IEEE Special Report on the Singularity

Great articles on various aspects of the Singularity
http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/singularity

1 in 4 mammals at risk of extinction

"Our results paint a bleak picture of the global status of mammals worldwide.."

The research for the report took five years and involved more than 1,700 scientists around the world.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/10/06/endangered.mammals.ap/index.html

Bug out bag threads

http://thenetworkunderground.blogspot.com/2007/10/bug-out-bag-essential.html

http://survivormagazine.blogspot.com/2008/01/ultimate-bob-bug-out-bag.html

http://zombiehunters.org/zss/?p=15

More Survival Links

James Rawles site
http://www.survivalblog.com/

Bug out Bag list
http://www.wilderness-survival.net/forums/archive/index.php/t-257.html

Forums from Doug Ritters site
http://forums.equipped.org/

Deep Survival Book:
http://www.amazon.com/Deep-Survival-Who-Lives-Dies/dp/0393052761

Other sites:
http://survival.com/
http://zombiehunters.org/

Survival Blog - "Equipped to Survive"

http://forums.equipped.org/

Invisibility Cloak

Invisibility cloak coming soon: http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2008-08/invisibility-cloak-swirls-closer-reality

Synthetic Telepathy

US Army paying $4 million for synthetic telepathy research using BCIs:
http://www.physorg.com/news137863959.html

Eventually this could facilitate telepathy for the common consumer..

traffic safety

You know you always hear how safe big rigs are despite how that flies in the face of common sense.

Now comes a shocking revelation that big rigs are involved in one out of ten traffic fatalities!

It would be interesting to know what percentage of big rig accidents cause fatalities. As a motorcycle rider, I'm keenly aware of how lethal a collision with a big rig can be.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/371666_unfitdrivers22.html

Emergency notification

Will send email w/severe weather and other threats: http://www.emergencyemail.org/

Special Ops site

Interesting survival information, tests..
http://www.usrsog.org/index.htm

Survival Kits

When preparing a survival kit, its worth looking at what other kits include.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survival_kit

Red Cross Emergency Kit: $70
http://www.redcrossstore.org/Shopper/Product.aspx?UniqueItemId=3&Page=1&StartAtPage=1&SId=305468&LocationId=0

Everything Survival Kit: $80
http://www.readynation.com/OnlineStore/ProductDetail.aspx?gid=8e222a91-64da-4c07-91e2-4e6df177fca3

Guardian Deluxe Survival Kit: $70
http://www.vkrsupplies.com/?gclid=CP7I1b38gpQCFSMYagod1DE_XA

Survival Links

http://www.survival-homestead.com/teotwawki.html
http://survival-and-preparedness.blogspot.com/

Solar Power using magnifying lens

IBM uses a magnifying lens to focus 2300 suns onto a centimeter square, which heats up to 1600 degrees Celsius, creating 230 watts. After cooling down to 85 degrees Celsius using microprocessor cooling technology, one is left with 70 watts of power. A way to capture solar power that is 5 times more efficient than current solar farms.

http://physorg.com/news130086323.html

First contact would probably be with robots

A few interesting points sparked by this article - andn it's good to see scientists coming around to my point of view! ;-)

• The average alien civilization is probably 50,000 years older than ours
• The technological advances that would be possible in 50,000 years of civilization are mind-boggling. The Arthur C. Clark quotation "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" comes to mind.
• This nonsense with manned space exploration being the primary mission of NASA has to come to an end. Just as unmanned military aircraft are the future, so are unmanned spacecraft.

http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/04/04/858045.aspx

Environmentalists demonstrate they aren't interested in reducing global warming...

...unless it is done their way - through emissions cuts alone.

Could this be because only this way gains them access to political power to control society?

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/04/02/australia.carbon.capture.ap/index.html

Spooky Doo - the robotic dogs are coming

Filed under "signs of the Apocolypse" - You have to see this to believe it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1czBcnX1Ww

http://www.bostondynamics.com/content/sec.php?section=BigDog

Turing test candidate - already?

