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Boston company launches spy drone that can fly indefinitely
Boston company CyPhy Works has just launched the commercial version of the Persistent Aerial Reconnaissance and Communications (PARC) drone, which can stay up in the air for however long you want it to. The military's been using it to monitor its compounds for quite a while now, but the $22 million the company raised in an investment round enabled it to manufacture the product for commercial release. PARC can fly up to 500 feet, and it never has to land thanks to a microfilament attached to it that can transmit both power and data.
Weird and amazing Macs that aren't exactly Macs
If you haven't heard of the upcoming 1984-2014 Maciversary, well either you aren't paying attention or perhaps you have an actual life. Us? We've been going back and forth talking about this thing for the last month. And one of our most contentious issues involves what exactly counts as a Mac. Some systems are obviously Macs. This? This is a Mac. It's a happy Mac! This? This is not a Mac. It's an Apple II. And while many laypersons might not be able to differentiate between a Mac and an Apple II ("Most people now don't know the difference between an Apple and a Mac. Maybe the people reading our site, yes, but not an actual layman.") we can state for certain that this is completely and utterly not a Mac. This is a Macquarium, a phrase coined by Andy Ihnatko. It is not a Mac, although it is compatible with Objective Sea Life. This, on the other hand is basically a Mac. It's an Apple Lisa, the personal computer that preceded the Macintosh. In fact, the ultimate Lisa was sold as the Macintosh XL. The Lisa offered many of the same user interface features as the Mac and was targeted toward business users. This too, is basically a Mac.It's a Xerox Alto, designed at Xerox PARC and dates back to the early 1970s. It used a mouse-driven GUI-based system, and more or less inspired Apple Co-founder Steve Jobs during a site tour. It provided many of the same look and feel strengths that later showed up on the Mac. This is also basically a Mac. It is a NeXT cube. You don't see a screen in this image from Wikipedia, but if it were connected, you'd recognize a lot of the OS. That's because the NeXT basically ran OS X. It only took a bit over a decade for that technology to return to Apple after Jobs went on a quick run out to pick up some nacho chips and started a brand-new company before returning to Apple with orange fingers and the beginnings of OS X. While he was gone, someone at Apple built this. It's not a Mac. It's not even close to being a Mac. But eventually it inspired people who got around to shoving Mac's OS X operating system onto the iPhone (which, too, is a Mac). This is, of course, not to be confused with these, which are also Newtons but which offer far less computational efficiency. Certainly, this is not an exhaustive list of what is and is not a Mac. There were Power Computing Macs, Hackintoshes, retro bubble Macs, extremely beige Mac IIs and many, many more. All of them properly Macs. Today, we own our impossibly thin MacBook Airs, our super powerful Retina Pros and our beloved Mac minis. Here's looking forward to the next 30 years of Mac. Do you have any strong opinions on what is and is not a Mac? Share them in the comments. All images are courtesy of Wikipedia.
Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center founder Jacob Goldman passes away at age 90
Jacob Goldman, the man who helped found the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) as Xerox's chief scientist in 1970, has passed away at age 90. PARC holds a special place in gadget lore, as it was responsible for creating Alto, the first modern computer with a GUI and a mouse, the first WYSIWYG text editor, and Ethernet, among many other innovations. Prior to his time at Xerox, Dr. Goldman was the head of R&D at Ford Motor Company, and after retiring, he served on the boards of several companies, including Xerox. The New York Times reported that Goldman created PARC to research "the architecture of information" -- and the fruits of PARC's labor listed above show that he's made an immeasurable and lasting contribution to the computing world, and consequently, life as we know it. Godspeed, Dr. Goldman, and thanks for everything. [Image credit: PARC]
ThinFilm and PARC demo printable, organic CMOS circuit, inch us closer to an 'internet of things'
ThinFilm and the legendary PARC (of mouse and GUI fame) announced they have produced a working prototype of a printable circuit that incorporated organic, rewritable memory and transistors. The resulting integrated circuits are essentially CMOS "chips" that can be printed on large rolls at extremely low cost. The most obvious application of the technology is in NFC chips, but the small price and size could find the printable circuits turning up as everything from price tags to freshness sensors on food packaging. Sure, the idea of an "internet of things" sounds a bit cheesy, but there's no denying the allure of a world where practically everything is "smart." Check out the full PR after the break for a few more details.
Malcom Gladwell discusses Steve Jobs with NPR
If you missed Malcolm Gladwell's article, Creation Myth: Xerox PARC, Apple, and the Truth about Innovation, in the May 16 issue of The New Yorker, then you should tune into a recent episode of NPR's All Things Considered. In this seven-minute interview, Gladwell talks about Steve Jobs and his now legendary visit to Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center in the late 70s. As the story goes, Jobs visited the research center and saw a demonstration of Xerox's $300 three-button computer mouse. Inspired by what he saw, Jobs brought the concept to industrial designer Dean Hovey. Hovey improved upon the concept and developed a single-button mouse that cost a mere $15 to build. This mouse became the center point of a new graphical user interface similar to one demoed at Xerox. This hardware and software eventually evolved into the now iconic Macintosh. Unlike many who accuse Jobs of stealing the idea from Xerox, Gladwell distinguishes between invention and innovation. Xerox may have been the inventor, but Apple was the innovator and ran with the concept.
