466 replies to this topic

[Elus]

Power of kinects O_O





By the way, Val - Do you think an omnidirectional treadmill could be used to create a prison without walls? (random question, I know)

Edited by Elus, 15 December 2010 - 09:11 AM.

[valkyrie_ice]

Power of kinects O_O

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-w7UXCAUJE



By the way, Val - Do you think an omnidirectional treadmill could be used to create a prison without walls? (random question, I know)

The sad thing about this video is that I suggested to Sony over ten years ago using a MicroPower Impulse radar, a extremely low energy form of radar capable of tracking extremely high speed events, to do basically the same thing. Use four sensors to completely map the human body in real time for a VR interface.


They couldn't be bothered.


And I can't see how just a treadmill could do it. Elus. You might be able to create a cell / holodeck type "wall-less" prison in a few years once more advanced VR is possible.

[Elus]

Well, with the treadwill prison idea, here's what I meant...

Let's say that you try running off the treadmill in any direction. Since it's omni-directional, you would remain in the middle no matter how fast you ran. Wouldn't it be literally impossible to escape? Haha, just a demented idea

Edited by Elus, 16 December 2010 - 07:37 AM.

[valkyrie_ice]

Actually Elus, I have considered this scenario, though with more sophisticated VR systems.


Consider this. You have a sociopath. Someone like Hannibal Lecter. Prison is useless as a correctional method. Nothing currently can be done to correct the sociopathic behavior (and even if it could, perhaps it cannot be administered due to side effects such as loss of free will etc.)


What can be done?


Locking them up in a prison could be considered inhumane, especially given the conditions we saw for Hannibal in SotL. But leaving them free is not an option.


Enter the concept I call the VR home. This is a 10x10x10 space filled with adaptive metamorphic materials (i.e. Utility Fog) *note, yes this is presupposing that UF is possible, but there are several dozen competing companies working on "smart matter" and it is feasible in one form or another*


In normal society, this cube of space would be all that anyone could need for living space. Why? because like the TARDIS, it's inside is a virtual infinite space. Everything within reach is created from Utility Fog as needed. Everything else is super high resolution virtual images. Think of a Holodeck BEING your home. You could live in any virtual world you want, with a house as small or gigantic as you want, and still only occupy a single 10x10x10 cube.


But for someone like Hannibal, this could be the ultimate, cruelty free prison. He can make it into anything he desires, even have guests and interact in society, with one major difference. He would not be able to physically harm another human being, because no actual living human being would be allowed into his cube. Anyone he attempted to victimize would be able to simply choose to leave his virtual space, or if they had some strange urge, stay and role play the victim, without any danger of actual physical harm.


It removes his ability to cause harm without inflicting harm upon him, and leaves the possibility of later re-rehabilitation open if we develop a means to cure his sociopathy without violating his free will and human rights.










Now, on to some news: http://nextbigfuture...d-parallel.html


Researchers have found a parallel computing algorithm that could offer quantum computer-speed performance


Now I'm not going to quote the article, because I didn't understand most of it, but what I did understand seem to show that it is possible for parallel processing classical computer networks to process some categories of computation in the same amount of time that it could be done with a quantum computer. This could be a HUGE jump in our abilities to actually program for parallel processors, enabling us to see some massive improvements in many types of programming which take forever to perform serially.


Like natural language comprehension and semantic comprehension, to make a search engine that can not only deliver links to keywords, but actually understand the contents of the pages it searches to provide much more precise and comprehensive answers. This is also likely to massively improve translator software.


Now, in Additive Manufacturing (3D printing): http://nextbigfuture...ower-costs.html

Objet, EOS, Z Corp. and 3D Systems introduce new technology at Euromold that reduces costs and boosts capability for additive manufacturing equipment.

Objet Geometries of Rehovot, Israel introduced a new family of desktop 3-D printers (Objet24 and Objet30), starting at $19,900. The company also demonstrated advanced materials featuring clear transparency, high-temperature resistance and ABS-like quality.

Objet CEO David Reis says, "Our new family of desktop 3D printers is the first high resolution 3-D printer with a low price tag and exceptional ease of use - making it ideal for office printing and opening up a new world of opportunities for designers and engineers."

The new clear material means customers can print thin, transparent parts which previously had to be outsourced to service providers.

EOS introduced a new metal material, NickelAlloy IN625 and two new plastic materials: PrimePart FR (PA 2241 FR) and PrimePart ST (PEBA 2301).

These new materials open up completely new fields of application," says Peter Klink, executive vice president global sales at EOS.

EOS says the new nickel alloy has high tensile strength, excellent processability and uniform corrosion resistance.