IBM's Blue Gene, the world's most powerful supercomputer, will power an avatar in a virtual world such as Second Life in an attempt to pass a modified Turing test. Could AI be that close to passing a computer off as a human?!

http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=206903246

Telepathy underway

Soon we will be able to silently communicate with each other. And perhaps translate our thoughts into other languages.

Thoughts in the form of nerve signals are intercepted by a neckband and translated into words. Currently the system only understands 150 words, eventually it will recognize the full gamut, much like word recognition software. The device could then translate the words into another language prior to transmitting.

The device only picks up thoughts intended to be spoken, so it doesn't read your mind. At least not yet. :)

http://technology.newscientist.com/article/dn13449-nervetapping-neckband-allows-telepathic-chat.html

Use radar to see thru brick walls

While not cutting-edge (this came out in 2006), this is still ground-breaking. Prism 200 provides the ability to see thru brick and concrete walls and display the location of occupants using Ultra-Wideband Radar.

http://www.cambridgeconsultants.com/prism200.shtml

Minority Report interaction coming soon...

The use of cameras, combined with software to interpret gestures will enable a whole new form of interaction between humans and electronic devices. We will advance beyond the constraints of the primitive keyboard and mouse and interact with computers more intuitively in 3-D space...

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080304200631.htm
http://www.news.com/8301-13772_3-9873205-52.html?tag=tb

Bionic eyes: restoring sight to the blind

Restoring sight to the blind.
No need for a miracle, just a retinal implant.
Human trials to begin in the next few years:

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/general/view.bg?articleid=1078909

Not for viewing in America

It's interesting to me that we have endless television debates between presidential candidates, yet debates on one of the most significant issues of our time - Muslim extremism - get absolutely no television coverage in America.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/mar/09/middleeastthemedia.islam

http://www.thedohadebates.com/output/page12.asp

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=doha+debates&search_type=

Mouth swabs and the Genetic Police

The world's largest DNA database is in the UK. The UK police swab for everything except for littering and traffic violations. Even though the DNA fingerprint is not your fully sequenced genome, it is linked to your DNA and other personal info.

Where will this end up? It may start with capturing DNA fingerprints to match crime scene artifacts, but could eventually evolve into full genome sequencing to build personal profiles based on genetic markers. Match it up with neuroscientific advances in brain scanning and they may be able to peer into our bodies and our minds. :)

Interesting twists:
They can use your DNA to implicate your family members.
Some human chimeras / hermaphrodites contain two DNA fingerprints.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/aug/05/comment.politics

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_National_DNA_Database
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimera_(genetics)

New camera sees through clothing

This amazing device detects the natural electromagnetic emissions of material to distinguish any kind of foreign object carried by a person.

Presumably the claim that the device the device doesn't reveal the body means it's calibrated to ignore the wavelengths emitted by flesh.

Fears of a surveillance society are well-founded. It should be possible in the near-term for completely automated surveillance that is able to log the details of a persons movements and associations over a lifetime, now including ones personal possessions.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23554544/

scientists say Kyoto cuts not enough

So now we have a report confirming what many of us have believed all along - that emissions cuts will not have a significant effect on global warming.

Given the fact that the vast majroity of greenhouse gases (both in volume and potency) are not man-made, this seems seems to be a tacit admission that global warming is largely not a man-caused issue.

So let's say that regardless of the cause we agree that a cooler globe is desirable. That means we need to get to net zero or net negative carbon emissions, or employ other measures.

Is the socio-economic toll of the current approach of emission conservation worthwhile, or should the efforts be put into technologies that can actually have a significant impact on global temperature?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23552526/

Sierra Club reveals it's Marxist

Liberal editor Joel Connely describes the Sierra Club's attack on John McCain as a partisan play, but I think it just demonstrates the core beliefs of the leftists.

