I've been lost in the net...

Sorry for my protracted absence, I've been incredibly busy. I've move, and I'm living in Boulder, Co. working for a fairly well known electronics company. Not only do I enjoy the work but it's given me access to resources and connections for developing some of my ideas. As you can imagine, with the move, the new job and the busy new resources available to "nerd out" into the late night, I haven't really found the time to write. This evening though, I'm just having a cup of coffee and a cigar at the local coffeeshop with my laptop which leaves me with a nice space of time in which to write a quick update for the blog.

I've working a lot lately on converting my laptop to a wearable computer system. For awhile I had explored the option of an ARM based embedded linux solution (Specifically, I had bought a Chumby Hacker Board and started writing C code for it... it turned out to be too labor intensive to develop quickly, I hate to say it but Windows/x86 is what I grew up on and I know it inside and out, It'll be faster getting off the ground if I don't have to relearn the OS and platform. So I've stuck to my laptop, which makes my "wearable computer" little more than a combination of peripherals packed up in an easy to carry form-factor.

In its current stage , the 'system' is wearable. It consists of my laptop in a BUILT NY backpack with an attached wrist-wearable keyboard (same model used for the 'xybernaut' line of wearables) as well as a small hand-held trackball, and my new headset which I hacked together from one of those personal media headsets (myVu Crystal) and a cheap webcam, the combination of which makes it possible to do rudimentary Augmented Reality). In order to increase my wireless network range, I hacked some RP-SMA jacks into my laptop's built-in wireless card and attached two large duck-antennas which protrude from the backpack. After wearing this "rig" out on a few occasions I have to say that a more casual, fashionable solution is necessary. I'm working on implementing a setup that involves my leather messenger bag but until ten I'll keep you updated on my experiences using wearable technology on the daily.

As soon as my setup is ready to deploy in it's entirety, I plan on wearing it nearly constantly and I'll be keeping a stream of media to record my experiences. This should make for a very interesting study into the culture an social aspect of transhuman technology. And I will make a more detailed blog post about this project when it's set to begin.

I am still developing my implant, after building a working prototype I consulted with a few experts in the field of body piercing and decided to revise my design. The new one is more involved and more expensive but will pay off when it doesn't reject or breakdown under my skin.

Anyhow, I'll keep you updated, sorry for the long wait.

-NP

Updates for the new year

I'm still hard at work trying to build this implant.

It turns out that soldering leads to these tiny LEDs can be tricky,
then getting it into the microbore tubing usually ends in a wire
coming loose... no good.

I'm changing categories of tubing, I've just ordered a length of
Tygon S-50-HL, the same chemical properties as S-54-HL only it
comes in larger gauges. The tubing I've been working with has been
something like .050" ID, the new tubing weighs in significantly
larger at 1/16 (.063, or something like that, it's the smallest in
the S-50-HL category). My thinking is that although it may be difficult
to heal a transdermal appliance this large, it's a small price to pay to
actually have a working prototype in the near future. Also, the extra
"room" will allow me to add plenty of solder so that I have good,
secure mechanical connections.

As soon as this new tubing comes in I should make another leap forward
and I plan on having this thing done in the coming few weeks. The moment
the prototype is completed, I'll be contacting a piercing tech friend of
mine to see about having it installed.

Anyway, just an update for those of you who may be following my progress.
It should get more exciting soon! And as I find more time I may even get
back to my longer, more philosophical posts.

By the way, the headset display is great, a little fuzzy in higher resolutions,
but works fine as a HUD. More on that later.

Be Well,
-N.A.Poole

x:h project Website Launch

I've just launched the cheap-o "In Progress" version of the website for the x:h project in order to inform interested parties about the goals and methods of the project.

Check it out:

http://www.wix.com/poolerexword/xh2

Small Update

I just thought I'd post a quick update to let you all know that I haven't forgotten about you.

The implant project is going well, and it seems to be generating interest from a few different angles. I'll tell you more about it soon (There is a website ready to launch). I've put it on the back burner for the next few weeks because I need to develop and build a lot of x-mas presents. As soon as the holidays are over it'll be straight back to work though.

Also, I've been working on the wearable computing project. I was forced to buy a new cull phone because my Motorola Q finally got too busted to use. I didn't buy the Droid Incredible because I don't have the money to spend on the data package, so I've decided that I may make the "Beagleboard" the center of my wearable computer. I'll do some more research but it seems promising, plus the guys over at Sparkfun just got their hands on a limited supply of the latest release. Good stuff.

Anyway, just a brief update, just pinging to let you know I'm still here watchin the net.

be well,
-NP

In defense of Technology

So... keepin' an eye on the Net tonight... found this:
Clifford Stoll: Why Web Won't Be Nirvana - Newsweek

Ouch, Cliff. Well, I had to check it out, I expected a feel-good puff piece about how he likes people more than computers...

...oh, and that's exactly what it was. Let's do this:

(The following is the article, Copy/Pasted word for word, my comments are in italics)

Hype alert: Why cyberspace isn't, and will never be, nirvana

No... No no no, if you do that I'm calling "Hype Alert" on the wheel... or the Telephone.

