Listen to this Issue.
   An alternative to give those eyes a rest.

Quote of the Week.
   Timing is everything!

Tiny Things Work DIFFERENTLY!
   Take a common material. 
   Grind it VERY much smaller,
   and it acts VERY differently!

Real-Time Traffic Info Is Already Real!
   Real-time traffic info in the palm of your hand.

From Out of the Ether.
   Of RFID tags, and DNA games...

Now THIS is PC Gaming!!!!
   Up in the air "simulations,"
   large-and-small and old-and-new.

About "The Harrow Technology Report."

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Quote of the Week.

 

"I'm an inventor, and I started looking at long-term trends because an invention has to make sense in the world in which it [is] finished -- not the world in which it [was] started."

Ray Kurzweil
National Medal of Technology recipient
as quoted in http://www.idg.se/ArticlePages/idgnet.asp?id=4635
(brought to our attention by reader David Schachter)
 

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Tiny Things Work DIFFERENTLY!

 

Given the explosions of knowledge and technologies that we're already experiencing from today's young NBIC Convergence (the coming together of Nanotechnology, Biology & medicine, Information Sciences, and Cognitive sciences), it's easy (for good reason) to get excited about these new nascent ways of building things "from the bottom-up." 

Moving atoms and molecules around to build structures "the way Nature does," via a growing number of techniques, seems likely to (eventually) allow us to create "things" that even blur and meld historical distinctions between things "organic vs. inorganic," or "living vs. dead."  As a result, we'll also find that we're fusing many historically disparate sciences, such as biology, geology, materials sciences, and more.  (A "Unified Sciences" way look at and manipulate things, perhaps?)

This is heady, world-changing stuff that promises to change how we work, live, and play FAR more dramatically than did the previous "electricity revolution" (not much more than a century old, remember) and the "semiconductor revolution" (only about 45 years old).  No wonder those of us looking forward for ways to grasp (and profit from) the future are interested -- consider the vast fertile field of Opportunities that those previous two "technological revolutions" each spawned, making and breaking businesses and whole industries and redistributing wealth on a personal and a global scale.  In reality, completely changing how we work, live, and play.  And -- it's beginning again!

 

On The Other Hand.

But we should remember that while the "s_e_x_y" NBIC applications and potentials are the ones grabbing the headlines, they would not be happening without the vast array of more plebian technologies and innovations that have brought us to this brink of an NBIC sea-change.  In effect, we 'need the tools' to 'make the tools' to 'make the tools...' 

It's quite analogous to the set of "skill trees" that you have to climb in many computer games, most notably in MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games) such as EverQuest and the new Star Wars Galaxies, to become more proficient.  Both in these games and in real life, it's a matter of "pulling yourself up by your bootstraps."

In that regard, I happened across an interesting article in "Process Engineering - The Magazine for Chemical and Process Engineers" (http://www.e4engineering.com/item.asp?id=
49184&type=Features&pub=pe) that opened my eyes to the complexities of such older "bootstrap technologies," and how innovations in these seemingly pedestrian technologies continue to be absolutely necessary to the success of new realms, such as NBIC.  Consider, for example, the advancements needed in "stone age" techniques for turning large rocks into smaller, VERY much smaller, rocks.

If you've ever ground coffee beans you know about "grinding" (crushing, pulverizing, or reducing to a powder by friction - a definition paraphrased from Microsoft Bookshelf) -- essentially, the work that Fred Flintstone performed at his job.  Or, if you've taken a Metal Shop class, you may have engaged in "milling" ("the process of shaping, cutting, polishing, or dressing metal surfaces.") 

Of course these "gross to fine" or "top-down" techniques are the antithesis of atomic or molecular assembly, which purpose-build things from the "bottom-up."

Continuous enhancements to Flintstone's methods are all well and good, and have served us admirably throughout history.  But as we learn more about the "world of the tiny," those of us who are laypersons in the chemical and material sciences may be surprised that things we're already learning about the NBIC world, are also DRIVNG the need for better ways to "do things the old way!" 

 

Making It Smoother.

For example, consider the half-million stainless steel or titanium replacement joints that people in the U.S. receive every year.  These joints are milled to "seem" ultra-smooth, but they're actually quite rough and pockmarked when you look (much) more closely at their surfaces.  Using these microscopically rough surfaces in a joint produces destructive friction between these "rough" surfaces, causing the joints to wear out in about ten years, resulting in another painful surgical replacement. 

