Geeks, Games and Greatness - Episode 25

In this episode we discuss MtG cubes, podcasts, various space stuff and Dishonnored Catan.

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Don't forget to check us out in our various online forms:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/GeekGamesGreatness
Odd's Twitter: @OddModlin
Ian's Twitter: @i4n0fd00m
Email: oddcastblog@gmail.com

In The News:

Force field creates invisible multi-touch interface - awesomeness.... This thing can turn any surface into a multi-touch interface.

Android tablet robot - want a robot? there's an app for that.

Rising orbital debris levels - this is a big problem that could potentially stop all our space flight, and as far as I know there's nothing being done about it.

US Navy creates MMO to combat Somali pirates - The US Navy is getting into the crowd sourcing game... hoping that you can come up with a solution to piracy.

Ground effect robotic train - a flying train! not content with high-speed mag-lev... now they'll just make it fly. Very cool.

In The News:

Quantum teleportation breakthrough could herald instantaneousness computing - the idea of quantum teleportaion has been around for a while... but they're actually developing usable applications for the theory.

Robot throws first pitch at a baseball game - all to encourage science and maths education. Robots are cool.

iPhone tracks your location - This has been huge news over the last few weeks.... Apple has since released a new version of iOS that apparently fixes this. If you're using an iPhone/iPad... update your software!

Cracker sized satellites to launch with Space Shuttle Endeavor - A new era in satellite technology? Or just creating more traffic and space-junk in orbit?

Sony Online Gaming Platform Hacked - reports say somewhere around 25 million users had their information stolen... scary, scary, scary things.

In The News:

Google teaches computers regret - google is again pushing the envelope, this time in the field of AI

Chinese Space Program confounded by X-Prize - the capitalist model of privatising the space program seems to be paying dividends.

Robotic jet fighter passes two test flights - the first truly robotic war machine, no pilot, no remote control... it does it's own thing... does this sound like skynet to anyone else?

Crowd-sourced choir sings over the internet - such a cool thing!! 2000 people from around the world all pulled together into a single choir.

NASA gives out funding to private space firms - more on the private space industry... I want to holiday in earth orbit... how cool would that be?

50 Years of human space flight

This week celebrates the 50th aniversary of human travel in space. 50 Years ago Yuri Gagarin became the first man to leave earth's atmosphere. That was a huge accivement then, and even in today's scope it is truly epic. We are no longer bound exclusively to the planet on which we grew. It's probably the biggest step in the evolution of humanity since we discovered how to use tools.

But in the years since then, we seem to have lost our will to explore space in person. Sure, we're sending out a lot of robots into the universe... but we're retiring the Space Shuttle and NASA is seeing massive budget cuts. It's expensive to send people into space, keep them alive and them bring them back safely... but does it really count as exploration if we're not the ones doing it?

I think we're missing an opportunity here: Space exploration has the potential to act as a unifying force for humanity, to bring us all together for a common goal. The International Space Station is a good example of this, but in an environment of shrinking budgets and little political will, I'm worried that programs like this will become a thing of the past.

Thankfully the Chinese (it's always the Chinese) are still spending a lot of money on space exploration, and they may be the new leaders in humanities efforts to touch the stars.

On another note: There's a poll over on the right hand side of the page... I think it would be interesting to get your feedback on some stuff, so please check it out ^^. Thanks for reading, and please share this with your friends/family/imaginary friends.

-Odd

"Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the drug store, but that's just peanuts to space." - Douglas Adams

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:

World largest radio telescope built - at least until the Square Kilometer Array gets approved

US Military to cloud source new military vehicle design - .... my version would transform into a giant robot.

Biodegradable sneakers - I'm all for green technology and recycling is essential to our continued existence... but biodegradable shoes? really?

Researchers create computer that fits on a pen tip - tiny computers... very cool. I want one attached to my car keys that will beep at me when I scream "GOD DAMN IT, WHERE THE F#*& ARE MY KEYS!?!?!"

Two planets found sharing one orbit - which entirely sinks our current theory on how planets form... and our definition of such... sorry Pluto, we might have been a bit hasty.

In The News:

Manchester airport introduces hologram staff - that's right, if you travel through Manchester airport, you can be directed, assisted and reminded of security procedures by a helpful hologram... so cool!

520 day mock Mars mission nears landing - they're doing a dry run... that must mean we're pretty close to actually going... anyone besides me want to go to Mars?

Google beats Bing at Jeopardy questions - who would win if search engines played this popular US game show? Google of course!

Egyptians find new ways to get online - with all the unrest in Egypt, the government shut down the internet... which is troubling in and of itself... but as this article shows: The flow of information is far more robust than most people think.

Fernando Torres signs for Chelsea for 50 million pounds - 50 MILLION POUNDS?! For a guy that can kick a ball around a little? As signs of the apocalypse go... in my book this one is right up there with rains of blood and the appearance of the angel of death.