Commonly described as "the ends justifies the means", the Sierra Club appears to be adopting the Marxist / consequentialist philosophy by using unethical means to attack a candidate who closely aligns with their stated values, just because his affiliation is with a party that has been traditionally a foil.

VW introduces 70 mpg diesel hybrid

This looks like a Prius-beater.

http://blog.wired.com/cars/2008/02/vw-unveiling-an.html

Exponential change ahead for ... people

Kurzweil gives a keynote at the Game Developers Conference, providing an update to some of his Singularity predictions. He also shows a handheld he developed that can accurately read cursive. His predictions include biotech enhancements and exponential longevity.

Now that information technology is affecting medicine, Kurzweil projected that in 15 years, the life expectancy of people will start expanding at the rate of more than a year for every year that passes, essentially not only delaying death, but actually pushing it further away with each passing day.

http://www.news.com/Kurzweil-Exponential-change-ahead-for-games,-people/2100-1043_3-6231644.html?tag=newsmap

Norwegian Seed Vault

This is just sobering to think about. A seed vault for if and when the worlds crops and existing seed banks are destroyed. One wonders, what is the protocol in that case? They have to have thought of how to control access to the seeds. Or is it just first come first serve? Inquiring minds...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23335145/

Track your travels with geotags

Utilize geotagging to track your travels on Google Earth. A new camera is coming out soon with an integrated GPS that automatically geotags your images...hopefully the camera will be available before the 2008 Olympics. :)

How to geotag:
1) buy a GPS unit and notate the geotag manually
2) buy a special geotag camera add on: here
3) buy a geotag camera in ~September : here

More info about geotagging: here
Example of geotagging: here

Brain waves control toys, could control virtual worlds

This brain-computer interface (BCI) headset reads brain waves, measuring anxiety, attention, drowsiness, and meditation levels. The brain waves are used to control toys; these toys could help children improve focus. Eventually, video game and virtual world interaction will be controlled via brain waves.

It could even enable players to control video game characters or avatars in virtual worlds with nothing but their thoughts.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/games/2007-04-29-mindreadingtoys_N.htm

Drexler quote about nanotechnology

"The technology underlying cell repair systems will allow people to change their bodies in ways that range from the trivial to the amazing to the bizarre. Such changes have few obvious limits. Some people may shed human form as a caterpillar transforms itself to take the air; others may bring plain humanity to a new perfection. Some people will simply cure their warts, ignore the new butterflies, and go fishing."

-K.Eric Drexler, Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology

Unforgettable Memory

If neuroscientists are able to unravel the mysteries surrounding superior memory storage and retrieval, perhaps that will lead to biological enhancements that extend the memory capacity of ordinary individuals.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/02/22/memory.man.ap/index.html

Global gigabit: digital divide shrinking

Gigabit satellite internet could provide the necessary bandwidth to enable high resolution uplinks into virtual worlds from anywhere in the world, and furthermore could accelerate the viability and adoption of higher-quality virtual education for the masses. The Digital Divide is shrinking.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/02/23/japan.satellite/index.html

Is mass transit obsolete?

http://editorial.autos.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=457882


Do vehicles like the Loremo make the argument for mass transit null?

Consider the following:

150 mpg for a two passenger vehicle equals 300 passenger miles per gallon. That is more than ten times the average passenger mpg of a bus, and three times that of light rail!

An argument for mass transit is the physical space required for personal transit. On the roads, this is currently certainly a valid concern. However, future cars will drive themselves, essentially forming virtual trains as they drive automatically nose-to-tail, inches apart, with no human intervention whatsoever.

As far as parking goes, with some of the small vehicles such as the Smart, I think it's debatable as to how much of an advantage in physical parking space that mass transit will have. Unused trains and unused buses also have to park after rush hour and they consume space and use fuel to get to and from the parking depot. The parking depots are also have a fairly large footprint, while a car parking space can obviously be puny.

