Gaming takes on a Second Life

By Gillian Armstrong

The rise of games such as Sims allowed computer gamers a new form of interaction – the virtual world where players live somewhat vicariously through the characters they manipulate. The next step in the virtual development? The Avatar, of course.

The term avatar in a virtual was first popularized in a 1992 novel by Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash. The literal translation of this Sanskrit word is “descent” and originates in Hindu theology to describe the bodily form of a god, but the word now commonly refers to any online character which relates to a human individual.

The virtual world of Second Life allows the player to create his/her own personal avatar to very specific characteristics. Players can choose everything from hair colour to occupation and can quite literally re-invent themselves. Other players then connect online and the avatars interact with each other within the virtual world, whether it be to date, to conduct business or even to enter the Swedish consulate. However, Second Life is not the only virtual world and others have sprung up all over the place. An example is The Church of Fools which allows users to log into the virtual world of worship, whisper to other parishioners (except during services) and pray. Users will be disppointed to hear that Church Wardens now have the power to “smite the wicked” and log them out of the virtual church.

It seems the avatar model is extending itself into gaming as well. Sim’s creator Will Wright and Microsoft’s XBox team head, J. Allard, are of the opinion that computer games of the future will incorporate far more input from the gamer himself. Spore, the newest Multiplatform “God game” to be released by Wright, allows the player to be any part of the gaming experience and does not limit him only to the role of the protagonist. Players develop their species from the cellular to the space phase and have control over the design of the planets they inhabit and the direction in which the game flows. The creations can then be uploaded to company, and are available for download by other players. According to Allard, the gaming industry is looking at developing a “Wikipedia model” or, in other words, an open-source model in the field of game development. This open-ended gameplay policy will dramatically affect the nature of gaming and transfer a greater balance of power to the side of the individual.

bigeyeddeer@yahoo.co.uk

Bots give Oldies a Helping Hand

By Sarah Jane Scott

It is common knowledge that Japan has one of the highest life expectancies in the world, a negative birth rate and a blossoming population of short, grey-haired people. This happens to be a key driver in Japans enormously lucrative robotic industry, which is churning out various robots called ‘care technology’.

Research has shown that elderly people need technology that can help them in their day-to-day lives, instead of pet robots like the Sony AIBO robotic dog. Last year, according to industry figures, the ‘care technology’ market was worth some $1.08 billion.

With a breakdown of family ties, senior citizens in Japan are not receiving traditional care provided by children and grandchildren, and this is where ‘care technology’ steps in.

Recently, the ‘power assist suit’ was demonstrated by Hiroi Tsukui from Kanagawa Institute of Technology. The suit is targeted at nursing homes and hospitals and, similar to the Hybrid Assistive Limb ‘The Hal’ created by Yoshiyuki Sankai, the suit makes it easier for caregivers to lift elderly people in and out of beds and wheelchairs.

The suits take 10 minutes to put on, weighs thirty kilos and bears a remarkable resemblance to Robocop. Once they are on, because of air pumped in to the suit, it does not feel heavier then a regular backpack and the person wearing it can pick up anything as heavy as 100 kilos.

Tokyo University of Science is currently developing this ‘robot suit’ concept into a ‘muscle suit’ which can be worn by the elderly themselves. The ‘muscle suit’ has artificial muscles made of elastic rubber and nylon and air pumps for arms. Powered by air pressure actuators the prototype suit looks like an oversized life jacket and is designed to give old people control over their own lives instead of relying on caregivers or their children. Associate professor at the university, Hiroshi Kobayashi, has however admitted that the suit, which weighs four kilos, still needs improvement before it is safe and accessible to elderly people.

Numerous other products have been designed to brighten up senior citizens so called ‘golden years’.

A wheelchair designed by TAO Aicle from Fujitsu Ltd. and Aisin Seiki Co. is able to travel to a preset destination automatically, using sensors to avoid obstacles and to stop at red lights.

Toyota Motor Corp.’s Welcab series owns the slogan ‘A car that’s more patient than your daughter’. Various easy-entry cars have been designed for people who have difficulty walking or are wheelchair bound.

Secom Co.’s ‘My Spoon’ feeding robot enables granny’s and grandpa’s to be electronically fed by a spoon and fork-fitted swiveling arm.

‘It’s all about empowering people to help themselves,’ developer Shigehisa Kobayashi, said. The robots are priced at $3.500 and over 300 have already been sold. ‘My Spoon’ is controlled by a joystick which can be operated by a person’s chin. At a home care and rehabilitation convention in Tokyo last week, Kobayashi demonstrated how easy it is to manoeuvre the electronic arm towards a piece of tofu, break a bite-size piece with the fork, and to return to a position in front of the mouth.

It is estimated that by 2050 nearly half of Japans population will be over the age of 65.

(Satirical Disclaimer) A recent demonstration of Fujatsu’s latest ‘care robot’ this week, in Tokyo, spurred a spate of concerns. Developed by Hiroi Nagasawa, the ‘wipe grannies bum’ robot is powered by water and uses air pressure to pivot a wheel attached to an electronic arm. Tskuka Ndwana, a member of the project, demonstrated how safe and uncomplicated the robot is to use. ‘It doesn’t feel like a robot’ he said ‘this feels so comfortable,bigeyeddeer and very human.’

Bionic Made Better

Engineers develop a mind-controlled prosthetic arm dexterous enough to play piano

by Marc Dey

Learning to live without a limb is an extremely daunting challenge. Many of us take the awesome tools that are our arms for granted, but without them even the most mundane tasks become struggle. For the longest time artificial limbs have served little purpose, other then astecticly faking an arm. However now there is an exciting alternative to the old prostectics: a bionic arm.

Prompted by the fact that hundreds of US veterans of the Iraq war have lost a limb, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or Darpa, has launched a $55-million project. The project consisted of a number prosthetics experts whose goal was to create a thought-controlled bionic arm that duplicates the functions of a natural limb.

These experts first developed Proto 1, which could bend at the elbow, rotate its wrist and shoulder, and open and close its fingers. Compared to most other prosthetics this was a huge leap forward.