The WoW Factor, page 2
Correct answer: d – older men Men are 4 times as likely as women to gender-bend in WoW. The older a male player is, the more likely they are to gender-bend.
The WoW Factor: How much do you know about the players behind the avatars?
How much do you think you know about your fellow WoW gamers? WoW Insider brings you this exclusive quiz designed by MMORPG researcher Nick Yee, based on actual U.S. data from the PARC PlayOn 2.0 study linking player survey data with their armory data. Think you know what players are really like? Come find out what your WoW Factor is. (Answers and conclusions following the quiz.) 1. The average age of WoW players is: a. 18 b. 24 c. 30 d. 36 2. Which of these groups of players is most likely to be gender-bending? a. younger women (<30) b. older women (>30) c. younger men (<30) d. older men (> 30)
15 Minutes of Fame: Researcher Nick Yee digs into the numbers, people behind WoW
From Hollywood celebrities to the guy next door, millions of people have made World of Warcraft a part of their lives. How do you play WoW? We're giving each approach its own 15 Minutes of Fame. If you're into research about the World of Warcraft and the world of MMORPGs, the name Nick Yee will be instantly recognizable. A research scientist at the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), Yee is well known in WoW circles for his work on The Daedalus Project, an online survey of MMORPG players that's yielded profiles of gamers and the gaming life that are ripe for the picking. Despite a powerhouse academic background, Yee's no ivory tower recluse. He's an active WoW player who relishes the happy intersection of game time as background for work time. And while his Daedalus Project has been "in hibernation" for some time now, Yee's been working on a new study for PARC. We'll chat with Yee about his work after the break -- plus test your knowledge of your fellow WoW players in a special quiz he's prepared especially for WoW Insider readers spotlighting findings from his new MMORPG research.
Gnome Rogue with Pink Mohawk wants your data
Nick Yee from the Daedalus Project is now looking for data for a new project he's working on with the Palo Alto Research Center. Now, PARC is a pretty big name in computing, and Nick Yee is justly known for his long running work on the Daedalus Project, so the idea that a group with PARC's resources is studying WoW and other MMO's using someone as knowledgeable as Mr. Yee is very interesting all told. The idea of trying to 'predict who people are just from the way they behave in a virtual world ' and my own personal curiosity for whether nor not they'll run into a certain Mr. Gabriel's GIFT (warning, there is a swearword behind that link) has me decidedly curious. The full text of the press release will be behind the cut for those interested.
Xerox shows off "erasable paper," hopes to make it available next year
The folks at Xerox has been working on their "erasable paper" idea for some time now, but it looks like they've been making some real progress as of late, with them now even going so far as to say that they hope to have an actual product available sometime next year. The paper itself, however, appears to still use the same basic technology they've been working on all along -- namely, a coating of photosensitive chemicals that turn white when hit by ultraviolet light or react to product text when scanned specific wavelength of light. The text can then be erased on command by feeding it through a special printer, or left to disappear on its own over a period of 24 hours. On the downside, the paper is apparently useless if it's been folded or wrinkled, or written on with a pen. No word on an expected price for the paper or printer just yet, unfortunately, but Xerox seems to be betting that the savings in paper (and consequential environmental benefits) will be enough to offset whatever premium they'll likely cost.[Via The Inquirer, image courtesy of Xerox / Greig Reekie]
The Daedalus Project tracks MUD
Actually, it tracks MMOs, but what a clever title, huh? The Daedalus Project is the demographic/analysis website created and maintained by Nick Yee, a graduate student of Stanford University in the field of Communications who now works at the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC). Nick's site is noteworthy both for the online surveys of MMO players that are open to anyone who wants to participate, and also for the conclusions he draws based on those survey results.This statistical data has been used by Washington Post, CBS, TechWeek, CNET, the Associated Press, Nature.com, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal, among other publications. Nick always has a survey or two running, so if you're interested in contributing your experiences and thoughts to the collective (and growing) body of knowledge concerning MMOs, you can do so at the 'Current Surveys' section of his site.For those of us interested in metadata, The Daedalus Project is a genuine boon, and we hope he continues his necessary and groundbreaking work well into the future. [Thanks, Nick!]
Making Virtual Worlds More Lifelike
Researchers at PARC have spent the past three years studying the social aspects of MMO's, and have come to some interesting conclusions. In their minds, making the games better places to socialize and interact with others could mean an improved bottom line for the game developers - even though they may not realize it. From the article: "When faced with the decision, 'Do I put in another dungeon or do I improve the experience for (groups of players)?'" said Ducheneaut, publishers often say "'I'll put in another dungeon.' I think that's incredibly shortsighted."So what do you think - do these researchers have a point, or do you prefer the development cycle as it is?
