The Battle for the Digital Home

"Go back to 1994 and people were talking breathlessly about 'Digital Convergence' a buzzword, but not a reality.

Now fast forward 10 years to 2004 and we see real products delivering on the promise. The consumer electronics industry is a $30 billion industry worldwide and it is about to undergo more change in the next five years than in the previous 25.

As the electronics industry shifts from analog to digital technology there is a major battle going on between the industry giants and start-ups alike for leadership in the digital home. This is a battle where billions of dollars are being spent in new technology. This battle has been underway for several years and the recent changes are reshaping the entire industry.

Everything from set-top boxes to digital photography is driving new industry standards for the digital home. The arrival of broadband and wireless technologies is changing the rules. The Digital Home is becoming networked, getting closer to that 1994 promise.

Our panel will discuss these trends, and the technology shaping them while answering the critical question, does the consumer really want access to their favorite digital entertainment, including recorded TV, photography, movies and music anywhere in the home."

Link
Source: IT Conversations

Space elevator

"A space elevator, also known as a space bridge, is in a class of spacecraft propulsion technology concepts that are aimed at improving access to space. A space elevator connects a planet's surface with space via a cable. It is also called a geosynchronous orbital tether or a beanstalk. It is one kind of skyhook.

A space elevator on Earth could permit sending objects and astronauts to space at costs only a fraction of those associated with current means. Constructing one would, however, be a vast project, and the elevator would have to be built of a material that could endure tremendous stress while also being light-weight, cost-effective, and manufactureable. A considerable number of other novel engineering problems would also have to be solved to make a space elevator practical. Today's technology does not meet these requirements. However, optimists say that we could develop the necessary technology by 2008 and finish building the first space elevator by 2018."

Link
Source: Wikipedia

Synthetic Life

"Biologists are crafting libraries of interchangeable DNA parts and assembling them inside microbes to create programmable, living machines."

"Living machines reproduce, but as they do, they mutate."

Link
Source: Scientific American

Mind control and freedom of thought in the future

"Do you want to block traumatic memories from scarring your mind? Perhaps you do, but would you be happy if someone else did it for you? Or how about receiving marketing messages beamed directly at you in hypersonic waves? Mind control is getting smarter by the minute, says Richard Glen Boire, co-founder of the Center for Cognitive Liberty and Ethics in California. And, as he told Liz Else, we ain't seen nothing yet..."

"Freedom of thought is the basis of a lot of our existing constitutional rights in the US, as in many countries. With the burgeoning of neurosciences and the neurotechnologies they give rise to, we can see great opportunities but also great perils, because the law on freedom of thought is so underdeveloped. It is the most important of all legal freedoms, but the least articulated. Here at the Center for Cognitive Liberty and Ethics (CCLE) in Davis, California, we try to provide legal theory and principles to guide courts, policy makers and civil liberty experts.

Link
Source: New Scientist

The Physics of Extra-Terrestrial Civilizations

"To consider habitable worlds, advanced civilizations, and how to find and classify them, Astrobiology Magazine had the chance to discover from Dr. Michio Kaku that the laws of physics has much to say about such possibilities--at least much more than where you might expect speculation to lead you from our tiny corner of the universe."

Best of What's Next: 2004

"PopSci resident futurist Andrew Zolli spotlights five technologies you won't want to wait for."

Linguistic User Interface or LUI

"Perhaps the most underappreciated accelerating transition we are participating in today is the emergence of the Linguistic User Interface or LUI. The LUI is the natural language front end to an increasingly intelligent and profoundly humanizing and malleable Internet. LUIs exist today in primitive form in interfaces like Google, but will be increasingly powerful in coming years. So what will Windows 2015 look like? For one thing, it seems clear now that it will have some very sophisticated software simulations of human beings as part of the interface."

Link
Source: US News
See also:
Microsoft Research - The Company in 10 Years - CANOE
The Linguistic User Interface (LUI) and the Symbiotic Age - Singularity Watch
Natural Language Processing - Microsoft Research
Natural language processing - Wikipedia
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science - MIT OpenCourseWare

The next big thing - neurotechnology?

What is Neurotechnology?

"Neurotechnology is the set of tools that influence the human central nervous system, especially the brain, to achieve a desired effect. The Economist defines neurotechnology as any "technology that makes it possible to manipulate the brain."

Instruments and techniques that are used to in developing neurotechnology include -- brain imaging systems (fMRI, PET, EEG), biochips (DNA microarrays, protein chips, RNA chips), genetic engineering techniques, cellular implantation, electronic stimulation.

Products of neurotechnology include -- pharmaceuticals (psychopharmaceuticals), psychological conditioning, neurofeedback, magnetic stimulation.

Technological trends making neurotechnology possible -- nanotechnology, information technology, biotechnology, neuroscience.

e-drexler.com

"This site focuses on the science behind emerging technologies of broad importance, summarizing research results and offering technical perspectives on research directions. It includes tutorial material, new results, annotated bibliographies and links to external web resources. Initial topics include nanotechnology-based production systems (central to the future of physical technology), and secure, distributed computing (central to the future of informational technology). In both these areas, several widespread assumptions are very wrong. A better understanding can benefit both technical leaders seeking productive directions for research and development, and policy makers aiming to make wise decisions."

Tomorrow's Office

"From wraparound computer screens to "electronic assistants" that summarize data, here's what you have to look forward to..."

