Futurelawyer

Latency And The Touch Screen Interface

As tablet computing moves forward, the touch screen becomes more important. Microsoft has been at the forefront of touch screen interfaces; and, the coming merger between tablet and notebook and desktop computer in Windows 8 will exploit that research. Anyone familiar with tablet computing (or smart phones, for that matter) understands the concept of latency. There is a slight lag between the touch of the screen and the motion of the object on the screen. This 100 millisecond latency is most noticeable when drawing lines on the screen. But, what will happen as manufacturers and software companies find ways to decrease latency down to 1 millisecond? Watch and learn.

 

Give It A Head And A Gun And Bring The Troops Home

Video: Headless, Humanoid Robot Preps for Army Duty | Danger Room | Wired.com. Take a look at the future of combat. Put a scary head on this thing, and it will carry stuff. Put some Kevlar over its electronics, and a gun in its hand, and we will have remote soldiers as well as remote vehicles and drones. Of course, the upside is that our human soldiers will be protected from combat. The downside is that our human soldiers will be protected from combat. When it stops being real, and looks like a video game, it will be too easy to kill. Modern warfare is too antiseptic. Remember the line from Jarrell's poem "Death of the Ball-Turret Gunner". