Robotics Update

Using robotic telepresence to allow workers to be in two places at once but with more flexibility than video telepresence:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20827924.200-2011-preview-enter-the-robot-self.html

Artificial Intelligence Update

An artificial intelligence program can shred a guitar:

http://createdigitalmusic.com/2010/12/rock-robots-pam-can-seriously-shred-open-source-marie-could-do-even-more/

Although it sounds too "perfect" right now.

Artificial Intelligence Update

By 2020 you won't be able to tell if you're communicating with a person or a computer over the web:

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Artificial_intelligence_to_transform_web_Russian_tycoon_999.html

Computing Update

2010's advances in computing technology:

http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/26988/

Medicine Update

2010's advances (and retreats) in medicine:

http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/26985/

Artificial Intelligence Update

Despite its over-hyped and weak start, artificial intelligence research is booming and producing incredible results all around us:

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/12/ff_ai_essay_airevolution/

Artificial Intelligence Update

Researchers to begin running thin slices of brain tissue under an electron microscope in order to map its wiring:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/28/science/28brain.html?_r=1

Alternative Energies Update

New solar reactor produces hydrogen from water:

http://news.discovery.com/tech/new-solar-reactor-makes-storable-fuels.html

Computing Update

DARPA to give soldiers "terminator" vision:

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/12/pentagon-wants-to-give-troops-terminator-vision/

Computing Update

IBM's predictions for the next five years:

• You’ll beam up your friends in 3-D
• Batteries will breathe air to power our devices
• You won’t need to be a scientist to save the planet
• Your commute will be personalized
• Computers will help energize your city

http://www.industryweek.com/articles/iw_50_best_ibms_top_five_tech_predictions_for_2015_23513.aspx?SectionID=5

Computing Update

Racetrack memory combining the best of both magnetic and Flash storage could lead to the ability to store all the movies produced in the world in a year and run for weeks on a single battery:

http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-12-un-growth-hormone-longevity.html

Medicine Update

"Un-growth" hormone may increase longevity:

http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-12-un-growth-hormone-longevity.html

Computing Update

Science magazine declares the first quantum machine the breakthrough of the year:

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-12/aaft-bo121010.php

Computing Update

The world's smallest computer memory using magnetic spins in the center of atoms:

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-12/uou-cmt121010.php

Artificial Intelligence Update

A $4 iPhone app that can translate languages on SIGNS...instantly:

http://techcrunch.com/2010/12/16/world-lens-translates-words-inside-of-images-yes-really/

Be sure to watch the video.

Too cool!

Computing Update

Moore's Law is in danger of coming to a stop unless new technologies are developed to replace current microprocessors:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19882-future-computing-boosts-will-need-a-revolution.html

Robotics Update

The advances in robotics in 2010:

http://www.itworld.com/science/130854/2010-robots-review

(video)

Genetic Engineering Update

Government gives green light for developing synthetic biology:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/16/science/16synthetic.html?ref=science

Artificial Intelligence Update

Google launches next phase of voice recognition to allow more smart phone operations to be done with greater accuracy with voice alone:

http://www.bostonherald.com/business/technology/general/view.bg?articleid=1303065&srvc=rss

Artificial Intelligence Update

IBM's "Watson" computer will challenge Jeopardy!'s greatest champions for a $1 million prize:

http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/33233.wss

Watch Jeopardy! Feb 14-16!

Artificial Intelligence Update

Researchers using fruit flies to help decode the construction of the human brain:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/14/science/14neuron.html?_r=2&ref=science&pagewanted=all

Medicine Update

"Fountain of Youth" pill may restore aging immune systems to former strength:

http://news.ucsf.edu/releases/ucsf-fountain-of-youth-pill-could-restore-aging-immune-system/

Computing Update

Taiwanese researchers claim to have created a microchip only 9 nanometers across with 20x the storage of currently available microchips, and consumes 1/200th the energy:

http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-12-taiwan-scientists-microchip-breakthrough.html

If true, it's particularly impressive since the limit for such microchip technology was though to be 20 nanometers.

