Institute For The Future

Gene Manipulation Makes Meek Mice Fearless

Here is another possible tool to add to the repertoir of body extension tools we discussed at the last Tech Horizons exchange. A recent article in...

Air traffic visualizations as art

"Aaron Koblin generated a series of beautifully-surreal visualizations of air traffic above the US. Seen here is a still from the "3D Blobular"...

The end of cyberspace and the future of AI?

Is there some deep way in which ideas about cyberspace and artificial intelligence are linked together? Or perhaps, to take a small step back, do...

Is there some deep way in which ideas about cyberspace and artificial intelligence are linked together? Or perhaps, to take a small step back, do...

I'm working with Anthony Townsend on an article on shifts in the way science parks and science cities-- or more broadly, spaces designed specifically...

Japanese youth acting like chimps?

"A Kyoto University primatologist suggests that Japanese young people, wielding mobile tech, are acting increasingly like chimpanzees. Nobuo...

The Psychology of Context-Awareness

Two things I read this week clicked together in an interesting way, related to the psychological dimensions our recent explorations about...

According to the New York Times, the Council on Graduate Schools estimates that the number of new foreign graduate students has grown this year: ...

John Markoff writes in the New York Times (and International Herald Tribune) about Silicon Valley's complicated affair with China:...

DIY augmented reality

"At IFTF, we've become intrigued by the recent reawakening of a DIY technology mindset, as evidenced by hackers, crafters, garage engineers, and...

A couple weeks ago, I scored a piece in the San Jose Mercury News about my romance with the iPod. A copy is attached here....

Mobile Auctions in Japan

Gen Kanai - former Sony guy, and now working with a couple of Japanese net startups - has a great post on his blog about a conversation he had with a...

For any of you who weren't able to make it to Redwood City, the dicussion began last night with Ted Selker offering his view of context-awareness -...

Seven steps to immortailty

"The Chronicle of Higher Education features a long profile of controversial Cambridge biogereontologist Aubrey de Grey. Included is de Grey's...

T-minus 96 hours

If you've noticed that the blog has been a bit sparse lately, it because everyone here at IFTF is in the midst of last-minute preparations for our...

Who needs flying cars? We have color e-paper!

"Electronic paper is one of those technology developments that you know is inevitable and yet you're still surprised when you poke your head in and...

RFID and retinal scans down on the farm

"New Mexico State University researchers are testing a retinal scanner and radio frequency identification (RFID) tag system for cattle. Part of the...

Synthetic bug rubber

"Biologists have genetically engineered E.coli to produce resilin, the rubbery protein that enables fleas to jump and insect wings to flex. The...

Visualizing IFTF Research via del.icio.us

I was playing with some of the visualization tools people have built for del.icio.us. Take a look at the tag cloud for "iftfth" - our del.icio.us...

"Biomicry, algae shells, and nanoelectronics"

"In an elegant bit of biomimicry, chemical engineers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have transformed the amazingly intricate shells of...

Telerobot in a pill

"The problem with previous cameras-in-a-pill, like Given Imaging's PillCam Capulse Endoscopy system, is that once you swallowed it, the doctors...

Hibernation-On-Demand

"Along with Steven Levy's profile of tech innovator Danny Hillis, the new issue of Newsweek surveys "Some Big Ideas." Basically, they've compiled...

"Shelves, now with built-in RFID"

This entry is a bit of a preview for memo #4 in the RFID+10 project (links to #1, #2, and #3) in which we explore the role RFID will play in finally...

Self-driving buses in London?

"London's Royal College of Art has developed a proposal for a self-driving bus system. The Personalised Public Transport (PPT) concept is a...