The team has just finished Proto 2, a thought-controlled mechanical arm, complete with a hand and articulated fingers, that can perform 25 joint motions. The shoulder and wrist are capable of roll, pitch and yaw, the elbow can flex, and the fingers and thumbs bend at each knuckle. Each joint brings together two lightweight artificial bones made of carbon fiber and aluminum alloys.This type of dexterity closely resembles that of a real arm, which can make 30 motions. A person wearing a Proto 2 has enough dexterity that they could conceivably play the piano.

The bionic arm works with injectible myoelectric sensors (IMES) that detect muscle activity and wirelessly transmit commands to the prosthetic arm. A wire coil wrapped over the shoulder supplies wireless power to the implants and relays signals to computers in the arm that decipher the commands and tell the arm to move. The team eventually plan to implant electrodes directly on the nerves, or in the brain itself, to achieve more natural neural control.

Obviously a robotic device would need some form of power source, however many of our current sources would be rather impracticle and heavy. Researchers are experimenting with a hydrogen-peroxide pneumatic system to replace bulky, slow electric motors. The hydrogen peroxide reacts with an iridium catalyst to drive the arm's movements. The wearer would have to install a fresh hydrogen-peroxide canister each morning.

The bionic arm is not ready yeat and the team still have some work to do. The next steps are to shrink the battery, develop more-efficient motors, and refine the bulky electrodes used to read electrical signals in muscles. The final version of the hand will apparently be able to sense pressure, temperature and differences in the surfaces of objects.

If all goes well, by 2009, the agency will petition the Food and Drug Administration to put the arm through clinical trials.

bigeyeddeer@yahoo.co.uk

Will E.T. be phoning us back?

Gillian Armstrong

The search for extraterristrial existence is one that has fascinated humans for years. Television programs like The Outer Limits, The X-Files and The Twilight Zone capitalised on the human desire to disocver and embrace the unexplained phenomena which ply our universe.

Paul G Allen, a founder member of Microsoft and the major investor in the Allen Astonomy Telescope, is making it cheap and possible for the search to continue. The Allen telescope consists of 350 antennae, each of which are about 20 feet in diameter. The radio antennae are then combined as if they were all one dish, and will allow the scientists to cost-effectively and efficiently monitor and map huge areas of the galaxy.

Early predictions envision that the telescope should be able to recieve information from almost 500 light years away and include almost a million stars. Considering there are around 200 billion stars in the galaxy, and a large number of them have planets, estimates as to the number of intelligent civilizations range from one (or in my discouraged view of humanity, none) into millions. It is hoped that this will greatly increase the potential to search for answers to the question of extraterristial life, and is the first telescope of its kind specifically designed for extraterristrial quest.

The idea for the dish was formulated some 12 years ago at the Radio Astonomy Laboratory at the University of California. It uses inexpensive satellite dish technology and combines elements of digital signal processing and radio astonomy. Rather than merely being a receptor for alien communication, the telescope will also provide invaluable research possibilities in the field of satellite transmission and digital communication. Although only 42 of the antennae are in operation today, even the partial operation of the telescope is of ground-breaking technology.

Dr Blitz, who is the director of the laboratory, claims that the telescope is already as fast and far more inexpensive to run than many other of the existing telescopes. Because of the speed that the various antennae provide information, it will be possible to recieve the radio waves created when black holes collide, and the vast range of space that the antennae can search will allow researchers to study the areas of gas in the galaxy devoid of stars (or ‘dark galaxies’).

It may yet be possible to determine intelligent life somewhere in the galaxy...

bigeyeddeer@yahoo.co.uk

Bridging the Digital Divide

By Lucy Heavens

Access to technology is very limited for many people in this land of many tongues, and to become computer literate is no easy task for speakers of minority languages. Hope comes in the form of Translate.org, a remarkable non-profit organisation that produces Free and Open Source software in the country’s eleven official languages. They are the also the developers of Pootle, an online tool for the translation of South African languages.

Translate.org are funded by, amongst others, the Shuttleworth Foundation, and many of the programmes provided on the translate.org website are those used in the Open Source Ubuntu operating system created by Mark Shuttleworth.

This includes the Mozilla Firefox, Mozilla Thunderbird, and the OpenOffice suite - complete with word processor and programmes for spreadsheets, multimedia presentations and drawing. All free to download in your South African language of choice.

Translate.org is actively involved in spreading awareness of the importance of mother tongue in learning and technology. It has been well established that when a child begins learning in his or her first language, that child is more likely to succeed academically, and is better able to learn additional languages. Studies have shown that learning in one’s mother tongue ensures a better fundamental understanding of the subject than those who learnt it in a second language.

South Africa has been slow to implement the country’s constitutionally enshrined policies of mother tongue education, yet for children to be enabled to become computer literate in their mother tongue is to significantly increase their chances in life.

Translate.org’s other valuable products for learning and work are the freely downloadable DejaVu font, and the South African keyboard, on sale for R150. Many South African languages, when written, include a host of symbols and icons that are unique in the world. This means that many languages cannot be correctly typed on a computer with regular fonts and keyboards. Translate.org's keyboard means any language from Venda to Afrikaans can, for the first time, be accurately typed.

The Afrikaans spell checker is another popular product. Spell checkers in all South African languages can be downloaded, but are not yet actively promoted, as they are not fully functioning. Nguni languages are highly conjunctive, with many words linking to create one word. With all the possible permutations, it becomes exceptionally difficult to create full word lists. They rely on volunteer translators to continually expand and enrich their services.

Recently Translate.org were recipients of the prestigious African ICT Achiever Award for "Top civil society/NGO to bridge the digital divide in Africa" for their work in breaking down the language barrier.

bigeyeddeer@yahoo.co.uk

Bioshock Review

This week we are going to be looking at Rapture, Bioshock, and female involvement in games. The latter is motivated by the weak female stereotype I came across in the game "Lost planet, Extreme Conditions". Which, after playing Bioshock, sucks even more.