After two decades online, I'm perplexed. It's not that I haven't had a gas of a good time on the Internet. I've met great people and even caught a hacker or two. But today, I'm uneasy about this most trendy and oversold community. Visionaries see a future of telecommuting workers, interactive libraries and multimedia classrooms. They speak of electronic town meetings and virtual communities. Commerce and business will shift from offices and malls to networks and modems. And the freedom of digital networks will make government more democratic.

Yup, being able to take and process votes in an efficient way will eliminate the need for an electoral college and make the government LITERALLY more democratic... continue...

Baloney.

The Heck you say.

Do our computer pundits lack all common sense? The truth in no online database will replace your daily newspaper, no CD-ROM can take the place of a competent teacher and no computer network will change the way government works.

Hmm, Powerful Stuff... except it's not. Online databases HAVE replaced the daily paper... like the one you work for... Newsweek... where your article is hosted, which I read only because it was online. Also, CD-ROM? *sigh* Also, Computer Networks have already profoundly changed the way government works, even local government.

Consider today's online world. The Usenet, a worldwide bulletin board, allows anyone to post messages across the nation. Your word gets out, leapfrogging editors and publishers. Every voice can be heard cheaply and instantly. The result? Every voice is heard. The cacophany more closely resembles citizens band radio, complete with handles, harrasment, and anonymous threats. When most everyone shouts, few listen. How about electronic publishing? Try reading a book on disc. At best, it's an unpleasant chore: the myopic glow of a clunky computer replaces the friendly pages of a book. And you can't tote that laptop to the beach. Yet Nicholas Negroponte, director of the MIT Media Lab, predicts that we'll soon buy books and newspapers straight over the Intenet. Uh, sure.

Whoa... the Usenet? Quote from Wiki:"Usenet is one of the oldest computer network communications systems still in widespread use." Which would make it... um... yeah, the Shortwave Radio of the Internet. Good job, but what about the rest of the internet?

Also, might I suggest in the interest of saving trees that you continue to read books on "disc" (When was the last time you read a book on a computer? How about you download them?) Anyway, I don't know if you've heard about the Nook, Kindle, etc. E-books which are gaining a huge following. The display is something called e-paper, a bistable media that can be written and re-written by a microcontroller and is nearly indistinguishable from normal printed media to the naked eye... There's no glow, so you can whip out your big chunky book-light :D Just like you want to. Get it? you have ONE sheet of paper, onto which can be downloaded any book or newspaper you like. Hell it could automatically update the paper every morning for you... If it makes you feel better I'll take it off your coffee table and put it in your front yard every morning.I'm sure you knew about e-paper though, since you're obviously smarter than the director of the MIT Media Lab.

What the Internet hucksters won't tell you is tht [sic] the Internet is one big ocean of unedited data, without any pretense of completeness. Lacking editors (obviously), reviewers or critics, the Internet has become a wasteland of unfiltered data. You don't know what to ignore and what's worth reading. Logged onto the World Wide Web, I hunt for the date of the Battle of Trafalgar. Hundreds of files show up, and it takes 15 minutes to unravel them—one's a biography written by an eighth grader, the second is a computer game that doesn't work and the third is an image of a London monument. None answers my question, and my search is periodically interrupted by messages like, "Too many connections, try again later."

Where the hell ARE YOU? First of all, there are plenty of critics on the internet... take me for example. lol. Furthermore, the WORLD is a mass of unfiltered data. Luckily, the same technology that brought you the internet is also capable of making sense of this data. It's not a wasteland, it's a wonderland of undiscovered facts and buried proofs. I'm gonna start searching for the date of the Battle of Trafalgar now (6:30p)...

Okay it's now... oh, 6:30, it didn't even take a minute. Google, first result, Wikipedia, didn't even have to click it: "The Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805) was a sea battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French Navy and Spanish Navy"

Won't the Internet be useful in governing? Internet addicts clamor for government reports. But when Andy Spano ran for county executive in Westchester County, N.Y., he put every press release and position paper onto a bulletin board. In that affluent county, with plenty of computer companies, how many voters logged in? Fewer than 30. Not a good omen.

Hold on chief... He put them where? A Bulletin board? I don't know how long you've been using the internet, but on here a bulletin board is even less effective than a REAL BULLETIN BOARD. Look here, State of Virginia, Bain for Congress, he has a FaceBook page for his campaign, let's see if he had more than 30 people log on... hmm... okay, slightly more: 1,074. Next?

Point and click:
Then there are those pushing computers into schools. We're told that multimedia will make schoolwork easy and fun. Students will happily learn from animated characters while taught by expertly tailored software.Who needs teachers when you've got computer-aided education? Bah. These expensive toys are difficult to use in classrooms and require extensive teacher training. Sure, kids love videogames—but think of your own experience: can you recall even one educational filmstrip of decades past? I'll bet you remember the two or three great teachers who made a difference in your life.

