YouTube - Hands Free 3D: Second Life Navigation Demo

<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/2t52gkAwJq8&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/2t52gkAwJq8&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>

Nice video from Mitch Kapoor looking using 3D imaging to control avatars - just the answer to what I was talking about to someone the other day about how we will interact with virtual worlds in the future

***Imported from old blog***

Many Eyes

http://services.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/home

This is IBM's "Flickr" for data visualisations site

***Imported from old blog***

Diaspora***** - Greg Egan

This is the second Greg Egan book I've read. The first was Permutation City and that was excellent and the first book in which the idea of copies/upload/personality constructs (PC) made some sort of sense. With Diaspora Egan goes well beyond that, 150 pages in its an excellent book. Even though written nearly a decade ago it visualisation of a future for humanity is far better than most modern SF authors, and it should be quoted as much as Snowcrash when it comes to talking about virtual worlds. The opening chapter describing the "birth" of a new PC, and that PC's first interaction with external data streams, and then its avatar and its virtual world home are superb.

For the record, and it doesn't include any spoilers, Diaspora identifies a future only 100 or so years out when humanity has post-signularity fragmented into about 4 different "species" (compare with the BT future evolution chart I posted a fortnight or so ago):

- Statics - organic, unmodified humans (i.e. us)
- Exhuberants - organic modified humans, whose modifications range from cosmetic to the extremes to cope with hostile environments such as the sea and space
- Gleisner robots - "uploaded" and (I assume) digitally evolved humans who live in mechanical bodies
- Polis residents (I don't think he gives them a name as the story is from their point of view) - uploaded and digitally evolved humans who live in virtual worlds (although those worlds have feeds of the physical world, have agency in it through robots, and can step out into it through Gleisner robots.

***Imported from old blog***

Phoenix Lander on Mars

Good to see that the Mars Phoenix lander made it safely down. Nice photos. Now lets see if it finds water-ice below the surface.

***Imported from old blog***

Human - Machine Convergence

Just loved this diagram in the IET's Engineering magasine - I think accompanying a future-gazing article by Ian Pearson at BT.

***Imported from old blog***

TwittEarth :: Live Twitts all over the world

http://www.twittearth.com/

Great pseudo-3D version of the old TwitterVision

***Imported from old blog***