Tulipa k�yty� lataamassa akkuja japanilaisteemaisessa kylpyl�ss� Hasseluddenissa, joka on pieni paikka Tukholmasta it��n.
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Nowadays a lot of music is in digital format. One of the most popular digital encoding methods is MPEG-1 Audio Layer III, aka. “MP3“. Typically an MP3 file takes around 1/10 the size of the uncompressed original (depending on quality), thereby saving storage space.

MP3 uses a form of lossy compression. This means that the original sound can not be perfectly recovered. What is recovered (sound you hear) is some kind of approximation of the original.

MP3 does this lossy compression by removing the sounds which a human ear cannot distinguish, using so-called “perceptual coding“. The sounds which are removed are specified by a psychoacoustic model, which is created using human input, for example listening tests.

In other words, this means that many people are all the time listening to music with “something missing”. But what is this something, what does this something sound like?
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Here are two videos of absolutely cool human-computer interface systems; Jeff Han’s touchscreen, and Pattie Maes’ & Pranav Mistry’s “Sixth Sense” system.

My prediction is that in 15-25 years ubiquitous computing will be an everyday reality in the way Mark Weiser envisioned it to be – computing devices will blend into the environment and “disappear”, letting you do whatever it is you need to do without having to consciously use a computer. And then, when you see people doing their slow tai-chi like movements in the park, instead of exercising, they just might be accessing their data with the help of body-motion detecting wearable computing and reality-augmenting contact lenses.

And, perhaps, William Gibson is the next Jules Verne.

Stay tuned!

During the Cold War, the Soviet Union built the Polyus (aka 17F19DM), an orbital weapons platform. It never actually made it to orbit, but had it done so, it would have been straight out of Star Wars (the movie). The equipment list included radar/optical guided recoilless cannon (!), barium cloud generation system (!!), launcher for nuclear space mines(!!!) and a laser communication link for radio silence.

All this with a fashionable matte-black paint job and golden rims for the booster rocket.

Some more information on this engineering marvel can be found from here or here.

The multinational insurance giant AIG reported massive losses for Q4/08: 61.7 billion US dollars.

If that looks like a big number, think again: AIG has already received 150 billion USD, plus is about to receive 30 billion USD extra as bail-out/rescue/emergency funding. All in all this is 180 billion USD, almost three times the losses.

That’s… massive. But how much money is it, really?
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