Video: There is No Great Stagnation

Click here for a VentureBeat article summarising Musk's many big ideas.

Google + Kurzweil: "What an amazing, slightly terrifying combination"

I disagree with Jon Mitchell's take on the fantastic news that Ray Kurzweil has joined Google in a full-time role in Mountain View as Director of Engineering.

Inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil joins Google

Pairing the iconoclastic futurist/inventor with arguably the most innovative technology company in the world is not scary but very exciting (although I catch Jon's drift).

Much as it did when it hired Vint Cerf, one of the internet's father figures, Google has once again boosted its nerd/geek street cred with the addition of Kurzweil to its roster of science and tech luminaries.

This is definitely a coup for Larry Page & Co. Not quite on the same level as when Princeton's fledgling Institute for Advanced Study landed Einstein. But after the Pope of Science made his way to New Jersey many of the leading physicists, mathematicians and scientists of the day followed. No doubt Kurzweil's arrival in Mountain View should have a similar effect in drawing today's pioneers in the areas where Ray has made significant contributions, such as speech recognition and artificial intelligence.

Ray begins his new gig on December 17. Congrats to Ray and Google, and we anxiously await the results of your collaboration!

Adventures in Alternative Currencies: Bitcoin Goes Mainstream

Continuing on with our series covering adventures in alternative currencies, many were quick to proclaim the death of Bitcoin, particularly following the June 2011 bursting of the Bitcoin bubble. For example, here is some doomsaying from the normally reliable Tyler Cowen; and for a pessimistic economic historian's take see here.

But following an undeniably rocky road the little digital currency that could appears to be having the last laugh. A good read can be found here on how Bitcoin is beginning to go mainstream.

At this stage the obvious first question is why has the decentralized, 100% digital currency proven so resilient? Scientific American provides one good answer:

When they (a merchant) finalize a deal in Bitcoin, they do so knowing that the transaction can never be reversed. The Bitcoin network doesn't edit its ledger. As such, merchants no longer have to worry whether they are charging a stolen credit card. 

"'The fraud mitigation is big for Internet merchants, because they are all handling card-not-present transactions. And the business has to eat the loss if the payment is reversed later on,"' Gallippi says. "'Using Bitcoin, a business can receive a payment from any country on the planet, instantly, with no risk of fraud."'

In addition to helping cut down on fraud costs for merchants, Bitcoin is chic. Using Bitcoins to transact business is a mark of digital savvy for both tecno hipsters and the merchants who cater to them.

What the future ultimately holds for Bitcoin is less interesting to me than a more general issue, which is the apparent growing trend in alternative currencies coming into existence.

We have already seen some Congressional saber rattling about Bitcoin prior to its flash crash. Will governments continue to tolerate it, Bristol's new pound note, etc., while they remain small? Or will we see a more formal move in the not too distant future to stamp out these fledgling alternatives to government fiat money? As the article points out, government's might have a hard time shutting down Bitcoin:

But perhaps most consequential for the future of Bitcoin—in order to shut down a peer-to-peer currency exchange, one would have to terminate every node on the network. The few lawyers who have studied Bitcoin all agree that the currency inhabits a legal gray area. No one really knows how governments would react if it gains traction, but many consider the exchanges to be the easiest target for people who want to regulate Bitcoin. Decentralizing the exchanges would make that job nearly impossible. Bitcoin developers are quickly proving that they can design decentralized alternatives to even the most sophisticated financial institutions. 

Adventures in Alternative Currencies - Bristol Launches Its Own

The Bristol ten pound banknote

Here is another reason to love the quirky, iconoclastic south western British city.

From the BBC:

It is a direct assault on global trade. The city of Bristol has launched its own currency, which cannot be used in Bath, never mind Berlin or Bombay. 

More than 350 firms in the city have signed up, making it the UK's largest alternative to sterling. 

Unlike previous schemes which have relied on paper, the Bristol Pound can be used online, even by mobile phone.

h/t Tyler 

The Hyperloop - San Francisco to L.A. in 30 Minutes

Good article here on entrepreneur Elon Musk.

