CircleCount helps you better understand Google+

2013-05-19 15:24:19 (14 comments, 0 reshares, 14 +1s)

There are two mobile apps I want to see exist. anyone come close to these yet? or are they too hard to do?

First:
 I want an app for my smart phone that I can take a pic of a plant, animal, paw print, mushroom, or whatever, and it uses its wondrous skills to tell me what the hell it is. I suspect this would require watson level contextual big data to pull off.  Bonus points if it also knows enough about me to point out potential useful information specific to me (too bitter, you won't like the taste, or don't touch that.)

Second
 I want an app that when I go to the store, and point it at a bar code, it goes through a list of pre-selected parameters I chose myself (was it made with slave labor? Is Monsanto involved? Does it have nuts, mesquite or raspberries? Made in this state?  about average in price? has a good consumer reports rating?)

 I suspectthis... more »

2013-05-19 02:35:45 (0 comments, 2 reshares, 5 +1s)

At the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany, a new record has been set: 40GB per second over a distance of about .6 of a mile. That’s like sending 10 high-def feature films.

2013-05-18 21:49:15 (11 comments, 5 reshares, 17 +1s)

Wow.
Very wow.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/551975293/meta-the-most-advanced-augmented-reality-interface

2013-05-18 13:55:19 (1 comments, 3 reshares, 6 +1s)

1.7 miles long,  gonna pass us in a week or two. We've known about it for 15 years, ABSOLUTELY  no chance of hitting the earth.

but if it did.... extinction event 

H/t +Winchell Chung 

2013-05-18 04:21:48 (4 comments, 9 reshares, 27 +1s)

people being awesome

2013-05-17 14:04:27 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

So ummm. Now we need better power storage. We seem to have pretty good power collectors at a reasonable price covered quite well..

2013-05-17 14:00:05 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 2 +1s)

Hmmm. on one hand, monoculture is bad, and invasive species tend to create new problems.

On the other, I REALLY hate fire ants.

2013-05-17 05:03:57 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

I like this article, not only because it's in a journal my own short story is in, but because hes right. How people interact is going through a major change.

2013-05-16 12:19:52 (2 comments, 5 reshares, 19 +1s)

Problem: Tall buildings generate massive downdraft and wind effects

Solution: Massive downdraft and wind effects can be channeled into power generating systems.

2013-05-16 12:10:40 (12 comments, 9 reshares, 21 +1s)

Using prefab construction techniques, this building is intended to break ground in June. meaning it could be finished THIS year. designed as a vertical city, with living space, entertainment, schools, hospitals, shops, offices, and light manufacturing inside.  It almost, but not quit echos the thinking behind the Venus project 


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_City
http://nextbigfuture.com/2013/05/220-story-sky-city-gets-go-ahead-to.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Venus_Project

2013-05-15 13:29:33 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

musical robots with a budget

2013-05-15 13:24:44 (0 comments, 7 reshares, 10 +1s)

Cheap and simple way to pump water.

Physics for the win.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydraulic_ram
http://www.instructables.com/id/Hydraulic-Ram-Pump/

2013-05-15 12:37:40 (3 comments, 1 reshares, 7 +1s)

Forty. Minutes.

2013-05-15 01:15:24 (3 comments, 4 reshares, 9 +1s)

"The first step in restoring memories is to record, in undamaged tissue, the unique activity patterns associated with the formation of particular memories.  Step two is to use these patterns to predict what the “downstream” damaged areas should be doing.  Step three is to replicate the desired activity in healthy areas by stimulating brain cells with electrodes."

2013-05-14 13:45:46 (20 comments, 36 reshares, 89 +1s)

okay, this I want to watch.

2013-05-14 13:05:02 (7 comments, 0 reshares, 8 +1s)

The problem now, is storing power when the the sun isn't shining. 

2013-05-13 13:23:39 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Peltier Fridge project launching on Indiegogo

On Thursday I will begin a long journey to open source every household appliance. I am beginning with a refrigerator, because it is the most costly home appliance (aside from washer/dryer). My half-fridge sized prototype is available now:
http://grabcad.com/library/the-peltier-fridge

I am raising funds to:
-Build 2 prototypes, Half-fridge & Full-fridge
-Launch a Website Resource for Open Source Home Appliances

I welcome collaborators! Please E-mail me with your skills:
PeltierColdBox@Gmail.com

Look forward to the launch of my campaign. Please contribute if you can.

Fundraiser (Active 1/24): http://www.indiegogo.com/Peltier
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PeltierFridge
Design Animation: http://youtu.be/LEG6UkFyRxo
Twitter: http://twitter.com/peltierfridge

2013-05-13 13:15:23 (4 comments, 1 reshares, 3 +1s)

Wow. an experiment trying to determine if market forces devalue lives (well, the lives of mice, in this case)

the results are sad, if not surprising.

2013-05-10 12:19:56 (8 comments, 3 reshares, 9 +1s)

You know them noisy bugs that pop out every few years by the billions in hot places... In Texas we called them locust, but they are really Cicadas?

