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Here you will find stories on technology and commentaries on tech-related news.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here are those of the author and are not endorsed by Charcoal Design unless specifically stated.
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Posted at 10:02am on 04 Jan 2010
Singularity-Shmarity (or How I Learned to Stop Worrying About a Robot Apocalypse)
AI isn't just around the corner and it isn't going to bring about the end of humanity.
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Posted at 8:07pm on 15 Dec 2007
Defending the Indefensible
Many users and developers alike would like to see Microsoft improve its browser, or replace it with something better, but should this really be a legal matter? Is it right to force them to do this in a court of law?
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Posted at 8:07pm on 23 Jul 2007
An Unachievable Goal?
According to Steve Wozniak (co-founder of Apple), "we never will see a robot that makes a cup of coffee". Could he be right? Is it possible that AI is an unachievable dream? That we will never see robots that can even perform basic household chores, let alone outsmart us?
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Posted at 7:21pm on 20 Jul 2007
The Forecast for Broadcasts
Just as video killed the radio star, the Internet is set to kill radio, TV, and telephone, or at least change them beyond recognition. It's just a matter of time. This article details why scheduled broadcasting is about to fall hard, and what we can expect to replace it.
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Posted at 9:12pm on 19 Jul 2007
Where are the Widgets?
When Steve Jobs announced that Apple had provided a 3rd party development environment for the iPhone, he was met with rapturous applause. This soon turned to scorn when he revealed that the "development environment" was really just a web browser. But was this scorn justified, or are web apps the future for the iPhone?
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Posted at 1:11pm on 17 May 2007
The Drive of Progress
Acclaimed science fiction author Charles Stross has published his predictions for how our future will be shaped by technology. In his books he describes a fabulous utopian future, but his vision of how imminent technologies will change our lives demands a sacrifice of personal freedoms that I find difficult to stomach...
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Posted at 1:20am on 11 May 2007
It's a Mini Adventure
When Apple released the new line of Intel Minis a year ago I decided to take the plunge and buy one for use as a media centre or living room PC. In some ways it has surpassed my expectations, and in others I've been bitterly disappointed. Here is the good, bad and ugly of the Media Centre Mini...
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Posted at 7:55pm on 11 Apr 2007
How the Mighty Have Fallen
According to Paul Graham, Microsoft is dead. So if he's right, what killed them? And what conclusions can we draw from this? Was Microsoft just too slow to keep up with the advances around them, or was their vision of the future fundamentally flawed from the start?
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Posted at 6:13pm on 20 Mar 2007
Spacial Awareness
Mozilla has been used as the basis of a revolutionary web browser and email client. Now it seems set to take on the operating system too. But is the Mozilla brand of innovation really what is needed to inject new life into desktop operating systems, or do we need to look backwards, not forwards to make progress...?
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Posted at 8:07pm on 07 Mar 2007
Patently Ridiculous
For 500 years the patents system has protected innovation by allowing inventors to capitalise on their ideas. But with the changing pace of technology, and the rise of patents for software concepts and algorithms, are cracks appearing in this venerable institution...?
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