The article briefly touches on his lastest, still relatively secret paradigm shifting idea, the Hyperloop.

Young People CAN and ARE Making a Difference in Europe

Getting more young people (and women) into positions of political power is a good thing.

Alexis Tsipras, leader of Syriza

Whether you agree or disagree with the politics of 37-year old Alexis Tsipras, the leader of a leftist-Greek coalition which surprised in the weekend election, he has demonstrated that not every member of the next generation is politically impotent.

While this blog probably would not be characterized as far left-wing, we do celebrate seeing someone under-40 years of age achieving political success.

Bravo, Alexis!

Video: Google's Zeitgeist - What the World Searched For in 2011

The Great Hope - An Update on the Holy Grail of Clean, Limitless Energy

Good story from the Guardian on the state of fusion research here.

While economically viable fusion may be decades off at the current low relative level of investment, it's good to see the world's great geopolitical powers working together:

Last year, bulldozers began clearing land 60km north-east of Marseille in southern France. By 2019, it is hoped that the world's largest and most advanced experimental tokamak will be switched on. The €15bn International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) is being funded by an unprecedented international coalition, including the EU, the US, China, India, South Korea and Russia.

h/t Tyler Cowen

Video: Dominique Strauss-Kahn (DSK) Saturday Night Live (SNL) Skit

For more great edutainment check out this video, which is from a year ago and still spot on as nothing has really changed with Europe's debt crisis in the past twelve months.

Video: Existential Star Wars (In French with English subtitles)

Photo: War Dog from Operation Neptune Spear (Bin Laden Raid)

Update: the Bin Laden raid dog was a Belgian Malinois named Cairo. More recently released details on the dog and raid, including an interview with President Obama, here.

We don't yet know the name, or even the breed (most likely a German shepherd or a Belgian Malinois), of the amazing dog which accompanied the Seal Team Six members on the Bin Laden raid.

But here are some amazing photos and more info, from Foreign Policy, about the role man's best friend plays in the U.S. military:

Yep, that's a dog strapped to the parachuter

Daredevil dogs: The question of how the dog got into bin Laden's compound is no puzzle -- the same way the special ops team did, by being lowered from an MH-60s helicopter. In fact, U.S. Air Force dogs have been airborne for decades, though the earliest flying dogs accompanied Soviet forces in the 1930s.

Dogs usually jump in tandem with their trainers, but when properly outfitted with flotation vests they can make short jumps into water on their own. A U.S. Navy SEAL, Mike Forsythe, and his dog, Cara -- pictured above -- recently broke the world record for "highest man/dog parachute deployment" by jumping from 30,100 feet.

Above, a U.S. soldier with the 10th Special Forces Group and his dog leap off the ramp of a CH-47 Chinook helicopter during water training over the Gulf of Mexico as part of exercise Emerald Warrior on March 1.

It's not the gear that makes the dog: Military working dogs (MWDs in Army parlance) may not enjoy all the privileges of being full-fledged soldiers, but the U.S. military no longer considers them mere equipment. (The war dogs deployed to Vietnam during that conflict were classified as "surplus equipment" and left behind.) Today, MWDs are outfitted with equipment of their own -- a range of specialized gear that includes Doggles (protective eye wear), body armor, life vests, gas masks, long-range GPS-equipped vests, and high-tech canine "flak jackets."

The NY Times also has a great story on 'the nation’s most courageous dog'.

Review: Unlocked/Off-Contract Smartphone + giffgaff = Mobile Heaven

Does your phone company advertise with a gimp?

I regularly travel back and forth between the U.S. and the U.K., with extended stays (approximately a month) during each trip. Every time I make the transatlantic jaunt I receive a stark reminder of how much better Brits have it when it comes to mobile providers. Before I explain, a little further background:

Last year after owning all of the first three iPhones, each locked and on multi-year contract to AT&T, I made the smartphone switcheroo. Crucially, I decided to purchase my new device outright to avoid any multi-year contracts or being locked to a single carrier. In exchange for paying a relatively hefty ($500+) up front for an unsubsidized smartphone, my total cost of ownership should come in around or under $1K, or 1/2 to 1/3 of the $2-$3K cost for something like the iPhone 4 on two-year contract.

