technology

I guess I’m a little bit Luddite

This entry was posted in Artificial Intelligence technology on by

In the tradition of the original Luddites, though. As a writer, and occasional artist, I find the whole ChatGPT craze wrong headed and possibly even a danger to what little I currently earn from my creative work.

Just like in the time of the mills, it’s the wealthy and lazy who will gain the most from this technology, at the expense of the struggling artist and artisan.

https://theconversation.com/whats-a-luddite-an-expert-on-technology-and-society-explains-203653

Treasure hunt for £4m worth of Bitcoins buried on hard drive at landfill site – Telegraph

This entry was posted in money technology on by

This is the potential setup for some sort of caper movie or slapstick chase film, with people finding, and then losing or having stolen, a hard drive loaded with Bitcoins (or made up filmic equivalent).

Treasure hunt for £4m worth of Bitcoins buried on hard drive at landfill site – Telegraph.

A Hi-Fi in your pocket

This entry was posted in FLAC Hifi music on by

Some times, I’d like to listen to music when I’m out and about. But I have no desire for an iPod, and I don’t want to use my phone as a music player. And I work for a company that sells hifis, so I aspire to something better than an Apple product. So today I went looking for portable media players that could do justice to high quality files. I haven’t had a chance to test any of them, but I found a few with very impressive specifications, with prices to match.

At the top end of the price range, coming in at over a grand, is the Astell & Kern AK120. It’s very stylishly finished and can hold up to 192Gb of music, thanks to two micro SD card slots. It also has very potent digital to analogue conversion, capable of decoding “master tape quality” files (24bit/192kHZ, CD quality is 16bit/44.1kHZ) and outputting them at the quality they deserve. (You’ll need to get headphones worthy of the output, though, and that could easily be several hundred pounds more). The AK120 is for someone who travels first class and wants the sound to go with it, not we pleb s who catch the bus.

There is an AK100, which comes in at about half the price. It has less storage and lower grade (but still very good) components, but should still provide excellent audio.

Coming in at about the same price as the AK100, and looking gorgeous, is the Colorfly C4. I think it lacks some of the clever features of the AK100, but just look at that lovely walnut case.

Closer to the price of an iPod, and something I might be able to afford, is the C4’s little brother, the Colorfly C3. It only sports 8Gb, but it’s also not up to master quality audio, just CD quality, so the files you stick on it are going to be smaller. You’d need to get earphones or headphones worth £50 or so to match the quality of the output, of course, but it would be worth it.

It’s time to start saving.

SimEverything

This entry was posted in Facts and Fictions science Science Fiction technology on by

Scientists are proposing a project they’re nicknaming The Knowledge Collider, which will do for global data collection and analysis what The Large Hadron Collider aims to do for particle physics.

An international group of scientists are aiming to create a simulator that can replicate everything happening on Earth – from global weather patterns and the spread of diseases to international financial transactions or congestion on Milton Keynes’ roads.

Nicknamed the Living Earth Simulator (LES), the project aims to advance the scientific understanding of what is taking place on the planet, encapsulating the human actions that shape societies and the environmental forces that define the physical world.

This is pure science fiction, which we’re now reaching the processing power to make fact. I have visions of sexy young scientists- led by someone with an eyepatch, though I don’t know why that’s significant- running simulations and dispatching doctors, soldiers or super spies to potential trouble spots to do whatever is needed to head off problems before they really begin.

Make way for the organic battery

This entry was posted in battery Fuel cell pollution technology on by

Laccase, an enzyme produced by certain woodland fungi, has been shown to be a potential replacement for catalysts such as platinum in batteries and fuel cells. Deployment is a long way away, but if it happens it could see an end to energy intensive mining operations. Also interesting to note, Laccase breaks down lignin, one of the important steps in preparing cellulose materials for fermentation. So it could have an interim use in the production of ethanol from plant waste.

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