The Post Social Age

This site and content are moving.

tacanderson — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 09:42:59 -0800

All former content on this site has been moved here and all futre posts on these topics will be posted on Tumblr here. I just needed to consolidate and simplify some things.

How to get started with the Raspberry Pi

tacanderson — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 14:46:35 -0800

How to get started with the Raspberry Pi:

I’m so excited about the Raspberry Pi. This will be one of my 2013 projects. That and a 3D printer.

Death of a cyborg - via Boing Boing

tacanderson — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 11:41:55 -0800

Death of a cyborg - via Boing Boing

Oh great, now the RIAA has an excuse to come after 3D...

tacanderson — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 11:05:07 -0800

Oh great, now the RIAA has an excuse to come after 3D printing.

(via 3D Printed Record)

Do you use any type of cloud storage? If so, what kind, and why?

tacanderson — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 10:48:18 -0800

I actually just 3D print all of my files and store them in a doomsday bunker below my house.

There’s a few things I love about this. #1 MIND CONTROL!!!...

tacanderson — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 13:02:51 -0800

There’s a few things I love about this.

#1 MIND CONTROL!!! (duh)
#2 The mobile device continues to be a platform for disruption.
#3 Did I mention mind control yet?

The system uses a NeuroSky MindWave Mobile EEG headset to record brainwave data, which is then sent to software on either a tablet/smartphone or on a specially designed pyramid-shaped base. The software converts the brainwave data to flight commands which control the flight of the spherical helicopter, Orbit.

In the tablet/smartphone version the command signals are issued via an infrared dongle connected to the audio port while the pyramid version features high-powered infrared emitters, which, with additional software, can be used to operate other toys and devices such as television screens.

(via Brain-controlled helicopter comes to Kickstarter (Wired UK))

Predicting the Future Is Easier Than It Looks

tacanderson — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 11:01:30 -0800

Predicting the Future Is Easier Than It Looks:

If you have the right data that is…

Forecasting models need reliable measures of “things that are usefully predictive,” Ulfelder notes. Well, sure. Does this mean that reliability is at issue? Or that we are using data that are not “usefully” predictive? This is a curious claim, especially in light of the controversial nature of polls.

My recommendation is to go read The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable.

Work as a Service - Is There a People Cloud?

tacanderson — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 09:29:58 -0800

Work as a Service - Is There a People Cloud? :

Yes. Yes there is and I’ve written about it a lot over the last few years. It’s one of my big 5 year trends.

US refuses to give up the internet to the UN

tacanderson — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 09:50:24 -0800

US refuses to give up the internet to the UN:

Big surprise, countries like Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, Algeria and Sudan, don’t think the US should control the Internet. And big surprise, we don’t think we should give it up to them.

What gets me is they think that just because we built it and have enabled it to grow into what it is, over the last 24 years, that doesn’t give us the right to continue to manage it.

Welcome to the present-future. Open and free beats closed and oppressive. I think this will get worse before it gets better.

Arcfinity: NEXT FROM ARC: Forever alone drone

tacanderson — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 13:43:04 -0800

Arcfinity: NEXT FROM ARC: Forever alone drone:

arcfinity:

Simon Ings writes:

Before we knuckle down and write some proper promo copy for our next Arc, Forever alone drone, I thought it might be fun to give you the back-room story about how this edition came about.

Due out next week, Forever alone drone emerged out of a couple of…

This is out now. Go get it.

3D Printed "biobot" [video]

tacanderson — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 12:05:10 -0800

3D Printed "biobot" [video]:

This. Is. Crazy.

Chinese company prepares robots for US invasion

tacanderson — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 10:01:11 -0800

Chinese company prepares robots for US invasion :

Yes the blog title was a bit dramatic, but anyone that thinks that Apple’s announcement about making Macs in the US and visions this brought about the “repatriation” of American manufacturing is going to create a lot of jobs is fooling themselves. But of course, how many repetitive factory jobs do we really want?

Foxconn, for its part, insists that automation would only help produce more advanced products, adding that robots would be able to perform more dangerous duties previously delegated to employees. This could also help mitigate some of the worker unrestFoxconn has seen in recent months, while allowing the company to invest in higher skilled human labor. “The younger generation of workers these days, they don’t want to continue to do boring, mundane, repetitive work, especially in the manufacturing sector,” Woo said. “We have to begin to add more value in the process, otherwise it will be difficult to attract a young generation of workers.”

Europe's first biohacking network

tacanderson — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 09:29:02 -0800

Europe's first biohacking network:

I’m continuously fascinated, excited and terrified by the future.

On 1 December people descended upon Paris’s Musée des Arts et Métiers for a meeting to kick-off a new European science network. But with participants that included biologists, artists, sociologists, IT consultants and even a beekeeper, this wasn’t a typical science conference. This was the launch of DIY Bio Europe — an international biohacking network.

Twine is like IFTTT for the physical world.

tacanderson — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 12:01:40 -0800

I love what Twine is doing. Not only is the design so simple and amazing, but it’s the start of real consumer connectivity to the “Internet of Things” (we really need to come up with a better name).

Twine - Listen to your world, talk to the Internet from Supermechanical on Vimeo.

