Death by Powerpoint

We've all heard the phrase "death by powerpoint" and we've all sat through interminably dull presentations, talks and lectures. However, I came across an article yesterday called "No excuse for boring an audience: Advice on giving technical presentations," which makes the fairly obvious point that usually it's not Powerpoint's fault but the presenters. Borring presenters give borring talks and yes their slides probably suck as well. But people were giving borring talks long before Powerpoint or Prezi.    The article refers to an essay written in 1985 that makes a very clear argument that it's your responsibility to make your presentation interesting, exciting and fun, and that above all you must be enthusiastic about your subject. If you are going to give a presentation soon I recommend that you read it. from The Universal Machine http://universal-machine.blogspot.com/

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IBM release the worlds smallest movie

The video below is a little stop-motion animation made by IBM. Why would IBM researchers want to make a movie? So they can demonstrate that they can move individual atoms around - that's correct, the little dots that make up the movie are individual atoms! The researchers aren't just having a laugh, they're actually trying to discover the smallest number of atoms that can store a bit of data. They're aiming to make an atomic memory data storage system. Once you've watched the world's smallest movie watch the "making of the world's smallest movie" for information on how and why it was done. from The Universal Machine http://universal-machine.blogspot.com/

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Computer Games: Friend or Foe? Free public lecture

Our next Gibbons Lecture on 16th May will be delivered by Dr. Burkhard Wuensche from our Department of Computer Science at The University of Auckland. Dr. Wuensche will be discussing the relationship between computer gaming and computer graphics.  Dr. Wuensche has an extensive history of research publications that he often illustrates with whimsical examples.We particuarly like his generated images of rabbits, a bit late for Easter, but cute never-the-less.     For more information on the venue, date and time visit the Gibbons Lectures website. The lecture will be streamed live and after the event if you cannot attend in person. from The Universal Machine http://universal-machine.blogspot.com/

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Is Siri your best friend?

The NZ Herald today published a very interesting interview with Sherry Turkle, a professor of the social studies of science and technology at MIT and founder and director of the MIT initiative on technology and self. She is very concerned that in interacting with technology people are losing skills in reading each others emotions - "This is a complex dance that we know how to do to each other," she says. It's a dance she fears is being forgotten. In the interview you get a strong sense that she is far from being an apostle of new technology. You can watch her express similar concerns in this TED talk. from The Universal Machine http://universal-machine.blogspot.com/

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Looking at the world through Google Glass

Mashable has published a photo gallery of what the world looks like through Google Glass or rather what Glass looks like in use. Some of the images are slightly distorted by refraction and lens flare but it's clear that the technology works - whether it will be widely adopted is another matter. On one hand wearers of Glass look desperately geeky but on the other hand if it enables people to look up and ahead rather than down and into their hands maybe it will be a good thing. from The Universal Machine http://universal-machine.blogspot.com/

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Academy Award winner to give free public lecture in Auckland

Our next Gibbons Lecture on 9th May will be delivered by John Lewis of Victoria University of Wellington and Weta Digital Research. His talk is titled "Why Academic Research Matters in Visual Effects.  John was a recipient of a 2103 Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Science Technical Achievement Award.      He has contributed to the use of computer graphics in films including Avatar, The Matrix sequels, and Forrest Gump. Several of his algorithms have been adopted in the film and games industries and incorporated in commercial graphics software packages. He has interest in rendering images of computer generated humans to make them more life-like – in the following images one is a photograph of a human and the other generated from a computer model – can you tell which is which?     Full details of the venue, date and time are provided here. If you can't attend the lecture will be streamed live and after the event. from The Universal Machine http://universal-machine.blogspot.com/

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Auckland's transportation problems [rant]

Okay, for years now we've had local and national government arguing over the future of Auckland's transportation infrastructure (similar arguments are taking place in many other cities as well). Is it more roads and cars, or lots more buses, or light rail and trams, or a rail loop, or a combination of all of the above? Then how is it all going to be paid for? Time and time again everyone in the debate makes apocalyptic predictions about the total grid lock that will happen in 20 years time if we do nothing.     It's essential to prepare for the future, but to do so you must have an accurate idea of what the future will look like. Current planners seem to be completely ignoring the profound impact that self-driving cars will have on the need for transport infrastructure. Now you may be thinking that I'm just another geek predicting robotic vehicles and personal jet-packs. But you'd be wrong. I'm not going to quote articles from scientists or show video of Google's driverless car. I'm going to quote from a recent report by KPMG, called "Self-driving cars: The next revolution." "An essential implication for an autonomous vehicle infrastructure is that, because efficiency will improve so dramatically, traffic capacity will increase exponentially without building additional lanes or roadways. Research indicates that platooning of vehicles could increase highway lane capacity by up to 500 percent. It may even be possible to convert existing vehicle infrastructure to bicycle or pedestrian uses. Autonomous transportation infrastructure could bring an end to the congested streets and extra-wide highways of large urban areas. It could also bring the end to battles over the need for (and cost of) high-speed trains. Self-driving vehicles with the ability to "platoon"—perhaps in special express lanes—might provide a more flexible and less  costly alternative."    Yes, KPMG are predicting up to a 500% increase in road capacity and less need for expensive trains. Basically it seems as if our politicians and planners are like people in 1905 planning how many horse stables will be required in the city in 30 years time and are worried who will collect all the horse pooh! I highly recommend the KPMG report - it's not science-fiction we are on the cusp of a revolution. The car dramatically changed the nature of our society in the 20th Century and will do so again in the 21st. Please wake up politicians and start planning for a future that will actually happen. from The Universal Machine http://universal-machine.blogspot.com/

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