What are things looking like on the horizon for technology and gadgets? They are getting smaller and sleeker. User generated content galore is being rapid fired out the digital mouths of people’s blogs on such a frequent basis that its hard to keep up with your friend’s millionth Twitter. Companies are cashing in with partnerships to create a more appealing  and broader aspect of their services (examples:  Youtube, which is owned by Google, is set to partner with Universal Music Group to create a hub to view professionally produced music videos and Microsoft partnering with Amazon to sell once exclusive digital content on the Xbox 360 and Microsoft’s own site. ) Now more than ever before, our interfaces and modules on blogs, profiles and games are customizable to be almost whatever we want. And “going green” is a long coming trend that should have influenced our technology and way of living long before this recession even started, yet here we are finally coming to terms that “infinite growth and resources” was just another term for “accident waiting to happen”. And boy, did shit hit the fan.

So, in today’s information generation, our inventions reflect these ideals to create the next “big thing” in gadgets and digital services. What is the next thing to make millions of dollars for some small company of people, some of whom didn’t bother to graduate college (believe me it has happened, Bill Gates or Steve Jobs anyone?); What is the next thing to help us socialize with even more irrelevant banter online? How can we recycle the resources we already have to help keep our planet green? Will ANY of this be affordable? Here are some interesting examples of whats beginning to take place:

AT&T $50 Netbooks [link]
Source: Yahoo News via ConsumerReports.org

What’s the catch behind $50 netbooks?  You have to buy Verizon’s data plan contract for about $200-250. Almost like a cellphone plan, eh? This is still being tested, but chances are you will hear more about them as time goes on. Bits of conversation heard from executives behind the project may very well indicate that they are interested in providing downloadable network services, such as e-books. Which leads to the next gadget…

Amazon’s Kindle 2 [link]

After the release of the Kindle not too long ago by Amazon, the Kindle 2 has several updated features over it’s predecessor. Not only is it as thin as a regular magazine, it’s light too. Only 10.3 ounces. It reads like real paper, holds up to 1,500 books and has no monthly fees. You can even view newspapers and blogs on it. If you are a bookworm and have your home so stocked to the brim with towers of books that they might be life threatening in an earthquake, this might be a godsend.

OQO 2+ [link]
Source: Webtechgeek.com via Associated Press

Sometimes things are not small enough. With a screen diagonal of only 5″ you can bet the rest of it is small too. Just like those keypads. If the picture tells anything, it’s that you have to be double jointed to use the thing. But fear not, because what it has in size, it makes up for in battery life it seems. With it’s cool little OLED screen not only is it beautifully colored, ultra thin, and uses only a small amount of energy, it’s also only a cool $1,500! Methinks we better wait until OLEDs are ready for the public market where they will be more affordable.

Musicovery: Interactive webRadio [link]

A simple music interface to let you roll with whatever mood you feel like. Just click and play! By choosing mood and beat preferences, it calculates what to be played and who is similar to your music tastes. Easy to use, it also one of the few sites to cater toward gaming consoles where it features a mode to be able to be used on your Wii and PS3 internet browsers. One of the best things about it is that you can listen to music you wouldn’t normally listen to and find artists you’ve never heard of in other genres by your mood or tempo alone.

OP-1: The mini synth/controller [link]
Source: Musicradar.com

If you’ve ever seen a sampler keyboard from the early ninties, this is definitely a contemporary nod to the controllers origins. In standalone mode, it offers eight synth models and eight samplers, plus effects and other sounds. It has a built-in mike and speaker and you can record mp3s. It can connect to your computer through a usb 2.0 port and you can hook up a mike and headphones. And apparently, it can let you beat down through a built-in FM radio…

Easybloom [link]
Source: Casasugar.com

Instead of paying money on courses and/or books or let’s say maybe having years of gardening experience, here’s the casual gardener’s (and “black thumb’s”) answer to hours of prep work. For only $60, the Easybloom can measure temperature, sunlight and water/soil saturation and use it to see which plants out of it’s 5,000 plus plant database can grow in that area by hooking it up to a PC or Mac. It may be a lifesaver in some respects, but in others, it clearly lacks. For one, it does not measure soil pH, and two, it does not take into effect seasonal changes. While it may be an awesome idea for indoor potted plants (which stay for the most part in a static state in a home) where one reading is enough, $60 seems a heavy price to pay just to see what your temperature is when your thermostat already has the answer right next to you.