I recently read a blog on a game called Imagine: Babyz. (yes, the spelling is intentional) This game is a range brought to us by Ubisoft. It aims to crack the young female market. That market being - get this - fashion, shopping, babies and animals. All the things woman care about, except cooking and cleaning, but these are more of a given, I assume. Who is responsible for this continued stereotyping? Are the woman working in these projects alright with this? The blog does enter into this dimension and the resounding answer is; No! Yet somehow, these products still remain convincingly male. I only wish to raise this in hopes that one day when I have kids, they will be able to play games where male and female characters are better research. Where the idea that boys like; guns, boobs and war. Girls like; shopping, fashion and little things they can control, will not be a valid thought, where games will have leading characters who are strong leaders regardless. Convincing and conscientious. Then again, in this world, the English would probably be able to play rugby and rule the globe. The blog can be viewed at: "http://www.wonderlandblog.com/wonderland/2007/10/ubisofts-imagin.html" Do yourself a favor and read it. Except for the silly part about race.


So, back to ruling the world. Bioshock. It is, to put it easily for those of us who lose focus quickly; Awesome. I loved it. From the beginning to the very end. The cut scenes are few and very far between, but this does not matter. The game is filled of dialog, be it recordings found lying around that tell you of what went wrong, or utopian propaganda spewing out of the 60's looking tellies. The information is bountiful.


And so is the graphics, Oh! what joy, the game has a superb engine. Running on the Unreal engine, it is rather downgradeable. I could run it smoothly on my average machine, with it reminding me at parts of shots from Myst, with vast detailed scenes. However, even these become rough and hard when compared to Bioshock on full graphics. I'm not saying that it looks bad, I don't actually think it can look bad. It only looks less like a Van Gogh and more like a later life Goya. The graphics and the concept is surreal.


Its a city, called Rapture, built under the sea, designed and lead by a man called, Andrew Ryan. He is constantly talking on the televisions and radio stations. Telling you to look out for groups that are fighting against the dream that is Rapture. We enter the scene via a plane crash, and our 'guide' is a friendly Irish sounding bloke who asks us to kindly help him find his family who are trapped in the war ridden city. The story that unfolds is captivating and brilliant. There are many religious and political, all be it old school communism and capitalism, being the everlasting rivals they where in the 1960's and Rapture being as the name implies, an escape from a world riddled with political insecurity. The plot has a great twist and the last battle is epic


After playing the game you realize that "There are many ways to kill splicer". (A splicer is one of the many enemies you have to face). And that is one of the best parts of this game. Throw Tom Clancy's; Splinter Cell and Doom together and you get Bioshock. A game that allows you to work around your enemy by turning the environment against him, or running in, guns a blazing. This is greatly allowed by the fact that genetic modification has been allowed to develop without restraint. Through this you develop 'passive' skills that increase your skills, these are called Tonics. There are different categories here; fighting, shooting and solving tonics. The fighting tonics makes you stronger, faster and more armored, the shooting; increases damage and so forth, lastly, the solving is a part I found very refreshing: Think back ten year maby even more. There was a game called pipes mania, 1989. It was a legend. This has been incorporated into the 'hacking' part of the game. 'Hacking' is the solving part. This means that when you come across a turret or a camera, you can either shoot the hell out of it, or shoot it with an electric current and hack it. Thus, turning it to your side. Here the tonics slow the flow of the water through the pipes, or makes it easier to pick a safe. There are many different tonics, but you can only chose two or three per section.


Being genetically altered also allows you one more ability, you have 'powers' instead of the normal lightning magic or fire magic one finds in a RPG, you now have Plasmids. Making your once defined options of hand grenade or rocket launcher much larger. You can throw lightning, fire, ice or 'bombs' that make your enemies turn against their own. One can jump between guns and plasmids by right clicking, making combos possible. For example, shooting a lightning bolt stuns the enemy, you can then run up to him and beat him with the ever present wrench or open fire without threat of retaliation. There is a rather expansive list of plasmids to chose from. In total there is more than 70 different tonics and plasmids. Plasmids use your Eve, which needs to be gathered in a similar fashion one would gather bullets.


Lastly, the weapons. They are amazing, with each one having three different types of bullets, and then being upgradeable on two counts, damage and speed. The range is true to a FPS, with your shotgun and grenade launcher close at hand. There are unbelievably many ways to approach the game. And this is not even discussing the fact that you have to gather Atom from 'little sisters' who are protected by 'Big brothers'. Atom is the tool used to control the society, it is the energy all of Rapture is run on. And remember: "He who holds the Atom controls Rapture".


Bioshock is truly one of the best games of 2007: The concept is sound and entertaining, the graphics beautiful, the music addictive, and the product flawless. All I'm concerned about is how long it will take for the song, 'momma loves mambo, papa love mambo..' to get out of my head...

Forced and Controlled Capitalism

Daniel Malherbe


The right to speak, the courage to do so. None can talk of South Africa without confronting the dark history of hidden words, spoken in silence, words that broke down the walls racial segregation. It is with these words that the world has started revolts, flamed passion and soothed insanity.


Such words where uttered by few, and of South African speakers need not a word be said. The focus seems rather to have fallen on the Americans, again. The capitalist, consumers are once again faced to reckon with the the constitutionally protected freedom poets such as Allen Ginsberg seem to need. The freedom that is free to those who wish to exploit, but hide the passionate under the covers.


Allen Ginsberg wrote a poem called; Howl. It can be heard via live streaming, or download, from this site: http://www.archive.org/details/naropa_anne_waldman_and_allen_ginsberg. His poetry is inspired, or rather on par with, the Beats generation of 50's America. This piece discusses the consumerist capitalist America of the 50's and, yet, it is still very applicable to modern day America.


The reason I mention him is to inform you, my humble reader, of the fact that once again America is intervening. In the 50's the poem, Howl, had to pass through the judiciary system in order for it to be branded as suitable for children to read. This battle being won, makes one wonder why the FCC have threatened to fine any station that plays it.


