In the wake of my colleague Harry McCracken’s sensible commentary on Richard Gaywood’s TUAW piece about the iPad’s viability as a content creation tool, I wanted to write from the standpoint of someone with friends in both the …
Innovation
Wanted: Hypersonic Aircraft That Can Reach Anywhere on Earth in an Hour
Fly anywhere on Earth in an hour. That’s the goal for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), according to Nextgov.com. DARPA is the Department of Defense’s secretive research arm known mostly for commissioning …
As More Hybrids Hit the Market, All-Electrics Still Trying to Catch On
Nevermind high gas prices and government incentives: We just can’t seem to get over the idea of driving a car without gas.
via Nissan Leaf Sales Slump in First Half of 2011 | Moneyland | TIME.com.
UCLA Researchers Build World’s Fastest Camera to Screen for Cancer
The best slow-motion shots money can buy usually are shot at a rate of between 5,000 and 10,000 frames per second — we’re talking seriously slow, like bullets shattering glass in beautiful, explosive detail.
Researchers at …
WATCH: Robotic Legs Use Brain-like Controller to Mimic Human Motion
Robots don’t stroll, at least not in science fiction movies.
They more often than not lumber or, in the case of C-3PO, shuffle. But thanks to scientists at the University of Arizona, you might one day see a robot casually …
Quantum Computing at Room Temperature — Now a Reality
You’ve read about the world’s first quantum network built from two atoms and one proton. You’ve heard about the quantum computer someone plonked inside a diamond to grapple with something called “quantum decoherence.” I mean, who …
Allen Institute: Microsoft Cofounder’s Organization Holds Brain Hackathon
Yesterday, I wrote about a researcher “hacking” into Stephen Hawking’s mind with a new device called the iBrain. But for most scientists, hacking the brain doesn’t mean bypassing the physical body — it means making sense of the …
How Google’s Chief Innovator Sergey Brin Is Making Science Fiction Real
At a time when some pundits are questioning whether Silicon Valley’s innovation engine is tapped out, web search titan Google offered a powerful display last week of why that’s not the case.
via Google’s Chief Innovator …
Going to Comic-Con? Come to My Panel on the Future of Graphic Novels
I’ve been going to Comic-Con in San Diego off and on–but mostly on–since 1988. Back then, 8000 people turned out, and it seemed like an awful lot at the time. This year, something in the neighborhood of 125,000 will attend from …
Reading Stephen Hawking’s Mind to Keep His Voice Alive
Philip Low almost didn’t meet Stephen Hawking.
Running his own start-up, NeuroVigil, was exhausting for Low and after his speech at the World Science Festival in New York, the last thing he wanted to do was socialize at an …
How to Track Colorado’s Waldo Canyon ‘Super Fire’ (and Others)
As an uncontrolled “super fire” near Colorado Springs rages, feeding off parched terrain and forcing tens of thousands from their homes and businesses, high-tech mapping tools are dishing up highly detailed, bird’s eye views of …
Think You’re Good at Rock-Paper-Scissors? This Robot Always Wins
Is nothing sacred? It appears robots have moved beyond beating us at bar games to dominating the sacred games of our childhood — in this case, rock-paper-scissors.
There is absolutely nothing you can do to beat this robot. …