Technology

Just for fun: (source)

Chat bots are one of the coolest computing challenges. They're computer programs that are designed to simulate an intelligent conversation as if they're people. The ultimate goal is to pass what is called the Turing Test, where the chat bot fools human users into believing its a person, too. I recently received an e-mail from Suzette. She's a fantastic chat bot in need of winning a popularity contest. Go ahead and Say hello for yourself, and learn more about her. Once you're convinced that she's an incredible program, you can help her have a chance at winning the Chatterbox Challenge. She…

This week in NYC, at #140 conf, I was most impressed by the talks and panels about education, and the use of online technologies, Web, and particularly social networks like Twitter in the classroom. You know I am interested in this - just search my blog for names like "David Warlick" and "Stacy Baker", or dig through my "Education" and "Science Education" categories. These videos are all short - 10 or 20 minutes long, so I strongly recommend you watch all four clips: Chris Lehmann (@chrislehmann) - Social Media + Education: Real Time Communication and Education: Aparna Vashisht (@Parentella…

Angela Shelton (@angelashelton), an Asheville NC native, gave a powerful talk at the 140conf in NYC this week:

In 1960, the first working laser was demonstrated, and promptly dubbed "a solution looking for a problem." In the ensuing fifty years, lasers have found lots of problems to solve, but there has been no consensus about which of the many amazing applications of lasers is the most amazing. Now, in 2010, as we celebrate the anniversary of the laser, we finally have the technology to definitively answer the question: radio-button polls on the Internet! Which of the following is the most amazing application of a laser?Market Research Each of the choices above links to a post I wrote here giving…

The North Korean government has made an operating system called "Red Star." Despite the fact that very few North Koreans have a computer, let alone Internet access, Red Star is designed to provide a safe operating environment in line with North Korean political philosophy of "juche," or self-reliance (as well as, admittedly, monitor user activity). The Red Star O.S. takes fifteen minutes to install, uses a popular Korean folk song as its start-up music and features a calendar which starts counting time from the birth of Kim Il-sung, making 2010 the year 99. Amazingly, it's Linux-based, with…

In this talk, Jeff references his TEDx talk and a couple of his recent blog posts: The problem with comments isn't them and News(paper) in the cloud:

What's the application? Producing artificial "stars" to serve as a reference for telescopes using adaptive optics to correct for atmospheric turbulence. This allows ground-based telescopes to produce images that are as good as those from the Hubble Space Telescope. What problem(s) is it the solution to? "How can I make this giant telescope produce even more impressive pictures?" How does it work?The basic problem with ground-based telescopes, as anyone who has ever looked at the stars or listened to nursery rhymes can tell you, is that stars "twinkle." They appear to fluctuate in brightness…

What's the application? An optical frequency comb is a short-duration pulsed laser whose output can be viewed as a regularly spaced series of different frequencies. If the pulses are short enough, this can span the entire visible spectrum, giving a "comb" of colored lines on a traditional spectrometer. This can be used for a wide variety of applications, from precision time standards to molecular spectroscopy to astronomy. What problem(s) is it the solution to? 1) "How do I compare this optical frequency standard to a microwave frequency standard?" 2) "How do I calibrate my spectrometer well…

[Hat-tip: "If you want to understand the future...don't pay attention to how technology is changing, pay attention to how childhood is changing."]

What's the application? Using lasers to cut and/or cauterize tissue during surgical procedures, instead of the traditional very small very sharp knives. What problem(s) is it the solution to? 1) "How can we do surgery without touching the tissues being operated on?" 2) "How can I get rid of these annoying glasses/contact lenses?" How does it work? First, you strap a device to your head that lets you shoot laser beams from your forehead, like one of the X-Men. then you use a magnifying glass to focus it to where it needs to be. Like so: (I'm not sure exactly what sort of procedure that is,…

And here are the notes - rethinking the classroom. Completely.

This is very bad news: I don't mind at all that Apple's Mac/iPhone/iPad technology is closed and proprietary, but when they use that to censor delivered content, I get very, very unhappy. Mark Fiore is a fabulous web political cartoonist, and he came out with an iPhone app to provide access to his work…and Apple rejected it. But there's just one problem. In December, Apple rejected his iPhone app, NewsToons, because, as Apple put it, his satire "ridicules public figures," a violation of the iPhone Developer Program License Agreement, which bars any apps whose content in "Apple's reasonable…

Since I don't do PowerPoint but use the Web for presentations instead, and since the recordings from AAAS are not free (yes, you can buy them, I won't), and since some people have asked me to show what I showed at my panel there, here is the list of websites I showed there. I opened them up all in reverse chronological order beforehand, so during the presentation itself all I needed to do was close each window as I was done with it to reveal the next window underneath. I started with http://www.scienceonline2010.com/ to explain the new interactive, collaborative methods in science journalism…

About a week ago I posted Twittering is a difficult art form - if you are doing it right. While Griff Wigley agreed, I also got two interesting and somewhat dissenting reactions from Kate and Heather. First, in my defense, that post was targeting journalists and professional communicators, just one of many posts in a series, especially in this vein, exploring the best ways for media and comms folks to use Twitter. Twitter is just another medium. Like blogs, Twitter can be used in any way one wants. I am not going to tell anyone "you are doing it wrong". Some media companies just broadcast -…

With health care costs growing without bounds, the medical devices industry and President Obama are hard at work. Not hard at work reducing costs. Hard at work convincing us that the solution to the cost crisis is more technology. Right, Mr. President. And John McCain is a maverick and Sarah Palin is a genius. Almost everyone else believes advanced technology is a significant driver of health care costs and the idea that it will drive down costs is not just a fantasy but steaming pile of crap. That doesn't mean there's no room for innovation to lower costs. On the contrary: Nobody knows…

The Bride Of Coturnix and I are flying to NYC early tomorrow morning and leaving Thursday afternoon. While we set Monday and Thursday to be "for us", we are flexible if anyone wants to meet for coffee or lunch - just let me know and we can arrange something. We plan to meet with my brother late Monday night for dinner or drinks (depending how timely is his flight in) but we can meet earlier. On Tuesday and Wednesday, we will attend the 140 Characters Conference organized by Jeff Pulver: At #140conf NYC we will be taking a hard look at something Jeff Pulver calls "The State of NOW" and the…

Well, maybe more like tidbits than rants. This is all Linux or ani-Windows stuff, so everyone else you get the clam-hand*. First, from Linux in Exile we have a discussion of virtual desktops. Virtual desktops, to me, make a GUI computer usable. GUI computers without them suck. Linux has them. Windows does not. Shut up and go read this. But sometimes you need to run Windows in a virtual machine (or some other thing must be run in a virtual machine). I've been playing around with this and its fun. Have a look at this. This is a cool new Linux-ready netbook that will run all day…

UPDATE: GO HERE. UPDATE UPDATE: I no longer have that file, because it is not the most current one. However, people who want to read their Kindle books on their Linux machine need only to use the browser-based Kindle Cloud Reader. It's pretty nice. There is a Kindle reader application for the PC (and the Mac and the iPod touch). But not Linux. Which makes us sad because without Linux, your Kindle wouldn't even turn on. But despite this deeply insulting unforgivable slight by Steve Bozo or whatever his name is, diligent supergeeks have solved this problem temporarily. The problem is, as…