The ones so loud you can't hear each other talk, and as a ten year old kid I could catch fifty of them in twenty minutes, each the size of a man's thumb? 

whelp. I'm just going to leave this here.

http://www.newsdesk.umd.edu/pdf/cicada%20recipes.PDF

2013-05-10 12:08:21 (1 comments, 7 reshares, 14 +1s)

Renewable happening MUCH faster than expected.


"Renewable generation targets in the OECD far surpass the more modest outlooks, with the European Union, Germany, and Brazil reaching for at least 60 percent renewable electricity by 2030, while Denmark and Munich aim to hit 100 percent by 2030."

2013-05-09 13:00:22 (6 comments, 2 reshares, 8 +1s)

Both uplifting and a little unsettling.

2013-05-09 12:54:41 (6 comments, 2 reshares, 9 +1s)

Whoa. Wolfram alpha can now solve simple word problems. At first glance, it doesn't seem that big a deal, but then I began to think about the semantic relationships this has to go through.

2013-05-09 12:35:02 (0 comments, 2 reshares, 6 +1s)

2013-05-08 13:12:48 (17 comments, 1 reshares, 8 +1s)

HOLY CRAP ENDER'S GAME TRAILER

2013-05-08 12:37:29 (14 comments, 45 reshares, 64 +1s)

Weeds. might be time to look at the things that take over your garden, and see if the damn things are edible... turns out a LOT of them are delicious and healthy. its all about information. 

Also, This lady is awesome.

2013-05-08 11:55:53 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 6 +1s)

Strap on your rubber gloves and augmentation ether goggles, call for your trusty assistant Igor, and hook up the electrodes.

Here's an open source project to create artificial life.

2013-05-07 12:49:32 (10 comments, 7 reshares, 15 +1s)

a bot this useful for 22,000 dollars. That's the price of a car.

Or to put it a much more frightening way, that's a third the cost of an assembly line worker's yearly salary plus benefits, and it doesn't take breaks or need to sleep.

Still, it changes the cost from something only very rich people own, to something a startup can get a hold of.

So Baxter is going to both take away a lot of jobs AND make it easier for people to create their own business.

I suspect a Baxter-style fry cook will be in full production existence for a burger joint in less that two years, although it might be a decade before a chain uses them exclusively, and the only human in the place is taking orders and handing bags through a window.

2013-05-07 12:36:33 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 9 +1s)

You could say: 

"We made a disk, that if you put something in the center, and looked at it with microwaves from the edge of the disk, the microwave detectors can't see what's in the middle!  Someday that might work with visible light too... we are pretty sure that will work... mostly...maybe."

Or you could say:
 "Do it yourself invisibility with 3d printing"

2013-05-07 03:38:38 (3 comments, 2 reshares, 12 +1s)

creepy cool

2013-05-07 01:23:59 (3 comments, 2 reshares, 5 +1s)

Psst... wanna drive the big tech companies insane?

looks like they are ramping up touchscreens as the next big thing. Half the promotional videos show Touch screens for everything. All stuff has touch screens. Gotta buy the touchscreen thingy, its all about touchscreens. your bathroom mirror doesn't have a touchsreen? Dump it. Same for the fridge. Same for the sink.

screw that.

With good software, a cameras-tracking-infrared-dots sensor, and a video pico projector. you can skip ALL of that... cheaply. wear the cameras on your head, like google glass or a headband or something. Or put them in every corner of every room, if you don't want to wear it.

I don't want every flat surface to have embedded electronics, sensors, video displays and Ipv6 addresses. Instead... make little infrared kinect like sensors,  put them in the corners of every room like... more »

2013-05-06 12:55:52 (8 comments, 11 reshares, 8 +1s)

What a week's worth of food looks like. Depending on where you live and how you eat.

2013-05-06 12:47:00 (3 comments, 2 reshares, 9 +1s)

Hakka is the name for a minority population in China. 
Tulou is the common name associated with their walled community housing.
Thousands of these buildings are in China.

2013-05-06 12:32:52 (1 comments, 2 reshares, 7 +1s)

floating gardens. centuries old technique for growing stuff in places that flood a lot. In really bad floods, they put up a shelter on the garden island, relocate their animals there, and ride it out.

2013-05-06 12:17:31 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

IXI-Play from Witti Worx
this second video is cool too
Child Robot Interaction - IXI-Play

it's not for sale yet. and does not show a price... 
...Dammit.

here's how I found it
http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/home-robots/ixi-play-dancing-robot-bird

2013-05-06 02:21:43 (5 comments, 3 reshares, 12 +1s)

People being awesome. 
"The bridge is out, and all we got are two excavators" awesome

2013-05-05 14:48:37 (5 comments, 9 reshares, 10 +1s)

Basic income success. 

"Studies at the beginning, mid-point and end of the project confirmed that, in villages receiving payments, people spent more on eggs, meat and fish, and on healthcare. Children’s school marks improved in 68% of families, and the time they spent at school nearly tripled. Saving also tripled, and twice as many people were able to start a new business."

