Hi Tech Japanese gadgets

Check out these cool gadgets that will change our world. I particularly like the hybrid motorbike.

Offshore wind farms, sweet!

Building Big Sister

This article outlines the development of surveillance systems to IP based systems. It seems that these surveillance systems are being used by Government as a security measure more and more, and the camera proliferation shows no sign of stopping.

The strange thing about this is that a camera obviously want stop a suicide bomber, but we will get to see it. Some may debate the deterrence of other anti social behavior, like fighting, and it may be justified. However, there seems to be a problem when after the Brazilian man was shot following the 7/7 tragedy, police were able to initially report all of the pertinent video footage malfunctioned that day. So, the question remains, Who watches those that watch us?

We the answer is we do. At the moment we are severly limited to doing this as we really only have mobile phone cameras at our disposal to give some sort of safety that authority will not abuse our basic rights. however, would it not make more sense, especially with IP technology, that all public funded surveillance cameras be availble for viewing from the web? What I like to call, Big Sister.

A manned moon base within 20 years

It seems we are looking to expand our horizons yet again with an new outpost in the galaxy further away than the ISS. NASA has set its sights on a manned moon base within 20 years.

Sounds like a good idea to be more of a space faring civilization, but it is sad to think we could be a lot further down the track if we stopped our power struggles down here. Wishful thinking I know, but we are slowly coming up with solutions to these problems down here, and programs to unite us, rather than having the Governments and religions of the day dividing us. This, climate change and global virus defense are global issues that need global governance, and these are only a few of the issues. However, where will a freely elected, somewhat efficient global governance come from? Should we be waiting for the UN, G20, G8, Federal Reserve, WTO, IMF or a dominant super power to impose this? Should we be waiting for it all to just come together, for nation states to eventually decide what is better for humanity and that a UN with an 8 state veto power to get things done?

I don't think so, it seems to me that the suggestion by George Monbiot in his book "Age of Consent" it would be more productive for humanity, those of us thinking, reading, and taking part in the global discussion to take steps forward to establish a global democracy to deal with these global issues. His ideas are radical, but well thought through, and he suggests that this global democracy should indeed have no army, but a moral authority derived from those who support it, and vote for, those that fund it (which he suggests to do through several clever financial tricks, or a global lottery with a ridiculously enormous prize pool). I think to do this all that is needed is will power, and some technological nous - which you can come by with money, or if those YouTube guys ever get bored.

The Internet tubes remain free- well equal!

I've had some interesting debates about net neutrality. I fall squarely on the side of "all tubes are created equal" - that should be a slogan, feel free to quote me on that. While some see merit in turning information dissemination into a capitalist free market, that the user is somewhat oblivious too, rather than the somewhat communist model of network sharing and routing. When it comes to info wars, I think communist frameworks are a triumph for democracy, and a necessary safe guard. Please comment on this, I feel like quite a rambler/ preacher, and I'm not, I'm just a guy that thinks too much.

40.7% Solar Cell Efficiency

Slowly working towards heaven on earth, we have just made a great leap in solar cell efficiency. I think our ultimate goal is 100% renewable energy (although I'm not sure how our planes will work, maybe blimps? but they are sooo slow!) This is a great step though.

The 40.7 percent cell was developed using a unique structure called a multi-junction solar cell. This type of cell achieves a higher efficiency by capturing more of the solar spectrum. In a multi-junction cell, individual cells are made of layers, where each layer captures part of the sunlight passing through the cell. This allows the cell to get more energy from the sun’s light.

A win for stem cells

Daniel Kerner has recently undergone some experimental stem cell surgery which has proven successful and saved his life. Despite the current restrictions in this area, progress still seems to be being made, quite amazingly? I wonder if the same can be said about LSD research, because I'm sure there are some wonderful applications for that in the current climate of stale ideologies.

This will be a first in a long line of successes to come. The tide is slowly turning here, it would just be helpful if it turned a little quicker.

