fizzPOP’s potential new ‘space The space available at OPW is huge, but mostly shared. Location-wise, it is here. Yes, nearly all that building is the OPW! The first shots below show the bit that would be exclusively ours, once drywalled, and then I walked down the corridor taking shots to give an idea of the [...]
The drone wars
Last night I read an interesting article about the US process for ‘targeted killing’ of pretty much anyone. The photo at the end of the article, of a man with massive trauma to his chest and huge blood loss, was shocking. Even worse, as I scrolled down, the top of his head had been blown [...]
Are we underestimating the risk of human extinction?
I was reading this article: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/03/were-underestimating-the-risk-of-human-extinction/253821/ The Atlantic has some very good articles, and this one is an interview by Ross Andersen with a man called Nick Bostrom who suspects that we as a race are seriously underestimating the risks that the human race will self-extinguish, most likely by accident. Go read it. Anyway, I [...]
Building on the moon?
The last few days it has been revealed that NASA are planning a test of a 3D solar fuser printer. On the moon! Having seen a rather cool video of a chap who went out to the Sahara to trial his idea of making cups, bowls and other items using a steerable array of lenses [...]
Hackspaces
I haven’t written about Hackspaces specifically here before, which is more than a little remiss. I’m what I would term “slightly active” due to being really busy in general, and if you want to add anything, drop in a comment. Birmingham has a small group called “FizzPop” which meets in shared space in the Jewellery [...]
Kickstarter is dead, long live… who? & how?
Last year, Kickstarter, concerned about the public thinking they were a shop, made some changes. http://money.cnn.com/2012/09/27/technology/startups/kickstarter-products/index.html In short, in September they banned technology projects from running without a working prototype, and they banned the offer of multiple items as a reward. That these changes have killed the Kickstarter technology arena for (some) new starts [...]
School shooting mitigation system
The news of another school shooting by a disturbed but coldly calculating killer leaves us all sad. Apparently the school had a ‘new high security system’ but it obviously wasn’t. Though the risk of a shooting is low, the severity is incredibly high, so, much like a bombing or chemical attack, it is worth considering [...]
Anti-dazzle systems for car windscreens
Looking at some cheap digital sensors yesterday. I am amazed at how cheap the things that were just a few decades ago ten of thousands of pounds. At BAE I was part of a project that was worth millions, yet now that same functionality is embedded in a little unit costing $50, alongside the built-in [...]
How can you tell the difference between hazard lights and indicators?
No, it’s not a joke. When driving, cars and the like are often indicating or have their hazard lights on, but it is frequently impossible to tell the meaning, as usually only one side can be seen. The older car had a mechanical flasher relay, using a simple but robust metal strip which heats up [...]
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‘That’s obvious – why didn’t I think of that?’
So New Scientist reports that a team have invented ‘white smell’ to join the ranks of ‘white noise’ and ‘white light’. ‘White’ here simply means ‘every part has the same relative strength. So with light, that’s lot of red, a bit less green, and blue somewhere in between, which your eyes read as ‘white’. With [...]