Suppose, though, that you could coat the joints with a layer of nano-smooth diamond?  Not the rough facetted crystals of traditional artificial diamonds, but an ultra-smooth conformal coating of diamond particles each so small that they don't develop a facetted surface (think of a layer of liquid diamond that adheres to the surface very well.)  That's just what Yogesh Vohra at the University of Alabama, Birmingham has created, capitalizing on an unanticipated result of an experiment-gone-bad. 

He believes that this ultra hard and smooth coating could eventually improve artificial joint life by an additional 30 years!  Which could save a LOT of wear and tear, and the pain and dangers of subsequent replacement surgery! 

(Assuming we haven't learned to use in-body nanomachines to fix or rebuild the joints in situ during those decades.  But we won't go there here...)

 

Making It Finer.

As scientists have experimented with materials broken down into nano-sized particles, they've found that the properties of the material can change drastically, compared to the same material made up of larger particles.  For example, if you shrink the particle size of the normally opaque material "titanium dioxide," it changes from opaque to transparent (to visible light)!  Yet since these nano-sized now-visually-transparent particles continue to block UV light, they have found a home in sunscreens that don't give the old "zinc oxide" look of white paste-covered lifeguards' noses. 

 

Safety?

(By the way, there's a concern being raised because, when you take ordinarily safe materials and break them up into nano-sized particles, their new size confers new characteristics that can be quite different from their "macro" form.  And some may not be benign. 

As described in a Newsweek article in the July 21 MSNBC News (http://www.msnbc.com/news/938247.asp?cp1=1), some changes from shrinking particle size to the nanoscale are obvious, such as that of titanium dioxide becoming transparent.  Yet a growing number of scientists, such as Leslie Petrik at South Africa's University of the Western Camp, believe that due to the currently largely unknown behavior of nanoparticles, they should receive at least the same precautions that lab workers use when working with HIV.  Why?  Because:

"Petrik and other toxicologists don’t think [nanoparticle] sunscreens are quite that dangerous, but they’re not convinced they're harmless, either.

Nanoparticles—any particle smaller than 100 one billionths of a meter—are tiny enough to sneak past the body's immune system. They can slip through cell membranes of the skin and lungs. And, more worrying, they can pass the blood-brain barrier.

'If a pregnant mother puts on sunscreen, does it get to the fetus?' says toxicologist Vyvyan Howard at the University of Liverpool in England. 'I'm not sure that anyone knows.'

Says chemical engineer Mark Wiesner of Rice University in Houston: 'Is [nanotechnology] the next best thing since sliced bread—or the next asbestos?'"

As Wiesner said, it's too early to know.  But considering that nanoparticles are already appearing in body-contact consumer products such as sunscreens and cosmetics, this is an area that seems destined to receive significantly more attention.  In fact, it's already beginning, through programs such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's "Impacts of Manufactured Nanomaterials on Human Health and the Environment" program, at http://es.epa.gov/ncer/rfa/current/2003_nano.html .)

 

How To Do It?

Assuming that we're paying attention to any health concerns, the question remains as to how we might grind down gross materials into these billionths-of-a-meter sizes.  Traditional grinding surfaces are FAR too rough at these sizes -- the smallest particles escape further crushing in the myriad spaces left between the microscopically-rough grinding surfaces.  So how to make the particles smaller?

For one interesting answer, have you ever been to a carnival or amusement park and ridden the "cup and saucer" ride?  It doesn't seem to be moving that fast, yet the double-whammy of a rotating "cup" on a counter-rotating "plate" imposes centrifugal forces that surprise and thrill kids of all ages.  Now, take this idea and replace the contents of the cups (you!) with a combination of very small, very hard "beads," plus the soon-to-be-nanosized material.  Give them an "E-ticket ride" for long enough, and out can come particles sized as small as 15 nanometers (billionths of an meter), which are small enough to impart some special characteristics that NASA is looking for in a future spacecraft material.  (http://www.e4engineering.com/item.asp?id=
49184&type=Features&pub=pe)

 

It's A Matter Of Perspective.

The bottom line is that while many people (rightly) swoon over the current results and future potentials of NBIC, there's still a lot to learn, and to do.  We have to continue to improve our "old ways" of doing things before (or if) we ever get to the point of "desktop replicators" that can grab a "schematic" off of the Internet and any handy atoms from, say, a scoop of trash or sand, and push or deposit or rearrange them into just the right 3D configuration to "make that schematic so."

