Tupac Hologram Headlines Coachella Festival
One of the performance highlights at Coachella this past weekend was 41-year-old rapper Tupac, who walked around the stage, bantered with Snoop Dogg, sung some oldies, and terrified many. Is this soon to become a creepy new standard, with death no longer a barrier to entertainers’ personal appearances and touring careers? What will be your hologram’s greatest accomplishments?
CIA’s Secret Fear: High-Tech Border Checks Will Blow Spies’ Cover
The Watchmen’s tools working against the Watchers? Jeff Stein writes on WIRED’s Danger Room:
When Tom Cruise had to break into police headquarters in Minority Report, the futuristic crime thriller, he got past the iris scanners with ease: He just swapped out his eyeballs.
CIA agents may find that just a little beyond the call of duty. But meanwhile, they’ve got to come up with something else: The increasing deployment of iris scanners and biometric passports at worldwide airports, hotels and business headquarters, designed to catch terrorists and criminals, are playing havoc with operations that require CIA spies to travel under false identities.
Busy spy crossroads such as Dubai, Jordan, India and many EU points of entry are employing iris scanners to link eyeballs irrevocably to a particular name. Likewise, the increasing use of biometric passports, which are embedded with microchips containing a person’s face, sex, fingerprints, date and place of birth, and…
A Timothy Leary for the Viral Video Age
Ross Andersen writes in the Atlantic:
I want to introduce you to Jason Silva, but first I want you to watch this short video that he made. It will only take two minutes, and watching it will give you a good idea if it’s worth your time to read the extensive interview that follows. If you ever wondered what would happen if a young Timothy Leary was wormholed into 2012, complete with a film degree and a Vimeo account, you have your answer: Jason Silva. If Silva, who was born in Venezuela, seems to have natural screen presence, it’s because he’s no stranger to media; he worked for six years as a host at Current TV before leaving the network last year to become a part-time filmmaker and full-time walking, talking TEDTalk.
William Gibson Answers Readers’ Questions on Intelligence Communities, Style and More
Photo: Gonzo Bonzo (CC)
Here are some notes from an older (September 2010) questions and answers session from William Gibson’s Zero History tour. Via Technoccult:
Asked about the intelligence communities in his books
I don’t want anyone to think I’ve gone “Tom Clancy” but what you find is that you have fans in every line of work. How reliable those narrators are I don’t know, but they tell a good story.
Asked about humor in his work.
Neuromancer was not without a comedic edge. My cyberpunk colleagues and I back in our cyberpunk rat hole sniggered mightily as we slapped our knees.
But writers can’t have more than two hooks. “Gritty, punky,” sure. “Gritty, punky, funny” doesn’t work.
I asked him about the slogan “Never in fashion, always in style” because I read that slogan on his blog and never found out what company that slogan actually belonged to.
Aero Leathers in Scotland. But they weight too much. You wouldn’t tour…
Arthur C. Clarke Predicts the Internet and Personal Computers in 1974 (Video)
In 1974, science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke told a little boy what his life will look like in 2001. As recorded by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, he claimed that every household will have a computer, and by means of it, we will be connected all over the world:
Rick Santorum Unveils Dystopian Horror Flick
The Hunger Games? Nope, this year’s hottest dramatic depiction of our nightmarish future is Rick Santorum’s ‘Obamaville’, a look at a ’small American town two years from now if Obama is reelected’. What will 2014 under Obama be like? The playgrounds are empty, rusted, and littered with children’s abandoned shoes, signs are painted in blood, the numbers on clocks are printed in Soviet-font, and the sun rarely shines. No joke, a campaign spokesperson said this teaser is the kickoff an eight-part miniseries:
Nokia Files Patent For Magnetic, Vibrating Tattoos
Someday soon, you may pick your own magnetic resonance, in the form of a tattoo linking you to your personal possessions. BBC reports:
Vibrating magnetic tattoos may one day be used to alert mobile phone users to calls and text messages.
The idea…in a filing to the US Patent and Trademark Office…describes tattooing, stamping or spraying “ferromagnetic” material onto a user’s skin and then pairing it with a mobile device. It suggests different vibrations could be used to create a range of alerts.
