Timothy N. Hornyak: Loving the Machine: The Art and Science of Japanese Robots
Hornyak offers a detailed overview of Japanese robot development tracing the history of robotics all the way from the 1600's through today's modern, state-of-the-art wonders like Asimo.
Jennifer Ouellette
'Black Bodies and Quantum Cats' is the type of book that inspired me to study physics as a child and enabled me to develop a life long love of science and technology.
Synthetic Worlds : The Business and Culture of Online Games
Who would have guessed that the modal demographic for online gamers is 40+ year old women? Or that billions of real dollars change hands between gamers as they buy and sell virtual items?
Lawrence Lessig: Free Culture: The Nature and Future of Creativity
The Search
How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture
Satisfaction
The Science of Finding True Fulfillment - Listened to the author being interviewed on the NPR Science Friday show via podcast. Very impressive.
Do You Speak American?
A great and often insightful exploration of the 'American' language
Podcasting Hacks
Podcasting is revolutionizing the way we communicate and even the way we think
The Man Behind the Microchip
Robert Noyce and the Invention of Silicon Valley - An excellent and extremely well written exploration into Robert Noyce and the industry he created that changed the world
I’m rapidly becoming addicted to watching video-clips online, and when I run across anything related to kickbiking or cycling it immediately catches my attention. A good example is the video popular clip below that was posted on Google Video without any explanation of the where it was taken or why.
Continue reading "Another "Don't try this at home" stunt (video)" »
Some of the best work done by creative agencies never sees the light of day. The classic 1984 Apple Macintosh SuperBowl commercial almost met with that fate. A more recent example, strangely enough from Apple's primary competition, is the Xbox 306 television ad that Microsoft decided not to release. It's easy to understand why they felt that way (see video below), but never the less, the production values are amazing.
If a picture is worth a 1,000 words, then a video must be worth at least 10,000. Over the past six months we’ve had more and more opportunities to include video clips as a key part of our blog content – to the point that we recently started a separate blog just to document all the video clips.
I do a lot of videocasting, both for personal use on our family blog, and for my more mainstream Robot's Dreams weblog. I use my Sony Cybershot F717 digital camera to capture most of the videos, but get frustrated because I can't hold it still enough. Spending thousands for a Steadicam rig was definitely out of the question, but for under $50 I think I've found a workable alternative. . .
I had the opportunity to visit the CEATEC Trade Show at the Makuhari Messe convention center on Friday afternoon. CEATEC bills itself as-
The physical layout of the show follows a supply food chain starting with individual components and raw materials and proceeds upward culminating with the latest electronic goodies from the majors like Matsushita, Hitachi, Sharp, and Sony. The tempo, energy and rhythm of the show also shifts as you move up the supply chain. The front end- component exhibits seem pretty conservative and low key, but once you reach the other end of the chain there's singing, dancing, flashing lights, and rock concert energy echoing off the walls.
Over the next couple of days, time permitting, I plan on posting several articles containing my observations and photos from the show. If there is anything that you have a specific interest in, or want more detail on, please feel free to email me.
By the way, the movie was GREAT! Kind of a cross between the old Kurosawa samurai movies and "Pulp Fiction" with a dash of tap dancing thrown in. It sounds strange, but everything blends well, a film equivalent of fusion cusine. I highly recommend it when it comes to your local neighborhood cinemaplex.
It appears that the first shots have been fired in the Japanese e-Book Wars. While most of the press attention in the US is focused on music downloads - both legal and illegal, there's another battle being joined here in Japan that may have just as much impact in the long run. The Japanese are avid readers and devour books and magazines by the carload. Drop by any Japanese Seven-Eleven at almost any time of the day or night, and you will see people standing in front of the magazine rack, sometimes two or three deep. The local book stores have enjoyed the same public devotion to reading. And of course Japanese manga are famous world-wide. Now, suddenly, people are downloading their books and manga over the internet. Some of the material is even cell phone friendly, so they can read it on their cell phone display during the long daily commute. The Japanese publishing industry, just like the music industry before it, tried to downplay or ignore the trend for quite a while. Now the Japanese eBook market is starting to soar, and they can't continue pretend it isn't there.
