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- Category Archives Cyberpunk
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Google goes slightly Steampunk
Well…
Nice video, but do you really want to give Google more and more of your data? Google Play sounds like a cool concept, but this is also just another way for Google to track where you are, when you are where and so on.
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An old US admiral explains what a Nanosecond is
In our computerized age, the nanosecond is quite an important increment of time. One billionth of a second. But what does it mean? What exactly is a nanosecond, how can you wrap your mind around the concept?
Well, this is where the late Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper (December 9, 1906 – January 1, 1992) comes in. She was an American computer scientist and United States Navy officer. Vice Admiral Murray Hopper was also one of the first programmers of the Harvard Mark I computer, developed the first compiler for a computer programming language and helped develop COBOL.
Fun fact: According to annecdote and oral history, the term debugging (from actually removing an insect from the inside of one of those ancient early computers) was termed by her.
But I digress. Here is the Vice Admiral’s explanation of what a nanosecond is:
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Cyberpunk: Google's Goggles
What you see here are Google Goggles, and this is what they are actually called.
They will have a number of features which fall into the Augmented Reality section of things. They will thus be the first mass-marked product continuously creating a cyberspace-realspace overlap/interface for their users.
More about the goggles can be found here.
Even if they fail to be a success, which I optimistically doubt, they will pave the way for other such devices which eventually will be. It is only a matter of time.
Image above via Oakley.
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How Cyberpunk: The Future of Science according to the IFTF
CNN recently featured an article about the future of science up to 2021, as predicted by the Institute for the Future.
According to the Institute, the future looks something like this:
click to enlarge This looks like something out of a cyberpunk/space opera novel. Although I find some of the concepts presented in the map quite intriguing, some of them may be just too far out there. The space-time cloak in particular seems to me to be rather infeasable for quite some time if not forever. I am no quantum physicist though, so if anybody can explain the concept to me in depth, I may change my mind.
The Massively Multiplayer Data bouble in the upper right corner appears the most likely to me, since some of the things predicted there are already emerging.
Personally, I am most fascinated by the engineered evolution, although I think it will be as it always is: They will create weapos with it first.
Well, let’s see. I have a good chance to be around in 2021, I can check the predictions.
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Some Cyberpunk Songs
Very much like Steampunk, I was interested in Cyberpunk long before I had any idea there was a name for it. Very much like William Gibson, my ideas about computers and what was going to be known as cyberspace were shaped by my total lack of technical knwowledge.
My lack of technical knowledge back then was a simple question of age. The first time I sat in front of computer was in 1983, I was not allowed to touch anything. I do not remember what model the computer was, but as you can guess, its power and capabilities were laughable compared to today’s models. Back then, I thought I could accidentaly cause a black-out or something, just by touching the wrong buttons…
Anyway, I was browsing Youtube a little. More specifically, I was looking for a number songs I connect to specific memories concerning me and computers, here are some of them now (some are actual cyberpunk classics by now):
There is also Mindphaser by FLA, Youtube does not want me to embed t, but luckily, there are other options available:
Front Line Assembly – Mindphaser von oslo55
OK, so much for this little compilation. It once again proves how old I actually am.
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Hybrid Dieselpunk/Cyberpunk Wear for Gentlemen
It is a rare thing to discover an item which you can use for both Dieselpunk (and even Steampunk) and business style Cyberpunk-wear as well. But I have just found such an item. There is a nice little online-shop in Munich which stocks „Zeitgemäße Männerschuhe“ of various superb manufacturers, some basically only known to insiders.
And it was in this online-shop where I discovered this little jewel, the Friis Baron:
What I like about this shoe:
a) It has classic style. It has timeless beauty. I can wear it with a suit.
b) It is also very sleek and modern. It fits neatly into a more casual outfit.
Thus I can wear it to occasions spanning the whole range of punk-settings. And best of all: they are very light and comfy!
A little jewel in deed.
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Steampunk, Cyberpunk and Techno-Fetishism
Admitedly, I have a thing for technology. You could almost call it a fetish. Only almost. I do not use technology as any kind of paraphrenalia while engaging in the procreation of Pan narans.
Technology is simply something good. Oh yes, I can almost hear the howling of back-to-nature veggienazis and the like but technology is not only dirty factories. Technology is also microscopes and minimally invasive surgery and sattelites and the list goes on. To be honest, for me the whole thing goes a little further, I like technology for its own sake.
That’s why I have a collection of pocket watches (clockwork technology, a milestone in its own right and an integral part of gentlemanly equipment in the Steampunk era), two laptops (plus one at work which I could take home with me if I wanted), two shiny iPods (one Touch, one Nano), this is part of the cyberpunk aspect and a collection of various gadgets ranging from a pocket sun dial to various Swiss army knives and comparable tools to a watch with an integrated compass.
I know, I could do with one computer, one pocket watch and one Swiss army knife but this is beside the point. I am aware that this is propably just remnants of hunter-gatherer instincts and primate rank display substitutes fiering down my spinal cord, but by Jove, I don’t care.
(I get the feeling this might develop into a rant)
Today I had another of those encounters with something I did not miss in my life until I knew it existed and it is also (just) a gadget. Something which could be substituted by something less expensive but it would not be that cool.
I attended a meeting with a potential client today and he had a very stylish messenger bag which featured among other things a solar panel which powers a lithium battery which you can use to recharge an iPod and other equipment. All I can say is:IT MUST BE MINE!
Seriously, that was quite a stylish accessory and from the color scheme and technology level it goes well with cyberpunk and steampunk outfits. Oh happy day!
