Science Fiction in the News:
Science and Technology News

EggTorte Mini Micromouse
I really like the speed of this little learning robot. (re: Maurice A. Hugi)

Yale Aerial Manipulator Flying Robotic Hand
Just think of all the possible uses of a flying robotic hand. (re: Robert L. Forward)

M-Dress Has Phone, SIM Card And Antenna Embedded
This dress is a wearable phone. (re: Murray Leinster)

RG3 Robotic Greens Mower Is Sensor-Equipped
This sensor-equipped mower is nimble enough to avoid gophers on golf courses. (re: Clifford Simak)

Touch Sensor For Sensitive Robots
Honestly, who doesn't want a more sensitive robot? (re: Roger Zelazny)

Labor-Saving Centrifuge
'I made sure my left foot was positioned for the gravistat control and watched her belly.' (re: Robert Heinlein)

Aimec Child Robot Built By Childless Couple
This childless couple built themselves a robotic son. (re: Brian Aldiss)

Murdoch To Create Digital News-Paper
In which Rupert Murdoch demonstrates his mastery of future technology. (re: Arthur C. Clarke)

Yurina Care Robot Cure For Nurses' Strained Backs
If you can promise nurses 'no more strained backs' you'll get a sale. (re: Katsuhiro Otomo)

Robotic Wheelchair Autonomously Follows Walking Companion
This prototype device could make life easier for people who must use wheelchairs to get around. (re: John Brunner)

Ignition Interlock Required For NY Drunk Drivers
'It had been a bad night, and when he tried to drive home he had a terrible argument with his car.' (re: Philip K. Dick)

Solar-Photon Hoop Sails For Extrasolar Travel
Space tech from the 1950's and the sf of the early 1960's is brushed off for possible use. (re: Jack Vance)

Google's 'Omega Man' Street View Solution
The Last Man on Earth is Not Alone. (re: )

Vivos Shelter Network Survivalist Luxury
'A family would be safe, even comfortable, during the most severe H-bomb and bacterial-spray attack.' (re: Philip K. Dick)

Neurochip A Living Brain On A Silicon Chip
'The Ganymedean life form ... had not yet objected to being made over into a portion of an electronic system.'- Philip K. Dick (re: Philip K. Dick)

Vine Pruning Robots In New Zealand
'Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thy robot shalt prune thy vineyard.' (Note) (re: Philip K. Dick)

Smart Ball Android Spherical Robot
Use your Android phone to control this bot. Article includes a spherical robot video roundup! (re: Various)

Tiered Internet: Google/Verizon Deal/No Deal
Is net neutrality over? (re: John Brunner)

Gamers Outperform Algorithms At Competitive Protein Folding
Which would you rather tell people? I played Starcraft all night, or I helped design a new vaccine last night? (re: Various)

Make Money With Artificial Intelligence
'I've learned not to question the AI.' Advice to take to the bank - or famous last words? (re: Larry Niven)

'Intuitive Navigation' Augmented Reality For Smartphones
Find your way around the natural, intuitive way. With your smartphone. (re: Various)

Improve MAVs By Studying Bees In Flight
Nature has solved the problem of flight by tiny machines; let's see how She did it. (re: Neal Stephenson)

Telenoid R1 Uncanny Telepresence Robotics
Is this the kind of presence that you want to project teletronically? (re: Philip K. Dick)

Robotic Tentacle Manipulator
HG Wells described snake-like tentacle manipulators in his 1898 classic War of the Worlds. And what does this device look like if you turn it upside down? (re: H.G. Wells)

Robot Surgeons To Be Fully Autonomous
'Facing him from behind the desk was the surgeon The nameplate on the desk included a fully identifying series of letters and numbers... To call him Doctor would be quite enough.' (re: Isaac Asimov)

Did Arthur C. Clarke Predict GPS?
'But as for details of frequencies and powers, I'll have to leave that to the experts to work out; I'll get on with my science fiction and wait to say -I told you so!' (re: Arthur C. Clarke)

Telepresence Robot Roundup With Anybot
The field of telepresence robotics is starting to heat up; take a look at this roundup to see the variety of functions performed. (re: Niven and Pournelle)

Biofuel From Algae
Can we improve the ability of algae to produce material we need? Should we? (re: Hal Clement)

Ice Formation At Room Temperature Is Possible With New Material
This technology will have a number of practical implications. Busy, busy, busy, says Bokonon. (re: Kurt Vonnegut)

Pancake-Flipping Robot Learns By Example
Can you flip a pancake? This robot learned how in only fifty tries. (re: Anthony Boucher)

