Can you See What I'm Saying?

So I am scoping this blog about smartmobs, and scanning through articles on suberversive behavior like sharing one supermarket discount card to screw up their system. (No not that!) And I come across this little item that first leads me to think "Uhm...yeah....too much weed.", until I see that the idea about dolphins communicating with each using word pictures, being a legitamate notion parlayed into a technology that claims to have the lofty goal of creating "Adaptive Media" technology to produce high quality, "mass customized" (video) media without any effort by the user." Which means for you bleary eyed web surfers, that they will make it so easy for your average guy to edit and shoot video, that it will become a new form of mass communication. | Visit the Garage Cinema Reasearch Group to learn more.

Caffinated and Clean

Caffinated and Clean
(This one is for Marcy, a contributor here at whuffie.com who I now call "10 shot".)
Soap with caffeine. Yeah, because Americans don't get enough caffeine in their diets. Get some here at ThinkGeek.
Via newly bloggrolled inventor and extreme tech fiend at FlashEnabled.com

Hey wait, I just found this link from the NewScientist about impregnating sarranwrap with anti-bacterial natural substances, and it gave me an idea; utensils and containers with caffeine in them. You could get maximum caffeine in the morning with caffinated cups and spoons. How about a hat that pumps it into your brain directly?

"Do all things in moderation."

Segway revisited

Segway revisited
I think these things are a great innovation and can't wait to see them proliferate. Anything to correct the insane traffic problems our cities are plagued with. These things are hardcore sci-tech, yet they have been written off by many as the overpriced dangerous brainchild of a mad inventor in typical resist that which is new fashion. Likely this is due in part from the long sited inventor Dean Kamen who initially has pitched his new invention on government organizations rather than sports and technology enthusiasts. Blogrolled enthusiast Steve has been recently agitated by the new P-Series, which he claims should be released in July. This new model is smaller lighter and less expensive the I-series which was recently featured as an Amozon.com special. See photos and chat here at segwaychat.com
Also read this story about what really happened (be sure to fully accept or ignore the flagrant political opinion at the end.) in the overrated Segway mishap involving the president. | link to poor photos here at US news

"You want the moon? I'll throw a lasso around it and pull it down."

This idea was thought of long ago by The Little Prince and Jimmy Stewart:
A big rope up to the moon. Seems simple enough. Of course they would take several miles of cable made from carbon nanotubes. This "Space Elevator" made of superstrong cables strung from a platform on earth to a satellite in space. The cables, made of carbon nanotubes, are being developed now and will be 30 times stronger than steel. Full story here at Space.com

Okay so the story talks about cables to a satellite. But why not to the moon? Why not a cable system to a bunch of planets. Oh I know they spin in eliptical orbits, but that is where a rotating tether would come in handy add a littlee computer aided gyroscopics, it's all good.

Bush and Transportation

Bush and Transportation
The Bush admin. moves into the new era via hydrogen in apparent opposition to those who villified them as pandering to big oil. Read this story that points out that these hydrogen fuel cells will be created by new nuclear plants possibly located here in Idaho. Although this may dismay enviromentalists the verdict isn't out yet. And as the article points out, "..all of the waste produced by all of the world's nuclear reactors could fit in a two-story building, on an area the size of a basketball court." Although the United States has 100+ operational reactors, we have not built a new one in over 20 years.
In addition, the president himself was seen riding a Segway earlier this week according to this story at ABCNEWS.com

The New Math Time

This great report from Disney's Discover by Allen Burdeck about molecular, and nano technology converging with yet another scientific breakthrough in the area or time; new laser technology has allowed the smallest measurement of time (5 femetoseconds) to get even smaller. A half a femtosecond known as an "attosecond"(10-18 second). According to the report what this means for us laypeople is the ability to enter matter without leaving a mark. It is superb for drilling tiny holes just bellow the surface of solid matter. These pulses are being used to etch optical waveguides inside panes of glass—a development that could revolutionize data storage and telecommunications and eye surgery. How about that heads-up display, femtosecond style? | Full Story from Discover.com here

To realize the value of ten years:
Ask a newly divorced couple.

To realize the value of four years:
Ask a college graduate.

To realize the value of one year:
Ask a student who has failed a final exam.

To realize the value of nine months:
Ask a mother who gave birth to a stillborn.

To realize the value of one month:
Ask a mother who has given birth to a premature baby.

To realize the value of one week:
Ask an editor of a weekly newspaper.

To realize the value of one hour:
Ask the lovers who are waiting to meet.

To realize the value of one minute:
Ask a person who has missed the train, bus or plane.

To realize the value of one-second:
Ask a person who has survived an accident.

To realize the value of one millisecond:
Ask a Korean Olympic skater.

To realize the value of a Femtosecond:
Ask a laser surgeon.

To realize the value of a attosecond:
Ask an information storage engineer.

To realize the value of zeptosecond:
Ask a nuclear engineer.

CoffeeGeek (*This is a test)

Our first non-virtual meeting of the minds happened last week with the contributors to this blog who all happened to be in the same town. The coffee was good. No manager's freaked about us taking pictures, and other than coffee stories and our kids we discussed:

Creating an ad-hoc committee of developers to "whitepaper" a whuffie system.
• How that system would work?
- Peer to Peer file sharing networking. Short term and long term operations.
- Unitization: accrual,
• What would be the benefit of creating a system?
- Benefit to the developers (Other than allot of whuffie points.)
- Benefit to users.

What we determined:
A rough draft of a whitepaper and a rough GUI is the first step before diving in. Also, using wiki for development.
Anyone wanting to join in is welcome. Look for that white paper and GUI samples soon.

Follow the link to see a slideshow>>

Click here for slideshow

I Know You Did It...

Your brain told me so. A fascinating article about the concern over emerging technologies that map the brain and as a result can detect "guilty knowledge". Talk about opening up a gigantic can of ethical worms. A lot of the questions that leapt into my mind were penned in the article: "We could have pictures of everybody's head on file. Is that a good idea? Who would run it? How would you get access to such a thing? Somebody may say, 'I want to take a picture of my head to show you that I'm innocent, but it may cost something.' Will it be just a gimmick for the rich? Should we insist that everybody have fair access if it comes up for legal matters?"

A new branch of ethics, called neuroethics, is taking a front seat to see that society understands the implications of neuroscience and the new devices that it enables. In a related article, the authors of "Bioethics and the Brain" (from the June issue of IEEE Spectrum), voiced that the consequences of new technologies are hard to predict, however - "Even if we can never fully anticipate the impact of employing these technologies, it is important to try." I agree.

Gear Suit

Here is a nice peak into the future of the armed forces and their future gear melding into their unifrom as early as 2011. While I raise eyebrows at a helmet that covers the face for infantry, and mines that hop to new locations (aren't we trying to get rid of mines not make them smarter?), I am gung-ho for technology that could help to save lives, and improve the qaulity of living for our soldiers. Knowing that very often battlefield innovation finds it's way back to public life. | Full Story Here
Via Blogdex

Why make Whuffie?

The memorializing of The Flock of Seagulls and their song "I Ran" from a post on this blog I culled from the random links on Blogger.com reminds me of why I believe a real mechanism for Whuffie is necessary.
While royalties from music services like BMI and ASCAP are paid to some musicians, many never secured proper rights, and have whole underground followings but never know. A way to express ones appreciation in units without monitization could be truly useful.
I am getting the idea that such a system might be a labor of love and not a monetary venture.

Scenario:
Lisa Marie Presley gets auto whuffie for just being Elvis's daughter, additional sympathy whuffie for losing her dad to drugs at an early age, loses points for marrying Micheal Jackson, and divorcing Nicolas Cage. How does this help? Who decides, if anyone? Would Lisa's Whuffie get plinked automatically from Micheal's bad public whuffie?

If your like me you don't care about celebs'. Likely you don't share my enthusiasm for Flock of Seaguls. But what about the neighbor who comes and visits your old grandma and brings treats, kids and joy to her last years of life? She works as a waitress and you eventually move away. How do you quantify your appreciation? Traditionally it is through communication or deeds, but we, regardless of it being good or bad, in today's fast pace lifestyles demand new tools for human interaction. Whuffie could be such a tool.

While venture capitolists do not get wiggly about "labor of love" projects, home grown self motivated deals take time to come to realization. Someone would have to provide funding for such a venture at some point. Which is why many groups have went to the commercial models to provide income. They appear to be having some success in applying social software to business applications. (though true success will be measured in time.) I would like to believe that if you create something truly useful the cash will come. Then again maybe someone will just expand on your free labor and the cash will come to them.

