A few videos worth checking out, from Nerdcore master MC Frontalot. If you don’t already know what Nerdcore is, this should help you figure it out. This is not my first or last posting on the topic; the most recent was about real nerds at the Large Hadron facility.
You gotta love Nerdcore, if you are even a little Geeky!
SciFi Wire has released a list of SciFi Folks who Tweet, and a great list it is. I was already following Neil Gaiman, but didn’t know John Scalzi was in there as well. Likewise I was following Wil Wheaton and never knew Robert Llewellyn was tweeting away. There are a lot more on the list (and a lot they missed), so check it all out and add some to your following group. There is also the Twitter Resistance, lead by the most-followed Tweeter of all, Leo Laporte of Call For Help fame.
There aren’t any instructions as such, but the parts are listed and the configuration described for this Flaming Oscilloscope. As simple as the device is you shouldn’t have any problem building your own, and this one is silly fun and educational basic physics in a single home made object.
Those two are really a single concept, but for different worldviews. Broadband is a way to connect to the world, and Ars Technica has the best example of how the Broadband Recovery Bill will play out in Science Fiction terms. Cisco views it from the how to make it work perspective, and Gartner takes the how is it working aspect. Neither is right, or wrong; just looking at the reality through their own set of filters, for two very different conclusions. As I consider both viewpoints valid (if limited), I thought I should just link them here, so you can read and consider. How does that fit in with Riverworld? The Philip Jose Farmer Riverworld series is all about exploring our unlimited potential as human beings, with all the time in the world to do so. The new tech, with or without the federal grant money, is another step towards that same goal. If the new team at SyFy does half as much with the classic series as it deserves, it will also inspire us to create the future. Ad Astra!
It is Worldwide Dungeons and Dragons Gameday today, and lots of people are playing. But here is a prototype of a toy I would like to start playing with. It is built with off-the-shelf parts totaling about $350; a camera, a small projector, a cell phone, and some colored plastic or tape for your fingers. But it combines them for functionality we have never had before, and in production it would cost around $100. They are calling it the Sixth Sense, and it is the first wearable computer I have seen that turns your environment and the things in it interactive. This project is from the MIT Media Lab, one of many they are developing to invent a better future. Thanks to Technology Story for the heads-up on that one.
I am assuming they paid the SyFy Portal serious money for stealing their brand. In fact that site, under their new brand Airlock Alpha, admits as much, even if they don’t disclose the amount. I look forward to seeing how they use that cash influx online, and have to cheer on anyone in Science Fiction who can turn a noticeable profit in today’s economy. Reactions are coming in from all over the web, from CNet with their usual unique perspective, to Entertainment Weekly who come at it from a totally different angle. Cinema Blend, the Live Feed, and the Hollywood Reporter all took the line you would expect from each of those media mavens (each different, but each the same). The Fans have a different view, expressed by Topless Robot, or Forbidden Planet, or even G4 TV, and again, each reaction is different, and each the same. Myself, I can’t wait to see how Alpha Airlock evolves; the SF Channel, whatever their spelling, has the budget to ignore the fans, but this time some true fans got the better end of the deal. Congrats, Hinman!