In Japan, there are robotic parking garages that achieve incredible passenger vehicle density. VW has invented an even more efficient robotic parker that is 5x more efficient than a conventional garage.






Mass transit has a lot of downsides of course. Criminals are attracted to the passenger loading stations. The stations and the vehicles make an attractive terrorism target.

Mass transit is obviously a good way to spread communicable diseases quickly. If you were writing a movie script for how to transmit a pandemic, it would tend to include mass transit. In the event of a pandemic, mass transit will shut down, either from the fear of the passengers or by direction of the government. An economy that relied on mass transit would be disastrously impacted.

Now despite these drawbacks in my estimation the major argument made for greater population density is the ability to use mass transit!

Remove that incentive and the argument for population density shrinks. The downsides of population density are many. The lack of greenery makes cooling needs massive. Local air quality suffers, resulting in chronic illnesses. Epidemics are more likely. Violence is more endemic. Ironically, valuing the natural environment diminishes as the inhabitants have no appreciation for it. Light pollution. Noise pollution. Stress. Pollution. Drug use. The human cost is great.

The logical question arises, why can't mass transit take advantage of the same technological advances? Well it can, but not at the same rate. It's locked into a procurement-cycle pace of upgrades. Not to mention political interference. Just take a look around at your current mass transit and compare that technology to what is available in your car showroom.

There is no reason to believe the dynamic that leads to that situation will change.

And as technological advancement accelerates (Moore's Law, or Kurzweil's accelerating returns), the sum of time mass transit will spend behind the technological curve will be exacerbated.

City planners really need to consider the acceleration of technology and challenge some based assumptions about transit.

Perhaps suburban villages - with walkability to shops for daily shopping - with advanced personal transportation vehicles for commuting and other personal trips - is the greener and better overall formula.

Microscopic robotic surgeons modeled

Microscopic robots flowing in our bloodstream could carry out future surgeries.

Pisa University Professor Paolo Dario showed off models of microscopic robot surgeons that will zoom through the bloodstream to carry out emergency surgery in places human hands find hard to get at.

He said the Aracne bots, controlled by external joysticks, would be ''like something out of Fantastic Voyage'' - a cult 1960s sci-fi flick starring Raquel Welch.

http://www.ansa.it/site/notizie/awnplus/english/news/2008-02-20_120190597.html

Microfiber fabric generates electricity

A fabric-based nanogenerator could become an efficient way to generate electricity and recharge batteries, allowing you to indefinitely power personal electrical items such as a GPS, radio, light, or cell phone while off the grid.

U.S. scientists have developed a microfiber fabric that generates its own electricity, making enough current to recharge a cell phone or ensure that a small MP3 music player never runs out of power.

The fiber-based nanogenerator would be a simple and economical way to harvest energy from the physical movement. What the fabric does is it translates the mechanical movement of your body into electricity.

..the material could be used by hikers and soldiers in the field and also to power tiny sensors used in biomedicine or environmental monitoring.

http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSN1334900820080213?feedType=RSS&feedName=technologyNews

Australia opens first airline to Antarctica via ice runway

60 years ago, such an announcement of "man conquering nature" may have been met with enthusiasm.

These days, while the purpose of the airline is supposedly to facilitate environmental researchers, one can't help but dread the inevitable influx of tourists and ponder the irony of the pollution of the pristine environment this service will cause. Australia's environmental minister said last year "There is no reason why this runway could not be used down the track for a tourism operation."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2007/12/12/eaice212.xml

Video here

DNA manufacturing

Science is now on the verge of using the building blocks of life itself to assemble machines.