The precipitation and heat-resistant nickel-chromium alloy EOS NickelAlloy IN625 has a chemical composition corresponding to UNS N06625, AMS 5666F, AMS 5599G, W.Nr 2.4856, DIN NiCr22Mo9Nb. It is characterized by having high tensile, creep and rupture strength. EOS NickelAlloy IN625 is expected to have good corrosion resistance in various corrosive environments. This material is also suitable for building complex parts for high-temperature and high-strength applications. The process achieves material properties that are comparable to wrought metals and by far exceeds those of casting.

It is targeted at aerospace, chemical, motor sport and marine industry applications.

Greg Morris, CEO of Morris Technologies, says, "We are using IN625 with Direct Metal Laser Sintering to build complex aerospace parts for high-temperature and high-strength applications. The process achieves material properties that are comparable to wrought metals and far exceed casting."

PrimePart FR (PA 2241 FR) is based on PA 12 polyamide and has an 11 percent elongation at break, which is significantly higher than its predecessor material PA 2210FR. PrimePart ST is an elastomeric material that targets applications such as flexible fasteners, seals and buffers

Z Corp. of Burlington, MA showed its ZBuilder Ultra rapid prototyping machine that builds durable plastic parts, which it says rival injection molding's accuracy, material properties, detail, and surface finish, at one-third of the price of machines with comparable performance.

3D Systems Corp. showed extra-large automotive parts, representing several Fiat Group development projects.

With the iPro™ 9000 XL SLA® Production System and 3Dproparts™ services, 3D Systems offers companies like Fiat the ability to build a complete part, up to 60 inches in length, in one piece with no seams for aesthetic superiority and one-piece durability, resulting in reduced labor and decreased cost.

Hummm... looks like it's starting to hit commercial production stage, and sooner than I was anticipating.

[valkyrie_ice]

Now, for a response to the video you linked.


She's sitting in a virtual office. and you are seeing the direct Kinect feed of her.


Now modify that. Instead of using the Kinect to project a 3D image of her, use it to control an AVATAR of her, in which her Kinect 3d image is blended into a fully rendered 3D model of a human, adjusted to match her shape perfectly.


You would then have a fully realized 3D "hologram" of her that doesn't have those holes where the Kinects interfere with each other.


Now take that model and send it to Second Life instead, with her standing on an omnidirectional treadmill, and using those lenses.


The quality and resolution of the "Kinect" interface is going to skyrocket considering how much progress has been made just in the few months since it's release.


Now imagine whats going to happen when you start combining the other motion controllers from the PS3 and Wii with Kinect. You know it's going to happen.


Imagine a light saber duel where you can actually feel the sabers impacting each other.


Imagine a world where our video games actually require us to stop being couch potato's to play well. Where a fighting game actually teaches you martial arts. Where being a high level paladin means YOU ACTUALLY HAVE TO BE GOOD WITH A SWORD.


I don't have to imagine it. I see it coming like a runaway train.

[Reno]

Now, for a response to the video you linked.

She's sitting in a virtual office. and you are seeing the direct Kinect feed of her.

Now modify that. Instead of using the Kinect to project a 3D image of her, use it to control an AVATAR of her, in which her Kinect 3d image is blended into a fully rendered 3D model of a human, adjusted to match her shape perfectly.

You would then have a fully realized 3D "hologram" of her that doesn't have those holes where the Kinects interfere with each other.

Now take that model and send it to Second Life instead, with her standing on an omnidirectional treadmill, and using those lenses.

The quality and resolution of the "Kinect" interface is going to skyrocket considering how much progress has been made just in the few months since it's release.

Now imagine whats going to happen when you start combining the other motion controllers from the PS3 and Wii with Kinect. You know it's going to happen.Imagine a light saber duel where you can actually feel the sabers impacting each other.

Imagine a world where our video games actually require us to stop being couch potato's to play well. Where a fighting game actually teaches you martial arts. Where being a high level paladin means YOU ACTUALLY HAVE TO BE GOOD WITH A SWORD.

I don't have to imagine it. I see it coming like a runaway train.

This sounds kinky, borderline invasion of privacy, and definitely inconsiderate. I could definitely see people abusing this, especially if holographic technology ever becomes physically interactive.

Edited by Reno, 01 January 2011 - 06:31 PM.

[valkyrie_ice]

This sounds kinky, borderline invasion of privacy, and definitely inconsiderate. I could definitely see people abusing this, especially if holographic technology ever becomes physically interactive.

Okay Reno, the ONLY way this post makes sense is you thinking that I or some other 3rd party is taking her image and using it as MY avatar, which was not at all what I was talking about.


