A couple nights ago, The Colbert Report interview segment featured yet another self-important philosopher-type. When asked to critique modern culture in ten words or less, he replied, “Too much digital. Not enough critical thinking. More physical reality.” Now, I agree with him about critical thinking, though it seems to contradict the rest of his statement. My…
Everyone is welcome to attend this conference, sponsored and hosted by Virtual Ability next Friday and Saturday. Presenters — including anthropologist Tom Boellstorff — will speak about topics from web accessibility (interface design and rights issues) to assistive technology and inclusion. The full schedule can be found here. Times are posted in SLT, which is Pacific…
The video below from CGP Grey is more pessimistic than my opinion and overstates some numbers, but it is a broad, persuasive look at the current and near future of robots in every workplace. It’s fifteen minutes long and I recommend watching the entire thing if you have time. I’ve been doing a lot of…
As a percentage of posts, I write about robots a lot. I firmly believe that we’re near the tipping point where robots will become mainstream; not just in industry or action movies, but in our offices and homes and on our roads. Perhaps we’ve learned from previous technological revolutions or we’re more wary of economic impact…
The movie Lucy opened in the US last week and it has simultaneously thrilled and enraged the geek subculture of which I consider myself a member. If you somehow haven’t seen the trailer, here you go: See the dilemma? On the one hand, we get a superhero-type action movie with a female protagonist, directed by Luc…
The title of this post is a quote from Arthur C. Clarke. I’m reminded of it frequently during a visit from my parents, who have an average age of 73. Despite the fact that I worked for Internet companies for more than a dozen years, they often view connected technology as some sort of sorcery.…
Today I’m focused on the impact of autonomous vehicles on professional drivers rather than consumers. This was spurred by the latest entrant in the autonomous vehicle field: Mercedes, who released a video and information on their prototype Future Truck 2025. My first reaction was skepticism, not at the technological issues but at the idea that a company would…
Now that the US is through to the next round of the World Cup and I can take a break to focus on other less important things, I’ll toss in my two cents about the new virtual world Linden Lab is building. I’ll also link to other writing on this topic below. If you have no idea…
Sometimes future tech isn’t about something we’ve never seen, but taking a second look at something we see every day. Coca Cola is doing a fun and practical giveaway in Vietnam that they plan to spread to the rest of Asia: giving away kits of replacement caps for plastic Coke bottles that turn them into reusable,…
Though this has been the prosthetic hand top in my thoughts for the past few weeks, it might be supplanted. Sure, the Segway is the butt of many jokes, but Dean Kamen still impresses the hell out of me. My RL stepson had a rare period of initiative and teamwork when he participated in the FIRST…