How are the above savings possible? Part of the answer is the wonderful U.K. mobile provider with the quirky name called giffgaff.

Still think the name 'giffgaff' is weird? It gets weirder: my mobile plan name is called the Hokey Cokey. Funny name alright, but this plan is anything but hokey: for only £5 a month (about $8) I get 60 UK anytime minutes, 300 UK texts, 100MB/day data, a free extra minute for every minute I get called, plus free giffgaff to giffgaff calls and texts on top of that.

Another nice feature that giffgaff offers is that I don't have to pay when I'm not in the U.K., and when I don't pay I don't lose my phone number. I'd be more excited about this if I was getting charged the $80 or so I pay in the U.S. for a comparable plan, but it's nice all the same.

$8 for all that? Yep. There must be a catch? Yes, but it's pretty minor.

First, the Hokey Cokey is a giffgaff 'labs' plan, meaning it's experimental and may not be around after June. Also, the 100MB/day data* (see comments for further discussion) portion of the plan is not normally a part of the Hokey Cokey, but is being offered to all giffgaff customers through at least the end of May June.

Bottom line: there is no guarantee that I'll have the same, exact plan come June. What then? If the Hokey Cokey goes bye-bye for jusst £10 a month (about $17) I can sign up to to next plan, which has 250 UK anytime minutes, unlimited UK texts, and unlimited mobile Internet (plus the same free giffgaff to giffgaff calls and texts as the Hokey plan).

So the plans and pricing sound incredible, but what about the network coverage? Giffgaff runs on O2's network, which is the second largest in the U.K. So far as I can tell I receive the same service quality and coverage as a regular O2 customer. In London, for example, call quality is excellent and I have no problems streaming music while on the move at the highest bitrate (320 kbps) offered by Spotify (which is another great thing the U.K. has going over the U.S., and perhaps the subject of a future review).

Video: Keynes vs. Hayek, Round Two

Below is the third installment in the fantastic Keynes vs. Hayek rap-offs. For the original and follow-up click here.

Podcast: The Immortalization Commission - Science and the Strange Quest to Cheat Death

Link to podcast here.

During the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century science became the vehicle for an assault on death. The power of knowledge was summoned to free humans of their mortality. Science was used against science and became a channel for faith.

John Gray is most recently the acclaimed author of Black Mass: Apocalyptic Religion and the Death of Utopia, and Straw Dogs: Thoughts on Humans and Other Animals. Having been Professor of Politics at Oxford, Visiting Professor at Harvard and Yale and Professor of European Thought at the London School of Economics, he now writes full time. His selected writings, Gray’s Anatomy, were published by Penguin in 2009. The Immortalization Commission: Science and the Strange Quest to Cheat Death is published in February 2011.

Review: TripIt, My New Favorite Time Saving Smartphone App (Video)

The key value add: being able to simply forward emails I receive from the airlines containing my flight details/confirmations to TripIt, and then TripIt does two things:

1. automatically and instantaneously syncs all that info to my Google calendar
2. stores it on my Nexus S TripIt app 

No more manually typing flight information into my calendar, and no more searching for emails to dig up a confirmation number.

And it does a couple other nifty things mentioned in the video below. Marvelous.

The $625 Cookbook

47 pounds of recipes & tips

Is this the ultimate cookbook?

At a biblical 2,400 pages and for its whopping price it better be!

The WSJ dubs former Microsoft CTO Nathan Myhrvold's guide de gourmand a "game-changing cookbook" and claims it "upends everything you thought you knew about cooking".

And if you've ever wondered what it's like to eat a 30-course meal check out the feast at Chez Nathan's here (which includes pics of dishes).

P.S. Psst..the book only costs $467.62 on Amazon.com.

2045: The Year Science Makes Humans Immortal?

Ray Kurzweil

For my money it just doesn't get any more bleeding edge than the 'Singularity'.

