TheHotSpring.net » Hyper-convergence paradigm

Here’s to the Crazy Ones

Joseph Robertson — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 12:45:08 +0000

"Here's to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the trouble-makers, the round pegs in the square holes, the ones who see things differently: they're not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status-quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify, or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them, because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world—are the ones who do."

Steve Jobs, Apple Founder, Visionary, 56 Years Old, Dies

Joseph Robertson — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 04:23:05 +0000

Steve Jobs was not a run-of-the-mill CEO. He was not the usual technology wiz. He was not lost in the abstract. He was not working for gain alone. Steve Jobs earned immense wealth and achieved some of the most pervasive influence over human events in recent decades, through the strength and passion of [...]

Borders Closure is Green Light for Bookstore Innovation

Joseph Robertson — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 15:23:36 +0000

Borders Books and Music was a place of pilgrimage for book lovers, music lovers and people who loved to sit with coffee and read, chat or peruse magazines they might or might not buy. It has played a vital role in the distribution of books of both wide and narrow market interest, and has driven the cathedral-warehouse paradigm of big bookstore chains. Its failure, however, opens the field for more innovative, more reader-friendly experiments in book selling.

Cyber-security Must Aim for 100% Non-military Cyberspace

Joseph Robertson — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 18:54:39 +0000

As the Pentagon issues its official cyber-security posture, it is imperative that we move into the era of strategic cyber-security with one paramount aim: that cyberspace not be militarized in any substantive way by any nation. Cyberspace should operate much the way our space exploration has worked: aiming for technological superiority and peaceful, international cooperation. [...]

Graphene: Flexible, Wearable, Ultrathin, Ultrapowerful Electronic Substrate

Joseph Robertson — Sat, 21 May 2011 21:21:18 +0000

Graphene is a single-layer of carbon atoms bound together in a chemical pattern. It can have 300 times the strength of steel, and significantly more conductive ability than today’s semiconductors. And, being made of carbon atoms, it can be produced from abundant resources at what may someday be very low prices.

The result: flexible, wearable, [...]

Fact-based Reporting as Heroic Defense of Liberty

Independents of Principle — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 22:01:28 +0000

The press are the necessary foundation of political influence for the people. It is through the press and what it does for the dissemination of evidence and of fact-based independent analysis that the citizens of a free republic are able to monitor, judge and influence the actions of their government. It is through the press that the governed are able to ensure they are governed only in line with their informed consent.

Scientists Inscribe Periodic Table on a Human Hair (video)

staff — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 19:59:59 +0000

Scientists at the University of Nottingham, in the UK, have inscribed the entire Periodic Table of the Elements on a human hair. It is the smallest known record of the Periodic Table, and a breakthrough moment in nano-scale inscription (and potentially: engineering). According to the New Scientist magazine: "To achieve this nanoscale feat, they first magnified the hair in an electron microscope, then used an ion beam writer to bombard the hair with a blast of ions. The process left behind the imprint of a periodic table..."

Net Neutrality & What is at Stake

Joseph Robertson — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 00:11:30 +0000

Today, the Federal Communications Commission approved new rules on net neutrality that seem designed to appease all parties to the debate but are sure to raise the ire of many. The rules essentially grant the need for and defense of long-term network neutrality —the free and open Internet— for fixed-line web connections, but they nearly erase this protection for wireless connections, putting free speech and technology innovation rights at risk.

Is WikiLeaks the ‘New Normal’?

Joseph Robertson — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 17:35:01 +0000

WikiLeaks is causing a lot of distress to people in positions of influence, and may be making international relations somewhat stickier, but any member of a free society must at least consider the notion that more transparency is better, even if it makes some who would benefit from less feel a little uncomfortable. WikiLeaks is a complicated ethical watershed, but whether on the right or the wrong side of informational openness, it is a clear landmark moment in the evolution of informational freedom.

10-10-10: Day for Climate Awareness, Worldwide Video Testimony

Joseph Robertson — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 13:54:49 +0000

The 'One Day on Earth' project, organized in part by the UN Development Programme, is planned to be the largest single participatory video experiment in history. People from every country in the world will be filming their community, their messages, their contributions, to a wider project that will culminate in a feature film designed to capture the scope, the reality, the local feel, of one day's experiences, across the planet.

