Mar 20, 2008
Sir Arthur Charles Clarke was born on the 16th of December 1917 in Minehead, England. Perhaps best known for his contributions to science fiction, and his inventions, his achievements will certainly not be forgotten anytime soon.
Clarke served in the Royal Air Force as a radar instructor from 1941-1946. It was there where he invented & proposed the idea of communications satellites in 1945 — an idea that materialized quickly and we now know, use and depend on to sustain our societies. His proposal won him the Franklin Institute Gold Medal and in 1994 he was nominated for a Nobel Prize. Consequently he became the chairman of the British Interplanetary Society.
He collaborated with Stanley Kubrick to create, in my and many others’ opinion, one of the greatest films of all time — and concurrently developed what later became a novel of the same name: 2001: A Space Odyssey shook the world and continues to inspire and provoke thought.
Moved to Sri Lanka in 1956. Knighted in 1998.
A Hero Passed Away on March 19th, 2008.
Arthur Charles Clarke will be missed.
Feb 17, 2008
New survey results show that only 29.5 percent in a sample of 1,015 adult Americans consider nanotech morally acceptable. Europe ranked significantly higher. The hypothesized reason? Religious beliefs.
Feb 4, 2008
Here’s a project I sincerely hope Nintendo’s big chiefs have seen. Write a bit of code, put the Wii remote on the TV and the sensor bar on your head and what do you get? Correct 3D perspective of the objects presented on screen. Like looking through a window.
Jan 31, 2008
The idea of completely dark material is fascinating. Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Rice University recently broke the record for the world’s darkest known material, four times darker than the previous record holder. But let’s leave pure regurgitation to the news sites; what’s color - and what would completely dark material be like?
Jan 21, 2008
Scientists at the University of Washington have created contact lenses with embedded electronic circuitry and lights. The lenses have been successfully and safely worn by rabbits and do not obstruct vision. This development brings us a step closer to lenses that could enable us, for example, to zoom in on distant objects or lenses that can superimpose information on the external environment (augmented reality).
Jan 15, 2008
It’s that time of the year again. A holiday aftershock. Crazed consumers say the man in the black turtleneck visits today. With the MacWorld 2008 keynote only about half an hour away I’m naturally at the computer, eagerly awaiting updates. I must admit that I haven’t been keeping a hawk eye on rumors or leaked information. I suppose that makes the keynote even more intriguing. I’m including a short list below of sites providing live coverage, plus a quick look at a product expected to make its debut.
Jan 11, 2008
As usual, the Consumer Electronics Show 2008 has brought an onslaught of hot gadgets. Here are a few videos of new robotic products expected to hit the market this year. A special star goes to WowWee for their Rovio telepresence bot which sounds and looks truly fantastic.
Jan 11, 2008
A few years ago I read about an experiment that used living cortical neurons from a rat brain to perform calculations. More specifically, the neurons were connected to the controls of an F-22 fighter jet simulator. After some training, the brain was able to fly the jet in tough weather conditions. Today Geylen brought my attention to another similar experiment. An associate professor at the Uni. of Arizona has built a robot chassis controlled by the brain of a moth. He predicts we’ll be using such organic-machine hybrid computers soon.
Dec 31, 2007
Two-thousand-and-seven was a fine year. On May 27th ThinkArtificial.org launched with a bang and naturally I’ve quite enjoyed the ride. We’ve talked about synthetic lifeforms, living spacedust, surprising ingenuity of AIBOs. But this is the last post for 2007 and in it we ponder peeking into the future.
Dec 2, 2007
The Space Collective is a site under development, planning to launch a public beta of its site soon “Where forward thinking terrestrials share ideas and information about the state of the species, their planet and the universe, living the lives of science fiction.
I first read about Twine today in a swedish newspaper...