What's next? PRODUCTIVITY BOOSTERS, WALLS, UNOBTRUSIVE TECH, CAMEO CAMERA, CRASH PROGRAM, IN AND OUT LIGHTS...

The Toll of a New Machine

"It started with ATMs. Then gas stations. Now self-service kiosks are taking over airports and invading McDonald's restaurants. Is this the face of the jobless recovery? Or will automation make service better for workers and customers alike?"

Tech Pioneers Preview the Future

"Thinking, talking computers--with components in cars, clothes, and walls--will be the world's accessible libraries."

Connected Planet

Everything will be connected to everything else...

Link
Source: Philips
See also:
Philips - Wikipedia
Philips Research
Philips - Google News

The Future of Aviation

"Popular Science brings 7 visionaries together to predict the trajectory of aviation in its second century."

Link
Source: Popular Science
See also:
Aviation - Wikipedia
Aviation - Google News
Aviation and Aerospace - Yahoo News
Air Travel - About.com
Airline Industry News - Topix.net
Aviation - Google Images

Google - the next Microsoft?

"Google is a company that has built a single very large, custom computer. It's running their own cluster operating system. They make their big computer even bigger and faster each month, while lowering the cost of CPU cycles. It's looking more like a general purpose platform than a cluster optimized for a single application.

While competitors are targeting the individual applications Google has deployed, Google is building a massive, general purpose computing platform for web-scale programming.

This computer is running the world's top search engine, a social networking service, a shopping price comparison engine, a new email service, and a local search/yellow pages engine. What will they do next with the world's biggest computer and most advanced operating system?"

Link
Source: kottke.org
See also:
The Secret Source of Google's Power - Topix.net
Google’s supercomputer - InfoWorld
The next generation of Web search

The emergence of the innovation economy

"The major future trend that will affect everyone in business in the future is the emergence of the innovation economy. Innovation will be the currency of the future marketplace, offsetting the outsourcing trend. Those that know how to use tech innovations to create customer value will win. The fastest innovation will be driven by the convergence of four power tools—nanotech, biotech, infotech, and cognitive science. They will offer a new gold rush of opportunity. Leveraging the new building blocks of innovation comprised of bits, atoms, genes, and neurons will be essential for future leaders . . ."
Link
Source: US News

Beyond the Blogs
Joi Ito (SixApart, Technorati), Robert Scoble (Microsoft), Bill Kearney (Syndic8), Andrew Grumet (RSSTV), Greg Reinacker (NewsGator) and Chris Pirillo (Lockergnome) discuss the next generation of web applications: RSS or Atom: spam-proof mailing lists, personal-content gateways (your TiVo?), meta-feeds and the data mining services Technorati and Feedster.
Link
Source: IT Conversations

New Navy vessel's revolutionary IT
"The U.S. Navy has a new ship in its fleet that officers say may be the most technologically advanced vessel produced to date, with IT capabilities that are revolutionizing naval warfare and may play a vital role in responding to potential terrorist attacks in the U.S."
Link
Ssource: Computerworld

Saving Boing Boing

Best options:
• online donations: money via a PayPal link + bandwidth via mirrors
• subscription-donation hybrids

Other options:
• paid subscription
• Google AdSense
• sponsorship links
• trial subscription
• optimise your code
• premium content – pay for archives
• free content +only paid subscriber's content
• affiliate links
• organize focused events
• commissions on sales of reviewed (good or bad) products
• sponsored page
• banner ads
• sell something
• ebay auction
• newsletters: free and paid

The free version has tips and tricks; the paid version adds alerts, updates, downloadable reports and archives.

See also:
Boing Boing
Publishing: Free or Fee?
Paid Subscription Blogging, Part 1
Paid Subscription Blogging, Part 2

The Choice: Global Domination or Global Leadership

Zbigniew Brzezinski has a new book:
"The Choice: Global Domination or Global Leadership"

"The Choice is a brilliantly argued, succinct yet penetrating analysis of contemporary global politics and the American role in it. Brzezinski convincingly shows that American security is inseparable from global security and can only be achieved by the United States providing constructive leadership in the cooperative creation of world order. Our political leaders need to read this book and absorb its wise advice."
Samuel P. Huntington
Link

Understanding outsourcing
I'd like to suggest you an interesting point of view about outsourcing:

Center For Strategic & International Studies
Experts Analyze the Facts, Myths and Potential Policy Responses to Global Outsourcing
Link
Source: CSIS

How Tiny Particles Are Becoming Big Business
"FOR MOST PEOPLE, nanotechnology — or more precisely, technological applications that arise from manipulating matter at the molecular scale of billionths of a meter — exists only in the futuristic realm of science fiction and fantasy. 'Borg' drones on Star Trek relentlessly seek to assimilate human beings by injecting them with “nanites.” Or the nanite-empowered spy from the National Security Agency — the newest six-milliondollar man — commands the center of this TV season’s Jake 2.0. However, nanotechnology has also become a growing research field and a large-scale international business endeavor."
Link
Source: RAND

Future Vision

"The future is unfolding around us. Over the next decade we will be able to see all sorts of differences that we can barely imagine today. In the Vodafone Future Vision Website you can explore what we think that future might look like, experience some of the changes we believe will happen, and tell us what you think of them."

It's just awesome...

Link
Source: Vodafone