Worlds fastest wireless link

CSIRO, the guys who came up with OFDM to double the speed of wireless have reached somme ridiculous speeds wirelessly. Looks like cable will be a thing of the past.

Simple supply and demand economics of heroin

Not exactly tech, but worthy of a read and more applicable in this realm. It seems that basic economics is being ignored by US foreign policy.

The Robots are Coming!

Robots and humans have begun working alongside each other in Japan's Aizu Central Hospital. We still have a long way for them to go, but an early foothold for our new benevolent servants has been established.

The Misinformation Super Highway

Tim Berners-Lee has raised attention to the issue that the Internet may become a misused force if left unchecked. It could be used for misinformation and undemocratic purposes. I do believe that this is a very real concern, especially when you see explosions in trends like MySpace and Digg. While being extremely open for communication, they are potentially manipulatable, even Google has this power, but we are fortunately in the position of them being somewhat trustworthy and benevolent. This is a courtesy though, not a right.

So how do we address this problem, well one way is through democratic systems like Digg. However, it suffers what I call the Digg effect - as it grew and became more popular the content got strange, and stupider, leaving Slashdot on top for intellectual tech news despite losing it's throne for a short period. How can this be addressed? By building a democratic meritocratic system for content prioritization, and deliver it based on global and peer networks.

Why has nobody built this? No idea. Could Yoans use it? Definately. Would it be hard to build? Not really. Could I do it? No. If anybody wants to help build this, half of it is already done in PHP with Pligg.

Robot Fish

I'm not entirely sure why we need it, but I thought this video of a robotic fish was pretty cool. If you didn't get the Robot Chicken reference, it is seriously something you should watch.

Cuban smoking for the GooTube Victory

Google, omnipresent and all powerful. Well, all powerful might be a stretch, but think about this.

Money is power - Google controls plenty of that.

Knowledge is power - Google controls plenty of that

People are power - with this new YouTube acquisition, Google has this in spades.

On the plus side, Google has attained all of this power without guns. How? Because they are pretty damn smart, as is suggested in this article by Mark Cuban, outlining the nitty gritty of the Google YouTube deal.

Are we ready for E-Democracy?

I think the answer to that is a pretty obvious no, and a very worrying one at that. When our votes and our democracy are the basis of our freedoms, it is important that any changes we make to the system have fail safe mechanisms and are open, transparent and tested. Security through obscurity is no security at all. These machines should be developed as open source projects with heavy funding and clear, authenticatable paper trails produced. Until this happens, the Government is in the hands of Diebold.

Music takes a cultural leap

Jamendo is basically a streamlined version of the music part of MySpace, only designed much better. I can see this speeding up cultural spread to a whole new level.

Meet George Jetson

For those of you that thought the Segway was a transport revolution, here is something more likely to take off. A perosnal helicopter. It is also a lot more practical than a rocket pack since they are incredibly limited by distance, and the fuel supply they can take.

This runs on gasoline, so while it won't put a stop to global warming, it will cut down traffic, which will reduce emissions and I'd have to imagine this is more economical than pushing one person around in an SUV, or sedan for that matter.

Who killed the electric car?

I was amazed to find out that many of the energy goals that we are seeking to achieve had already been solved but were hampered from adoption for a myriad of political reasons. This documentary (who knows how long it will be hosted at Google) is a real eye opener about the future/ present that we could be living in today thanks to technological advances.

You can find out more about the movement to get "plugged in" at http://www.pluginamerica.com/

Here is a Daily Show interview with the director Chris Paine

Behold the Rubens Tube

This is a neat little physics experiment that made me think about how radically education has changed to favour the autodidact today. Places like http://cnx.org/ (Connexions) are redefining education and delivering it freely to people. Which makes me start to question the place of our institutions like univesities and schools. Whilst they are still obviously important, how should our qualifications be assessed? How should education be assessed?

Gogo Gadget Girl
http://www.newlaunches.com/archives/actroid_der2_fembot.php