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
5.16.2003
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
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
5.15.2003
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.
5.13.2003
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.
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!
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."
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.
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.
5.12.2003
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.
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.
5.11.2003
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...
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...
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