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H+, New Transhumanist Magazine
Humanity Plus (formerly the World Transhumanist Association) has launched a new Transhumanist magazine, edited by R.U. Sirius. The first issue is available as a free PDF, and includes interviews with Charles Stross and Cory Doctorow. It’s a very slick-looking publication, and some of the technology it features is very cool. Sirius promises to continue editing…
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Turing Test Near-Miss
I got all excited when I first saw this BBC article about a recent Turing Test involving five chatbots. One, Elbot, came close to passing. Then I read further and saw that the test requires that the ‘bot fool only 30% of the human audience. Elbot fooled 25% of the human testers. I think this…
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Practice Makes Perfect
Japan’s newest Web sensation is “Webkare,” a site that’s part social network and part dating simulator. Girls (the site is targeted exclusively at females) try to win the heart of one of four male Anime characters through cut-scene “conversations,” and must collaborate with other Webkare members in order to advance their cause. The site is…
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She Blinded Me with…Videogames
Constance Steinkuehler, a “game academic” at the University of Wisconsin (and holder of the sort of job title all of us covet), was running large-scale raids in a game called Lineage. Most of her guild members were teenage boys, and even though many of the “bosses” they were fighting were extremely tough, they had a…
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MMORPG on Mars
Virtual-world builder Avatar Reality is working on a Second Life-esque environment set on a Terraformed Mars in the year 2177 AD. The product is targeted at a more adult market, and their emphasis is on realism. “It’s somewhat futuristic, somewhat environmental,” said Chen. “We won’t have gasoline on Blue Mars. Things will be solar-powered or…
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Blowing Right Past the Uncanny Valley
Image Metrics is a company devoted to creating extremely realistic facial animations for video games and movies. They’re pretty good at it. In the video below, the actress’ face is entirely computer-generated until the 1:30 mark. It could be argued that the animated face looks a little stiff compared to the real thing, but it…
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I’d Vote for Him
Sean Tevis is a geekly geek in Kansas who’s sick of his troglodytic state representative. He’s running to replace him, and is looking to raise some money to help with his campaign. Specifically, he’s trying to raise $8.34 from 3,000 people. To promote his cause, he’s created an awesome xkcd-tribute cartoon series entitled, “It’s Like…
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Okay, It’s Funny.
As you’ve probably seen, well, everywhere by now, Joss Whedon (Buffy, Firefly) is experimenting with a new way of getting quality entertainment to his audience. He’s posting three short episodes of a super-villain musical comedy drama…thingie online, for free. However! These episodes will only be available for a short time. Parts I and II have…
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Sci Fi Lists
One day, science fiction fan Peter Sykes went looking for a list of books. “I wanted to buy the top 100 scifi books and couldn’t find a list I thought was statistically accurate, so I made one. I was so happy with the result that I decided to post it on the net as a…
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Universe Sandbox
Videogame programmer Dan Dixon has created an interactive space simulator which lets you play dice with the universe. Even better, it’s free. Smash planets together, introduce rogue stars, and build new worlds from spinning discs of debris. Fire a moon into a planet or destroy everything you’ve created with a super massive black hole. You…