"With DNA, chipmakers could phase out multibillion fabrication facilities stocked with lithography systems, which cost tens of millions of dollars, and the other "top-down" style equipment.
Potentially, DNA techniques could allow manufacturers to produce features that are smaller than patterns that could be achieved even with the most advanced lithography systems, predicted Wallraff. E-beam lithography, which is extremely difficult to use in mass manufacturing, goes down to 10 nanometers. "

http://www.news.com/IBM-experimenting-with-DNA-to-build-chips/2100-1008_3-6231183.html?tag=nefd.lede

the high-def disc format wars are definitively over

http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9874199-7.html?tag=nefd.lede

Chinese Trojan Horse

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/15/BU47V0VOH.DTL&type=tech

Cyber command

http://www.wired.com/politics/security/news/2008/02/cyber_command?currentPage=all

Grow skin grafts, restore the paralyzed

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080215191435.htm

Use only 10% of brain is myth

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=people-only-use-10-percent-of-brain

MIT opens AgeLab to help aging baby boomers

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/nation/story/1B75812C8B35E98F862573EA0015F561?OpenDocument

Artifical sweeteners linked to weight gain

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=artificial-sweetener-linked-weight-gain

Proteins as next-gen memory device

Our brain uses proteins to store memories..

http://physorg.com/news121948100.html

Education in Second Life

http://dusanwriter.wordpress.com/2008/02/08/education-in-second-life-students-and-the-unexpected/

Virtual Education: dissect a V-Frog

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080211215636.htm

Software Allows User To Reach Out And Touch, Virtually

Glove can replicate the sense of touch of virtual objects

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080125233408.htm

Russia flexing military muscles

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/02/11/russian.bomber/index.html

New Heart Worship Center

http://www.newheartworship.org/

The City Church

Apostolic covering of the Image Church
www.thecity.org

Image Church

Church plant: www.theimagechurch.org

Grand Opening Feb 17th, 2008

United Northwest

Church plant started in 2007
http://www.unitednw.org/

Save the planet?

I love all this "save the planet" stuff.

Greenpeace and others run around to save a few whales while thousands of other species go extinct every year. The current annual loss has been calculated at 20,000 to 30,000 species. Entropic devolution of our planet is clearly evident. I guess it gives people a sense of purpose to try to save a few species on the way down...

Dr. Edward O. Wilson of Harvard University estimates that if 1% of the world's tropical rain forests are destroyed each year, a conservative estimate based on current rates of deforestation, then over 100 years there would be a loss of at least 20% of all species, assuming extinction rates remain constant. Based on a total of 10 million species, the current annual loss has been calculated to be 20,000 to 30,000 species.

http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=42142

Philippines / Palau in March

In March, am travelling to the Philippines and perhaps Palau (Micronesia) as well.
http://www.visit-palau.com/

China Olympics 2008!

Planning to travel to Beijing, China in August with other music groups to help set a Guiness World Record in music...stay tuned!
http://en.beijing2008.cn/

Dollar falling

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2004033495_dollar25.html

The earth is getting warmer overall

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/weather/12/13/warm.weather.ap/index.html

Arctic melt

How do you explain away the hard data on the Arctic melt?
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/12/11/arctic.melt.ap/index.html

Harvard Extension School

http://www.dce.harvard.edu/

Harvard Studio for Electro Acoustic Composition

http://huseac.fas.harvard.edu/

Harvard Music Track

http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/cyberonepodcast/files/2007/11/virtual-education.mp3

Harvard Wiki about Javenu

http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/cyberone/wiki/User:Javenu

Stanford d.School

http://www.stanford.edu/group/dschool/

Stanford CCRMA Center

http://ccrma.stanford.edu/

Stanford HCI

http://hci.stanford.edu/

MIT Scratch Projects

http://scratch.mit.edu/users/javenu808

MIT Media Lab

http://www.media.mit.edu/

Create pdf online

https://createpdf.adobe.com/index.pl?BP=IE&LOC=en_US

Monitor calibration

http://www.normankoren.com/makingfineprints1A.html

Online vector generator

http://vectormagic.stanford.edu/

Melatonin could hurt memory formation at night

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071115164438.htm

Alzheimer's disease treatment

Alzheimers: A drug commonly used to treat arthritis caused a dramatic and rapid improvement in patients with Alzheimer's disease

http://www.technologyreview.com/Biotech/20066/

Reversing sleep deprivation effects

http://www1.wfubmc.edu/news/NewsArticle.htm?Articleid=2234

Caffeine doubles risk of miscarriage

http://www.newscientist.com/channel/health/dn13206-coffee-can-double-risk-of-miscarriage.html?feedId=online-news_rss20

