Don't unplug me, I'm your friend!
"I have felt for years that the first 'killer application' of personal robots will be companionship, especially for the elderly," said Roger Brockett, a professor of computer science and engineering at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
-- from this National Geographic story
The combination of robots and old people reminds me of the movie The Electric Grandmother. It was one of the first videos my family rented when we got a VCR, and I remember thinking it was kind of creepy. (Keep in mind, I was only 7 or 8.) I had no idea it was written by Ray Bradbury until I went looking for a link. That makes me want to watch it again.
Soundtrack for today: My Robot Friend, of course.
Friday, May 23, 2003
Sunday, May 18, 2003
Change your clothes
I need a more futuristic wardrobe to coordinate with my new laptop. For starters, I want an outfit made out of Electric Plaid. When that kind of fabric becomes widely available for the first time, you know everybody's going to set their shirt so it blinks, just to show off. But the novelty will wear off fast, and blinking clothes will be considered tacky, like the <blink> tag in HTML. People will learn how to program their clothes in nice ways, or just download code from designers' websites. Someday, you might use Kazaa to find an open source shirt that's perfect for clubbing, or pay too much for pattern software just because it creates a certain logo on the back of your jeans. I can't wait.
I need a more futuristic wardrobe to coordinate with my new laptop. For starters, I want an outfit made out of Electric Plaid. When that kind of fabric becomes widely available for the first time, you know everybody's going to set their shirt so it blinks, just to show off. But the novelty will wear off fast, and blinking clothes will be considered tacky, like the <blink> tag in HTML. People will learn how to program their clothes in nice ways, or just download code from designers' websites. Someday, you might use Kazaa to find an open source shirt that's perfect for clubbing, or pay too much for pattern software just because it creates a certain logo on the back of your jeans. I can't wait.
Popular kids
Reading this Wired article about cell phone use made me glad I'm not in high school anymore.
Reading this Wired article about cell phone use made me glad I'm not in high school anymore.
Saturday, May 17, 2003
Rocket power
Over on Slashdot, I just found this article from Popular Science about what space shuttles might be like in the near future. It talks about the weaknesses in the current shuttle design, and NASA's short- and long-term hopes moving forward (with cool illustrations of some of the ideas under consideration).
Over on Slashdot, I just found this article from Popular Science about what space shuttles might be like in the near future. It talks about the weaknesses in the current shuttle design, and NASA's short- and long-term hopes moving forward (with cool illustrations of some of the ideas under consideration).
Thursday, May 15, 2003
Go outside and look up
If you live in the United States and you go outside tonight at 11:13 p.m. EST, you might get to see a lunar eclipse.
If you live in the United States and you go outside tonight at 11:13 p.m. EST, you might get to see a lunar eclipse.
Tuesday, May 13, 2003
To Mars!
Earlier today, I finished reading The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury. If you haven't read it, it's basically a collection of short bits about the colonization of Mars. Several of the chapters (including one about literary censorship and Edgar Allan Poe that I liked a lot) are short stories Bradbury had previously published elsewhere. The book came out in 1950, and a few sections feel a bit dated, but overall I liked it. I have a feeling that if people were colonizing Mars for real, I would be one of the ones to go. Humans have already messed up the Earth, polluting it to the point where everything causes cancer. Life on a new planet might be lonely and unpredictable, but think about it -- if you had a chance to start over someplace new, and be a part of creating a new way of life, wouldn't you want to do it?
The perfect soundtrack: Zia's song "To Mars." Download the MP3 here.
Earlier today, I finished reading The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury. If you haven't read it, it's basically a collection of short bits about the colonization of Mars. Several of the chapters (including one about literary censorship and Edgar Allan Poe that I liked a lot) are short stories Bradbury had previously published elsewhere. The book came out in 1950, and a few sections feel a bit dated, but overall I liked it. I have a feeling that if people were colonizing Mars for real, I would be one of the ones to go. Humans have already messed up the Earth, polluting it to the point where everything causes cancer. Life on a new planet might be lonely and unpredictable, but think about it -- if you had a chance to start over someplace new, and be a part of creating a new way of life, wouldn't you want to do it?
The perfect soundtrack: Zia's song "To Mars." Download the MP3 here.
I am in love
I know I've been a little distracted lately, but now I want to introduce you to someone special. (In case that monster url stops working soon, it's supposed to be a link to the Sony VAIO PCG-V505AX.) I think this is how some people feel when they have a child. All of a sudden there's this amazing, tiny, fragile thing in my world and it's up to me to keep it safe. But why does love have to be so expensive?
Why MSN sucks
My laptop came with 6 free months of MSN Internet service, and since I only have access to a dial-up connection at the moment anyway, I figured I'd install it. I realized about a half an hour later that my new account prevented me from sending email from any of my websites (I have several POP accounts I access with Outlook Express). I searched around and did some reading and discovered that new MSN accounts are forbidden from sending anything but MSN email. Supposedly this restriction was added to help prevent spam, but if I use MSN I can't even send regular mail to my friends. How dumb is that? Why is MSN discriminating against people who have their own websites?
I know I've been a little distracted lately, but now I want to introduce you to someone special. (In case that monster url stops working soon, it's supposed to be a link to the Sony VAIO PCG-V505AX.) I think this is how some people feel when they have a child. All of a sudden there's this amazing, tiny, fragile thing in my world and it's up to me to keep it safe. But why does love have to be so expensive?
Why MSN sucks
My laptop came with 6 free months of MSN Internet service, and since I only have access to a dial-up connection at the moment anyway, I figured I'd install it. I realized about a half an hour later that my new account prevented me from sending email from any of my websites (I have several POP accounts I access with Outlook Express). I searched around and did some reading and discovered that new MSN accounts are forbidden from sending anything but MSN email. Supposedly this restriction was added to help prevent spam, but if I use MSN I can't even send regular mail to my friends. How dumb is that? Why is MSN discriminating against people who have their own websites?
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