InfoCompanions » Technology

Fabian Hemmert: The shape-shifting future of the mobile phone

Himanshu Sharma — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 16:37:28 +0000

At TEDxBerlin, Fabian Hemmert demos one future of the mobile phone — a shape-shifting and weight-shifting handset that “displays” information nonvisually, offering a delightfully intuitive way to communicate.

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Rob Dunbar: The Threat of Ocean Acidification

Himanshu Sharma — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 17:21:49 +0000

Rob Dunbar hunts for data on our climate from 12,000 years ago, finding clues inside ancient seabeds and corals. His work is vital in setting baselines for fixing our current climate — and, scarily, in tracking the rise of deadly ocean acidification.

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Chris Anderson: How YouTube is Driving Innovation

Himanshu Sharma — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 17:20:25 +0000

TED’s Chris Anderson says the rise of web video is driving a worldwide phenomenon he calls Crowd Accelerated Innovation — a self-fueling cycle of learning that could be as significant as the invention of print. But to tap into its power, organizations will need to embrace radical openness. And for TED, it means the dawn of a whole new chapter.

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Kevin Stone: The bio-future of joint replacement

Himanshu Sharma — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 15:41:36 +0000

Arthritis and injury grind down millions of joints, but few get the best remedy — real biological tissue. Kevin Stone shows a treatment that could sidestep the high costs and donor shortfall of human-to-human transplants with a novel use of animal tissue.

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John Delaney: Wiring an interactive ocean

Himanshu Sharma — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 15:36:12 +0000

Oceanographer John Delaney is leading the team that is building an underwater network of high-def cameras and sensors that will turn our ocean into a global interactive lab — sparking an explosion of rich data about the world below.

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Dennis Hong: My 7 species of robot

Himanshu Sharma — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 21:46:15 +0000

At TEDxNASA, Dennis Hong introduces seven award-winnning, all-terrain robots — like the humanoid, soccer-playing DARwIn and the cliff-gripping CLIMBeR — all built by his team at RoMeLa, Virginia Tech. Watch to the end to hear the five creative secrets to his lab’s incredible technical success.

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Jonathan Drori: Every pollen grain has a story

Himanshu Sharma — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:43:21 +0000

Pollen goes unnoticed by most of us, except when hay fever strikes. But microscopes reveal it comes in stunning colors and shapes — and travels remarkably well. Jonathan Drori gives an up-close glimpse of these fascinating flecks of plant courtship.

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Technology Made Personal

Himanshu Sharma — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 13:34:34 +0000

Check out this cool Google search ad. Love how it makes technology feel “personal” and such an integral part of our life.

Rob Hopkins: Transition to a world without oil

Himanshu Sharma — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 15:28:39 +0000

Rob Hopkins reminds us that the oil our world depends on is steadily running out. He proposes a unique solution to this problem — the Transition response, where we prepare ourselves for life without oil and sacrifice our luxuries to build systems and communities that are completely independent of fossil fuels.

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Stefana Broadbent: How the Internet enables intimacy

Himanshu Sharma — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 15:01:56 +0000

We worry that IM, texting, Facebook are spoiling human intimacy, but Stefana Broadbent’s research shows how communication tech is capable of cultivating deeper relationships, bringing love across barriers like distance and workplace rules.

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Henry Markram: Supercomputing the brain’s secrets

Himanshu Sharma — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 18:45:07 +0000

Henry Markram says the mysteries of the mind can be solved — soon. Mental illness, memory, perception: they’re made of neurons and electric signals, and he plans to find them with a supercomputer that models all the brain’s 100,000,000,000,000 synapses.

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Tibet – Technology Bridging the Divide

Himanshu Sharma — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 06:30:37 +0000

What are the first few words that come to your mind when you think of Tibet… spiritual and breathtakingly beautiful landscape? Disputed land? Watch Losang Rabgey share a “lesser known” side of Tibet, one where this ancient tribe of people want to participate in the new globalization as much as you or me. Those of you especially interested in stories where technology can act as a “bridge” to connect people and communities – this is a feast for the eyes and ears! Losang gives a brief demo of Tibetan Himalayan Digital Library, the first online gallery of contemporary Tibetan art, launched as part of the Machik, a non-profit organization working to develop new opportunities for education, capacity-building and innovation on the Tibetan plateau.

In Losang’s words, “Technology can flatten the world for local communities in disparate areas. These same people have other aspirations to be fully engaged in a globalized world but on their own terms as much as on the world’s terms. So if you would like to witness a small but ancient tribe of people move successfully past marginalization and into an empowered bright future, then I invite you to participate in a remarkable story that we hope has a sustainable future.”

Raised in Canada, Losang was recognized as an Emerging Explorer by the National Geographic for her innovative work in bridging cultural divides.

Connect with Losang on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/people/Losang-Rabgey/549208134

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RepRap – the self replicating machine

Himanshu Sharma — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 15:26:18 +0000

Ever wished that your new iPod could somehow self-replicate into two iPods every night? Or maybe every other hour? Christmas would be so much more fun… and less expensive Adrian Bowyer is thinking on somewhat similar lines. A senior lecturer in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Bath, Adrian is credited with the invention of the revolutionary RepRap Project – an open-source self-replicating 3D printer. As per The Guardian, “[RepRap] has been called the invention that will bring down global capitalism, start a second industrial revolution and save the environment…”.