Robotic Vacuum Cleaner

The world's first robotic vacuum cleaner has gone on sale in the UK. The price tag? About $1650 USD. The Trilobite apparently has no problem scooting under beds and tables, etc. and uses sound waves just like bats do to avoid running into stuff. Kind of reminds me of the Jetsons. "Machines do the working, machines do run, if they need anything they push a button and it's done." I want one!!!

Idaho Gem clone

Born May 4th of this year, the first mule was cloned in Moscow, Idaho. A project of the University of Idaho and the first born of three mules named "Idaho Gem". The idea has a slew of good ol boys with their panties in a bunch. While horse racers salivate at the idea of cloning the hoofprint that was a cash "cow", breeders claim this will make horse breeding and racing purely a rich man's game. Horse breeders also claim that cloning will produce poor breeds. The team of cloners well ahead of the pack, estimates 7 other teams internationally are working towards equine cloning. Budget cuts are forcing them to be creative in funding the continuing project. The U of I team claims they took 200 hundred fertilizations to produce 7 foals, in comparison to the nearly 300 that produced "Dolly" the sheep".| Local coverage | complete Dept. of Ag story in PDF

Geeks Rejoice!

Geeks Rejoice!
"The Matrix: Reloaded" does it right. Trinity's power grid hack shows her using the free Nmap utility to sucessfully gain root. Nmaps author, Fyodor, noticed the sequence and had this to say:
"All was going well, until Trinity needed to do some hacking," Fyodor wrote to CNET News.com in an e-mail interview. "This always ruins movies for me, as they almost always pass off ridiculous 3D animated eye-candy scenes as hacking. But then Trinity pulled out my Nmap program and did it right! I was so shocked that I almost did the 'r00t dance' right there in the theater!"

TV for pets

TV for pets
While the deadline comes down to a vote for more media conglomeration and it's advocates claim that the legislation on hand will take away from quality television, we have people making TV for pets. What does this say? I assume there is a market for this but it is wrong, wrong, wrong. Cats already have too many distractions. They are already too aloof and self centered. If cats could be goth they would be. TV for dogs is more reasonable, theirs is a species I can identify with, easily pleased, loyal to those who give snacks. A far greater disposition for television viewing.
I can hear it now "My house is ridden with mice..", "Shut off your cable so muffy will get of the couch."
This is just too futuristic for me. | read the full story here

Got Web?

Josh's post about cloning endangered species led me to consider bio "activism" and the new onslought of genomic political posturing and information we the public will consume. I also was reminded of a story that ran awhile back that had a lot of shock value but seemed to garner no reaction from a bored and conditioned(?) public:
"Spider Silk from Goats" in which spider-dragline filament, from which arachnids spin their webs and is one of the strongest materials in the world-many times stronger than steel who's primary use would be bulletproof vests is harvested from a herd of New Zealand miniature goats that have a silk-producing gene added to their genom.

Doesn't the fact that one gram-approximately a teaspoon of silk-can be stretched to almost three miles coming from a gnetically altered herd of goats concern anyone else but me? After watching my two year old literally scream during a family viewing of "Eight Legged Freaks" (my new cult favorite) I am convinced that bio nerds paling with millitary types could be a troubling playground friendship for us fragile flesh and bone type mammals. Oh, I know how they will assure you that this under the strictest of contolled enviroments, and that my fears are only a product of my ignorance of genetic science, but what if there is a mistake! It is not like the scientific, medical, and millitary communities have a spotless record free of mishaps and misgivings.

"Gee, kids what a nice day at the petting zoo..", "Why does that goat have Nexia Labs tatooed on it's butt?...", "Wait a minute why does that goat have fangs and just climbed up a wall and jumped 30 feet! Why is he wrapping that toddler in silk and hanging her on the barn rafters?!"

Welome to the genomic era. Okay while I am aware that science can mean good things for us bi-ambular hominids, what is troubling me is the mild burp and yawn that the general public has contibuted in response. But not me I am ranting on my blog to my 1000 a day plus visitors. (okay so you are burping and yawning too.)

Clones May Save Endangered Species

Clones May Save Endangered Species
Popular Science interviewed representatives from Advanced Cell Technology (ACT) and the Wildlife Conservation Society Institute regarding the practice of cloning to save endangered species. This April ACT cloned a Banting Cow -- it was the first successful clone of an endangered species. The proposed practice of routinely cloning endangered species has raised the question: Should we clone to save a species if it's fate is to live in a zoo as some sort of living museum piece? Bitchun Animal World, anyone?

A retro treat for Disney fans

Visit this link for a peek at a musical record map from Mattel and Disney. Be sure to view the full map illustration and download the audio clips.

Top roping is for Neanderthals

Top roping is for Neanderthals

In follow up to a prior post "Sticky Science" this group of developers has created a Gecko exo skeleton. Called the Geckomat. Check out their vision, concept, technique, photos and more at their website. I want a housefly exoskeleton, that would be cool. Taking off backwards, seeing multiple camera angles of everything, buzzing around town. Pooping on things.
UPDATE: Russian developers create "Gecko Tape"...

Avoiding a Space Pearl Harbor

Avoiding a Space Pearl Harbor
While I would have to reject the silly notion that this is "another American ploy to dominate the world", the US has taken liberties to control close to earth space to protect from enemy use to harm US interests according to this article. Sounds like 007 Bond 1979 movie Moonraker to me.

"Just like the Moonraker knows
His dream will come true someday
I know that you are
Only a kiss away.."

Via Cyberfictionreview

HP to create "This is your life" wearables

HP to create "This is your life" wearables
In followup of sorts from this post on an MIT's student who is testing a turtleshell like backpack that records video/audio of your whole life computer hardware conglomerate Hewlett-Packerd is taking a slightly different spin and developing a camera possibly mounted in glasses that photojournals your life. I believe this serves as a future trend toward invisable technology, ratifying the observation that when technology becomes transparent it is truly successful.
| Full story
Via Roland Piquepaille's Technology Trends

Kick me my server is down

Kick me my server is down
The Baard gives us an exclusive story on miniature portable servers from Intel.
My question is why carry it around when you can have it implanted? Morons.
Via Smartmobs

bio cyborg mods

This guy claims "What we have always feared we have already become..zombies and cyborgs" an artist going by the name of STELARC has this interesting "whitpaper" on adding an extra biological ear to your head or arm but using it for digital speech and adding web capability and broadcast streaming audio. While there has always been a connection between madness and muse, I am led to question, what kind of negative impact will technology have on the mentally ill? Could it potentially enable them to turn themselves into cyborg like creatures, with a Slurpee dispenser in ther hip and a Space Invaders screen on thier chest? Would the only medical ethic standing between the head case and the bio vending machine be the almighty dollar? Could globalism bring prices down in that area too, making one stop bio surgery stations a common site in Santiago? "We replace kidneys and install bio hardrives"

Cognitive Carry-along

Concerned about keeping that whuffie level up? Be sure and check your MiniCog before going out...

The National Space Biomedical Research Institue (NSBRI) is working on "MiniCog," an application that evaluates your level of cognative wherewithall. Dr. Stephen Kosslyn of NSBRI sums it up:

“Difficult tasks, such as an astronaut performing a space walk or a surgeon doing a complicated operation, require the utmost attention and vigilance. We’re developing a way for people to test themselves and make sure they are mentally up to the challenge. Test results can help users determine if they need to eat, sleep, exercise, or better focus their thoughts on the task at hand.”

Read the NSBRI news release.

Onboard Computer

Onboard Computer
Well it seems like a given that auto makers would start putting usable computer systems in cars, and there are a number of them out there. However, why hasn't some enterprising company like COMP USA or Circuit City or audio chains started selling the service of installing computer systems in cars? It seems like it would be an instant cash cow. Check out this site dashpc.com and you have to scope the photos of this x-box/Unix mod.

Recreating the Magic Kindom?