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

Taking on the Big Boys

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Even though I joined the evil Microsoft empire (resistance if futile), I do enjoy seeing somebody... anybody... take on this multinational goliath and win. So on the off chance that you don't know about them, this week I'm going to tell you about some easy alternatives to Microsoft products. 

The first Microsoft product you should replace is your web browser. Even though IE9 is a lot better than it's earlier incarnations (I'm using the beta for work and it's pretty good), it still can't hope to hold a candle to Google's Chrome bowser, which is my personal favorite. Microsoft is under serious threat in the bowser market, so if you're still using IE, trade up to chrome and be prepared to be astonished by it's silky smooth operation and lightning speed.

Next in line is your Microsoft Office suite. You've probably already paid for this (unless you're a pirate, Aarrr!), without ever considering that there might be alternatives. There are alternatives... in fact, they're free! The first stop for me would be OpenOffice, even if they've recently lost 33 of their top developers to the new solution,LibreOffice... Either way you get a free product that does the exact same things as Microsoft Office.

If downloading and configuring your office product doesn't sound like your cup of tea, why not keep your head in the clouds and use Google's office solution: Google Docs. It runs right in your web browser, so you can access your files from anywhere at any time and with broadband and mobile internet in South Africa only set to improve, it's not a bad bet at all.

So expand your thinking a little, have a look at the incredible Open Source alternatives on the 'net and stop paying 'The Man' such a huge chunk of cash... unless you're paying me to do something Microsoft related... then it's necessary.

In the News:

Electric car recharges in 6 minutes - One of the greatest drawbacks to 'green' cars is being solved.

The Pope warns against a digital world - .... well... he would... wouldn't he?

Military "Laser Beams" getting closer to mass production - so they're still so big they have to be mounted on a  truck... who cares? they're Lasers!!! so cool.

NASA Survey Suggests Earth-Sized planets are common - and a good thing too, since we're close to befouling ours beyond hope of redemption.

NASA's Mars Rover Spirit Finds evidence of Subsurface water - so a colony on mars is possible... if you were offered a one-way ticket to the red planet... would you go? .... I think I would.

Kindle Allowing Chinese Unfettered Access To the Web - Awesome! go Amazon!!!!

Word of the Week:

Hypocrite (noun) -
1: A person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion
2: A person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings

Another week, another post... Thanks to everyone who gives my random scratchings a read... I do appreciate it. If you liked it (or disliked it), post a comment with the links below.... and I nearly forgot... check out my friend's blog Business Minds. :)
-Odd

"The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries."
-Winston Churchill

In the News

Kinect for PC - I can't wait to get my hands on one of these

Emotion recognition in robots - this should make it far easier to interact with robots and machines... imagine if the M$ paper-clip had this?

Amateur discovers 4 planets without a telescope - ordinary people doing extraordinary things... /inspired

5 gadgets to watch from CES - a small report from the Customer Electronics Show... cool stuff

10 websites to watch in 2011 - some say we're heading into another internet bubble... but there are people doing some very cool things.

In The News:

New solar fuel machine 'mimics plant life' - it's amazing how often our great scientific discoveries are blatant plagiarisms of nature.

Top 10 Video games of 2010 - not sure how much I agree with this list... but it's still cool

Real life 'Frogger' ends in tragedy - BAKA! Bill Hicks would be jumping for joy.

Space weather forecasters looking for big activity - Our Sun is about to go into a very energetic period, apparently... who's been giving him Red Bull?

AI to transform the web - this according to a Russian tycoon... at least they won't Troll.... right?

Getting into the spirit

Wow.... Christmas has really ninja'd me this year, I'm left working till the end of the year and not having finished any of my gift shopping. Oi-vey!

If you're expecting a gift from me this season, don't be surprised if you get an I.O.U. ... but then, if you're a friend or relative of mine, you probably know me well enough that you don't need that warning, do you?

I'd like to wish everyone a happy festive season and urge you to experience the holiday in it's true meaning. So instead of spending all of your time stressing about presents, family politics or getting the house 'just right' for visitors: take a step back and enjoy being with your family and friends. You can't have quality time with someone if your mind is a thousand miles away running through a department store trying to get those last minute presents.

In The News:

Microsoft kills Office anti-piracy program - they've realised that irritating their customers isn't a good thing? ..... nah.... must be another reason.

US Army considers giving all soldiers a smart phone - Are you at war? There's an app for that.

North Korea warns that any conflict with the south would go nuclear - freaking scary.

Japan's low-cost space program is pushing boundaries - Sugoi! big ups.

First measurement of the magnetic field in the earth's core - of course, measurement is only the first (very small) step towards understanding.

Word of the Week:

Mephitic - Adjective

1. poisonous; foul


2. foul-smelling; putrid

Happy holidays everyone.... have fun, but be smart! Don't drink and drive and watch yourselves on the road... I insist that you all are alive next year to keep reading this blog... so if you get yourself killed, I'll never talk to you again!

