Menu

Blog

Page 11723

May 31, 2014

Amazon Awarded Bitcoin-Related Cloud Computing Patent

Posted by in category: bitcoin

— Coin Desk

http://media.coindesk.com/2014/03/shutterstock_160699979.jpg

E-commerce giant Amazon has been awarded a bitcoin-related cloud computing patent that envisions the use of digital currencies as payment for cloud computing services on Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Amazon’s cloud is by far the biggest remote computing service on the market. Market research firm Gartner estimates AWS annual revenue at upwards of $3bn, and it believes Amazon’s cloud has five times the capacity of its next 14 rivals.

Read More

May 31, 2014

Physicists use diamonds to reach quantum teleportation breakthrough

Posted by in category: quantum physics

BY Philip Palermo — Endgadget

Quantum teleportation promises a leap into the next great era of computing — but first we’ve got to get it working consistently. Scientists at the Kavli Institute of Nanoscience Delft say they’ve managed to reliably teleport quantum info stored in one bit of diamond to another sitting three meters away (roughly 10 feet). Now, they want to go much farther.

The key with quantum teleportation is its ability to move quantum information (called a qubit) from one point to another without that information crossing the space between those two points. That’s thanks to a phenomenon known as quantum entanglement, where the properties of a pair of particles are linked so tightly that they remain connected regardless of distance. In a research article published today in Science, the team described how they used quantum-entangled particles to consistently transmit data from one nitrogen-infused bit of diamond to another.

Read more

May 31, 2014

The Lifeboat Foundation Worldwide Ambassador Mr. Andres Agostini’s own White Swan Update, Countermeassuring Every Unthinkable Black Swan, at http://lifeboat.com/blog/2014/04/white-swan

Posted by in category: futurism

The Lifeboat Foundation Worldwide Ambassador Mr. Andres Agostini’s own White Swan Update, Countermeassuring Every Unthinkable Black Swan, at https://lifeboat.com/blog/2014/04/white-swan

038

‘Nanodaisies’ deliver more powerful drug cocktail to cancer cells http://www.kurzweilai.net/nanodaisies-deliver-more-powerful-…ncer-cells
A research agenda for potential ecological risks of synthetic biology http://www.kurzweilai.net/a-research-agenda-for-potential-ec…ic-biology

How to make robots and self-driving cars think faster http://www.kurzweilai.net/how-to-make-robots-and-self-driving-cars-think-faster
Google’s self-driving car prototype: no steering wheel, brake, or accelerator http://www.kurzweilai.net/googles-self-driving-car-prototype…ccelerator
Can ‘Mixed Reality Living Spaces’ fix our overcrowded future? http://www.theverge.com/2014/5/26/5751336/virtual-reality-walls-bernando-schorr
Scientists achieve reliable quantum teleportation for first time http://www.cnet.com/news/scientists-achieve-reliable-quantum…irst-time/
DARPA unveils four ‘big’ cybersecurity projects http://washingtonexaminer.com/darpa-unveils-four-big-cyberse…le/2549057

Continue reading “The Lifeboat Foundation Worldwide Ambassador Mr. Andres Agostini’s own White Swan Update, Countermeassuring Every Unthinkable Black Swan, at http://lifeboat.com/blog/2014/04/white-swan” »

May 30, 2014

SpaceX unveils first commercial capsule capable of manned flight

Posted by in category: space travel

By Jordan England-Nelson, Los Angeles Daily News
http://www.dailynews.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/storyimage/LA/20140529/NEWS/140529400/AR/0/AR-140529400.jpg&maxh=400&maxw=667
The long-awaited presentation by Elon Musk, SpaceX’s billionaire CEO and founder of Tesla Motors, showcased the 12-year-old company’s engineering prowess with the flair of an Apple product release party.

Starry-eyed engineers cheered and flashed their smartphone cameras inside SpaceX’s Hawthorne factory as Musk took the stage in a crushed velvet blazer and a boy-band mic strapped to his ear.

After a 10-second countdown, a curtain dropped behind Musk to reveal the gumdrop-shaped Dragon V2, a seven-passenger capsule that could begin shuttling astronauts to the ISS as early as 2017.

Read More

May 30, 2014

TransEvolution (2014) by Daniel Estulin (@EstulinDaniel): Review

Posted by in categories: cyborgs, posthumanism, singularity, transhumanism

- @ClubOfINFOTransEvolution: The Coming Age of Human Deconstruction (2014) is an alarmist book by Daniel Estulin, a commentator on the secretive Bilderberg Group who is well-liked by many – in particular on conspiracy theorist forums. Essentially, this should be regarded as conspiracy theory material. My refutations of it are too many to cram into this review, so I will mainly focus on what the book itself says.

