We’ve heard about the street finding its own use for things, but here’s an example of the opposite occurring: epidemiological researchers are in discussion with the makers of World of Warcraft to arrange a for a contagious virtual disease to sweep the multiplayer world, so that they can observe how people react to various social countermeasures like quarantining. Brings a whole new meaning to bugs in the code. [Image by Rance Costa]
All posts by Paul Raven
Welcome to the United Kingdom of Ubiquitous Surveillance
Call me all the rude versions of “paranoid liberal” you want, but I’m getting very distressed at my homeland’s propensity for spying on its own citizens. The silent airborne surveillance drones I mentioned a while ago are now being used to maintain order at music festivals. And while you can argue that there’s a degree of reasonable logic to that, you can’t say the same for the school uniform manufacturer that is seriously considering producing a range of bugged clothing to enable parents to know where their kids are at all times. [Image by RightIndex]
I never realised that freedom was a finite resource; it would appear the failed efforts of our glorious leaders to export it to the Middle East have led to a major deficit at home. But hey, why worry? After all, if I’m doing nothing wrong, I have nothing to fear, right?
Right?
Hugo Awards website launched
The most venerable awards of the science fiction scene have finally caught up with the future – ladies and gentlemen, the Hugo Awards Online. I wonder if they’ll be activating the comments function for the inevitable calls of controversy after this year’s announcements? [BigDumbObject]
Multi-user Google Earth with avatars – this is Unype
Much as I love Second Life, I’m not so infatuated that I can’t see that Linden Lab are wide open to someone overtaking them with a smaller, lower-spec application with a similar feature set. And while it’s still in Beta (isn’t everything these days?), Unype’s ability to use your Skype account and Google Earth to create a multi-user avatar populated virtual world looks like it has the potential to become a serious contender. Granted, it doesn’t have SL’s content creation features or the bells and whistles … but the lower barriers for entry may render that irrelevant. [Clickable Culture]
Artificial life – the race is on
Craig Venter had better watch out – he’s got some competition. Experts in the field predict we’ll see the first successful attempts at creating “wet artificial lifeforms” within three to ten years.