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Researchers Dream of Humanizing Androids
"... a small coterie of devoted professionals and amateurs are working to make fully articulated, humanoid and even sinuously dancing robots a reality."Singularity Reading Recommendations
"For those interested in more seriously exploring the issues of Artificial General Intelligence and the Singularity, I’d like to recommend the following writings ..." None of which are sf noNew Mars lander will dig below surface
"NASA's new Mars lander will travel to the Red Planet's far northern plains to break beneath its surface in the search of conditions favourable to life."Future Mars Explorers Face Dusty Challenges
"One of the biggest threats is the extra-fine dust that coats the planet. And the problem is, researchers have never had any sample of the powdery grit to study, so they don't know exactly how itCountdown to a synthetic lifeform
"Venter says that efforts to synthesise his minimal genome from scratch are still in progress, but once it is ready, the transplant method should allow the first bacterium with a synthetic genomeWorker bot sorts packages
"...a parcel sorting system that employs agile robot workers capable of quickly classifying and separating small items such as mail packages and clothing."FROM THE WORLD TO WEB (Updated)
"What you're looking at above is a Second Life screenshot that changes everything. It's a new, open source[-based] version of the SL viewer ..." Which runs in a web browser. The wall just goThe Tech Lab: Charles Stross
Uncle Charlie explains the potential future of lifelogging to Joe Average BBC reader.The Origin of Everyday Punctuation Marks.
Does exactly what it says on the tin.The Execution Channel - Ken MacLeod’s novel is a killer
Martin McGrath seems pretty impressed by MacLeod's latest offering.Stock Waves: Citizen Photo Journalists Are Changing the Rules
"... photographers are finding themselves hard-pressed to delineate the distinction between "professional" and "amateur." Is it a measure of experience and training? EquipmentHoly Batcapes! The Age Of The Superhero Suit Is Upon Us
"Crafted from cutting-edge science, its unique molecular structure means that while providing armoured protection against crude concrete and even barbed wire, it remains light enough to allow youLost in space - autonomous robot satellites
"Two robots hang suspended in space, nose to nose. One reaches out an arm and attends to the other. Fuel is exchanged, a battery replaced; servicing complete, they silently drift apart. This isn'Open source web-browser based Second Life client
"Katharine, which should surprise no one, is a British teenager who built this partly out of "boredom, wanting to talk to people in" Teen Second Life. Nothing like disrupting the entireHow to Survive a Category and Permalink Overhaul on your Wordpress Blog
"This short article details the plugins I’ve used to go through the whole task of renovating my category and permalink structure." Boy, am I glad I started off with the right permalinks.55 Essential Articles Every Serious Blogger Should Read
Does what it says on the tin, natch.Interview: Recoil (Alan Wilder)
Interview with Alan Wilder, formerly of Depeche Mode, now the man behind Recoil.Looking for Life Unlike Our Own
"If life exists on Enceladus, or Ceres, or in some bizarre Kuiper Belt ecosystem, it’s not going to be operating on the same principles as life here on Earth."Perpetual motion goes into reverse
"You might remember an Irish company called Steorn: ... it took out a full page advert in the Economist to announce that it had discovered a source of free energy, a perpetual motion machine no lWilliam Gibson interviewed by the College Crier
"I also started with the assumption that all fiction is speculative. That all fiction is an attempt to make a model of reality and any model of reality is necessarily speculative because it's genSecond Earth
Huge TechReview article on Second Life and its competitors. May require a login (use BugMeNot), but well worth it.Unpacking the Zeitgeist
"Your question: at which step in this narrative would my 1977-era audience first say "you've got to be shitting me!" ... and when would they start moaning and holding their head in theiCopyright Explained: I May Copy It, Right?
"... we’ve collected the most important facts, articles and resources related to copyright issues, law and blogging. We’ve also put together most useful tools and references you can use dealing wAuthor Interview: Justina Robson
"Robson talks a bit about Keeping it Real, how her Lila Black is more than a little bit like herself, and how one goes about recording a hit single for a bunch of elf musicians." Scalzi on tNew Propellantless Thruster Experiments
"A propellantless thruster would resolve the issue, but most theorists think that producing accelerating forces without expelling some kind of propellant mass from the vehicle is an idle dream.&qPlague of bioweapons accidents afflicts the US
"There are now 20,000 people at 400 sites around the US working with putative bioweapons germs, says Hammond, 10 times more than before the terrorist attacks of 9/11." This is not good news.Mimicking pot
"... the Johnson Matthey company (JM) in London, UK, is excited about its latest breakthrough in which it reacts together a diester and olivetol to synthesize tetrahydrocannabinol." The streUFOpunk: Mac Tonnies' Strange Blue World
Ballardian interviews The Mac. Good stuff.EC wants to suppress internet bomb-making guides
"Mr Frattini and his EC subordinates appeared to have no plans for dealing with bomb instructions sent via email, browsed over encrypted relays such as Tor, sent by post, or physically transporte