futuramb's crumbs

A Real-Life Tricorder Is Now Available For You To Buy And Scan...

Wed, 22 May 2013 19:30:24 +0200

A Real-Life Tricorder Is Now Available For You To Buy And Scan Yourself | Co.Exist: World changing ideas and innovation

Today, the Scanadu Scout tricorder is available for pre-order on Indiegogo. It’s a chance for early adopters to check out Scanadu’s technology, and an opportunity for Scanadu to gather some of the data it needs for FDA approval.

Beware the Coming War Against Personal Photography and...

Mon, 20 May 2013 19:45:28 +0200

Beware the Coming War Against Personal Photography and Video
Lauren Weinstein, petapixel.com

Are you ready for the imagery war — the war against personal photography and capturing of video? You’d better be.The title of this piece actually isn’t entirely accurate. In some ways, this war isn’t just coming, it’s already begun. Forces are lin…

Fear is a powerful force which often leads us astray… Western societies are now threading a dangerous path and will continue to do so if we don’t change from controlling, masculine and exclusive strategies to female, dialectic and more inclusive approaches.

emergentfutures: Rodrigo Nino, CEO of Prodigy Network, spoke...

Sat, 18 May 2013 00:27:12 +0200

emergentfutures:

Rodrigo Nino, CEO of Prodigy Network, spoke at PSFK CONFERENCE 2013 about building a crowd funded skyscraper in the city of Bogota, Colombia.

Full Story: PSFK

futuretechreport: The future of Google Glass? Digital creative...

Thu, 16 May 2013 14:32:07 +0200

futuretechreport:

The future of Google Glass?

Digital creative agency Playground knows that Glass is in its early days, but they imagine a future in which Glass helps with navigation, shopping, hobbies and much more. And according to Playground, “All of our examples are actually possible right now. Smartphones (batteries not included) have enough raw processing power to run this software today. If only current batteries were ten times more efficient and there was a robust native hardware API for Glass. Well, it’s coming. Sooner than we think.”

via the content brief

Interesting to get some concrete scenarios on possible uses of Google Glass.

For Insurers, No Doubts on Climate Change

Wed, 15 May 2013 16:03:31 +0200

For Insurers, No Doubts on Climate Change:

By EDUARDO PORTER, nytimes.com

If there were one American industry that would be particularly worried about climate change it would have to be insurance, right?
From Hurricane Sandy’s devastating blow to the Northeast to the protracted drought that hit the…

Does Every City Need A Chief Resilience Officer? Emily Badger,...

Wed, 15 May 2013 16:03:02 +0200

Does Every City Need A Chief Resilience Officer?
Emily Badger, theatlanticcities.com

For cities, developing a plan for “sustainability” no longer sounds like enough. The word carries with it an environmental connotation (we need to live alongside nature in a “sustainable” way). And the absence of sustainability…

saveplanetearth: 400 PPM: Carbon Dioxide in the Atmosphere...

Sat, 11 May 2013 18:57:44 +0200

saveplanetearth:

400 PPM: Carbon Dioxide in the Atmosphere Reaches Prehistoric Levels @ Scientific American via tcktcktck

Comment: That cannot be good.

Can Science Fiction Writers Inspire the World to Save Itself?

Wed, 08 May 2013 00:35:01 +0200

Can Science Fiction Writers Inspire the World to Save Itself?:

scientificamerican.com

By Ariel SchwartzThe Hieroglyph project asks sci-fi writers to stop creating dark dystopias, and instead showed us visions of a better future, so that we work harder to get there.Science fiction has often predicted scientific advances, but what…

IBM’s Watson Gets Its First Piece Of Business In...

Mon, 06 May 2013 14:20:37 +0200

IBM’s Watson Gets Its First Piece Of Business In Healthcare
Bruce Upbin, forbes.com

IBM‘s Watson, the Jeopardy!-playing supercomputer that scored one for Team Robot Overlord two years ago, just put out its shingle as a doctor or, more specifically, as a combination lung cancer specialist and expert in the arcane…

AI which according to measurement being superior to doctors is now being diffused into the reality of health care… Can’t wait to hear the reactions!