The filing also suggests that the magnetised marking could be used as an identity check. By picking a certain shape the user could create a “specific magnetic impedance” – effectively their own magnetic fingerprint. This could act as a “password” and gives the example of a laptop refusing to display content on its screen unless it verifies its user is close by.
Can Fuel be Created from Human Fat?
This article proposes a new “transfer of energy stores that can ease our fuel burden” by harvesting human body fat for fuel!
“In energy terms, the average BTU of a gallon of human body fat is actually 11% higher than the BTU of a gallon of diesel gasoline,” reports science writer James Kent — noting that the IRS is already granting a 50-cent-per-gallon incentive for the conversion of other animal fats. (And he tells the story of a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon who powered his SUV with fat from his liposuction patients — plus his girlfriend’s SUV.)
While fat-sucking may seem like a strange response to gas shortages, there’s the equivalent of 637 million gallons of fuel stored in our fat, and the average person carries at least two gallons of high-grade biodiesel fuel in their body. (This article even suggests low-cost liposuction clinics — possibly covered by Medicare, and receiving government subsidies…
Download Physical Objects To Your 3D Printer
In the future, you will be able to pirate everything. Pirate Bay has a new category called Physibles, for pirating tangible objects — think designer furniture, fashion accessories, et cetera — with the help of a 3D printer:
We believe that the next step in copying will be made from digital form into physical form. We decided to call them: Physibles. We believe that things like three dimensional printers, scanners and such are just the first step. We believe that in the nearby future you will print your spare parts for your vehicles. You will download your sneakers within 20 years.
The benefit to society is huge. No more shipping huge amount of products around the world. No more child labour. We’ll be able to print food for hungry people. We’ll be able to share not only a recipe, but the full meal. We’ll be able to actually copy that floppy, if we needed…
Speech-Jamming Gun Unveiled By Japanese Researchers (Video)
It’s only a prototype, but if it worked for a longer amount of time, wow. Geeta Dayal writes on Wired’s Underwire:
Two Japanese researchers recently introduced a prototype for a device they call a SpeechJammer that can literally “jam” someone’s voice — effectively stopping them from talking. Now they’ve released a video of the device in action. “We have to establish and obey rules for proper turn-taking,” write Kazutaka Kurihara and Koji Tsukada in their article on the SpeechJammer (PDF). “However, some people tend to lengthen their turns or deliberately disrupt other people when it is their turn … rather than achieve more fruitful discussions.”
Nevada To Issue Red Licence Plates For Robot Drivers
Starting this year, check the plates color to know whether the driver of another vehicle is human, or other. Singularity Hub reports:
Other states like Hawaii, Florida, and Oklahoma may follow Nevada’s example, paving the way for robot cars to operate all across the United States.
An extended campaign in Nevada by Google has led to a new host of provisions which will allow automated cars to legally drive in the state. Starting March 1st, 2012 innovators like Google can officially apply for a new kind of robot driver’s license. Automated vehicles will be able to travel the same streets and highways as human drivers, with only a red license plate marking them as robots. Once research on those automated cars is complete (which may take years), the Nevada Department of Motorized Vehicles will issue them a neon green license plate – an indication that the robot drivers are good to go.
Google’s robotic…
Gaming Society
Jane McGonigal, in a recent article on Alternet, posits that gaming, and the camaraderie created by co-operative gaming has the potential to transform society:
Tech futurist and game designer Jane [McGonigal] on how computer games can help the fight against AIDS, heal disabilities, increase optimism, and make us better people.
There are 183 million active computer game players in the United States. The average young person will spend 10,000 hours gaming by the age of 21. More than 5 million “extreme” gamers in the U.S. play an average of 45 hours a week. Videogames took in about $15.5 billion last year.
