the-future
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Storyboard: Prophetic
Not every game is well suited to prophecies. Star Trek Online doesn't lend itself to vague pronouncements regarding the future, for example. Other games, such as The Secret World, seem to sustain themselves almost entirely upon prophetic vagueness, whether that's regarding mystical secrets or your bank statement for the month. And in a world filled with prophecy, it's tempting to have characters start joining in on the fun and prognosticate the future themselves. It works in books, movies, and games, after all. Of course, the thing is that a book, movie, or game is written before the fact. You can easily write a prophecy that lines up perfectly with something far down the road because you know what happens far down the road. Roleplaying, on the other hand, is not happening with a script, which means that your guesses about the future feel less like prophecy and more like someone randomly stabbing in the dark and hoping to hit something. (So more like actual prognostication.) So how do you make prophecies that don't fall apart when life happens? Here are some tips, naturally.
Windows support will last forever (almost), thank you Microsoft!
Just when you needed one more reason to carry on loving Windows Vista, Microsoft has gone and increased its customer support period. An extension has also been granted to Windows 7, which will get a full ten years of support instead of the usual five. There's been no announcement or fanfare, except for a brief communication from Microsoft Japan that sets out the new end dates. XP's support will stop in 2014, Vista's will shut down in 2017 and Windows 7's will come to a close in post-apocalyptic 2020, at which point call center staff will no doubt throw a party on Europa. [Thanks, Abhishikt] [Happy elderly couple photo via Shutterstock.]
The Anvil of Crom: Musings on MMO mortality
Most of you are probably aware that Star Wars Galaxies announced its impending closure recently. As I booted up Age of Conan for my daily faction runs and tossed around some ideas for this week's column, I couldn't help but return to the fact that the MMO space is going to be that much dumber on December 16th. What does SWG have to do with The Anvil of Crom? Admittedly not much, unless you count the fact that AoC was the first of many games I migrated to when taking extended breaks from SWG beginning in 2008. The game's demise did get me to thinking on MMOs as a whole though, and of course Funcom's fantasy title in particular. While it may seem like an obvious conclusion in some respects, the fact that MMO players are ultimately no more than renters living on borrowed time was a sobering thought.
Late mid-week shocker: young adults get their 'news' from the 'net, not from television
In what is undoubtedly a shocking and groundbreaking revelation, the Pew Research Center has conducted a recent study which has caused it to conclude that young adults now get their news predominantly from the internet, rather than from television (and even less from ham radio). According to the study, which the center seems to have been conducting yearly for a while now, 67 percent of adults under 30 said in 2010 that the 'net was their primary source of news, up from 34 percent in 2007. Curiously, respondents could choose up to two 'main' news sources, so 52 percent report that television is a main news source in 2010, down from 68 percent in 2007. While none of this probably comes as any surprise to any of you, our readers, it does tend to explain that strange and ever-growing tendency we've noticed in our friends of talking about things like Groupon, Facebook, and some meme some webpage made up to sell something as if they were talking about actual news.
Computer wins at Japanese Chess against human for the first time
The humans vs. computers battle just got a little more complicated, if you're keeping score. The Mainichi Daily News is reporting that for the first time ever, a computer has beaten a human Shogi champion, Ichiyo Shimizu, in Tokyo. The game lasted six hours, and the computer reportedly pursued Shimizu "aggressively" from the start. The governing association of pro Shogi players will now review the game to determine whether it will allow the computer to move onto challenge another player.
Sofie surgical robot gives haptic feedback for a more humane touch
Surgical procedures assisted by robots are nothing new -- they can be more precise and less invasive -- and now it looks like a new upgrade could make them even better. The main drawback of a surgical robot is that the human surgeon performing the operation gets no tactile feedback, but that's not the case with Sofie. Sofie, a joystick controlled robot gives haptic feedback to the surgeon by adjusting the resistance the controls give to indicate how much pressure is being exerted, surely a welcome addition to bots of this kind. This robot is also more compact than many earlier bots of this kind, and its creators are now looking to bring it into production, with a goal of it coming to the market in about five years.
