One Day Replace Silicon Transistors - A new technology that could keep Moore's Law going.

Hello Robotnaut: Nasa, GM introduce latest humanoid robot - NASA joining the race with this cool new robot.

Artificial intelligence: Can AI crack the conundrum of consciousness? - a great article on AI, how it's evolving and how it can tell us about ourselves.

Virus-Detecting "Lab On a Chip" Developed At BYU - great medical breakthroughs with nano-tech

Google Shooting For Smartphone Universal Translator - totally SciFi technology from my favorite evil corporation.

New Material Transforms Car Bodies Into Batteries - a new meta-material that could change the automotive industry and go a long way to making all our lives the little bit greener.

And there you have it, another week of looking into the excuse I call a mind. ^^ hope you enjoyed it.

-Odd

“Never violate a woman, nor harm a child. Do not lie, cheat or steal. These things are for lesser men. Protect the weak against the evil strong. And never allow thoughts of gain to lead you into the pursuit of evil. Never back away from an enemy. Either fight or surrender. It is not enough to say I will not beevil. Evil must be fought wherever it is found.” - The Iron Code of Druss

 

Modern Robotics

Of all things sci-fi and techie, robots are probably the most easily explained and recognisable phenomenon. They’ve featured in numerous sci-fi books and movies, mostly as grossly overpowered machines of human extinction, but also occasionally as sensitive, thinking, feeling companions to mankind. Today, I will give you a few brief insights into how modern science is trying to realise the promises of those epic sci-fi stories.

The definition of a robot (in this case taken from Wikipedia) is anautomatically guided machine, able to do tasks on its own. Another common characteristic is that by its appearance or movements, a robot often conveys a sense that it has intent or agency of its own. “Automatically guided” is an important distinction, as a lot of machines that people consider to be robots are actually not.

The US military has a number of these typesofthings, but currently doesn’t have any real robots. That will soon change, with DARPA giving out a $32 million grant to the company responsible for the very (very, very) cool Big Dogrobot. This handy (fully automatic) machine is going to be used as a robotic pack mule, lugging around supplies for a troop of soldiers travelling through rough terrain. Big Dog has some really advanced movement systems, so much so that it can come across quite creepy to some people (I think it’s WAY too cool to be considered creepy, but maybe that’s just me ^^).

Thankfully, the military are not the only ones exploring Robotics in its true form, the civilian sector might actually be well ahead. South Korea in particular is making a big push to be the world leader in robotics, having made the very ambitious promise to have a robot in every home by 2020. They could even make the deadline, with awesome tech like Honda’sASIMOrobot and thismaid robot. These civilian robots are still a far cry from C3-P0, only able operate in a very limited set of environments and actions.

So the robots are coming! And with showcases like the Robotic Soccer World Cup, and constant advances in computers allowing us to evolve the software to run the robots, it’s only a matter of time.

Lots of news this week:

Twitter Developing Technology To Thwart Censorship – Twitter taking up the challenge of opposing despotic countries. Brave.

Scientists Produce Unprecedented 1 Megajoule Laser Shot, Step Towards Fusion IgnitionLevitating magnet may yield new approach to clean energy – The biggest “laser beam” built yet, Dr. Evil would approve.

Apple Ipad – various views from industry commentators.

China Is Winning Global Race To Make Clean Energy - Who would have thought?

The BCI X PRIZE: This Time It’s Inner Space - A new X-Prize being setup to advance the electronic/brain interface. Sweet.

New adhesive device could let humans walk on walls - I want to be spiderman!

Scientists Discover New Species of Tyrannosaur - Pretty cool ^^

India Objects To Google Book Settlement - Google having more problems with it’s Books program

Super Strong Metal Foam Discovered - New meta-materials are always cool

Another week, another post. Hope you found it interesting. Peace.

-Odd

“You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one”

 

The Technological Singularity: A brief explanation

The phenomenon that is being called the ‘Technological Singularity’, if or when it happens, will change our lives in a drastic and fundamental way, so what is it exactly?

Scientists use the term singularity to refer to a question to which they don’t have any answers, such as what happens beyond the event horizon of black hole or the condition of the universe before the big bang. We simply don’t have the tools or knowledge to describe these things, so we copout and say that it’s unexplainable.

But technology is explainable, surely? We’re the ones who built it the first place, yes? Well… no, not really. The Technological Singularity will happen when we create a self improving computer system that is ‘smarter’ than a human, even just fractionally smarter. The system then works on itself, improving exponentially until (in a relatively short period of time) it becomes a super-intelligence, vastly more complex and powerful than a human mind. As the super-intelligence will be so far beyond us, or anything we can imagine, we simply can’t predict what sort of impact it will have on our world.