-Odd

"The Supreme Court has ruled that they cannot have a nativity scene in Washington, D.C. This wasn't for any religious reasons. They couldn't find three wise men and a virgin." - Jay Leno

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

 

WebComics vs. WebManga

You might not realise it, but there has been a debate raging around certain nodes of the internet. Namely: what is the difference between WebComics and WebManga. There have been panels about this at numerous conventions, blogs and rants by cartoonists, writers and fans... so what's it all about?

WebComics seem to follow a more western style, both in artwork and composition, something like the Sunday newspaper cartoons: each strip has a limited number of panels (usually 3 or 4), is usually self contained (doesn't have a story-line that must be read to understand the comic) and will most often provide one joke per strip. Some examples of WebComics would be ThreePanelSoul, MacHall, RealLife and AppleGeeks.

WebManga, on the other hand, follows more of a Japanese theme, with Manga-inspiredartwork and a complex story line. This is where it gets a little confusing, because if we want to avoid a third category called WebGraphicNovels, we must add the comics with a western drawing style and complex stories to the WebManga group. Examples are stuff like MegaTokyo, the Order of the Stick or ErfWorld.

So that's my definition: WebComics are a joke a strip, while WebManga have more complicated stories... but that's just my two cents, what do you think?

In the News:

Iceland Volcano's Ash Grounds European Air Travel - I'm sure you all know about this... it's insane what a huge effect it's had.... there are dinosaur extinction theories that start remarkably like this.

Using Your Thought-Controlled iPhone to Dial Home - sugoi!!!! told you it was coming.

China hackers stole key Google program - Google's single authentication code was stolen... supposedly by Chinese hackers... they've changed the code, but it's still a massive worry for your privacy.

Fatal Flaw Discovered In Invisibility Cloaks - aw... :( that sucks.

SETI To Release Data To the Public - the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence tries crowd-sourcing... cool ^^

And there you have it, another week, another post. Tune in next week: Same geek time, same geek place.

-Odd

"You know what they call a quarter-pounder in France?"

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

 

On violent protests and censorship

This week has seen a continuation of what seems to be a national theme for those of us in South Africa: the violent protest. The latest has come from students down in Durban, protesting for better bus transport and food at the university, but my personal favorite was a couple years ago when a group protesting against poor public transport burned trains and buses... it's utterly fantastic... I find that I'm simply not able to grasp the mentality that would be capable of such dark humor.

At first I thought that a stronger police action was needed. Break up unregistered protests before they turn violent, deny protest permits to groups or organisations that have a history of violence and come down HARD on anyone who does get violent. Sounds good, doesn't it? Well... maybe not.

Violence, as Asmiov wrote, is the last refuge of the incompetent, but sometimes it may be necessary. It can be argued that for a long time in South Africa it was necessary, and so it will take a long time to filter out of out society. What worries me is that it's the youth that is getting violent... far more violent than their preceding generation, this has to be a failure of education... which imperils our fragile outlook for the future.

On the other hand, we have the case of Google vs China. The search mega-corporation has finally stood up the dictatorial state, redirecting all users in China to the unfiltered search of their Hong Kong site. China has since censored these results, blocking searches or results as suits them. Did the Chinese students embark on a violent protest to reclaim their right to information (which, personally i think is far more important than an earlier bus ride or easy access to sandwiches)? No... there has been, as far as I can see, zero reaction from the Chinese public.

There must exist some reasonable middle ground somewhere between the mob ruled chaos and the Orwellian government control, but how do we judge? And once we've found the blueprint for such a prefect society, we need to introduce it to the single greatest problem facing good governance..... people.

In the news:

First Flight For SpaceShip Two - Virgin Galactic's new spaceship did it's first atmospheric test flight on Monday... we're getting close to the fabled commercial space flight.

Does This Headline Know You're Reading It? - the building of Text 2.0, where whatever you're reading can tell where you're looking and add video, sound, translation or explanation as needed. It also raises some question about how much we really want our computers to know. Cool article.

Has Emily Howell Passed the Musical Turning Test? - WOW!!!!!! you have to read this, and listen to the music! An AI computer program that creates wholely original, beautiful music!

NASA Mars Rover Getting Smarter as it Gets Older - a great application of AI.

To Mars and back -- as real as it gets - a group of astronoughts do a full scale simulation of a mars mission.

Hey... I managed to post before friday, Woot! I haven't done much work on the Necromunda board, and my internet connection at home is down (thank you telkom), so I haven't been playing wow.... missing my gorgeous lady.

-Odd

The three laws of journalism are:

1) Inform the public of matters of public import.

2) Entertain the audience, when it does not interfere with the first law.

2) Sneak in puns when it does not interfere with the first two laws, unless it's a really good one.

-Mat Boyd (http://www.threepanelsoul.com/)