Creating new life forms - Last post in 2008.

We were just discussing the article by Live Science Editorial Director,
Robert Roy Britt, entitled Fear: Hobbyists Will Create New Life Forms.

We have been thinking about this for some time and have wondered when this dicussion would go mainsteam. With the mushrooming of nanotechnology and biotechnology, it can only be alluring to the garage set (people who like to experiment off the radar)to try new things ala Brave New World. Now we have a name for this: Biohacking.

Here's alink to the article,
http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/081228-create-life.html

Thanks to Robert Roy Britt.

See you in 09... We have lots planned.

- TechHeadz '08

A new era of Science & Technology has begun ...

Posted: 122008 (Science / Technology)

Mark this time in history as a time when Space exploration became "mainstream" and the US Government appears to have lifted, for the moment, a veil of secrecy. Science and Technology are about to see unprecedented governmental support and in turn, the Human race will forever be affected.

With the appointment of Harvard physicist John Holdren as the final member and Director of President elect Barack Obama's Council of Advisers on Science and Technology (he is a Professor of Environmental Science and Public Policy in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University)and Oregon State University marine biology Prof. Jane Lubchenco to lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Obama has sent a clear message. Science and Technology as a priority tool and resource for our future is crucial to our survival as a species and we must take charge of this destiny. Now.

Joining Holden as co-chairs will be Nobel Prize-winning scientist Harold Varmus, a former director of the National Institutes of Health, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Eric Lander, a specialist in human genome research. Holdren will have a team of 40 Ph.D-level experts to help guide and shape policy and an overall approach to clear and present dangers such as Global warming as well as space and other futuristic questions that are at our doorstep.

The time is now for interstellar exploration and the exposing of new realizations unknown in modern times. A new era is upon us. Will we see transparency as has been suggested?

Remember, President Bush has previously ordered large increases in NASA funding as well as trips to Mars and the continuation of the Hubble Telescope - more than 1 Trillion USD (http://www.nasawatch.com/archives/budget/)has been committed. NASA and space exploration have been a common bond of interest of the two administrations. Is the realization (to the public) of Organic Planets not far behind?

Reference:
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/
http://www.jetfleetinternational.com/PDF%20Files/USAToday_Jan2004.pdf
http://thepoliticalcarnival.blogspot.com/2008/12/nasa-not-cooperating-with-obama.html
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93297331

ongoing.

http://www.mogulus.com/blog

Taken from the Mogulus Blog located at:
http://www.mogulus.com/blog/

notes:

http://www.akamai.com/html/technology/dataviz3.html
http://www.mogulus.com/blog/?p=778
-How much Bandwidth was used?
Video
/ Chat (posts per minute)
/ Page views / ClickStreams


http://www.mogulus.com/pari

http://live.youtube.digitaria.com/site/streams.xml

No, Facebook is dead...

Updated:122208
Here's a POV of the actual users on Facebook. Interesting that they generate no money on the millions of users. Obviously they need to establish a "presence" not just and impression via banner ad's... The plot thickens.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/14/business/media/14digi.html?_r=1&ref=business

Updated:
Can this be true? Or is this just about the techno-freaks leaving the fold? We have seen this happen before (Compuserve,AOL,Napster,etc). It seems the migration is on in ernest ...

Can the Facebook Management actually say this (30 million NEW users and 120 million active users)or have they just gone mad? How many dummy accounts, accounts never used, etc. actually exist? As well, what is defined as active? Once a day posting or logging in or once a week? Seeing that they have logs for all accounts, then Facebook knows "exactly" how many accounts they have as well as what level of "active" they actually are. What are they? Should we go on?

What seems to be true is that it is the largest Social Network Platform in the world. All in the last 3 months.

notes:
Lot's of hype going on ... Marketing?
Capitalizing on the traffic should be possible if not easy. Transaction based model.


Reference:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10081341-2.html
http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics
http://www.markevanstech.com/2008/12/14/advertising-on-social-networks-fail/

Forrest Ackerman - RIP 1916 - 2008

Post:
I know this is a Technology blog but some might say or think that Science Fiction and Technology go hand and hand - by design. So we think about the news of the death of Forrest Ackerman in context and pause. A great creative thinker has left the earth.

end.

