Real-time patterns of wifi usage at Carnegie-Mellon University are plotted on this map.
I’m intrigued by the brave souls who appear to be using their wireless devices outside the shelter of the buildings, as current weather in Pittsburgh doesn’t seem too compatible with alfresco work…
» CMUsky.org: All Connected WiFi Users::Carnegie Mellon Campus
[found via the still-chugging-along-nicely warchalking.org]
“Our esteemed friends at The Register are reporting on how a hoax email caused large numbers of people to flood the switchboard of their local police.
This illustrates a phenomenon of “media bleed”, where the attributes of one medium overflow to pollute or enhance another. In this case, the anonymous nature of email has bypassed the anti-abuse features of the PSTN.”
can be found here. Caution: the background pattern makes it a little hard to read on a PC…
[via Chad]
New(-to-me) blog on mind and idea stuff found via Seb’s Open Research, which I gravitated towards purely because of the nostalgia-value of the URL, but stayed for stuff like this:
“Modern preconceptions have it that simply by applying our brains and concentrating hard enough on a problem (e.g. a crossword clue), we should be able to see the solution. This is the “Hare brain” approach.
The book says that there are two types of solution moments. Yes, one is when we sit down and just think hard. But there is another solution moment which comes seemingly out of nowhere, when we’ve been staring out the window, or having a shower, going for a walk. This is the tortoise mind approach. This is a result of a) having done the hare brain thinking in the first place and b) just relaxing your frontal lobes, and letting the rest of your brain “background render” the solution.
Very well-done [212k or so] dynamic map of the USA, showing photographs of moveon.org meetings to watch a documentary about the Iraq conflict.
The effect of zooming in 2-3 clicks from a semi-continental clean, vector map to rich, warm human-scale photos is powerful.
» MoveOn: Democracy in Action: Countrywide Map
[via Dan Gillmor]
Tom Hume on the ettiquette of ‘bluejacking’ and ethnographic opportunity it affords:
“Bluejacking is interesting because it’ll give us the first clues as to how people feel about these kinds of interruptions and how they’ll react to them.”
of Vast US-Centric information network.
» TeleGeography: Publications: Internet Map Wallpaper [via Nixlog]
Made aware of our Roomba’s military parentage on the weekend, I took a little look around iRobot‘s site. Amongst the slightly-sinister-but-undeniably-cool fishbots, and swarm-deploying mothershipbots I found the Bloodhound.
When Bloodhound arrives at the wounded soldier, it will notify the medic, and the medic will examine the casualty using the robot’s sensors. Bloodhound’s diagnostic sensors include video cameras, an electronic stethoscope, and two-way audio to communicate with a conscious casualty.
After determining the extent of the casualty’s injuries, the medic will be able to treat those injuries using Bloodhound’s medical payloads. Potential payloads include devices to stop bleeding (inflatable bandages, fibrin bandages, liquid fibrin sealants, Factor VII), intramuscular auto-injectors (which can deliver morphine, adrenaline, and nerve agent antidotes), and advanced diagnostic devices. Using these payloads, the medic will be able to stabilize the casualty’s condition until a medic can arrive or the casualty can be evacuated.
Bloodhound is part of a Robotic Rescue Team being developed at iRobot. Other members of this team will include robots for evacuating casualties and robots for shielding casualties from hostile fire.
The bloodhound is semi-autonomous, so a human medic makes the choices for it. However, it is not an enormous leap to think of autonomous battlefield medibots. Would their dispassionate graphite and metal swarms shield and treat the enemy without discrimination?
Would their manufacturer feel obligated to encode in them not only Asimov’s Laws but supplement them with the Hippocratic Oath?
Foe quotes “Spirited Away” on identity theft:
“I can’t believe I forgot my name. She almost took it from me.”
“If you completely forget it, you’ll never find your way home. I’ve tried everything to remember mine.”
Lovely.
Off to London for Foe‘s birthday, maybe go to some of the Future Cities conference at the LSE and to weave some Urban Tapestries. So here’s some links:
Petafloptimism 