A good read published in Time yesterday on this topic, and radical life-extension, featuring inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil, Cambridge Professor Aubrey de Grey, investor Peter Thiel, and others at the forefront of this (for lack of a better term) movement.

From the article:

The more you read about the Singularity, the more you start to see it peeking out at you, coyly, from unexpected directions. Five years ago we didn't have 600 million humans carrying out their social lives over a single electronic network. Now we have Facebook. Five years ago you didn't see people double-checking what they were saying and where they were going, even as they were saying it and going there, using handheld network-enabled digital prosthetics. Now we have iPhones. Is it an unimaginable step to take the iPhones out of our hands and put them into our skulls? 

Already 30,000 patients with Parkinson's disease have neural implants. Google is experimenting with computers that can drive cars. There are more than 2,000 robots fighting in Afghanistan alongside the human troops. This month a game show will once again figure in the history of artificial intelligence, but this time the computer will be the guest: an IBM super-computer nicknamed Watson will compete on Jeopardy! Watson runs on 90 servers and takes up an entire room, and in a practice match in January it finished ahead of two former champions, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter. It got every question it answered right, but much more important, it didn't need help understanding the questions (or, strictly speaking, the answers), which were phrased in plain English.

The idea of the Singularity first hit me like a lightning bolt a little over a decade ago when I read Sun Microsystem co-founder Bill Joy's alarming Wired article titled Why the Future Doesn't Need Us. I've been fascinated and trying to wrap my mind around the many potential implications of exponential technological development and living indefinitely ever since.

The Antithesis of Idle Chitchat

If you're looking for a way to spice up your next dinner party or bar conversation then I encourage you to trot out the idea of science making immortality a reality within your lifetime.

As noted by Kurzweil, people can more easily accept the idea of superhuman HAL-like computer artificial intelligence in the foreseeable future than banishing death. Based on limited anecdotal observations women in particular seem to have an almost viscerally negative, knee-jerk response when first confronted with the notion that the necessary technological advances could arrive in their lifetime.

In fact I have yet to encounter a single woman that responds positively at first blush to the idea of living forever. Perhaps the only thing this reveals is a homogeneity amongst my circle of female friends and acquaintances. But it has led me to wonder whether there is something fundamental to radical life extension which makes it more appealing to men?

Personally, I don't think so. Rather I think this is a case of a big, hard to fathom idea traumatically upending the perceived natural order of life's apple cart. Once you get passed initial concerns over things like quality of life (living long but as a gimp or vegetable) or what this means for romance (and concepts like soul mates) then some women soften up their initial distaste for life extension.

I for one love the idea of extending life indefinitely! There is so much I would love to learn, see, and do; to one day catch a sunrise on planet Mars and then climb Olympus Mons, a mountain almost three times as tall as Everest!

So far as I can imagine there is simply nothing else which would more profoundly alter life as we know it than the Singularity and radical life extension. However, their prospect raises tectonic moral, philosophical, socioeconomic, and security implications. Joy's concerns, which are shared by Kurzweil, must be addressed.

Below is a video of a 17-year old Kurzweil during his 1965 television appearance on I've Got a Secret, and here is a link to his most recent television interview on Charlie Rose where he describes the Singularity.

Adios iPhone: On Making the Smartphone Switcheroo

The iPhone is unquestionably one of the biggest game changing consumer goods in recent memory. Netscape founder Marc Andreessen has characterized it as a "wormhole product", seemingly delivered unexpectedly to Earth straight from the heavens.

Just how revolutionary was the iPhone? At the time of its dramatic January 2007 introduction in San Francisco by Apple CEO Steve Jobs, Canada-based Research in Motion -- then the world's leading mobile device maker -- dismissed it, believing the iPhone as described by Jobs to be an "impossible" engineering feat.

I've been a very happy iPhone user ever since the original went on sale 3.5 years ago. Each successive iPhone iteration has delivered significant enhancements. And I've even stood in a relatively short iPhone purchase wait line (but a line nevertheless), anxious to upgrade as soon as the latest version became available. That was until the announcement of the underwhelming iPhone 4.

iPhone Alternatives

The failure of the iPhone 4 to impress, combined with the changing smartphone competitive landscape, led me to take a hard look at two emerging iPhone alternatives: Google's Android and Microsoft's Windows Phone.