According to Boingboing.net "WBAI program director Bernard White fears that the FCC will fine the station $325,000 for every one of Ginsberg's dirty-word bombs. If each Pacifica station that aired the poem - and possibly repeated it - were to be fined for airing "Howl," it could mean millions of dollars in fines."


Has the freedom of the West come so far only to allow so little. Fortunately: "Pacifica's attorney for FCC issues, John Crigler, thinks airing "Howl" would be "a great test case" in the current environment."


This makes one wonder as to what liberty truly is when it is constantly being monitored and controlled by government. Leaving us with the sound of Ginsberg's opening lines hollowly echoing in our ears:

"I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked,"


bigeyeddeer

electric Happiness - Deep Brain Stimulation

By Lucy Heavens


In 1948 Maurice Rapport of the Cleveland Clinic discovered an important neurotransmitter and named it serotonin. Since then we have been searching for ways to reproduce this 'happiness', from 'mothers little helper' to electroconvulsive therapy. Now sixty years later, at that same Cleveland Clinic, astonishing advancements are being made in treatment of depression. An electrode in your brain to make you happy.


Researchers noticed that neural activity in parts of the brain correlate with symptoms of sadness and depression. Consequently, the Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) implant was created. The implant consists of three components; the electrode placed in the brain, a generator implanted beneath the collarbone, and a lead placed under the skin to connect them. Electric impulses are sent from the generator to the stimulator to interrupt neural activity at the target site. Because it is a permanent device, the DBS has been called the 'brain pacemaker'.


First a titanium halo is bolted to the skull so that doctors can image the brain with minimal movement. Two coin-size holes are then drilled in the skull, and the implants, wires similar to fishing line, are inserted through the holes. Because so few pain receptors are located in the brain, only local anesthetic is needed and patients are awake during the procedure.


As electric currents are activated, four out of six patients report a feeling a black cloud lifting, a desire to smile, faces become brighter and they become more alert and interested in their environment. The changes are reversed when the current is switched off. After surgery current levels can be controlled remotely by a doctor.


Researchers have reported that electrical stimulation of the frontal cortex brings about a "striking and sustained remission" in patients suffering from clinical depression, whose symptoms had previously been resistant to medication, psychotherapy and electroconvulsive therapy.


Clinical depression is notoriously difficult to handle. Many do not respond to drugs or develop resistance to them. ECT (electroconvulsive therapy) can be very effective, but now DBS implants make it possible to direct a lesser electric current more accurately into the brain.


Throughout the past ten years the implant has been used to combat traumatic brain injuries a host of movement disorders such as Parkinson's. But now FDA (Food and Drug Administration) tests in the US are underway to approve its use with clinically depressed patients.

Kiddy Tech

Three of this years coolest tech-toys for kids.

By Lucy Heavens


These days the phrase 'tech toys' means gadgets for grownups, but sometimes they really are just toys, you know, for children. Toys designed to stimulate little imaginations are using some of the world's most advanced technology, and here are some of this year's funnest toys-of-the-future for tots to teens;

All parents have stories of crayon-covered walls or tabletops smeared with fingerpaint. To combat this scourge, Philips is introducing the Drag and Draw. With this toy the entire home becomes a canvas. The magic brush, eraser and bucket emit a kind of semi-permanent light allow children to 'paint' on any surface without permanent damage. This way your child can unleash their inner graffiti artist without any mess. Philips describes how Drag and Draw works as 'magic'. Perhaps long explanations are not necessary when your target market is 3 years old.


Should you want something more challenging try the Lego Factory. At legofactory.com children design their own Lego models using a simple 3-D graphics program downloaded to their computers. The design is submitted and the custom kit sent to your home. The possible combinations really are endless with a variety of 763 bricks. It encourages engineering skills and promotes creativity. Another benefit is that you are only charged for the pieces you actually use.


The Pièce de résistance of this year's kid-gadgetry however, has to be the next generation Fly Fusion 'pentop' computer. Fly – the pen of the future, has the potential to revolutionise the way kids learn and organise their school lives. Fly was invented in the US by a large, multi-disciplinary team of content designers, hardware and software engineers.


When used on 'Fly Paper', everything you write is automatically captured and digitized using pattern decoding technology. You can then have the pen speak it back to you or upload it to your PC and convert your notes to text.


There are several 'circle-codes' for activating applications. For example, write 'M' and circle it, and the pen then switches to menu-mode whereas a 'C' activates calculator-mode. The pen then interacts with the application. So you actually draw a calculator and tap '7' 'x' '8', and the pen's speaker would then say 'seven times eight equals fifty-six'.


Applications available for the pen include a translator, spellcheck, scheduler, games, mp3 player, and a host of homework tools; test yourself on history or get help with a quadratic equation. Don't have a piano at home? Just draw the keyboard and play! You can even draw buttons that change the instrument sound.

OLED

Ultra-skinny Televisions


We seem to live in a global society that is obsessed with thinness. The thinner the better when it comes to crisps, cellphones and even people. And now our obsession with thinness has turned to the television.


Sony plans to release its new television, which is not only ultra thin but also brighter and crisper than current generation screens, in December.


This new TV screen in a mere 3mm thick and uses organic light-emitting diodes (OLED) to produce the image. OLED screens not only make it possible to have almost paper thin screens, they have a number of other benefits. OLED screens are apparently more energy efficient than LCD panels as they do not need a backlight to boost brightness. OLED screens are also brighter than LCD panels and have better contrast ratio - resulting in sharper and clearer pictures. Different organic materials produce different colours and are combined to produce a colour display


The diodes emit a brilliant white light when attached to an electricity supply and are also being developed for use as replacements to traditional light bulbs.

As great as this new technology is, it has some drawbacks. Firstly, the OLED TV has a lifespan of only about 30,000 hours of viewing - half that of Sony's LCD televisions. It is also difficult and expensive to make large screens using the technology. Sony's first OLED TV costs £850 and has an 11in display.