Iran and Syria against US & Israel:

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/826953.html

Russia + China + India to counter US

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article1386812.ece

Russia rebuilding Army:

http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Russia_Makes_Moves_To_Revive_Army_999.html

First Russia & China military exercise

...batten the hatches! http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article2204006.ece

21st century pack mule from MIT

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2007/exoskeleton-0919.html

Automatic translators in development, not far off (DARPA)

http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/22844

Translation devices in use by military and police.

http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/24034

Kitty used for Camo

http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/future-weapons/weapons/zone3/slideshow/slideshow.html

Railgun: uses electricity to propel projectiles

Railgun: Uses electricity to inexpensively propel projectiles at incredible speeds, with an impact like hitting a solid object "going 380 mph in a (white) Ford Taurus" http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/18/navy-develops-8-megajoule-railgun-nukem-bows-down

PHaSR: Laser weapon which temporarily blinds a person

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personnel_Halting_and_Stimulation_Response_rifle

Cigarette plasma thrusters

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) powered by plasma thrusters the size of cigarettes:
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9854271-7.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

Singularity Summit

http://www.singinst.org/summit2007/

The Singularity Is Near

http://www.singularity.com

Reversing the effects of aging

http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health_medicine/4248482.html

Next dimension digital:

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/tech/personaltech/20070820-9999-mz1b20sidene.html

Flying car

http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/19499/?a=f

Future cars could be powered by garbage

http://www.technologyreview.com/Biztech/20056/?a=f

3-D ultrasound

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTHtMqHyU4w&feature=related

Salt water as energy source?

http://www.dnronline.com/opinion_details.php?LID=5146&sub=Letters%20to%20the%20Editor

Ion Mask waterproofing

http://www.cnet.com/8301-13639_1-9838467-42.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=MilitaryTech

Hi-Vision TV

The next version of TV is bigger and better than going to the movies. With 24 channels of audio!
http://www.bhfo.org/news/latest-news/japanese-33-million-pixel-tv-standard.html

Samsung 3-D TV

http://blogs.zdnet.com/Berlind/?p=635

Brightside 200,000:1 contrast ratio

http://www.dolby.com/promo/hdr/technology.html

Virtual reality clothing shop.

Interesting intersection of virtual reality, RFID, and smart card technology:
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200708/200708240016.html

Virtual reality clothing shop.

Interesting intersection of virtual reality, RFID, and smart card technology:
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200708/200708240016.html

Second Life: Living in future worlds

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/08/07/virtual.living/

Electric Sheep lay-offs, SL bubble bursting

http://clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3627922

Second Life: balanced view of hype

http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2007/12/digging_deeperhype_and_backlas.html

Second Earth – Second Life + Google Earth

https://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/18911/

Metaverse road map

http://www.metaverseroadmap.org/overview/

Gaming can be fatal..

i wonder if he was playing Second Life..?http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/09/17/internet.death.ap/index.html

Three New MMOs Challenge World of Warcraft in 2008

http://www.wired.com/gaming/virtualworlds/news/2008/01/mmos_2008

Virtual Tokyo

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/09/28/virtual.tokyo.ap/index.html

Open borders sought for virtual worlds:

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN0944574020071010

Google testing “My World” for launch later this year

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070924-google-testing-my-world-for-launch-later-this-year.html

European officers arrested someone for stealing virtual property

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/nov/15/socialnetworking.news