Microsoft's smartphone efforts the past few years have been nothing short of a complete failure. But Redmond's new Windows Phone software shows real promise. I was particularly impressed with the creativity that went into the elegant and innovative new Windows Phone user interface, called Metro. It's intuitive and refreshing, and the whole scheme is particularly pleasing to the eye on one of Samsung's Super AMOLED screens.

With the new user interface and other encouraging signs across various Microsoft product lines (i.e.,  ZunePass, SkyDrive, Xbox Kinect), I have growing confidence that the Washington-based software behemoth is recovering its form. In short, Microsoft has a potential winner on its hands. However, at this point in time there are just too few apps available for Windows Phone. Further, many features widely available on the iPhone are missing (e.g., copy/paste, multitasking, etc.).

What about Android?

Smartphone Wars: Android vs. iPhone

Google and its hardware partners, such as Motorola, Samsung, and HTC, have made big strides in 2010.  The iPhone/Android app gap has largely closed, and Android's market share is about to (or already has) overtaken the iPhone.

In contrast with the two versions of the iPhone currently available for sale (iPhone 4 and 3GS), there are some 80+ different Android devices. This greater selection -- and the increased freedom of choice Android offers over the iPhone in general -- is considered to be both Android's greatest strength and biggest weakness.

Many find the array of Android choices somewhat dizzying, while others want features like a Blackberry style keyboard, or a removable battery, or a larger 4" screen for browsing the internet -- all things you can find on an Android device, but not on an iPhone.

Ladies and Gentlemen, We Have a Race!

Let's be clear up front: the idea that there is an "iPhone killer" lurking out there somewhere over a not so distant hill is a myth. The iPhone has established critical market share mass, and it will likely remain a solid smartphone for the foreseeable future. Barring a major snafu millions of iPhones will continue to ship.

While 'power' smartphone users have had some great Android options to choose from for awhile now, the more typical smartphone owner basically just wants their technology to be simple and work. I suspect many of these folks who are familiar with Android have probably heard that Google's software is simply not as polished (in terms of ease of use) as Apple's.

However, Google just came out with a new smartphone, the Nexus S; it has been thoroughly reviewed and the verdict is in: it's a winner.

The Nexus S is the "official Google smartphone". It is manufactured by the same South Korean tech powerhouse which provides many of the iPhone's core components (Samsung). In my opinion, it is perhaps the first true mainstream alternative to the iPhone. 

Not only does the Nexus S possess hardware which can compete head-to-head with Apple's flagship iPhone 4, but the latest Android software (called 'Gingerbread') is intuitive and easy enough for the average iPhone user to switch to without having to spend much time getting up to speed on a new system.

Google's Nexus S

Long story made short -- the Nexus S not only delivers, but it also delights. The total experience is not just comparable to the iPhone, but in many ways superior. This is particularly true if you use Google services such as Search, Maps, Gmail, and especially Google Voice (which I reviewed here).

The Myth of the One Size Fits All Smartphone

The Nexus S, like all smartphones, has shortcomings because, like the iPhone, it simply can't be all things to all people.

For example, the Nexus S is perhaps the ideal international smartphone for a bevy of reasons; however, if you're based in the U.S. and you need a 3G carrier other than T-Mobile (the Nexus S can't utilize AT&T's 3G network, just AT&T's 2G service) then this iteration of the Nexus S (new versions of the Nexus S may be launched on the other carriers) may not be right for you.

The Nexus S also can't take advantage of the even higher speed 3.5G / 4G data networks which are starting to roll out in the U.S. Last, some Android apps are not as fully fleshed out as they are on the iPhone. For example, the Android Bloomberg app doesn't allow you to reorder your news preferences like you can on the iPhone.

Change is Hard

Ignoring network considerations, my best guess is that the majority of users would find the Nexus S comparable to the iPhone 4 in terms of overall pluses and minuses, and superior to the 3GS. Equal, however, is hardly a good enough reason to switch, so I don't expect the Nexus S to generate blockbuster iPhone-like sales.