Sony views this new television as a sign of its returning strength as a technology innovator. Sony president Ryoji Chubachi stated at a news conference at its Tokyo headquarters, "I want this world's first OLED TV to be the symbol of the revival of Sony's technological prowess. I want this to be the flag under which we charge forward to turn the fortunes around.


Other firms are also working on OLED screens - Samsung has shown off a 40-inch TV using the technology - but Sony is the first to market.


"I don't think OLED TVs will replace LCD TVs overnight. But I do believe this is a type of technology with very high potential, something that will come after LCD TVs," said Sony executive deputy president Katsumi Ihara.


This fancy new and skinny TV goes on sale in Japan on 1 December. However there are no plans for a global launch as yet, so for those of us who live on the tip of Africa, we will probably have some time to wait before we can bring these sexy, skinny models home.

Pic To Game

Oliver Rodger

Pic To Game, the service that allows users to create their own Flash games, has launched its first Facebook application, a game called, I Kick You, available on http://www.mashable.com/

The application combines Flash technology and the social networking aspects of Facebook to allow you create a game in three steps. Install it, pick the friend you want to kick, adjust the image, and get to kicking.

Once you pick a friend, you can invite them to see you kick them in real time, or they can look at your results afterwards.
This could, of course, result in some retaliatory kicking or major relationship breakdowns, but its all good. An item will also appear in your newsfeed each time you create a game. Pic To Game has had more than 60 000 games created, and 10 000 000 widget views in the past three months

Elon Musk - Heading For The Stars

When Elon Musk - the South African-born founder of PayPal, Space-X and Tesla Motors says that "this is the greatest thing we can do for science, engineering and maths", you know he is talking about something world-changing. What you might not expect, however, is that the world-changing takes place a few thousand kilometres from our home planet.

The subject of his praise is the Google Lunar X Prize, a follow up to the hugely successful X Prizes which have inspired countless teams from the private sector to compete to solve feats which governments appear incapable of surmounting. The $10m Ansari X Prize, in which 26 teams from seven countries competed to fly a reusable spacecraft 100 kilometres above the Earth, spawned a number of high profile success stories, such as Musk's own Falcon-X rockets, and Paul Allen's SpaceShipOne, which went on to become the Virgin Galactic design.

However, this time round there is both more money to play for, and a more audacious goal to complete. The aim of the contest is to encourage privately funded teams to compete to be the first team to successfully land a robotic rover on the moon, have it travel a distance of 500 metres, and beam back images from its travels back to Earth.

James Cameron, who was present (via videophone) at the launch and is a major patron of the project, summed up the excitement surrounding the event; "We're going back to the moon not because of a massive government programme... This is Moon 2.0 with private industry... kick-starting the future of space exploration," Cameron said.

There are time constraints, too, for the budding lunar explorers. While the prize purse of $20 Million may seem enormous, the goal of getting to the moon, and completing the tasks in time is an massive one. The main prize falls to $15 Million after December 2012, so there is an enormous hurry to complete the task in time and get as much as possible from the Prize Purse. Especially since the competition closes in 2014. By then, if no one has managed to achieve the goals of the contest, all contestants will walk away empty-handed.

But, what is more important to the founders and funders of the prize is the effect that they will have on those who won't even compete. From Larry Page of Google, to Peter Diamandis, chairman and chief executive of the X Prize Foundation, the non-profit prize-generating group behind the contest, all believe that the most important function of the event is to encourage kids to become more interested in the fields of science, engineering and mathematics.

As Diamandis himself explains; "The Google Lunar X Prize calls on entrepreneurs, engineers and visionaries from around the world to return us to the lunar surface and explore this environment for the benefit of all humanity... Having Google fund the purse and title the competition punctuates our desire for breakthrough approaches and global participation. We look forward to bringing the historic private space race into every home and classroom."


by Sebastian Stent

Crowd Farms

Gillian Armstrong


For years now it has been a well-established fact that science-fiction writers from earlier this century have been scarily accurate at their predications of futuristic technological societies (think 1984 or Brave New World). Well, it seems another writer got it spot on. William Gibson's 1984 cyber-punk novel, Neuromancer, both the inspiration for The Matrix, and the first recorded mention of the term "cyberspace", also spoke of a dehumanising dystopian world dominated by cheap technology and the biomedical engineering techniques whereby human energy is harnessed to produce electricity.


MIT graduate students who were awarded their first place honours at the Holcim Foundation's Sustainable Construction competition have discovered a similar source of renewable energy – the constant flow of human activity throughout busy terminals. Termed "Crowd Farms", a responsive sub-flooring structure would be installed beneath train station platforms or sidewalks. As human footsteps place pressure on the blocks which form the basis of the system, they slip against each other and generate power as an electric current. Dr Zhong Lin Wang from the Georgia Institute of Technology has also released a prototype nanogenerator which harvests the mechanical energy from a range of sources, including human movement and ultrasonic waves.


The nanogenerator is made up of tiny little wires (or nanostructures) and uses the unique properties of zinc oxide, namely that it is both a semi-conductor and produces electricity when stress is applied. When these structures are influenced by the harvested mechanical energy, they release a tiny amount of charge. Not so impressive, but the combined effect of thousands of these nanostructures produces an electric current. If this device was in the sole of your running shoes while on the treadmill, you could power your laptop and watch Dune. These structures set in motion to harvest our most renewable energy source may very well be the answer to an imminent worldwide energy crisis.


As long as the technology relies on the principle of movement and not humans placed in pods like The Matrix, these guys are on the right track.


http://www.familycourtchronicles.com/philosophy/matrix/matrix-pod.jpg

Concept Gadget.

I wake up in the morning, normally. No, that is a lie. I wake up on the day I went to sleep in, normally. And that habit has me in a routine that is outside of the eight to fiver's category. Don't get me wrong I am not complaining! I love it. It is however, rather annoying not being able to tell my flat mates to buy milk, The Cape Times, or any other necessity.

That is exactly why this little gadget is: Legend. I know that my flat mates, being a splendid mix of people, find toast a very binding breakfast munch. I know that based on the enormous amount of bread we seem to eat.

