TECHNOLOGY
FrontPage Health Humor Men's Issues Science Technology The Triumph Of Technology Reith Lectures 2005 ... Lect 1 The Future Lect 2 Collaboration Lect 3 Innovation Lect 4 Nanotechnology Lect 5 Risk Each audio lecture is 25 min followed by 15 min discussion. Techlepathy On The Horizon? Several advances in communications technology and neuroscience are giving pause about the possibility of endowing us with techlepathy. ... it seems a veritable certainty that we are destined to become a species capable of mind-to-mind communication. George Dvorski - 6 min Busting the Biggest PC Myths The newer the microprocessor, the more susceptible it is to power spikes. True! ... If you use an aging computer without a surge protector, it may survive a spike. A newer PC, on the other hand, will fry. Gregg Keizer - 10 min Bioethics Talking to the bioethicists in Philadelphia in its wake, after having spent the previous weekend with angry, divided nanotechnologists in Washington, I had a growing realization that both communities are being forced to choose sides in the increasing biopolitical polarization between transhumanists and bioconservatives. James Hughes - 10 min Phishing Is Becoming More Sophisticated I don't know about you, but I get at least one email every few days that is supposedly from CitiBank or PayPal, or eBay, or Amazon,  ... the list goes on and on.  Scott Granneman - 8 min Fab Labs We'll be able to download a description of, say, a toaster -- perhaps one we designed ourselves -- to our computers, and then feed the designs and the raw materials into a personal fabricator. At the push of a button, almost like hitting "print," the machine will spit it out. Katharine Dunn - 5 min Egocasting The Machine itself controls everything. Vashti’s comfortable little cell, like millions of others, has everything she could ever possibly need: “There were buttons and switches everywhere—buttons to call for food, for music, for clothing. There was the hot-bath button.... There was the cold bath button. There was the button that produced literature, and there were of course the buttons by which she communicated with her friends.” Christine Rosen - 45 min Latest News BBC Tech Google Sci/Tech YahooTech USA News CNet News Geek Press Gizmodo   PCW News  PCW Reviews ZDNet News ZDNet Reviews PCMag News PCMag Reviews TechDirt Webwatch Wired UK News  Guardian Online  ZDNet News ZDNet Reviews News & Web Google Internet Linux Microsoft MSWindows Yahoo Sites Dell, UK Engadget IWantOneOfThose Columnists Rupert Goodwins Glenn H Reynolds PCWColumnists ZDNet Commentary Cameras Computers Electrical Goods Insurance Phones Satellite Radio	Modifying And Creating Life Can we create new life out of our digital universe?" asks Craig Venter. And his answer is, yes, and pretty soon. He walks the TED2008 audience through his latest research into "fourth-generation fuels" -- biologically created fuels with CO2 as their feedstock. His talk covers the details of creating brand-new chromosomes using digital technology, the reasons why we would want to do this, and the bioethics of synthetic life. Craig Venter - 32 min Letting Our Kids Be Creative Stanford professor Larry Lessig is one of our foremost authorities on copyright issues. In a time when “content” is not confined to a film canister, Lessig has a vision for reconciling creative freedom with marketplace competition. (Problems with player and using IE7? Then see here.)   The State of Software - Video Lecture By David Pogue David Pogue is the personal technology columnist for The New York Times, an Emmy award-winning tech correspondent for CBS News, and one of the world's bestselling how-to authors. In this unconventional talk, he offers a sweeping (and unusual) view on the state of software, partially set to music.  The Exponential Evolution Of Technology - Video Lecture By Ray Kurzweil Inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil illustrates the exponential evolution of technology, predicting a sharp rise in computing capability, robotics and life expectancy within the next 15 years.  What Does Technology Want? - Video Lecture By Kevin Kelly Kevin Kelly traces the remarkable similarities between the evolution of biology and technology, ultimately declaring technology the "7th kingdom of life." He poses an intriguing question: "What does technology want?" PC World's 25 Worst Tech Products - of all time! Cognitive Radio - and many other new and powerful emerging technologies Biological Terrorism Since the invasion of Iraq and the collapse of Saddam Hussein's biological-weapons threat, people have breathed easier about the threat of bioterrorism and biological warfare. But recent developments suggest that this relaxation is unwarranted. Indeed, there's considerable evidence that we should be much more afraid than we are, or have been. Glenn Reynolds Futurology History is littered with visions of the 21st Century that never came true. But big companies still employ futurologists to make radical predictions about the next few years. Spencer Kelly investigates how they come up with their visions of the future. Gadgets On The Way Imagine it. A fold-out