Links for 21-09-2006
Simulated realities, DIY linux servers, Soviet propaganda posters, lunar library…
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“In this paper, Jenkins takes the simulation argument as posited by Nick Bostrom and questions whether a society capable of creating such simulations would be bound by ethical or legal considerations.” Heavy stuff.
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2 – Loca“Loca is an artist-led interdisciplinary project on mobile media and surveillance; exploring the shifting boundaries between art practice, the event and data systems.” Fascinating stuff, via Bruce Sterling.
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“Blue-green lasers have been discussed for a while as potential sub-talkers, with good reason. Seawater has a lot of organic junk floating around inside…” Which means blue-green is the ideal wavelength, apparently.
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“This particular configuration has been tested with Debian and is currently being used in the real world as a primary internal server to several offices, one with more then 30 users.” Estimated cost of $900. Hmmm…
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“A recent announcement … confirmed that Banks’s new (non-sf) novel The Steep Approach to Garbadale will be released on March 7th 2007, so his Mecon appearance could very well come at the end of a summer of touring and promotion.” w00t!
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“In Soviet Russia there were a lot of propaganda posters against USA. Here is a little collection of such Soviet art.” Soviet satire – rmarkable how similar the themes are to their Western equivalents, even if the visual styles are rather different.
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7 – usbcell.comUSBcell – a rechargable AA battery that charges through a built in USB plug. I *so* need some of these, like, right now.
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“Physicist Matjaž Perc of the University of Maribor in Slovenia has recently developed a model for the evolution of cooperation that provides a more realistic description for the altruistic behavior of individuals than previous explanations do.”
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Pretty pictures from the Cassini probe at Space.com.
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“Is social networking changing the way people relate to each other?” Opinion piece at New Scientists – ‘the kids are having their minds/souls/lives destroyed by technology! Oh noes!’ Some interesting ideas, but rather scaremongerish, IMHO.
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“Hollow lava tubes on the Moon could be used as a giant digital library. That’s one commercial possibility for the Moon put forth in a white paper by a NASA scientist.” If they need an expert shelf-tidier, just call me.
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“According to entrepreneurs and government officials at the Space 2006 conference here, tourists rocketing into suborbit in the coming years will need to get caffeinated somehow.” Putting the ‘star’ into Starbucks?
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“Russian space agency started offering commercials placement on the body of space rockets and on the launch facility complex around the rocket, same way as it’s done on the sport matches etc.” Not as silly as it sounds at first.
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“MIT researchers are putting a tiny gas-turbine engine inside a silicon chip about the size of a quarter. The resulting device could run 10 times longer than a battery of the same weight…” Let’s hope this goes beyond the vapourware stage.
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Wired interview with MIT assistant professor Hugh Herr, who “is an advanced prosthetics researcher and a bilateral leg amputee.” No doubt about where his motivation springs from.
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“The Neuros OSD…this infinitely hackable Linux-based media recorder / player beta unit is on sale now … Neuros is willing to pay you cash-money “bounties” to code new features into the open source firmware…” The future of hardware dev?
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