Dear Aunt TUAW: Burn baby burn
Dear Aunt TUAW, Is iTunes slowly encouraging the death of CDs? The burn icon at the bottom of the interface has disappeared as you can see in this screen shot. Concerned, Your nephew Sean
Boeing plans to add space tourism seats to its CST-100 flights by 2015
Boeing has announced plans to add space tourism to its CST-100 -- or Crew Space Transportation-100-- low orbit flights by 2015. Operated by a partnership with Space Adventures, the flights will be able to carry up to seven passengers about 62 miles above Earth's surface, and the craft are currently being developed with the help of NASA.The vehicles could also be used as a ferry to get people to and from the various space habitats companies are working away at. There's no word on what the pricing of one of these journeys will look like, but trust us: Jared Leto will be able to afford one, while you probably will not.
Microsoft Principal Researcher Bill Buxton: Surface will be in homes within three years
Microsoft's Principal Researcher recently sat down for a very long interview with The Globe and Mail. The next big thing in tech, he says, is something like Microsoft's already available (but super expensive) Surface. So what does the next version of the Surface look like? Well, it's going to be much thinner -- "no thicker than a sheet of glass," but most importantly, it will cost much much less. The man who helped design what ultimately became Surface says that soon enough, the cameras will be embedded within the device itself, making it a low-cost, in home product rather than the niche product it is today. Buxton also said in the interview that he thinks we'll begin seeing home implementation within the next three years. We sure hope that he's correct.
Electrolux Design Lab 2010 competition finalists: the future's so bright...
You're looking at the eight finalists (culled from the submissions of over 1,300) of the Electrolux Design Lab 2010 competition. If like us, you're really into kitchen tech, you're in luck: there's plenty to be had here, including the BioRobot refrigerator, the Elements Modular kitchen and the Dismount washer. It's enough to get us seriously excited for the future. Up next, the eight finalists will be narrowed down to just one winner, who will get a six-month long, paid interneship at Electrolux's global design center, plus a €5,000 prize (nearly $6,000). Below you can check out a video for the BioRobot refrigerator. Hit up the source link for videos of the other finalists.
Guess what Barnes & Noble Chairman Leonard Riggio doesn't use to read? A Nook
That's right, folks. Barnes & Noble, a company which -- according to its recent earnings -- is making pretty nice inroads into the digital book market, is headed up by a self-proclaimed Luddite. In a recent short profile in New York Magazine, Riggio admitted quite openly that he'd rather turn actual pages, and carry around actual books than use his Nook. While he believes that the convenience of the e-reader will trump most readers' attachment to the physical book, Riggio (in direct opposition to, say, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos) holds firm in the belief that brick and mortar stores will always exist for books, and says he's too busy, and too old, to adjust to the new format. In fact, he's reading a hardcover copy of Mustaine right now. Oh wait, that's... us.
Prototype of robot that develops emotions on interacting with humans officially complete
The first prototype of a Nao robot that can develop emotions as it interacts with a human caregiver has been completed. A team across Europe was led by Dr. Lola Cañamero of the University of Herefordshire in the UK to develop the bot, which differs in several significant ways from those that came before it. These robots develop over time in much the way that a child does, learning to interact with and respond to the human beings around them. Modeled after human and chimpanzee childhood development paths, they are programmed to be highly adaptable to the people around them, and to become attached to whatever person is most suited to its needs and 'personality' profile. Over time, the more they interact, the more they learn and bond to the human being. These little ones, moreover, are capable of expressing a wide range of emotions, including anger, frustration, fear and happiness. The next steps are to research the bots' emotional and non-linguistic behavior, and to move toward combining linguistic and non-linguistic communication to become further attached and adapted to them. Yes, we want one.
Computer Board coffee table blends the past with the future with charm and dignified elegance
We're not furniture experts by any means, but we're pretty sure your great Aunt Dottie's not going to be a fan of this one. The Computer Board Table is made from two tables, plus the modems, computers, and miscellaneous electronic goodies that make up its guts. The results of the project are quite beautiful. Hit the source for more photos.
Newfangled spacesuit unveiled in New York
It's not everyday that we hear a "new" spacesuit has been designed and created, but that's just what we're hearing now. Two inventors, Nikolay Moiseev from Moscow and Ted Southern of Brooklyn are about to unveil a new spacesuit design they've come up with in their venture, Final Frontier Design. The pair outed their new design in New York City on Friday at the Eyebeam Art and Technology Center. They'd previously won a $100,000 NASA challenge to design a spacesuit glove -- one which boasts unprecedented dexterity and flexibility at the knuckles, and they've taken that design and spun it into an entire suit. The pressurized suit was shown off with the wearer able to play with a Rubik's cube, and the suit has been designed to withstand extremely high levels of pressure, as well. While the designers don't yet have an investor, they're hoping to attract them -- such as private companies such as Virgin Galactic, who are launching space tourism ventures as we speak.
