Cheetah-Bot: Faster Than the Fastest Human

Image via Wired

How cool is this? Funded by DARPA, Boston Dynamics is working on a robotic cheetah! It will have run faster than any human, be able to make sharp turns to "chase and evade", and stop on a dime. It will be used in military, but they haven't specified how yet, and they also plan to use it in emergency situations such as, "emergency response, firefighting, advanced agriculture and vehicular travel."

Boston Dynamics is the same company that made "Big Dog". If you haven't seen Big Dog, here's a video that will either make you go "AWESOME!" or give you nightmares (most likely both). I remember seeing it a couple years ago and freaking out, with a mixture of amazement and fright. Here's another video, showing it walking through different types of terrain, slipping on ice, and being kicked. It's impressive how it regains its balance in each situation. 

Image via Wired

Another design they're working on is Atlas, a bipedal humanoid type robot capable of walking over difficult terrain, crawling, and turning to fit into narrow spaces. It's an advancement from their earlier robot, PETMAN. Here's a video showing the PETMAN walking, and, of course, being kicked. 

I've pretty much always thought robots were awesome, and Boston Dynamic's creations are no exception. They're super cool, and I can't wait to see the new ones! But I also mentioned how creepy I find them, at the same time. I think the odd feeling I'm getting from these is caused by the Uncanny Valley, which basically says that the closer something is to looking like a real human, the more empathy a person will have for it, until a point in human likeness is reached where the response becomes a strong revulsion. (Please read more about it at the link I provided to get a better idea of this; it truly is a remarkable topic.) There are different theories about what causes this, but I think it has to do with the fact that when something looks extremely realistic, but isn't real, your mind subconsciously picks up on the minor differences, which kind of amplifies them (read in that Wiki article about "Violation of human norms" for more about what I mean). In this situation, the robots don't necessarily look very realistic, but the movement is so strangely realistic that I believe the Uncanny Valley still applies. 

Either way, yes, robots rule, and I can't wait to see videos of the Cheetah-Bot! Heck yeah!

Read the full article at Wired.

Webcomic: Failure Confetti

Webcomics are an interesting development of technology and the digital age. Comic authors used to often struggle to try and find an outlet to publish their strips. Now on the Internet, these authors can publish all on their own! The result is thousands of webcomics, most free to read, and catering to any sense of humour or set of interests.

I am the author of the webcomic, Failure Confetti. It can be found at failureconfetti.smackjeeves.com. It's hosted by a free webcomic host called Smack Jeeves, which has over 33,000 webcomics on it, and counting.

Failure Confetti is inspired by the things I see around me. I often use dialog that I actually hear people say, or thoughts that pop into my head in every day situations. I sometimes make references to video games, or poke fun at technologies.

A few other webcomics and artists inspired me in my art style and humour. I would say my biggest influences for this are xkcd (my favourite webcomic of all time), Cyanide & Happiness, and the work of Don Hertzfeldt.

The comic is updated every Wednesday. You can also become a fan on Facebook!

Hyperlinks In Real Life: Technology Inspired Art



Image via Fubiz


While not very practical, this idea makes for a really cool piece of art. This book was created by a German designer named Maria Fischer. It's titled "Thoughts on Dreams", and for her the lines of thread help to physically show "the confusion and fragileness of dreams".



Image via Fubiz

 The arist sewed real thread into the book, using it to underline key terms which allowed readers to follow this thread to related content, much like a hyperlink on the Internet.



Image via Fubiz

 As an artist, I think using technology as an inspiration is a neat idea. I continually use video games to inspire some aspects of my art, and I may start thinking about other technologies to delve into.

Image via Fubiz

An article about this can be found on Gizmodo, and an article (in German) with more photos of the art piece can be found at Fubiz.

We're Running Out of Internets



Image via Wired

Most Internet users seem to think of the Internet as an infinite amount of space, that couldn't possibly fill up. We're finding out just how un-true that is. As of Thursday, February 3rd, all available IP addresses have been exhausted.Yes, we've completed the Internet.

What does this mean for us? Well, nothing. At least not yet, for the average Internet user. Basically, the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) distributes blocks of IP addresses to five regional registries, which give the IP addresses to companies, ISPs, and telcos. The IANA ran out of IP addresses to give to regional registries, so soon the regional registries will run out of their address pools to give out to clients. This means there won't be unique IP addresses available anymore, starting as soon as this year in Asia.

So what do we do about it? There is an alternative. IPv6 is the next generation of IP addresses, and has 2¹²⁸ available in its system. So why haven't we done it yet? Less than 0.25 percent of the Internet can currently work with IPv6. In short: it will take a lot of work, and most companies are putting it off because "it's expensive and hard!"

It may take a while to switch over to IPv6, and for a few years Internet may become more expensive, more difficult, slower, and have more problems. The good news is, once we get completely switched over, we shouldn't run out of IP addresses again. These IP problems may not affect you personally for quite a while, but you will most likely hear about it again in the near future. In fact, if you happen to own a website, you may even want to participate in World IPv6 Day.

I'm personally interested, because I plan on starting my own website soon, and I'm curious how it will affect me. Joel Conover, the senior manager for IPv6 at Cisco said, "The companies that are going to be the most aggressive in implementing IPv6 are the ones that are the most-concerned about your experience on their website," and I want all users to have a good experience at my website.

If you want more detailed explanations of all of this, you can read the full article at wired.com. I did my best trying to explain it, but it gets pretty technical, and I am trying to keep it brief. I also think that Alt Text at Wired explained it in an interesting and easy-to-understand way (skip to Internet Runs out of Parking Spots).