2013-05-03 13:28:05 (0 comments, 5 reshares, 7 +1s)

very inspiring!
i wonder if in say 50 years somebody talks about programming in C like this? ;)

2013-05-03 12:13:42 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 10 +1s)

robot bees first flight.
yep, I hear a high pitched buzzing sound coming from everywhere by the end of this decade.


http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2013/05/robotic-insects-make-first-controlled-flight/

2013-05-03 02:39:52 (2 comments, 3 reshares, 13 +1s)

How to Change Broken Capitalism

San Francisco and Seattle lead US cities pulling funds from fossil fuel firms

The cities of San Francisco and Seattle have pulled their money out of fossil fuel companies, taking a climate divestment campaign from college campuses to local government.

The campaign group 350.org said on Thursday it had won commitments from a total of 10 cities and towns to divest from 200 of leading fossil fuel companies.

"Divestment is just one of the steps we can take to address the climate crisis," the Seattle mayor, Mike McGinn, said in a statement. The divestment decision carries real weight for cities such as San Francisco, which control large employee pension funds.

City supervisors in San Francisco voted this week to move some $583 million in its $16 billion pension fund that was invested in... more »

2013-05-01 12:02:09 (3 comments, 2 reshares, 12 +1s)

well, damn. Now I want a MANET mesh, too.  

Cell towers are designed to share the same frequency across many towers, dividing a local area into "cells" where a few dozen people can use divisions of that frequency at the same time. Put a lot of cells in high traffic areas, and one or two in low traffic areas. When you reach capacity in a cell area, or move far enough, it hands off the call instantly to another cell. Most spots have five or six cells in range you can switch to, and use three or four frequencies, all in the same range. If all of those are "full" you drop the call. if you are out in the country or away from busy places, this reduces to a handful, rural areas might handle ten people on a tower at once, more than that get dropped.

What DARPA wants is to set up ad hoc towers (calling them fixed positions) and if it gets full, it transfers to another... more »

2013-05-01 02:13:49 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 9 +1s)

wow
"smarter objects"
The idea being to take physical things with physical buttons that work with or without an "Augmented Reality" layer, but that AR layer gives you a WHOLE 'nuther realm of functionality.

I want a tv remote with like six buttons on it, unless I grab the AR stuff for that one time a month I wanna do something a little bit more complex.

2013-04-30 12:37:43 (22 comments, 2 reshares, 14 +1s)

I've been wondering.

Is there a project out there to load last years e-reader up with every public domain textbook and creative commons or open standards educational source we can find, organized into an appropriate index and then given away to schools in developing areas?

I can't possibly be the only guy thinking of this.

2013-04-30 12:06:09 (6 comments, 0 reshares, 8 +1s)

Gene therapy. its promising, but dangerous. The only people they are willing to try it on right now are people that chemo has failed to stop the leukemia. They don't know the long range problems that might be associated with it.

Watch developments of this with fingers crossed. 

2013-04-29 13:25:19 (16 comments, 1 reshares, 5 +1s)

Crime is going down. We don't know why.
 
My guess. Communication is up. we are getting MUCH better at talking to each other. both to reduce tragic misunderstanding, and to catch people who are either planning to do something or after the fact. 

2013-04-28 12:48:49 (15 comments, 0 reshares, 6 +1s)

Added another hero to the list.

2013-04-27 22:03:09 (3 comments, 12 reshares, 20 +1s)

people being awesome.

2013-04-27 10:05:08 (9 comments, 2 reshares, 17 +1s)

3d printed awesome

2013-04-27 09:58:49 (6 comments, 1 reshares, 8 +1s)

"The international nuclear fusion project – known as Iter, meaning “the way” in Latin – is designed to demonstrate a new kind of nuclear reactor capable of producing unlimited supplies of cheap, clean, safe and sustainable electricity from atomic fusion."

Hyperrific
 

2013-04-26 20:42:44 (4 comments, 1 reshares, 1 +1s)

hmmm. If they find a sponsor or two, they could give the first ten thousand of these away for free... once they get a critical mass in a neighborhood, start selling them.

 I was overwhelmed till they started talking about location based data mining. Now I'm just whelmed.

2013-04-26 14:10:12 (4 comments, 1 reshares, 16 +1s)

One of the most epic and awesome articles I've ever read involved this process.  a 56 page article that Neil Stephenson wrote called "Mother Earth Mother Board". http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/4.12/ffglass_pr.html 

It's a long read, carve some time out.
Here's a quote.
"The Victorian era was an age of superlatives and larger-than-life characters, and as far as that goes, Dr. Wildman Whitehouse fit right in: what Victoria was to monarchs, Dickens to novelists, Burton to explorers, Robert E. Lee to generals, Dr. Wildman Whitehouse was to assholes. He achieved a level of pure accomplishment in this field that the Alfonse D'Amatos of our time can only dream of. The only 19th-century figure who even comes close to him in this department is Custer. In any case, Dr. Edward Orange Wildman Whitehouse fancied himself something of an expert on electricity. Hisr... more »