MIT's Cornucopia Digital Robotic Food Concept
Digital food the modern way. In concept, at least. (re: John W. Campbell)

Making Drone Aircraft Smarter
If you want smarter planes, why not just give them the brains of a pilot? (re: Peter Watts)

'Invisibles' Provides Tactile Feedback For VR
This is just the kind of prototype system that could give you you virtual reality world. (re: David Brin)

Ecobot III Robot Seeks Out Organic Food
Little Ecobot has continued to evolve, navigating to it's nutrient sources. (re: Various)

Amazon Sells More Ebooks Than Hardcovers
'I spent the afternoon in a bookstore. There were no books in it.' (re: Stanislaw Lem)

AQUA2 Underwater Robot With Flippers
Flipper-powered autonomous underwater vehicle. (re: Michael Swanwick)

ChouChou Butterfly Robot
Highly realistic mechanical insect. (re: Harlan Ellison)

Pharmed Blood Is DARPA's Tru Blood
Artificially produced blood for transfusions is on its way. (re: Various)

Ikaros Solar Sail Works!
The first push from sunlight has been felt by Japan's Ikaros spacecraft. (re: Jack Vance)

Terahertz Remote Sensing Detectors
See through walls, containers and clothes from hundreds of feet away - and identify the unique signature of different substances. (re: E.E. 'Doc' Smith)

Computational Journalism The Homeostatic Newspaper
Philip K. Dick has already plumbed the depths of what computers can do for us in creating (and peddling) the news. (re: Philip K. Dick)

Solar Impulse Completes Night Flight
Recharge by day, fly by night. Solar Impulse completes a 26-hour journey. (re: John W. Campbell)

FURO Waitress Robot
It's the latest tech from Dex's Diner in Star Wars! Well, almost. (re: George Lucas)

Canon Wonder Camera Concept
Why do big companies insist on intruding on the domain of sf writers? Philip K. Dick has this concept beat, hands down. (re: Philip K. Dick)

NTT Real-Time Voice Transcriber
Note-taking in long boring meetings will be a thing of the past, thanks to NTT. (re: David H. Keller)

Lung On A Chip - Electronics Plus Human Cells
This device combines living human cells with electronics; can Philip K. Dick's swibble-culture be far behind? (re: Philip K. Dick)

Unlimited Urban Woods - A Forest In A Box
What's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside? Maybe this box. (re: Various)

Robots Everywhere From Cell Phone Electronics
Maybe phones don't need the fictional All Spark to perform amazing feats. (re: Various)

Power Laces From Back To The Future 2
Marty McFly, your auto-lacing shoes are almost ready. With video. (re: Various)

Waterfall Display Technology
Will this nifty multi-layered droplet display replace your flat panel TV? It has to be more refreshing on hot July days. (re: Various)

Real-Life Minority Report Interface Presentation Video
Amazing implementation of the display from the Spielberg movie; not surprisingly, he also helped on the creation of the movie. (re: Steven Spielberg)

Could Blimps Replace Planes For Cargo?
SF writers haven't given up on dirigibles, neither should we. (re: Jerry Pournelle)

KrioRus Brain Freeze Technology
Frozen head buffs take heart from Russian firms ready to save them. (re: Frederik Pohl)

Tempwave: Raytheon Plowshares Energy Weapon
'They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.' And their energy weapons into grape-warmers? (re: Philip K. Dick)

Self-Folding 'Origami Robot' Smart Sheet
Updated! What science-fictional devices could you make with this real-life technology? (re: William Gibson)

Perching Flying Robot
This robot can perch until needed, saving energy for the mission. Which is to help people. (re: Philip K. Dick)

Fortune-Telling Robotic Vending Machine
Now updated ! 'He who reads many Technovelgy articles will have a happy life.' (re: Philip K. Dick)

Italian Scientists Who Failed To Predict Quake Indicted For Manslaughter
Is quake prediction still in the realm of science fiction? Italian prosecutors don't think so, apparently. (re: Arthur C. Clarke)

Unilever Smile-Based Ice Cream Vending Machine
Smile! You're about to get some ice cream from this face-recognition, proximity detecting, smile-measuring vending machine. (re: Douglas Adams)

'Sandfish' Robot Moves Through Sand
Take a look at this video of a biomimetic sand-burrowing robot. (re: Philip K. Dick)

Large Flexible Plastic Sheet Displays
'Ginormous displays' are on the way from Hewlett Packard. (re: E.C. Tubb)

