New Music.. album sampler from The Crystal Fighters - Cave Rave!!
Surf’s up… and down. Wave heights to change as atmosphere warms
Climate scientists studying the impact of changing wave behaviour on the world’s coastlines are reporting a likely decrease in average wave heights across 25 per cent of the global ocean.
In some of the first climate simulations of modelled wave conditions they also found a likely increase in wave height across seven per cent of the global ocean, predominantly in the Southern Ocean.
Full Story: CSIRO
New Music …
Michigan Researchers Working on Smart Dust Prototypes, Dubbed “Micro Motes”
The next generation of computers will be able to carry out complex calculations but will be little bigger than a snowflake.
Such tiny computers – nicknamed smart dust – would work much like their larger cousins, says Prabal Dutta at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. They will have tiny CPUs that run programs on a skeleton operating system and be able to access equally small banks of RAM and flash memory.
The plan is for such sensor-packed machines to be embedded in buildings and objects in their hundreds or even thousands, providing constant updates on the world around us.
Dutta’s group is creating the first prototypes, which they have dubbed Michigan Micro Motes. These devices, a cubic millimetre in size, come equipped with sensors to monitor temperature or movement, say, and can send data via radio waves.
…Like microscopic Robinson Crusoes, the motes will live off the power they can scavenge from their surroundings. A mote near a light source might use a tiny solar panel, while a mote running somewhere with greater temperature extremes can be built to tap into that, by converting the heat energy that flows between hot and cold into electricity.
So what will be smart dust’s killer app? The Michigan team says Micro Motes could be used to monitor every tiny movement of large structures like bridges or skyscrapers. And motes in a smart house could report back on lighting, temperature, carbon monoxide levels and occupancy. With motes embedded in all of your belongings it might be possible to run a Google search in the physical world. For example, asking Google “where are my keys?” would give you the right answer if they have been fitted with a mote.
(via Smart dust computers are no bigger than a snowflake - tech - 26 April 2013 - New Scientist)
(via emergentfutures)
Telecom-equipped drones could revolutionize wireless market
Imagine having your communication made possible by an unmanned airship instead of through traditional cellphone towers.
Drones, known for surveillance and intelligence uses, soon could revolutionize wireless telecommunications, according to industry analysts.
Ed Herlik, a Colorado Springs, Colo.-based researcher with Market Info Group, an aviation and defense analysis firm, said telecommunications equipment carried on drones could represent a major new market.
For example, bigger craft could offer a much cheaper alternative to communications satellites used by services such as DirecTV. Smaller, low-flying drones could offer a more rapid means of bringing in or restoring wireless capability than construction of radio and cell towers — ideal for remote areas or for use after any kind of disaster that wipes out wireless service.
Full Story: AZ Central
At Milan Design Week I mediated my first ever panel for The World Bank. The topic was ‘Entertainment and the Arts for Sustainability’ - that is a BIG subject…. Before the discussion began I was anticipating the various directions it could take but really what I learnt about mediating a panel is that best just to expect the unexpected. The panelists where prestigious, profound and exemplary and from a variety of disciplines. One of the most interesting things about the panel was when an expert is taken out of their comfort zone and chooses to collaborate freely in a new territory, this kind of synergy is really interesting, especially if it goes from idea to execution… There is going to be a video soon so watch.this.space. I will also be doing a post on the panelists as their work is so fascinating they deserve separate (cross pollinating!) posts. For more info you can see the Connect 4 Climate FB page https://www.facebook.com/Connect4Climate : )
3D-printed and ready for action. with Mike at AOL TechCrunch HQ – View on Path.
The World Needs 1.8 Billion Jobs—But What If They Already Exist?
BY ALVIS BRIGIS, fastcoexist.comWhat if we were able to monetize the information we put on the Internet? A revolution in which people are paid by the networks they use could herald a new economy for the world’s jobless.
Editor’s Note
This is part of our Futurist Forum serie…futur
(Source: futuramb)
Skate Uphill on the ‘World’s Lightest Electric Vehicle’ | Mashable
Boosted Boards was a Kickstarter success last fall, when they raised over $467,000 to further develop their 12-pound electric longboard. The motorized board is packed with 2000 watts of power (or 2.6 horsepower) and has a six-mile range on a single charge.
(via emergentfutures)
