Why robots are still so stupid
El reg has a nice article on why development of intelligent / multifunctional robots is still stagnated and run by hobbyists. It runs through some of the real problems of software development for robot brains.
Author: Robin
Default title
An Israeli team has created a tiny little robot that can travel up and down your veins and arteries, being manipulated by magnetic fields. It has a diameter of 1mm and crawls along your bloodstream using little arms.
The floating plastic ducks
I’ve been following this story for years now – tens of thousands of plastic ducks which had gone overboard during a storm in 1992 are still being tracked, and are looking likely to wash up on the UK coasts. Apparently these ducks are now being sold for $500,- a piece. Leave them alone though! Let Read more about The floating plastic ducks[…]
Flickr in 3D
3dvia.com is a flickr copy, except it hosts 3d models. They’re backed by Daussault Systems of France and hope to be as big as flickr / utube. They use the 3dxml as a standard, which has some slightly better editors for it than Google’s Earth 3D unit editor. Good luck to ’em.
Transparent transistors
Using nanowires assembled on glass and thin films of flexible plastic built using zinc oxide or indium oxide the transistors are not visible to the human eye. The researchers hope to create HUDs and displays on windsheilds, visors, spectacles, etc. Make my car look like the inside of an F-16 please!
Vista only games not really so much
MS is pushing the Vista upgrade with two games only supposed to work on Vista. Unfortunately people have allready managed to get them running on XP.
Optimism for cloning extinct species
DNA splicing has now come such a long way from 5 years ago, that the experts are starting to become optimistic of being able to reacreate whole DNA sequences and cloning them into living animals fairly soon in the future. These guys want woolly mammoths back. Give me a sabre tooth tiger!
Another smoking consulate
Now in the UK, Southampton, the Wellington Arms has allready become a consulate for the Island of Redonda. It’s now trying to become an embassy, in order to escape VAT and most importantly, the bans on smoking that will be in effect from 1/7 in England. Smokers will continue the fight!
Liftport space elevator vs Slashdot
Slashdot users have apparently been going to town on LiftPort’s ass. Enough that a fairly frank and complete rebuttal has been issued by the presidents of the space elevator company, showing how they think the company can work and how much work has allready been done.
Translating blood movements into physical actions
Hitachi scientists have a machine that tracks the blood moving around in the brain using optical topography, and by thinking of calculations you can force blood to go through a specific area of the brain, allowing the machinery to perform an action. Currently it seems to be a binary system, but they’re hopeful that it Read more about Translating blood movements into physical actions[…]
Boys aren’t girls
And so this guy, who has written a book “The Dangerous Book for Boys” is written for them, harkening from a time when it wasn’t so bad to get hurt a bit. Instead of treating boys as “girls who wash slightly less” he says treat them as boys!
EU shares police data across the board
Against the wishes of the EU European Data Protection Supervisor, police will share data about DNA, fingerprints and licence plates all over the EU. The problem is that whichever country has the least security on their systems, will be an automatic easy entry point to all this data. I don’t want my DNA in any Read more about EU shares police data across the board[…]
Wanting to wake up late is genetic
And they recognise it in Denmark – it’s normal for a certain breed of people to just want to wake up late, so it’s also logical to have companies and schools starting a bit later to accommodate these people. Let’s hope it comes over here too!
EADS gets into the space tourism game
EADS showcased a model of it’s airplane looking space rocket, which they hope will fly in 2012 and take passengers up at EUR 150,000 – 200,000. They see a big market in this and want some of it. Very coincidental how the pricing is similar to the Burt Rutan Spaceship One / Virgin Galactic prices.
Quercus: PHP in Java
Quercus is Caucho Technology’s fast, open-source, 100% Java implementation of the PHP language. Quercus is a feature of Caucho Technology’s Resin Application Server and is built into Resin – there is no additional download/install. Developers using Resin can launch PHP projects without having to install the standard PHP interpreter (http://www.php.net) as Quercus takes on the Read more about Quercus: PHP in Java[…]
Sony Flexible Coloured OLED screens
This seems to have more promise than black and white digital ink: flexible OLED displays. Not so very very flexible yet, but it’s a start. The linked article is a bit down on it, but I want!
Estonia under virtual war
Estonia is accusing Russia at NATO summits of attacking the IT infrastructure of the country – newspapers, TV stations, government websites, et al are being brought down. Russia is denying.
Yak4ever
This site allows you to register your number and 10 overseas numbers. You dial the access number and the extension and you enjoy free calls for unlimited time.
Winston Churchill
Yes, this man was fabulous. Recently I’ve taken (parts of) two of his speeches to heart: We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the Read more about Winston Churchill[…]
Monitor Hacking
It’s been known for a while that CRT monitors leak radiation which makes them easily duplicable on an external monitor, leading to insane amounts of shielding. Now it’s the LCD’s turn. Using a radio antenna and reciever, Markus Kuhn can duplicate your LCD on an external monitor, in some cases though up to three walls Read more about Monitor Hacking[…]
Laser Helicopters
These tiny remote controlled helicopters are fitted with lasers so you can dogfight each other. When you make a hit, the other helicopter has it’s power cut and crashes to the ground…
Did the smoking nazi’s get to you?
Then this thing may be the way to quit. It’s an electronic cigarrette, which “feels like a cigarette, looks like a cigarette, it even emits vapor. In many ways, it is like an actual smoking experience”. $208,- per piece from Golden Dragon
Xuuk Eyebox
Tracking how many people look at your products is an expensive thing to do. Sony has a system that tracks people in stores and detects where they are looking and for how long, but expect astronomic prices. Xuuk is offering the Eyebox, a pinhole camera that connects to your PC through USB2. Install some software Read more about Xuuk Eyebox[…]
Encyclopedia of life
This huge project is to attempt to put all biological information ever collected into one website for the useage of scientists but also the general public. Many major institutions are joining in, including the London Natural History Museum, the greatest repository of biological knowledge in the world. The problem for biology students currently is that Read more about Encyclopedia of life[…]
SWIFT hates your privacy
Yup, if you want to make international bank transfers, you have to use Swift. If you want to use swift you have to sign a waiver saying that it’s OK for them to do whatever they want with your personal details for any random reason (OK, to fight terrorism is what it says, but that Read more about SWIFT hates your privacy[…]