http://www.kurzweilai.net/news/rss/index.html

http://www.physorg.com/physorg.rss

http://www.npr.org/rss/rss.php?id=1019

http://rss.msnbc.msn.com/id/9548203/device/rss/rss.xml

http://www.foresight.org/nanodot/wp-rss2.php

http://www.smalltimes.com/rss/smalltimes.rss

http://www.smalltimes.com/rss/articlefeed.cfm?subcat=WIBrf&p=109

This is pretty cool thought I’d post it in case any of you haven’t seen it around yet…

Bush just sent a 3.1 TRILLION dollar budget to Congress.

3.1 WHAT?!? TRILLION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Are you kidding me??? That’s over $10,000 for every man, woman, AND child in the United States.

Forget the Matrix Trilogy, it seems as though we are slaves to the machine already…

This government is too big to govern ANYTHING. The right hand can’t POSSIBLY know what the left hand is doing!

The bigger they are, the harder they fall, and I’m afraid that’s just what might happen in the mad rush toward…The Singularity. I just hope it doesn’t take us with it!

I ask that our lawmakers please become more judicious in their spending, more conscious of the ramification of their actions.

Greed and decadence will destroy our society. Hopefully the Singularity is the blessing and not the curse.

If you’re wondering why I’m in such a serious mood it’s because I’ve got a fever. Here I’ll check my temperature for you guys…waiting… 99.2 low-grade fever…great, I’m going to just lie down and relax…

Well, when it gets done processing it should show up HERE

Hey Everyone!

If you haven’t heard yet I am filming a documentary and have recently built a website and put up a trailer for you to see. If you want to know what keeps me busy when I’m not updating Blogging the Singularity then visit:

RacingHeartMovie.com

There is a video trailer on there and also check out the film proposal and marketing proposals if you are interested in taking part in the project!

If interested, my contact information is on the Contact page!

Thank you everyone for supporting this blog and I hope you enjoy the Racing Heart preview enough to join in the fun. It’s hard to make an independent film and your support is crucial. I even need moral support so if you enjoy the trailer then send me an email and let me know…it really helps!

Ok everyone, enjoy BTS and Racing Heart and I’ll wish you all a great day!

Cheers!
Chris Williamson
Blogger-in-Chief

An award-winning 3D reconstruction algorithm designed by a team of computer science researchers from UC San Diego brings this dream within the grasp of reality.

This research gets at the heart of “autocalibration,” a well-studied, fundamental problem in computer vision. Autocalibration aims to recover the three dimensional structure of a scene using only its images, acquired from cameras whose internal settings and spatial orientations are unknown.

Autocalibraton is part of a larger 3D image reconstruction challenge that has caught the attention of Google, Microsoft and others.

This technology could be put to use in a wide variety of applications. For example, someone selling shoes online could take pictures of their shoes and create 3D reconstructions of their inventory. Such reconstructions would provide more information about what the shoes actually look like than images or video footage can.

The algorithm could also be used to automatically align security camera networks used in casinos and airports. Coupled with existing technology for immersive media, the algorithm could be used to create augmented-reality walkthroughs of cities, supermarkets or any other places of interest. more>>>

February 28, 2008 – Edmonton – A team of researchers at the University of Alberta has discovered a gene that is able to block HIV, and in turn prevent the onset of AIDS.

Stephen Barr, a molecular virologist in the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, says his team has identified a gene called TRIM22 that can block HIV infection in a cell culture by preventing the assembly of the virus.

“When we put this gene in cells, it prevents the assembly of the HIV virus,” said Barr, a postdoctoral fellow. “This means the virus cannot get out of the cells to infect other cells, thereby blocking the spread of the virus.” more>>>

The country is betting on robots to replenish the aging work force.

TOKYO – At a university lab in a Tokyo suburb, engineering students are wiring a rubbery robot face to simulate six basic expressions: anger, fear, sadness, happiness, surprise and disgust.

Hooked up to a database of words clustered by association, the robot — dubbed Kansei, or “sensibility” — responds to the word “war” by quivering in what looks like disgust and fear. It hears “love,” and its pink lips smile.

“To live among people, robots need to handle complex social tasks,” said project leader Junichi Takeno of Meiji University. “Robots will need to work with emotions, to understand and eventually feel them. more>>>

By Hiroko Tabuchi, Associated Press
TOKYO — At a university lab in a Tokyo suburb, engineering students are wiring a rubbery robot face to simulate six basic expressions: anger, fear, sadness, happiness, surprise and disgust.

Hooked up to a database of words clustered by association, the robot — dubbed Kansei, or “sensibility” — responds to the word “war” by quivering in what looks like disgust and fear. It hears “love,” and its pink lips smile.

“To live among people, robots need to handle complex social tasks,” said project leader Junichi Takeno of Meiji University. “Robots will need to work with emotions, to understand and eventually feel them.

While robots are a long way from matching human emotional complexity, the country is perhaps the closest to a future — once the stuff of science fiction — where humans and intelligent robots routinely live side by side and interact socially. more>>>