Upp Video Blog

Check out our new video blog, the Upp Video Blog. We'll be revamping The Respect Project soon enough, but until then, UVB has the latest updates.

TED: Ideas Worth Spreading

Videos annotated with "TED" have probably blasted through whatever stream it is you use these days.. Facebook, Digg, Reddit, Twitter... If you were curious about what it meant, seek no further...

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader.

Crayon Physics Deluxe

Nokia Morph Nanotechnology

A hypothetical future for nanotechnology through an imaginative, artistic lens. A must see video.

The Astrium Space Jet

Wow, that looks like a lot of fun. The idea of seeing the edge of the
Earth is a bit too much to really comprehend. Better start saving up.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/07/sci_nat_the_astrium_space_jet/html/1.stm

Spore, other Multi-touch Games for iPhone

If they can really get games going on this thing, it will be a no-brainer purchase. I'm still waiting for wireless direct to TV transmission, i.e. I have an AVI on my iPhone, and I walk into a room, and can wirelessly play the movie on the television (using some sort of set-top box). Read about it at Gizmodo.

Excerpts from "The Age of Spiritual Machines" by Ray Kurzweil

A few years ago in the peaks and valleys of Vancouver, British Columbia, I used to make a daily uphill trek to the Mountain-top game development studio that was Electronic Arts Canada. Fulfilling a childhood dream of game development, I would spend every day ensconced in games and people that loved them. It was wild.

Strangely enough, one of my sharpest memories of my time at EA was the moment I first saw "The Age of Spiritual Machines". The shiny silver book lay on a table within the studio library, catching my eye whenever it was within sight. I eventually conceded and sat down, to be immediately ensconced. I carried it with me for a few days, every spare breath devoted to its contemplation.

For me, it's the book that hammered home 'truth is stranger than fiction'. It was the most abstract, creative vision that had ever been reconciled with reality. More than the nature of light and energy, more than time itself.

The official site provides a few excerpts and summaries of the basic ideas. Here's one from Chapter Six: Building New Brains.

"Evolution has found a way around the computational limitations of neural circuitry. Cleverly, it has created organisms who in turn invented a computational technology a million times faster than carbon-based neurons. Ultimately, the computing conducted on extremely slow mammalian neural circuits will be ported to a far more versatile and speedier electronic (and photonic) equivalent."