One of the solutions - put together an alliance of the major publishers, distributors, and the eBook readers. Form a solid front, and try to keep the customer captive to traditional distribution sources. The 'party line' is that customers will be willing to bring their memory media into bookstores to download their purchase. It's a comforting story, if you happen to own a chain of bookstores. Time will tell if it's a practical approach, or if Japanese consumers like their Western counterparts insist on the convience of internet downloads and instant gratification. Of course, the eBook display device makers end up winning both ways. The major players are companies like Toshiba and Matsushita who make not only the eBook readers, but also all of the alternative devices like PCs and cell phones. They can have their cake, and eat it too.
Japan eBook Market Soars
"The Japanese market for eBooks soared to 1 billion yen in 2002..."
"The market is expanding at an annual rate of 40 percent to 60 percent..."
"Downloaded by users to their personal computers or mobile phones,... "
"Online vendors release some 1,000 new titles onto the market monthly...."
"...another poll of 6,000 Internet users found that 9 percent have read eBooks...."
"The poll also found an additional 63 percent want to read them...."
Japan eBook Market Soars
Japan eBook Consortium Formed
"Nineteen electronics companies, publishing houses and other firms announced Wednesday they will set up a consortium Oct. 1 to promote the use of eBooks and the devices that display them.""Would-be purchasers of eBooks could bring to bookstores their secure digital memory cards, onto which the content of eBooks could be downloaded from a terminal," a Matsushita official said. "They could then transfer the contents from the cards to their own terminal at home." "Cartoonist Machiko Satonaka, who was appointed as an adviser to the consortium, told the news conference that use of the computerized terminals "would enable people to read masterpieces which went unnoticed when they were first published."
Consortium to push eBook business
Want to watch your favorite TV program while you're at the beach, on a long flight, or on the train into the city? Sony's come up with an answer. They just anounced the PEGA-VR100K recording device. Basically it's a programmable TV tuner that incorporates a Memory Stick. You can prerecord your favorite program (up to 130 minutes), then pop the Memory Stick into your Clie and watch video to your heart's content - or until your battery runs out.
Sony doesn't publish MSRP pricing, but the unit is expected to sell for around 30,000 yen ($256). Product release in Japan is early November this year. Personally, I don't watch that much TV, and my commute is very short, so I think I'll pass on picking up this particular toy, at least for now.
It's really amazing how quickly engineers have been able to shrink electronics and packaging over the past decade. Of course there are the obvious benefits, like being able to pack more functionality into one package, or making devices lighter. There are also less obvious benefits, like dramatically increased reliability, lower total power consumption, and lower manufacturing costs.
This photo shows the evolution of a video camera 3 CCD image sensor assembly. The assembly on the left was designed in 1992, the center one in 1997, and the one on the right in 2003. Not only have the electronics shrunk, the optics and total packaging have also shrunk. The total package appears to be around one third the size it was ten years ago. Over the same timeframe the pixel density has grown by orders of magnitude, features have been added that we never dreamed of, and the cost to the end user has dropped dramatically.
So, the question is: What will happen over the next ten years?
Panasonic's really pushing the DIGA DVD recorder series in Japan. They claim, according to an article in the Japan Times this week, that they hold a 53% market share, and are ramping up overseas production capacity. They believe that the market's going to explode worldwide and they don't want to give anyone else (like Sony perhaps) even the smallest advantage. The latest issue of Dime magazine (Sept 18th) has a two page ad featuring the new DIGA E200H model.
You get DVD RAM, DVD-R, and a 160 gigabyte hard disk. The specs show a 212 hour recording capacity in EP mode and 70 hours in SP - the equivalent of around 35 video tapes. Suppose you left home without setting the DIGA to record your favorite program, or your friend at work suddenly mentions a program you didn't know about but desparately want to see. What do you do? No problem for the DIGA, just pull out your cellphone and program it where ever and when ever the mood hits you. And how about those digital camera images - DIGA has the answer with both a SD and PC card slot built in.
The manufacturer's suggested list price? Only 198,000 yen - roughly USD$1,692. Am I running out to buy one tomorrow? No... but it's definitely going on my wish list. Christmas is just around the corner - hint, hint.
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