Alright... So I've got to give it up now... By now none of you really believe that this guy is a really out of touch internet-moron and you've checked the date on the article... Yup. 1995. How quickly things have changed... maybe 15 years ago the internet was a piece of junk, but NEVER...EVER...say never.

I hope that today people realize that the internet isn't something different than "real life"... it IS real life. Just as real as talking on the phone, or going to a meeting... the people and opinions and creations that reside on cyberspace are all very real. And social networking is real interaction. Yes, this article was written before the Y2K Scare, but there are still people today that feel this way, and there will always be people like this, people who if they had been in charge, would not have let the internet become what it is today...

Don't fool yourself into thinking what you say on the internet isn't real, or that you're any less accountable for it, or that you can't hurt other people (or inspire other people) on the internet. The internet brings people together and that's a good thing no matter how you slice it. And don't trade progress for nostalgia... getting the morning paper may be nice, but it kills a lot of trees, and we can only make so many recycled paper cups out of them. lol.

Be well,

-Nick P.

DIY Implant revisited

Sorry I've been absent from the blog so long, I've been working on my latest project. After letting the idea of the Do It Yourself Implant stew for awhile, It occurred to me to practice what I preached.

I don't wanna spill the beans yet, because I haven't finished fleshing it out. But I have a prototype of sorts which I'll gladly show you... And I have learned a few things in practice of making things implantable:

-Conformal Coating services aren't cheap, especially when it comes to medical implant grade materials, luckily there are inexpensive solutions such as sheathing the device in a piece of medical tubing. The Tygon brand encompasses two lines of tubing which meet the criteria or implant materials (Although the Data sheets do say "not for implant")

-EO Gas sterilization is within the price range of most hobbyists, however, engineering runs can have long turnaround times, and you may have to build quite a few units in order to gauge "Off-Gassing" times before you have a safe, stable process down. Check your data-sheets for your electronics and see if you can subject them to autoclave conditions at least temporarily, that's my plan. Nearly every tattoo and piercing shop has an autoclave, and if you're having a professional piercer install the device, they'll be happy to sterilize the device for you in their autoclave, I'm sure. Just test it afterward, obviously.

Here's what I'm working on:




"What is it?"

Hah! All will be explained after it's installed.

Just an update, anyway, to let you know I'm still alive.

Be well,
-Nick

Human Resource Management in the Post-Human World

Being a business major, I got to thinking the other day about what possible role the "Human Resources" department could play in the future of the corporate world, especially in light of the Transhumanist movement. Obviously, the first order of business would be to rename the discipline of "Human Resources" to "Personnel" (or "Personnel Management") this would be the most Politically Correct term in a time when not all people (therefor, not all employees) are human.

But the really interesting part begins to emerge as you explore the role that a Human Resource Manager plays in the healthcare of employees. In the beginning, people couldn't expect any sort of healthcare from their employers, mostly because they couldn't expect decent healthcare anywhere to begin with. People used to become sick much more often and stay sick much longer than now.

Luckily, all that has changed, and as people gained exposure to the healthcare industry, businesses began to see that it would be in their interest to help improve their employees' health (by helping financially with their healthcare) At that point, Human Resources was largely concerned with curing or treating existing illnesses, this is how medicine functioned at the time.

The Medical Industry has since discovered various ways in which to prevent illness, which has caught the attention of business owners and Human Resource Managers, because preventing illness in employees means less sick days, higher morale and productivity, and generally improved public image. So now many businesses offer programs such as incentives to promote physical activity, some even furnish on-site gyms or office jogging-groups or sports teams.

As you can see, Human Resources went from being unconcerned with the health of their employees, to becoming concerned with Treatment of illness (or repair) of their employees, to now becoming concerned with prevention (or maintenance). My point may, at this point, be rather obvious. If you trend this out, you'll likely come to the conclusion that I have: The "Personnel Manager" will, doubtless, be concerned with not only the repair and maintenance of their employees, but the improvement as well. Just look:



Repair (Notable decline in performance surrounding "event")
|
Maintenance (Prevention of "events" which may effect performance)
|
Improvement (Improving performance beyond that of "average" healthy employees)



Obviously, Human Resource Management is presently concerned with "improving" their employees, through training and performance review and such, but that's not exactly what I'm referring to. What I mean is: One day, your employer will pay to augment your body with technologies that might improve the way in which you perform your essential job tasks. Imagine, for instance, that your job involves exposure to hazardous materials (let's say, for example, CO gas) You can't smell CO, so there's no way to tell if you're being poisoned until you're in moderate trouble. Your employer can't help you be "so healthy you're immune to CO gas" however, he may be able to invest in an enhancement to your body that will alert you to high levels of CO in the air, or let you detect it by sense of smell, or even actively remove CO from the air in your lungs. This is a somewhat weak example (CO meters and gas-masks are obviously cheaper than implants) but it's a good picture of what I'm getting at.

Anyway, just some food for thought.

Be Well,
Nick