The First Question - 26 Jan 2010

Ahoy all – with a new year and new website upon us, yes please check out the new Treet.tv website, We are going to name the episodes by their dates only!

A NEW DAWN

This week's panel

Kurt Karsin / Scarlett Niven / LANCE Rembrandt / Gary Broono

Quotes:

“Give thanks for what you are now, and keep fighting for what you want to be tomorrow.”
~Fernanda Miramontes-Landeros

“Anyone can carry his burden, however hard, until nightfall. Anyone can do his work, however hard, for one day. Anyone can live sweetly, patiently, lovingly, purely, till the sun goes down. And this is all life really means.”
~Robert Louis Stevenson

Word-UP of the week – “Legibrawl” Ok, every now and then you see some you tube video or some story on CNN with a bunch of people in the parliament of some foreign country duking it out in the middle of a session. I call this a Legi-brawl, using the words and Legislative and Brawl. Used in a sentence: The members of the British house of commons got into a Legibrawl.
~Gary Broono

Audience Quote of the week
“You are obviously using the banana wrong”
~Crap Mariner

Questions:

For the answers go to The 1st Question blog at treet.tv

1) Internet access from outer space – yes it has happened – Hello Twitterverse!” he wrote. “We r now LIVE tweeting from the International Space Station — the 1st live tweet from Space! :) More soon, send your ?s” Before, orbiting astronauts had to send such Twitter updates by e-mail to Mission Control . This direct ability will help alleviate the astronauts’ profound sense of isolation. Give us each day our daily Tweets. Who is the Space station resident who was able to establish Internet access from his orbital post ever since he moved in last month?

2) Apple’s announcement of its tablet computer tomorrow will without doubt be the most eagerly anticipated tech news of 2010. Odds on what the name will be have been on offer at Irish bookmaker Paddy Power this week and when the Economist ran a story on what it might be, the odds on this name shortened from 7/4 to 1/3 in a few hours. Obviously there are hundreds, if not thousands of people across the world who know it already, because they have been involved in manufacturing, or creating promotional collateral. It’s not exactly insider trading – but making book on what name seems a good idea?

3) An ionospheric research facility it is jointly funded by the US Air Force, Navy, the University of Alaska, and DARPA) for communications and surveillance purposes. The facility currently operates a VHF and UHF radar, a fluxgate magnetometer, and a digisonde. It became the subject of controversy in the mid-1990s, following claims that it’s antennas could be used as weapons. It has been called "the Moby Dick of conspiracy theories" and has been blamed for much. Variously described as a missile defense shield, a death ray, a tool of the Antichrist, a worldwide communications jammer, an apparatus that can cause the Earth to spin out of control, and was also blamed for the recent earthquake in Haiti. What is it?

4) An autonomous surveillance platform that was developed in Afghanistan, it will soon fly over the UK for routine monitoring of antisocial motorists, protesters, and anyone else the Home Office deems in need of watching. Police authorities hope to have them approved and ready for the 2012 Olympics. A national drone plan with BAE, documents obtained by the Guardian under the Freedom of Information Act, shows use could span a range of police activity – and officers have even talked about selling the surveillance data to private companies. What is the name of this drone?

5) It is building a mind-reading scanner that can tell if a given traveler is a potential danger - without the subject's knowledge - using biometric sensors. The system ... projects images onto airport screens symbols only a would-be terrorist would recognize. The logic is that people can't help reacting,, to familiar images that suddenly appear in unfamiliar places. The reaction could be a darting of the eyes, an increased heartbeat, a nervous twitch or faster breathing. This system would rely mostly on hidden cameras or sensors that can detect a slight rise in body temperature and heart rate. What is the technology company called behind this?

6) It is traditionally used to treat phobias like fear of heights or flying. Now it will be tried on soldiers returning from Iraq who are suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Recreating 360-degree, interactive computer-generated environments, it will expose the patients back into the environment and experience where the trauma occurred. It is hoped this will help reduce anxiety as it’s designed to promote a multi-sensory emotional connection to the memory, Behavioral health providers have treatment options for Soldiers but what is this now receiving a lot of attention?


7) SF writer William Gibson included the idea of synthespians in his 1996 novel Idoru: as we have mentioned in a previous show . James Cameron, director of Avatar, has been quoted as saying that the same technology that animated the Na'vis from Pandora could also be used to bring beloved actors back to the screen. Remember Max Headroom? He was Matt Frewer in makeup to represent a CG character. And he was a spoof of this President of the synthetic actors’ guild who promised that humans in makeup will no longer take work away from synthetic actors."The word "synthespian" was coined by Jeff Kleiser. Kleiser and Diana Walczak created the first digital actor for their 1988 short film- What was it?


8) Space divers are risk takers - and one will attempt a parachute jump from a balloon suspended 121,000 feet over the surface of the Earth later this year. After floating up for roughly three hours, Felix Baumgartner will step off, potentially breaking records for the highest parachute jump, as well as the fastest and longest freefall. He will face extreme peril. He should reach supersonic speeds 35 seconds after he jumps, and the atmospheric pressure is so low that fluids begin to boil. "If he opens up his face mask or the suit, all the gases in the body go out of suspension, so he would literally turn into a giant fizzy, oozing fluid from his eyes and mouth, like something out of a horror film, and it’s just seconds until death. Felix will attempt to break a fifty year-old record set by which US Air Force Captain who jumped out of a balloon at an altitude of 104,000 feet?

9) It is a space-cannon proposed by a Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory physicist. This 3,600-foot gun could make deliveries to an orbiting space station for just $250 per pound - compared to $5,000 per pound costs for delivery by rocket. Note to Felix Baumgartner - don’t expect to ride this thing: The gun produces 5,000 Gs, so it’s only for fuel tanks and ruggedized satellites. “A person shot out of it would probably get compressed to half their size so it’d be over real quick.” Hot hydrogen would boost the payload exiting the mouth of the gun at 13.000 mph. What is this called?

10) Mahru-Z is a walking robot maid with a rotating head containing a 3-dimensional sensor so it can figure out what work you need it to do. It can pick up your house, dump clothes into the washer and heat meals in the microwave. It is a bipedal, humanoid robot a little over 4feet tall; and weighs just 121 pounds. The most distinctive strength of Mahru-Z is its visual ability to observe objects, recognize the tasks needed to be completed, and execute them. Robotic maids have been depicted before - what was the name of the robot maid in the Jetsons cartoon show?

11). The dress has its own nervous system, which allows the wearer to control the emotional wellbeing of the garments. The approach to fashion design introduces the living garment. A micro pump represents the ‘heart’, micro tubes represent the ‘veins and arteries’ and various biosensors mimic the senses. Fragrances are actively 'pulsed' electronically through a micro cabling system in the fabric web. The fabric emits a selection of scents to eventually replace the traditional perfume bottle. What is this called and/or who is behind it?
12) The Wrap 920AR glasses prototype features cameras mounted to lenses that project real world images onto LCD’s inside the glasses, seamlessly mixing real-world and computer generated imagery. The glasses have a camera on each lens that captures video which can also be viewed in stereoscopic 3D. The cameras project real-world imagery giving the effect of watching a 67” display from ten feet away. And can be overlaid with CGI effectively creating an augmented reality. How about being on SL while you walk down an actual street? Not yet but it will be great for education. Who is making these new glasses for roughly $880USD?