futon with built in iPod dock and surround-sound speakers. Technological Dark Age Imminent We are fast approaching a new dark age. That, at least, is the conclusion of Jonathan Huebner, a physicist. He says the rate of technological innovation reached a peak a century ago and has been declining ever since. Robert Adler - 4 min Total Immersion Part of a lecture demonstrating a piece of software that can integrate virtual objects with real objects in real time. 6 min - requires Windows Media Player  You will never again be able to trust fully what you see on a video camera. Microsoft's AntiSpyware Program For XP This program will scan your entire computer and zap any and all adware. Just follow the instructions. Also, it will continue to run in the background and keep all adware at bay. It will update itself on its own. Meanwhile, you can remove any other anti-adware programs on your computer. None come anywhere near the functionality of this MS program. Jeffrey Tucker If Search Engines Could Read Your Mind What if a search engine knew exactly what you were thinking, and unerringly provided perfect search results? The idea is not as farfetched as it sounds. Chris Sherman Toilet Paper: A Short History For as long as I can remember, there’s been an ongoing conflict in my family regarding the complex moral issue of whether toilet paper (and paper towels) should be installed in a dispenser so that it rolls over or under. Joe Kissell Nanotechnology Molecular manufacturing will bring both great opportunities and great dangers. Nanocomputers will extend desktop computational power by a factor of a billion or more. Nanoscale sensors, computers, and tools will bring surgical control to the molecular level, enabling a revolution in medicine. Eric Drexler Technological and Scientific Creativity In our time, the word "creative" is most often applied to the arts. That's a mistake. More creativity is to be found in engineering and science than in the arts. Charley Reese Apple's New Tiger Apple's new version of its Mac OS X operating system, dubbed Tiger, is being touted as the world's "most advanced operating system". But does it deliver on its promise? Copyrighted Music On The Wane In the USA, free downloads of copyrighted music are driving the recording industry to sue teenagers and holler about the morality of obtaining songs for free. But if China is the future, that's all in vain. The genie is out of the bottle. Eventually, recorded music will no longer make money. Kevin Maney Smart Phones Like so many other smart-phone lovers, I find mine so valuable because of all the other things it does. The Nokia (NOK ) 3650 is a smart phone, loaded with features that would have strained credibility just a few years ago. Steve Rosenbush Smart Cars Europe's popular but money-losing Smart car is heading to the United States, where promoters hope it will follow in the tracks of the Mini Cooper and Toyota Prius and become the next automotive fad. John Gartner Water Clocks The simplest water clock design, known as an outflow water clock, was basically a stone or earthenware container with a small hole in the bottom and graduated markings on the inside. Joe Kissell Invasion of the Wind Farms Wind turbines are springing up in their thousands across Britain, industrialising some of Britain's best-loved landscapes. But do they work and do we really need them. Jonathan Leake - 5 min Businesses Wake Up To Blogging Think of the implications for businesses of getting an up-to-the-minute read on what the world is thinking. Already, studios are using blogs to see which movies are generating buzz. Advertisers are tracking responses to their campaigns. "I'm amazed people don't get it yet," says Jeff Weiner, Yahoo's senior vice-president who heads up search. "Never in the history of market research has there been a tool like this." Stephen Baker and Heather Green - 12 min Neverlate Alarm Clock This clock has 7 individual alarms; one for each day of the week. The 10 Hottest Gadgets From game-playing to cameras selected by CNet staff. All About Podcasting Blue believes podcasting is the perfect medium for people like her who want to distribute popular content that's illegal to broadcast. "Podcasts are private, anonymous, available, and archivable," she says. "And people don't have to sit by the radio to listen. They can save it for later, for car trips or sharing with a lover." Annalee Newitz - 11 min PC World's Best Free PC Utilities Here is a look at some of my favorite software utilities - the ones I rely on every day.. Michael Desmond Chips Under The Skin VeriChip is a microchip, the size of a grain of rice, which can be implanted under the skin with a simple injection. Like the bar codes on consumer products, it stores coded information that can be read with a scanner. It literally allows us to be “checked out,” like an interactive Social Security Number engrafted in the body. 4 min About Podcasting Podcasting is the beginning of a revolution in homegrown media: a system by which anyone can create radio-style programming and deliver it directly to their audience, in a way that makes it painless and convenient to consume. Ben Hammersley The Long Tail The internet is changing the entertainment business from one that is driven by hits to one that will make most of its money from misses. This is good news for consumers, because it means more choice, and we all like things that will never make the best-seller lists for CDs, books or movies. Jack Schofield - 4 min Are We Ready for Robots?  