Google Seeks Pohl's Joymaker Voice Recognition
In which Google's Vic Gundotra describes the pursuit of the perfect smartphone - which is starting to sound a lot like Frederik Pohl's joymaker. (re: Frederik Pohl)

EPI Life First ECG Mobile Phone
The world's first cell phone with a built-in ECG monitor. (re: Arthur C. Clarke)

Hyperion Robot Walking Chair
I seem to recall a similar robotic walking chair in a Star Wars movie. (re: George Lucas)

Paro Robot Seal Helps Grandma
Robotic baby harp seals are slowly wiggling their way into American nursing homes. A good idea? Or a phildickian idea? (re: Anne McCaffrey)

Stem Cells From Fat May Heal Bones
A special gel made from a soldier's own stem cells may be able to effect better healing of broken bones. (re: Clifford Simak)

EMIEW2 Roller Skating Robot
And why shouldn't a robot be able to rollerskate? At up to 3.7 miles per hour. (re: Various)

Charlie Health Care Robot For Kiwis
Health care robots are starting to appear all over the world. Now, New Zealand. (re: Katsuhiro Otomo)

Taekwondo Robot Fighting In South Korea
Robots square off in martial arts action! Sounds good to me. (re: Various)

Suspended Animation Works in Lab (With Nematodes)
Cold sleep is a science fiction standard; can metabolic processed be halted for even a short period? (re: Robert Heinlein)

Belvedere The Robot Butler
Great video of a DIY butler robot; watching the little boy react to it will make your day. (re: Frederik Pohl)

Handheld Fashion Kinetoscope Appliance Found
I think Wells got this one pretty much right more than one hundred years ago. Except now, you can own one yourself. (re: H.G. Wells)

LuminAR Bulb And Robot Lamp Frees Trapped Pixels
Remarkable prototype camera/projector fits in a bulb's outlet and sets your information free, putting it on any surface you want. (re: Various)

'Retina Display' SFnally Perfect (Almost)
Just how good is Apple's retina display Does it meet the needs of science fiction writers? (re: Ray Bradbury)

Scarab Robotic Chase Vehicle Concept
An all-electric chase vehicle for use by police. Sounds like a science-fictional concept to me. (re: Daniel Suarez)

eyeSight Gesture Control Of Android Phones
A wave of your hand controls your phone - and it can be used for gaming, too. (re: Samuel R. Delany)

PLEASE Painless Laser Epidural System Like Trek Hypospray
And Variable laser deflection allows flexible formation of pore arrays. (re: Gene Roddenberry)

Aggressive Autonomous Quadrotor UAV Makes Its Moves
Robots are getting quicker, even the autonomous flying kind. (re: Philip K. Dick)

Could Robot Fish Lead Gulf Fish To Safety?
This little robofish has all of the characteristics of a leader - and can really lead schools of fish to safety! (re: Michael Swanwick)

Internet Addiction Growing?
You can log off anytime you want to - right? (re: Dan Simmons)

Your Telemedicine Future
Vashti, your telemedicine apparatus is almost ready, thanks to physicians and Internet technicians. (re: E.M. Forster)

Nanoparticle Tattoo Monitors Blood Glucose
An 'ink' of nanoparticles suspended under the skin could save millions of people the pain of daily needle pricks, and improve monitoring. (re: Paul Di Filippo)

SmartIris IDs People In Crowds
Surveillance of public spaces just got easier, thanks to this DARPA program. (re: Stephen Spielberg)

Japan's Humanoid Robot Moonbase Plan
Now settlers on the moon will have robotic neighbors - a famnextdo. (re: Philip K. Dick)

SmartCap Detects Fatigue
Although I think it needs a buzzer for home use, this device could save lives. (re: Philip K. Dick)

SCRAM Anklet For Lindsay Lohan
This ankle bracelet uses transdermal alcohol monitoring to keep track of miscreants. (re: Philip K. Dick)

Robotic Butterflies For Parks Near You?
Among the synthetic trees, unliving turf and flower-holograms in the parks of the future, we will have robotic butterflies. (re: Roger Zelazny)

First Person Infected With Computer Virus
It's not quite the Snow Crash Metavirus. But they're working on it. (re: Gregory Benford)

Artificial Heart Recipient Goes Home With Freedom Driver
Take heart, Tin Man. No, really; it's a mechanical heart that is fully portable, thanks to its new power source. (re: Philip K. Dick)

bebionic Myo-Electric Hand Launched
Can I see a show of hands? Robotic hands? Here's a video to help you make your own show. (re: Philip K. Dick)