Commercial brain computer systems are coming

http://blogs.zdnet.com/emergingtech/?p=776

Using bodies to navigate virtual worlds

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21917042/

Using virtuality to do research

http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/19817/?a=f

C# Day in virtuality

http://blogs.msdn.com/zainnab/archive/2007/12/09/c-day-is-a-success.aspx

Online classes exploding

Education: online classes exploding: this momentum will drive virtual education

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/348198_online22.html?source=mypi

First Virtual Lab in Second Life: Digital S Lab

Along those lines...first Virtual Lab in Second Life: Digital S Lab
To "enhance the teaching of Biotechnology, Bioinformatics and Molecular Medicine." http://secondlife.blogs.cnn.com/2008/01/10/digital-s-lab-opens-in-sl/

Using SL to build avatar-sized molecures:

http://brandon-hall.com/tomwerner/2008/01/01/a-life-size-molecule-in-second-life/

Dark side of virtual worlds

http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/02/washington-post.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/05/AR2008020503144.html?sub=AR

Creating virtual trees

http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/20080/

Contact lenses to create augmented reality

Augmented Reality: University of Washington created contact lenses that superimpose images.. http://uwnews.org/uweek/uweekarticle.asp?visitsource=uwkmail&articleID=39100

Washington Driver's licenses to feature radio chips

http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55058

Robotic fly for covert surveillance funded by DARPA:

http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/19068/

Microchip RFID Chips

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19904543/

More Eavesdropping on its way

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/08/04/congress.fisa/index.html?iref=newssearch

Ring of Steel coming to New York

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/08/01/nyc.surveillance/index.html

DOD awards $1.6 million for Implantable biochips

http://nanotechwire.com/news.asp?nid=4894

License plate reader

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/big-brother/appian-technology-stinger-reads-license-plates-calls-police-284210.php

Mind-controlled limbs

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14790160/?wid=11915773&GT1=8506

Cyborg muscles for the Singularity:

http://technology.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn12603&feedId=online-news_rss20

Cloned food

Cloned food: now is a good time to consider becoming a vegetarian:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/01/15/fda.cloning/index.html

Electronic nose

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=electronic-noses-could-make-diseases-something-to-sniff-at

Sensitive polymer skin for our friendly cyborgs

http://spectrum.ieee.org/jan08/5864

New robotic Ankle

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2007/robot-ankle-0723.html
------------
Such bionic devices will aid in attempts to extend the human lifespan.
One can change out aging limbs with permanent replacements.
Towards the Singularity --> reversing the curse

Mind-controlled prosthetic Arm that can play the piano

http://www.popsci.com/popsci/technology/5dfc3bd0efe84110vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html

Grow new heart from stem cells in ten years

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6517645.stm

Skin cells said to mimic stem cells

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21886974/

Genetic cure for sickle cell anemia using skin cells:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7130471.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4588910.stm

Growing a rat heart

Speaking of being able to grow new organs to achieve longevity, if not immortality :)
http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/01/14/rat.heart.ap/index.html
"Want to live forever..."

Cell phone usage can affect sperm

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23033163/wid/11915773/

Using DNA to find life partner

http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=7402

Stem cell transplant cures diabetic mice

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19726424.500-stem-cell-transplant-cures-diabetic-mice.html

Racetrack memory with 100 times the capacity of current memory

Singularity Summit predictions included storing the Library of Congress on your iPod in the next few years. (hopefully Natural Language Processing capability will advance as well to enable speech-based queries) New Racetrack memory with 100 times the capacity of current memory could make this a near-term reality:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/11/technology/11storage.html?_r=2&ref=technology&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology roadmap
http://e-drexler.com/p/07/00/1204TechnologyRoadmap.html

Robot / drone “glitch” kills nine

Brings a whole new meaning to "friendly fire" http://blog.wired.com/defense/2007/10/robot-cannon-ki.html