Pranav Mistry Explains Paradigm-shift ‘SixthSense’ Technology

Joseph Robertson — Sun, 23 May 2010 19:11:11 +0000

At TEDIndia, Pranav Mistry demos several tools that help the physical world interact with the world of data — including a deep look at his SixthSense device and a new, paradigm-shifting paper "laptop." In an onstage Q&A, Mistry says he'll open-source the software behind SixthSense, to open its possibilities to all.

Google Voice Pushes Free Phone-service Envelope

Joseph Robertson — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 22:26:14 +0000

Google Voice, an ingenious use of web-based voice communications service, allows users to combine a range of phone numbers under one standard, permanent Google phone number. Any linked phone number can be removed or replaced, and the service is free. All domestic calls inside the US are free, and sms is free. The service even converts voicemail to readable transcripts in an online inbox.

Comparing Kindle 2 & Kindle DX

Joseph Robertson — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:46:37 +0000

The Amazon Kindle 2 is ideally sized for one-handed reading. In this category, it beats the traditional book, because it's single pane is more ergonomic for the purpose of reading with one hand and seeing the text clearly at a consistent angle, than struggling to balance a side-bound traditional book.

Social Networking Tools are Representative of Human Evolution

Joseph Robertson — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 21:10:02 +0000

An attractive woman, 34-ish, drives a compact station-wagon, late model, over a still-cobblestone side street in the center of Madrid. She advances slowly, toward a red light, and talks on her cell phone. She seems equally concentrated on both activities. Driving an automobile is a potentially dangerous activity, in which one's own life or the lives of others may be at risk, while a casual conversation is not so much that. Yet she seemed to give equal weight, her body, her manner, seemed to give equal weight to both activities.

Access versus Control: DVR, eBooks & Online Reporting

admin — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 04:43:39 +0000

DVR is an increasingly popular consumer-oriented technology which simultaneously liberates viewers from strict TV viewing schedules and also imposes new constraints on recording freedoms (including sharing). DVR is a concession by content providers, advertisers and infrastructure (connectivity) providers, to the advantages of digital technology, and to the common individual demand for more freedom to control [...]

Apple Tablet to Revolutionize Print Media, News Publishing

Joseph Robertson — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 04:39:01 +0000

Apple's long-awaited tablet computer, likely to run a version of Mac OS X and to merge the touchscreen stylings of the iPhone and iPod Touch with the full functionality of the MacBook line, is expected to be aimed at revolutionizing the way print media deliver text to readers. If true, the device would again put Apple at the cutting edge of a field where Amazon, Microsoft, Sony and others, are trying to set the standards for e-book distribution and licensing.

Artificial Intelligence: Will It Understand or Reject Our Human Qualities?

Joseph Robertson — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 15:56:12 +0000

Is the very thing we demand of our computers the thing that will make them intolerant of our humanity, if and when they awaken to an artificial intelligence? One of the fundamental problems in achieving a state of computational agility and independence that would allow us to say a synthetic entity has acquired 'artificial intelligence' is the problem of autonomy. If we give real autonomy to artificially intelligent machines, can we trust them to cooperate with us, in the ways we, as human beings prefer?

Sony advances touchscreen e-paper paradigm with Sony Reader Touch Edition

staff — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 16:49:42 +0000

Like the Amazon Kindle family of e-readers, the Sony Reader Touch Edition uses an e-Ink e-paper display. But it’s interface works like a touchscreen. The advance is a major improvement for the standards of design in e-paper e-book readers. The touchscreen standard may be the most significant challenge Sony has put forth for the Amazon Kindle readers, none of which uses a touchscreen interface.

Kindle DX: Beautiful, Focused, Comfortable, Imperfect, Inspired & Worth ‘Reading’

Joseph Robertson — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 18:28:18 +0000

The Amazon Kindle DX is a beautiful device. Its design is user-friendly, intuitive and cohesive. It is clean-edged, minimal and thinner than many major magazines. Its format size is comfortable and makes tactile sense; it feels like something you hold in order to read, giving it a useful aesthetic kinship to books or magazines, a vast improvement on smaller e-reading devices. It is, in point of fact, far more comfortable than planting yourself in front of a computer monitor to read large amounts of text.

Apple Projected to Release 10-inch Touchscreen Tablet, September 2009

Joseph Robertson — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 02:14:14 +0000

The Financial Times is the latest publication to weigh in on mounting expectations that Apple will release a touchscreen tablet computer this fall. There are rumors the computer maker is hoping to counter the rise of cheap netbooks with something lower-cost than their standard Macs and with a larger screen based on the model of the iPod Touch and the iPhone. The news could mean a breakthrough in personal computing standards and even portability of the workplace.