MIT’s gardening robots [link]

On the same note, MIT’s robotics undergrads created some robots to be able to garden for you. While still limited to only a few functions (watering plants and picking fruit), we are well on our way of getting rid of our farm laborers. Seriously though, I don’t see these coming to our farmlands anytime soon. The basic function of picking fruit is still one of the most changeling things these $3,000 dollar prototypes have trouble doing. It is hard for a logical machine to harvest something from nature that grows so chaotically on a vine. So, yes, jobs like these will still need to be done by human hands. But expect more research to be done on the subject.

The Tesla Roadster [link]
Source: Gizmondo.com

An electric car able to achieve a 279 miles on one charge alone! That’s amazing! Where do I get one? If the US car companies hadn’t killed the electric car years ago, sold us models that were inferior, gas guzzling giants,maybe we would have these by now. AND maybe they wouldn’t be asking for bailout money to help them repair their own brought-on problem.

Gocycle Bike [link]
Source: Gizmondo.com

What could be better than a regular bike? Why a electric AND folding one of course! Only catch, it’s being sold in the UK for somewhere between $900-$2,500. The delivery location indicates the cost of the bike. Basically, you can only afford it if you are a trendy, “green” yuppie. Until its an affordable price for the middle and lower class, don’t expect to see many of these around. You can get a regular bike for a cheaper price if you shop around. Still, the idea is intriguing.

Polaroid Pogo Instant Digital Camera [link]
Source: Webtechgeek.com via Associated Press

After discounting the iconic Polaroid camera people have known since the seventies, Polaroid came out with the digital version. A little bit bigger than a regular sized digital camera, it prints photos in your hand using zinc free paper and inks. A portable printer in your hand!

Infrared See-Through Filter PF [link]
Source: Webtechgeeks.com via Kaya-Optics.com

You know those X-ray specks that appear in novelty catalogs that people wanted so much and then they get, and it turns out to be a scam? Well, boys and girls, you too can be a peeping tom with your new Polaroid camera (or just about any camera). I’m sure this will have multiple security uses in the government, but as such it has undying potential in the public market, which is sure to get it banned. It really works, see for yourself.

-Asura

It is a sad day for gamers everywhere as one of it’s most influential designers, Gary Gygax, has passed away. He died at the age of 69 at his Wisconsin home. Gygax had an illustrious career, co-creating the original Dungeons & Dragons alongside Dave Arneson. He helped to found GenCon, the largest annual hobby exposition in the world. In addition, Gygax appeared alongside Al Gore, Stephen Hawkings and Nichelle Nichols in the Futurama episode Anthology of Interest I. Gygax is probably rolling 20s in heaven now.

Source: Next-Gen

Okay, it’s official people, the gov’ment intends on infiltrating our MMORPG’s. Starting with WoW, the “Reynard project” will:

“…begin by profiling online gaming behavior, then potentially move on to its ultimate goal of ‘automatically detecting suspicious behavior and actions in the virtual world’.”

I don’t know about you guys, but just because I may act like an a**hole online doesn’t mean you have to automatically assume I’m a terrorist. It’s scary what their ultimate goal might mean to online games. I don’t want to have to feel like my every move is being watched and judged by the long arm of the law. And to “automatically” assume anything, seems to be what the government is good at now-a-days.

Also, where the hell did they get that cheesy screenshot?

To read more, click on this link: http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/02/nations-spies-w.html

‘Ya know those movies that have hints of post apocalyptic futures, a dictatorship government, giant bugs and ladies with three boobs? Oh wait, that’s Starship Troopers and Total Recall…

Ok, well, just imagine a time when we have the Department of Homeland Security pushing congress for a universal ID. Imagine just ONE place where they would have all the info that would be on the ID (makes it very handy for any hackers or con artists to focus their efforts). That time seems to coming, my friends. And DHS wants all states to comply by 2011.