So what this gadget offers me is, wait for it, writing them a note that will go on the toast. (Tada) Making it impossible for them not to find my note. And making it likely for me to wake up knowing that I have what I need. Well, unless its toast, naturally ...

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ttp://www.yankodesign.com/index.php/2007/09/06/honey-i-left-it-on-the-toast/

Tissue Culture Living Leather

Tissue culture research comes up with 'living leather'

by Lucy Heavens

In one of the more bizarre unions of art and science, Oron Catts and his team at the Tissue Culture and Art Project (TC&A) have created the victimless leather jacket from a living layer of tissue grown in a stitchless coat shape.

It is just 5cm high, but this "semi-living" fashion item raises all sorts of questions in the debate of the ethics of tissue culture.

The TC&A was set up to explore the use of tissue technologies as a medium for artistic expression, and the team see their work in a cultural context, not a commercial one.

SymbioticA: The Art and Science Collaborative Research Laboratory at the University of Western Australia, is the first research laboratory of its kind, in that it enables artists to engage in scientific research and development projects.

The tissue used for the coat is formed by 3T3 mouse cells and human bone cells. The 3T3 cells come from what are known as immortalised cell-lines; cells that can multiply indefinitely after being removed from the animal - in effect, a renewable resource.

3T3 cells are extremely common in scientific research. At present, all the 3T3 cells in the world could be weighed in tens of tons, though they all came from one original mouse in the 1970s.

This semi-living material is supported by a biodegradable polymer scaffold fashioned in the desired shape (in this case a miniature coat shape). It is then seeded with the appropriate cells and immersed in a solution rich with nutrients.

It is grown inside a specially designed bioreactor that acts as a surrogate body. Once the polymer skeleton degrades, a whole jacket that maintains its shape is left behind.

As opposed to most modern conceptual art that looks at the border between technology and the human body, this project is about the seamless interaction between the natural and the synthetic, the living and the non-living.

We are at the early stages of a biological revolution.

Biotechnology is enabling us to design and construct life at its most fundamental level.

For the TC&A, the possibility of wearing "leather" without killing an animal is the starting point for discussion. Imagine a world in which the culture of production does not rely on manufacturing or harvesting, but growing.

Can consumers ever be more comfortable wearing semi-living leather than the skin removed from an animal?

The TC&A is exploring these concepts through technology and art. Other projects include the "Extra Ear" and "Disembodied Cuisine," a laboratory-grown steak experimenting with the potential for victimless meat consumption. - bigeyeddeer @yahoo.co.uk

Tissue Culture Living Leather

Tissue culture research comes up with 'living leather'

by Lucy Heavens

In one of the more bizarre unions of art and science, Oron Catts and his team at the Tissue Culture and Art Project (TC&A) have created the victimless leather jacket from a living layer of tissue grown in a stitchless coat shape.

It is just 5cm high, but this "semi-living" fashion item raises all sorts of questions in the debate of the ethics of tissue culture.

The TC&A was set up to explore the use of tissue technologies as a medium for artistic expression, and the team see their work in a cultural context, not a commercial one.

SymbioticA: The Art and Science Collaborative Research Laboratory at the University of Western Australia, is the first research laboratory of its kind, in that it enables artists to engage in scientific research and development projects.

The tissue used for the coat is formed by 3T3 mouse cells and human bone cells. The 3T3 cells come from what are known as immortalised cell-lines; cells that can multiply indefinitely after being removed from the animal - in effect, a renewable resource.

3T3 cells are extremely common in scientific research. At present, all the 3T3 cells in the world could be weighed in tens of tons, though they all came from one original mouse in the 1970s.

This semi-living material is supported by a biodegradable polymer scaffold fashioned in the desired shape (in this case a miniature coat shape). It is then seeded with the appropriate cells and immersed in a solution rich with nutrients.

It is grown inside a specially designed bioreactor that acts as a surrogate body. Once the polymer skeleton degrades, a whole jacket that maintains its shape is left behind.

As opposed to most modern conceptual art that looks at the border between technology and the human body, this project is about the seamless interaction between the natural and the synthetic, the living and the non-living.

We are at the early stages of a biological revolution.

Biotechnology is enabling us to design and construct life at its most fundamental level.

For the TC&A, the possibility of wearing "leather" without killing an animal is the starting point for discussion. Imagine a world in which the culture of production does not rely on manufacturing or harvesting, but growing.

Can consumers ever be more comfortable wearing semi-living leather than the skin removed from an animal?

The TC&A is exploring these concepts through technology and art. Other projects include the "Extra Ear" and "Disembodied Cuisine," a laboratory-grown steak experimenting with the potential for victimless meat consumption. - bigeyeddeer @yahoo.co.uk

Apple's new iMac range a top high-end desktop

Apple's new iMac range a top high-end desktop


Regardt Voges

With the launch of Apple's newest iMac range, it has improved what could arguably be one of the most complete and attractive desktops on the market, with its elegant design and powerful processing core.

Apple has decided to drop the 17-inch model from its line-up and now only offers a 20-inch and 24-inch configuration. The retail-store configuration of the 24-inch iMac comes with a 2.4-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7700 processor, 1GB of memory, a 320GB Serial ATA drive, ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro graphics with 256MB of GDDR3 memory, and a slot-loading SuperDrive DVD burner.

Customers can upgrade the basic configuration online and the 24-inch iMac can carry up to 1TB of storage, 4GB of memory, and a 2.8-GHz Core 2 Extreme processor.

The iMac comes standard with gigabit Ethernet capabilities, Air- port Extreme 802.11n wireless networking, Bluetooth 2.0 and an infra-red remote control receiver.

Apple has decided to up the iMac design a notch and drop its white polycarbonate plastic shell for a sleek anodised aluminium chassis. The screen is covered in glossy glass and surrounded by a black bezel. The look is more in tune with high- end systems such as the aluminium PowerMac and Macbook Pro.

