LinkNotes: 11/01/2007

2007-11-30

Computer Simulation of the Brain

A Working Brain Model

An ambitious project to create an accurate computer model of the brain has reached an impressive milestone. Scientists in Switzerland working with IBM researchers have shown that their computer simulation of the neocortical column, arguably the most complex part of a mammal's brain, appears to behave like its biological counterpart. By demonstrating that their simulation is realistic, the researchers say, these results suggest that an entire mammal brain could be completely modeled within three years, and a human brain within the next decade.

Connect the dots: A representation of a mammalian neocortical column, the basic building block of the cortex. The representation shows the complexity of this part of the brain, which has now been modeled using a supercomputer.
Credit: BBP/EPFL

2007-11-29

Is Europe a country?

Funny video about a quiz show

via: Viral Video Chart - Top 20 Viral Videos

The Aquapict LED Jellyfish Aquarium (video)

clipped from www.kilian-nakamura.com

Made with highly-realistic silicone, the Aquapict jellyfish swim and change color subtly with the five-color LED lighting system (red, yellow, green, blue, and purple). They move by a slow current created in the tank that does not have an obvious flow or bubbles that make it look fake. It looks unbelievably real and beautiful!
Aquapict is perfect for bedrooms, desks, offices, restaurants, or anywhere people like to relax.

The Earth in its Cosmic Context - Two Fascinating Talks (video)

Martin Rees: Earth in its final century?

David Deutsch: What is our place in the cosmos?

via: SINGULARITY & THE PRICE OF RICE - Singularity in Bite-Sized Bits: Our Final Century?
related:
TEDTalks website
The Fabric of Reality
David Deutsch - Home
Martin Rees
LinkNotes: Smarter-Than-Human Intelligence - The Singularity

Iceland: Coolest Country

clipped from news.aol.com

Iceland Named Best Country to Live In

BRASILIA (Nov. 27) - Iceland has overtaken Norway as the
world's most desirable country to live in, according to an
annual U.N. table published on Tuesday that again puts
AIDS-afflicted sub-Saharan African states at the bottom.

The index ranks 175 U.N. member countries plus Hong Kong
and the Palestinian territories. It does not include 17
countries, including Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia, because of
inadequate data.

Norway had held top spot for six years but was edged into
second place by Iceland this year because of new life
expectancy estimates and updated figures for gross domestic
product, or GDP, the report said.

clipped from news.aol.com

· Full Report (399-Page PDF)

Country Rankings:

1 Iceland
2 Norway
3 Australia
4 Canada
5 Ireland
6 Sweden
7 Switzerland
8 Japan
9 Netherlands
10 France
11 Finland
12 United States

clipped from www.shredderchess.com

Shredder Online

Play a game of chess against the fun levels of Shredder 11 on our servers directly in your browser. To enter a move, click on a piece and drag it to the desired square. You can choose between three playing levels. Please note that even on “hard” Shredder doesn’t show his full capabilities. He is trying to provide an equal opponent for a human player on those levels.

2007-11-28

Definr: Super Fast Dictionary

A fast, free dictionary based on Princeton's open WordNet 2.0

definr - incredibly fast dictionary

Superbots

clipped from www.higp.hawaii.edu

SuperBot is:

A robotic solution for carrying out complex tasks in space and on planetary surfaces, such as assembly, inspection, maintenance, habitat construction, surface landing, and exploration. The traditional approach of building separate robots for separate tasks is no longer adequate for affordable space exploration. We need robots that are:

Modular -- made of standardized plug-in units for easy assembly, repair, and expansion
Multifunctional -- having many uses
Reconfigurable -- the ability to change arrangement or shape on the fly

clipped from www.isi.edu

clipped from www.higp.hawaii.edu

clipped from www.isi.edu

A Public Abstract.
Pictures Albums.
Movie Archive.
Educational Outreach.

via: The SuperBots are Coming! | The Daily Galaxy: News from Planet Earth & Beyond
related:
Superbots In Action
Shape-shifting modular SuperBots evolving into our future overlords | SCI FI Tech for Thursday, February 22, 2007 | SCIFI.CO M

Hypnosis Induction Scripts (audio)

Hypnosis Induction Scripts

2007-11-27

Neuros OSD Linux Media Center

The first open source, Linux-based, embedded media center

Watch your favorite TV show or movies anytime, anywhere.
Watch YouTube on your TV.
Digitize your home movies.
Play movies downloaded from the internet on your TV.
Hold a slide show of your latest road trip on your TV.
Capture your video game highlights and email to friends.
Stream Audio and Video from your networked PC.
Record to a networked PC or Storage device.

Neuros OSD Media Center

Everlight - Invest in The Sun

clipped from www.everlight.it

clipped from www.ecofriend.org

Everlight, leaders of plant and solar systems, introduces their latest sustainable project ‘The eco pensilina’. This is a valuable product to furnish urban cities and those who want to promote not only the use of solar energy, saving, but also sustainable mobility. It’s a penthouse that can be installed on bus stops or as shelter for pedestrians which can also accommodate a ‘station’ for hiring of electric bicycles or just for their recharge. With solar panels positioned on the roof of the penthouse, electric bikes can recharge, at no charge.

impianti fotovoltaici

Water Therapy

Drink Water on Empty Stomach - Water Therapy

It is popular in Japan and India today to drink water immediately after waking up every morning. Furthermore, scientific tests have proven its value.

