Researcher Dean kamen was recently interviewed at the All Things D conference concerning his new “Luke” robotic arm (Yes, that’s Luke as in Luke Skywalker.) This new revolutionary arm can do a lot more than what all current prosthetic arms can do right now. I invite you to check it out in the following video. The possibilities this new thing offers to disabled people are truly mind-blowing.
By Mark O’Neill
Being a classical music fan, I am excited at the thought that there may be the chance of some previously unknown musical works of Mozart being found at a monastery in Poland.
Musicologists there are reviewing various musical scores to determine if they do indeed belong to the genius Austrian composer. Some of the scores have already been dismissed as being “misattributions” (is that a polite word for “fakes”?) but there are nine others that are still being looked at.
I live in the German city of Würzburg which holds an acclaimed annual Mozart music festival in the summer, attended by thousands of international visitors. If indeed lost Mozart works are found in Poland, this will set the festival alight. It’ll be standing room only with no tickets to spare – and I will be stampeding to the front.
By Mark O’Neill
The Canadian Space Agency is looking for worthy candidates to join up as astronauts and blast off into space for them. Interested? Well, here’s the job description :
“Astronaut trainees will train for tours of duty on the International Space Station (ISS), the largest human spacecraft ever built.
Astronauts are involved in robotic operations using the Canadian remote manipulator system and regularly perform inside or outside maintenance tasks of the ISS. Therefore, astronauts are required to possess a detailed knowledge of the ISS systems, as well as a detailed knowledge of the operational characteristics of their missions, their requirements and objectives, and all supporting systems and equipment for each experiment on their assigned missions. During space missions, astronauts may also conduct experiment operations or act as subjects in physiological experiments.
Long-duration missions aboard the ISS generally last from three to six months. Training for long-duration missions is very arduous and takes two to three years. This follows basic training of about one year. This training requires extensive travelling, and includes assimilation of the ISS assembly sequence and its on-orbit operations. Travel to and from the ISS will be by Space Shuttle until its retirement in 2010. Following the Shuttle retirement, all trips to and from the ISS will be aboard the Russian Soyuz vehicle.”
Wow! But before you get all excited and start shaving your head to look like Bruce Willis in Armageddon, you need to be a Canadian citizen or a resident of Canada in order to be eligible for the position. No, not you Kiltak. We need you to run this blog! Get back here!
By Mark O’Neill
It’s not often that I read anything by Robert Scoble. It’s not that I dislike the man or anything. I’m sure he’s a very pleasant guy. It’s just that his output is so staggeringly huge that I can’t keep up with him! Reading his Twitter feed for example is like trying to push back an avalanche with your bare hands. I sometimes wonder how he manages to fit a day job in between all his social networking.
But one of his blog posts caught my eye last night and once I started reading it, I just couldn’t stop because it addresses a problem most of us have these days. The post starts off with a letter that Mr Scoble received from a man who said to him :
“It seems to me that all these things — Twitter, Facebook, iPhone, Flickr — are a thundering bore and an utter waste of time.
I don’t have any of it — for that matter, I don’t own a Blackberry, iPod, wireless laptop, or even a cell phone — and I get along fine without them.”
And basically he wanted Mr Scoble to explain why they were so great, why he got so excited about it all and why they were so relevant in today’s world.
I have exactly the same problem and I’m sure you do too. You go to your parents, elderly relatives, non-tech friends and you start chatting about computers, the iPhone, the latest Apple product, and their eyes glaze over with utter indifference. They then start to ask you why you get so excited about something so pointless.
Mr Scoble’s answer is a quite long and sometimes rambling one but it mostly hits the mark. Do you agree with it? Or would you have answered the letter differently?
By Mark O’Neill
Researchers on the Danish island of Funen have successfully managed to extract authentic DNA from the 1000 year old skeletons of Vikings.
According to Science News, they will be able to use this DNA to answer questions such as “the origin of genetic diseases, migration patterns of our forefathers and tribal and family patterns.”
But this has led to the inevitable jokes on many forums and blogs, especially Slashdot, about cloned Viking warriors and theme parks (Richard Attenborough saying “Welcome to Nordic Park!”).
While it is unlikely that we are going to see Hagar walking around the streets anytime soon, it’ll nevertheless be very interesting to see what results come out of these DNA sequences and what we learn from them. I for one will be keeping a close eye on it.
Designed by Jonathan Sabine and Adam Pickard, the “ninja tacks” may look deadly in appearance, but they’re only elaborate thumbtacks in reality. Too bad these things are only conceptual for now as they might have come in handy as intimidation devices.
By JR Raphael
Contributing Writer, [GAS]
Japanese researchers have come up with another cool way to keep you cool.
The same guys who brought us the USB Air-Conditioned Shirt have now developed a seat cushion that can keep you comfy down below. Kuchofuku’s new Suzukaze Air-Conditioned Cushion brings delight to your derriere with a fan-powered blast of air that, evidently, “dissipat[es] the heat and moisture accumulated around the buttocks.” Now that’s a winning slogan if I’ve ever heard one.
This half-pound gadget is also quite energy-efficient. Its low-power fan, according to company estimates, will only hike up your electric bill by five cents a month — and that’s with eight hours a day of use.
I’d love to be a fly on the wall during the marketing meetings for this thing.
You wouldn’t want to be left behind would you? Watch this video and become a master of the Internet today!
By JR Raphael
Contributing Writer, [GAS]
A NASA employee is off the job because of what he posted on his blog.
Federal Computer Week reports the man — a worker at Johnson Space Center in Houston — made posts soliciting donations and campaigning for political candidates on company time. He’s also accused of sending non-work-related emails while on the clock.
NASA has suspended him without pay for 180 days, according to FCW. They say his actions violated the Hatch Act, a policy that governs political activity of government-funded employees.
This serves as a reminder for us all: The things you type on a work computer are not private. Just last week, a study by research agency ProofPoint found 41 percent of all large American companies have staff members in place to monitor outgoing messages. Half of those staffers have no other responsibilities outside of watching what you do. And it’s not just the big corporations playing big brother, either; about 30 percent of all companies, small or large, admit to the same.
Some other interesting numbers from the report:
Yikes. Guess I’ll have to switch over to oggling co-workers instead of internet babes. That’s still allowed, right?
By Mark O’Neill
I’ve been listening to the pros and cons recently about whether video comments should be inserted into blogs. I honestly can’t make my mind up whether or not it’s a good idea. Mashable and Techcrunch have both started doing it, but the general consensus across the web is that video comments are a bad idea and will end up becoming a short-lived fad.
Here are four pros and four cons regarding video comments, just off the top of my head :
Pros :
Cons :
What do you think about video blog comments? Can you think of another pro or con?
If GAS suddenly decided to introduce video commenting, would it make you more or less inclined to comment on the blog? Would you personally leave a video comment or is the whole thing just a silly fad?