Apple has redesigned its white plastic keyboard and now offers a thin anodized aluminium keyboard with ample spacing between keys and a new array of shortcuts. The keyboard also hosts two USB 2.0 ports and offers up to 500mA of power for external devices.

Apple - famous for its high-end displays - hasn't let consumers down with its 24-inch iMac model which has a staggering resolution of 1 920 by 1 200. This, combined with the glossy glass cover, improves image contrast and sharpness. The glass is also treated to be antireflective and scratch resistant.

Although the new iMac range doesn't come standard with next generation Blu-Ray Disc drives, it can still decode high-definition streams used by Blu-Ray Discs, meaning that a third party upgrade should be possible.

The system comes with Firewire 400 and 800 support, which can host faster data transfers between external drives and the computer.

The new iMacs also include integrated 5.1 channel audio support with optical digital line in and line out and a 24-watt digital amplifier.

The new iMacs also come standard with iLife '08, which gives you the latest software for editing photos, video, music and more. - bigeyeddeer@gmail.com

Tech Times - Future Greenhouses - By Regardt Voges

Futuristic skyscraper greenhouses
July 03, 2007 Edition 1

Regardt Voges

Imagine a 20-storey glass covered skyscraper in the heart of the city, not filled with offices and business executives, but rather filled with beds of fruits and vegetables.

And instead of designer office furniture, it has designer irrigation systems. A building that doesn't drain our weak energy grid, but rather produces its own clean electricity and even purifies our waste water.

A building that could feed thousands and be completely self-sustainable.

It seems like a utopian dream, but according to Dr Dickson Despommier, professor of microbiology at Columbia University, it is a very viable alternative to traditional farming.

Taking into account that the Earth's population is growing at a very rapid rate and that more farmland is needed every day to feed everyone, the future of traditional farming is anything but clear.

Earth's population is expected to reach 9 billion people in 50 years and there just won't be enough land left for farming. That's why Despommier and his team started looking at new kinds of farms.

Their idea started with a traditional greenhouse, but soon grew into a skyscraper made of titanium oxide-plated glass, giant solar panels, hydroponic irrigation systems and an abundant variety of crops.

A vertical farm can be placed in an urban centre, cutting the need for excessive transport and allowing farmland to be returned to natural forests.

Abandoning the use of fossil fuels and leaving no carbon footprint, the potential advantages of a vertical farm quickly become obvious.

There can be year-round organic crop production in the controlled environment.

Waste water from the city can be used and purified into drinking water.

Agricultural run-off and the use of toxic pesticides will be eliminated. And there will be a constant supply of delicious, fresh produce.

Social benefits of vertical farming include the creation of a sustainable urban environment, which encourages good health for those who live there, and provides an abundant supply of clean air and drinking water.

New employment opportunities will arise and, because of high land costs, vertical farms are most likely to be built in poorer parts of the city, where they will also be most beneficial.

Unfortunately, the vertical farm as Despommier sees it is still just an idea, albeit a very feasible one. We can only look forward to the day when all cities will be self-sustainable and nature can reclaim the farmland we borrowed.

See www.verticalfarm.com for more information on this innovative approach to agriculture. - bigeyeddeer@ yahoo.co.uk

Tech Times - The Future is Facebook - By Sebastian Stent

Facebook - the fastest growing internet tool
July 17, 2007 Edition 1

Sebastian Stent

Facebook. You might have heard of it, unless you've been languishing in some remote forest. It's an online social networking tool developed by a smart young lad called Mark Zuckerberg.

It was created in 2004 from his Harvard dorm room, and was designed to bring students together. Its place on university campuses, as well as the fact that it required your real name and e-mail address to log on, bred a culture of honesty and integrity, which has made Facebook the fastest growing tool of its kind in the world today - the sixth most trafficked site in United States.

While Myspace receives about 57 million US visitors a month and Facebook only 14 million, Facebook is growing three times as fast as the Rupert Murdoch-owned Myspace and should soon eclipse it in terms of both members and use.

While its roots are on campuses, its appeal has spread, especially since it opened its doors to non-campus members last year.

Now there are about 24 million members worldwide, with an astonishing 140 000 new sign ups a day.

What sets it apart from its competitors is its focus on connections - as it is not just the people you know as "friends", but your connections through groups and networks. This has been jumped on by advertisers, who see it as the perfect place to sell, as information is so quickly and efficiently disseminated.

Many thought Zuckerberg would sell out, but his control on the program he started seems unlikely to wane. Last year, he signed a deal with Microsoft, which is now brokering advertising on the site, for a sum many expect to top $100 million a year.

However, what really makes the new Facebook exciting is the Facebook Platform, which was recently released and announced at a briefing entitled "F8" (fate?).

Here Zuckenburg explained the future of Facebook, as a kind of online, open source internet operating system, from which applications from hundreds of other developers could be accessed and used.

In this way, the producers of the programs are able to exponentially increase their customer base, mere-ly using Facebook as the conduit with which to reach their audience.

At the same time, Facebook does not charge these companies for its service, leaving it up to the software designers to popularise their products and thus reap the rewards.

As we step into the age of Web 2.0 - a user-enabled open source internet in which everyone is welcome and ideas are free - it will be interesting to watch the growth of this phenomenon, and how it impacts on our lives in the not too distant future. - bigeyeddeer@yahoo.co.uk

Tech times - HAL suit

July 10, 2007 Edition 1

Sebastian Stent

We have all dreamt of having superhuman strength and being able to lift massive objects with the greatest of ease. This dream is now a reality thanks to some amazing work at the Tsukuba University of Japan, where the HAL bodysuit has been developed.

The Japanese have long been obsessed with robots - from the very first appearance of AstroBoy - and have been working towards robotic-assisted suits for many years.

While there are a number of commercially available artificially intelligent robots, the HAL bodysuit is the first technology to combine robotic elements with an able-bodied human user.

The name, for everyone who has watched 2001: A Space Odyssey, is unfortunate. In the film HAL was the on-board computer which went crazy, killing off the crew.

However, HAL is an acronym for Hybrid Assistive Limb suit, which does exactly what it says.