I'm pointing out that by using a 3D model you can fill in the gaps, create an ultra realistic AV of her which can be used in VR space, and basically allow her to PUT HERSELF into a virtual environment in which her REAL PHYSICAL SELF can interact as an Avatar


Basically, the kinect gives you the ability to make highly realistic models of people. Right now, that is limited by the Kinect's single POV LIDAR which gives a 3d relief map of someone. Two Kinects gives 2 3d relief maps which offers a more fully rendered 3d figure, but which is subject to "holes" caused by "shadows" where the bodies 3d shape isn't mapped properly, or overlaps where both Kinect's cause interference.


But there also exists software that can take that input, and place that relief map onto a human body model, making the model conform to the map, and extrapolating the 3D form of the figure that is in the holes. In fact we use it in every movie with Motion Captured actors.


What's missing right now is the ability to use Kinect data instead of the ping pong ball suit, but somehow I think thats going to be done within 6 months to a year, at which point we are going to see some massive progress made in the resolution and ability of multiple Kinects to render perfect 3d models of someone's physical body.


And one we can, and have software that can render a fluid body in real time, and lightweight VR glasses that don't have to be wired to a console, and small computer controlled omnitreadmills (like those tiny trampolines they used to sell) then you will see an explosion of video games in which real physical skill begins to matter.


And yes, while it ALSO gives you the ability to "steal" someone's VR appearance, so what? personal data isn't going to tied to the VR appearance, and unique identifiers will tell someone that you aren't who you look like. Sure, I imagine a million Angelina Jolie's will pop up over night, but like so many other fads, I'm not expecting it to last more than a few years at most.

[valkyrie_ice]

It's always nice seeing a prediction play out in real time:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2egumdBwsg&feature=related


That's right, the Virtual Pop Icon, Hatsune Mike, in a live concert via Hologram. Virtual and Reality colliding.

[valkyrie_ice]

http://nextbigfuture...1000-cores.html

Scientists at the University of Glasgow have created an ultra-fast 1,000-core computer processor.

Nuff said

[Reno]

It's always nice seeing a prediction play out in real time:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2egumdBwsg&feature=related


That's right, the Virtual Pop Icon, Hatsune Mike, in a live concert via Hologram. Virtual and Reality colliding.

Crazy Japanese...

Edited by Reno, 08 January 2011 - 05:53 PM.

[valkyrie_ice]

And in Nano News: http://nextbigfuture...negligible.html

Robert Freitas’ book chapter for The Future of Aging compilation is now online. Here we look at part of the monumental work. It is adapting SENS life extension with nanomedicine.

Donate to IMM and support Robert Freitas

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* Mail credit card info or check to Institute for Molecular Manufacturing, 555 Bryant Street, Suite 354, Palo Alto, CA 94301 USA

According to Aubrey de Grey, SENS (Strategies for Engineered Negligible
Senescence) is a panel of proposed interventions in mammalian aging that “may be sufficiently feasible, comprehensive, and amenable to subsequent incremental refinement that it could prevent death from old age (at any age) within a time frame of decades.” As explained in the foundational SENS paper: “Aging is a three-stage process: metabolism, damage, and pathology.

Intervention in metabolism can only modestly postpone pathology, because production of toxins is so intrinsic a property of metabolic processes that greatly reducing that production would entail fundamental redesign of those processes. Similarly, intervention in pathology is a losing battle if the damage that drives it is accumulating unabated. By contrast, intervention to remove the accumulating damage would sever the link between metabolism and pathology, and so has the potential to postpone aging indefinitely. The term ‘negligible senescence’ (Finch 1990) was coined to denote the absence of a statistically detectable increase with organismal age in a species’ mortality rate.”

Seven major categories of such accumulative age-related damage have thus
far been identified and targeted for anti-aging treatment within SENS. As
late as 2007 the prospective SENS treatment protocols still lacked any serious discussion of future contributions from nanotechnology, an unfortunate omission which is corrected here by adding nanomedicine (medical nanorobotics) to SENS, obtaining “NENS”

Below are two of the seven sections that describe each part of nanotechnology enabled SENS. This builds upon the other sections in the work of Freitas which includes details on each nanotechnology device and the various mechanisms of aging and disease and how to apply nanotechnology to each part of comprehensive rejuvenation.

Medical nanorobots can provide targeted treatments to individual organs, tissues, cells and even intracellular components, and can intervene in biological processes at the molecular level under direct supervision of the physician. Programmable micron-scale robotic devices will make possible comprehensive cures for human disease, the reversal of physical trauma, and individual cell repair.




