Quarreling parents, an annoying kid, and a lovable robot make this short film a fun trip into the near future. Who hasn’t wanted a robot playmate of their own? Blinky is no Robbie, but at least he tries. Check the 12 minute movie out for a treat. Be sure to go full screen and turn on HD if your connection can handle it.
—Edit— The original video was taken down for quite some time, but is back!
I have been interested nanotechnology, or nanoscience as this video refers to it, for a very long time. If you have heard about nanotech, but haven’t seen any visuals, I highly recommend this video. It touches on properties at the nano scale both in nature and how we are developing our own new materials. They also touch on the development of nano machines. What worries me is for nanotech to become useful, they will probably have to develop self-replicating machines.
In one of my reviews a few years ago for The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson, he writes about Matter Compilers, usually referred to as an M.C. for short. That’s great right? We can just make whatever we want, any time we want! There are also little battles between autonomous nanobots called mites that break out. If I remember correctly, these massive battles on the nano scale result in a type of dust that pollutes the air and causes respiratory problems. That’s no good! There is a little excerpt on Google books that doesn’t really have any spoilers. It begins on the end of page 59 through page 61. Click through this link for the full text.
I can certainly see something like what Stephenson describes happening within our lifetimes. What do you think?
I can’t tell you how sad I was when George Lucas said that the original theatrical versions of the Star Wars Trilogy would never be released on DVD. This statement was the only reason I purchased the SE DVD box set. I figured I could ignore most of the stupid changes that were made. Low and behold George Lucas changed his mind and decided to release it this year. I was ready to buy them until I realized it would only be released as a “Bonus” disk to the Re-Release of the SE DVDs. Not only would I have to re-purchase DVDs I already owned, I would be getting a sub-par Laserdisc transfer that was only 4×3 Letterboxed (non-anamorphic). I personally hate the SE version. I thought Lucas had lost his mind when he took away Han Solo shooting first and removing my favorite Ewok song just to name a few things. There was no way in hell I was going to buy those again just to get the bonus disks. Luckily, I noticed Netflix was offering them as rentals so I popped them in my queue and did a visual comparison and was surprised by the results. I didn’t really compare the audio. (more…)
A few years ago, the Science Channel aired an episode of SciFi Science, “How to Build a Lightsaber” hosted by theoretical physicist Dr. Michio Kaku. He explained some theories that might be used and developed a rough design that should be “workable in our lifetimes.” Of course almost all of his episodes end up with that qualification. Last month it looks like there was a breakthrough in the hardest part of making a lightsaber work, getting the blade to stop at a certain point.
Although the most prominent uses for controlling the depth of laser cutting are surgical and clinical, Fraser said the team is “very excited about the potential industrial applications,” especially since compared to clinics it’s easier to get new technology into industries.
Unfortunately, the goal is to make the lasers useful surgery, not chopping off alien arms at cantinas.
The little robot had broken home syndrome, that’s sad!
heh. finally got around to watching this. nice.