Akoha: a game or a social experiment?

The social game Akoha is finally open for beta. I promptly ordered a VIP starter kit. In huge contrast to my Titan pre-order, I got my decks in around 2 weeks' time.

So how do you play this game? You can start by purchasing a deck (the ones pictured on the right) from the Akoha Store and creating an account at their web site. Then you would want to be nice to your friends. (You are always nice to your friends, aren't you?) Buy them a cup of coffee. Make them smile. Give them a small surprise gift. Once you accomplished that, you need to give them the card that described your missions. They will be able to create Akoha accounts like you did (no purchase necessary) and confirm that your mission was a success. Now, the mission is theirs...

As your cards passed from networks to networks, you will be able to view their trails on Akoha's mission logs and see how you have made this world a (slightly) better place. Once you used up your mission cards, you will also be able to print and play new missions from their website. If you are creative, you can also create new missions.

Will this project be killed by the Credit Crunch? I sincerely hope this social experiment will be a success.

"A game that benefits real world people"

CEO Austin Hill presents Akoha, a game based on the (quite interesting) movie Pay it forward

It seems like one of the most interesting startups featured in TC50.

風力叉電機

HYmini是一個可用風力，太陽能或USB取電的叉電機…

via: The Gadgeer

Radiohead' album pricing

Ed Felton explains why Radiohead's new album may be a financial success despite the fact that 62% did not pay anything for the download

隨意門(1) 創新科技

ITC的創新博覽會07剛完結。在博覽會會場出口有這樣一個投票活動…

題目：我最渴望的科技突破 (My Most Wanted Technology Breakthrough)

1. 家務機械人 (Domestic Robot)
2. 時光穿梭機 (Time Machine)
3. 隨身飛行器 (Portable Flying Gear)
4. 潔淨新能源 (New Clean Energy)
5. 民航太空船 (Civil Spaceship)
6. 隨身健康掃瞄系統 (Portable Health Scanning Equipment)
7. 空間轉移隨意門 (Instant Transit Gateway)
8. 夢境攝錄及控制器 (Dream Recording and Controlling Machine)
9. 容量無限大百寶袋 (Unlimited Capacity Bag)
10. 記憶錄像機 (Memory Recorder)

這個投票夠創新嗎？

WiinRemote

原來有人寫了一個叫WiinRemote 的程式，可以經Bluetooth 將Wii Remote 連到Windows PC 上……

買Wii 的理由又多一個了。

除WiinRemote 外還有一個叫DarwiinRemote 的是給MacOS X 10.4的用家。
via: Hackszine

One day, your computer will be a big-ass table...

Microsoft Surface
Watch the trailer

The Matrix has come. For real.

MIT出版的Technology Review雜誌報導，Microsoft Research開發以人腦與電腦『連線』運作。

利用電腦分析人腦的腦電圖，電腦可以短時間內進行圖片辨析！

不知甚麼時候電影Matrix的影節會在現實出現？

Human-Aided Computing: Microsoft researchers are trying to harness untapped brain power.

"effective technological measures"

Circumvention of CSS (Content Scramble System, not Cascading Style Sheets) is legal in Finland, because.......... Finnish law only protects against effective DRM, and "CSS-defeating tools are so widely available" that it is no longer considered effective.

The devil is indeed in the details.

via: Freedom to Tinker

Robotic fleas and tiny rubber bands

Robotic Fleas Spring into Action
A nine micron think silicone rubber band could allow a 7mm robotic flea to jump 20cm, report says. The current prototype can only kick, but not jump and land safely, though.

"important implications for implementation of malaria control"

People used to import "natural" predators for pest control. Now American scientists are going one huge step forward. They want to introduce artificial pests for disease control. Just how will they deal with the super-mosquitoes after malaria become history? Will they introduce genetically modified, mosquito-resistant human?

US scientists create mosquito resistant to malaria

US researchers have created genetically-modified mosquitoes resistant to a malaria parasite, raising the possibility of one day stopping the spread of the disease, a new study says.

The genetically-engineered mosquitoes outbred natural mosquitoes when fed malaria-infected blood from mice, according to the study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Source: AFP / Yahoo! News

如果你吃素…

你會吃經改造的雞造出來的藥嗎?

Engineered chickens make cancer drugs

A team at the institute that cloned Dolly the sheep have made a genetically engineered chicken that produces cancer drugs in its eggs. [...] Many human therapeutic proteins are produced in industrial bioreactors, but setting up such systems is both time-consuming and expensive. [...] Scientists have been trying to find good ways to turn animals into factories instead. [...] The researchers have now bred several hundred chickens that can produce the desired proteins.

"That's like saying you don't want to kiss your lover's lips because everyone has lips."

I love the analogy.

Apple's Jobs doesn't see threats to iPod: report

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Apple Computer Inc. doesn't expect the iPod media player to be hurt by Microsoft Corp.'s Zune, Chief Executive Steve Jobs said in a magazine interview.

Microsoft has touted Zune, a portable media player due to be launched in the United States in time for the holiday shopping season, as a potential threat to the dominant iPod because of its ability to share music wirelessly.

"It takes forever," Jobs told Newsweek in an interview posted on the magazine's Web site on Sunday. "By the time you've gone through all that, the girl's got up and left."

Jobs was equally unconcerned about the prospect of the iPod losing its cool factor as it becomes increasingly ubiquitous.

"That's like saying you don't want to kiss your lover's lips because everyone has lips. It doesn't make any sense," said Jobs.

Day against DRM

The third day of October is declared the Day against DRM.

What is DRM? Digital Restrictions Management, they say.
Why is DRM bad? It is a disaster for innovation, free speech, fair use, and competition. Worse still, recent DRM has invaded users' privacy and created severe security vulnerabilities in computers.

s.beat: music player, swiss army style

Victorinox is into the MP3 business now. At 74 x 22 x 24 mm, s.beat includes a digital audio player, up to 2 GB of USB memory, radio tuner, voice recorder, scissors, nail-file, knife blade ...

Charming, is it not? The 1 GB model is already for sale and can be bought at ThinkGeek. (US$169.99 but is out of stock right now) Do you know if we will be able to buy one in Hongkong?

Source: Rocketboom

科学忍者隊

When we were young there used to be a TV cartoon show called Science Ninja Team. Purely fictional, you say. Perhaps it will become reality soon.

It is said that the modular flying device "GRYPHON" will allow soldiers to fly at 200km/h. It will be quiet, very difficult to detect with radar, and unlike parachutes, it will be almost completely unaffected by weather conditions.

More information is available in the company's latest press release and Daily Mail.


Source: Althouse

What can people build from LEGO bricks?

What do you think people can do with LEGO bricks?

1. A compass
2. A computer
3. A weaving machine
4. Music
5. All of the above

The answer is ... "E".

1. Ian Baber built a south-pointing chariot, a chinese invention thousands of years ago
2. Andrew Carol built a difference engine, a Charles Babbage invention
3. Thomas Johnson built a knitting machine
4. Henry Lim built a harpsichord

Source: Make: technology on your time

Oracle likes cats

Oracle is buying Sleepycat, who is famous for it's open-sourced product, Berkeley DB. It is so famous that it is bundled with any modern GNU/Linux distribution. According to the press release, this would "enhance Oracle's market-leading database product family by offering enterprise-class support to customers who need to embed a fast, reliable database at a lower cost"

However, why does Oracle need to buy a company making free software to enhance her embedded database products? Are they buying the brand, the brains, or the product lines?

A squirrel as an answering machine

the cellular squirrel (used without prior permission)

The Althouse blog mentioned an interesting research project about using a robotic squirrel as a cell phone agent. It is incredibly cute and has lots of features too. Instead of ringing, the cellular squirrel uses less intrusive visual signals to inform you of incoming calls. It is an answering machine: it intercepts voice calls, communicates with with caller and identifies if the call will be relevent through keywords found on different channels. It knows if you are having a meeting, when it will sit still and not interrupt you. More technical information about the project can be found on Stefan Marti's research projects.