Removing Extracellular Aggregates

Extracellular aggregates are biomaterials that have accumulated and aggregated into
deposits outside of the cell. These biomaterials are biochemical byproducts with
no useful physiological or structural function that have proven resistant to natural
biological degradation and disposal. Two primary examples are relevant to the SENS
agenda.

First, there is the acellular lipid core of mature atherosclerotic plaques – which
macrophages attempt to consume, but then die when they become full of the inert
indigestible material, adding their necrotic mass to the growing plaques. One proposed SENS solution is to administer a bone marrow transplant of new bone marrow
stem cells (cells that produce macrophages) that have been genetically reprogrammed
to encode a new artificial macrophage phenotype that incorporates more
robust intracellular degradation machinery. The resulting enhanced macrophages
could then completely digest the resistant plaque material in the normal manner,
though the full course of treatment would require months to run to completion
and would likely yield only incomplete genetic substitution of stem cell genomes.
Using NENS, vasculocytes (Section 23.6.2.3) would completely remove plaque
deposits in less than a day, providing immediate vascular clearance and healing the
vascular walls. For protection against future plaque development, chromallocytes
(Section 23.6.4.3) could be targeted to the entire population of bone marrow stem
cells to install the proposed more-robust macrophage phenotype using chromosome
replacement therapy, in a thorough treatment also lasting less than a day. Second, there are amyloid plaques that form as globules of indigestible material in small amounts in normal brain tissue but in large amounts in the brain of an Alzheimer’s disease patient (Finder and Glockshuber 2007). Similar aggregates form in other tissues during aging and age-related diseases, such as the islet amyloid (Hull et al. 2004) in type 2 diabetes that crowds out the insulin-producing pancreatic beta cells, and in immunoglobulin amyloid (Solomon et al. 2003). Senile Systemic Amyloidosis or SSA (Tanskanen et al. 2006), caused by protein aggregation and precipitation in cells throughout the body, is apparently (Primmer 2006) a leading killer of people who live to the age of 110 and above (supercentenarians). One proposed SENS solution being pursued by Elan Pharmaceuticals to combat brain plaque is vaccination to stimulate the immune system (specifically, microglia) to engulf the plaque material, which would then be combined with the enhanced macrophages as previously described – although anti-amyloid immunization has not had great success experimentally (Schenk 2002; Patton et al. 2006). In NENS, amyloid binding sites could be installed on the external recognition modules of tissue-mobile microbivore-class scavenging nanorobots (Section 23.6.2.1), allowing them to quickly seek, bind, ingest, and fully digest existing plaques throughout the relevant tissues, in the manner of artificial mechanical macrophages. Chromallocytes could again be targeted to phagocyte progenitor cells to install the more robust macrophage phenotype to provide continuing protection against future plaque development.

Among the most promising investigational anti-amyloid therapies for Alzheimer’s disease (Aisen 2005) is another potential SENS treatment for brain amyloid using anti-amyloid plaque peptides – one 5-residue peptide has already shown the ability, in lab rats, to prevent the formation of the abnormal protein plaques blamed for Alzheimer’s and to break up plaques already formed (Soto et al.1998), and to increase neuronal survival while decreasing brain inflammation in a transgenic mouse model (Permanne et al. 2002). However, a major challenge to the use of peptides as drugs in neurological diseases is their rapid metabolism by proteolytic enzymes and their poor blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability (Adessi et al. 2003). In a NENS treatment model, a mobile pharmacyte-class nanorobot (Section 23.6.3.2) could steer itself through the BBB (Freitas 2003aa); release an appropriate engineered peptide antimisfolding agent (Estrada et al. 2006) in the immediate vicinity of encountered plaques so as to maintain a sufficiently high local concentration (Section 23.6.4.8) despite degradation; re-acquire the agents or their degradation products after the plaque dissolves; then exit the brain via the same entry route. Tissue-mobile microbivore-class devices could also be used to fully digest the plaques if it is deemed acceptable to ignore possible resultant localized deficits of normal soluble unaggregated amyloid-beta peptides. Nanorobots operating in the brain must be designed to accommodate the tight packing of axons and dendrites found there.

Removing Extracellular Crosslinks

While intracellular proteins are regularly recycled to keep them in a generally undamaged state, many extracellular proteins are laid down early in life and are never, or only rarely, recycled. These long-lived proteins (mainly collagen and elastin) usually serve passive structural functions in the extracellular matrix and give tissue its elasticity (e.g., artery wall), transparency (e.g., eye lens), or high tensile strength (e.g., ligaments). Occasional chemical reactions with other molecules in the extracellular space may little affect these functions, but over time cumulative reactions can lead to random chemical bonding (crosslinks) between two nearby long-lived proteins that were previously unbonded and thus able to slide across or along each other. Such crosslinking in artery walls makes them more rigid and contributes to high blood pressure.