Singularity Update

(Not exactly germane to this subject, but may have implications for possible survival after the death of the universe)

Researchers claim to have found evidence of our universe having had up to four collisions with other universes:

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/26132/?ref=rss

Medicine Update

Stem cells used to give a paralyzed monkey the ability to jump again:

http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-12-japan-team-stem-cells-paralysed.html

Alternative Energies Update

Theoretical breakthrough may allow the creation of antimatter from "nothing":

http://ns.umich.edu/htdocs/releases/story.php?id=8167

Computing Update

Samsung releases stacked memory modules that increase density by 50%:

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9200278/Samsung_to_release_3D_memory_modules_with_50_greater_density

Nanotechnology Update

New structural material can "heal" itself:

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-12/aiop-sam120610.php

Nanotechnology Update

I've created a new YouTube video titled, "Science & Technology vs. Religion":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBKYVwQl3RQ

It merges several of my favorite topics. :-)

Nanotechnology Update

Art at the nanoscale:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/tech/art-nanotech.html

Robotics Update

As I predicted, here's the next step in the evolution of the sexbot:

http://www.news.com.au/technology/worlds-first-life-size-robotic-girlfriend/story-e6frfro0-1225817805297

I DO think it's only a matter of 10-15 years before sexbots can replace "real" lovers so well one can't tell the difference between them.

Computing Update

Streaming video is increasingly placing

Alternative Energies Update

New integrated solar system increases captured solar energy efficiency to 80%:

http://www.ecogeek.org/solar-power/3353

Computing Update

Breakthrough in chip technology integrates light and electrical devices on the same chip to allow smaller, faster and more powerful computers:

http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/33115.wss

and follow-up article:

http://www.kurzweilai.net/by-2018-supercomputers-could-operate-100-times-faster-than-the-human-brain

"The new technology could accelerate the performance of supercomputers a thousand times, taking us from the current 2.6 petaflops (1015 or quadrillion operations per second) Chinese Tianhe-1A supercomputer to an exaflop (1018 or a quintillion operations per second) supercomputer in just 8 years (“flops” stands for “floating point operations per second”). And that means a supercomputer that runs 100 times faster than a human brain operating at peak capacity, currently estimated to be around 1016 operations per second by Ray Kurzweil and others."

Weaponry Update

New XM25 rifle allows soldiers to use programmable exploding bullets to negate the advantages of enemies hiding behind cover:

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/11/24/armys-revolutionary-rifle-use-afghanistan/

Genetic Engineering Update

Researchers reverse aging in mice and plan to apply it to humans:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/nov/28/scientists-reverse-ageing-mice-humans

Singularity Update

An interview with Ray Kurzweil for Time magazine:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2033076,00.html

(Watch the video--link is in the left bar)

Nanotechnology Update

Upcoming e-paper may display full-motion video...and yet be cheap enough to be disposable:

http://www.uc.edu/news/NR.aspx?id=12779

Alternative Energies Update

Four ideas for using the heat stored up by asphalt roads:

http://www.ecogeek.org/solar-power/3343

Alternative Energies Update

Anti-matter hydrogen has finally been successfully captured:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20827874.500-antihydrogen-trapped-at-long-last.html

Robotics Update

The AMAR (ARMAR?) robot uses touch to adapt to and manipulate new items in a kitchen environment:

http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-11-armar-iii-robot-video.html

Computing Update

New nanowire "racetrack" memory may make shockproof hard drives 100,000 times faster and that consume less power than current drives:

http://actu.epfl.ch/news/racetrack-memory/

Computing Update

IBM intends to make supercomputers the size of a sugar cube:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11734909

Nanotechnology Update

"Armageddon Science," or how we will be destroyed (nanobots included):

http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2010/11/08/apocalypse_science_interview/index.html

Robotics Update

The first robot actress:

http://newsfeed.time.com/2010/11/12/treading-the-circuit-boards-robot-actress-takes-to-the-stage/

She only sits for now, and her expressions aren't very realistic yet...but just wait a few years....

Robotics Update

The first robot actress:

http://newsfeed.time.com/2010/11/12/treading-the-circuit-boards-robot-actress-takes-to-the-stage/

She only sits for now, and her expressions aren't very realistic yet...but just wait a few years....

