aphexddb.com

When you coined the word “cyberspace,” did you envision that the term might be your lasting legacy?
Not at all. I thought the book would be despised to the extent that it wasn’t ignored. Now, on a good day, my career seems so utterly unlikely that I wonder if I’m not about to snap out of a DMT blackout and discover that I’m not actually a famous writer of William Gibson novels but that I’m working at a used-book shop that smells of cat pee and drinking beer out of a cracked coffee mug.

via Rolling Stone

Android is the first truly open and comprehensive platform for mobile devices. It includes an operating system, user-interface and applications — all of the software to run a mobile phone, but without the proprietary obstacles that have hindered mobile innovation. We have developed Android in cooperation with the Open Handset Alliance, which consists of more than 30 technology and mobile leaders including Motorola, Qualcomm, HTC and T-Mobile. Through deep partnerships with carriers, device manufacturers, developers, and others, we hope to enable an open ecosystem for the mobile world by creating a standard, open mobile software platform. We think the result will ultimately be a better and faster pace for innovation that will give mobile customers unforeseen applications and capabilities.

via Official Google Blog

They’ve got our future, damn it.

It’s not the shiny future of jet packs and food pills oh no, that’s not what Japan is about. Nevertheless, they’ve got it and they’re living in it, damn them. They’ve got express trains that run on time and accelerate so fast they push you back into your seat like an airliner on take-off. They’ve got skyscrapers with running lights, looming out of the sodium-lit evening haze a skyline just like the famous nighttime scene from Blade Runner except for the shortage of giant pyramids (and they’re building one of those out in Tokyo bay). And they shave their cats.

In the future we will all have shaved cats. And six story high pornography boutiques that sell Hello Kitty! novelty toys on the ground floor. And 200mph super-express trains blasting between arcologies through a landscape scorched by the waste heat of a hundred million air conditioning units. And beer vending machines on street corners. And skyscrapers cheek-by-jowl with temples that are modern reconstructions of buildings dating back to the eighth century (said reconstructions only slightly older than the Christopher Wren iteration of St Paul’s Cathedral).

via Charlie’s Diary

It’s Friday, what else are you going to do?

Looks like we understand a little better how to optimize our biology, check out this article on mice that are basically Lance Armstrong on crack:

The mice over-express a gene responsible for the enzyme phosphoenolypyruvate carboxykinases (PEPCK-C). Normal expression is in the liver, in the production of glucose.

The scientists found their new mice would eat twice as much as normal mice – but weigh half as much. They could also give birth at three years old – which in human terms is akin to an 80-year-old woman giving birth.

via BBC NEWS

Perfect for today.

via Gabriel

Now thats just epic! Also found this photo on Yabitt.net

Demolish the moon! Hack the genome! Woo! Just what I needed on the day before Friday, some rigorous philosophical thinking.

The divide between the intellectually/physically rich and poor can only be closed if transhumanism is enacted uniformly. Unfortunately, the capitalist society in which we live most likely ensures that only the monetarily rich will benefit. Since money does not necessarily equate with moral goodness and intelligence, we are thus in dire straits as transhumanist ideology will quickly be abandoned in the pursuit of dominance and power. Therefore, transhumanism is probably the world’s most dangerous idea (Fukuyama, 2004). The potential for great evil is dizzying. Fortunately, the reverse is also true.

via Jotlab

After spending some time in Japan you have an idea of how much of a joke our options are, well done Wired. I don’t think anyone would have made this list any differently if they had the chance.

• They stifle progress
• They’re a cartel
• They’re going to make you pay for Tetris
• They just can’t behave themselves
• They illegally spy on you
• They have annoying commercials
• They hate you
• Their contracts are nonsense
• They charge crazy fees (for services you didn’t ask for)
• They lock handsets
• They cripple their products
• They charge double for data
• They own politicians
• Their products suck

via Wired

Alex Telthorst just posted a sweet video of him and his buddies doing some cool boating on Lake Creek. Anything on a river that has the nickname “The Brains” just can’t be safe. You guys are nuts!

via Facebook