RoboUmp

On Mike & Mike this morning the guys talked to Mike Schmidt about some comments he made the other day involving a "force field" over home plate that would cause balls and strikes to be called automatically. Now, a force field, if such a thing existed, would cause the ball to bounce off of the strike zone, but otherwise I think Schmidt has exactly the right idea. As far as I'm concerned, the goal of any officiating is to make the right call all of the time, preferably as fast as possible. For many calls in sports there will always need to be a human element, but the strike zone can be determined with such precision that there's no reason to keep human error or judgement as part of the game. Now, I'm sure there are some technological hurdles to clear and it may not be quite as simple to implement as it first sounds but it seems like a worthy goal to me. Why settle for less when we can do it better?

Wolfram Alpha

I was just flipping through the most recent issues of Popular Science and came across an article about Wolfram Alpha a "computational knowledge engine." Essentially, it takes your question and gives you an answer instead of pointing to a website. If you put in an equation, say x²+4x+24, it gives you this, the answer to pretty much any math question you'd get related to that formula. Put in 3/12/1981 and you receive a wealth of information about that day. Type in Cass City and you can find out anything from the map coordinates (43.6° N, 83.18° W) to the population (2,606 people). This probably makes me a geek, but I think that's awesome.

Umpires? We don't need no stinkin'...

The Wall Street Journal has an article up about baseball and umpires, triggered by the blown call on Joe Mauer's 11th-inning "foul" hit against the Yankees. It poses a question I wondered about myself this week: why isn't technology used more in the MLB? For example, here's an excerpt:

Mike Port, vice president of umpiring for MLB, says that when it comes to calling balls and strikes, the umpires are about 95% accurate. But here's the interesting part: The Pitch-f/x system's ball and strike calls are very near 100% accurate.

Bud Selig says "the human element is vital to baseball." Why? What's so great about 5% error? I'm not saying umpires should be completely replaced with technology, but baseball, unlike, say, football, is made up of many calls that are simply "in" or "out," ones and zeros. A computer can handle that, and do it really well. A foul ball, a strike or ball, these are simple things that don't need to be missed. Leave the judgment calls to the umpires, but let computers handle the digital stuff.

Don't click the link...

...unless you want to see pure awesomeness. I think I need to take up a new hobby, and I even know where I could pick up some cylinders. (Hat tip: Jonah Goldberg at The Corner)

Rat-brained Robots

I'm not sure if this is cool or disturbing. Maybe both.

Invisibility

According to Fox News, scientists at UC-Berkeley have developed a material that can bend light around objects. This means that the technology to turn people or objects invisible might have just arrived from a science fiction story. Maybe we are living in the future.

I Want One

I'm not usually much for tools. I appreciate them, but since I haven't really had the need to do any woodworking in quite some time I don't find myself wanting any very badly. However, I just saw the CompuCarve Woodworking Machine from Craftsman advertised on TV and I definitely want one. It's basically a small CNC mill that can be used on wood and some plastics. It looks like it would allow you to make some fairly intricate designs that would be far beyond most of our capabilites with hand tools. It definitely doesn't look like the Haas lathe of woodworking equipment.*

*This joke requires explanation. Quite a while ago at work we bought a new machine, a Haas lathe. For various reasons the machine didn't perform as expected until months of tweaking and addition of some extra parts. In this time, being called the "Haas lathe of ____" became a common and particularly stinging insult.

The Voices In Your Head

Apparently a billboard in New York is causing a bit of a stir, not for its images, but for its sound. The advertisement is equipped with technology from a company called Holosonic that creates an "audio spotlight." Basically, it beams an audio signal directly into your head. Responding to some of the negative reaction to the ad, Holosonic founder Joe Pompei says:

"There's going to be a certain population sensitive to it. But once people see what it does and hear for themselves, they'll see it's effective for getting attention."

If the use of technology becomes widespread, I say we buy a Holosonic setup and put it up outside Mr. Pompei's house. Then we'll who's sensitive to it. Stay out of my head! (Hat tip: Mark Hemingway, The Corner)

Use the Force

Popular Mechanics has just released a list of "10 Tech Concepts You Need to Know for 2008." The first on the list? Mind-controlled gaming. Personally, I can't wait until this technology is ready for mass consumption. I think sports games could benefit tremendously by streamlining the controls in this way. To be honest though, I just want to throw stormtroopers around with my mind. THAT WOULD ROCK. (Hat tip: Joystiq)

Bring Them Home

I don't play World of Warcraft. I'm not much of an MMO player at all, excepting a week stint on City of Villains. Even so, this is pretty cool:



Would it be worthwhile for $100? I'd bet a lot of people will think so.

UPDATE: In case you're wondering, the figure above would be made by a process similar to this:

Firepower = Safety

If I ever buy a GMC Yukon, I think I'll buy it from Dillon Aero. Why? They sell them with a minigun installed.

GPS

Since everyone was asking questions about my GPS during the trip I thought I'd dig p some data. It's a Mio DigiWalker™ C310x. You can find it for sale at Amazon, as well as other places.

Aquacar

This car looks like the kind of thing I could really use if I was staying in Minnesota. Why drive through Chicago when you can drive across the lake? One question though: Will it come in two-tone orange and green?

Its a shame

that the enemy won't be able to see these (new F-35 helmet)...


I think they would run if we gave those to infantry instead of to pilots.

Worse than American Idol

Navy Patents Sound Weapon

"The underlying physics is based on the intense heat and high-pressure pulse from the sonar sources as the damage mechanisms by virtue of the intense acoustic power of the sonar sources. An ensuing cavitation bubble formation and collapse and shock propagation will also inflict damages on underwater objects targeted for removal. The technical drivers are the cavitation lethality on the undesirable objects and the acoustic power of the sonar sources versus range and depth."

That makes two cool high-tech weapons announcements this week. Truly, it is Morning in America.

Interesting Development

Plasma and laser weapons!

from NewScientisTech.com
"The device uses a technology known as dynamic pulse detonation (DPD). A short but intense laser pulse creates a ball of plasma, and a second laser pulse generates a supersonic shockwave within the plasma to generate a bright flash and a loud bang."

"The company has also pitched a portable laser rifle, which would be lethal, to the US Army. It would weigh about fifteen kilograms, would have a range of more than a mile, and could have numerous advantages over existing rifles – better accuracy and the ability to hit a moving target at the speed of light."

I fully support our troops using laser weapons and hope that someday, in my lifetime, they will be accompanied by a lightsaber sidearm for close-combat.

This one's for Joe

Gotta love the A-10.

"Game over man, game over!"

There's an interesting, and by interesting I mean silly, article up at The Guardian about the greatest threats to life on Earth. Apparently the human race being subjugated by robots is as big a threat as climate change. Who knew? I guess we should have been suspicious after all we've heard about cyborg monkeys, perhaps they are the shock troops of a robot army. Anyway, a blog did an analysis of this here if you're interested.