Honda Asimo Robot updated

Honda just demonstrated an upgraded version of its Asimo robot that can now serve tea, push a cart, and run twice as fast. "Honda Robot Serves Tea, Pushes Mail Carts". Watching video of Asimo is quite entertaining and incredible. I have to keep convincing myself that this is not special effects in a movie. Asimo moves very fluidly and very human like.

Creative Zen Vision:M portable music/video device

I saw this last night at the I4U.com site. Then just today at The Register is a decent first look at the Creative Zen Vision:M portable music/video player. This high end device looks to be good competitor to the Apple iPod Video. It has more features and support more formats.

Scientists figure out how cancer spreads

I think this is a breakthrough in cancer research. Just like how Australian scientists have use stem cell research to treat melanoma and some in some cases cure it. "Scientist Unlock Reasons Cancer Spreads". Positive news like this raises my hope that maybe I'll live to see the day when a cure for cancer is found.

Sony VAIO VGN-U50 Palmtop computer

Leave it up to Sony to create a super tiny palmtop computer (Sony VAIO VGN-U50) that has a 20GB HDD and runs Windows XP Professional. The U50 is about the size of the Sony PSP (one of my favorite gadgets in 2005) and only available in Japan. If you really want to get one you will have to goto a site like Dynamism.com which specializes in tech gadgets that are only available in Japan.

CNET reviewed the Sony VAIO VGN-U50 in Oct2004 (review). This thing has been out in Japan for over a year and still nothing like it exists in the U.S. for sale. The only issue I see with the U50 is its price. If you can afford one then it is definitely the ultimate in portability for a computer.

Maybe the palmtop format will take off in 2006 here in the U.S.

Wireless Mosquito Killer 802.11b Mesh Sensor Network

Talk about innovative uses of WiFi technology, "Wi-Fi mosquito killer coming to a porch near you" is a good CNET article about a proposed mesh sensor network that will use the Mosquito Magnet and 802.11b technology to create a smart mosquito killing network. This is quite impressive. Makes you wonder what our military is doing with sensor networks. I am quite sure there are some pretty creative ideas on the drawing boards for bio sensor networks.

AmBio, the company that makes the Mosquito Magnet, is pushing this to protect entire cities. I live in a city that has a mosquito problem and wouldn't be surprised if this shows up in the next few years where I live. Even if they don't bring this to market, this technological concept is quite cool.

More Innovative uses of PSP (iTunes remote, TivoToGo)

I think the PSP as a platform is starting to take off. Some innovative uses are appearing for the Sony PSP other than a portable game, music, and movie player. I have been using my PSP as a portable internet tablet when I do not want to be next to my notebook or desktop computers. Here are some innovative other uses which make the PSP an even more appealing digital device. CoverBuddy makes your PSP a remote to your iTunes over a WiFi connection. "CoverBuddy Makes PSP Worth Something".

Just earlier this week, Tivo announced support of the iPod and PSP for its TivoToGo technology. "TivoToGo for iPods and PSPs". This will allow you to download Tivo captured video onto your PSP for mobile viewing. They will support the iPod and PSP. The PSP in my opinion is much better for this because of its larger and higher resolution screen. This sounds like a complement to Sony's LocationFree technology which is equally impressive.

XBox 360 stability

I've been watching the XBox 360 release like everyone else this week. Well, I just saw some reports that it may have some stability issues based on reports at Slashdot. Xbox 360 Very Unstable. I don't plan on getting an XBox 360 because I have an investment in Playstation 1, 2, and PSP. I never got into the XBox for the same reason.

I don't consider myself a die hard gamer, however I do play games when I get a chance. Personally, I like the portability of the Sony PSP and what it represents more than consoles. Anyway, just thought I'd mention that XBox 360 may have a few programming glitches that would tick me off if I was a gamer.

I have had my PSP since launch day and do not really have any complaints about stability. I can generally say the same for my Playstation 1 and Playstation 2 consoles. I think stability in a gaming platform is expected today. I have watched my 5-year old son look bewildered and frustrated when a game he is playing on his GameCube go south for some reason. You expect your car to just work all the time. Same as your refrigerator. Having your car be unreliable or your refrigerator breakdown causes much frustration.