And DARPA Shall SMITE The Wicked
Predicting future crime is always a bit tricky - especially when you plan to do it without the usual three precogs. (re: Philip K. Dick)

Little Dog Robot's Uncanny Walk
Everybody's talkin' 'bout a new way of walkin' - do you want to lose your mind? (re: Various)

Google Adjustable Television
Google wants you to have the greatest possible freedom of choice in selecting programming. Philip K. Dick also wanted you to have freedom of choice _within_ programming. (re: Philip K. Dick)

Google Android Language Rectifier
Hugo Gernsback wrote about it a century ago; now a major phone platform offers it for free. And it works! (re: Hugo Gernsback)

PoBot Has Your Back - For 25 Cents
PoBot is happy to perform its nominal functions for you. For a small fee, of course. (re: Philip K. Dick)

SASI Sarcasm Recognition A Really Useful Invention
Better watch what you say around automated voice recognition systems the next time you call customer service. (re: Arthur C. Clarke)

Voyager 2 Hijacked By Aliens
The aliens probably got the idea for this from Star Trek. (re: Gene Roddenberry)

I-Fairy Robot Minister Performs Wedding Ceremony
This is not, as claimed, the first wedding ceremony performed by a robot. However, the wedding video might make roboticists cry. (re: Robert Silverberg)

Micromasonry 'Biological Legos' Building New Organs
New technique for putting 3-dimensional structure in artificial organs. (re: Larry Niven)

Autofac - Real-Life Nanoscale Assembly Line
Remarkable experiment demonstrates that a nanoscale assembly line can actually work. (re: Philip K. Dick)

DreamROBO Climbing Robots
Climbing the walls like dedicated salarymen. (re: Michael Crichton)

3D Printing In Ceramics - The Vitraglyphic Process
A new way to fabricate glass and ceramic objects. (re: Philip K. Dick)

Invisible Dress: Your Fashion Future
Essential couture for the technologically fashion-minded. (re: Philip K. Dick)

Autom, Your Robotic Weight-Loss Coach
Sticking to your diet and exercise plan may depend on health-conscious robots. (re: Clamp)

Robots, Knives and Soft-Tissue Injury
I certainly hope that robots can learn to be careful with knives, especially when human beings are nearby. Oh, and no running with scissors. (re: Various)

XM-25 'Judge Dredd' Rifle For Special Forces
According to reports, the Lawgiver may soon be seen in action in Afghanistan. Or a near real-life equivalent. (re: Various)

Spray-On Skin With Skin Cell Spray-Transplantation
Remarkable research may make Philip K. Dick's 'art-derm' possible for use with burn victims. (re: Philip K. Dick)

Artificial 'Muscle' Has Elasticity
Forget those mushy muscle-cell-only artificial muscles; this new material should give them some stretch and some pop. (re: Larry Niven)

Google Goggles Translates Pictured Text
The Goggles application just gained a new feature that could be a big hit in European restaurants. (re: Hugo Gernsback)

Laser Thruster 'Tractor Beams' For Space Junk
Here's a suggestion for removing space junk; is it more or less far-fetched than some of the ideas of sf writers? (re: Arthur C. Clarke)

Family Nanny Robot
We're still waiting for helpful nanny robots - it's been more than fifty years already. (re: Philip K. Dick)

'Healing Blade' Game Of Sorcery And Modern Medicine
Amazing new table-top card game by two physicians teaches medical strategy in a world of apothecaries and lords of pestilence. (re: Various)

Perching Project Drones Wait For You
A surveillance officer's dream, flocks of these little drones may be perching in cities near you one day. (re: Raymond Z. Gallun)

Nanopatch Delivers Vaccines
Interesting new way to deliver vaccines may solve problems using much less active agent. (re: Philip K. Dick)

Tweet Sleeve Displays Your Emotions
Insights into your heart, one hundred and forty characters at a time. (re: Murray Leinster)

Cellphone Inventor Cooper Trails Heinlein Again
RAH called this one too, almost sixty years ago. (re: Robert Heinlein)

3D Input Interfaces For Gesture-Controlled Phones
This would be one way to avoid all those smudges on the screen of your cell phone or mobile device. (re: Douglas Adams)

Robotic Arm Plays Chess In Our World
It's always fun to watch chess pieces manipulated by software and robotics. (re: Ambrose Bierce)

Robot Sketch Artist In China
Robots continue to push the envelope, developing their creative talents. (re: Various)