Recreating the Magic Kindom?
While I am not a huge Disney fan, although much of the old school Walt magic brought good things to my life, many of the readers of the book Down and Out In the Magic Kingdom, are as well as it's author Cory Doctorow. If you are one of those fans you might want to take a peek at this story from MSNBC which speaks of the "struggling" empire, it's leaders, and it's products. They claim they are looking at creating a new image for Disney. Why not break it up into ad-hoc groups and departments that re envision everything finding special people like Walt did? Oh yeah, stock holders and board members want bottom lines, I forgot. But at least Cory's book could be art imatating real life and we could all hope for a renewal. We will see how Pirates of the Caribbean does and Haunted Mansion...with Eddie Murphy? Matrix will likely fare well with thei game based on a movie, why shouldn't Disney do well with movies based on rides?
I tossed around the idea of putting a donate link to send me to Disney World, as it was an unfulfilled childhood dream. But begging just doesn't seem right, and I am not sure if I even want to go anymore. I would rather see a child who has that passion for mystery, invention and adventure go. I think my time a has come and went.
UPDATE: "Finding Nemo" movie gets good reviews

What kind of camera can work 86 million miles away?

The kind our tax dollars pay for. While I would not characterize them as stunning or breathe taking, the idea is stirring, Mars Global Surveyor sends us photos of earth from mars, new perspective on our place in the cosmos. Read more and see for yourself at nationalgeographic.com here

Celebrating happy 4th

Celebrating happy 4th

This contributor to this blog is happy to announce the 4 years of wedded matrimony to the sweetest and smartest lady I know.
Although we fight like cats and dogs, her smile and looking into her eyes is the light of my life. Her loving approval is my greatest reward.

Blue collar redefined?

Blue collar redefined?
Very interesting note about a possible shift in labor classism by Glen Reynolds at MSN. The point being that with desktop work being shipped out of the country, manual labor could have a sudden increase in value. I think it will happen, and it is an overdue correction on a false notion that formal education being superior to learned skill is an absolute. I do draw a slightly different conclusion then the columnist though, knowing how to prosper in a corporate setting and manual labor skills will become the new virtue.
via futurismic

UPDATE: Check this more pessimistic post by Rick DeMent on jobs flowing out of the country. Personally, while I believe in a free and open market, trade with other countries, and that their is a new globalism, I think the willingness to go for the lowest dollar and send job out of the US- even when there is a shortage of skilled workers here, is irresponsible. One example: I have a friend and former client, who opted to send some design work out of the country to India, it was a much lower cost. With a little trouble and behind deadline it was completed in a good way. I am not offended, because business is business (and art is soooo subjective) but, he just weekend the local and national economy and strengthened India's. I think this should be allowed, but there should be some sort of return or interest to our country when we hire out, and that people should use more discretion in these matters. 30 years or a 100 years ago there would be no question about this, as even the very rich were aware of the poor in our country and would not turn a blind eye to them. Instead of a stockholders approving work transfer overseas, maybe they should consider taking a loss once in a while and putting money into training the poor. While I know some traders and investors would scoff at that remark, some things should be done because they are right, not just because they will make us money. This used to be common sense. Rick is right about "hidden costs" too. My wife just called and is trying to cancel a check that was lost or stolen, and the lady she was talking to was from Pakistan and likely at a call center in India, and could only repeat what her screen prompt said. She ended up going to the bank and talking to the branch manager. You get what you pay for, and we are getting a new bank.

(OT) Lawyers ain't all bad

You have to pop over and read this post about the day in the life of a lawyer- okay it was not a normal day but it is a blog must read. Made my day brighter. TPB at Unbillablehours your my hero. (Off topic other than this is the type of first hand literature released in near real time that blogging technology is all about and that the NYT will never be able to replicate.)

Go out in style Go out in a 'pod

Go out in style Go out in a 'pod
When you die you can't take your Ipod with you however, you can take your EcoPod to the grave...literally.
A holistic mystical flavored coffin made of 100% recycled paper and bedecked with various nature/pagan decor from the other side of the pond. If you are over 6' your out of luck though. I think they should just have everyone play a game that sucks you into an incinerator like Logan's Run. Or maybe recycle the biomatter to feed the poor like in Soylent Green. (Okay I am not really that insensitive, I worked for a cemetery for 6 years, but any excuse to mention two of my favorite sci-fi flicks.) While I like the idea of alternative deathcare products as the industry is seriously backward ingrown and run by mom and pops and mega corps, the EcoPod just doesn't seem sturdy enough to deliver me into the arms of Saint Peter, I want wood or maybe if the EcoPod floats, put me to sea in a rain of flaming arrows.

Find Stuff Fast!

I just added a search to the site so that you can find stuff without sifting through all the archives...okay I added it so I can find stuff without sifting through all the archives. But you can use it as well. If you are not familiar with Atomz, check it out it rocks. They program custom search engines for websites and they have a free one with no advertising as well.

Follow up to Tron

In the "making of" portion of the Tron DVD,
one of the things that drove the original concepts behind the movie were many poeple who were not "about the money or the fame", or even success, they just knew making the movie would be cool, fortunately Disney bankrolled it, and it had modest returns in the box office. Would it not be great to show those folks my appreciation for a job well done through punching in a vote that translated to thier Whuffie readers? A virtual pat on the back.

One of the other things that Lisberger mentioned on the disc, was that his concept was to get artists involved with this project because the fact was that computer programmers and cgi guys were not that creative. He firmly believed in teaming the techno geeks with the creatives and it paid off in a large way. It pushed the animateers into learning cgi applications for thier work, and computer graphics were pushed beyond thier normal boundries resulting in what producer Mike Kushkin said was " technology 2 or 3 years ahead of it's time".

That is the point of this blog. As a creatives, we do not have the industry savvy of Tim Oren, the writing prowess of Cory Doctorow, the financial intrests of OpenCola, Social Text or other social rep IPOs, the the knowledge of power laws like Ross Mayfield or Adina Levin, but we do have creative vision, my hope is to dialogue on a the simple implementation of a Whuffie system at best, and at worst help the average'Joe to decode what all this hooey is about. What is in it for us? Whuffie? I just think it should be done. But maybe if the right people like the way we think they will hire us to as creative consultants and producers.

After some thought I have decided that the focus of that system though very multi-faceted should be social recognition of achievment as "Our current social system does not formerly recognize this, and often attention-wealth comes too late, as in the case of artists, engineers, or humanitarians who recieve recognition after their demise."

Therefore, political whuffie is not that important, because who cares about their current political affilliation if they have achieved something that is great for humanity. My hope would be that most would opt out of stating thier political affiliations, unless it was important to them. Reagan was once a Communist, Al Gore was a Republican, but the internet was invented and the Berlin wall fell. This reward type system would both point out human achievement and encourage good works regardless of party or ideology.

This seems to be the focus of the decidedly commercial affero.org so I am going to do some study on what they are doing.

Tron reloaded

Tron reloaded
If your like me, the more hype around a movie the less it interests me, maybe it is street smarts, maybe something deeper and self aggrandizing, but Matrix Reloaded is mildly of interest to me. Not because of it's great effects or cool sci-fi story line, but because I like movies, and I think it might entertain me. However, in lew of standing in long lines, I went to the video store and rented the classic Tron with then young Jeff Bridges. (speaking of the computer revolution) This was the a classic Disney investment, that showcased early Walt-style innovation in place of big budgets. Director and writer Steven Lisberg was running a small moneyless adhoc animation studio that was tanking after their first big job flopped when the Olympics were canceled. He came up with a benchmark process that inspired Toystory and today's CGI movie craze. While the video game was better than the movie, the movie was light years ahead of it's time visually and was the first showcase of computer generated art. There is a rumor that they will do a 2nd Tron movie (How about a trilogy?). Rent the DVD, take the time to watch the special features. Learn more here at tron-sector.com

Historical framing and whuffie politics

"2 U (under the sea)
Mark how the telegraph motions to me,
2 U (under the sea)
Signals are coming along
With a wag, wag, wag;
The telegraph needle is vibrating free
And every vibration is telling to me
How they drag,drag,drag
the telegraph cable along."
James Clerk Maxwell The father of modern physics (written when the transatlantic cable was laid.)