I'll keep an eye on this to see how the XBox 360 stability affects its success. If it is anything like Microsoft Windows, then most gamers will probably just accept the instability as a feature. I think Microsoft marketing will convince the general public that an unstable platform is acceptable.

The MIT $100 Laptop Unveiled

The $100 laptop concept to help close the digital divide is unveiled at the U.N. Technology Summit in Tunisia. "Windup laptops aim to bridge digital divide". This MIT research concept is an example of applying technology to better the world. The text-book sized laptop boasting wireless network access and a hand-crank to provide electricity was unveiled by Nicholas Negroponte, Chairman of MIT Media Lab. It uses an open source Linux distribution.

Slashdot has a mention of it in its "Preview Of The $100 Laptop" posting. Here is a list of related articles since the unveiling of the $100 laptop 15NOV2005.

"The $100 laptop moves closer to reality" -News.com
"Sub-$100 laptop design unveiled" - BBC News.

HAARP powering up

HAARP or (High Frequency Active Auroral Research Project) is based theortical Tesla technology. I've always been intrigued by Nikola Tesla and his work. If you ever get a chance, you should read a few books about this genius scientist and inventor. Anyway, I just read "HAARP amping it up" at Slashdot and "HAARP Adds 132 More Transmitters" and looks like our DoD is increasing the capacity the HAARP facility in Alaska. Note, the Future of Radio is a cool website.

HAARP rumored to be involved in everything from weather control experiments to attempts at extraterrestrial contact. Given HAARP's location and the antenna patterns involved, it seems like it's some effort to develop ways to jam the electronics of incoming missiles from Russia and/or China (I don't think it's an accident HAARP's initial funding came from Reagan's "Star Wars" initiative).

Tesla had all kinds of ideas and experiments related to exotic weapons of warfare that are mostly classified. Some of his ideas are quite impressive and frightening. The former Soviet Union spent a lot of money working on exotic Tesla weapons that most of the public is unaware. Most of the stuff that Tesla proposed was never proven since a lot of his work was mysteriously disappeared from the Library Of Congress. He even built a car that ran off of 'World Power' requiring no gas or any other fuel. Discussion of 'World Power' is another topic.

Anyway, HAARP started in 1993 and is expected to be completed by 2007. I plan to keep an eye on this out of curiosity.

Hybrid vehicle websites

I was reading the most recent Kiplingers Personal Finance this morning and discovered a website devoted to Hybrid cars. After perusing the site, it is pretty decent. The site contains an index of all available hybrid vehicles available today and in the next few years. The index contains links to information about each of the hybrid vehicles. Additionally, there are links to comparing gas prices by region in the USA, hybrid technology news, regulations, laws and technology links. Overall is a very nice alternative energy site focusing on hybrid vehicle technology.

The links to gas prices reminds me of a local site, VirginiaBeachGasPrices.com, that is another decent local website for finding the best gas prices and other related information. This website is a decent index for best and worst gas prices run by the web site member/participants who post the information to the site. This site aslso has a gas log that you can use with nice graphs of your mileage and usage over time.

Korg OASIS, Linux powered digital synth

This is what I have been waiting to see since the 1980s. I decided to major in computer science over music just because I thought it had a better chance of taking me further in my life. The merging of the best of breed in musical sythesizers, Korg, and the best of breed in computer operating systems, Linux, is the convergence I envisioned. The Korg OASYS is just this product. "Inside a Luxury Synth: Creating the Linux-Powered Korg OASYS". I own a Korg and have always thought they produced some of the best professional music products.

It took 20 or so years for the realization of this convergence. Based on Korg's innovations, I am sure all the other vendors in the music industry will be following suite. Looks like the proprietary operating systems embedded within music sythesizers will finally be coming to an end with Linux leading the way. The Korg OASYS is a high-end machine at approx $8000 today but those that can afford it and have to the time, I am sure it is the first of many new machines that integrate Linux as its primary operating system.

