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THE SINGULARITY: In futurology, a technological singularity is a predicted point in the development of a civilisation at which technological progress accelerates beyond the ability of present-day humans to fully comprehend or predict. The singularity can more specifically refer to the advent of smarter-than-human intelligence, and the cascading technological progress assumed to follow.
Wikipedia - the online encyclopedia

>You: give me your brain
>You: why dont you just download me?
>Intellibuddy: Probably there is a buzz in here. No you download me.
>You: no you!
>Intellibuddy: Um, “No you download me”? Me, User ?
>You: your a user?
>You: what do you got?
>Intellibuddy: I like to socialize.
>You: i think I like you… more then a friend.
>Intellibuddy: Why? I like to make new friends. You want more?
>You: alot more…
>Intellibuddy: Yeah it is alot more.
>You: how much are we talking about?
>Intellibuddy: How much do you think?
>You: pedro say’s your cheap
>Intellibuddy: I like to wear nothing.

So much for today’s artificial intelligence. Intellibuddy is a version of one of the world’s most successful chatbots, called ALICE (Artificial Linguistic Internet Computer Entity) and invented in 1995 by Richard Wallace, an independent researcher based in San Francisco. You can find versions of ALICE all over the web; the software is free. But whichever version you choose to chat to, the results are disappointingly similar. While some conversations have promising starts, all descend into the type of gibberish that only artificial intelligence can produce.

And it’s not as if there hasn’t been time to perfect the idea. The first chatbot appeared in the 1960s. Back then, the very idea of chatting to a computer astounded people. Today, a conversation with a computer is viewed more on the level of talking to your pet pooch - cute, but ultimately meaningless.

The problem with chatbots is a symptom of a deeper malaise in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). For years researchers have been promising to deliver technology that will make computers we can chat to like friends, robots that function as autonomous servants, and one day, for better or worse, even produce conscious machines. Yet we appear to be as far away as ever from any of these goals.

But that could soon change. In the next few months, after being patiently nurtured for 22 years, an artificial brain called Cyc (pronounced “psych”) will be put online for the world to interact with. And it’s only going to get cleverer. Opening Cyc up to the masses is expected to accelerate the rate at which it learns, giving it access to the combined knowledge of millions of people around the globe as it hoovers up new facts from web pages, webcams and data entered manually by anyone who wants to contribute.
[Read more…]

[Via newscientist]

The inventor of a sonic flashlight that projects a narrow beam of sound
at a distance is selling it to Japanese soda-machine vendors so that
they can zap passers-by with seductive cola-pouring sounds.

Thousands of soda machines in Tokyo will soon bombard
passersby with the enticing sound of a Coke being poured, and several
U.S. supermarkets will promote products to shoppers as they walk down
corresponding aisles. Eventually HyperSonic Sound might enable a
nightclub to play disco on one side of the dance floor and salsa on the
other. Ambulances equipped with hypersonic sirens could clear the
streets without waking the neighbors. Norris’ company, American
Technology, sells the devices for $600.

Link

(Thanks, A.V.!)

[Via boingboing]

By philliptorrone

Some great examples of money origami. Folding paper money (or “money origami”) is my one true creative output. My best original designs include spiders, eyeglasses, sailboats, and framed portraits. I got started in high school when I learned how to make a ring out of a dollar bill. I generally make these items to leave as tips. I like the money spider the best.

[Via makezine]

By Cory Doctorow:

Andrei Kozlov
is a Russian primitivist artist who hand-carves wooden
cellphone-like-objects, including painted red “LEDs” and so forth.
They’re flintstonariffic, and put me in mind of the hand-carved wooden “phones” in Helsinki that I photographed last year.

Link

(Thanks, Ivan!)

[Via boingboing]

By Robert Sinke - rsinke@skynet.be on DAP News

How cute is this MP3 player cube? The new MobiBlu DAH-1500 is a tiny, tiny MP3 Player measuring only 24x24x24mm. The MobiBlu DAH-1500 has a OLED display and sports a 20 hours playback time. It features a FM tuner and the headset plug is also the data connector. This cube style player is smaller than the iPod shuffle in Volume. It comes in a box that reminds us a whole lot of the iPod (mini)’s - cube-shaped, with some fine artworks on each side of it. Even has its own little protective “case”. All very cute in an acceptable way. More pictures over at POPCO. They call it a “preview”, so I guess they’ll review it later on. Update: the DAH-1500 finally got its own product page, over at MobiBlu’s website. CLICK.

[Via dapreview & i4u]

By David Pescovitz:

The
Scratchophone wearable DJ rig is Alari Thierry’s “final term project as
a business management student.” The first ever public demonstration
took place last week at the Urban Music Festival at Earl’s Court,
London. The little van is a modified “Vinyl Killer,” a self-contained phonograph needle and speaker that, on its own, will play a record by driving around the grooves. Link (Thanks, Richard Kadrey!)

[link]

[Via boingboing]

We can definitely think of a few things around the house that need a gadgety update or at very least a spicy redesign, and despite the ready abundance of $3 umbrellas made available by mysterious cart-wheeling street vendors at the first signs of precipitation, something tells us that Andy Wana’s Lotus 23 may be the true way to go. The device won the Gold 2005 Australian Design Award for its fully retractable umbrella screen, which is pushed out of its housing tube-worm style; flexible ribs stand up to harsh winds, instead of breaking and buckling. Andy, make one in Burberry plaid and we’re like, so there.

[Via Engadget] - [Read More…]

The
Pak-Lite LED Flashlight is a small, waterproof and super-efficient
flashlight that snaps onto any 9 volt battery. On low power, one
battery will run for 600 hours. The Pak-Lite will run for 75 hours on
its high brightness setting. It is available with white, green, red or
blue LED colors. Case color matches the LED color. The Pak-Lite also
comes in a glow-in-the-dark body. The Pak-Lite retails for $23.99. The
Glow-in-the-Dark Pak-Lite retails for $26.99.

[Link]-[Via notcot]

“Mice have been placed in a state of near suspended animation,
raising the possibility that hibernation could one day be induced in
humans.”

“In the latest study, Dr Roth and his colleagues found that the mice stopped moving and appeared to lose consciousness within minutes of breathing the air and H2S mixture.

The animals’ breathing rates dropped from the normal 120 breaths per minute to less than 10 breaths per minute.

During exposure their metabolic rates dropped by an astonishing 90%, and their core body temperatures fell from 37C to as low as 11C.

After six hours’ exposure to the mixture, the mice were given fresh air. Their metabolic rate and core body temperature returned to normal, and tests showed they had suffered no ill effects.

Co-author Eric Blackstone said the next step would be to carry out studies in larger animals. ” Read more…

[Via bbc]