Beer-fetching robot promises to make your significant other obsolete
The thing about the future is this: we'll still have to do menial things like answer the door, or take out the trash, or get up off our couches to get our own brews after a long, hard day at the office... unless we're smart enough to invent robots to do such menial things, that is. Well, Willow Garage has spent some time building a "Beer Me" application for its PR2 robot which gets at least one of these tasks under its belt. They added a four-holed foam block placed behind the robot's navigation laser so that it can safely carry four bottles across the terrain, and equipped their refrigerator with a tilted "self-stocking" shelf. Check out its operation in the video below.
AQUA2 amphibious robot is super cute and fast, less annoying than most pets because it has no head
The AQUA2, built at McGill University in Montreal, is the first of its kind. You see, the AQUA2 is a robot that can both dive and swim in water, and move about on land. The amphibious bot can explore water up to 120 feet and is tethered to a remote control via ethernet or fiber optics. The 'headless' robot's flippers make it a pretty impressive swimmer, and it's also strikingly fast on even rough terrain. Check out the video after the break.
Tyrannos flying military car concept avoids road obstacles... by flying
The idea of a flying car is probably the most stereotypical emblem of "the future" anyone can possibly offer up -- but we never really tire of it regardless. Logi AeroSpace is the latest start up to revive those fantasies, and as you can see from the concept shot above, they're aiming high. Called the Tyrannos, the newest flying car to come on our radar is a four-wheeler that has four small rotary wings to get it off the ground. The car is designed to be road and air-friendly, meaning that it can take off from the road, avoiding obstacles in military situations, with a maximum height of around 1,000 feet, the car would seat four and ideally take almost no special training -- meaning you wouldn't have to be a pilot to drive / fly one. The company has pitched the idea to DARPA , where many military projects get their first breath of life, so we'll keep our eyes peeled for any developments on this one.
Researchers create functioning human lung on a microchip
Researchers at Harvard University have successfully created a functioning, respirating human 'lung' on a chip in a lab. Made using human and blood vessel cells and a microchip, the translucent lung is far simpler in terms of observation than traditional, actual human lungs (for obvious reasons), in a small convenient package about the size of a pencil eraser. The researchers have demonstrated its effectiveness and are now moving toward showing its ability to replicate gas exchange between lung cells and the bloodstream. Down the road a bit more, the team hopes to produce other organs on chips, and hook them all up to the already operational heart on a chip. And somewhere in the world, Margaret Atwood and her pigoons are rejoicing, right? Here's to the future. Video description of the device is below.
Electrolux Bio Robot Refrigerator: because you want to store your food in ectoplasm
Well, what do we have here? Oh, just an insane fridge concept that we can really get behind... because we want to store our food in green goo without using any electricity. The Bio Robot refrigerator works by cooling a biopolymer gel via luminescence. Food gets loaded into the gel, and the surface tension of the gel creates an individual pod for each piece added, meaning that nothing is touching anything else, and no odors transfer. The refrigerator itself would take up a lot less space than current models, and could apparently be stored horizontally, vertically, or in zero gravity conditions! So how close to reality is this thing? Sadly, probably not very. Hit up the source for more images of this kitchen beauty.
California considers electronic ads on license plates, we consider never moving there
Driving in California could get a little more annoying in the coming days. The Legislature of the state that brought you Brody Jenner and Spencer Pratt is now considering a bill which would allow the beginning of research into electronic license plates for vehicles. The new-fangled plates would look just like regular ones when a vehicle was in motion, but would flash awesome advertisements and other messages when stopped for more than four seconds. One San Francisco based startup, Smart Plate, is already hard at work on developing just such a device, but they're not in production yet. The measure is seen largely as a money making scheme for California, which -- like nearly everywhere else in the world -- is heavily in debt after several years of hard partying and irresponsible shopping trips. Parties interested in advertising on the plates would apparently contact the California DMV directly (then wait in line for 12 to 14 hours before submitting their preliminary application for ad space). If approved, the DMV will be required to submit its research and findings to the Legislature by January of 2013. Here's to the future!