Can you imagine what sort of answers we could get out of such a system? A unifying theory of the universe, perhaps? Faster than light drive technology for our spacecraft? Unlimited clean energy? Or (knowing what we’re like) weapons capable of ever greater destruction? Will the super-intelligence even bother to talk to such limited beings as humans?

A lot of these questions cannot be answered, and others depend a lot on the environment that the singularity arises in. I think we’d all prefer that the singularity gets kicked off by a group of independent scientific researchers rather than a belligerent military and thankfully there are some people working towards that. The Singularity Institute is a forum of scientists working towards speeding up the Singularity and getting it started under peaceful conditions.

Even given the best possible scenario for the Singularity, it will still have a drastic effect on our society. A lot of people are already having problems adapting to the incredible pace of technological change, what will it be like when the Super-Intelligence puts it foot on the gas? We all need to ask ourselves if we’re ready for this, because it is coming… whether we are or not.

In the news:

Options Dwindling For Mars Spirit Rover - NASA’s having serious problems getting it’s little robot friend out of a ditch… a call to AAA (alien automobile association) might be in order ^^

Wii Balance Board Gives $18,000 Medical Device a Run For Its Money – A fine example of gaming making technology more accessible to everybody. Go Nintendo!

Google Phone Could Drive Apple Into Allegiance With Microsoft – for a company with the motto “Don’t be Evil”, Google seems to be leaning towards the dark side quite a lot. First it was the whole drama over China and it’s censorship laws and now they’re pushing Apple into cooperation with the borg? Not cool, guys!

Legend – The first book written by David Gemmel is out in a 25^th anniversary edition. If you haven’t read this yet, do so!

 

Well, there you have it… another post down. If you found it illuminating, entertaining or even just irritating, please use the link below to post a comment.

-Odd

“I'll be more enthusiastic about encouraging thinking outside the box when there's evidence of any thinking going on inside it.” – Terry Pratchett.

 

First Post.... Woot!

Hello world,

Those of you that know me, know that I’ve tried this blogging thing before and that I’ve failed miserably… hopefully this time will be a little more successful ^^.

The reason I’m starting this blog is that at my company (Netsurit) runs a ‘dream workshop’ where we are encouraged to come up with a list of dreams and goals and then work towards them in a structured manner. It’s really quite a cool idea, and it makes the whole corporate drag a little less 1984 and a little more Band of Brothers. Anyway, one of my dreams is to write a book (or a couple books actually, I’ve got a few ideas) but I’m suffering from ‘blank page syndrome’, and I thought that if I can just get into the habit of writing, I can pull it off…. So I’ll be publishing this on OddThoughts and the corporate intranet… hopefully around once a week.

What am I going to be rambling on about? Well…. Whatever I happen to be thinking when I sit down to write, but I should warn you I am the Lord of Geeks, so if technology, transhumanism, quantum mechanics and games of all sorts bore you… you should stop reading now ^^.

Aaaand in other news: (these are snippets, I’ll probably blog in more depth about these topics when I’ve got nothing else to ramble about).

Robotics Prof Fears Rise of Military Robots: I don’t know how many of you keep up with advances in robotics technology, but it really is getting scary (or exciting, depending on your point of view). The US army already have lots of UAV’s and it’s only a matter of time before advances in AI make autonomous robots a reality…. SkyNet anyone?

Turning Work into Play with Online Games: This is a cool idea…. Although, judging by my slow rate of leveling in WOW, I think I’ll stick with a conventional promotions model ^^.

How to Print Living Tissue: A lot of scientists have recently been talking about a longevity tipping point, where the technology to prolong our lives starts advancing faster than we actually age… would it surprise you to know that some estimates put that date at around 20-30 years from now? We might be the human race’s first immortal generation. This article is about another piece of the puzzle.

Augmented Reality To Help Mechanics Fix Vehicles: Just a new use for AR… the line between the digital world and the ‘real’ world is getting blurrier and blurrier every day. Already I think I might live more in the digital realm than I do in so called ‘real’ life… my brain certainly does it’s work there, so it’s going to be interesting to see what effect this sort of cross-over has on our lives.

Ok… that’s it for now… I think that went pretty well, don’t you? I’ll hopefully see you again next week. Same geek time, same geek place. ^^

-Odd

“Peace Sells, but who’s buying?”