September 11th

Timeline.

FDNY Radio Messages

6G and 7G

Details here, but the fun quote:

Interestingly, researchers in China say that this vision of 6G is the end of the line in terms of major platform upgrades and that there will never be a 7G. After 6G the goal over time will be to improve the performance of the various aspects of the technologies involved. Apparently, the Chinese have never met any AT&T and Verizon marketing staff.

And 640K is all anyone will every need.

Next?

I know... it's the Star Trek era with replicators...

Human history can be divided into five distinct societies

1. Hunter gather
2. Agricultural
3. Mercantile capitalism
4. Industrial capitalism
5. Consumer capitalism

Human population, knowledge, energy use & global environmental damage increases with each transition.

What next? pic.twitter.com/iJKoePfhzM

— Mark Maslin (@ProfMarkMaslin) February 28, 2019

Cyberpunk

The cool thing about cyberpunk coming true is that we got ALL the cyberpunk futures.

China: universal surveillance and social control

America: cool gadgets and staggering inequality

Russia: shadowy plots, covert ops, and assasins

Japan: Japan

— Noah Smith (@Noahpinion) June 1, 2018

Funny Machine Learning Outcomes

A great list...

Would you like a giant list of times that ML systems learned to do the thing by hacking some bug you didn't realize your system had? Yes you would. Because it's hilarious. https://t.co/qN2FYpUy8e

— Andromeda Yelton (@ThatAndromeda) January 9, 2019

Including such instance classics:

"In an artificial life simulation where survival required energy but giving birth had no energy cost, one species evolved a sedentary lifestyle that consisted mostly of mating in order to produce new children which could be eaten (or used as mates to produce more edible children)."

Or:

"A  robotic arm trained to slide a block to a target position on a table achieves the goal by moving the table itself."

Via @ItsRobbAllen

Augmented vs. Virtual

That's not a bad way to look at it...

You can boil it down to - VR is for fun, AR is for work

— Jordan (@lead_proSapien) January 7, 2019

Cryptocurrency Adoption

An interesting graph and even more interesting discussion...

Bitcoin compared to other historical adoption curves. One of my followers made this, I can't recall who (please let me know and I'll repost with h/t). $BTC pic.twitter.com/iod6CxMY8H

— Parabolic Trav (@parabolictrav) December 18, 2017

Farmbot

I don't grow anything, but my okra. It would be nice to have a robot do it for me.

Via Business Insider

Guilty As Charged

My wife sent this to me...

Me: Does it bother u when I call out plot points b4 they happen?
Hubby: It'd bother me a lot less if u just wrote a damn tv show & got paid pic.twitter.com/JhsFkWSy99

— Jen (@jbuffyangel) January 11, 2017

Amazon Echo Dot

I resisted buying an iPad for a long time, because I wasn't sure how much we would use it. I'm quite certain we've gotten our moneys worth and more out of the iPad 2 over the years.

Likewise, I'm wondering if the Amazon Alexa voice activated personal assistant service would prove to be a good value over time. I really didn't want to pony up $180 for the Amazon Echo to try it out.

With the Amazon Echo Dot, I can dip my toes for only $50, so that makes it a little more tempting.

(If you wanted to really commit, you can buy 5 get 1 free or buy 10 and get 2 free with codes DOT6PACK or DOT12PACK.)

Soylent Coffiest

I've been reading about the Soylent products and saw that they are coming out with a coffee version.

Tech Fatigue

People are getting tried of keeping up with all the changes or maybe most things are good enough.

In the last year, I went from an old 42 inch HDTV LCD to a new, thin Vizio 55-Inch 4K Ultra HD Smart TV. I upgraded to an iPhone 6. I've had an old iPad Mini for years that I rarely use. I don't have a smart watch. I've had my Honeywell Wi-Fi thermostats for a while. I'm not really interested in a drone.
I might upgrade my Garmin GPS running watch or add a fitness band. I geek out over the data, so I'd like to have the heart rate and sleep information that something like the Garmin Vivosmart HR would provide.

D&D in VR

There is now an app where you can play Dungeons & Dragons in VR. https://t.co/G5Z97GZ6Er pic.twitter.com/fYdL09mkFx

— Peter Rojas (@peterrojas) November 16, 2015

New Phrase

A co-worker just talked about a "Darwinian Fate Accelerator." That's a new one to me, but I think I'll have to use that.

Minority Report - Commerce Division

For get Sunday deliver. Forget delivery by drones. Amazon is going to use precogs to ship before you order.

Actual story at the WSJ via Slashdot.

Books in a Twitter World

From @rablivingstone:

Via Business Insider

Flying Car

It is about time. I've been enjoying all my other sci-fi gadgets, but I'm ready for my flying car.

Leap Motion Controller

If I wasn't such a cheapskate, I would spend $80 to try the Leap Motion Controller. I use the keyboard a lot more than the mouse (short-cuts are king!), so I don't think I would want to move my hands off the keyboard for the Leap anymore than I would for the mouse.



Via Robb

The Digital Optimist

An interesting and optimistic view of the power of technology.

The Future of Ham Radios

This comment and the radio mentioned here got me thinking about the future of ham radios.

The variety of these Chinese radios amazes me. I've only been a ham for a short time. After listening to others and seeing the relatively few models that ICOM, Yaesu, etc. put out, I could see how one could become familiar with most of the ham radios.

That was until now... With the Chinese radios coming so fast and furious, it may be a game changer. Ten-Tec may be done with radios in 10-20 years as the original founders leave. Yaesu has spun off the amateur side of the business. In a few years, will we have a market dominated by the Chinese rigs?"