The NENS strategy proceeds similarly but more safely, using nanorobots as the delivery vehicle for the link-breaking molecules. In the first scenario, a population of ~10^12 (1 terabot) mobile pharmacytes would transverse the extracellular matrix in a grid pattern, releasing synthetic single-use deglycating enzymes (perhaps tethered (Craig et al. 2003; Holmbeck et al. 2004) to energy molecules, e.g., ATP) into the ECM to digest cross-linkages, then retrieving dispensed molecules before the nanorobot moves out of diffusive range. As an example, human skin and glomerular basement membrane (GBM) collagen has ~0.2 glucosepane (MW ~500 gm/mole) crosslinks per 100,000 kD strand of collagen in normally crosslinked aging tissue (Sell et al. 2005), indicating ~2 × 10^18 glucosepane crosslinks in the entire human body which will require a very modest whole-body treatment chemical scission energy of ~0.2 joule per each ATP-ADP conversion event (~0.5 eV) required to energize cleavage of individual crosslink bonds. Each nanorobot would contain ~2 × 10^6 enzyme molecules in a ~1 micron3 onboard tank and would travel at ~3 micron/sec through ECM, releasing and retrieving enzymes in a ~10 micron wide diffusion cloud over a ~100 sec mission duration, with 10 successive terabot waves able to process all ~32,000 cm3 of ECM tissue in the reference 70 kg adult male body in a total treatment time of ~1000 sec. Only 1 of every 10 enzymes released and retrieved are discharged by performing a crosslink bond scission; the rest are recovered unused. This treatment would likely be complete because full saturation of the targeted tissue volume can probably be achieved via diffusion, though some enzyme molecules may exit the diffusion cloud and become lost – lost molecules that must produce no side effects elsewhere or must be safely degradable via natural processes. In the second scenario, assuming ~10^19 collagen fibers in all ECM and allowing ~10 sec for a nanorobot to find and examine each fiber (thus removing one crosslink every ~50 sec), then ~10^14 nanorobots (~0.3% by volume of ECM tissue) using manipulators with enzymatic end-effectors could patrol ECM tissues, seeking out unwanted crosslink bonds and clipping them off, processing ~1 cm3/min of crosslinked tissue and finishing the entire body in ~22 days. Enzymatically active components remain tethered and cannot be lost, reducing side effects to near-zero, but there may be some tight spaces that cannot easily be reached by the manipulator arms, possibly yielding an incomplete treatment. Further study is needed to determine the optimal combination of these two strategies.

[valkyrie_ice]

And yet more predictions playing out in real time:

http://www.physorg.c...-hollywood.html

Sandy Bridge enables fast conversion of video for increasingly common tasks such as shifting digital snippets from personal computers to iPads or iPods, or transferring content from handheld cameras onto desktop machines.

The chips have enough power to smoothly handle real-time gesture-based controls and even enhance computer games with animated versions of players that mimic movements and facial expressions, according to Eden.

"Finally, we have enough computer power to deliver real-time interaction between us and the computer," Eden said.

"Soon, you will be able to take my face and I will be able to be the hero, or some would argue villain, in a game."

He predicted that in the coming two to four years, Sandy Bridge will enable advances that have people looking at computer keyboards as though they were from "the Middle Ages."

"Pretty soon, you will not know if you are in the real world or the virtual world," he said.

[valkyrie_ice]

The year in materials: http://www.technolog...87/?mod=related

Graphene is a material of many superlatives. Notably, it's the best conductor of electricity at room temperature and the strongest material ever tested. Now, just six years after their groundbreaking work, the two who performed the first experiments on the single-atom-thick carbon material (Graphene Wins Nobel Prize), Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, both in the physics department at the University of Manchester, have received the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics.

Perhaps one reason the prize was bestowed so soon after the work it recognizes is that materials scientists have already taken graphene from basic science experiments to prototypes of new devices. In one noteworthy example from this year, researchers at IBM made graphene transistor arrays that operate at 100 gigahertz—switching on and off 100 billion times each second, about 10 times as fast as the speediest silicon transistors (Graphene Transistors that Can Work at Blistering Speeds). Work at Samsung capitalized on graphene's conductivity and flexibility to make flexible touch screens (Flexible Touch Screen Made with Printed Graphene).



