Amazon showed off a technology it’s working on for those customers who really need their package RIGHT NOW – delivery by automated drone aircraft in about 30 minutes! It’s not as far fetched as it sounds (for those who live close to an Amazon distribution center) and certainly presents a ton of issues to work out (liability and safety primarily). It’s not ready launch (ha ha) yet…but could be a reality in a few years.
Pencil: a new take on the iPad stylus
I’m already a big fan of Paper, the note/sketch app from FiftyThree. Now they’ve introduced their own ideal stylus to go with their app, and at first glance I’m impressed. It’s double ended…flip it over to erase, for example…and that feature is what caught my eye the most. Construction is either aluminum or walnut, a nice touch. It’s not a passive stylus like most…there are switches embedded inside to assist with this functionality. I really want to test it out for myself so I’ve ordered one. Once it arrives (2-3 weeks, per their website), I’ll post a full review here with a comparison to your typical passive or ‘dumb’ stylus. I’ll also be posting reviews of some other products I’ve been using the past few months (or more) that I think would make good Christmas gifts for the geek on your list. Or for yourself!
Read more at Wired, or preorder from FiftyThree ($50 for aluminum, $60 for wood).
Welcome to the post-antibiotic era
Use humans have had it good since penicillin was first discovered in 1928. It, and the many other antibiotics that followed, provided us with a defense against bacteria infections which previously posed serious, sometimes fatal threats to our health. Antibiotics also enabled new forms of treatment that would incredibly weaken our immune systems and otherwise leave us vulnerable to even the mildest infections. Things like chemotheraphy, organ transplants, bone marrow transplants, for example.
The problem is evolution. Bacteria have been adapting to our antibiotics faster than we’ve been able to invent new ones. It’s hard to say exactly when we lost that battle…but there’s little doubt that we’re now in an era where we can not depend on antibiotics like we used to. This is not to say that all infections will be fatal…but they’ll be much more serious than in the past. PBS Frontline has a great article and TV spot talking about this (follow this link) and it’s definitely worth checking out.
High use of antibiotics in factory farms is not helping things…though they’re not the only culprit. Antibiotics are ‘over prescribed’, given out like candy instead of held back for only serious cases. In any case though, more cautious use of antibiotics is really only going to slow the evolution and just delay the inevitable.
So where do we go from here? The antibiotic market has not been a very profitable one, historically, at least compared to the other pharmaceutical options. If that changes, it might attract more R&D dollars which may lead to new antibiotic discoveries…but that’s wishful thinking. The ‘last line of defense’ antibiotics are already very expensive…and as the problem grows worse, the number of patients willing to pay for a new option will sadly increase. Developing a new antibiotic is just not something that can be expected to happen quickly…and the big unknown is how long it will be effective, before it too becomes ineffective against an ever-evolving threat.
It’s a long article over at PBS…but something that we should all read, this is a big change coming to our society and the only way we can expect to counter it is if people are informed and act.
3D printing with Graphene?
Graphene, a one-atom thick sheet of carbon atoms, is truly a ‘super material’, though one that’s still mostly existing only in labs and not everyday life. Yet. American Graphite Technologies is working on extrudable graphene which could then be used in 3D printers to enable new manufacturing possibilities for this fantastic material. Just how good is it? Well it conducts electricity well, conducts head extremely well, and is 200 times stronger than steel. It’s also virtually transparent. Pretty cool stuff, and regardless of whether they pull off this 3D printing, expect this material to become a part of your life soon.
(via Inhabitat)
Cameras on Animals
A couple days back I saw a video taken by a camera strapped to the back of an eagle. Very cool, but I doubted the authenticity of it. I’ve been watching more and more sites post that video since then, and it’s looking like it’s the real deal, so I’m posting it here as it really is pretty cool (even if it does end up being a hoax!).
That got me thinking about all the other ‘cameras on animal’ videos I’ve seen…and I’m including some of the best below. Starting with one favorite, a camera strapped to a dog with the video set to a great song (Hearts by Johnny Neon, if you’re curious). If you’re looking to make your own pet videos, the camera of choice is definitely the GoPro.
Dog at dog park:
Here’s one strapped to the back of a Peregrine Falcon:
For you cat lovers, here’s one, a bit corporate (made by Friskies) but still very good: