Mon, 22 Feb 2010 20:07:57 +0000

Soon to be fact, if researchers at Virginia Tech are to be believed. A group of undergraduates working with Dennis Hong at Virginia Tech’s Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory are making a car that can be driven by the blind and already have a working prototype in place. This project was initiated by the National Federation [...]

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 16:05:41 +0000

Two parts of my life recently collided. Two ironies, really. First, after growing up off the grid, without TV (or school, for that matter, but that’s another story), with parents who had only disdain for TV and popular culture, I find myself working for a new cable TV show.  The show, called “Caprica,” is about [...]

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 20:39:37 +0000

I recently had lunch with a friend who had just returned to Chicago after a few months at Intel Labs. During an interesting discussion on future directions in computer technology, he asked me to google the term “Light Peak Technology.” It turns out that Light Peak technology is the name of a revolutionary optical cable technology [...]

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:02:16 +0000

What time is it? Maybe the E. coli in your intestines will tell you some day. Scientists at the University of California at San Diego have created a “clock” made of genetically engineered bacteria. The bacteria rhythmically flash blue light like a bulb on a string of Christmas tree lights. While stopwatches in your GI [...]

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 19:11:59 +0000

Remember those days when we just used cell phones to talk with our family and friends? Yeah, that was short-lived. It seems that cell phone technology is changing rapidly day by day. First it was the color screen, which was quickly followed by a camera. Then, it was the Internet and e-mail. Great! Now I have everything [...]

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 21:07:35 +0000

A followup to the blog entry of 9/10/09. [There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 16:00:42 +0000

This week my new computer showed up. I was excited to get it set up and start using it right away. There was only one problem. Before I could put my new computer on my desk, I had to pull apart all of the wires and cables, sort them out, and [...]

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:45:23 +0000

The New York Times has an interesting article on the science of glass, profiling the newly-opened attraction at the Sears Tower, “The Ledge.”  Only three panes of glass separate you from the street some 1300 feet below. Needless to say, a lot of thought, engineering, and safety precautions went into building this attraction.  The article has [...]

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 04:26:06 +0000

An inspiring segment on last night’s episode of 60 Minutes profiled the work of DARPA’s (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) “Revolutionizing Prosthetics” program, a $100 million project intent on advancing a field that, in some respects, hasn’t changed much in more than 50 years. The piece concentrated on the DARPA-funded DEKA arm, developed by inventor Dean [...]

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 21:27:51 +0000

According to BBC News, testing is currently underway for a treatment of stem cells that can be injected directly into the body and guided to damaged points via magnets and guiding magnetic nanoparticles in the blood stream. By injecting the magnetic nanoparticles into the stem cells, the researchers at Keele University are able to move [...]