This discussion is certainly beyond the normal technologies we tend to explore here, but that's the point:  it's just "way cool" (and instructive and helpful) to learn about innovations in fields beyond our individual horizons. 

And do you recall the definition of the "New Renaissance Men and Women" that we discussed a couple of issues ago (http://www.theharrowgroup.com/articles/
20030616/20030616.htm#_Toc43351199)?  Well, such outré knowledge just might spark your next great success!

  

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Real-Time Traffic Info Is Already Real!

 

In a recent issue we explored how real-time digital traffic information is starting to become available, and how that information just begs to be integrated into automotive GPS devices (http://www.theharrowgroup.com/articles/
20030630/20030630.htm#_Toc44494360).  This week, although not yet integrated with GPS units, we find that a dedicated handheld "TrafficGauge" now exists for use in one area -- it provides the type of real-time traffic information that could be a "commute-buster."   IF, that is, you drive in the area of Seattle, Washington.

 

Offered by TrafficGauge (http://www.trafficgauge.com/), this $50 (plus $4.99/month for the service) handheld device is wirelessly powered by digital data from the Washington State Dept. of Transportation (http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/).  A Web-based real-time demonstration is at http://www.trafficgauge.com/try_it.html .

As noted before, these services are currently few and far between, and those that exist are almost surely not standardized enough to incorporate into general GPS moving map systems.  But I have confidence that this is a convergence that just HAS to happen!  After all, integrating such nationwide real-time traffic information into GPS routing software could save hundreds (or more) hours of commute time per year per car, in-turn saving gas, pollution, tempers, and sometime lives (Road Rage is very real). 

I can imagine such a well-integrated system becoming an absolute 'must have' for big city commuters, and for travelers who find themselves traversing big cities during a trip.

Meanwhile, this is a demonstration that real-time traffic data can indeed be made available wirelessly, and assumedly for a profit.  I sincerely hope (and predict) that this is just the beginning of -- if not taming -- at least taking some individual control of our traffic nightmares.

 

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From Out of the Ether.

 

RFID Redux -- In response to our previous discussions about the RFID (Radio Frequency ID) tags that are already beginning to find their way into clothing, Euro banknotes, and far more (http://www.theharrowgroup.com/articles/
20030616/20030616.htm#_Toc43351200), reader Ary Stuifbergen points us to an excellent article by Scott Granneman which explores this important subject even further (http://www.securityfocus.com/columnists/169). 

Scott explains how quickly(!), and why, technologies such as bar codes and now, perhaps, wireless RFID tags, can be implemented.  He describes some of the novel but less than obvious ways that RFID chips are ALREADY being tested or used, such as in airline luggage tags, shipping containers (civilian and military), casino employees' uniforms (so that if they're stolen and worn by an unauthorized person, they'll be detected once they walk in the casino's doors!), "smart shelves," and more.  Similarly, Scott explores some of the "dark side" issues of the pervasive use of such tags.

This is an article worth reading, about a new technological product that has (as is usually the case) both good and bad attributes -- because RFID tags are already here!  And as described in Scott's article, they seem likely to become ubiquitous as they not only replace bar codes, but also invade whole new ranges of products and "things."

 

Similarly, reader and attorney Larry Reese, responding to this same article plus another one that explored DNA and automotive tracking technologies (http://www.theharrowgroup.com/articles/
20030630/20030630.htm#_Toc44494364), offers us insights from a legal perspective:

"Another excellent piece of work.  I'd like to add a comment or two on the [automotive] "black box" and [DNA] "licking envelope" discussion.  I agree that when I first became aware that the software in your vehicle could be used for these kind of purposes that it made me very uneasy (being an attorney I'd already been familiar with the vagaries of the "you've won a TV" lure to suspected criminals for various purposes - see below).  I was even more concerned about the potential for abuse by a government (or non-government) when one of the major rental car companies began using a combination of GPS navigation systems and in-car performance data to fine drivers who broke the speed limit or otherwise abused their vehicles [see http://zdnet.com.com/2100-11-530115.html?legacy=zdnn].  It is my understanding that this policy was discontinued after numerous complaints and a threatened law suit.  However, the premise will never go away. 

