I’m guessing that a lot of Futurismic reader have read other fiction online or on screen in their time. If you have an opinion or interest in the future of electronic fiction publishing, positive or negative, why not go and cast your vote in GalleyCat’s poll to determine whether or not free ebooks really do act as an effective loss leader?

I sincerely hope this turns out to be unnecessary concern, but Colony Worlds suggests that Liftport, one of the leading space elevator companies, may be forced to shut down after losing their office space. The official Liftport staff blog indicates that times are tough, but therer’s no definite word either way as of yet. I’m not ashamed to say that I’d be gutted to see Liftport fold – in a world where so many are busy staring at their feet, those guys have the guts to look up at the stars. Best wishes, Liftport.

Despite its made-for-tabloid vibe, that’s a real news headline. After changes to the law in Osaka that forbids human beings to walk the streets as touts for sex industry venues, one enterprising outfit has decided to circumvent the pan by dispatching a robot to do the work instead. Bill Gibson was right – the street does find its own use for things, especially when the law blocks an old method.

While the government of the US continues to gnaw at he net neutrality knucklebone, UK experts are starting to panic – saying that if it doesn’t seriously upgrade its internet infrastructure, Britain risks falling behind in the information economy. I guess someone should let the BBC know, as they are planning to make over a million hours of public service broadcasting available in a free archive. In the meantime, those of you who still hanker for the good old frontier days of the information superhighway can bathe in the discordant nostalgia of the 56k modem emulator, courtesy of Bruce Sterling.

One of the (many and conflicting) theories about AI is that we need to make computers that work more like an organic brain if we want to build machines that really think. Jeff Hawkins, founder of Palm Computing, has written an article about Hierarchical Temporal Memory (HTM), which is “a platform for simulating neocortical activity” that he’s releasing freely for research purposes. Meanwhile, Warren Ellis draws our attention to a different deployment of technology called ‘speckled computing’ – spraying tiny match-head sized processors all over patients for medical diagnosis. Insert your own punchline here.