I usually have a healthy skepticism for anything that’s genetically modified, but this is something I’ve previously mentioned (reLink) which I rather like: plastic produced by bacteria. In this case, however, they’re genetically-altered, so I’m a little torn.

According to a story on the MIT Technology Review site (Link), the uses are primarily for medical purposes . I’d rather we were using this material in things like plastic engine components or something else a bit further removed. From the article: Continue reading →

It’d been awhile since I traded text with Kimberly Rufer-Bach (aka Kim Anubis) of the Second Life developer group “The Magicians” (Link). After she stopped by here last week to inform me of the NASA CoLab project in Second Life (reLink), I made a point to see what she and her team had been up to. I’ve previously mentioned projects by the Electric Sheep Company (reLink), Millions of Us (reLink), and Anshe Chung (reLink) so I thought this would be an opportunity to see what else has been developing. Besides, when I was mostly a lone voice debating trademark issues on the old Second Life forum, Kim was one of the very few who jumped in to support my position; not an especially popular move but one that I appreciated.
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I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at a recent post over on 3pointD (Link) where the author, Mark Wallace, enlightens(?) readers with his “predictions”:

• Much of broadcast media will evolve to incorporate virtual worlds and geospatial technologies
• The display of information will take on three dimensions where useful, and we’ll find ways to make 3D models and worlds useful in more and more areas
• The physical world will stream digital information directly to mobile devices
• Lifelogging, geospatial technologies and the heightened expressive power of virtual worlds will make possible deeper communication between people

These changes will come on at varying speeds, of course, and in varying degrees, but I’m pretty sure, looking out at the landscape of technology in development, the corporations interested in that technology, and the people who are already using what we’ve got, that those and probably more are on its way. (Bringing game-like feedback systems into non-game contexts, for example, is another change that’s on its way, but it isn’t specifically 3pointD, so I’m not going to address it here.)

I’ll keep my comments… gentle.
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A bit off-topic, but I happened to catch a post on O’Reilly Radar that hits home for me. The post is titled “Call for a Blogger’s Code of Conduct” (Link). Up until a couple of days ago I thought such discussions were mostly unnecessary; much of what he says I already employ on this blog. The law seems pretty clear to me. In particular, however, I wanted to focus on two of the bullets on the list.
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Caught a post over on the Windows Live Spaces News website (Link) discussing internal builds of a plug-in for MS Virtual Earth that might be interesting, assuming it’s not an April Fool’s Day joke. From the post:

If you’re familiar with Second Life from Linden Labs you’ll be right at home in Third World, a virtual world without limit. One of the major differences is that the space you live and interact in is actually the Virtual Earth…

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