Mathemagics

Nearly as stunning as The Boy With the Incredible Brain is the "lightening calculations" of Arthur Benjamin, so-called Mathemagician.

The Chimp Challenge

Apparently, chimpanzees have a photographic memory of sorts. Once a chimpanzee was taught to touch numbers on a screen in ascending order, they were able to recall the locations of numbers momentarily flashed with far more accuracy than humans. You just try to perform on par with the chimp in the video embedded below.



Frankly, it's somewhat embarrassing. Oh, well. Let's see a chimp write a Blogger article. Ha!

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The Rise of Hackers

Embedded below is a fun and fascinating documentary on the origins of hacking, from phone phreaks, to computer mod-hacking, and finally to cyber-hacking.



Note: No rich individuals' profits were harmed in the posting of this video.

Out-Inventing Ourselves

I recently have come across a superb documentary on Google Video (really the only thing I use that somewhat drab service for) discussing the potential of artificial intelligence, both in enhancing humans, and in replacing them (see it embedded below).

This documentary, entitled "Horizon - Human Version 2.0" by BBC discusses the eventual "singularity", or point at which our understanding of the human brain and capabilities of computer processing power will converge to allow us to "download" ourselves, that is, our brains, into computers. It is a truly fascinating documentary and I highly recommend watching it.



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I've long been fascinated by this concept--could computers gain sentience, and if they could, should we allow them to? The documentary suggests that it is inevitable; if something can be created, it will be. Perhaps this is so, and perhaps not, but regardless of which direction the future takes it, I would personally love to see sentient computers. Why? Well, aside from the "cool" factor, I believe that it could go a long ways towards making life better for humanity. Imagine--a computer sentience that ruled humanity, giving perfect laws and directions and flawless judgment to those who deserve such. The world could be one of absolute peace.

Basically, the same thing that was discussed in I, Robot (the movie), but taken from the angle of a digital ruler being a good thing, rather than a bad one. Of course, there is always the question of whether or not we will be seen as pests and disgusting embarrassments to this creature, or perhaps adorable animals to be protected, as we often see dogs and cats. One cannot truly say which direction the future will take, but as I see it, we will either be destroyed by either one another or time, anyway. Why not make the gamble of creating something that could live beyond we, ourselves?

Though I wouldn't mind living in a virtual world where things just went my way. That would be something to die for, in a very literal manner.

Olympus!

For those savvy in the areas of Internet forum technology, phpBB is probably no stranger to you. For the rest, phpBB is a free, open-source forum software that is my personal favorite to use. It is flexible and boasts many features, yet has no price attached, while many rivals, such as vBulletin, require a great deal of money in order to purchase a "license." On the other hand, vBulletin, among others, have more features than phpBB. Thankfully, there are clever "hackers" that allow bits of code to add new features to phpBB, bringing it more or less on par with its rivals, if not beyond.

But I digress. The point is, as of today, the long-awaited phpBB 3 "Olympus" has been released. This means advanced features and security are now fully-supported and ready to be modified by the users, as opposed to the prior release candidates, which would change so often that one didn't really have a chance to play with the code.

I applaud phpBB's hard-working build team and look forward to more innovations from them.

Apparently Not.

Well, Steorn has pulled their demo from the scene, claiming that technical difficulties are to blame, specifically damage done by the heat of camera lights (more).

I must say that I am quite disappointed in the way that this turned out. I had actually been believing what Steorn was claiming, despite its unbelievability. I guess this proves my gullibility. Now, our "best bet" for free energy would probably be merely "free" research organizations (though, after this disappointment, I'll be slow to put much stock in any of this sort of thing).

Watch Steorn's Sean make an ass of himself, trying to explain the failure.



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Was Physics Denied?

Normally, I do updates in the form of an UPDATE notice at the end of a supporting article, but since this is kind of "breaking" news, I felt that it deserved its own post.