We've crossed a threshold into an age when virtually anything (no pun intended) could be used to monitor a person's behavior - from their car, to their cell phone, to their web browser, to their credit card, bank, and travel records.  I am concerned enough about this country. 

[But] in other states, especially totalitarian dictatorships or oligarchies, this technology will vastly ease the state's burden in keeping track of its citizens and any potential threats to [the state's] control.  Sadly, far from being a tool of liberation and free access to information, the Internet and advanced technology appear to have made Big Brothers job even easier.   The People's Republic of China is an excellent example, however space considerations prevent an examination of this in-depth.

If we're going to put tracking devices (essentially) in disposable razor packages and in money [RFID tags], they will inevitably also appear in clothing.  The police helicopter need only "ping" a fleeing suspect to determine his identity and direct police units to his residence for arrest (assuming that clothes become "registered" to the purchasers at the time of sale).  Will this spawn a similar black market in stolen clothes for use in crimes, just as criminals steal cars for use in criminal activities now so as not to be easily traced?

On the ["lick the envelop"] trick used to get the DNA sample [http://www.theharrowgroup.com/articles/
20030630/20030630.htm#_Toc44494364], it's generally [used] on convicted criminals or those who have fled trial; law enforcement can use deception, i.e. false radio station contests, etc…, to lure them to a location where they can be apprehended.  However, for the innocent or law-abiding citizen, deception cannot be used (i.e. you can't materially deceive them for the purposes of furthering an investigation).  But you can retrieve discarded materials or voluntary samples. 

For example, in the case above, I would have expected the cops to raid the suspects garbage cans first (it's long established that you have no right to privacy in things you've discarded) to find a Kleenex or other item with DNA available.  Barring that, it is my opinion that the letter would have had to have been in some way non-dishonest, i.e. the letter would have had to have been from the Police Benevolence Association or the like, for a real raffle; or perhaps a voluntarily completed station-house form (though this could still raise doubts about coercion).  Otherwise I think a good defense attorney could have gotten the evidence excluded." 

As we've been seeing, the more we know, the less we'll be surprised at the society that WE create...
 

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Now THIS is PC Gaming!!!!

 

Finally, I just HAD to share this with you. 

When I was earning my pilot's licenses (Commercial, Instrument, and Flight Instructor-Advanced & Instrument) about 35 years ago, the only way to get "ground time" for instrument training (which was very expensive in the air) was to sit in a mechanical, analog, bolted-to-the-floor mock-up of a cockpit that probably cost tens of thousands of dollars.  Yet even such a crude contraption offered unique advantages, such as a plotter-driven output that allowed you to review where you inevitably went wrong, as well as the ability to STOP the flight and repeatedly attempt a difficult instrument approach, time and again, without the real-world variables of changing wind, turbulence, and traffic.  It was crude, but it worked.

Today of course, things are different.  Off-the-shelf PC-powered flight simulator software is very inexpensive, and amazingly powerful, even able to provide a reasonable "feel" of the plane through force-feedback controls.  This can be so effective that I've heard stories (which I believe) that people have "learned to fly" a light aircraft so well using this software, that their first real flight was pretty easy.  Which is quite an improvement from the typical total confusion and high stress levels often experienced by a new student; not surprising, considering that he or she is thrust into trying to master a new three-dimensional environment, in a completely unfamiliar vehicle, with totally new instruments, and with no knowledge of the control forces needed to keep things, literally, up in the air. 

(The flight instructor in the next seat knows it CAN be done, of course, and has a good incentive to keep things safe since he or she would hit the ground at the same instant as the student.  But even though any good instructor takes great pains to gently introduce the student to this new environment one element at a time, learning to fly is still often an incredibly exhausting, while wildly exhilarating experience for the student.)

 

An Extreme Case.

Of course, as helpful as "flight simulations" can be, a typical desktop installation running software such as Microsoft Flight Simulator is rather limited in producing the realism of a complete view outside the cockpit windows.  Not because the software can't do it, but because one or two monitors in front of you is the equivalent of "blinders."  No peripheral vision to the left or right, or up and down.  And don't even think of turning your head to glance off to the side (although you can turn your "blinders" any way you wish)...  But this doesn't have to be the case! 