I was talking with my wife about technology and convergence, and the conversation began with the political change in the 1700's with The American Romantic Movement, the industrialization of the 1800's, and the scientific convergence in mid 1900's of the atomic era trains,plains, and autos, and how relative that is to the latest convergence of computing and communications. I have been pondering my suspicion that these are becoming accelerated from 100, 50, 25, year intervals to what appears to be 15,10 and 5 year intervals. In this process industry and investors are quick to translate new technology into the last great benchmark. Going back to the Revolution 1 E-litterati like Ross Mayfield have picked up on the social and political ramifications of convergence, (though decidedly left). So I wonder about the new genomic era which appears to be realized in the next 5-10 years, and what that will entail. This leads me to comment on the networking process that would be potentially realized with a Whuffie system. Imagine being able to quickly locate, and contact multiple human resources on a global level without all the time and expense, and constraint of today's networking systems. To date I have discussed the trust measurement, currency or unit value, and network value factors of a literal Whuffie system. In the vein of left handed and right handed Whuffie, what would the political ramifications be? While finding someone's political affiliations is often dubious, or done after the fact, as in the case of a dating relationship, business partnering, or hobbyist/enthusiast- How would it affect relationships if you knew of someone's political affiliation ahead of time, would that not attend to polarize and isolate groups. Or worse would this have the affect of compromising our democracy , with potentially entire state and federal agencies, corporations, and groups sifting whuffie databases and cherry picking. But then again would that not just be an acceleration of a process already in place with unions, voter registrations, districting? Would legislation be imposed to keep this from happening? What type of positive effects on politics could Whuffie have?

Loud clothing just got louder

Very cool luminous clothing story at PCworld
scope the manufacturers:
Electric Plaid
Luminex
Elektex

Also scope her write up on artificial memory covering 1945 Memex and memory storage today. Tastey.

Via guest blogger and robot queen Karen Marcello on BoingBoing.net

Sticky Science

Geckos long thought to have thier cieling sticking abilities contirbutable to some sort of glue, have now been found to be using unique properties of "Van der Waals Forces".
These forces have been replicated in man made synthetics that are said to hold up to several kilos on the cieling. Rock climbers stick close to this one. Full story

Baby Eliot

A peek at father and blog contibutor's new 7 week old baby Eliot, who stopped by from the Pacific Northwest last night.
We had French press Hawiian Peaberry (8.99 Worldmarket for 1.5 lbs.) and the conversation covered non protestors carrying signs that said "rabble rabble" and chanting the same (Ha!), site seeing in the Seattle area from camping to seaward exploration via fairy to the San Juans, and my notion that with the advent of trilogys like the Lord of the Rings and the new Matrix movies, soon with added technological advances there will be one ongoing user particapation reality type movie that everyone will be in and that everyone will see.

Flash-Baking Anyone?

Flash-Baking Anyone?
A new virtual reality array allows an immersive experience without the disorienting 3-D goggles. Key to the installation, dubbed LiveActor, is the pairing of an optical motion capture system to monitor the body's movements with a stereo projection system to immerse users in a virtual environment. The combination lets users interact with characters embedded within virtual worlds.

According to Norman I. Badler, professor of computer and information science and director of Penn's Center for Human Modeling and Simulation, "The system is much more than the sum of its parts. Motion capture has traditionally been used for animation, game development and human performance analysis, but with LiveActor users can delve deeper into virtual worlds. The system affords a richer set of interactions with both characters and objects in the virtual environment." LiveActor will be demonstrated for journalists and others on Thursday, May 15th.

Electric Wine

Electric Wine
Scientists have extracted electrical power from a grape. The process harnesses the metabolic energy of glucose and oxygen to create a biofuel cell. This is some cheap vino too - only costs a few cents to make. According to Adam Heller and colleagues at U of Texas at Austin, the biofuel cell should also get power from body fluids. It could potentially drive a tiny, autonomous sensor implanted near a wound after surgery to sense fluctuation in body temperature that might signal inflamation and infection. Read more... On a personal note, as the mommy of a three year old who never tells me when she's hurting, I'd like to have a couple of those sensors implanted in two little ears to let me know when there is an ear infection raging - rather than rushing to the Dr.'s office with a perforated ear drum as we did this afternoon!

Adding to the Blogroll

Adding to the Blogroll
A classic genomic era thought provoking quote lifted from Geoff Cohen at coherenceengine.com
"we must recognize the potential that every protein in our bodies may in some way represent a computer a trillion times faster than one of the most powerful human-built computers in the world."

"attention-wealth"

Check out this thread by Gothwalk the pagan Irishmen here on live journal that I butted in on via trackback.
It is a good focus on something I had forgotten: The social currency of what he termed as "attention-wealth", or what we cowboys call in these parts of meatspace "Whuffie". The talking points being:
• The value of good social standing and support as opposed to the traditional currency of money
• A timely system for crediting that value to people.
So the question I have: is there warranted social change enough to support a new focus on social capital that would result in a system as suggested by Down and Out In the Magic Kingdom? Or is this a silly nerd notion that should be placed aside Star Trek enthusiasts fantasizing about transporters and holodecks (as Tim Oren suspects)? Another possible angle is that there is no such monumental change or shift in society, and that the profound change is in the ability through technology to quantify "attention-wealth". In which case I say let the revolution begin.

New World Clothing

FloatCoat
Oooh, gotta scope this artist Alex Soza and his hi-tach clothing, on the site you will find:
• Cool exco skeleton just as I requested (boredom with bots)
• A floating jacket.( imagine you come in from the cold at a party take off your jacket and it hovers over to a coatroom and deflates, when your ready to go you beep it with your watch,pda, cell phone it inflates and locates you.)
• Sleaves that roll up or down, collars that get bigger, features on a jacket wired by a thermal sensor that also tells your coat to get thicker or thinner depending on the outside and internal temp.
This site via the just blogrolled Z+Blog which was via this cool ap blogmatcher from google wannabe Ryo Chijiiwa. via Blogdex

Wired Espresso

Wired Espresso
I had heard about the notion of toasters and refrigerators connecting to the net, although an obvious evolution, I thought it was down the pike, shame on me for under processing info with my wetware, as I came across this new product in the category of "Super Autos"- not cars, espresso machines. This one in the range of $1,700, comes with a port for jacking in to the internet: "...hook up your notebook computer to this thing to program the machine, run diagnostics, and even to let Capresso Techs run diagnostics over the Internet to troubleshoot any potential problems...". This cool product via boingboing via coffeegeek, made me so excited I brewed some stout African crude and blogged this post.

Back to the Past With DiCaprio as Micheal J. Fox, and Hanks as the Proffessor?

All futurist have a fascination with the past, as we hurtle towards the technology rich gene-set we look back at yesteryears jet-set.
My wife and I give huge praise to the Steven Spielberg movie "Catch Me if You Can" with Leo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks. Not only is it a well done drama on the real life/semi fictitious story of check fraud guru gone FBI expert Frank Abagnale Jr., it is one of the best period pieces I have seen in a long time. The plot effectively takes you through the end of the 1950's up to the 1970's in way that is entirely transparent, the subtly of which is likely lost on many but not this viewer, it connected me on some subconscious way with my national heritage and past, being that I was born in the 60's it had the effect of helping me to look backward and forward at the same time. I agree with this review that the perfect contrast to light hearted retro Catch Me if You Can is the dark futuristic Minority Report. If not for any other reason see this movie just for the retro value.
Other retro movie I want to see: "Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind" stay tuned.

Monkeys fall short of Shakespearian Prose

If you give an infinate number of monkeys an infinate amount of typewriters and enough time, then they will eventually reproduce the complete works of Shakespeare. Thomas Huxley, a 19th-century scientist, is usually credited with coming up with this illustration of chance and probability. (Note: in mathematics, most anything can be "possible" with the inclusion of a few infinities...)

Some researchers in Britan left six monkeys alone with a computer for a month. The net result? No Shakespeare.

"They pressed a lot of S's," reports one researcher. "Another thing they were interested in was in defecating and urinating all over the keyboard."

Perhaps with the aid of flash-baking and a cure for death these monkeys might get a little closer? Or perhaps the monkeys will just figure out how to hang the mouse and keyboard from the rafters for a makeshift jungle-gym...

Do you smell cheese, or have a "point"?

This new free demo software tracks movements to replace your mouse. While they need to hire a new marketing company with a name like "Nouse", I like the idea, anyone with a usb cam can try it. I hate the mouse and the touchpad, and sore wrists. Maybe I will cross over...