What Can Enterprise 3D Printer Manufacturers Learn From Enterprise Tech About Competing With OpenSource?

tacanderson — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 10:01:27 -0800

What Can Enterprise 3D Printer Manufacturers Learn From Enterprise Tech About Competing With OpenSource? :

I’ll be the first to admit that I know absolutely nothing about either of these two companies, other than the fact that they make large 3D printers. But I do know a thing or two about large enterprise tech companies (having worked at HP on the Enterprise team and with Microsoft as a client for many years*) and mergers like this, in the face of disruptive low end competitors, is kind of a classic move.

The 3D printing space is undergoing some pretty serious disruption. While the DIY/hobbyist 3D printers aren’t a real threat to the big guys yet, they will be and these guys know it. It’s basically the same thing that Microsoft and others have had to battle with the OpenSource movement.

One of them already tried and failed to make low end 3D printers with HP (I actually never even heard about this). So with a failed effort to go downstream, they’re instead joining forces and going to swim hard upstream. This is probably a good move because they can’t compete in the low end. The prices are just to low, but they will want to come put with a low-end product so they can put a ceiling on the DIY crowd. Because I promise you at some point MakerBot or someone will come out with a product that there customers think “I can buy 3 or 4 of those instead of one of these big ones.” Not a s a way to replace a big model but as a way to not buy a second one.

But the smart thing they’re planning is to get into other materials. This is one place the DIY crowd will always trail on. But it means the big guys have to constantly be innovating while their margins are constantly eroded on the low end. They’ve got a tough battle but it they can also expand their services offerings, they can be real leaders. But man, it’s going to be tough for them.

*You can see all my disclosures here.

This is cool. I wish they’d shown an actual amputee using...

tacanderson — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 10:01:00 -0800

This is cool. I wish they’d shown an actual amputee using it (I don’t think this was, since they didn’t show the person behind it).

bebionic3 grip pattern video.mov (by BeBionicUK)

The future of parenting: Dad Builds Quadcopter To Track His Son

tacanderson — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 08:45:00 -0800

The future of parenting: Dad Builds Quadcopter To Track His Son :

I can see parks filled with kids being followed by drones while the nanies sit and gab on the side and parents can pull up the video feed from work of their kids playing.

We do worry about this kid’s overall safety, though mostly on a small scale — frankly, having a homemade helicopter that dad built in the garage follow your kid to the bus stop every day sounds like about the best way we’ve ever heard to ensure that your kid is regularly stuffed into a wide variety of lockers since severe acne. Of course, a better-armed companion drone could put that sort of behavior to bed in short order. Not that we’re encouraging that sort of anti-social behavior. Just an observation.

Where are the fashion brands in wearable computing?

tacanderson — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 10:00:47 -0800

Where are the fashion brands in wearable computing?:

This is an interesting article not only because it brought my attention to a new “smart glasses” player, Vuzix, but because of the perspective the author writes in.

If either of these products catch on, it looks like we’re destined to a future with droid parts on our faces, as you can see above in Vizux’s version and to the right with Google’s Project Glass creation. Even on pretty women that look is straight out of the Stars Wars sequels that haven’t been made yet. Maybe one day android fashions will be in and computer face accessories will separate the hip from the square. But it doesn’t look like that will happen any time too soon.

She obviously thinks smart glasses are dorky. And she’s probably right - for now.

We know that Google Glasses were displayed as part of some NY fashion show, but where are the fashion brands when it comes to wearable computing?

The one and great example we have is Nike. While some may call them more of an athletic clothing brand than a pure fashion brand, they’re close enough for me.

I imagine that the fashion brands will come out when the products are already on the market and they can just add their name and design aesthetics to the tech, but I think they’re missing out.

Not even that many tech companies have jumped on wearable computing. Apple with their strong design ethic and their practically, ready made, iPod Nano, have stepped away from wearable computing with the Nano’s latest redesign.

Where are the watch makers and the glasses designers and the other bold, tech savvy clothing companies? Fossil, made an early effort but then chickened out. Come on fashion world, help us out.

Will 3D Printing Just Add To Our Wastefulness? SciFi author Tim...

tacanderson — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 10:00:55 -0800

Will 3D Printing Just Add To Our Wastefulness?

SciFi author Tim Maughan and I had a chat the other day on Twitter over the potential waste vs usefulness of 3D printing.

When you read the article linked below, you see the perfect examples of it potential. 3D printed jewelry? Junk. It’ll be worn once, maybe twice and then thrown away (if we’re lucky in recycling).

Prosthetic braces for children or prosthetic beaks for Eagles? Well it doesn’t get much better than that.

Again: 3D printed weapons vs. 3D printed art. I think there’s a college dissertation in there somewhere.

Chris Anderson wrote in hes new book, Makers: The New Industrial Revolution, that 3D printing will be bigger than the internet. And I believe like the internet it will come with the good and the bad that humanity carries with it wherever we go.

(via Replication Revolution: Best 3D-Printed Objects in Entertainment, Science and War | Wired Design | Wired.com)

What I find really interesting about this article is that...

tacanderson — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 11:47:31 -0800

What I find really interesting about this article is that military technology used to be far more advanced than civilian technology and now we’re seeing a time where they are both advancing together.

I mean, look at that picture. It’s just an armored golf cart. That’s kind of cool.

Yes there are a lot of things the military can do that most civilians can’t because of their obscene budget, but there are just as many things that the military is doing that’s being advanced much quicker by civilians because of their speed advantage (aka no government contractors involved).

(via Suicide Drones, Mini Blimps and 3D Printers: Inside the New Army Arsenal | Danger Room | Wired.com)