Is Twitter Dead?

edited:
Noticable in the last 8-12 hours that Twitter has hit a saturation point ...
You now connect with relative strangers in an attempt to "brand" oneself.
What is the value? Is this value?


updated:

Martian Ice stories just keep coming ... Is Life far behind?

Notes ...

I can't help but chuckle to hear and read the stories coming from NASA about water on Mars. We have now apparently documened "Glaciers" at the Martian mid-latitudes, something first observed by NASA's Viking orbiters in the 1970's. Considering just a few short years ago it was thought generally impossible for water to exist at all, one has to wonder where this is all going.

We'll try and keep on top of it ...

more...
Oceans on Mars?
http://www.marsdaily.com/reports/Gamma_Ray_Evidence_Suggests_Ancient_Mars_Had_Oceans_999.html
Did an asteroid kill Mars' magnetic field?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27806478/

... Depicted in the 2004-2008 movie "Order of the Quest."


And of course we have the infamous Exoplanets that are now creeping in to our daily news.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gliese_581_d
http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/11/20/1682394.aspx

What's next - contact?

Election User base ...

notes:

We are not commenitng yet on "who" won the ratings game, but we can say for sure that this election "seals the deal" that "New Media" is a fact and that the Networks are now listed in the same breath as websites. What started in 2000 has landed in 2008.

notes:

Election Night ratings blowout: 71.5 million watch Obama win
(The Live Feed is James Hibberd's daily news site covering the television industry.)
http://www.thrfeed.com/2008/11/election-rating.html

Election night draws record viewership
Led by ABC, the networks and cable channels were watched by 71 million.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-ratings6-2008nov06,0,495759.story

TV Ratings: ABC Polls Highest on Election Night: Broadcast nets' overall numbers are down from 2004. Wed. November 05, 2008; Posted: 06:14 PM
http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/1998571/


CNN dominates broadcast, cable, and web "Users" / "Viewers" with huge increase in interaction since Campaign 2004 ...
In the 25-54 bracket, MSNBC was up 87 percent...
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/11/05/cnn-dominates-election-night/


71.5 MILLION VIEWERS...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/election-2008-coverage


Election Night Ratings: ABC Wins Viewers, NBC Demos, CBS Nothing
http://tvbythenumbers.com/2008/11/05/election-night-ratings-abc-wins-viewers-nbc-demos-cbs-nothin/7649

updated:110508

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10082831-38.html?tag=mncol;posts

Russia nixes Googles bid to infiltrate national seach field

pending:

The last European country where Google lags behind local search (advertising)competition ... http://www.iht.com/bin/printfriendly.php?id=17201227


...

Rise of the Machines /// The Future is now.

We have seen Robots in Sci-Fi for years and years.
We have seen Robots in the work place, we see them in War (Drones, Robots disarming Bombs), but now we see them at war with themselves ... Where does this lead us? Where is the interaction of Robots, Cybernetic Culture, and Biology? What is the state of future war - now? Ultrasonic signals (object Avoidance Systems)? The "Future Combat System" is now ...


notes:
Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Foster-Miller
Honda (ASIMO)
more ...

Ref:
http://www.robotdigest.com/node/339

George Negus Tonight:
http://www.abc.net.au/dimensions/dimensions_future/
http://www.abc.net.au/dimensions/dimensions_future/Transcripts/s616117.htm

File Under: Super Soldier and Using drugs for control.

Notes: Project Future Warrior:

http://books.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12177



end.

Notes: Exoplanet Systems ... 042808

Notes ...

Currently, we do not have sufficiently sensitive techniques to detect Earth-mass planets, except in rare circumstances.


Further Research:

Exoplanet Exploration ... What are exoplanets?
http://nasascience.nasa.gov/astrophysics/exoplanet-exploration

Washington Double Star Catalog, the Catalogs of Nearby Stars, in Hipparcos results, and in Duquennoy & Mayor (1991).

http://arxiv.org

Habitability of Known Exoplanetary Systems Based on Measured Stellar Properties
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/506557