The coevolution of open source software and hardware

Open source software has conquered the world in the last decade, and its influence has recently started to spread to how hardware is being developed. Of course hardware IS software, when you take into account that CAD has had a larger and larger role in designing circuits.

The Economist has published an excellent article “Open sesame“in [...]

Conversation with Bruce Sterling on spimes

A few days ago we had the pleasure of a long Italian dinner, and of an after dinner on-camera conversation with Bruce Sterling, writer, speaker, futurist, and inventor of the word spime. Posted in parts 1, 2, and 3 online*, the video does not only talk about spimes and their meaning, but also covers other [...]

Conversation with Vernor Vinge on spimes

Vernor Vinge is an award winning author, whose latest book Rainbows End is full of what we now call spimes: smart networked sensors, that fill the world with intelligent chatter that the protagonists of the book constantly rely on. (You can also download a full, free electronic version of the book.)
We had the pleasure of [...]

CO2: average of ppm on Earth

From 1832 to 2004, the atmospheric CO2 concentration increased from 284 ppmv* to 377 ppmv, or about 33%, with most of the change occurring since 1970. Burning fossil fuels such as coal and petroleum is the leading cause of increased man-made CO2; deforestation is the second major cause. - Wikipedia
Global warming, while not completely understood [...]

What is a spime?

The word spime has been coined by Bruce Sterling from the contraction of the two terms space and time to express the nature of a new class of objects, which are aware of where they are, and when they are on the planet. This awareness is achieved through the universal inclusion of global positioning functionality, [...]