Are we on a collision course with our own robot creations? Gregory Scoblete  Thorium-Based Nuclear Power Why aren't we building thorium-based power plants on every street corner? Wil McCarthy - 6 min HDD DVD Besides wrecking the mass media, HDD DVD is a device that will also make games like Play-station obsolete. Mike Rogers - 4 min Computer Chess Playing a computer at chess can be rather humbling. George Dvorski - 5 min  Body Computers A 'body computer could measure heart rate, blood chemistry, diet and exercise levels, etc., ...  Perhaps it could take preemptive action, releasing clotbusting drugs at the onset of a heart attack or stroke. Glen Harlan Reynolds  Best Free Utilities The 16 Best-ever Freeware Utilities  Superphone The technology companies of Japan have finally given their gadget-crazed country a gizmo that can do everything. Well, almost everything.  Communicating With Paralysed Patients One promising technique for unlocking the thoughts of paralyzed patients is to hook them up to electroencephalograms. EEGs read the electrical impulses caused by brain activity, including the "P300 wave," something like an involuntary "aha" response. Robotic Attack Aircraft  It is simply a lot less expensive—and safer—to send machines into battle than to send people, who require food, sleep, training, and pay. ... unmanned aircraft have the potential to be more dependable. David Talbot - 9 min  New Superchip A chip which its makers claim is 70 times quicker than rivals may revolutionise home entertainment.  Seeing Your Future Self - In The Mirror! To do this the computer builds up a profile of your lifestyle, using a network of high-resolution cameras dotted around the house. Talking Machines Talking to machines is set to get a whole lot more popular. Nick Clayton  Flat Pad Charger It may soon be possible to recharge phones and cameras by placing them on a plastic pad the size of a mouse mat. Nano-Weaponry Because nanometal provides a higher concentration of energy while requiring fewer raw materials, the overall cost of many weapons would drop,  Life In 2000 AD It will be the age of press-button transportation. - written in 1961  Quantum Cryptography Breakthrough Programmers have made a major breakthrough in their quest for a totally secure computer network. Best 2004 Gadgets Wired's crack squad of geeks rounded up 129 of the latest, greatest gizmos on the planet. Sony's Impressive PlayStation Portable It's black and shiny with clear acrylic buttons; it plays games, music, and movies. It's Sony's $250 PlayStation Portable, and after two days of intense testing, I've reached a conclusion: You're probably going to want one of these, despite a few minor flaws.. Super-Tough Coating Developed In one of the most convincing technology demonstrations this reporter has witnessed, I was handed a CD, a wire-wool pan scourer and some permanent marker pens, and invited to scratch or mark the discs. Hard as I tried, I could not make a single mark on the disc with the scourer.  Your Hippocampus On Microchips You wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the biological hippocampus and the microchip hippocampus." Worldwide Computing Grid The stated goal of grid computing is to create a worldwide network of computers interconnected so well and so fast that they act as one. Major Progress For Data Storage Devices These nano-sized devices were capable of functioning at densities that far exceed the physical limitations of electromagnetic systems.  USA Developing Anti-Matter Weapons The U.S. Air Force is quietly spending millions of dollars investigating ways to use a radical power source -- antimatter. Keay Davidson - 4 min Think About The Future Not The Past If present trends continue -- Americans thinking about the 1930s, Asians thinking about the 2030s -- then the world's political economy is headed for a major reversal of fortune. James Pinkerton - 5 min A culture which prefers the languorous comfort of a quasi-mythic past to the rigors of confronting the hard-edged future is complacent, maybe even decadent -- and out of decadence comes defeat. Swimming Body Bots A microscopic swimming robot could eventually be used for drug delivery or to clear arteries in humans.  