The Cost of Exploring Space vs. Films About Space

Rather depressing:

http://www.universetoday.com/99683/the-cost-exploring-space-film-vs-reality/

ARGUS 1.8 Gigapixel UAV Camera

This camera isn't so much about zooming in on a single spot to see all the pores on your hand, but zooming in at a still-impressive level over a 10 square mile area ALL AT ONCE and in real time:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=QGxNyaXfJsA

All-in-One Robot Factory

A precursor to nanofactories?

http://www.3ders.org/articles/20130123-irobot-filed-a-patent-for-autonomous-all-in-one-3d-printing-milling-drilling-and-finishing-robot.html

Print Your Own Robot for $1000

Download the specs for this work-in-progress robot, print it out with a 3D printer, add some basic components, and you too can have a robot for $1000 or so:

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/01/25/tech/innovation/inmoov-robot-3d-printing/index.html

And here it is in motion:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=tojIdfywYVI

More Thoughts on Driverless Cars

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/don-tapscott/going-down-the-road-in-a-_b_2554361.html?utm_hp_ref=tw

Is Moore's Law Slowing Down?

Man vs. Machine

by Rana Foroohar

Remember the booming economy of the 1990s? A big factor in that growth was technology, which fueled productivity gains at a much faster clip than it does now. Moore's law--the observation credited to Intel co-founder Gordon Moore that computer chips double in power roughly every 18 months--appeared to be squarely in effect. From 1995 to 2005, large companies invested heavily in technology that increased efficiency and productivity, eventually creating entirely new areas of business and boosting employment growth. The fact that American companies invested more than, for example, European ones is a key reason many U.S. multinationals increased revenue and market share during that time. So given the rise of social media, big data and other tech trends, can we expect a similar boost to growth sometime in the near future?

No--at least according to "Is I.T. Over?," a new report by JPMorgan Chase's chief U.S. economist, Michael Feroli. Using U.S.-government data, Feroli shows that prices for IT equipment--things like software, computers and networking technology--are declining at the slowest pace in over a generation. That's important, because a slower price decline for technology implies slower gains in the power of technology. As Feroli writes, an average computer may retail for about $1,000, but historically "the power of that computer has increased dramatically" over time. As the power of new devices increases, prices of old ones fall. The fact that they aren't falling so quickly now means that technology isn't increasing at the same pace it once did.

This doesn't mean that Moore's law is dead. Strictly speaking, it refers to the number of transistors that can be squeezed onto a chip. Other factors, like microarchitecture and memory, can constrain computer advances even if the sheer number of circuits continues to increase. The bottom line, though, is that slower tech-price declines and slower gains in computing power suggest that the pace of innovation in the near future is likely to resemble that of the recent past. In other words, it will be sluggish for the next few years.

Indeed, a number of economists, including Northwestern University's Robert Gordon, believe that we are entering an even longer period of slow tech gains and slow growth. Gordon argues that the productivity gains of the decade beginning in 1995 were nothing compared with earlier, arguably more cataclysmic tech shifts like the advent of the combustion engine, electricity and indoor plumbing. "Which changes your life more," he asks, "an iPad or running water?" What's more, even if innovation were to continue into the future at its pre-2005 rate, Gordon says, the U.S. faces new headwinds--including debt levels, an aging population, environmental challenges, inequality and lower levels of education relative to international standards--that will hinder growth more than in the past.

There may be a silver lining to this story. Despite the boost it has given to overall growth, the white-hot pace of tech advancement over the past few decades is also a key driver of higher unemployment and inequality, as less-educated workers lost their jobs to machines. Research shows that technology powers job growth only if educational levels keep pace with technological change--a relationship that began to break down in the 1970s in the U.S. If IT advances are finally slowing, "then workforce skills may be better able to catch up with the level of technology," notes Feroli. In an era when many economists believe inequality is an obstacle to growth, that's a rare bit of good economic news.

China's Robot Car First to Pass Freeway Test

http://www.china.org.cn/china/2013-01/23/content_27773068.htm

Come on, do we really want to let China surpass us in robotics?

Molecular Memory Promises 1000x Increase in Storage Capacity

http://www.mit.edu/newsoffice/2013/storing-data-in-individual-molecules.html

Cloning Neanderthal

An interview with George Church on the future of DNA manufacturing:

http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/george-church-explains-how-dna-will-be-construction-material-of-the-future-a-877634.html

New World Record in Solar Cell Efficiency

The efficiency gap between silicon wafer and thin film solar cells has been closed:

http://www.empa.ch/plugin/template/empa/3/131438/---/l=2

Leonar3Do 3D graphic design program

Very cool and easy way to design in 3D:

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/this-could-be-big-abc-news/become-own-3d-producer-155546885.html

Should compliment 3D printers nicely.

Mind control of computers

TED talk about an easy-to-use, easy-to-set up, inexpensive headset that interprets brain waves to interact with a computer or robotic device:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVhggGSjXVg#!

Controlling heat like light

A fascinating concept, perhaps with implication like "War of the Worlds" heat rays, beamed heating, local refrigeration, etc.:

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2013/how-to-treat-heat-like-light-0111.html

Not your standard self-parking car

I wonder how this would deal with restricted parking areas, but otherwise it's pretty impressive, and another step in the road to full robot driving:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=rgN8MOrss40#!

Accessible Virtual Reality Gaming on its Way

This is extremely cool, something I've been waiting for for decades now:

http://www.kurzweilai.net/ces-2013-hands-on-with-the-oculus-vr-rift-virtual-realitys-greatest-hope

Click on the Oculus VR link in the article to access a video introducing the product.

Paper Tab...paper-thin computing

Cool...but perhaps a bit to space-consuming and awkward? It may make a good adjunct to regular computers, but it currently appears confined to a literal desktop:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=81iiGWdsJgg

Hundreds of Billions of Planets

Not exactly an advancing technology, but it's the result of advancing technology...and it's just too cool:

http://www.universetoday.com/99309/nearly-all-sun-like-stars-have-planetary-systems/

Computers are learning to write jokes

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/06/opinion/sunday/can-computers-be-funny.html?_r=0

Below Absolute Zero

Temperatures can go BELOW absolute zero? And it could be exploited to create engines that are MORE than 100% efficient?

http://www.livescience.com/25959-atoms-colder-than-absolute-zero.html

Arthur C. Clarke's predictions of the future

Clarke's predictions from 1964 are amazingly accurate, despite his prediction for the fate of cities:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FxYgdX2PxyQ