Science

The Oblong Industries G-Speak Spacial Operating Environment

If you ever watched the film Minority Report and thought “That computer is cool.. I can’t wait for those to be real”, well you might not be waiting too much longer.

Oblong Industries created the G-Speak SOE platform (SOE means Spatial Operating Environment), an early version of which was actually seen in the movie being used by Tom Cruise. It looks like brilliant technology, however, it does need some space and I’m sure it wouldn’t come cheap. It’s quite exciting that this could be how computing is done in the future, it seems it could be especially useful for structural planning and engineering.

Here’s a great video from the Oblong website showing the system in use, with gloves moving graphics and 2 person interaction:

I’m so looking forward to the days when computers are more of an active experience.. I know its dependant on space, but in the age of the Nintendo Wii and Xbox Kinect, it kind of feels like the isolated, sentient life of someone working on a computer should perhaps be a thing of the past.. why shouldn’t work be more tactile, active and enjoyable?

Here’s a clip from Minority Report too.. Just to compare, although I’m pretty sure some extra CGI may have enhanced the film footage.

I was listening to Greg James on BBC Radio 1 earlier and heard a brilliant electronica track called “The Quantum World” by Symphony of Science. While looking for this video I also found another educational and quite funny video explaining Quantum Mechanics and the history of the science.

The Quantum World by Symphony of Science (Melody Sheep)

This video features clips from many leading figures in physics, seen on TV and in the media, inc. Stephen Hawking, Prof. Brian Cox speaking at TED, Doc. Michio Kaku, actor Morgan Freeman presenting Discovery Channel’s Through The Worm Hole, and other auto tuned clips from science programmes seen on BBC4 and Discovery Science.

This song by Melody Sheep may not blaze up the music charts, but its definitely a unique, clever, stylish and educational video & (I think) a well produced track. Its good to hear and see something like this in music, especially when heard on national radio!

Does this make watching BBC4 and Discovery all the time a tiny bit cooler?

Ode to Quantum Mechanics by Casual Entropy

This just made me laugh, its a rapid journey through the history and some of the stranger observations made within the field of Quantum Theory.

Richard Dawkins first introduced these Biomorphs in his book The Blind Watchmaker as a way to show how evolution has resulted in the existence of complex organisms. The software applet that shows this can be found here and allows the user to choose the steps of the evolving Biomorph from a selection of options, the chosen Biomorph then becomes the parent of further options for the next generation of offspring.

Evolve Your Own Organisms

Most of these offspring options offer only a tiny change from the parent organism, while a few offer greater alternative forms.

These options mimic the slight variations of living things, allowing us to see how natural selection can result in amazing changes in the evolution of creatures over a number of generations. Big changes can often be seen to occur through just 10-12 generations / clicks of the mouse.

What is a Meme?

Richard Dawkins is also known for coining the term “Meme”. The term is loosely based on the word Gene and first mentioned in another of his books, The Selfish Gene. A Meme is an idea, a fad or an interest that seems to spread through popular culture and communication networks in much the same way as genes pass on information through generations.

The word “meme” is more commonly used now than it was in the early years following the original publishing of Dawkins’ book in 1976. Now that the internet, the web and social networks allow the transmission and spread of ideas & thoughts more rapidly, there have been a number of internet memes that have caught on quickly. Creating a meme, or a mass public interest (buzz) around something can be very profitable for a brand or product manufacturer.. or even a film studio or a musician… or a damn Crazy Frog!

The science of genes, evolution and the spread of information, both on the web and in the world, can be seen as similar systems. Understanding the natural world can even lead to better marketing ideas… I’m sure it already has and we’ve probably often helped the subjects of those ideas to spread… ever heard of something “going viral”?

Biomorphs Video

Shows the steps this particular Biomorph takes in its evolution.
(this video often seems to take a moment to begin)

Biomorphs Interative Applet – Richard Dawkins
Another Biomorph program

I believe there are some other similar programs around.. maybe if you know of any, please post a comment and I’ll add a link here.

Information Architects agency in Tokyo (and also Zurich) are experts of interface design and also make apps including a much liked iPad app for writing, iA Writer.

They are also the creators of the award winning Web Trend Maps. The latest is map number 5 and they always release them as posters to buy through their online store.

Each map shows how the web (or specific area of it) is developing, growing and how the contributors are comparing and connecting to each other. They include beautiful graphics that show the information clearly and simply, which is probably why they are often bought by some of the worlds leading web agencies & companies inc. Google, Facebook, Microsoft and even CERN.. home of The Large Hadron Collider in Geneva, considered the birth place of the Web after it was conceived by Tim Burners-Lee.

→ Continue reading Web Trend Maps

The rings of Saturn captured by Cassini, also features Earth in the distance.

This is a stunning photograph of Saturn taken by the Cassini space probe in 2006.

It might look like a perfect computer-generated graphic.. but this image was created by combining 165 images taken over 3 hours with the wide angle camera on Cassini as it orbited the planet. Earth can be seen here too, but due to the distance we are from Saturn it is only seen as a tiny bright dot. If you imagine a clock face; look just inside the second largest ring at about 10 o’clock.. there we are!

See more about this image on the NASA website.