Bruce Sterling's Blog, page 698

Gravity is an entropic form of holographic information.

*Okay, probably not. It's a stretcher, as Mark Twain used to say. But man, that is one of the most intellectually-sexy physics riffs I've seen in ages.

*I really hope this paradigm-for-a-theory works out. Because, by 2020, we could be whippin' around in supersonic info-based flying antigravity cars that emit only string-based entropy pollution.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20527443.800-the-entropy-force-a-new-direction-for-gravity.html

(…)

"Verlinde uses the holographic principle to ...

Augmented Reality: I guess it's safe to say the word gets out on Twitter

tech_south Bruce Sterling to keynote first augmented reality confab (http://cli.gs/1B3qz)

3 minutes ago from WP to Twitter

Juliegabas RT @FotoDialer: Bruce Sterling to keynote first augmented reality confab: CNET by Daniel Terdiman You know a new technology has … http …

35 minutes ago from web

dromescu Bruce Sterling @bruces 2 keynote first augmented reality confab 2-3.06 Santa Clara http://is.gd/6FXH0 #ar

about 1 hour ago from TweetDeck

nathancharley RT @GaryPHayes: Bruce Sterling to keynote...

Spime Watch: The Internet of Chinese Things

*Oh lordy. Load up the Great Firewall.

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/chinese_premier_internet_of_things.php

Chinese Premier Talks Up Internet of Things

Written by Richard MacManus / January 19, 2010 8:53 PM /

In the last quarter of 2009, a number of significant public speeches were made about Internet of Things in China.

It started on August 7, when Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao made a speech in the city of Wuxi calling for the rapid development of Internet of Things technologies. It...

Augmented Reality: Anselm Hook interviewed by Tish Shute

*Well, here it is 2010, and this is one of those increasingly common moments where I hear people say, 'Hey scifi writer! Remember that thing you were muttering about ten years ago? Yep, got one of them here in this box!'

*Good luck with that….

http://www.ugotrade.com/2010/01/17/visual-search-augmented-reality-and-a-social-commons-for-the-physical-world-platform-interview-with-anselm-hook/

"Extra credit for eager ubicomp hackers: combine this [pachube feeds:] with Googlewave, then describe it...

Music Break: Keba — "Kukavica"

*Check out the Slavic silent-film quotes in this urban-fantasy video.

The top ten technologies for modern tyrants

*Oddly lacks prisons, electronic parole and torture chambers, but other than that, this is quite a thoughtful list. via @evgenymorozov

http://www.crn.com.au/News/164959,top-10-technologies-for-tyranny.aspx

Music Break: Osman Hadzic and Sabrina: 'Poljubi me'

*Totally digging this video director's sly mix of Balkan domestic interiors and the industrial chemical plant.

HADOPI and the swarming mess that is intellectual property

*When everybody's a thief, including the anti-thieves, you have the grave misfortune to dwell in a corrupted society.

*This is not a thing to ironically celebrate. It's scary and bad.

http://fontfeed.com/archives/french-anti-piracy-organisation-uses-pirated-font-in-ownlogo/

Cut-Price Space Shuttle for Sale, $28 million

*That's quite a reasonable price. Some banker ought to be able to buy that out of his yearly bonus.

http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2010/01/space-shuttles-for-sale.html

"Space shuttle for sale, fully loaded, air conditioning, one careful owner. It's the ultimate bargain. NASA has cut the price of a space shuttle to $28.8 million. The vehicles will go on sale after they finish constructing the International Space Station, scheduled to be later this year. The New York Times r...

What's New With Naomi Klein

*Rather a lot. Looks like, ten years after Seattle 1999, she's figured out that there is no global Left and no world government.

in the past 10 years I have written very little about developments like these. I realised why while reading William Gibson's 2003 novel Pattern Recognition. (((gets popcorn)))

The book's protagonist, Cayce Pollard, is allergic to brands, particularly Tommy Hilfiger and the Michelin man. So strong is this "morbid and sometimes violent reactivity to the semiotics of t...