Flexible Printed Electronics Advance

Other flexible materials for electronics also saw progress this year. Working with carbon nanotubes, researchers at Northwestern University and the University of Minnesota made the fastest printed electronics yet (Record Performance for Printed Electronics). Printed electronics holds out the promise of flexible devices that can be fabricated at high volume and low cost. Researchers at HP continued their work scaling up flexible display drivers made from thin films of silicon on rolls of plastic (Inexpensive, Unbreakable Displays and A Flexible Color Display). Meanwhile, groups at Stanford and the University of California, Berkeley, printed pressure sensors that match the sensitivity of human skin (Electric Skin that Rivals the Real Thing and Printing Electronic Skin).

And a startup in Cambridge, Massachusetts, took steps this year toward commercializing high-performance printed electronics. MC10 announced collaborations with Reebok and Diagnostics for All aimed at getting its stretchable arrays of integrated circuits, LEDs, and other silicon devices into products (Stretchable Silicon Could Make Sports Apparel Smarterand Cheap Electronics on Paper Diagnostic Chips).



MC10's silicon-printing method, originally developed by John Rogers at the University of Illinois, works with a variety of substrates, including silk. Silicon-silk electronics—a facet of one of our Ten Emerging Technologies of 2010—should make possible smarter, more biocompatible medical implants (TR10: Implantable Electronics and Brain Interfaces Made of Silk). The implantable-electronics work uses silkworm silk as a tissue-friendly substrate. Spider silk is lightweight and tougher than steel, but materials scientists haven't been able to get it in large enough quantities to realize its potential for industrial applications. Two 2010 advances in making transgenic silk-producing creatures, E. coli and silkworms, might change that (Making Spider Strength Materials and Transgenic Worms Make Tough Fibers).

Displays of the Future

While gadget hounds delighted in the new iPad, materials-science geeks lamented the continuing dominance of power-hungry liquid-crystal displays that useheavy pieces of glass. A lightweight wrist-mounted display prototyped for the U.S. Army employed new, more efficient organic light-emitting diodes (Thin Displays as Wristbands). And two companies making quantum dots partnered with display manufacturer LG to improve the efficiency of LCD backlights (Colorful Quantum-Dot Displays Coming to Market) and to make a new type of display, a quantum-dot light-emitting diode (Quantum Dot Displays Start to Shine).

New materials also pushed displays beyond conventional eye-strain-inducing 3-D that requires viewers to wear special glasses. Researchers at the University of Arizona and Nitto Denko Technical used a blend of electrically responsive light-scattering polymers to make a holographic videoconferencing system (A Step toward Holographic Videoconferencing). The holographic display refreshes every two seconds; with further improvements, it will attain video rates.

Rare Earths on the Radar

The year found many twisting their mouths around names like praseodymium and neodymium for the first time as the lanthanoid row of the periodic table came into the news. Many high-tech and clean-tech devices, such as lightweight permanent magnets for computer hard drives and wind turbines, require rare-earth metals, and demand for them is growing. China currently supplies 95 percent of the world's rare earths, and some worry about future supplies of these critical raw materials. Companies including GE and Hitachi are working on alternative technologies that require smaller quantities of rare-earth elements or none at all (China's Rare-Earth Monopoly). Meanwhile, the U.S. company Molycorp and the Australian company Lynas detailed plans for rare-earth mining operations in Mountain Pass, California, and Perth (Can the U.S. Rare-Earth Industry Rebound?).

Edited by valkyrie_ice, 11 January 2011 - 08:48 AM.

[Reno]

Universal Display is designing and developing materials that work by a different mechanism and that have a theoretical efficiency of 100 percent.

I noticed this bit after closer reading of the OLED article. 100% efficiency is saying something. I didn't think that it was physically possible to get an efficiency that high.

[valkyrie_ice]

http://www.physorg.c...helves-ces.html

(PhysOrg.com) -- Cereal boxes with blinking lights may or may not be the next big thing, but the underlying technology could prove useful for many other potential applications. At the recent CES in Las Vegas, Fulton Innovation displayed its light-up boxes of General Mills' Honey Nut Cheerios and Trix cereals, which are wirelessly charged by the shelves they sit on.

I WARNED YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Reno]

http://www.physorg.c...helves-ces.html

(PhysOrg.com) -- Cereal boxes with blinking lights may or may not be the next big thing, but the underlying technology could prove useful for many other potential applications. At the recent CES in Las Vegas, Fulton Innovation displayed its light-up boxes of General Mills' Honey Nut Cheerios and Trix cereals, which are wirelessly charged by the shelves they sit on.

I WARNED YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Warned me about what?

[valkyrie_ice]

Animated cereal boxes with Tony the Tiger demanding you buy him! Do you really think that this is going to take long to move to disposable printed displays?

[Reno]

Animated cereal boxes with Tony the Tiger demanding you buy him! Do you really think that this is going to take long to move to disposable printed displays?