Zipcar’s Co-Founder: Carsharing Is An Exponential Solution To Climate Change

Sun, 05 May 2013 11:46:35 +0200

Zipcar’s Co-Founder: Carsharing Is An Exponential Solution To Climate Change:

Ariel Schwartz, fastcoexist.com

Robin Chase thinks that the sharing economy can put an end to all our problems. But how do you get the sharing economy to the developing world?The latest climate change statistics are beyond depressing—so upsetting that you might want to take a…

China emerges as new force in drone warfare - CBS...

Sun, 05 May 2013 02:18:10 +0200

China emerges as new force in drone warfare - CBS News

China’s move into large-scale drone deployment displays its military’s growing sophistication and could challenge U.S. military dominance in the Asia-Pacific. It also could elevate the threat to neighbors with territorial disputes with Beijing, including Vietnam, Japan, India and the Philippines. China says its drones are capable of carrying bombs and missiles as well as conducting reconnaissance, potentially turning them into offensive weapons in a border conflict.

China’s increased use of drones also adds to concerns about the lack of internationally recognized standards for drone attacks. The United States has widely employed drones as a means of eliminating terror suspects in Pakistan and the Arabian Peninsula.

Futurology: shining a bright, broad beam of light into the...

Sun, 05 May 2013 02:12:35 +0200

Futurology: shining a bright, broad beam of light into the darkness | Lydia Nicholas | Science | guardian.co.uk

Planning for the future predicted by our current data leaves us vulnerable to unexpected derailments. Embracing uncertainty and preparing for the implausible gives us the chance to choose a better world

It is really interesting to find a defense for my area of futures thinking, in the Guardian. Normally I would see this as a sign of increasing acknowledgement of the relevance of the discipline. Judging from all other signals I unfortunately thinks this is most likely just another shot in the dark in the total future-present confusion we are currently experiencing. A phenomenon which comes from the breakdown of the basic mental models we used to understand the world for the last centuries.

"So-called anticipatory systems such as Google Now represent one example of what could result. We’re..."

Sun, 05 May 2013 01:39:14 +0200

“So-called anticipatory systems such as Google Now represent one example of what could result. We’re already seeing the transformations that big data is causing in advertising and other situations where millions of people’s activity can be measured at a time. Now data science is looking at how it can help individuals. Timely updates on a United Airways flight may be among the tamer applications. Think instead of statistical models that tell you what job to take, or alert you even before you feel ill that you may have the flu.”

- Google Now, Anticipatory Systems, and the Future of Big Data | MIT Technology Review

This Is The World’s First Entirely 3D-Printed Gun (Photos)...

Sun, 05 May 2013 01:35:13 +0200

This Is The World’s First Entirely 3D-Printed Gun (Photos) - Forbes

All sixteen pieces of the Liberator prototype were printed in ABS plastic with a Dimension SST printer from 3D printing company Stratasys, with the exception of a single nail that’s used as a firing pin. The gun is designed to fire standard handgun rounds, using interchangeable barrels for different calibers of ammunition.

[…]

Of course, Defcad’s users may not adhere to so many rules. Once the file is online, anyone will be able to download and print the gun in the privacy of their garage, legally or not, with no serial number, background check, or other regulatory hurdles. “You can print a lethal device,” Wilson told me last summer. “It’s kind of scary, but that’s what we’re aiming to show.

climateadaptation: What is Resilience? is a nifty, free,...

Fri, 03 May 2013 11:48:14 +0200

climateadaptation:

What is Resilience? is a nifty, free, 20page, visual ebook overview defining resilience. It’s free, and published by the researchers at the Stockholm Resilience Centre. (Free ebook is free.)

Resilience is the capacity of a system, be it an individual, a forest, a city or an economy, to deal with change and continue to develop. It is about the capacity to use shocks and disturbances like a financial crisis or climate change to spur renewal and innovative thinking.

This publication presents the major strands within resilience thinking and social-ecological research. It describes the profound imprint we humans have had on nature and ideas on how to deal with the resulting challenges.

