Wired’s  Danger Room is reporting on a new DARPA project to build brain implant chips that will fix brain injuries.    The focus appears to have come from the large number of  returning veterans who suffer from brain injuries.

However the implications of this type of research go far beyond simple repair.   As science improves the current state of the art of brain implants (which now offer only rudimentary connections to actual brain functions), we are likely to see a spectacular increase in human intellectual capabilities.   Our current limitations to information processing include the very slow speeds with which we can interact with computers – usually via keyboards.   When implants will allow brains to *directly* interface with, for example, internet information, we are very likely to experience an explosion of human capabilities.

Artificial Intelligence, science brain implants, darpa

A team  led by Dr Craig Venter has announced what is potentially a huge genetics engineering breakthrough – using synthetic DNA to drive the reproductive processes of cells.     The team created a synthetic copy of real DNA, planted this back into a cell, and initiated a reproduction process based on the copy.

The potential of this technology is vast as it will eventually allow genetics engineering of organisms created to address specific needs such as pollution control.

Critics are worried that the technology also poses substantial risks since releasing synthetic organisms “into the wild” may lead to unintended and even catastrophic results.

More from the BBC

Science & Technology, science biology, genetics, synthetic DNA

USA Today has a great WIFI locator here: http://usatoday.jiwire.com/ Not sure if this is the best resource but it seems to have a LOT of hotspots, including many in Europe.      Hotspot providers can ad theirs to the database.

Unfortunately free WIFI everywhere does not appear to be in the near future, but it is encouraging to see so many coffee shops, hotels, and even some communities realize that free WIFI is an inexpensive amenity that is likely to cost less than the benefits it brings to a location.

technology

We’ve noted before how the rise of Twitter as a business communications platform is very significant, but it’s not clear to me how long it will take for businesses to understand the huge, free, explosive power Twitter offers to them.

It is clear that many businesses simply don’t understand how simply it can be to change a bit in order to effectively use the internet to improve efficiency and cut costs.      We still see, for example, online chat systems that almost routinely default to “please call customer service”.     A personally frustrating example of a ridiculous online system  was the email response from my health insurer – Lifewise.     I’d asked a simple question by email, and recieved a reply using a “secure” encrypted email system.   So secure in fact I could not open the mail.    The instructions did offer a fix – I could forward the mail to another address and then would get back a decrypted reply.    This failed a few times but then seemed to work, so finally I had my answer which was …. wait for it …..

Please call customer service

Although it’s possible Lifewise handles most of these issues without the call, I have my doubts as this lines up with the challenges we’ve all seen as businesses struggle to integrate legacy systems with online environments.     Call centers are the staple info resource for many large businesses, but instead of simply routing people to those legacy phone systems they should, for example, set up Twitter account for each phone operator, allowing them to communicate with literally dozens of clients in the time it takes to handle a single call.    Many questions are generic and security is not needed, but the general phone path is to ask for account information first.     If, for example, all inquiries that did not need to be secure were routed to a Twitter operator, that person could shoot out canned answers and canned links  faster than you can hit the Ctl key.

Twitter is not the *only* solution to an integrated customer service strategy, but it was the missing “hyper efficient” communications  link and I’m anxious to see more businesses start to use it that way.

technology business, twitter

In a move Sprint hopes is not too late to the game, they’ve announced their latest and greatest addition to the Sprint line, the HTC Evo 4G.    We’ve seen how powerfully the Apple  iPhone has managed to maintain it’s solid position as the Smartphone of choice, so it will be a surprise to many if the Sprint HTC Evo makes more than a minor dent in the iPhone market.    However, the capabilities are impressive:

HTC, Phones, apple, gadgets, iPhone HTC Evo 4G, pda, smartphone, sprint

Reuters reports that the Apple iPad tablet computing device has outpaced even the Apple iPhone in sales speed – surpassing a million units sold in only 28 days from the launch of one of the most breathlessly anticipated computing devices in years.

Reuters on iPad sales.

The iPad appears to be a huge success even as some critics dismissed it as nothing more than a “giant iPhone”.    Clearly  the device is satisfying consumer demand for a lightweight, stylish device and appears to be in use mostly for web surfing movies, and books.      My view is that the Kindle is now effectively dead unless Amazon can lower the price point substantially or find a way to compete with the iPad’s vastly superior capabilities.     Where the Kindle is simply a book reader, the iPad is a fully functional computing device as well as a book reader.     At similar pricing, this is a “no contest” battle.

Personally I favor netbooks over tablets because much of my time is spent typing, and the touchscreen typing experience on a iPad is pretty marginal.   I played briefly with one the other day with my new pals at  541live.com, a great resource for Oregon events and attractions.    It’s a wonderful device visually and the touch response is fantastic, but I sure would not want to type out blog posts that way.     However, as 541 noted, it’s hard to beat the iPad for presentations because you can hand it around much more easily than a laptop.

Ipod, iPad iPad

CNET seems to have the most intelligent commentary on the Apple iPhone / Gizmodo  case that may have far-reaching implications for technology and new age journalism.     Gawker is likely to move forward with the case without a settlement (or perhaps because the state will refuse to settle this without criminal charges), so we are probably going to see some important decisions about how much protection bloggers have.

Some will argue – I feel speciously – that this is a case about freedom of the press when in fact it’s a case about the relationship of the media to criminal activity.     How far should the law go to protect the rights of the media when stories are based on stolen goods or illegally obtained information?     A few years back Gizmodo got off the hook very easy after a malicious prank at CES to disrupt a presentation.    The lax standards in the blogging journalism world – where fun, alarmism, distortion and opportunism trumps professionalism much of the time –  have got to come home to roost sometime.

Personally I’d be a lot more sympathetic to Gizmodo if this was about some sort of political or general technology issue where they could make a case that the public right to transparency and knowledge trumps the way they got the information.   (e.g. Pentagon Papers)  However the iPhone case seems to mostly be about commercial issues, presented in a commercial way for monetary advantage.      I’m guessing this will be the nail in the coffin of Gizmodo’s case and lead to a (relatively minor) criminal charge.

CNET:

It’s clear that federal and state law generally provides journalists–even gadget bloggers–with substantial protections by curbing searches of their employees’ workspaces. But it’s equally clear that journalists suspected of criminal activity do not benefit from the legal shields that newspapers and broadcast media have painstakingly erected over the last half-century.

No less an authority than a California appeals court has ruled that the state’s shield law does not prevent reporters from being forced, under penalty of contempt, to testify about criminal activity, if they’re believed to be involved in it.

apple, iPhone apple, gizmodo, iphone

Today police seized computers at the home of one of the web’s most prominent online technology editors – Jason Chen of Gizmodo.    The action was in response to Gizmodo’s aquisition of an new Apple iPhone prototype that was left in a bar by an Apple employee.   It appears that the employee left the phone at a table where it was picked up by another patron who then *sold the phone* to Gizmodo.

The impact of this case may extend far beyond a simple stolen property issue.    Gizmodo is likely to claim press protections under free speech laws in another test of  how the courts will treat new media journalism.

Although I think we’ll hear a lot of rationalizations of the purchase of the  phone by Gizmodo, I’d guess the case will hinge on whether Chen understood he was “buying stolen property” and whether Gizmodo’s publication of information about the phone was for profit or “the public good”.     Frankly, I don’t see how Gizmodo can make a strong case for either of these conditions.   Even if the seller insisted he had legally obtained the phone, Chen’s position as editor of one of the most watched iPhone watching websites in the world means Chen would have known that Apple had not released this yet.     In fact the Gizmodo articles about the phone are likely to be some of the most incriminating evidence against them.

It’s very early to speculate but I’m guessing that arrogance,  hubris, or the lack of good legal counsel led Gizmodo to think they were dealing with a Google rather than Apple.      Google’s mostly transparent and open sensibilities and public persona would probably have led them to effectively slap Gizmodo around a few times, extract an apology, and go on with the business of the web.

Apple, however, is a very different company and Steve Jobs is likely to view this as something of a personal and corporate affront.      If Gizmodo was in competition with Apple or had deeper pockets I think Apple would probably be more aggressive, so it is hard to know how this will shake out.     It’s not even clear this type of publicity harms Apple in any way – if anything it is probably favorable in terms of future revenue from the new phone.

However in any case the legal case against Gizmodo promises to be a major online law case unless settlements are reached out of court .

More on Gizmodo / Apple  from TechMeme

apple, gadgets, iPhone apple, gizmodo, stolen iphone

The new San Francisco / Oakland Bay Bridge is one of the world’s most ambitious, expensive, and technologically sophisticated projects. Check out this flyover of the massive self-supporting span tower which will be the bridge’s key architectural feature in terms of style, as well as become a new Bay Area icon to rival the Golden Gate bridge.

Unlike its predecessor, the new Bay Bridge can sustain substantial earth movement from a large earthquake without major damage. The design allows the bridge to move with the earth rather than stay rigid which would lead to potential collapse.

technology bay bridge, flyover, new oakland bay bridge, oakland

In what appears to be an effort to support local business, build a more robust travel database, and stem the tide of other sites in this arena, Google is expanding it’s “Business Center” feature to integrate with the place pages feature launched last year.   The combined effort is called “Google Places” and it’s a very good idea that appears to have the backing of Google’s massive promotional / advertising / search juggernaut.     Today in “Introducing Google Places“, over at the official Google blog, John Hanke of the development team writes:

we want to better connect Place Pages — the way that businesses are being found today — with the tool that enables business owners to manage their presence on Google.

Google is adding several feature to the site, such as free photo shoots of business interiors (a clever idea!), real time business updates, and $25 business advertising.

I remember talking with Google several years ago at a search conference about how they were struggling with ways to support and expand their local business features.    They could not hire an army of salespeople and wanted to partner with sites that were working the local angles.    Luckily for Google most businesses now have broadband and a much higher level of internet savvy and acceptance, so Google can effectively bypass partnerships with intermediaries and work directly and scalably with local business.    Seems like a winner for everybody but the intermediary sites like Yelp, CitySearch, and TripAdvisor, all of which offer similar features.   This may be good for most but will diminish the value of sites that will need to compete with Google Places for the attention of people and advertisers.

technology Google, google places, travel