They aren't animated. They have a little led that lights up the images from behind. The only thing that's interesting about this is mass production of the wireless recharge technology.

[valkyrie_ice]

Animated cereal boxes with Tony the Tiger demanding you buy him! Do you really think that this is going to take long to move to disposable printed displays?

They aren't animated. They have a little led that lights up the images from behind. The only thing that's interesting about this is mass production of the wireless recharge technology.

Yuppers, the perfect little technology to power an animated printed Qdot display. Do you really think it won't happen?

[Reno]

Yuppers, the perfect little technology to power an animated printed Qdot display. Do you really think it won't happen?

Well, I didn't say it wouldn't happen. It's just not happening now. The only impressive part is the resonance charger, but that's not nanotechnology.

I guess my point is, the display is not impressive. It's not even a display. It's a cutout with a cheap backlight. In graphic design gimmicks like pull out images are built into packaging all the time to sell products. They attract the kiddies who prod the parents. Putting lights on packaging to sell things isn't new. They add the lights to toys and holiday junk all the time.

Edited by Reno, 12 January 2011 - 06:58 AM.

[valkyrie_ice]

Yuppers, the perfect little technology to power an animated printed Qdot display. Do you really think it won't happen?

Well, I didn't say it wouldn't happen. It's just not happening now. The only impressive part is the resonance charger, but that's not nanotechnology.

I guess my point is, the display is not impressive. It's not even a display. It's a cutout with a cheap backlight. In graphic design gimmicks like pull out images are built into packaging all the time to sell products. They attract the kiddies who prod the parents. Putting lights on packaging to sell things isn't new. They add the lights to toys and holiday junk all the time.

Ah, you're still missing the point Reno. I predicted an animated cereal box because it's a "ridiculous" example. Now here we have a "animated" cereal box. Which made me convulse with laughter because SOMEONE ACTUALLY DID IT!!!


Maybe I should have gone Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

[Reno]

Guess this one is just going over my head.

[valkyrie_ice]

More Kinect news: http://gizmodo.com/5...perform-surgery

Engineers have been working to integrate gaming's force feedback technology into the robots, translating those tiny bumps into force felt on the operator's end.

The University of Washington engineering students have an even better idea.

Electrical engineering graduate student Fredrik Ryden has developed software that will allow Microsoft's Kinect to create three dimensional maps of a patient's body.

In order for force feedback technology to work properly, it needs some sort of frame of reference to tell it when the robot is brushing against a bone or in danger of nicking a patient's pancreas. Originally the group planned to us CT scans to provide the data, but soon the group got the idea to use a depth camera to provide a more precise picture by measuring infrared light reflected off of the surface. In December they decided to use Microsoft's Kinect, for obvious reasons.

"It's really good for demonstration because it's so low-cost, and because it's really accessible," Ryden, who designed the system during one weekend, said. "You already have drivers, and you can just go in there and grab the data. It's really easy to do fast prototyping because Microsoft's already built everything."
The team says that without Kinect the project would have cost approximately $50,000.

Not only does the Kinect data allow for precision force feedback in robot surgeons, the operators can define entire regions of the operating area off limits, effectively placing a virtual force field around regions that the robot's tools can't pass.

[valkyrie_ice]

And now for single cell controllers: http://nextbigfuture...tion-using.html

For biomedical applications, such as single cell manipulation, it is important to fabricate microstructures that can be powered and controlled wirelessly in fluidic environments. In this letter, we describe the construction and operation of truly micron-sized, biocompatible ferromagnetic microtransporters driven by external magnetic fields. Microtransporters were fabricated using a simple, single step fabrication method and can be produced in large numbers. We demonstrate that they can be navigated to manipulate single cells with micron-size precision without disturbing the local environment.

Give this a few years and we'll see the ability to control individual stem cells, moving them to the precise place we want them to be, and then giving them the precise instructions needed to do whatever job we want them to do.

And here's one about using carbon "pipes" (of graphene not CNTs) to control the "spin" of electrons: http://www.physorg.c...ics-future.html

An electron has a magnetic field attached -- the so-called spin. One can imagine that all electrons carry around a little bar magnet. In flat graphite layers the small bar magnets point in random directions. By bending the atom thin graphite layer into a tube with a diameter of just a few nanometers the individual electrons are forced to move in simple circles around the tube and all the spins align in the direction of the tube. This feature can be used in future nanoelectronics.

Looking like graphene and quantum computers are converging, non?

Edited by valkyrie_ice, 23 January 2011 - 07:28 PM.