Many users are understandably reluctant to switch to a different smartphone platform, particularly those who have made a significant investment in iPhone apps and accessories. If you are in this camp then you may be better off sticking with your iPhone.

But if you're new to smartphones, or ready to make a switch, then you should definitely give Android phones like the Nexus S a serious look. And for those worried about having to learn a whole new smartphone I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with how familiar Android seems compared to the iPhone.

And for those making the switch to Android, here are some things you can look forward to: I believe 2011 could very well be shaping up to be the Year of Android. What do I mean by that? We already discussed Android's rapid market share growth. With that growth we should see what remains of the the app gap disappear in 2011. And Android's next operating system, called Honeycomb, is generating significant positive buzz and is set for a Q2 2011 launch -- just before Apple typically launches its latest iPhone. Other hardware advances, such as battery sipping dual-core processors, are slated for Q1 release in Android devices. Overall, it's clear that Google and its partners are innovating at a faster clip than Apple.

In the battle of the smartphones, it certainly feels like Google has captured the momentum. For a variety of reasons, Google may also have the medium-term upper hand over Apple.

How Much Does Your Phone Say About You?

There has been a lot made of what your phone, like your car, says about you.

One emerging area where your choice of smartphone may be saying something important about you is the price you are charged when shopping online.

Recently the growing use by online retailers of 'dynamic pricing' has come to light. Reports have emerged that Google Chrome users are offered lower prices than Firefox users (apparently Chrome users are considered to be more savvy online shoppers). It's somewhat unclear how widespread the practice of dynamic pricing has become.

Perhaps the takeaway here should be that regardless of whether you feel your phone choice reflects the deeper you, our minds are naturally drawn to outward symbols such as cars, clothes and now smartphones. Like it or not, your consumer choices do say something about you, and perhaps there's a good reason why.

The Politics of Technology

While the Nexus S is the smartphone that led me to abandon the iPhone, the question of "which smartphone?" actually carries larger implications for even non-geeks.

Google and Apple take markedly different approaches to technology. Whether one approach is "better" depends on your perspective, which end product or service we're talking about, and above all else generates heated debate. What is not up for debate, however, is which platform is more open to individual expression and choice -- values which the western democratic world has generally held in high regard.

Why the difference? Whether or not Google fully walks the "don't be evil" talk is open to question, in my opinion. However, when it comes to Apple's approach to technology I think Rich Karlgaard's assessment of Steve Jobs psyche pretty much nailed it.

Closing Thoughts

As discussed previously, the Nexus S and Gingerbread now offer a near iPhone like experience in terms of intuitiveness, simplicity and ease of use. I concur with those who claim the iPhone still has the overall edge in these categories. For now. The gap has closed (and in my opinion will continue to do so) to such a degree that it is no longer credible to claim that if you want a simple, trouble free, and premium smarthphone experience then your only choice is the iPhone.

The bottom line: while it's certainly not black and white, if you prefer Google's approach to technology over Apple's then it's now safe to make the switch away from the iPhone without much risk of regret.

Note: for more Nexus S reviews see also CNET's video review, or from the slightly-to-more progressively geeky writeups respectively by Wired, Engadget, and AnandTech.

Further note: if you read the often entertaining comments sections of the above reviews you'll find remarks from a number of existing Android smartphone owners stating how "disappointed" they are in the Nexus S, often because it's too 'evolutionary' rather than 'revolutionary'. As someone who is brand new to Android, I understand but don't share this point of view. The Nexus S has some bleeding edge tech (i.e., NFC chip, integrated SIP calling). However, the Nexus S is not solely targeted at early adopters. Rather Google has focussed on small details to refine the Android experience for broad consumer adoption.

Video: 2010 Reflections - Adieu Blake Edwards

A couple of favorite scenes from his movies:

Video: 2010 Reflections Kickoff - In Memoriam Benoît Mandelbrot

Mandelbox Zoom from hömpörgő on Vimeo.

Music: Satisfactio­n of Oscilla­tion by Dajuin Yao