Wall E-Times

Discovering all things interesting - Past, Present, and Future - dealing with business and finances. Along with others to help understand, incubate and invent the creative ideas of the future.

Vint Cerf

Vint Cerf

As a Stanford professor in the 1970s, Cerf co-invented TCP/IP with Bob Kahn. He helped pioneer packet-switching and went on to lead development of email and data infrastructure at MCI. In 2005, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Cerf is now chief Internet evangelist at Google.

I like Alan Kay’s comment “The best way to predict the future is to invent it.” Sometimes spotting the future is really a question of realizing what’s now possible and actually trying it out. In my case, working with Bob Kahn, what became the Internet was not possible until certain economic conditions were satisfied—equipment had to be affordable, certain kinds of technology had to be readily available. So some things get invented because it is suddenly possible to invent them.

Illustration: Andrew Zbihlyj; Aleshkovsky Mitya/Corbis

Not A Businessman, A Business Man

               

By: Anthony DeCurtis

“With education comes refinement,” Jay-Z observes late one Friday afternoon. He’s lounging on a couch in a studio at the Chelsea Piers Sports and Entertainment complex on the far west side of Manhattan and speaking between nibbles of a takeout salad in a plastic container and sips from a bottle of water. In his everyday speech, as in his raps, Jay-Z is inclined toward aphorisms, the compressed expression of complicated ideas, delivered with rhetorical flair. It’s hard-earned wisdom, graced by a poet’s touch.

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If I Were President…

                           

Neil deGrasse Tyson

August 21, 2011

Astrophysicist, Director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History, and host of NOVAScienceNOW

The question implies that if you swap out one, put in another, then all will be well with America — as though our leaders are the cause of all ailments.

When you’re scientifically literate, the world looks different. Science provides a particular way of questioning what you see and hear. When empowered by this state of mind, objective realities matter. These are the truths on which good governance should be based and which exist outside of particular belief systems.

Our government doesn’t work — not because we have dysfunctional politicians, but because we have dysfunctional voters. As a scientist and educator, my goal, wouldn’t be to lead a dysfunctional electorate, but to bring an objective reality to the electorate so it could choose the right leaders in the first place.

Swackett

                                                        

This neat weather app puts a new spin in your morning routine while boasting an efficient, aesthetically-pleasing interface that provides the hourly, daily and the weekly forecasts. Swackett is a different kind of weather app for a different kind of you.

107th World Series

                              

Rangers Even Up 1-1

Last night’s game was mostly bitter cold for Texas Rangers fans. But once again the tenacity and professionalism of the experienced roster garnered a crucial win. It was a quiet night until top of the 9th when Hamilton and Young sac-flied to drive it home. Great game fellas. Take all 3 at home!

“The only reason I don’t like playing in the World Series is I can’t watch myself play.”

- Reggie Jackson

Sustainable Habitat 2020

THE JETSON’S FUTURE

Closer than we think.

Remember as a kid thinking how cool it would be to live in a Jetson’s world with the saucer shaped buildings and flying cars? Well, of course we have the flying cars (if you can afford it!) but mankind is on the verge of taking it’s first real significant step into the Jetson-era with this new radical apartment building dubbed Sustainable Habitat 2020, created by the design team of  Philips Design. The main concept that gives the building almost all function is the incredibly intelligent skin which will keep this building and it’s residents living interdependent of the grid.

“This future habitat shifts from the current state where the  building surfaces are benign inert ‘dumb’ materials only used for construction and shielding purposes to sensitive functional skins that are ‘alive’ and act as membranes to harness energy. A membrane creates a strong link between the exterior and interior of the habitat and used as a transporter collecting and channeling the elements of air water and light - from the outside feeding into the inside space. This will supply the habitat with all necessary sources to be able to live off the grid.”

Nope. This things not an urban vertical garden but something way beyond that. The building is green because of the thousands of flower-like “funnels” that create a membrane between the interior and exterior that controls the elements. “The funnels are embedded with photovoltaic cells and sensors, which track humidity, wind direction, and the brightness and angle of the sun.” When rain water trickles into the funnels, they naturally change into a cup-shape. Then the water is channeled into a cell structure, which contains a closed-loop system that filters and stores the water. And the same goes for the wind. If it’s breezy out, the building acts as a city-wide air filter by elongating the sensors into a trumpet-shape and channeling the air through filters and into the home.

This design is a proposed solution to the exploding population growth in China and promises to be an awesome achievement if they can make it happen! Only question is how close are they to actually making these flower funnels happen? We’re not exactly sure. But here’s a video that goes pretty in-depth about the habitat. Check it out!

source: Popscience