Exoskeleton / droid

Think Storm Troopers
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/tech/2007/11/27/yeates.ut.robo.soldier.ksl

Robot plays violin

http://www.physorg.com/news116145737.html

Firefighting robots

http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/robotics/4235629.html?nav=RSS20

Automated car wins Darpa Urban Challenge

http://www.popsci.com/popsci/technology/34ea5dcd7a977110vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html

Driverless vehicles 'within a decade'

http://www.computing.co.uk/vnunet/news/2206795/gm-promises-driverless-vehicles

Robot plays ping-pong, can beat human players

http://www.robotworldnews.com/100305.php

Monkey thoughts control a robot

Heading towards brain computer interfaces (BCI)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/15/science/15robo.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Cell phone use could slow your brain down:

http://news.biocompare.com/newsstory.asp?id=195284

Thoughts can control a wheelchair

http://technology.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn12602&feedId=online-news_rss20

Direct Brain-to-Game Interfaces coming

There are concerns about BCI slowing down the brain:
http://www.wired.com/medtech/health/news/2007/09/bci_games

Neurogenesis is possible

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurogenesis

Current brain interfaces

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_34/b4047431.htm

Ultrasonic light to block and stimulate neurons:

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2007/brain-block.html

Beaming sensory info into the brain

Sony takes first step towards Matrix - beaming sensory information into the brain:
http://technology.newscientist.com/channel/tech/mg18624944.600-sony-patent-takes-first-step-towards-reallife-matrix.html

3 days, 3 ways

http://www.govlink.org/3days3ways/makeaplan.html

Survival shopping list

http://www.slate.com/id/2148772/sidebar/2149226/ent/2148773/

The Survivalist

Great survival article from Slate:
http://www.slate.com/id/2148772/entry/2148773/

Night vision monocular

http://www.savvysurvivor.com/itt_6015.htm

Survival on the cheap

http://www.geocities.com/hankmcintyre/survival_on_cheap.html

King County Preparedness

http://www.metrokc.gov/prepare/preparerespond/default.aspx

Popular Mechanics column on Worst Case Scenarios

http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/worst_case_scenarios/

22 steps for natural disaster survival

22 steps to save yourself in any natural disaster:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/worst_case_scenarios/4220516.html

107 piece survival gear list

http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/worst_case_scenarios/4220574.html

107 piece survival gear list

http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/worst_case_scenarios/4220574.html

Band together to survive

from Website: http://hurricanegrrl.livejournal.com
Thank you so much for this article. I wish it had been written a few years ago. I was stuck in New Orleans when Katrina hit, and lost everything. I banded together with a group of people, and together we managed to clear the main streets of our area, feed up to 60 people per day, organize a rudimentary field hospital, located trapped pets and provided them with food and water...and a lot more. We were able to accomplish all of this only because several of us had military training and could teach the others what to do. One thing the article failed to mention is the absolute necessity of banding together for security reasons...we fortified our neighborhood and set up perimeter patrols, which kept out the looters. The first five days in New Orleans, no one at all came to help us. Groups of gangbangers and drug addicts filtered down into the residential neighborhoods in search of drugs. There were several times where we had to shoot over these people's heads to discourage them from entering our territory. Danger, unfortunately, is just as likely to arise from humans as from natural disasters, and the breakdown of organized society immediately following the hurricane showed people's true colors.

China: mass transit = single point of failure

500,000 stranded at train station due to weather
Why one shouldn't rely too heavily on mass transit
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/01/28/china.weather/index.html

Bug-out bag

Things to put in a survival backpack - great discussion
http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=10&f=17&t=594775&page=9

Welcome!

First blog for Javenu. Plan to keep track of interesting developments on a diverse array of topics such as virtual reality, virtual worlds, singularity, biotechnology, nanotechnology, robotics, artificial intelligence, technology innovations, life extension, disaster survival, emergency preparedness, 3-D modeling, animation, graphic design, electronic music, surround sound...just to name a few.