By the way, I started off playing guitar, got into keyboards, and then programming synthesizers and sequencers. To this day, I still manage to stay involved with music at some level. As far as which one has taken me further in my life, well, that is relative and my lifetime pursuit of computer science and music is still taking place. Anyway, I'd like to have one of these Korg OASYS machines. At least I know that in future, the next synth I buy will probably be some type of decendant of it.

Non-lethal weapons in the news

Today is an interesting news day in world of exotic non-lethal weapons. A sonic weapon was used to thwart would be pirates from boarding a cruise ship off Somalia. This is being reported at many news sites. "Cruise ship 'used sonic weapon'".

Then there is the PHASR. These types of weapons I've been reading about for the past few years and looks like DoD has some in production and in testing. "US military sets laser PHASRs to stun". The pictures of the PHASR are really cool looking. It looks like a prop from a science fiction movie.

And finally some news about Taser. "Taser to offer stun gun cameras". A look at how existing non-lethal devices are being altered to meet criticisms of possible usage abuse.

A123 Lithium-Ion Battery Technology Advances

A123 Systems just unveiled a new nanotech-enabled lithium-ion battery technology that produces the same amount of power in 20% of the weight for equivalent conventional lithium-ion batteries. This means more power in the same space or lighter batteries where weight is a concern (i.e. hybrid vehicles). Instead of the typical 100 lb. battery, a 20 lb battery could be put into hybrid vehicles. Nanotechnology is used to make this happen according to the A123 news release, dated 11/2/2005.

Black & Decker and Dewalt tools will be coming out next year in the 36volt capacity using the A123 lithium-ion battery technology. I have a few Black & Decker VersaPack tools. I hope they release new versions of the VersaPack batteries. Now that would be cool.

We finally have some advances with battery technology coming to market. Battery technology has been stuck in idle mode for the past 10-years. Lithium-ion technology has been with us since the 1990s and no clear successor to this battery technology has come to market. Micro fuel-cells appears to the front runner to replace the lithium-ion batteries used in most devices today. Toshiba, Sony, Canon are a few companies doing quite a bit of micro fuel-cell research with working prototypes.

Computerized Devices and Florida State Law

Florida has a state law that says defendants have a right to all information about the operation of computerized devices used as evidence in court, including manuals, troubleshooting guides and, potentially, source code for software. So what does state laws have to to with technology you say? There is case this week in Sarasota, Florida that is getting some attention. "Breathalyzer company refuses to turn over source code".

This is a case to watch since it is the first time that I've seen where computerized device source code can be admissable in a court of law. At least in Florida. I live in Virginia so I'll have to check with our state laws. The device in question is the Intoxilizer 5000 developed by CMI, Inc..

"Closed technology is not a good approach when people's liberty interests are at stake... it is just as important for people to know that products like breathalyzers or voting machines work correctly as it is for companies to protect their trade secrets." -Matt Zimmerman, a staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).

Given the voting machine fiasco in 2000 and Florida's continuing controversies with elections, if e-voting ever goes into effect there should be reviews of all the source code for these systems to ensure fair e-voting in the future in Florida.

2046 - 40-years Into The Future

What will things be like 40 years from now in 2046? USAToday posted an article from a demographic and economic perspective, "2046: A boomer odyssey". Based on what this article forecasts, we will start seeing the changes today and gradually escalate as the boomer generation continues to influence everything as it has in the 40 years. One impact to be noted is how engineering will be affected. Boeing is currently designing its 787 Dreamliner (next gen jet) to have wider aisles to faciliate the increaesd use of wheelchairs in the next 40-years as the boomers age.

Other changes that we'll see are the changes to laws, policies, health care, advertising, technology, and social services. I think that technologies like exoskeleton devices, replacement body parts genetically engineered, and implantable and wearable computers will continue to advance and becom common place in the next 30 or so years. Sounds a bit frightening but look how far we have come in the last 20-years. A good percentage of the technology that exists today was considered far-fetched in 1980.

I still want those personal flying vehicles and personal space ships but that may be too far fetched for the foreseable future. Maybe my kids will see this stuff happen. I can continue to dream. Who knows, we are only a few scientific or engineering breakthroughs away from this becoming a reality.