The publication is based on three scientific articles that were prepared for the 3rd Nobel Laureate Symposium on global sustainability, which took place in Stockholm in May 2011. The articles were later published in the scientific journal Ambio. They represent a mix of necessary actions and exciting planetary opportunities. They also illustrate how we can use the growing insights into the many challenges we are facing by starting to work with the processes of the biosphere instead of against them.

Chapter One describes in detail the complex interdependencies between people and ecosystems. It highlights the fact that there are virtually no ecosystems that are not shaped by people and no people without the need for ecosystems and the services they provide. Too many of us seem to have disconnected ourselves from Nature. A shift in thinking will create exciting opportunities for us to continue to develop and thrive for generations to come.

Chapter Two takes us through the tremendous acceleration of human enterprise, especially since World War II. This acceleration is pushing the Earth dangerously close to its boundaries, to the extent that abrupt environmental change cannot be excluded. Furthermore, it has led scientists to argue that the current geological period should be labelled the ‘Antropocene’ – the Age of Man.

Chapter Three highlights the fascinating paradox that the innovative capacity that has put us in the current environmental predicament can also be used to push us out of it. It introduces the term social-ecological innovation, which essentially strives to find innovative ways to reconnect with the biosphere and stay within planetary boundaries.

Enjoy! :)

What 3-D Printing Means To The Future Of Advertising |...

Fri, 03 May 2013 11:20:00 +0200

What 3-D Printing Means To The Future Of Advertising | Co.Create: Creativity \ Culture \ Commerce

Advertisers will be forced to reconcile their physical outputs in the world in a way that spitting out spots and microsites never faced us with. Or, said differently, our ad crap is made more evident when it’s a real piece of crap sitting on a desk or floor. We’ll have to continue to ask ourselve, “Is this additive value or just some more crap?” And the crap factor will, hopefully, make us work harder to do better for audiences who are increasingly immune to our virtual ad crap, more so when it’s physical ad crap.

We as consumers will likely find ourselves in a world where, in addition to all the images and messages we are bombarded with today, almost every physical object in public places are designed by somebody in order to make us feel, react, think and ultimately consume in a certain way. A likely reaction against this will be that we will not just close our ears with headphones, but also our eyes to shield our fragile and adaptive minds against all these intrusions.

brucesterling: 1993 A.D. Just 20 years of development…...

Wed, 01 May 2013 09:55:58 +0200

brucesterling:

1993 A.D.

Just 20 years of development… And it is just not another new technology but an almost fully diffused tool for the masses.

How To Get Around The Peak Car Conundrum BY DR. PETER GRAF AND...

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 12:16:00 +0200

How To Get Around The Peak Car Conundrum
BY DR. PETER GRAF AND GIL PEREZ, fastcoexist.com

We have tons of cars—and tons of congestion. But new breakthroughs in connecting cars to the cloud (and eliminating the need for car ownership) show what a better future for cars might look like.

By all accounts, the global automotive indus…

The talk about Peak Car is picking up speed. Maybe the discussion in itself will enforce the phenomenon further…mo

Humans’ indelible stamp on Earth clear 5000 years ago -...

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 09:25:22 +0200

Humans’ indelible stamp on Earth clear 5000 years ago - environment - 29 April 2013 - New Scientist

When did humans stamp our footprint on the planet? The idea that we have entered a geological epoch defined by our very presence – the Anthropocene – is gaining traction, but exactly when did this epoch begin? After the first atom bomb went off? At the start of the industrial revolution in the mid-18th century? Or was it a lot earlier? A new study argues that the Anthropocene began with the rise of farming or even in Neolithic times, when we took to widespread burning of the bush to hunt animals.

"Ownership might be getting replaced with membership, or revised to mean membership. In the..."

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 08:36:50 +0200

“Ownership might be getting replaced with membership, or revised to mean membership. In the not-distant future, maybe we’ll belong to dozens of “exchange communities” or bartering networks of varying levels of exclusivity. The largest barter network in the Maryland-DC area, Barter Systems Inc., has over 1400 members. Members can barter a mailing list management service for stress management or maid services.”

- Things Aren’t What They Used to Be: Is Ownership Passé? | Harpy’s Review | Big Think (via futuristgerd)