Cybernetics Update

Computers can now read minds well enough to know exactly what words you are thinking:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/7957664/Computers-that-read-minds-are-being-developed-by-Intel.html

Artificial Intelligence Update

Here a robot learns like a child how objects can be stacked:

http://www.physorg.com/news201880504.html

(See videos)

Computing Update

"Graphics chips are doubling in capacity every six months. That translates into a thousandfold increase in capacity over a five-year period":

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/350918/20_20_Vision?taxonomyId=56&pageNumber=1&utm_source=KurzweilAI+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=ec4d6f497a-UA-946742-1&utm_medium=email

Virtual Reality Update

Researchers working on sending virtual objects over the Internet so they can be touched and manipulated by the recipient:

http://www.ethlife.ethz.ch/archive_articles/100816_virtuelle_realitaet_cho/index_EN

Alternative Energies Update

New York building a flywheel energy storage system to store excess energy from the grid:

http://www.ecogeek.org/power-storage/3257

Alternative Energies Update

First test of wind-to-battery is a success:

http://www.ecogeek.org/wind-power/3260

Computing Update

"A computer chip that performs calculations using probabilities, instead of binary logic, could accelerate everything from online banking systems to the flash memory in smart phones and other gadgets":

http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/26055/?a=f

Computing Update

Plastic “spintronics” devices could store more data in less space, process data faster, and consume less power:

http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/spindata.htm

Artificial Intelligence Update

The brain may be wired much like the Internet (which explains its ability to recover from damage to any one small area):

http://uscnews.usc.edu/science_technology/new_study_examines_the_brains_wiring.html

It makes one wonder if the Internet itself may become self-aware.

Nanotechnology Update

Logic devices have been created that could give nanobots computing ability at the nano-scale:

http://www.physorg.com/news200213686.html

Artificial Intelligence Update

Digital life forms evolve memory. The principle could be scaled up to evolve high-level artificial intelligence:

http://www.kurzweilai.net/artificial-life-forms-evolve-basic-intelligence?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=a51e1d888b-UA-946742-1&utm_medium=email

Computing Update

Think the world isn't changing fast? Think again. Every two days that pass now we create as much information as we did from the dawn of civilization up until the year 2003. Mind-blowing!:

http://techcrunch.com/2010/08/04/schmidt-data/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+Techcrunch+(TechCrunch)

Alternative Energies Update

"Stanford University engineers have figured out how to simultaneously use the light and heat of the sun to generate electricity in a way that could make solar power production more than twice as efficient as existing methods and potentially cheap enough to compete with oil":

http://news.stanford.edu/news/2010/august/new-solar-method-080210.html

Alternative Energies Update

A new design for extra huge windmills that can handle the stresses:

http://www.ecogeek.org/wind-power/3241

Computing Update

Prototype interconnect uses light to speed up data transmission inside computers. The prototype can transmit an entire high-definition movie each second:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/202018/intel_turns_to_light_to_transfer_data_inside_pcs.html

Computing Update

Prototype interconnect uses light to speed up data transmission inside computers. The prototype can transmit an entire high-definition movie each second:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/202018/intel_turns_to_light_to_transfer_data_inside_pcs.html

Nanotechnology Update

The development of "nanoribbons" show promise for future electronics devices:

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-07/sflf-nfg072110.php

Cybernetics Update

A new "walking wheelchair" allows many wheelchair users to stand and walk around, making it easier to interact with the conventional world:

http://www.gizmag.com/rex-robotic-exoskeleton/15736/

Cybernetics Update

Highly dexterous artificial limb with a sense of touch can be controlled by thought alone:

http://www.jhuapl.edu/newscenter/pressreleases/2010/100714.asp

Alternative Energies Update

New ultra-low-power devices are being developed that can use radio waves as a power source:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/18/business/18novel.html