Al Gore's TED Talk on Climate Change

TED Talk. Al Gore: The case for optimism on climate change

17.03.2016

Former US Vice President and Nobel Laureate Al Gore presents drastic examples on how man-made forces are gradually destroying our planet. „After World War II, the emission rates started really accelerating. And the accumulated amount of man-made, global warming pollution that is up in the atmosphere now traps as much extra heat energy as would be released by 400,000 Hiroshima-class atomic bombs exploding every 24 hours, 365 days a year – a fact-checked over and over again.“

Still Al Gore is optimistic that climate change can be tackled. But how?

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Robots working at a hotel reception in Nagasaki.

Robotic hospitality prevails at Nagasaki hotel

10.03.2016

Strange ways indeed
From a distance, front-desk receptionist Yumeko could be mistaken for a good-looking young lady of genuine flesh and blood, whereas colleagues positioned at the counter to either of her sides won’t fool anyone. They are instantly recognisable as what they are: a not-so-handsome-yet-still-quite-cute greenish descendent of the Jurassic age with a serious overbite and a manikin-like mechanical device held in colours white and blue: little Nao. It is obvious, that dinosaur Mirai cannot be real – but neither is Yumeko nor are most of the staff weasling about the Henn-na Hotel in Nagasaki: Instead, they are intelligent robots able to converse with their customers in a sensible and friendly manner while checking them in and out. The diligent machines are always ready to please, never in a filthy mood and obedient servants programmed to satisfy their guests’ special needs.

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Exterior of the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg. Copyright: Thies Raetzke

Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie: What’s another year, Elphi?

2.03.2016

Haste makes waste. The very first proposal came as early as in 2001. For a while it seemed as though the bride would transmute into a spinster by the time she could be given away – although her prerequisites had been privileged from the beginning. Something old: her massive warehouse brick base stemming from cocoa-traders’ times. Something new: her extravagant self! Something borrowed: generous funds. And something blue: the surrounding waters of Hamburg’s Harbour City (with a bit of cheating on the colour side). Maddeningly slow progress had been made over the years, much controversy stirred, and her engagement phase could well be tagged „Roman“ (definitely more than a day). But now, eventually, the historic day lies within reach and both, family and in-laws, are over the moon.

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TED Talk. Sean Follmer: Shape-shifting tech

TED Talk. Sean Follmer: Shape-shifting tech will change work

21.02.2016

Computers can do a million different things and run a million different applications. Yet, they have the same static physical form and the same static interface elements as well: computers don’t allow us to interact with our hands and capture the rich dexterity that we have in our bodies. Sean Follmer’s belief is that new types of interfaces can capture these abilities, that they can physically adapt to us and thus allow us to interact in completely new ways.

Sean Follmer is building a future with machines that bring information to life while you are working with it. Watch this amazing video!

Sean Follmer is a human-computer interaction researcher who designs shape-changing and deformable interfaces. An Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University, he teaches the design of smart and connected devices and leads research at the intersection between human-computer interaction (HCI) and robotics.

Header image: Screenshot from TED video.

Sense of humour required: Beware of translation engines!

21.02.2016

When looking for the easy way out, people come up with the most ludicrous of excuses to warrant their hornswoggle doing: house on fire, dog dead, car stolen, wrong place/time/mood, worst bad-hair day ever, princess all of a sudden. Once the procrastination pole has inevitably run out of length, the dreaded task just has to be tackled, no matter what. Translations, for instance, can develop into a painfully tedious exercise. Isn’t it perfectly legitimate then to employ one of those servile robots available online in order to alleviate detested assignments? It is – if you can live with the results. We have put some of these practical computerised interpreters to the test, feeding them with stretches of German articles published during the early stages of goodmeetings.com’s young history. The English-speaking majority of our readership will have to think in meanders to unravel and realign the contorted texts back to meaning. Even though some of the pidgin might remain a secret forever: as long as no-one has been harmed, reading complete nonsense once in a while can be a great pastime.

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