Daniel Estulin connects disparate events and sources to depict an elaborate conspiracy. The main starting claim of the book is a link between the 2005 Bilderberg Conference and the 2006 document Strategic Trends 2007–2036 prepared by the British government (p. 1–12). Estulin claims that the latter report’s predictions betray “Promethean” plans that represent “designs by the Bilderberg Group”.
The book makes the allegation that the economic pressure on the world today “is being done on purpose, absolutely on purpose. The reason is because our current corporate empire knows that “progress of humanity” means their imminent demise”. The “powers-that-be” destroy nation-states to maintain power, and “this is by design” (p. 13). Estulin decries international money flows and globalization, and promotes “physical economy” instead. To make a long story short, he describes the apparatus of globalization, integration, etc. as a clash between the nation-state and global oligarchy and frames this as a classic battle between good and evil respectively (p. 13–35). “The ideas of a nation-state republic and progress” are intrinsically connected (p. 34), Estulin argues, putting forward his preference for the old Jacobin ideological script of the Nineteenth Century rather than modern discourses on integration and communication.
In his preference for the nation-state, Estulin attacks the WTO’s record on free trade, and makes criticisms that are provisionally valid. However, he confuses the tendency for weaker nations to be exploited through free trade with a conspiracy against the nation-state. The WTO’s commitment to what it calls free trade, a commitment to “One World, One Market”, reflects “anti-nation-state intent”, Estulin argues (p. 37–38).
Although they attach too much agency to global “elites”, Estulin’s description of the way international trade on agriculture has been manipulated to disadvantage poor nations and advantage rich nations (p. 38–49) agrees with already powerful sociology theories of “free trade imperialism” and the larger humanitarian message of the alter-globalization movement. Estulin quotes William Engdahl’s The Seeds of Destruction at length to argue against the destructive local impacts of global agribusiness (p. 47–53).

Continue reading “TransEvolution (2014) by Daniel Estulin (@EstulinDaniel): Review” »

May 29, 2014

Artificial Intelligence: Data formula makes robots autonomous

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

Deutsche Welle

They recognise how unfamiliar objects move, find their way in rooms they don’t know, and securely grasp completely differently shaped objects. Oliver Brock has programmed his robots so they can almost learn the way people do. His trick is an algorithm that trawls through large amounts of data and subdivides movements into individual segments.

Read more

May 29, 2014

You’ll soon be able to pay your TV company in Bitcoin. The future is now.

Posted by in category: bitcoin

Brian Fung — Washington Post
http://www.blenderss.com/images/post-images/bf/174/482038__blenderss-you-ll-soon-be-able-to-pay-your-tv-company-in-bitcoin-the-future-is-now.jpg
We’ve been talking for months about how Bitcoin has been slowly getting more integrated into the mainstream. Well, now the cryptocurrency is taking a bigger step in that direction: Beginning this summer, Dish Network, one of the largest satellite TV operators in the country, is going to start accepting bitcoins as a form of payment.

The company said Thursday that it’s partnering with the virtual wallet company Coinbase to help process the transactions. Users who want to pay with bitcoins will do so through Coinbase, which will instantly convert the bitcoins into dollars and forward them to Dish.

“Bitcoin is becoming a preferred way for some people to transact and we want to accommodate those individuals,” said Dish executive vice president Bernie Han in a statement.

Read More

May 29, 2014

Suspended Animation Goes Primetime: Say Goodbye To Death As We Know It

Posted by in category: life extension

— Singularity Hub
http://cdn.singularityhub.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/suspended-cryo.jpg

Death has always been something of a moving target. Take, for example, the first edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica, published in 1768, that defined the term as “the separation of soul and body; in which sense it stands opposed to life, which consists in the union thereof.

But how can you tell when said separation occurs? Well, that’s a slightly more complicated procedure and one we still haven’t quite cracked. Thus, moving forward, and trying for an—um— more practical definition, we began to define the end of life by a series of cessations.

Read More

May 27, 2014

Where are the real-world proven-track records of and by the White Swan Author, Mr. Andres Agostini?

Posted by in categories: business, computing, economics, education, engineering, existential risks, finance, futurism

Where are the real-world proven-track records of and by the White Swan Author, Mr. Andres Agostini?

a  from Profitable Challenges

What are four (4) solid real-life examples that the White Swan Author has risk-managed? Andres has many letterhead testimonials about those. See the ensuing:

Continue reading “Where are the real-world proven-track records of and by the White Swan Author, Mr. Andres Agostini?” »

May 27, 2014

100 Year Starship Call for Papers // 2014 Public Symposium

Posted by in categories: asteroid/comet impacts, astronomy, futurism, science, space, space travel

logo for the symposium transparent b100 Year Starship announces a Call for Papers for the 100YSS 2014 Public Symposium. The Symposium will be held September 18–21 at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas, United States.

You’re invited to submit your abstract for one of the eight Technical Tracks or Poster Session and be a part of our transdisciplinary scope to include the broadest swath of ideas and people for our mission. Abstract deadline is 20 June, 2014.

The Pathway to the Stars, Footprints on Earth theme still guides the focus of 100YSS’s Public Symposium. It compels us to continue our journey and maintain our mission. Last year, our participants explored different avenues of fundamental research, technology development, societal systems, and capacities that facilitate ready access to our inner solar system. This year we move that focus forward with more in-depth access to emerging and cutting edge topics – expanding our view of design, creating new pathways in education, discovering psychology, and cutting edge transportation methods. Using a collaborative and Transdisciplinary approach to capability and capacity building, our mission will continue to support our efforts to enhance life here on earth…today. Join us as we log another year in our 100-year mission at the 100YSS 2014 Public Symposium.

Below are the tracks for our 2014 Call For Papers.

Continue reading “100 Year Starship Call for Papers // 2014 Public Symposium” »