Posted on Techdirt - 24 May 2012 @ 5:00pm
Certain kinds of science fiction could almost be considered far-out predictions. Star Trek crew members used tablet computers decades ago, and now the tablet computing market looks like it could take over PCs. Certainly, there's a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy for some sci-fi technology, and here are just a few examples.
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Posted on Techdirt - 23 May 2012 @ 5:00pm
DailyDirt: Standing In The Alpha-Beta Parking Lot....
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
City planning in the future might have to take into account some technologies that sound like science fiction from the 1960s. Probably no flying cars, but there could be autonomous vehicles and less sprawl. Owning a car might not even be practical. In any case, parking lots will likely be long gone, and here are just a few links on some interesting parking situations.
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Posted on Startups - 22 May 2012 @ 5:00pm
DailyDirt: What's In A Name?
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
There are plenty of marketing gurus who will advise company founders to choose names and logos very carefully -- making sure to avoid confusing names or names without the appropriate gravitas. Then again, there are several companies with names that break the rules.
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Posted on Techdirt - 21 May 2012 @ 5:00pm
DailyDirt: Expensive Meals
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
A nice meal is a nice meal, regardless of the price. But if you want to show off your considerable fortunes, try serving up a few of these ingredients in your next culinary creation. (Maybe if you're a newly-minted billionaire, recently married... and have a penchant for killing your own food?)
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Posted on Techdirt - 18 May 2012 @ 5:00pm
DailyDirt: Hot Dogs!
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
The weather is warming up, and backyard barbecues are getting dusted off. What's easier to grill than a good old hot dog? Absolutely nothing. Here are just a few links to get you in the mood for some delicious dogs.
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Posted on Techdirt - 17 May 2012 @ 5:00pm
DailyDirt: Facebook Facebook Facebook...
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
There's a big IPO coming up that should create a few more Silicon Valley billionaires. Back when Google went public, there were lots of folks joking about how business models were all going to be based on advertising. Just add ads, and your last step would most definitely be "profit." That joke got old, but it doesn't look like business models based on ads have. (At least, not for Facebook.. or Twitter.. or Foursquare...)
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Posted on Techdirt - 16 May 2012 @ 5:00pm
DailyDirt: Caffeine In Everything
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
No one likes feeling drowsy when they want to be awake and alert. For centuries, folks have been self-medicating by drinking various beverages with caffeine (and Coca-cola originally had a more potent drug in it). We've come a long way from just boiling tea leaves in water, and here are just a few more ways caffeine is spreading into our lives.
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Posted on Techdirt - 15 May 2012 @ 5:00pm
DailyDirt: What Do You Remember?
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
Everybody at one time or another wishes they had a better memory. There are some techniques and memory exercises to help improve the way people memorize lists, but some things are just more memorable than others. Some research is starting to delve into why we remember some things but not others, and here are just a few interesting links that you might want to write down.
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Posted on Techdirt - 14 May 2012 @ 5:00pm
DailyDirt: I'm Free... Free-Falling
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
There's been a bit of a resurgence in interest for manned spaceflight because the costs of launching vehicles to the edge of space aren't ludicrous anymore, just outrageously expensive. Despite the advances in rocket launching systems, there's always a chance that something could go wrong -- so ejecting escape pods at high altitudes seems like a good idea, right? Only a handful of people have even attempted to skydive from more than a few miles up. By the end of this year, though, a couple brave souls could set some skydiving records and pave the way for a new extreme sport.
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Posted on Techdirt - 11 May 2012 @ 5:00pm
DailyDirt: Sketchy Meats For Sale
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
A lot of vegetarians were likely inspired by The Jungle (the novel about the meat packing industry), but a lot has changed in the field of meat since the early 1900s. However, transparency about how animals are treated before they're served onto dinner plates could perhaps use a little more work. Here are just a few recent stories that are starting to gross out some meat-eating Americans.
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Posted on Techdirt - 10 May 2012 @ 5:00pm
DailyDirt: Graduation Advice
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
Graduation season is just about here, and lots of students are going to put on some black robes and accept a very expensive piece of paper and a hand shake. And along with those newly-minted degrees, plenty of older and more experienced folks will try to offer some advice. Here are just a few interesting words of wisdom for young grads.
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Posted on Techdirt - 9 May 2012 @ 5:00pm
DailyDirt: A Logo With Any Other Name..?
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
Some companies spend a lot of effort tweaking their logo and making sure their brand image stays shiny and new. But how much does it really matter? There are some truly iconic corporate logos, but it's really the businesses behind the logos that create the image of the company. Not the other way around. Or maybe a nice reliable-looking logo really does inspire a company and its employees to bleed purple or something....
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Posted on Techdirt - 8 May 2012 @ 5:00pm
DailyDirt: Flying Weapons
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
If there's a way to make a weapon more mobile, the military has probably tried it. Bat bombs were created during World War II, but after spending a couple million dollars on development, the project was cancelled. Here are just a few more modern examples of flying weapons that are currently under development.
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Posted on Techdirt - 7 May 2012 @ 5:00pm
DailyDirt: Fooling Some Of The People Some Of The Time...
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
There's a sucker born every minute -- if you like to believe unverifiable statistics. Usually, if it's too good to be true, it ain't true. But as technology gets better, sometimes it's hard to distinguish sufficiently advanced algorithms from magic. Here are a few scams that successfully fooled some folks for a while.
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Posted on Techdirt - 4 May 2012 @ 5:00pm
DailyDirt: To Serve Man... Sushi
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
More than anywhere else, Japanese researchers seem a bit obsessed with creating robots to do some wacky things. So why not create some sushi robots to eliminate some of the boring, repetitive work in sushi restaurants? Here are just a few examples that point towards a future of fully-automated sushi production.