[valkyrie_ice]

Okay, this has already been threaded in Cryo, but I'm adding a link here because this is an important development: http://singularityhu...ext/#more-24701

In brief, by using magnetic fields, it is possible to prevent water from freezing even when supercooled. This allows organic material to be "flash frozen". Once the field is turned off, the water will instantly freeze, without having time to form crystals, instead forming a vitreous state. This basically enables non damaging freezing to take place. .


It's not ready for "full body" cryo yet, but it likely won't be long before it is. In combination with the new evidence that removing oxygen as quickly as possible, we may have a new means for cryopreservation that might be usable within seconds of "death" which will eliminate all the damage done to the body by both oxydation and freezing, making it that much easier for later "revivification".


In more near future terms, this also means a way to cryopreserve organs for transplant, meaning that an organ could be harvested at any time, and stored until needed. In combination with the new technology of tissue printing, you could basically go in, get stem cells taken, and make a "bank" of possible organs for emergency use.

[Reno]

If it's not bullshit it'll be used for organ transplants in a few years in order to keep organs from dying in transport.

Edited by Reno, 28 January 2011 - 02:31 AM.

[valkyrie_ice]

http://www.physorg.c...oprocessor.html

Engineers and scientists collaborating at Harvard University and the MITRE Corporation have developed and demonstrated the world's first programmable nanoprocessor.

The groundbreaking prototype computer system, described in a paper appearing today in the journal Nature, represents a significant step forward in the complexity of computer circuits that can be assembled from synthesized nanometer-scale components.

It also represents an advance because these ultra-tiny nanocircuits can be programmed electronically to perform a number of basic arithmetic and logical functions.

"This work represents a quantum jump forward in the complexity and function of circuits built from the bottom up, and thus demonstrates that this bottom-up paradigm, which is distinct from the way commercial circuits are built today, can yield nanoprocessors and other integrated systems of the future," says principal investigator Charles M. Lieber, who holds a joint appointment at Harvard's Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology and School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

The work was enabled by advances in the design and synthesis of nanowire building blocks. These nanowire components now demonstrate the reproducibility needed to build functional electronic circuits, and also do so at a size and material complexity difficult to achieve by traditional top-down approaches.

Moreover, the tiled architecture is fully scalable, allowing the assembly of much larger and ever more functional nanoprocessors.

"For the past 10 to 15 years, researchers working with nanowires, carbon nanotubes, and other nanostructures have struggled to build all but the most basic circuits, in large part due to variations in properties of individual nanostructures," says Lieber, the Mark Hyman Professor of Chemistry. "We have shown that this limitation can now be overcome and are excited about prospects of exploiting the bottom-up paradigm of biology in building future electronics."

An additional feature of the advance is that the circuits in the nanoprocessor operate using very little power, even allowing for their miniscule size, because their component nanowires contain transistor switches that are "nonvolatile."

This means that unlike transistors in conventional microcomputer circuits, once the nanowire transistors are programmed, they do not require any additional expenditure of electrical power for maintaining memory.

"Because of their very small size and very low power requirements, these new nanoprocessor circuits are building blocks that can control and enable an entirely new class of much smaller, lighter weight electronic sensors and consumer electronics," says co-author Shamik Das, the lead engineer in MITRE's Nanosystems Group.

"This new nanoprocessor represents a major milestone toward realizing the vision of a nanocomputer that was first articulated more than 50 years ago by physicist Richard Feynman," says James Ellenbogen, a chief scientist at MITRE.

AND THE RACE TO NANOPROCESSORS IN COMMERCIAL DEVICES IS ON!!!!!

[valkyrie_ice]

Wow...

As you know I'm a writer for H+ magazine, and it has recently changed Editors from R.U. Sirius to Tom McCabe and Ben Goertzel. I got a typical "got any new articles?" letter from Ben just now...

But this just blew my mind: "I've REALLY REALLY enjoyed your articles in the past, so I hope you'll keep the good stuff coming ;-) ...."

I feel like I just got complimented by god....

[niner]

Engineers and scientists collaborating at Harvard University and the MITRE Corporation have developed and demonstrated the world's first programmable nanoprocessor.

Wow. This is an official Big Deal, imho. Thanks Val, and congratulations on the compliment. Does this make you a demigod?

[valkyrie_ice]

Engineers and scientists collaborating at Harvard University and the MITRE Corporation have developed and demonstrated the world's first programmable nanoprocessor.

Wow. This is an official Big Deal, imho. Thanks Val, and congratulations on the compliment. Does this make you a demigod?

Yes, this is a VERY BIG DEAL. and no, not a demigod. Demon Goddess *maybe* XDDD

And it seems Ben is looking for corporate sponsors for H+ Mag, and hopes to hire permanent writing staff, and I am apparently a candidate.