RepRap is short for Replicating Rapid-prototyper. Adrian defines it as a practical self-copying 3D printer that builds the parts up in layers of plastics – in essence, a self-replicating machine. Not counting nuts and bolts RepRap can make 60% of its parts; the other parts are designed to be cheaply available everywhere.

This is an interesting coincidence: we can make 60% of our proteins; the other parts are evolved to be cheaply available everywhere. In this respect, RepRap machines could/would follow Darwin’s theory of evolution. And with the project now available in Open Source domain, natural selection seems all the more logical growth route.

Imagine the potential impact of this “magical wand”! Will this “demonetize money”? Check out the video below.

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Vision of One Laptop Per Child

Himanshu Sharma — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 17:00:51 +0000

Check out this cool animation highlighting the “Vision” of One Laptop per Child (OLPC) program. I love the simplicity in the messaging and design of this video. All major projects and initiatives SHOULD start with a clear statement and “visualization” of the vision, such as this… and can help engage your stakeholders, users and other community members alike.

Also check out the other blog post pointing to some potentially troublesome future for the OLPC program.

Click here to view the embedded video.

One Laptop Per Child – On Life Support?

Himanshu Sharma — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 17:00:29 +0000

Am sure you are already aware about Nicholas Negroponte’s “One Laptop Per Child” program, (also check out the cool “vision” video here)which over the last few years has gained considerable momentum and accolades… in addition to a healthy amount of criticism. Back in business school, many times I have scratched my head to the financial viability of a program like this… in addition to the long term sustainability. Sure there are some generous souls out there and would love to spend/donate/give-away… but even the noblest of all ideas need a “realistic” financial plan. Four decades of global charitable contributions have poured trillions/pentillions of dollars into Africa… and failed to produce any comparable returns – forget about long lasting effects. The continent if at all, is in even more dire need of resources and funds. How many case studies do we need before we learn our lesson?

Anyways, back to the OLPC topic – The original goal of the project was to reduce the cost to market to about $100 per unit. However, insufficient volume and configuration changes have ensured that dream remains elusive, and cost to market to about $188 per unit. What’s worse – a series of reorganizations in the recent few years have alienated several key contributors. OLPC Director of Security, Ivan Krstic, left the program earlier this year, complaining that, “the internal restructuring reflected a fundamental change of vision that he couldn’t accept”. Ivan continues to blast the program on his personal blog. Ranting of a not-so-happy-ex-employee? Not so fast. Ivan points to several key issues, including infrastructure. He wrote:

“We have no real support infrastructure for these rollouts, our development process is not allocating any time for dealing with critical deployment issues that (will inevitably) come up, and we have no process for managing the crises that will ensue”.

Another key excerpt from his personal blog:

“Put differently, OLPC can’t claim to be preoccupied with learning and not with training children to be office computer drones, while at the same time being coerced by hollow office drone rhetoric to deploy the computers with office drone software. Nicholas used to say the thought of the XOs being used to teach 6-year olds Word and Excel made him cringe. Apparently, no longer so. Which is it? The vacillation needs to stop. As they say in the motherland: shit or get off the pot.”

A “big enough” population out there thinks that Nicholas is insane, even adding that he is a “terrible manager and leader”. A case in point – on May 20, 2008, at the recent OLPC Country Workshop, Nicholas said that the OLPC mission statement “has not changed one ounce”. And the very next minute, he introduced a fourth version of the mission statement, entirely different from the previous three reported on OLPC News not long ago. Hmmm… The original Five Core Principles were:
1. Child Ownership
2. Low Ages
3. Saturation
4. Connection
5. Free and Open Source
Then how does XO (the Microsoft Windows version) fit in this vision?

Bottom line – The OLPC project is now struggling to sustain momentum, and might end up on life support if its leadership can’t turn things around.

But hold on… this blog post isn’t all about bashing the OLPC program… it’s to celebrate the success, even if limited, of the program, including 600,000 units sold in the first six months, for more than $200 million. And how can you forget that this program helped create a new market segment, ultra-low-cost laptops, where there is more Linux than Windows on offer. So check out the video below – OLPC program distributes 650 laptops in a remote school on Cambodia… and the reaction from a grateful community. Do you find it interesting that in Cambodia, the Defense Minister if the “official cheerleader” for the program? Hmmm… wonder what happened to the Ministry of Education.

Also check out my previous post about Nicholas reporting on the OLPC program.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Next 5,000 Days of the Web

Himanshu Sharma — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 06:00:00 +0000

Kevin Kelly shares a fun stat: The World Wide Web, as we know it, is only 5,000 days old. Now, Kelly asks, how can we predict what’s coming in the next 5,000 days?