As mentioned in a previous article, Steon has claimed to have created a perpetual motion device that allows them to create "free" energy using permanent magnets, without ever requiring fuel. However, there were some technical difficulties setting up their demonstration at the reported time, and, as of the writing of this article, it appears, at least from camera 1, that the device is stopped, though, according to this quickly-made website, it was apparently running at one point. I must wonder; why, if it runs on its own and creates energy indefinitely, would it ever be turned off (and how would they accomplish that)? In any case, I will monitor it when I get the chance, to hopefully see the thing in action. It is, after all, long past the bedtime of the London scientists at the time I am writing this.

Physics Denied: Tonight!

Steorn, the Irish company that has made a claim to have found a way to create free, unending energy with an efficiency exceeding 100% (something that some of the basic laws of physics tells us is impossible) will be displaying their creation starting at 6 PM EST tonight (July 4th) on streaming video from their website. If you miss it, be sure to look around for some kind of recorded copy; I know that I will be recording it, if I can.

The technology itself uses momentum and magnets in some combination not yet fully explained (a panel of 22 scientists are doing experiments on Steorn's technology in a challenge to validate their claims) and, according to Steorn, can be scaled to power something as large as a car to something as small as a cell phone. Hopefully after tonight, they will be releasing more detailed answers to fight back the onslaught of questions that are sure to arise. See the below video for more information on the project.



Why is it such a difficulty? Well, the basic idea is that, through using a series of permanent magnets, one is able to create an "energy spike" that seems to come from nowhere when turning a magnet in this assembly, stopping and starting at the same point. The problem with this is that it violates on of the most fundamental scientific principles; the Law of Conservation of Energy, which states that energy can be neither created, nor destroyed, also known as the First Law of Thermodynamics.

Therefore, in essence, Steorn is claiming something as seemingly preposterous as suggesting that humans can flap their arms and fly, or that running at a certain speed can send you back in time. However, science is just the accumulation of data from experimentation, and it only takes a single experiment to prove something false, so we will see. Perhaps we had it wrong all long, or perhaps Steorn is just a big hoax (or simply a very expensive mistake).

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UPDATE: Due to technical difficulties, the stream will be shown at the start of July 5th in London. One can stream the live video, once it is up, from one of the following four cameras:

Computing for Dummies (aka everyone)

Well, I'm sure that most everyone is oogling over the new Surface (go watch the videos on the official website) released by Microsoft. If you are not already aware, Surface is a top-secret project that has been developed over many years, and just now is being at last released to the public eye. As of now, it is a table with a 30-inch high-resolution display, 22 inches high, 21 inches "deep", and 42 inches wide, multi-touch interface, and more fancy features than you can shake a stick at, costing between $5,000 and $10,000. Below are a few embedded videos, showing off the primary features that Microsoft boasts of.

Virtual Painting


Virtual Photo Manipulation


Virtual Restaurant


Virtual Cashier (T-Mobile)


Now, although I'm tempted to go into a furious fit of excitement, seeing as this is so futuristic and all (at least by Minority Report standards), I must take a step back and look at the true potential of this technology. Now, a competing technology, embedded below, was unveiled in early 2006, showing off the abilities of the multi-touch interface. However, it didn't really show any useful application of the technology.



Now, as fun as fingerpainting and playing with virtual blobs may be, or pushing around digital photographs, I have a feeling that it is something that would quickly lose its shock value (though the movable video, on the other hand, may remain interesting a bit longer). I must say that I am quite impressed with Microsoft's creativity when it comes to application of their Surface technology. In this case, so that one may place a Zune, for example, upon the tabletop, purchase music with a jab of one's finger, and instantly transfer the music to their mobile device via Bluetooth. On the other hand, if the table requires infrared tags on the bottom of said devices, rather than recognition via more flexible means, that could spell some trouble, particularly for those who have older devices, or who have a preference for products sold by other companies who don't feel the need to add such tags to their devices (for example, Apple, Inc.). Specifically, of course, I speak of the iPod. If Microsoft doesn't have the wisdom to suck up their pride and offer expansive support (assuming that it is possible, since the technologies packed into players such as the iPod cannot be regulated by Microsoft, and so they can only expand as far as other products' hardware will allow), this will fail miserably. In any case, they should at least attempt to figure out some way to allow for as varied compatibility as possible with those devices that can support it, such as the iPhone.