A Small Slice of the Magic Kingdom

My daughter and I went to the Mall today and of course we both gravitated towards the Disney Store. I was completely amused as we walked through the doorway and I took note of the “castmember” who cheerily greeted us and made a point to let us know that they were running a special on swimsuits, “Buy a swimsuit and get a cute little coverup for FREE – a $19.50 value!”, she said while grinning from ear to ear. I thanked her, and we then wandered over to check out the merch. And fine merch it was. Got an adorable Princess swimsuit for my little one with of course the matching Princess coverup. The castmember left us alone while we looked and then reapproached after we’d made our selection to comment on how adorable the suit was and how adorable my daughter was and would be in it. We cruised around in that small little slice of the Magic Kingdom checking out the rest of the merch and then approached the register to pay. There was cheery castmember again, racking up Whuffie at every turn. She rang up the suit and coverup and then magically produced a Donald Duck whistle and, much to my daughter’s delight and my surprise, tossed it in the bag…another freebie. Scored some major Whuffie from my little one! As we departed, she cheerily bid us adieu and then turned to exact her magic on the next guest. It was just so comical…I thought that woman’s whuffie must be through the roof! Ha!

Tech Item

Introducing the "Pitch Solo" an interesting piece of tech' for controlling your PDA from your computer and back? I guess what confuses me is why isn't there a program in your PDA or software for your computer for this already? Another periphreal doesn't seem appealing. Made by Portsmith Review here from SorobanGeeks
via Linkfilter

New twist on old artform

New twist on old artform
Check Berdwin's blog that is a collection of poetry submitted via palmtop, it is pretty dark disturbing poetry verging on madness, but I was mezmorized by the entirety of the idea. Is this the way of the new world minstral? Personal thought streamed in poetic form transferred realtime to the world via handheld via blog? What if Shakespear or William Blake had blogged via wireless?

Lithium Ion a dead end?

Lithium Ion a dead end?
This news from Advanced Technology talks about two different start ups chasing fuel cells for laptop computers. (Note to Tim Oren: May be a worthy stock tip if they go public.) My understanding is that the current top dog Lithium Ion has reached maximum density, and the fuel cell route promises 12-14 hours which would outgun what is available in the current market. Fuel cells for Handdhelds or Cell phones don't sound too probable though do to fuel cell size.

One piece of paper for all info

Thin stainless steel foil becomes "future paper". "Ad signs that change as you walk by", sounds like more of Phillip K. Dicks Minority Report futurescape. Credit cards that tell you your current balance?This article from UK The Mirror has more for those interested in uploading todays paper via net on a lightweight piece of paper, and then using that same paper to read a book at lunch or while on commute. You would think that enviros' would be all over this eliminating of deadtree communications.

Where is Raed ? Salim Pax is back!

Okay aside from the Heinlein quote to the right, I kept my political views off of this blog, I assume those of you who visit here want info about reputation economics and futurism, not another blogger doting on and on like they have some original spin right or left. I feel the same way about celebrities using their fame as a platform, I don't care what they think, can they act? can they sing? I even avoided wartime posts about the GI who attacked his own troops with grenades and how they should have pinged his Whuffie. That disclaimer aside, I think this is very relevant to futurism and they way democracies proliferate now on the internet, how one man can speak to so many. I followed his blog up to a week into the invasion when he got cut off, I held my breathe, praying that he would make it back. His non-partisan yet understandably cynical perspectives are refreshing in the wash of heavy handed partisan banter we find on the net. So check out Salam Pax's blog for an ad hoc view from inside the sandbox.

Also kudos to Jeremy and Judith at futurismic for keeping the dialogue open even when we disagree. And to fine centric discourse from John Schwartz in LA at his blog with this fine peace of verbiage "...finding a new voice and having the courage to selectively blend right and left and the margin in the fight for honesty." That is what I am interested in being a part of politically speaking but who cares what I think? Whew, now that that is over with, back to topic.

In follow up: It occurred to me that I mis-spoke in saying Salim Pax perspectives are "non-partisan", of course they are non-partisan. To clarify what I mean is that I hope that we do not repeat the political behavior that was exhibited here in America should there be a war again. It became impossible to understand what was happening to the people and nation of Iraq, and what we were doing with so much pro and con war opinion. Even now few are talking about what happened, everyone is trying to use information to prove their political position. "Hi I am for the war" How are you? "I am against" Salam "-I am in the war" is so much more relevant and meaningful. I hope that makes more sense, and apologize for not communicating more clearly. If you followed the war or even if you got "warred out" I think it is worth while literature to check this blog. A few choice quotes:
"..every time the bombing starts my brother starts humming Nirvana’s 'Pennyroyal Tea'..."
"..too tired, scared and burnt out to write anything.." "..this might be a good time to sell our souls to the (US) Devil"

Joy of Segs T

Joy of Segs T
Segway fan and blogger is selling unofficial joyofsegs.com t-shirts that discibe the human tranport vehicle. Someone from Segway hire this guy and give him a transport.
Available here.

Futuristic homes insulated with "Space Gel"?

Futuristic homes insulated with "Space Gel"?
Check out this new product called "Areogel" from the people who brought us squeezable catsup packets (NASA). It was initially developed to catch comet and planetary space dust but is also being used as insulation. It is silicon based and 99.8 percent empty space. It has super low thermal conductivity so much so that pictures show crayons and matches being protected from a blowtorch by the gel. Learn more here

Small Claims Court = Negative Whuffie?

This true story about dealing with an inconsiderate telemarketer illustrates how small claims court might be considered the "negative whuffie" of our cash society. Calling to telemarket at 5:24 am definately deserves a negative whuffie hit.
via slashdot

Your Brain in Public Domain?

This Boston Globe article by Carey Goldberg brings up the area of "neuroethics" and quotes Bruce H. Hinrichs, professor of psychology at Century College in Minnesota
who says "corporations could try to worm their way into consumers' minds." Duh. I am afraid they already have. The notion that the future could hold small, cheap, easy to use MRI gear does challenge privacy issues and would open the doorway to the most invasive form of advertising ever known. While academia finds themselves haggling over new laws to protect individual privacy, I am left to wonder why is it that we have such a lack of ethics that we must fear new technology rather then celebrating it? I know never ask "Why?".
via blogdex

MEMS the Wurd

Check out memsnet.org
Microcomponants or Micro Machines MEMS are Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems. Which have garnered various net-tention, most known as the sensors for automobile air bags. The newer less bulky MEMS are heralded as a tenth the price and size and more efficient. The person submitting this link who suffers from diabetes was excited about the notion of using MEMS technology to implant a chip into a diabetic that would determine when the person's blood sugar was too high and then automatically delivering the appropriate amount of insulin into the body. VERY COOL.
via Marcy (thanks!)

USS Xlaphone Nuclear powered spaceship

The newly named "Project Prometheus" nuclear powered spaceship proposed to orbit Jupiter's icey moons. The name sounds Buck Rogers enough. Formerly called "Cassini", professional political enviromentalist groups like Sierra Club protested its developement. ( It is not really called "Xlaphone", it just looks like one. Check out the animation and fuller story at MSNBC here.)

media MIT up to their world changing ways once again

Are they really "questioning the social code of privacy" in human potty interaction, or is that edu-speak to justify geek play?
See the video or read the white paper (pdf) here
While I can see this become a standard like "target" liners in urinals, I don't know if the world becomes a better place. Not to mention the sexist discrimination against those who sit. : ) Actually, I have been looking into the costs of creating a receptionist that greats people at the door via flatscreen LCD, my robot Deardra needs better training (don't tell her), or I need to buy a pre-programmed one.
via Linkfilter (nice recent cosmetic site update from 'net grunge to 70's eclectic?)

The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect

While we are talking sci-fi stories Roger Williams kuro5hin.org contributor has posted a science-fictrion novel online here. I wish it was available in a format for my palm like Cory's book, but I guess beggars can't be choosers. While I won't promise a review, as I have never even given a proper review to Cory's book, this inspiration for this site, I will try to give an update once I read the story titled "The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect".
Via Futurismic again (I try not to just rip all the content for this site from other blogs unless it is really well associated information that visitors might have missed. Speaking of which April marks the biggest traffic yet for Whuffie.com with 70,000 hits.)

Hive Mind Sci-Fi Shorts

Unwirer is a blog that Cory Doctorow and Charlie Stross are colaborating short stories on. Is this the future of publication? Colabaorative works, influenced by the public in a real time authoring enviroment? Networks of hive minds pumping out futuristic artworks, written by everyone? What if other creative works were 'hived this way? Historically great minds heavily influance each other, with derivative and hybrid works. Does this mark the first in a pioneering effort towards "open source" style creative authoring? Will the results be so superior and profitable that "solo" will become diminutive?