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About Kevin Kelly:
Perhaps there is no one better to contemplate the meaning of cultural change — bad? good? too slow? too bold? — than Kevin Kelly, whose life story reads like a treatise on the value of technology. Whether by renouncing all material things save his bicycle (which he then rode 3,000 miles), founding an organization (the All-Species Foundation) to catalog all life on earth, or by touting new gadgets in WIRED, Kelly hasn’t stopped exploring the phenomena of technical and biological creation.

In articles for the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, among others, he has celebrated scientific breakthroughs, and at the Long Now Foundation, where he serves on the board, he champions projects that look 10,000 years into the future. Today Kelly is at work on a book that asks what appears to be his life’s core question: “How should I think about new technology when it comes along?”

Creative Intelligence

Himanshu Sharma — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 06:00:00 +0000

Intelligence is not all about cool gadgets and super-macho action figures. Infact, it’s a lot like the fight against mosquitoes. Jane Mayer talks with Eric Haseltine, the former chief technology officer of the U.S. intelligence community about how the right mixture of technology, mathematics and analytical skills have led to successful missions against terrorism, and what businesses can learn.

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About Eric Haseltine:
Haseltine is associate director for science and technology for the Office of the Director for National Intelligence (ODNI), where he is responsible for ensuring that U.S. intelligence stays on the cutting edge of research and development.

Haseltine bears one of the more colorful résumés at the DNI. A former director of engineering for Hughes Aircraft, he served as head of R&D at Walt Disney Imagineering, where he managed the Virtual Reality Studio and oversaw key technology initiatives for the Disney Co. After Disney, he joined the code-breaking, eavesdropping National Security Agency as R&D chief, then began work for the DNI in June last year.

Green City

Himanshu Sharma — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 06:00:00 +0000

San Francisco has made great progress towards becoming a “Green City”. Voluntary programs like “Green Business” that encourage businesses to take proactive actions that are good for their bottomline and the environment, is just another example of the city’s innovative approaches towards greening. Mayor Gavin Newsom talks with Dana Goodyear on what it means to be green in politics and in the world.

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About Gavin Newsom:
Gavin Newsom was born October 10, 1967 to the Honorable Judge William Newsom and Tessa Newsom. He grew up in the Bay Area and graduated from Santa Clara University in 1989 with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. In 2005, Newsom earned an honorable mention as one of Time Magazine’s Best Big City Mayors and was named one of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders.

As San Francisco’s youngest mayor in 100 years, Gavin Newsom has brought fresh ideas and renewed energy to the City and County. He has earned a reputation as an innovator on issues ranging from homelessness to the environment, healthcare to education.

Cars off the road, data into the skies

Himanshu Sharma — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 06:00:00 +0000

Robin Chase rose to fame by founding Zipcar, the world’s biggest car-sharing business, but that was one of her smaller ideas. In this presentation she travels much farther, contemplating road-pricing schemes that will shake up our driving habits and a no-fee mesh network as sprawling as the United States Interstate highway system. But how could you build a free wireless system that vast and pervasive? Chase finds the answer in a few short lines from The Graduate. And it has nothing to do with plastic.

Click here to view the embedded video.

About Robin Chase:
If she weren’t a proven start-up entrepreneur, you might imagine Robin Chase as a transportation geek, some dedicated civil servant, endlessly refining computer models of freeway traffic. Or if she weren’t such a green-conscious problem-solver, you might take her for a businesswoman only. Ultimately, the best way to understand Chase is simply as a remarkable innovator.

Case in point: In 2000, Chase focused her MIT business training on founding Zipcar, now the largest car-sharing business in the world. Using a wireless key system and Internet billing, members pick up Zipcars at myriad locations anytime they want one. The idea is at once ordinary and highly sophisticated, with powerful technologies applied to tasks as prosaic as grocery shopping. But the result couldn’t be more straightforward: fewer cars, less carbon.

Since its founding, Zipcar has doubled in size every year, making Chase’s biggest ideas and her latest company, GoLoco, look mighty promising.

“Self Aware” Robots

Himanshu Sharma — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 07:00:00 +0000

Hod Lipson demonstrates a few of his cool little robots, which have the ability to learn, understand themselves and even self-replicate. At the root of this uncanny demo is a deep inquiry into the nature of how humans and living beings learn and evolve, and how we might harness these processes to make things that learn and evolve.

Click here to view the embedded video.

About Hod Lipson:
To say that Hod Lipson and his team at Cornell build robots is not completely accurate: They may simply set out a pile of virtual robot parts, devise some rules for assembly, and see what the parts build themselves into. They’ve created robots that decide for themselves how they want to walk; robots that develop a sense of what they look like; even robots that can, through trial and error, construct other robots just like themselves.

Working across disciplines — physics, computer science, math, biology and several flavors of engineer — the team studies techniques for self-assembly and evolution that have great implications for fields such as micro-manufacturing — allowing tiny pieces to assemble themselves at scales heretofore impossible — and extreme custom manufacturing (in other words, 3-D printers for the home).

His lab’s Outreach page is a funhouse of tools and instructions, including the amazing Golem @ Home — a self-assembling virtual robot who lives in your screensaver.