Most of what you hear about this phenomenon is doom and gloom — people becoming addicted, isolated and socially inept. Some worry that gaming is pulling people away from productive work, fulfilling relationships and real life. But game designer Jane McGonigal says the reason for the mass exodus to virtual worlds is…
Removing Consciousness From Farming
Every year, billions of animals suffer in the name of cultivating food for humanity. But, suppose none of them had minds? A nightmare or a solution? Via We Make Money Not Art:
Each year, the UK raises and kills 800 million chickens for their meat. Rearing [is] unethical and unsustainable… chickens spend their 6-7 week lives in windowless sheds, each containing around 40,000 birds. André Ford proposes to adopt a ‘headless chicken solution’:
By removing the cerebral cortex of the chicken, its sensory perceptions are removed. It can be produced in a denser condition while remaining alive, and oblivious. The feet will also be removed so the body of the chicken can be packed together in a dense volume. Food, water and air are delivered via an arterial network and excreta is removed in the same manner. Around 1000 chickens will be packed into each ‘leaf’, which forms part of a moving, productive system.
Google To Sell Smart-Glasses By Year’s End
Get ready for augmented-reality glasses that stream information to your eyeballs about the people and places surrounding you. Also, they will look like Oakleys worn by dads on motorboats. The New York Times writes:
People who constantly reach into a pocket to check a smartphone for bits of information will soon have another option: a pair of Google-made glasses that will be able to stream information to the wearer’s eyeballs in real time.
According to several Google employees familiar with the project who asked not to be named, the glasses will go on sale to the public by the end of the year. These people said they are expected “to cost around the price of current smartphones,” or $250 to $600.
The people familiar with the Google glasses said they would be Android-based, and will include a small screen that will sit a few inches from someone’s eye. They will also have a 3G…
DARPA’s Robot Mules Carry 400 Lbs, Never Tire (Video)
Stan Schroeder writes on Mashable:
The typical soldier can only carry about 100 lbs. worth of gear, but not indefinitely. DARPA’s (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) new robotic mule, however, can carry 400 lbs. of gear and never get tired — and it can do it with a surprising degree of agility.
Physical overburden of soldiers is one of the top five biggest challenges for the U.S. army, according to DARPA, and a semi-autonomous legged robot, officially named the Legged Squad Support System (LS3), might be one way of fixing that problem …
‘Invisibility’ Cloak Could Protect Buildings from Earthquakes
Via ScienceDaily:
University of Manchester mathematicians have developed the theory for a Harry Potter style ‘cloaking’ device which could protect buildings from earthquakes.
Dr William Parnell’s team in the University’s School of Mathematics have been working on the theory of invisibility cloaks which, until recently, have been merely the subject of science fiction.
In recent times, however, scientists have been getting close to achieving ‘cloaking’ in a variety of contexts. The work from the team at Manchester focuses on the theory of cloaking devices which could eventually help to protect buildings and structures from vibrations and natural disasters such as earthquakes.
Writing in the Proceedings of the Royal Society A, Dr Parnell has shown that by cloaking components of structures with pressurised rubber, powerful waves such as those produced by an earthquake would not ’see’ the building — they would simply pass around the structure and thus prevent serious damage or destruction. The building,…
What Does The World Look Like To A Robot?
See through the eyes of a robot — a bit bleak, no? Culled from dozens of sources by Timo Arnall:
How do they extract meaning from our streets, cities, media and from us? This is an experiment in found machine-vision footage, exploring the aesthetics of the robot eye.
Dehumanization In Contemporary Music
This clip of pioneering German electronic composer Karlheinz Stockhausen might answer some of the questions one has after watching this year’s Grammys. Does contemporary music still have the potential of touching basic human concerns such as love and hate, can it live, is it really valid art? Stockhausen’s answer: the synthesized, auto-tuned music of today reflects a form of evolution as our best and brightest transform to a post-human, or “supra-human” state, got it?
Dynasphere, Forgotten Vehicle Of The Future
Could the Dynasphere have replaced the car? Probably not, but it’s still fun to dream of an alternate world in which it did. Via the Museum of RetroTechnology:
The Dynasphere was invented Dr. J. H. Purves. In the picture below, the son of the inventor is at the controls, and apparently having some difficulties in steering; leaning this monowheel to one side is clearly not going to be easy. The Dynosphere was reported to have reached 30 mph on this run…[and] was said to have weighed 1000 pounds. One eye-witness states: “As a lad one day in the 1930s I went to the beach and saw a man trying to drive a huge wheel across the sands. It wasn’t very successful and wobbled about … I have always wondered what it was or whether I imagined it.”
More on: Museum of RetroTechnology
