Spådomar om AI.
it’s when some almost human-level AGI algorithms, on petaflop computers, are let loose on exaflop supercomputers, that machine super intelligence might suddenly come into being – with results that might be completely unpredictable.
Type designers and Web designers have reached a consensus on a format specification for embedding fonts on the Web. Mozilla is already including support for the font format in Firefox 3.6, and wide adoption could come sooner than many expected.
…
- The latest draft of the WOFF File Format specification is online.
- You can now download an official beta of Firefox 3.6, with support for WOFF fonts, from Mozilla’s developer site.
- Typographer Erik Spiekermann has put together a sample page that uses a WOFF version of the popular typeface FF Meta. You’ll need the aforementioned beta of FF3.6 to view the custom fonts.
- Mozilla’s John Dagget and Jonathan Kew have a post with several examples of more advanced typography generated using CSS properties at Mozilla Hacks.
- We have an introduction to
@font-faceand related CSS technology for those looking for more background, as well as a look at some of the issues that prompted solutions like TypeKit and ultimately WOFF.
The Autonomous Bassline Generator creates deterministic bassline patterns in a sci-fi retro sound by generating melodies on the fly, based on a knob.
Create Digital Music » Handmade Music: Cybernetics, Wireless Beats, and Ingenious Sonic Circuits
“Cybernetics is poised to make a comeback. The theory is, everything from electronic circuits to plants and animals can be understood in terms of feedback loops, as organisms – mechanical or organic – respond to input from their surroundings. The father of modern cybernetics, MIT mathematician Norbert Weiner, was inspired by working on the guidance systems of missiles. His writing was picked up Louis and Bebe Barron, informing their organism-like sonic circuits, as used in the film Forbidden Planet. The word cybernetic itself comes from Plato. Plato was talking about human self-governance. But designed with cybernetic ideas in mind, technology, too, becomes self-governing and autonomous – and the sonic circuits, too.”
Se även: four tiny drum machines from ALH84001 on Vimeo.
Immaterials:A new film by Timo Arnall for Touch and Jack Schulze for BERG. This is the final version of the raw footage Jack was showing me on his jesusphone at the WIRED UK launch gig (by which time I’d drunk at least one bottle of Irish whiskey).
There are 4 billion RFID tags in the world. They may soon outnumber the people. Readers and tags are increasingly embedded in the things and environments in which we live. How do readers see tags? When we imagine RFID and their invisible radio fields, what should we see? Immaterials explains the experiments we have performed to see RFID as it sees itself.
Via Warren Ellis.
CasparCG is a Flash and video play-out server that:
- Is free and open sourced
- Plays multiple Flash SWFs with full dynamic control
- Plays all common SD & HD video codecs with alpha and audio
- SDI & HD-SDI output to both interlaced and progressive + to computer monitor
- Plays uncached videos from disk and transitions between two videos
- Can collect data itself from DB, XML, RSS feeds or external sensors
- Can use the same Flash application in both broadcast and on the web
AI & Robotics: video of Aldebaran’s Nao humanoid robot manipulating some photographs displayed on Microsoft’s Surface computer.
This is another nice promotional video for the French robotics company. Aldebaran Robotics are making a serious effort to market Nao to academics and at the same time get the average person excited about the many possible uses of such dexterous, intelligent, humanoid robots. If you want to see another video of Nao walking and manipulating objects, check out our previous post “Introducing Nao.”
Oemotståndligt med en robot som pratar franska.
AI & Robotics rapporterar:
Researchers from The University of Tokyo Shinoda lab have figured out a way to add touch to holograms.
First, they utilize an LCD-based, concave mirror, holographic display for displaying the 3D images. Using this display, images appear to float 30cm away from the display surface. Second, they use a couple of Wii controllers for hand tracking in order to determine the user’s hand location with respect to the displayed objects. Third, they provide tactile feedback using their own Airborne Ultrasound Tactile Display (AUTD.) The device uses acoustic radiation pressure to induce tactile feedback as users interact with the displayed objects.
Mac OS X Snow Leopard
Den slutgiltiga versionen har tydligen gått till pressarna. Jag har tjuvinstallerat det nya operativsystemet från Apple. Och märker absolut ingen skillnad än så länge. Visserligen handlar Snow Leopard om prestanda, optimering och mindre justeringar, men jag känner mig ändå lite tom innombords. Jaha så QuickTime player är nice nu… wow. Å ena sidan så är första intrycket väldigt tamt, å andra sidan kan jag på något vis inte hjälpa att bli imponerad. Det lär ju vara massa interna ändringar och stora saker, på nördnivå som omstrukturerats. Vilket annat företag släpper ny version nästan enbart för sådana saker? Aja, tåls nog att suga mer på den här operativsystems-karamellen innan min slutgiltiga dom faller.
A modular light system that responds to touch: through the electromagnetic fields of the human body. The hexagonal units can be assembled in any shape and modulated to compose multiple lighting situations. Light Brix is architecture composed by light.
Har börjat dyka upp lite android-telefoner i bekantskapskretsen. Är smått sugen! Fint med utvecklarvänliga prylar.
South Korea’s customs service says it has deployed the “world’s first cloned sniffer dogs” to check for drugs at its main airport and border crossings.
Open Sound Control (OSC) is a protocol for communication among computers, sound synthesizers, and other multimedia devices that is optimized for modern networking technology. Bringing the benefits of modern networking technology to the world of electronic musical instruments, OSC’s advantages include interoperability, accuracy, flexibility, and enhanced organization and documentation.
This simple yet powerful protocol provides everything needed for real-time control of sound and other media processing while remaining flexible and easy to implement.
