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Oct 27, 2015

Rachel Rose: artist sets out on Gravity-inspired space odyssey — By Charlotte Burns | The Guardian

Posted by in categories: media & arts, space, space travel

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“Wolf went for a walk over the world from the Mir Space Station in the late 1990s and saw the Earth seemingly vanish. His recollection so moved New York-based artist Rachel Rose when she heard it on NPR that she went to considerable lengths to track him down for a personal retelling.”

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Oct 27, 2015

Picasso in a space suit: the astronaut artist orbiting Earth — By Jonathan Jones | The Guardian

Posted by in categories: media & arts, robotics/AI, space, space travel

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Photographs taken by astronaut Scott Kelly from the International Space Station are beautiful – but could a robot do better?

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Oct 27, 2015

World’s first sonic tractor beam lifts objects using sound waves

Posted by in category: tractor beam

Researchers from the Universities of Bristol and Sussex, in collaboration with Ultrahaptics, have built the world’s first sonic tractor beam that can lift and move objects using sound waves.

Details of the device, published in Nature Communications, describe how the tractor beam uses high-amplitude sound waves to generate an acoustic hologram that is capable of picking up and moving small objects. The technique comes straight from the pages of a science-fiction novel.

Continue reading “World’s first sonic tractor beam lifts objects using sound waves” »

Oct 27, 2015

Chewbacca arrested, Emperor Palpatine wins in bizarre Ukrainian elections

Posted by in categories: internet, transhumanism

A funny article ending with transhumanism:


Ukraine’s Internet Party, which has been adding levity and subtle satire to the country’s tense politics for a few years now, is making a statement with sci-fi again. Yes, this is all true.

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Oct 27, 2015

Acer is launching an electric all-terrain vehicle

Posted by in categories: electronics, mobile phones, transportation

Acer might be better-known for its range of laptops, tablets, phones, and similar consumer electronics, but it has quietly lifted the lid on a brand-new product line — an electric, all-terrain vehicle (eATV).

The Taiwanese tech titan unveiled the eATV “X Terran” (presumably that’s not meant to be ‘Terrain’) prototype at the eCarTech conference in Munich last week, but the company didn’t reveal too many details. We have, however, now obtained some photos of the vehicle.

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Oct 27, 2015

See how InVisage’s HDR sensor will improve smartphone filmmaking

Posted by in categories: media & arts, mobile phones, transportation

https://youtube.com/watch?v=GbShbMRudUM

InVisage filmed in challenging, bright sunlight conditions to test the dynamic range, and shot fast moving subjects (RC race cars) to show off the global shutter. The resulting footage (below) is surprisingly cinematic, considering that the sensor is smartphone sized. (It’s also a bit soft, which the company chalked up to the sensor being an early prototype.) The tech looks intriguing, though the level of hype in the press release and making-of film is a bit over-the-top. Still, if it can be refined further — perhaps by a sensor company like Sony — it could result in strikingly better smartphone and camera images in the not-too-distant future.

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Oct 27, 2015

This robot can precisely copy your movements

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

This robot can precisely copy your movements, but more impressively, it can solve a Rubik Cube all by itself. http://voc.tv/1cRrjAQ

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Oct 27, 2015

Why robots shouldn’t be allowed to drink

Posted by in categories: futurism, robotics/AI

They cannot stop us. They cannot stop the future. At the recent DARPA Robotics Challenge, things didn’t always go as planned…

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Oct 26, 2015

Kenny Rogers Photo

Posted by in category: futurism

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Oct 26, 2015

Our verdict on the Surface Book in under a minute. Full review…

Posted by in category: computing

Microsoft’s Surface Book in under a minute.

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