US Teens Embrace ASCII Text
I knew they'd come around sooner or later. (re: Various)

Underpant's Amperometric Biosensors Don't Chafe SF Fans
SF fans have already eased at least one leg into this concept, thanks to Rudy Rucker. (re: David Keller)

Artificial Skin From Spain
Artificial skin is an sf favorite - now, researchers have got you covered. (re: Robert Heinlein)

Rubber Mouth Robot Learns To Speak
This robotic device is capable of learning human speech autonomously. On a personal note, it's also capable of seriously creeping me out. (re: Various)

Festo Biomimetic Bionic Handling Systems
Oh, those guys at Festo are doing more than just dreaming about tentacle arms! (re: H.G. Wells)

NASA Manned Landing On Asteroids?
Landing on asteroids could lead to mining of asteroids. There are a lot of needed materials up there. (re: Robert Heinlein)

Winscape Plasma Monitor Windows
Amazing display is almost totally convincing; Phil Dick made sure you were convinced, in his version. (re: Philip K. Dick)

Conservation Of Tweets
Think carefully when you tweet - future generations are waiting for your 140 character masterpieces. (re: Frank Herbert)

Still Dreaming Of Tentacle Arms
Beware the 'long, flexible, glittering tentacles...' (re: H.G. Wells)

Solar Impulse Solar-Powered PlaneFlies!
First flight test for this plane. (re: John W. Campbell)

NewOrgan Prize From Methuselah Foundation
Sounds like an effort that the science fiction community could get behind. (re: Robert Heinlein)

Implantable Device Security
I'd rather not have medical device hacking on the table. (re: Robert J. Sawyer)

Samurai Robot Waiters In Thailand Video
Unique robotic food delivery experience in Thailand's most roboticized restaurant. (re: George Lucas)

'Smart Dust' Spacecraft Swarm Saves Earth?
Smart dust tells us when to duck. The only trick - getting them to one of the Lagrange points. (re: Various)

Fujitsu Teddy Bear Robot Prototype Spotted
It's lovable, it's cuddly, its - robotic. (re: Harry Harrison)

Marvel's iPad Battery-Powered Comic Book
SF fans, at least, are not surprised or unprepared by Marvel's new comic book app for the iPad. (re: Philip K. Dick)

MIT 3D One-Leg Hopper Robot Circa 1983
One legged hopper robots in fact and fiction; yes, you can ride them! Now with a better sf reference. (re: Isaac Asimov)

Dark Cloud: The Future Of (Anti-)Social Networking
In which two books, read at the same time, coincidentally make each other more interesting. (re: Barnes/Lanier)

PaPeRo Robot Cashier's Helper
PaPeRo, that lovable little robot, follows in the fictional footsteps of Artoo-Detoo. (re: George Lucas)

The Cygnus Bubble And Astroengineering
Enjoyable space image helps sf fans stretch their imaginations a bit. (re: Larry Niven)

PR2 Laundry-Folding Robot
Very practical robot develops very practical skills. (re: Philip K. Dick)

Ballbot Robots Balance On Balls
Here's a ballbot roundup for you; balancing on balls could get to be a habit with robots. (re: Various)

pCubee 3D Display Skips iPad For iCube
Pretty neat hack lets you hold three dimensions in the palm of your hand. Is this the next generation iPad? (re: Robert Heinlein)

Gigapixel Display Like Blade Runner Photo Analysis
When Harrison Ford did this, he had it attached to a cheap TV. The real-life version of today is somewhat larger. (re: Ridley Scott)

Kebab Robot Hyperslicer
This robot carves flesh with the best of them. (re: Various)

Text 2.0 Smart Text
Are you reading it, or is it reading you? (re: Neal Stephenson)

Sand Pirates In Indonesia
Slowly, the natural features of our solar system disappear, thanks to the Better Building Conglomerates. (re: Alfred Bester)

Armed Robots Bad Idea
Many, but not all, sf writers agree that armed robots are a bad idea. Can you think of exceptions? (re: Philip K. Dick)

Robot Journalist Provides Autonomic News Coverage
Philip K. Dick, your autonomic interviewer is just about ready. (re: Philip K. Dick)

HLYWD Migratory Anagram
Unusual art project suggests that the HOLLYWOOD sign letters should be allowed to roam at will. (re: Alan Nelson)

Human Vein Bioprinted In 3D
Organic artificial organs, printed by request, from ready-mix prepared from your own cells, avoiding that annoying need for lifelong anti-rejection drug cocktails. Excellent. (re: Larry Niven)

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