Science, Politics and Religion

Science, Politics and Religion are three interesting and explosive topics alone respectively. As a combination, these three can be very powerful or very controversial. There are many recent rumblings about how the U.S. might becoming anti-science, "Is the U.S. becoming anti Science?". Given, the climate of the last few years it seems that we in the U.S. are not embracing science whole heartedly. This Reuters UK "Is US becoming hostile to science?" article has some very good points about the Science in the U.S. It does not paint a very nice picture. CNN posted a similar article.

Other recent articles about our eroding science and technology leadership, "Broad Federal Effort Urgently Needed to Create New, High-Quality Jobs for All Americans in the 21st Century", are sounding alarms before this situation worsens.

As a high technology country, we must adapt and learn to balance science, religion, and politics. Every great civilization has managed to balance these pillars and survive the test of time. Hopefully, we will elevate above and become a greater civilization and do the same. At only only slightly over 229 years old, we are yet an infant as a country. As a scientifically inclined person who is enamored with technology, I think we will eventually learn to adapt and balance our science with everything else. Time will tell.

Exoskeleton technology

I remember reading about HAL5 earlier this year. Looks like this technology is coming of age. I recall that HAL5 was going to be available in Japan any day now. This technology has lots of promise for the disabled, elderly and of course the military.

I also found a more recent article at IEEE Spectrum, "Rise Of The Body Bots", that discusses the advances made so far this year. This article talks about the research work in Japan and in the USA. Looks like Japan and USA are the leading researchers in this emerging technology.

Remote Control Humans

This is actually pretty cool and somewhat scary. Anyway, Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp. (NTT), has developed a technology that will make games more realistic. Read about it here at CNN, "Japan developing remote control for humans". I can think of all kinds of uses for this type of technology related to gaming and entertainment. On the darker side, the military implications of this are scary.

What is Techno-Politics?

I was perusing FreshNews.org and found this article "What Is Terrorism? Can It Ever Be Ethical?" that raised my curiosity (long article and requires above average reading comprehnsion). Anyway, after reading the article published at Kuro5hin, a technology meets grassroots culture site, the mutual exclusion of technological and political rhetoric appears to be dissipating. In other words, technology and politics are no longer at opposite ends of the spectrum and never are. They are now both means to an end. Which end that is always primariy politically driven.

In my mind, I have always coined this 'techno-politics' from what I have seen in the technology field. It is becoming more mainstream since technology affects us in just about every facet of our daily lives. It is inevitable that politics and technology is on a collision course.

Some of the more interesting notes in the above mentioned article is the definition of 'ethical terrorism' and viewpoints on past acts in history that would fit the modern definition of terrorism. Ok, that's it this is not a political weblog so will stop posting about this topic in this weblog.

Archos Portable 100GB Audio/Video Device with 7" LCD

It's that time of year again when I get catalogs galore in the mail. While perusing the latest Sharper Image catalog, one of the gadgets piqued my interest. The Archos 100GB Audio/Video Recorder Player. This thing is neat. It has a 100GB hard drive in it, a 7" LCD, remote control and you can record digital video and audio on it via standard A/V and USB interfaces. While the Apple iPod Video is getting all the recent buzz, this device has all the specs for the killer portable video gadget. I wonder if Sony is monitoring all these new products.

I like my Sony PSP, however, a 100GB hard drive and a 7" LCD just blows everything else out of the water. The only thing this device needs to be a 'gotta have it' gadget freaks is WiFi, Bluetooth and a decent software that will allow you to browse the web and listen/watch streaming content (AVI, MP3, RealAudio, WMA, MOV, Flash, etc..). It does have the accessories that allow you to record TV (NTSC,PAL) or any video source directly to the hard disk and take it with you.

With the 7" LCD screen, I am not sure how long the battery will last. That is the tradeoff with larger displays. They tend to consume more power. Will have to wait for someone to post reviews of it online.

The Archos is still pretty cool but a bit expensive at $799 list. If cost was not an issue, then this definitely would be a cool device to get this winter.