More…”Americans born after Dec. 1, 1964, will have to get more secure driver’s licenses in the next six years under ambitious post-9/11 security rules to be unveiled Friday by federal officials.”

This is the first paragraph of the article and the announcement made by federal officials. Is anyone worried yet about the emboldened words? Seems to be always brought up, huh?

There’s a bunch of little things to the new REAL ID system that seem uncomfortably ambitious by the government. However, there are some details that are not brought up in the article. What about state ID’s? They mention driver’s licenses being the main ID involved but where does that put the people who can’t drive or just need an ID? And in one of the last paragraphs of the article, the wording is somewhat confusing in that it sounds like it states that people with passports would be told to “get a driver’s license”. Does this mean “as well” or “instead of” a passport? Either way, it doesn’t sound efficient yet.

Oh yeah, they mention the 50+ exemption for the first few years of the ID implementation: “…the risk of someone in that age group being a terrorist, illegal immigrant or con artist is much less.” So, they don’t have to update their ID yet. Say what?! I would like to know where they get these statistics/observations… And the ACLU wants a word in as well.

Anyways, if you want to know more about what’s going on, click on the source link below. I would suggest keeping an ear open in the future, in case you ever want to fly somewhere again.

Source: NPR and the Associated Press

When I first saw it, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. But generally, I’m just a little creeped out by it’s expression:

That’s right guys, Japan is moving at the speed of light in the robotics industry when it comes to making innovative and… quirky… experiments. For instance, I’ll just bring up the Land Walker Robot, an anime mech turned reality:

But I digress. This isn’t about the Land Walker, but about “Kansei” (Japanese for “sensibility”) the robot who can express emotions.

“Japan’s latest robot, called Kansei and created by a university research team, can pull up to 36 different facial expressions based on a program which creates word associations from a self-updating online database of 500,000 keywords.

The English keywords then trigger the most appropriate facial expression, which ranges from happiness to sadness, anger and fear.

“What we are trying to do here is to create a flow of consciousness in robots so that they can make the relevant facial expressions,” said project leader Junichi Takeno, a professor at Meiji University’s School of Science and Technology.

“I believe that’s going to be a key to improving communication between humans and robots,” he said.

The robot has 19 movable parts underneath the silicone face mask. When the robot hears the word “president,” the online database picks up associated words such as “Bush,” “war” and “Iraq” and creates an expression which the researchers said is meant to mix fear and disgust.

Takeno says that in a few years, Kansei will also have speech abilities and will be able to convey feelings, which could be useful in places such as nursing homes for the elderly.

Japan is hooked on androids, with several companies selling robots that mimic human action such as playing drums or dancing to music.

With Japan’s population expected to slide by around a quarter by 2050, and immigration a sensitive issue, some laboratories have developed humanoid robots that can work as maids.

Earlier this year, a university researcher created a robot that looks and moves exactly like him.”

(Source: Yahoo.com)

In a video for Reuters.com, the reporter says the robots would be made in the future to help out the elderly with loneliness by being a companion and so forth. I dunno about you, but I wouldn’t want that in the same house with me until it got some better skin and eyes. It looks rather comical, really, and at other times just plain freaky.

So, if you are interested in more info, here’s a link to that video I was talking about. Just click the picture. Until further ado:

“Today on April, 20th, Bill Gates went to Peking University to give a talk titled “Creativity, China, Future”. After the talk, someone held a piece of paper written with ‘Free software, Open source’ rushed to the stage before Mr. Gates while [speaking] to support open source software. It is said that that man is named Yang Wang, and he is a representative of LPI (Linux Professional Institute).”

Linked from Wen at http://www.boingboing.net/

And here’s the original Chinese site that has a couple pictures and a video to watch.

http://news.zol.com.cn