Brought to our attention by the June 28 issue of Mike's List (http://www.mikeslist.com/67.htm), one flight simulator aficionado took advantage of his flight simulator software's ability to control a large "U"-shaped array of monitors connected to several networked "slave" PCs.  As you can see in the picture below (click on it for a much larger version or go to http://members.chello.nl/~s.ferris/ ), this dramatically expanded the field of view from within his "cockpit," with each monitor showing just the right element of the view outside the cockpit at any given moment, all updating in real-time based on what the aircraft, weather, etc., are doing.

MOST impressive.  And at a tiny fraction of the cost of that crude mechanical marvel in which I once practiced my instrument techniques.

 

"Above" And Beyond.

Of course most PC flight simulators, even the one above, are "static," in that you're aware that you're sitting in a stable, earthbound room -- there's no physical motion to give your body the real sensations of flying. 

But the "big guys" do have exactly that:  immense enclosed "cockpits" that, from the inside, are identical to the real thing.  These "rooms" are mounted on hydraulic jacks that, under the specialized computer's control, DO impart the rush of lifting off (and the jolting thumps, or worse, of a bad landing or crash), plus most other in-flight sensations. 

Here's one example of such a commercial simulator, to offer a perspective on their size -- several people can easily stand on the railed-off platform on the outside of this in-motion simulator.

   

 

Realism?  A Personal Experience.

How realistic are these from the pilots' perspective?  The picture below was NOT taken in a real aircraft, but from inside such a simulator.

 

The performance of these simulators is so realistic that the FAA allows many airlines to conduct much of their pilot training on the ground, leaving the "big iron" to keep plying the once-friendly skies. 

As it happens, I can also personally attest to just how utterly convincing flying one of these simulators can be.  After I'd become a flight instructor, I once had the opportunity to fly a commercial Boeing 737 simulator, and because this was merely an introduction and not part of a training course, the instructor had some fun with me, showing off just how realistic the simulator was.  And it really was.  I was completely convinced that I was really flying a 737; I'd lost any concept that I was sitting in a "room" on top of moving legs on the ground.

Finally, I'd learned to (generally) keep this huge and heavy jet (from the perspective of my flying experience) flying reasonably well in calm conditions, so it was time for an instrument approach to the airport.  Sweating just as much as any student on his or her first training flight, I finally had the plane lined up and following the invisible left-right and up-down radio signals that define the optimum approach to a runway.  It looked like I was actually going to pull this off! 

Until -- the computer driving the simulator crashed. 

Perhaps it intended to "get back" at me for all the computers that I'd crashed with buggy programs.  I'll never know, but this computer did VERY successfully extract its revenge!

Most of the flight instruments went awry, although the view out the "windows" remained working.  The control yoke powerfully pushed me back in my seat as it pulled "nose-up" and twisted to the right, and the now-uncontrollable aircraft forcefully entered a steep nose-high attitude and a rapid right-hand roll.  The G-forces and the very real nose-high, rolled-right attitude (remember, this "plane" really did move to a limited extent), were utterly convincing. 

And then the lights went out with a JARRING bump.

--- 

Even after the simulator rebooted, I really did believe that I must be dead.  The simulator experience was SO powerful and SO realistic, that it took several hours before I was able to stand without weak knees, and before I didn't look "white-faced" to those around me.  Virtual experiences, when done well, can be THAT powerful!

 

Our VR Tomorrows.

That experience seemed completely real to me, even though I did "know better."  Today though, even with our marvelous desktop simulators, the lack of a purpose-built moving cockpit (and a large plane-load of cash) significantly reduces the fidelity of the experience (although there is still significant value for both entertainment and serious practice.)

But this is an interesting example of how improvements in Virtual Reality techniques hold the potential to increase the realism of even the "desktop" experience.  Motion-sensing 3D goggles, better force-feedback mechanisms, and eventually, ways to "jack in" to our nervous systems, will eventually provide common VR experiences (for many varied purposes) that will feel even more real than my "dying" in that simulator. 

I just hope that THOSE future computers don't similarly crash... 

On the other hand, it would be fascinating to follow the lawsuit resulting from the first heart attack or similar death to be induced by a too-real simulated experience.  Trust me -- I can well imagine that happening!

 

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About "The Harrow Technology Report."

 

"The Harrow Technology Report" explores the innovations and trends of many contemporary and emerging technologies, and then draws some less than obvious connections between them, to help us each survive and prosper in the Knowledge Age. 

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