While I will have to read the outline to step fully into the storyline, the comments are surprisingly revealing of the author's process. My question is how open to comments could a writer be without either becoming completely confused or losing cohesive direction? I guess it depends on the author(s). Some creatives can take external input and magnify it into something bigger, others demand quiet self inspiration. That said, it is a collabarotive work, which is conducive by nature to group think.
Via Futurismic (Newly added to the link list, a netnews blog similar to this sites subject matter combined with a boingboing thang')

Identity Explodes
"Dragging all human behavior into the public is literally totalitarian," said Bob Blakely, chief security and privacy scientist for IBM's Tivoli Systems.."

This pulled from Cnet perspective by Michael Kanellos, reaffirms my notion that a Whuffie system though considerably intrusive is nothing compared to future identity systems created in the name of "security":

puckering points:
• supercomputers reconstructing your entire life in minutes
• "mind reading" video cams that know your facial expressions and body language
• data mining randomizers that remove identifiers for studying trends. (Sure they will.)

I remember one time spending three months trying to clear my name of a state hopping namesake who did not pay his phone bills, it was frightening, I could not prove I was me and he was not. It was my SSN#, that finnaly saved the day. The item we must be deadly serious about is protecting ownership of our identities. A nation, organization, or people group who directly or indirectly obtained extensive ID info would seriously compromise democracy, liberty, and individuality. Our govedrnment must first protect our ID's from foreign and domestic powers, and then we must charter constitutional amendments that re-establish the balance of power in identity rights.

A good read.

Be careful of those who claim Ashcroft is the author of America's Orwellian nightmare, much like the bizzare clone cult, extreme attract's attention while truly subversive deeds are done. | other privacy/identity news

White Knight in Testing (Don't tell Nat X) Futurism Cont'd

The space race is on, and with a gumball rally like feel, racer's compete for a 10 million dollar prize. At least the Russian space station will have some competition. | Full Story here| contest site here update: read about other grassroots space programs via boingboing.net

Retro Futurism

Try this great index of random retro futuristic items.
One, might think that my attraction to futurism, makes me utopian or socialistic. Untrue, I just think too much of our future is shaped by a minority who thinks about the future, when it should by a topic forged by the majority. True futurism as embraced by greats like Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Frank Lloyd Wright, Buckmisnter Fuller, our forefathers in this country (And many others abroad) seeks to make the hardships of life better for some, and provide hope for many, through science, ingenuity, hard work, and ideas. For example Ev Williams inventor of Blogger should be heralded for producing a technology that is truly empowering: sites like this one or this one show that a small voice can reach the world, with a simple technology applied.

What makes an individual truly unique is not one's wealth, strength, ideas, or other noble qualities, it is one's birthday-the time that one lives in. We live in truly dynamic times, though many are content to bumble through, the events of the war, no matter what side you are on, speak starkly of the power of technology, ideas, and individualism. The new era we are in is now punctuated by Monday April 14, 2003 the complete mapping of the human genome. The future is you.

cyberfictionreview.co.uk A nicely done UK site with blog and reviews of science fiction literature from a "mattheww" visitor to this site.
Titles that I recognize:
Pattern Recognition, Altered Carbon, Snow Crash, Nueromancer. (Know that is saying little as although I largely enjoy sci-fi literature, I am painfully underead.)
No Down and out in the Magic Kingdom? Not even in his upcoming list. Of course he claims that only 10 people in the UK have heard of Cory Doctorow. (How inflammatory!) But to his credit he does have outbound links to boingboing.net and Bill Gibson.

update: I just realized that no reviews have been posted yet. I will wait, the site looks good so far. Maybe this will be the start of a new UK literature craze. I have always been a big fan of C.S. Lewis and JRR Tolkien.

Accordian Guy Saved from Peril by "web trust"

My stats had a serious spike last week with trackback from The Accordion Guy at Kodefu.com. Who had been blind to the bad whuffie of his new squeeze.
The readers digest version for those who had not heard: Joey deVilla meets girl, Joey deVilla blogs of her wonderful attributes, blog visitor makes comment about her being a scam, Joey deVilla meets in person with comment maker for authentication, potential harm and grief was greatly avoided thanks to an open environment of information on the web. | full story |

I think the "blogosphere" picked this up because it shows the potential good of of the virtual community created by blogging. Blogging is better than the psychic network. I think this is a strong indicator of the potential for a whuffie system. I think the key for that system to be truly functional is an open opt in, adhoc environment, that is not simply a tool serving a corporate or government entity. (or serving political or financial intersts, either.) But a people's system, made by the people, for the people, and of the people.

The fulcrum question in an age where identity issues and ethics are in the spotlight, how can one continue a reasonable amount of confidentiality, and still participate in an open database like the Whuffie system?

I am still working on my postulates for such a system that I plan on publishing soon and it is a given that certain parts of ones Whuffie database would be entirely opt-in and either entirely private, or accessible to only certain users.

However, the issue of privacy could also be approached from an oncoming global transition to a "no privacy" social system. Meaning that everyone's records are available to everyone everywhere. While this is questionable if not reasonably distasteful to everyone, it has already happened. Big corporations often have more information about you and your habits, then even you or the government, who has also been trying to catch up from the rear of the information compilation process. Another shocking example is that Google can deliver anyone's listed street address by entering your phone number (area code first, separated by dashes.) It used to be you had to either be a recipient of a local phonebook directory mailing, or obtain one to get that info, but now anyone anywhere can know where you live anytime. While that seems invasive, and even frightening, it also can be comforting. That pushy car salesman, might not be so rude when he see's you Google his home address from his phone # on his business card. Caller ID has surely seriously deminished prank calls. (Although I got one from some total moron, who's home address I know, not too long ago.)
Don't get me wrong I am a big advocate of privacy. However, our world is being redefined by technology, and it up to us to create ethics that coincide with it.
While criminals will likely always hide in the shadows with false identities, publicly held, open information systems could actually serve to diminish criminal activity and identity theft, while at the same time, protecting your rights to privacy. Unfortunately the common man is down by ten, and "Big Brother" is heading towards the end zone.
Many think it is too late, and that it is a fate we have to accept. I do not. This kind of cowardice, apathy, and willingness to accept control, is what fuels dictatorships, cruel monarchies, and disfunctional democracies. We are the architects of our world. We must reason, act, and sacrifice for our future and our children's future.

Scientific American Frontiers garners admiration

I am currently watching Alan Alda on PBS, he is at the MIT media lab talking with developers of wearable computers, which have went from bulky cumbersome helmets, belts, backpacks, and visors to an overcoat and glasses. | More on garments via boingboing

Previously they were demonstrating fabricating machines that could create things quickly from a simple template, and the idea that these fabricating machines could proliferate and become common. Then when you wanted a knew bicycle it would be emailed to your GE home fabricator and be made in minutes. It also briefly touched on how this could become an "open source" direction for product development. Real time input from users. Imagine.

The next segment is a piece about a backpack that records in "360 degree" "panoramic" shot of a students entire life. The student has rewound the stored video and audio date through computer algorithms searching for the rhythms in life and using the oddities as searchable benchmarks. Your whole life on a hard drive, mobile computing with head mounted screens? Have they been reading my blog? Or Cory Doctorows book?

The final segment is robots-Blah blah blah. I am tired of robots. I want to see more exoskeletons, that seems neat. Maybe one that is cheap, simple, and low powered that can help the average construction worker, or fruit harvester.

Seeing the MIT media lab workshop reminds me of visiting the San Francisco museum as a child, there were spinning stools that held you on by gravity, Laserbeams set in sand creating lighted paitings, and giant rooms covered in tinfoil and lit with strobelights, (Dad do you remember that? *auto email here.) My question is why don't highly creative environments like MIT create miniature development labs that visit every school every year?

*How could you flag a post on your blog and when it is published the flag sends and email requesting input or information from someone simultaneously, and copies the post to the email? This could be useful and seems like a logical step in the free flowing think environment of weblogs.

