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| Notice: GeekPress is back up and running, thanks to Paul! It's still a not-so-serious tech news blog, but the format is significantly looser. Diana, having given up programming for philosophy, has her own philosophical blog NoodleFood. More of her work can be found at DianaHsieh.com. |
| Computer can "talk like a baby" |
| 1:45:10 am mst / 1 March 2001 found by paul / filed in future / source BBC News 82 hits / 0 comments / 0 e-mails |
| From the article: "An Israeli company has created a conversational computer program it claims could revolutionise the way people interact with machines. Artificial Intelligence Enterprises (Ai) says its Hal program can already converse convincingly and has the vocabulary and grasp of language of a 15-month-old child." |
| More information is available in this article in New Scientist. |
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| Using DNA to build circuits |
| 4:52:51 am mst / 1 March 2001 found by paul / filed in nanotechnology / source Nature 53 hits / 0 comments / 0 e-mails |
| Pennsylvania State University researchers have devised a way to tag nanowires with DNA, which then causes connections to preferentially form between certain sets of wires. Their eventual goal is "to make 'self-wiring' nanoscale electronic circuits, using surface-bound DNA tags to guide the components into place." |
| A very interesting combination of nanotech and biotech. |
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| The Birth of Anti-Technology |
| 7:53:10 am mst / 1 March 2001 found by diana / filed in politics / source Reason 125 hits / 3 comments / 0 e-mails |
| The anti-technology movement is gaining steam as more and more veterans of the civil rights, peace, and environmental movements set their sights on the terrible dangers of all things new and shiny. One activist at a recent conference "demanded that society broadly adopt the 'precautionary principle,' the notion that before any new development in science and technology can be used, it must be shown to have no negative impact." |
| Ack! Save me! The future is coming! The future is coming! |
| read 3 comments |
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| Judge Denies Bias Against "Guilty Microsoft Bastards" |
| 9:21:06 am mst / 1 March 2001 found by diana / filed in humor / source SatireWire 120 hits / 0 comments / 0 e-mails |
| Judge Penfield Jackson attemped to salvage his reputation by apologizing for his "injudicious and unwarranted" anti-Microsoft comments. Denying bias, he said, "I had then, and still have today, no personal opinions whatsoever as regards those guilty lying bastards at Microsoft, or the evil prick son of a bitch who runs it." |
| If the source wasn't SatireWire, I might think this was a real news story! |
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| Is it ok to put metal in the microwave? |
| 11:23:39 am mst / 1 March 2001 found by paul / filed in science / source ABC News 306 hits / 0 comments / 0 e-mails |
| Although everyone assumes that the answer is "no", the Answer Geek explains that sometimes it's ok. It all depends on the shape of the metallic object. |
| Thanks to the unbiased folks at the Aluminum Foil Container Manufacturers Association (AFCMA)! |
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| Travel Sites in Free Fall |
| 5:10:06 pm mst / 1 March 2001 found by diana / filed in business / source Wired 39 hits / 0 comments / 0 e-mails |
| From the article: After Northwest Airlines says it won't pay commissions to travel websites any more, the sites return the favor by saying they'll start charging a service fee on Northwest tickets. End result: Shares in travel sites plummet. |
| It seems silly for airlines to be willing to pay travel agents so much money (up to $50 per ticket), but refusing an already smaller amount (up to $10) ticket sales via web sites. |
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| The cost of fur |
| 5:25:48 pm mst / 1 March 2001 found by diana / filed in science / source The Economist 95 hits / 0 comments / 0 e-mails |
| Economists at Oxford University have managed to conduct a rather novel set of experiments to test whether caged mink actually miss the perks of their wild environment. Using a weighted door, they were able to determine how important certain "treats" were to the critters. |
| Totally fascinating methodology! |
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| Can Linux make a buck? Here's how |
| 8:34:31 pm mst / 1 March 2001 found by diana / filed in business / source ZDNet 65 hits / 0 comments / 0 e-mails |
| Evan Leibovitch talks about how value-added resellers (VARs), currently a pretty sparse group, can help the business side of Linux. |
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| Robot pets get domesticated |
| 10:53:21 pm mst / 1 March 2001 found by paul / filed in robotics / source BBC News 68 hits / 0 comments / 1 e-mail |
| For the next generation of its Aibo robotic pets, Sony will release software that will give its owners more control over its personality. |
| Amusing tidbit: "One user group has produced a program that gives an Aibo the personality of the wise-cracking robot Bender from the cartoon Futurama created by Matt Groening - the man behind The Simpsons." |
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