The iPad Announcement

I wanted this device to be good... like... STAR TREK good. Like another really obvious segue to the future kind of good. But it sounds like it's a tad lacking with no multi-tasking, and no camera. I must confess that I won't really know my true feelings until I play with one. I must also say that the introductory price of $499 is better than expected.

The name though...

The best I can hope to come out of this is that the Sony e-Reader goes down in price. I've wanted one of those forEVER. So that I can read books Picard-style.

Something I'm not buying about Avatar...

Okay, so there are a lot of things I'm not falling in love with so far about James Cameron's Avatar, particularly according to the first trailer. I have an excellent suspension of disbelief, but there was one thing I couldn't grasp: a guy in a wheel chair in the 22nd century. Paraplegia? Huh? Call me optimistic, but by the time we're traveling to the moons of the gas giants, I think we'll have paraplegia covered... whether it's a fix that is organic or mechanical, there should be a way to get an otherwise healthy person walking by that era.

Now, to be fair, in the second (bootleg) trailer that was released today, some superior officer tells the marine that if he does his job right... he'll get his legs back, his "real legs". Soooo... the technology and treatment exists, but the military withholds it? And bribes their soldiers? I understand I haven't seen all of it yet, but Mr. Cameron, I must say, you are losing me a bit on this one.

Some examples of where current technology is headed with this:
Nanotechnology: Neuro-electronic interfaces
Robotics: Exo-skeletons getting smaller & more efficient
Medicine: Stem Cell Therapy - breakthroughs with less controversial "adult stem cells"

Popular Science's new show

Cheesy commercial, maybe even a cheesy show, but I'd watch it. Popular Science's "Future of"

Recycling of Infrastructure: The Urban Mole

File this one under good ideas.

The Urban Mole is a concept from designer Phillip Hermes, who suggests putting old city infrastructures (such as out-of-commission sewers) to work, with a railed, unmanned delivery system. Specifically, the idea is to get delivery trucks off of tight city streets.

I think it's a fantastic way to retrofit old city systems.
Via GOOD

Siftables AKA Questionables

Any ideas for what applications this may truly have? Because they're making a big deal out of 'em and so far, all I see before me is a toy. An alright toy... but still. I'm curious to see where MIT goes with this.

The Vélib' Bike System

This is old news... like... two years old... but I just learned about it so maybe some others haven't heard.

The Vélib' Bike System is Paris' mass transit system that relies on bike borrowing. Thousands of bikes, and thousands of little parking stations for them are placed all around the city, with the intention of helping people make quick trips. A subscription to the service can be purchased online for anywhere from a day to a year.

While it has had its problems since it launched two years ago, it has proven beneficial and cost-effective enough for other bike-friendly cities to adopt similar systems. Bike rental transit systems are expected to show up in the U.S. very soon (starting in Portland, duh.)

Meanwhile, just so I can jump on some news that isn't old... Paris is planning to launch a similar system for electric cars! Dubbed, of course: Autolib'

40 years ago today...

THE EAGLE LANDED.

Fly me to the moon... tomorrow!

Relive the 4 day journey, starting with the launch tomorrow!
Via:
We Choose the Moon

My own celebrating will be done tomorrow, with a friend, at Jet Propulsion Laboratories.

Cheers!

PS- Hoax theorists not welcome here.

Never took NASCAR types for having "vision"

This looks like a terribly excellent replacement for NASCAR! Not the greenest thing in the world... but I'm gonna allow it. I really hope that it "takes off" as a sport (teehee). I'm also going to admit that I'm totally sucked in by how they plan on covering the sport so immersively (that's not a super-legit word, but again, I'm gonna allow it).

There's a ton of information available on their site: Rocket Racing League

You'll notice that they're already keen on using babes in their promotion.

Umm... how 'bout let's not.

This would NOT be my choice for space tourism.

Think harder Armadillo Aerospace.

Fishbowl trips supposedly on their way for $100,000 in 2010, flying out of Spaceport America, New Mexico.

Admittedly I find the picture of the launch more exciting. I just want to know how it gets back safely, without boiling its fishies on the way back in.

In other news, this new information led me on a tangent that I cannot WAIT to share tomorrow. It is EPIC.

Ink , Plastic, Cellular cartridges of the future.

The ultimate in a DIY project... to produce more DIY projects!

RepRap from Adrian Bowyer on Vimeo.

Which reminded me of something I once saw on "2057", that a friend was kind enough to supply me with a better video of (also from a Discovery Channel show)...

T-Rex gets combative with Stephen Hawking

Brought to you by the genius Ryan North at Dinosaur Comics.

Mainly posted because I was so recently educated about the theory that one can't return to a period in time prior to the time machine's existence. (For more on the topic, skip the pessimistic Hawking view, and check out Michio Kaku's Parallel Worlds.)
And for a larger view of the comic above, please make the journey to Dinosaur Comics. You'll be glad you did.