Contest

Contest
All you mobile programmers out there wanting to get more mobile, can compete for cash or Segway human transport. I remember when mountain bikes were cool. Recently, I went to buy a new set of forks for mine, and the guy told me it would be cheaper to just buy a whole new bike. Contest here programmingcontest.com (What will they do when the contest is over sell the domain?) via k10k

Game of Life

Why haven't any aspiring gamers created elementary or highschool level video games, that let players compete in a pseudo real life situations, giving youngsters an advantage in preparedness and some benchmark for their futures? I would have appreciated that as a youngster. Take that a step further to consider a super mainframe that literally creates a video game based on any new venture you are embarking upon? Or how about video games that take your psychological profile and uses gaming situations to challenge your weak areas, or even heal those who are depressed or mentally ill? I am sure these items have been developed in different applications that are not main stream enough to have reached my observation. (I created a CD-ROM for a company who did virtual reality games teaching history to kids some time ago.)
I am by no means a video game freak. When I was in my teens I could be found at the local bowling alley or arcade playing games like Asteroids, Joust, Defender, Space Invaders, and Galagha. I had a friend who worked for Adobe, who had multiple computers networked and would have late night Doom parties. Of course he had figured a way to make the bad guys have faces of the players, so killing yourself all night in a dark spooky labyrinth got old. I have even sat in on 48 hour games of D&D where the participants got a little to "into" the game. But they don't hold my attention. Especially once I conquer them. One of my favorites games is Flying Nightmares, a flight simulator that allows you to fly a Harrier jump jet. It took me about a month to figure out how to take off and land on the carrier. It does get really cool when you add the fact that is also a battle plan simulator. The closest I will get to flying a 17 million dollar jet. We are not talking a hi end simulation, everything is square and pixilated. But once you start playing your brain doesn't care, it becomes a virtual reality. I remember flying a 2:00am mission over Timor when I was jumped by f-14's, I was genuinely spooked, and after dropping my payload, I high tailed it back to the ship. I also found it quite relaxing to drink a glass of Cabernet and fly my f-22 raptor simulator over the Gulf. They had even included dolphins playing in the water. Until my game flipped out, my pilots head would always turn backwards in the middle of a dogfight which became a real problem. But that is it, I don't play generally play video games.
This NYT article talks about electronic war gaming for the military and questions if simulations do not now or in the future cause soldiers to see real life war as a mere game. Which leads me to some thoughts about artificial memory like that talked about in Doctorow's book Down and Out In the Magic Kingdom. At what point would induced memories become familiar enough to seem real? I recall my folks showing me photographs of my childhood that I can now visualize as memory, but I think it is just the photo that is a memory.
Another story about gaming via Linkfilter

Mem Words and Stats

Memwurdz
I came across a post about "mem words" at MarketingFix.com which spoke of the idea of inventing a new catchy word or phrase, or taking an existing one, and using it on your blog to draw traffic from those searching it as a keyword.
In reflection that is exactly what I did with this site. It was instinctive and entirely unplanned. Although I have very few affiliate links, my stats have shown 20,000 hits a month since I published this Whuffie blog (now Whuffie.com) there appears to be only about 2,000 unique visitors and around 150-200 referral links. Around 100 search strings (mostly from Google) searching with keyword. Learn more about mem words here.

update: Here's a funny political mem word- "Dixie-Chicked" I am afraid it might stick. Read Drudge here for a good definition.

via Blogdex via AdRants

List of works By Cory Doctorow

Here is some info about Cory Doctorow and a list of his titles.
From the "Internet Speculative Fiction Database".

Space 'Coptors & Voices in your Head

Space 'Coptors & Voices in your Head
Copious inventor known for what is now called the Sonogram, Woody Norris has invented a personal helicopter the 254lb. ultralight "AirScooter" is easy to fly and requires no liscense. According to some AirScooters and Segways may become as popular as cell phones and the internet.

Norris has also come up with a new phenomenal way to hear sound inside your head without speakers. This leads me to question, will privacy laws have to be extended to inside your own skull? As if spam, junkmail, and phone marketers were not enough imaging advertisements interrupting your thoughts! The consequences of this new sci-tech aside, it is rumored to replace massive concert audio systems in a way that everyone in the event would hear at the same volume eliminating the bain of concert attendees: "FRBES" or front row bleeding ear syndrome. Not to mention the military implications: "Saddam, this is Allah, TURN_YOURSELF_IN."

Full 6 page New York Times story here

via boingboing

Automated Whuffie bots?

After some comments were exchanged both on this blog and a few others, Kevin was finally able to get through to my thick head about the issue of "Votelinks". Which seemed like a lot of trouble for nothing and a repeat of the wheel. I had misunderstood that the purpose was to have people voting on thier outbound links. Kevin clarified as did Rainer that although this may be observed by individuals, that the real motive was to correct a flaw in the current spider search engine systems, that essentailly say the more links you have the better, which potentially could boost some lame-o yet controversial blog or website. This brought to mind a subject I had not yet considered: bots, spiders or otherwise automated devices that are "secretly logging your activities and words and generating Whuffie points".

Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan

"Digitally distill a person's identity into data. Newborns are outfitted with a 'stack,' a lipstick-size data-storage device at the base of the brain's cortex" "..When someone dies, this backup identity is downloaded into a new body, or "sleeve." Real death occurs only when someone without remote storage dies and the 'stack' is destroyed..."
Obviously if you are Cory Doctorow, or one of the readers of his new book, this is not new subject matter. But, okay, he is an innovator and his ideas are just reverberating in new fictional materials? But is Altered Carbon available for free online? Well it is not due for release in the US until next year. While available soon in the UK. Via USA Today FULL STORY

What are friends for?

Those wanting to link to this site can now simply use whuffie.com (redirect) thanks to Josh. This wins him points since he has not yet contributed to this blog as he claimed he would. I also have to give him a break as he is busy taking care of that expecting wife. That and he said he is on chapter 4 of Doctorow's 'Down and Out.

Crack Light

Recent Movies like Phillip K. Dicks Minority Report featuring hearthtrob heros like Tom Cruise abusing modern urban crack, and Cory Doctorow's sci-fi book which has the fashionable smoking legal crack light make me wonder if they are subtly suggesting a new world that is more lax on drugs would be a better world, or is the direction authors sense we are going. Articles like this one on cocaine candy make me wonder. Coffee and wine and I think that is all we need... in moderation. All things in moderation.

Segway Guy and drinking water?

Dean Kamen inventor of the Segway transport has set his sites on creating a water purifier. Claiming he is not interested in the profits as much as truly helping those with unclean drinking water. If the Segway doesn't take off, at least he has a new Whuffie growing endevour. Could this be a new trend in tech for the under priveledged?Full Story

In follow up to rating your links, there is a post at Nathan's blog about the need for descriptions that accompany links. The suggestion of color added color codes seems to be a designer's nightmare, and smacks of the not so popular homeland security system. While rethinking some original standards cannot be bad, aren't the existing "title" tags applicable? example: Whuffie (mouse over link)
Those of you looking for other "rate your page" have likely seen bloghop.com color bar.

Hidden Whuffie in your HTML tagz'?

Kevin Marks and Rainer Brokerhoff blogs are 'abuzz with talk of adding a value system to your html links. That way when you create a link you can assign a value to it to show how much you "approve" or "disapprove" of what you are linking to. While this seems to create a quick and easy Whuffie like system, it is not at all comprehensive, and I have to question if it would really be worth the trouble. Why not just put a header above the link: "I hate this blog, I don't trust them, they suck, but check them out to mock their very existance" Same effect, no? But I do like quick,easy, cheap as the mantra for good web development. Boris at Rowboat has his own PHP powered system that is under development that reminds me of the Google pagerank system. It is for rating the posts rather than the outgoing links. (Do we really wanna go nuts and rate everything on a page?) Now if we take Boris' post rating and use the code to force the most well voted post to the top of the page that would allow visitors to "control" the topic to some degree, which in some cases might be useful. But it would seem to strip control from the actual author. I would point out the obvious that there is a difference between rating someone's page or post and rating them entirely. A blogger may be a total geek and have a page that sucks, however, they also might be a prolific athelete or historian. So while bloggers haggle over who has the best blog, reputation economics solves that problem. For example the standalone "reader" on this page from netmood (Working again, woohoo!) could be configured to give ratings on a number of things. Which is the heart of Doctorowian whuffie doctrine. The other key principle, is motivation. Why should someone bother to rate your site, your post, or you? In a way the second time I visit anyones website I just cast my vote, when I place a comment it also casts a vote on that post. So while coding affords us the ability to rank these things, I have to question the value. If I visit a blog, and am somewhat interested in it, and I could "ping" their Whuffie and have a whole mini database of achievements and interests that validate my own, that would be truly useful. See thread about this at Joi Ito's page here | note this comment in that thread from micheal that shares my opinion

Inspect 'theya 'gadgutz

Check out the made up list of future gadgets from Wired. My favorite is the scrolled TV screen. (After all did not the Romans and Greeks start with the scroll? I guess good design sticks.)