Powered by a 100-volt battery attached to the waist, the suit senses any movement of the wearer then translates it into equal movements in the bionic exoskeleton, so that the wearer can move normally, but do extraordinary things with the actions they perform.

The sensors are located across all extremities and so any movement, no matter how small, is immediately turned into movement in the suit. This means the suit's responses are not active but reactive, making the consequences of each action relative to the effort put in by the wearer.

The HAL suit has been rigorously tested, including on a trip up Mont Blanc in the French Alps, where two climbers wearing HAL suits carried two disabled people up the mountain - one being carried on the back of a HAL user and the other being dragged up on a sled.

Now the HAL is entering active service and being rented out in Japan. For manual work, the HAL is unsurpassed - a body-worn forklift truck that means the workers can move much more fluidly and shift heavy objects in a confined space.

And if you want a HAL? The HAL 5 is commercially available and can be bought for as little as 1 500 000 yen, which is about R84 900. - bigeyeddeer@yahoo.co.uk

Tech Times - Clever Car

Clever way to get around town
July 03, 2007 Edition 1

Sebastian Stent

The Clever Car is a breakthrough in automotive design, and a radical rethink of the way in which personal transport should both look and function.

The Clever (Compact Low Emission Vehicle for Urban Transport) project was a collaboration between nine Eropean Union countries.

The project was co-ordinated by Heiko Johannsen of the Technical University of Berlin, who oversaw the design and construction of the vehicle.

Alongside him was award-winning designer Peter Naumann, who drew on a number of different sources to create the unique look of the Clever vehicle, which is both practical and visually arresting.

As the name implies, the Clever is a city vehicle, both fun to drive and economical. It is made with two rear wheels and a single front wheel, with the passenger compartment tilting in much the same way as a motorbike.

It has enough space for two passengers in the enclosed cockpit, and its single cylinder 213cc engine is capable of taking it from 0-60km/h in less than seven seconds.

A priority during design was how it would be powered. The team focused on renewable energy sources, and created a unique CNG (compressed natural gas) refuelling system, which will probably become a more successful commercial tool than the vehicle itself, especially with the rapid growth of interest in alternative fuel sources.

Costing approximately R80 000, the car reaches a top speed of about 90km/h. The car is 3 metres long, less than a metre wide and 1.4m tall, allowing it to squeeze through the traffic and into any parking space with ease.

Because of its low weight, the car is capable of an incredible carbon efficiency of only 60g/km, and has a range of more than 200km.

Safety is also a focus on the vehicle, with a unique chassis that protects the occupants, and a hydraulic tilting array to allow amazing stability when cornering at high speeds.

Whether or not this breakthrough vehicle will ever reach our shores is entirely up to South African entrepeneurs.

What is for sure, however, is that it is just one of many new technologies re-inventing the way we travel, and it is only the will of manufacturers and distributors that is keeping the future vehicles from our door. - bigeyeddeer@yahoo.co.uk

Tech Times - This delicious slice of Apple lives up to all expectations - by Sebastian Stent

This delicious slice of Apple lives up to all expectations


July 10, 2007 Edition 1
Sebastian Stent

Last week I got a phone call from Bonnie Schneider, a Capetonian who lives in New York. She had some interesting news - her fiancé, Benjamin Rouah, had just bought an iPhone, and they were both in town. Did I want a go? Have a go on possibly the first iPhone on the continent? What a proposition. Of course …
My interest piqued, it was with bated breath that I awaited their arrival. Would the iPhone live up to expectations? And was it really that hard to get?
Rouah was quick to dispel the rumours. Apparently, although the AT&T stores sold out enormously quickly, and there was queueing at the Apple stores, Rouah only had to wait an hour or so to get his hands on one, and not the three days parked on a kerb that many of us believed was de rigeur for those intent on purchasing one.
Schneider was unimpressed by the hype and had tried to dissuade Rouah from being sucked in.
As they stood in a lift, she had commented that all the fuss was a prime example of everything that was wrong with America. A fellow lift-traveller had told her to go back where she came from then. It's funny, but Americans really do defend their right to spend rabidly.
However, Benjamin got to the front of the queue and was quite surprised to be able to buy his iPhone with relative ease. He hasn't looked back since.
As he went through its functions, it was amazing to see the way in which all of the functions of the iPhone are so intuitive to use.
Every application is laid out on a central menu, and the interaction between these different functions make it almost appear as if the iPhone is thinking for you.
Rouah gave me an example. One day, travelling on a subway, he was listening to his music using the iPod function.
The volume dimmed and the phone rang, alerting him to the fact that he had an incoming call. Just touching the tiny bar on the headphones linked him to the call.
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It was Schneider - calling to tell him to meet her at a restaurant in Manhattan. She rang off, the music returned to its previous volume and with a simple touch of the screen Rouah was in the Google Maps application. Merely typing in the name of the restaurant brought up its location, and by spreading his fingers across the screen, he was able to zoom in and see exactly where it was, where he was and exactly how to get there. Simple.
The phone has a number of great utilities. YouTube works so fast it is hard to believe that it is streaming, with no buffering or waiting around.
Web pages appear as they do on a computer and you can zoom in and out with a flick of your fingers.
SMSes are revolutionised and a conversation plays out in speech-bubble boxes, showing who said what in a clear and accessible way.
Then there is the iPod, whose display is like a three-dimensional jukebox, allowing you to rotate through your albums by their cover and then access songs therein immediately, compiling your playlists in a visually arresting and simple way.
Finally, Rouah showed me the shareprice function. While this was cool, the coolest thing about it came when he pulled up the Apple stocks.
A jump of $13 dollars since the iPhones release? Now that's the true power of Apple - building hype to such great heights that their shares skyrocket. An investor's dream.
This couple had come back to South Africa to visit Schneider parents and Rouah had been given strict instructions to make sure that this time he came with a ring.
Maybe the Schneiders were about to introduce Mr Rouah to the South African concept of lobola. Not so much a ring, as ring, ring …
bigeyeddeer@yahoo.co.uk