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Posted on Techdirt - 3 May 2012 @ 5:00pm
DailyDirt: Teachers, Pay Attention
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
Great teachers aren't exactly a plentiful resource, but the market for teachers hasn't quite minted many millionaires from the scarcity. But maybe that will change soon. There are a bunch of projects that are aiming to create innovative educational tools, and some of these efforts could be hugely profitable in the future. Perhaps those who can, will teach.
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Posted on Techdirt - 2 May 2012 @ 5:00pm
DailyDirt: Doing Whatever A Spider Can...
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
For years, researchers have been looking at spider silk's properties to try to re-create it into supermaterials tougher than Kevlar or steel. We're still learning a lot about how spider silk is made and what its structures are, so it'll probably be a few more decades before everyone is wearing clothes made from spider silk. In the meantime, here are a few interesting articles on spider silk.
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Posted on Techdirt - 1 May 2012 @ 5:00pm
DailyDirt: Fusion Without A Star
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
Man-made fusion reactors always seem to be 30-50 years away, even though the sun fuses atoms all the time, mocking us with its immense generation of free fusion energy. Sure, there have been a couple of wunderkinds who've built fusion reactors in their spare time, but the trick is generating a surplus of energy -- not just fusing atoms for fun. Here are a few interesting links on inertial confinement fusion.
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Posted on Techdirt - 30 April 2012 @ 5:00pm
DailyDirt: Unobtainium Will Save Us!
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
Some folks are worried about Peak Oil. Others are worried about "Peak Helium" when most of the Earth's resources of the lightweight element have vanished into space. There are also all kinds of metals that are getting harder and harder to find. Where will we be able to replenish precious, finite materials? Duh, just go get some from other celestial bodies. You only need to be a billionaire with a few other billionaire friends to start this project. Estimated time for completion: 10 years in the future.
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Posted on Techdirt - 27 April 2012 @ 5:00pm
DailyDirt: Pass Me A Cold One...
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
Beer has shaped civilization for centuries. It's one of the oldest alcoholic beverages, and it comes in countless varieties for just about every taste. The progress of beer is unstoppable, and here are just a few more advances in the field of beer.
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More posts from Michael Ho >>
Re: As long as we don't build the cars in this story:
sehlat,
As long as humans are still building these cars, hopefully there will be a KITT for every KARR.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KARR_(Knight_Rider)#.22K.I.T.T._vs._K.A.R.R..22
Re:
I'm sure someone out there has tried hot dog bits as a pizza topping... and I'm sure someone has also created a hot dog with tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese, too.
Personally, I think I'd prefer a higher-end sausage of some kind instead of a hot dog in my pizza crust.
Re: Problem is the metric used to measure ads effectiveness
This old quote from John Wanamaker seems to still be true:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wanamaker
"Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half."
Re:
The Chinese translation of Revenge of the Sith... translated back into English is pretty memorable, too.
Darth Vader's first line: "Do not want."
http://winterson.com/2009/01/episode-iii-backstroke-of-west-redux.html
Re:
It's really only the landing part that's tricky.. the rest is easy.
Re:
Pixelation,
Good graduation advice may benefit innovation and technology..? Okay, that's a stretch, but does Techdirt have to be restricted to just Tech topics?
Re: Pepsi
Agreed.. but some folks really don't like the new Pepsi logo:
http://branddunk.com/2008/10/31/can-pepsi-afford-to-spend-1-billion-on-a-butt-crack/
And it's kinda interesting that Pepsi's logo in the 1950s looks sorta like Coca-Cola's logo...
Re:
The TV commercials for Siri do seem to suggest that Siri is much better than "she" is... I wonder if people would be more upset with Siri if "she" had a more manly name and voice? (I vaguely remember some study where GPS directions given by an artificial female voice was more irritating than if it was spoken by an artificial male voice.)
Re:
good catch, zippy...
and who could forget the simpsons parody:
http://simpsonswiki.net/wiki/How_to_Cook_for_Forty_Humans
Re:
Harvesting spider silk from spiders isn't easy... There are a lot of problems with that plan b/c spiders actually produce different kinds of silk for different purposes, and it's hard to force them to produce the kind you want. Spiders also eat insects, so it's a bit difficult to feed them in a spider farm. Spiders also fight each other. Spiders also don't naturally produce that much silk at a time.
So maybe if we figure out how to genetically modify a domesticated spider... and breed a special kind of spider that is suited just for producing silk.
Re:
Not all radioactive materials are equal. Tritium isn't the same as radioactive cesium or strontium...
Re: Crowdfund a Privacy-focused ISP
ooh, but a $25,000 level for free ISP service for life?! That might be cool if they said what dataspeeds.. and meant the users life, not the life of the ISP.
Re: Crowdfund a Privacy-focused ISP
I think they'll need a bit more than $1M to create a useful nationwide ISP...
Re: boredom...
After a while, I'd guess all explosions start to look the same... unless the blasts just got bigger and bigger until you were working on nuclear bombs. But maybe I'm wrong. Good luck on those job searches -- you probably don't want to mention your penchant for explosives too early on in your interviewing process, though.
Re: Lessons...
The takeaways from the Finnish system don't seem that clear. Finland has a completely different set of demographics than the US, so what works in Finland might not work in other countries.
Re: Explosivejelly
It's pretty easy to envision military applications of soft body robots that can swim around in the oceans for indefinite periods of time....
Re: Would You Like Some Ham With That Pork?
why are there different words for fruits that are fresh versus dried? eg. grapes and raisins...
Re: Hey Michael
Chris, is that your way of saying you don't like our 5:00pm posts every day..?
Re: Re: Re:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transubstantiation
I guess it depends on how literal you are with that....
Re:
Pixelation, I'm Catholic? :P