Hairs on fish?

According to this article, researchers at the University of Illinois in pondering why the lamest little diseased fish was more mobile than the most expensive robot money could buy discovered harilike sensors are the reason and developed there own. The technical details for those of you who like that stuff. Soon Illinois will rule the world with it's army of attack robot fish...if only they had an ocean. ARTICLE via Blogdex

Comments fixed [HC]

house cleaning- I had the style sheets for the comments form in white with the default "OCR" font, which made reading the comments next to impossible. I thought it was in the PHP code but I was wrong. It is fixed now.

How "Doctorowian"

Implanting a rat with a computer brain? Well is is not the whole brain just the hippocampus (not a college for fat women). It is pretty cool yet spooky in a late night am radio Art Bell sort of way. If you wake up one morning and there is a strange set of suture marks at the base of your skull now you will know why. Will there be a time where people back up their memories with a hard drive as written in Doctorow's Down and Out In the Magic Kingdom? It looks probable. Will they place those memories into clones and thus create immortality? The ethical implications are pretty heavy for me to know.

via BoingBoing.net | more on brain/computer interfaces from Creative Loafing.

Brain Waves: Neurons, Bits & Genes

New Blog that talks about cool things like Exoskeletons, Augmented cognition, and Neuroethics.
at Corante | Tech news filtered daily.

The "hive brain" using a blog culling Google powered Whuffie system?

"The way bloggers link and influence each other's thinking could lead to a collective thought process, "a kind of hive brain," said Chris Cleveland, who runs Dieselpoint, a Chicago maker of search software that recently worked with Blogger.com. The hive brain is a science fiction theme most famously explored in the 1996 Star Trek movie "First Contact," but Cleveland believes blogs can turn the concept into reality with the help of Google's sifting skills." via CNN/tech ARTICLE

Last nights guest and I discussed the possibility that since Google was originally a page ranking system that possibly the purchase of Blogger was to continue that end by creating a blog culling Google powered Whuffie system. Could it be? Hmmmnn.

Last nights company [OT]

As stated creative programmer Josh Parrish and member of MENSA visited en-route to Seattle, I gave him a bag of tasty Hawaiian Peaberry coffee (1.5lbs $8 Worldmarket) and to my surprise (beware of Floridians bearing gifts) I was presented with Josh's own home roasted Sumatra. The prior night we sampled Fat Tires "Biere De Mars" and with our contribution to the EU some Amsted Light. (Good for a "light" beer, but nothing to get wiggly about.) In the morning we discussed Josh contributing to this blog (among other things pertaining to reputation currency) and we now look forward to his future contributions.

Mobile Logs or moblogs?

"This is already happening. At major technology conferences, 802.11b wireless connections are provided or rigged up by visitors, like the co-host of the popular technology uber-blog BoingBoing.net, Cory Doctorow." (Beavis sez:heh-heh he said "uber" eeehehehe he didn't say "meme" I want memage: 'meme meme meme')

Quote taken from Justin Hall's piece at TheFeature a site about the mobile internet.

Also in follow up to the idea of "multi-modal communication tools in meetings" the article sez:

"Today, any conference with a technology bent is likely to be “live-blogged” - reported in real time over these Wi-Fi connections. In one famous story about the power of wireless-enabled blogs from March, Joe Nacchio, CEO of U.S. telecommunications company Qwest, was on stage speaking at the PC Forum technology conference. As he was complaining about difficulties of running a successful company, webloggers in the audience were corresponding over information about Nacchio’s recent extensive sales of Qwest stock. They posted this information, other people in the audience read it, and there was a mob heckling that ensued as people demanded accountability from the speaker."

Technology indeed has the potential to severely modify social interaction in public settings such as seminars, meetings, and concerts. The question I have would be 1) Will the outcome of said change be productive or subversive? 2) Will these technologies be readily adopted by the mainstream or simply specialized usergroups? I lean towards subversive at first but productive in the long run as speakers learn to articulate in public settings with reference and acknowledgement to weblogs, IM, and eventual Whuffie. I think they will start in small specialized groups, but that as demand for software enabled " personal telephony" increases software developers will intervene making this a standard feature. The biggest impediment will be the developer bloat that companies like Google and Blogger have been able to avoid, empowering people who still cannot program their old VCRs. While mobile phones calling a weblog are supposed to be the definition of a "moblog", emergent democracy in the form of peer to peer weblogs and Instant Messaging or text messaging could be the source for the next Bolshevik Revolution and therefore truly a "mob" of bloggers. But as we know from the history of this example; not all revolutions end in more freedom, as those who orchestrate a revolution scramble to hold their new found power. "Espresso, Hosting Space, Peace and All Power to the Bloggers." (beware of the All-Blogger Extraordinary Commission for Fighting Counter-Technology and Sabotage)

Ross Mayfield has a post about "multi-modal communication tools in meetings" which gives flesh and blood to Cory Doctorows fictional ad-hoc leadership who back channels and pings each other's whuffie during committee. The only thing missing of course is that software tool for Whuffie. But I guess for now people can boink Google and Whois for background. (you might even find more info then you want or need.)
see photo of one such meeting

This link for Pandorabots.com sent to me by Josh [Photoblur.com/KeyLime design] who is stopping by this weekend before his flight back to Seattle. (I have a little pea berry of a treat for you and the wifey.) I saw some sort of custom emailable robot that you could record your voice to at MP4.com Vivendi Universal's pet project video clip site (atomfilms rip) awhile back so I know it is not exactly new, but this is so cool.
I had also heard about the A.L.I.C.E. project, but never really understood it. The artificial intelligence while in the early stages (HAL 9000 circa 2001) is still pretty good. I sat and had a conversation with my prototype chatbot Deardra today for a long time. I want her to become my secretary but I think I could spend a year programming her by myself. You can rent an Oddcast chatbot for your website from v-host SitePal. But the examples are really poor as they are not interactive at all. According to the BBC news chatbots with the face of your medical specialist could be the newest craze. via blogdex

hypertext links are blog currency?

While smart web developers figured out early on that affiliate programs and link exchange were smart marketing. Bloggers have taken it a step further with blogrolls or lists of links as a form of "currency". Following a trackback, I found this post by mac software developer Rainer Brockerhoff at his blog billed as a "Stochastic Aleatory Ontological Expostulations". It appears that he sees links as a form of Whuffie, "hey 'huckleberry thats a mighty large blogroll your hefting theya". His large list of links gets him a ranking of 108th most prolific linkers at The Blogging Ecosystem.
To borrow from wordsmith Tim Oren at Due Diligence: I am not sure if blogrolls are "fungible". Meaning it is not a goods or commodities that is freely exchangeable. Really anyone could just take an entire top 500 (of 101,617) links and blogrol them onto a page. This would likely build some traffic. But to me when I scope a blogs 'linkum, I expect it to have some relevance to the content. I especially like when they categorize or define the hyperlinks. My blogroll is a small list of blogs that I regularly visit and that seem to share some of the interests that I have. Then again I do not spend much time in the "social blogoshpere" that teens munge about in, with blog titles like "my sucky life", and posts like "I am having my period today." These blogrolls tend to be links of their friends who have blogs, a smaller network of buddies. While, I try not to blog about blogging as too many sites exercise this masturbatory behavior, I think the idea of social networking and it's complex application in the blogosphere is worthy of study. Check out this cool graph and indepth study from Ross Mayfield's Blog. [UPDATE: Also see Technorati's David Sifrey's archived post about this.]

Whuffie legwarmers the new cyber fashion?

While it all strikes me as a peek at Kelli Osbourne's wardrobe, it is interesting to see the style of things to come. It is almost as if the clothing is transforming the wearer into a cartoon character. visit technokitty.com and peruse their fashion. I did not notice any "neck cowls" though.

Your good reptation is worth 7.6 percent in a retail transaction?

Yes according to Frank P. Ramsey and Richard Zeckhauser.
Ebay is the new model under a proposed Harvard study seeking funding on reputation economics.
A previous study using 13 million pages of Ebay data shows that the reputation system was employed. It also showed that 99% of feedback was positive.
Harvard proffessors say "These electronic markets must be understood. They are going to become much more a part of our lives,"
[Article here via boingboing]