Computing Update

Self-programming hybrid "memristor" circuit--having the electrical properties of more than a dozen transistors and possibly capable of learning how to perform a task rather than have to be programmed to do it--could continue Moore's Law:

http://www.physorg.com/news154865950.html

Alternative Energies Update

The "traveling wave reactor" could make nuclear power cheaper and safer, by processing its fissile material only as it needs it:

http://www.technologyreview.com/read_article.aspx?ch=specialsections&sc=tr10&id=22114

Alternative Energies Update

New "liquid" battery promises to be durable, cheap, long-lasting and store vast amounts of energy (such as may be generated by solar collectors during the day):

http://www.technologyreview.com/read_article.aspx?ch=specialsections&sc=tr10&id=22116

Computing Update

New 3D "racetrack memory" could soon replace both flash memory and hard drives--faster, denser, more reliable, no moving parts:

http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/22115/

Alternative Energies Update

New solar concentrator combines low cost with high efficiency:

http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/22204/?a=f

Alternative Energies Update

Solar power beamed down from collectors in space could provide huge amounts of continuous power. A company claims it can have a space-based solar power station in place within the decade:

http://www.universetoday.com/2009/02/18/new-company-looks-to-produce-space-based-solar-power-within-a-decade/

Alternative Energies Update

Sun-powered device converts carbon dioxide and water vapour into natural gas 20x faster than before (although still not enough to be commercially viable):

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16621-sunpowered-device-converts-co2-into-fuel.html

Computing Update

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging to read a person's mind (well, sort of...):

http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/22201/?a=f

Nanotechnology Update

The success of mature nanotechnology hinges on mass-producing structures at the nano scale. Researchers have discovered how to use magnets to direct the consistent assembly of nano-structures:

http://www.physorg.com/news154190856.html

Alternative Energies Update

Don't forget the effectiveness of non-photovoltaic solar water heaters. They're cheap, effective, proven technology.

An Irish company claims to have drastically improved on the efficiency of these devices:

http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/2544/83/

Alternative Energies Update

Harnassing bacteria to produce biofuels and clean up the environment:

http://www.physorg.com/news154107803.html

Cybernetics Update

A "thought-controlled" wheelchair gives mobility and manipulation to the disabled:

http://singularityhub.com/2009/02/11/researchers-develop-brain-controlled-wheelchair-robotic-arm/

Cybernetics Update

New artificial arm is controlled by the wearer's thoughts:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/11/health/research/11arm.html?_r=2&ref=science

Robotics Update

Engineers give robots human brain-inspired software to help them navigate around obstacles in a manner similar to humans:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16557-video-robot-uses-human-mind-tricks-to-navigate.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news

Watch the video.

Computing Update

"Students at the MIT Media Lab have developed a wearable computing system that
turns any surface into an interactive display screen. The wearer can summon
virtual gadgets and internet data at will, then dispel them like smoke when
they're done."

http://blog.wired.com/business/2009/02/ted-digital-six.html

This is like giving everyday objects the same Web-accessibility computer applications have--fascinating!

Computing Update

A new "probabilistic computing" chip can make calculations seven times faster than conventional chips with 1/30th the electricity...by embracing imprecision:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6252697.html

Robotics Update

These new robots are capable of fine motor skills, voice recognition, and the ability to do several common household tasks:

http://www.physorg.com/news153079697.html

Be sure to play the videos.

This is state of the art 2009. Want to guess what we'll have in ten years?

Robotics Update

Engineers use biological adaptive learning techniques to give robots the ability to learn efficient motion:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126946.600-unnatural-selection-robots-start-to-evolve.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news

Robotics Update

Here's another prediction that we'll have sex and marriage with robots in the near future:

http://www.livescience.com/technology/071012-robot-marriage.html

I think the disruptions will be more drastic than implied in the article, though--why have both a human and a robot sex partner, when a robot partner could much more easily fulfill all your fantasies, be ready and willing at all times, have an appearance to your exacting specifications, share your interests more closely, and come with none of the baggage of a human sex partner? I also think the same drastic change will come to friendships.

Materials Update

Functional invisibility comes one step closer:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16527-video-revealing-the-technology-of-invisibility.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news

Artificial Intelligence Update

Speech prediction technology comes of age, capable of filling in what you can't remember:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16528-innovation-speech-prediction-software.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news

Computing Update

Scientists teleport the state of an atom across a lab:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126936.500-teleporter-sends-ions-on-longdistance-journey.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news

"The promise of this new process is that it could form the basis of a "quantum repeater" that will enable quantum communication over almost any distance: ion teleporters placed at regular intervals along a fibre could briefly store quantum states before sending them on their way, so no single photon has to travel too far."

Computing Update

New quantum dot technology should lead to computers that use 1,000 times less power and are 1,000 times smaller than current transistors:

http://www.physorg.com/news152271696.html

Alternative Energies Update

Jatropha, whose seeds produce a highly efficient biofuel, grows like weeds in bad soil and won't displace food farmland:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1874835,00.html

Alternative Energies Update

New anti-reflective coating breakthrough creates nearly 100% absorption of sunlight (instead of the usual 66%) for solar panels:

http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/2512/83/

Internet Update

South Korea will install a nationwide 1 Gbps super-broadband infrastructure by 2013 that will enable downloading a feature film in one to two seconds!

http://www.physorg.com/news152856783.html

Computing Update

"IBM and the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have signed a new contract to build the next generation of IBM’s BlueGene supercomputers at the famed DOE facility. The first IBM BlueGene supercomputer, called “Dawn,” will have a top processing speed of 500 teraflops." (Due out at the end of this year.) "The second IBM system, dubbed “Sequoia,” will offer 20 petaflops of performance and surpass the records Big Blue set when it installed the massive Roadrunner system for the DOE in 2008." (Due out in 2012.) Sequoia will be nearly 20 times faster than the current fastest supercomputer:

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/IT-Infrastructure/IBM-Building-Next-Generation-of-BlueGene-Supercomputers/

Singularity Update

And now here's the new Singularity University, supported by NASA, Google and others. The NASA Research Park campus has a "nine-week graduate-level interdisciplinary curriculum designed to facilitate understanding, collaboration, and innovation across a broad range of carefully chosen scientific and technological disciplines whose developments are exponentially accelerating":

http://www.kurzweilai.net/news/frame.html?main=/news/news_single.html?id%3D10073

Robotics Update

Ethics report on autonomous military robots released:

http://ethics.calpoly.edu/pr_020209.html

"The public is generally surprised when they hear how great a role robots are playing in the military," explained Dr. Patrick Lin, director of the research group and co-author of the report. "But there hasn’t been much dialogue about the risks posed by these machines, especially as they are expected to be given more autonomy or a greater ability to make choices on their own, such as attack decisions."

Alternative Energies Update

Ethanol-powered portable fuel cells could be far more efficient than ethanol-powered engines and more practical than hydrogen-powered fuel cells:

http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/22041/

Robotics Update

These robots use hive mind programming to drastically increase warehouse organizational and functional efficiency:

http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/01/retailrobots.html

Computing Update

More indication of the Law of Accelerating Returns, in the form of India's $10 laptop:

http://www.physorg.com/news152541176.html

That price seems impossible...but even double that price seems impossible. Yet it would be vastly more powerful than my old Macintosh I bought in 1984 for over $3000....

Update 2/7/09: It turns out the price seems impossible because the device is actually just a "digital storage hub/net access point for educational media."

http://www.thestandard.com/news/2009/02/04/indias-10-laptop-too-good-be-true