Singularity Update

If you're wondering what the projected timeline is for achieving the technological singularity, here's the most detailed:

http://markii.wordpress.com/2008/02/08/kurzweils-singularity-time-line/

Computing Update

35 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every...minute:

http://youtube-global.blogspot.com/2010/11/great-scott-over-35-hours-of-video.html

"...you’ve increased the amount of video uploaded to YouTube to 35 hours per minute. That breaks out to 2,100 hours uploaded every 60 minutes, or 50,400 hours uploaded to YouTube every day. If we were to measure that in movie terms (assuming the average Hollywood film is around 120 minutes long), 35 hours a minute is the equivalent of over 176,000 full-length Hollywood releases every week. Another way to think about it is: if three of the major US networks were broadcasting 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year for the last 60 years, they still wouldn’t have broadcast as much content as is uploaded to YouTube every 30 days."

Like the amount of traffic and related infrastructure in the world, it is unfathomable to me how such quantity can be supported.

Virtual Reality Update

New glasses allow one to view augmented reality on a 60" virtual screen projected 10' away, both in 2D and 3D:

http://www.vuzix.com/consumer/products_wrap920ar.html?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=03f5f3dda1-UA-946742-1&utm_medium=email#about_ar

Computing Update

Even if missing a quarter of their components, quantum computers should still be able to function properly:

http://www.kurzweilai.net/quantum-computers-a-step-closer-to-reality-thanks-to-new-finding

Nanotechnology Update

Nanogenerators can now scavenge enough mechanical energy to power small personal electronics:

http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/26689/?p1=A2

Cybernetics Update

The next generation of military exoskeleton, Lockheed's HULC, can carry 200 lb loads for extended periods:

http://www.lockheedmartin.com/products/hulc/index.html

Robotics Update

Driverless, mapless, all-electric robotic vehicles successfully navigate from Italy to China...and even stop to pick up a hitchhiker:

http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/without-driver-or-map-vans-go-from-italy-to-china-20101029-176ja.html

Virtual Reality Update

Testing to see whether the universe we live in...is actually just a hologram:

http://www.symmetrymagazine.org/breaking/2010/10/20/fermilab-scientists-to-test-hypothesis-of-holographic-universe/

Manufacturing Update

3D printing is transforming the toy industry:

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/mimssbits/25931/

Alternative Energies Update

Google investing heavily in a $5 billion project to develop offshore wind energy production:

http://www.ecogeek.org/wind-power/3325

Computing Update

The Chinese build the world's fastest supercomputer, at 2.507 petaflops:

http://pressroom.nvidia.com/easyir/customrel.do?easyirid=A0D622CE9F579F09&version=live&prid=678988&releasejsp=release_157

Cybernetics Update

DARPA working on robot limbs with natural-motion dexterity wired directly to the brain:

http://mobile.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/26622/

Computing Update

Researchers are shooting for 1 terabit Ethernet speeds by 2015, and 100 tb by 2020:

http://www.kurzweilai.net/tomorrows-internet-1000-times-faster

Computing Update

Babbage's 1837 design for a mechanical "analytical engine" computer may finally be built!

http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-10-campaign-babbage-analytical.html

Of course, it'll only have 1k of memory and be 13,000 times slower than a ZX81....

Computing Update

Graphene-based computers could use less energy, generate less heat and perform much faster than conventional computers:

http://www.kurzweilai.net/a-graphene-based-spin-computer

Computing Update

Graphene based computers could use less energy, generate less heat and perform much faster than conventional computers:

http://www.kurzweilai.net/a-graphene-based-spin-computer

Transportation Update

DARPA funding a 100 year starship program:

http://www.kurzweilai.net/nasa-ames-worden-reveals-darpa-funded-hundred-year-starship-program

Robotics Update

Robot with synthesized voice sounds as natural as a human:

http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-10-japans-robot-video.html

Robotics Update

Defining the speed and acceleration of robots to minimize injury to humans:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20827826.700-robot-arm-punches-human-to-obey-asimovs-rules.html

Alternative Energies Update

The US DOE invests heavily in flywheel energy storage technology:

http://www.solarthermalmagazine.com/2010/09/30/storing-renewable-in-advanced-flywheel-based-energy-storage-systems-stabilizing-the-grid/

Alternative Energies Update

California to mandate 33% of energy produced from alternative sources by 2020:

http://www.ecogeek.org/solar-power/3312

Artificial Intelligence Update

Computer beats a human at shogi (Japanese chess--more complicated than regular chess):

http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2010/10/computer-makes-the-winning-mov.html

Transportation Update

Driverless robotic cars could greatly cut down on traffic:

http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-10-self-driving-car-unveiled-germany.html