Method of Treatment

As you wake up in the morning before brushing teeth, drink four glasses of water each of 160 ml.
Brush and clean the mouth but do not eat or drink anything for 45 minutes.
After 45 minutes you may eat and drink as normal.
After 15 minutes of breakfast, lunch and dinner do not eat or drink anything for two hours.
Those who are old or sick and are unable to drink four glasses of water at the beginning may commence by taking little water and gradually increase it to four glasses per day.
The above method of treatment will cure diseases of the sick and others can enjoy a healthy life.

Sakthi Foundation - Pancha Bhoota Healing

2007-11-26

Elmo eXtra Special Edition

Elmo's More 'extreme' Than Ever

Laughs, rolls, and more when tickled
Movement combinations reveal secret surprises; rhyming cards hint at the right combinations

TMX eXtra Special Edition

Smarter-Than-Human Intelligence - The Singularity

"The Singularity" is the technological creation of smarter-than-human intelligence

Several technologies are heading in this direction.

Artificial Intelligence,
Direct brain-computer interfaces,
Biological augmentation of the brain,
Genetic engineering,
Ultra-high-resolution scans of the brain followed by computer emulation

Sometime in the next few decades, we can expect this breakthrough

An institute with the mission to confront both the opportunity and the risk of this urgent challenge is:

The Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence

via: Eliezer S. Yudkowsky

Santa Bling Bling (video)

A Japanese jewelry store is selling a 44-pound golden statue of Santa with 23 diamonds in his belt. It can be yours for $2 million. (Nov. 20)

Japan Today - News - Santa Claus statues made of pure gold

Giant Sea Scorpion (video)

Bigger than a man!

Scientists have found the fossilised claw of a 2.5 metre long sea scorpion, a nighmarish creature living before the age of dinosaurs. German scientist Markus Poschmann, who found the claw in a quarry around 15 years ago, says scientists didn't previously know that these prehistoric animals were so big.

2007-11-25

Futuristic User Interfaces

From Science Fiction movies we are already familiar with exotic computer interfaces like the one's designed for this purpose by Mark Coleran Visual Designer:

Human Computer Interaction in Science Fiction Movies

In real world there is already notable progress in technology of advanced computer interfaces, like:

Laser-based tracking for real-time gesture acquisition:

[...] The problem of tracking hands and fingers on natural scenes has received much attention using passive acquisition vision systems and computationally intense image processing. We are currently studying a simple active tracking system using a laser diode (visible or invisible light), steering mirrors, and a single non-imaging photodetector, which is capable of acquiring three dimensional coordinates in real time without the need of any image processing at all. Essentially, it is a smart rangefinder scanner that instead of continuously scanning over the full field of view, restricts its scanning area, on the basis of a real-time analysis of the backscattered signal, to a very narrow window precisely the size of the target.

For some other futuristic user interfaces see:

via: Advertising Lab: future of advertising and advertising technology: Fictional Interfaces

M2E power - Kinetic Cellphone Batteries

clipped from www.techlivez.com

Kinetic Cellphone Batteries Under Development

US based M2E power is working on a self charging generator/battery technology that utilizes the kinetic energies of the movement and transform it into usable electric power that could power a cell phone easily. They have already developed a rechargeable battery that works on kinetic energy alone and can be charged by the movement of the user like walking,driving.

clipped from m2epower.com

Promises to transform energy generation by delivering cleantech power to mobile devices.

M2E Power | Mobile Micro Power Generation Solutions

via: Kinetic Cellphone Batteries Under Development- New Battery technology
related:
M2E Gets $8M to Take Military off Grid with Human Energy - GoodCleanTech
Better Battery Breakthrough?
Walking Energy Cells
M2E Power Recharges With Million - Mergers, Acquisitions, Venture Capital, Hedge Funds -- DealBook - New York Times

Liquid Metal Demo (video)

Demonstration of increased energy return efficiency in exotic elastic metal alloys.

via: Rainbow Boys: LiquidMetal
related: Amorphous metal - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Spatial Robotic Solutions - Robotic Survey Method (video}

High resolution site surveys with the Robotic Survey Method

Video introduction to PenBay Media's Spatial Robotic Solutions. This practice lies at the crossroads of Geographic Information Sytems (GIS) and the best of the robotics world. Spatially Intelligent robots are built on a platform with sliding autonomy, capable of dynamically navigating the spaces on their own.

Spatial Robotic Solutions

2007-11-24

Killer Ants (videos)

African driver ants, known locally as Safari ants have the largest colonies of any social insect:

They travel in columns of about twenty million at a time, and will attack anything that cannot get out of their way:

Male driver ants, sometimes known as "sausage flies" are the largest known ants:

via: Spluch: The largest ant in the world

related:
Dorylus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
NPR : The Savage, Beautiful World of Army Ants
BBC - Science & Nature - Articles - Ants can't hurt you, can they?
NOVA | Master of the Killer Ants | PBS

Anti-gravity Globe

Levitation at your desktop

clipped from www.thinkgeek.com