Everybody Dies! Elderly Scientist Predicts the Demise of Humanity.

Frank Fenner, a 95 year old Australian scientist predicts that humanity will be wiped out with 100 years, although he doesn't offer much detail other than saying "overpopulation and climate change".

What if Strong AI is Not Achieved?

The famous sci-fi author Vernor Vinge originated the concept of the technological singularity and offers one of the best descriptions of this potential event:

"It seems plausible that with technology we can, in the fairly near future, create (or become) creatures who surpass humans in every intellectual and creative dimension. Events beyond this event—call it the Technological Singularity—are as unimaginable to us as opera is to a flatworm."

I just discovered a talk from way back in 2007 that he gave on the topic "What If the Singularity Does NOT Happen?". Still highly relevant and very interesting.

Oil Spill Gulf of Mexico 2010 - Transocean Deep Horizon BP great page to keep track of the disaster http://ping.fm/klLVO

Great page for info on the oil spill disaster in the Gulf http://ping.fm/9TDrG

Metaverse Roadmap

Jamais Cascio at kurzweilai.net has some interesting analysis regarding potential paths towards the singularity, grid form analysis shown below.

Electronic Display of the Future - discussion of 5-10 year horizon for e-readers http://ping.fm/gOZWF

Typing merely by thinking - plugless brainjack kit invented ? The Register. Can't wait to be able to type and juggle chainsaws at the same time. http://ping.fm/ANJ3t

Less Diversity Is Needed in the Fire Service. What should we really value? http://ping.fm/XVibz

Google Going After Twitter: Google Could Unveil Gmail's Social Features Tomorrow http://ping.fm/sn3O4

My first ever mid-air status update! Like the mile-high club, but much less fun. The last bastion of solitude is now gone with inflight wifi

Found this a little late for Christmas, but interesting nonethelesss: Scientist deduces physics behind Santa's sleigh ride - from Small Times http://ping.fm/fRpuJ

Why no Flash on iPad or iPhone? (thanks to Tripp Wiggins for the tip) http://ping.fm/dpheG

Feeding the iPad Frenzy

Yudu is quick out of the gate with a white paper comparing all current and soon to be forthcoming major e-readers including the iPad along with some commentary regarding the e-publishing industry. Clearly there is a little cheerleading involved as rapid market adoption of e-readers is certainly favorable for Yudu, but one quote did strike me: “every fifth book now sold in U.S. is now sold as an ebook” according to the U.S. Book Industry Study Group.

Vampires apparently have it right - blood from younger mice reverse signs of aging http://ping.fm/auGaO

The Apple iPad: It's just ahead of its time | Molly Rants - CNET News http://ping.fm/UOQbV

The Apple Tablet Interface Must Be Like This - apple tablet - Gizmodo (a lengthy discertation) http://ping.fm/Lh9IU

With Redesign, Reuters.com Goes After Consumer Audience, interesting approach, they only 3 add positions on most pages http://ping.fm/sEq8s

Could Humans Detonate the Sun?

A Russian scientist has advanced a theory that we could indeed "nova" the sun utilizing thermonuclear weapons (nod to Next Big Future). This would require new technology to enable delivery of the warhead deep into the sun, but given the pace of technological development it's not outside the realm of possibility within 50 years or less.

I'm not competent to judge the soundness of his science, but I am bit skeptical. One reason is that objects of significant size traveling at great speeds and therefore delivering massive amounts of energy impact the sun on a semi-frequent basis and as far as we now haven't produced any catastrophic results.

A decent size asteroid smacking into the sun would likely produce energies orders of magnitude greater than a current day thermonuclear detonation. Additionally, one composed substantially of typical metals such as iron/nickel would likely penetrate a reasonable distance into the sun before dissipating.

10 Sci-Fi Weapons That Actually Exist

Cool story from Wired on advanced weaponry

Nanocapacitors could be the next big step in energy storage - and in explosives

According to Dr. Alfred W. Hubler, Director of the Center for Complex Systems Research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, nanocapacitors i.e. digital batteries could store substantially more energy than chemical systems. Dr. Hubler states "The maximum density of retrievable energy in nano capacitors is comparable with the density of retrievable energy from nuclear reactions."

They could also have potential as explosives "The rapid energy release of nano capacitors discharged by an electrical short makes them potent explosives, potentially exceeding the power of any chemical explosive."

You can read Dr. Hubler's article here and find some interesting conversation on this topic at Next Big Future.