Tech insight of the day:

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Many people wonder how technology evolves. How is it that one day something is one way, and it seems to spontaneously leap to something so radically different the next day. Well I'd like to point out that the world doesn't often have leaps and bounds in technology, and things are actually a lot slower, and more similar, than we imagine. 
Take the CF Lightbulb for example. We can't find anything but in today's stores. To achieve the luminosity these bulbs are designed for, we see on the inside are two itty bitty  incandescent light bulbs. So at the heart of this newt tech is yesterday's ingenuity.

Cheers to technology and the relics and stamps of the past left on every modern thing we touch...
-D- 

 

All hail our computer overlords!

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Watson's performance on Jeopardy makes waves in the computer-tech world. The system performed incredibly well with only minor slip-ups. Watson did indeed beat his human competitors in round one of the three scheduled. 
The computer system has been a project that has had input from all over the world but some of it's origins can even be traced back to Ottawa, Ontario. If you missed the original article describing Watson, click here --> IBMWatson on Jeopardy TONIGHT!.
There are still two rounds to go before we know for sure if Watson will mop the floor with human minds, but one thing is for sure... Computer science and artificial intelligence will never be the same again!

Cheers to quantum leaps forward in tech!
-D-
 
Apple will give it to you for a fee; Microsoft will barely do it at all... but here comes Google who will do it better, for free...and seemingly just to rub it in!

Cheers to innovation through competition!

-D-
 
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It took 10 years to complete, cost over $271 Million and is buried under the South-Pole. It's the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and it's a telescope longer than the World's tallest skyscrapers stacked one on another. (Total length is over 1.4kms!)

The construction of this massive project wrapped up last week making it the World's largest neutrino observatory.

The IceCube observatory is operated by the University of Wisconsin-Madison joint with the National Science Foundation, with funding provided by the United States, Belgium, Germany, and Sweden. The Barbados, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Switzerland and the UK are also contributing help in the form of researchers.

The ultimate goal is to find extremely high energy neutrinos—tiny subatomic particles—originating from supernova explosions, gamma-ray bursts and black holes (with an emphasis on expanding humankind's knowledge of Dark-Matter).


The projects principal investigator, Francis Halzen, stated optimistically:

Since the 1970s we have dreamed of building a detector of this size, and we have spent 20 years working toward IceCube [...] If the science to come brings half the excitement of completing this instrument, we have a bright future ahead. With the completion of IceCube, we are on our way to reaching a level of sensitivity that may allow us to see neutrinos from sources beyond the sun.


During the project, researchers have posted a great blog titled IceCube which you can check out here!

Cheers to the unimaginable immensity of human endeavors; We are only limited by our imagination...and our $271 million dollar budgets!


-D-


 
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Who hasn't dreamed of one day owning a robotic suit of armor that gave them superhuman strength??? I think anyone who says they have is either a dirty liar, or clinically insane.
Students and Professors at the University of Chicago have been experimenting with brain-computer interfaces in an attempt to make a pneumatically powered, mind-controlled suit. The applications are obvious and wide-stretching; from military applications, to helping out the disabled, to simply aiding humans in day to day jobs where super-human strength might come in handy (Like when customers ask for every item on their order to be customized in some way and you just need to pick up a fryer and chuck it at them!...)


 
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How are you enjoying the new Facebook layout? Still avoiding clicking on the button for fear of change? Well here's an idea that was had by French artist Alexandre Oudin. The profile page allowed him to flex his artistic muscles (Far as I can tell they are located just behind your eyes) and he came up with this Magritte-inspired collage. 


Anyone who wants to try this is free to upload pictures that are the exact pixel resolution as they display on the page, block the photos you are tagged in, and upload your own set. (Or, you can just enjoy this image and pass this article along... it's the lazy choice, but it's the right choice!)


Cheers to thinking outside the box, and into multiple cleverly designed boxes adjacent...


-D-

 
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Ever wondered what it would be like to lose a limb? Ever wondered what it would be like to have tentacles (Message to anyone living downstream from Pickering Ontario: What's it like to have tentacles?...And if you don't get that...investiGoogle it; I'm not going to pick on Chernobyl, they've been through enough)


Well designer Kaylene Kau, graduate (BFA) of the University of Washington's school of Industrial Design, thought that the tentacle would be an outstanding replacement for the human limb. Ideally replacement limbs and prosthetics serve much the same purpose as the missing parts. Often hands are replaced with static hooks and claws, arms are jointed but just... sometimes robotic and animatronic limbs are simply replicas of the absent member. Kaylene thought slightly outside the box and decided that she would design a limb that, instead of replicating human motion, would exceed the capabilities of our structures.


 
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Well here's something you don't see everyday (unless of course you bought one of these...cause then you would see it...every day)! This odd rug isn't just a piece of post modern art, it's actually a rudimentary animation. Check out the video below to see how this clever design, paired with the optical trickery of the semi-transparent glass table, creates an awesome optical illusion that would be sure to liven up any room!




Love goldfish and coy ponds? No room or patients to have either? Sounds like this is carpet for you! 


Designer: John Leung for ClarkeHopkinsClarke Architects


 
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Google, it's the real G-Spot! (I don't think they'll use that slogan...ever)

Alright, so it's not a real story... but it's still awesome! Google has often been the leader in mapping the contents of the world and making a digital imprint on our lives. Recently the ability of real people to harness the power of Google Maps and write reviews based on location has been hijacked by some incredibly creative people.


Google, it's the real G-Spot! (I don't think they'll use that slogan...ever)

Thinking of visiting Area 51? Might want to think twice, I hear the customer service is terrible!

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Click here to check out the reviews (and maybe add one of your own)

Cheers to not taking it seriously,
-D-
 
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Tonbridge, Kent, United Kingdom Specimen: WeevilTechnique: Episcopic illumination


No one will be taken aback by the fact that WhiskyGuyD is a photo-nut. Photography on all scales amazes him, so it's no shock that this next post is about photographic marvels!

Every year BioScapes holds an international digital imaging competition and this years winners are simply incredible. My absolute favorite is this photograph of a weevil by Me. Laurie Knight of Kent in the UK. Taken with episcopic illumination, this photograph is beyond macro!