As for the virtual restaurant, I'm not sure how well this will fly. Naturally, it will be an entertaining allure for fancy joints, but maintenance may be an issue, unless the Vista-based Surface is less crash-prone than its PC counterparts (and, of course, the tenancy for customers to not give a crap about expensive property). My guess is that this will, for quite some time, be seen only in large casinos and especially expensive, high-tech food joints (an example being some of the larger Starbucks coffeehouses). As for fast food places, I wouldn't expect to see this for quite some time (at least a decade, if not more, depending on how quickly the prices go down and how willing each company is to spend the extra cash for ease of use and eye-candy). Preferably, the technology should be expanded to detect the magnetic bars of credit cards, if such is feasible.

On the other hand, I think that T-Mobile's idea will really fly, as long as it is executed properly. Such on-the-fly comparisons, purchasing power, and ease of use would really impress customers at T-Mobile stores, particularly since they do, after all, specialize in electronics (portable electronics, in particular). If T-Mobile does it, odds are that competitors will scramble to catch up.

I don't think, however, that the PC will disappear before these new computers. Some of us enjoy the power that comes with a more detailed interface, and things such as detailed design, 3D gaming, even word processing, do not appear to be very compatible with this technology (since, unlike the technology showcased in 2006, the Surface does not seem to come with any kind of virtual keyboard). Virtual fingerpainting is fun, but since there is no obvious way to save one's work, detail given with programs such as Photoshop seems to be lacking, and the bump of an elbow could easily destroy hours of work, this most likely won't become popular with digital artists, let alone programmers, drafters, etc., from a more industrial point of view (not that I would expect one to be sitting in Starbucks, sipping a Frappuccino, and simultaneously drawing up virtual plans for a bridge on the Surface.

In conclusion, there are many options available for this new technology which have not been fully expanded upon, and, on the flip side, a lot of useless crap that will bog down and ultimately annoy users, but I would say that the potential outweighs the faults. Assuming Bill Gates isn't insane (a debatable point), this should be, as he predicts, a wonderful break-through in user-friendly interfacing technology.

Now, on to another new technology that has recently popped up; the Livescribe (about). Apparently, this technology packs some computing power into a fat pen, including the ability to record and play back voice, detect small printed dots on special paper (something that may make or break this pen, depending on printing costs/popularity), display some information on a "pixel-bar", and connect to a PC in order to expand upon what is done. For example, one may listen to a lecture while writing down notes. Should one want to review something that was said previously, one need only tap the pen upon a previously-written word, and the audio recording will back up to when that word was written and play from that point on.

The intent for the technology seems to be for journalists, writers, college students, and others who have a need for such flexibility, but I think that this less-than-$200-pen could also offer some useful aspects for designers, drafters, etc., if used correctly (meaning as long as the paper it requires is cheap enough, batteries last long enough, and whether or not the "hard copy" is able to be stored without creating too much clutter, though that last point really depends on who is using it). As for me, I know that I can type far faster than I can write notes, so I will stick with a keyboard for such things. This technology really hinges on whether or not it is marketed to the right people; it is for those with a true need of its uses, not the general public who busy themselves instead with cell phones, PDAs, iPods, and other such "new generation" equipment.

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UPDATE: The future of the Surface looks more promising than ever, particularly after Apple CEO Steve Jobs and Microsoft Executive Chairman Bill Gates got together in a friendly interview recently. By the sounds of it, they are not the enemies that one may guess, and so, it seems, the innovation of one will be snatched up by the other (hopefully meaning that, in the future, should the Surface really take off, Apple products should be made compatible, and the Surface should have the ability to recognize such non-Microsoft products).

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