Discs That Store 100 DVDs A new technology capable of storing the equivalent of 100 DVDs on a single DVD-sized disc has been unveiled by researchers. Mobile Phones With Noses Mobile phones with noses may soon put paid to the embarrassment of office workers returning from lunch smelling of garlic and wine. Flying Cars Needed A new generation of flying cars will be needed to ferry people along skyways. Hydrogen Cars Although hydrogen may appear abundant (it is in the H20 of seawater) and clean (zero emissions) things are not so straightforward. Buddhist Enlightenment Through Technology I want to talk about the six personality traits or virtues that the Mahayana tradition teaches the bodhisattva should cultivate on the path to greater perfection. How will technologies facilitate our cultivation of these paramitas, and what questions do technologically assisted personality perfection raise. James Hughes - 8 min Is Your Computer A Zombie? An average of 30,000 computers per day were turned into enslaved “zombies”, compared with just 2000 per day in 2003. Internet Collapse? The worldwide web is in danger of collapsing around us. Bobbie Johnson Is Transhumanism A Threat To Humans? Can one be so transformed by technology as to be no longer human? Ronald Bailey Transhumanist Conference What's vital is that people start to think and discuss issues surrounding how technologies are going to change our species in the coming decades. George Dvorsky - 5 min Memory Cards Virtually Indestructible Holiday-makers capturing precious memories on digital cameras need not worry about losing their snaps. Copyright Nonsense? Television fans who like to choose when and where they watch their favorite programs are in for a rude awakening. Future Software "I think the whole way we write and think about software is wrong. Jaron Lanier - 8 min The Induce Act Filing a lawsuit under the Induce Act is like dropping a litigation bomb on any company that gives users products that have even the slightest potential to assist in copyright infringement.  Abolish The FCC It's time to abolish the Federal Communications Commission. Declan McCullagh - 4 min Smart Homes Smart homes of the future will not only feature designer fabrics and furniture, they will also be filled with clever technology that takes a greater interest in your daily life.  Blogs Are Good Says Bill Gates Mr Gates said the regularly updated journals, or blogs, could be a good way for firms to tell customers, staff and partners what they are doing.   Copyright Litigation In 1999, inventor Witold Ziarno sued the American Red Cross for accepting donations on its Web site, saying he had patented the electronic process by which the donations were made. Bob Sullivan - 6 min Therapeutic Hypothermia "Right now, we can easily bring animals back from two hours of absolute clinical death," says Hal Sternberg, Liquid Armour During normal handling, the STF is very deformable and flows like a liquid. However, once a bullet or frag hits the vest, it transitions to a rigid material. Emotional Computers Computers that can detect and imitate human emotion may sound like science fiction, but they are already with us. Robin McKie Self Assembly Nanotechnology The era of nano-manufacturing is being born in hundreds of labs that are racing to perfect a technique called self-assembly. Olga Kharif - 4 min Programmable Matter Objects may lose identity, as they become able to be whatever we need at that moment. Dan - 4 min  Sensors Everywhere Ten years from now, the computer as we know it today will be an anachronism, a device consigned to museums, dumpsters and garages. Instead the digital information and services once delivered via conventional computers will be available through almost everything we touch-—kiosks, airplane seats, newspapers and a broad array of new devices. Dan Farber Control Of The Internet The United Nations wants to expand its influence over the Internet, but would it be wise to let that happen? Declan McCullagh - 3 min	Interview with Ray Kurzweil My view is we will develop a non-biological component of our thinking as we begin to introduce non-biological processes into our brains.  ...  The implant actually does what those biological neurons used to do. The neurons that are nearby are getting signals from the electronic device just as they used to get signals from the biological neurons that were working. And they’re perfectly happy to get the signals from the electronic device.  20 min Nanotechnology -  Virtually every industry will soon be confronted with seemingly nonsensical and unbelievable predictions that are about to be created by the new and emerging science of nanotechnology. Jack Uldrich - 6 min The Joys Of Satellite Radio To say that I was fed up with FM radio is an understatement. I was ready to give satellite radio a try! Julie Strietelmeier - 6 min  Nanotechnology -  Three of the most prominent leaders in the field join in a freewheeling discussion and give readers an insider's view of nanotechnology's potential and possible pitfalls. 14 min The S Curve In his 1987 novel Marooned in Realtime, Vernor Vinge speculated that the growth of technology, information and resource consumption was flinging us toward a vertical wall—in his word, a singularity—where everything about our civilization would pass through a spasm of overwhelming change, emerging on the other side as something unrecognizably strange. Do we go extinct? Become gods? Change form so dramatically that we no longer recognize ourselves? Wil McCarthy - 5 min The Need For Nuclear Power Plants That’s the stunning thing about nuclear power: tiny quantities of raw material can do so much. Peter Huber and Mark Mills - 18 min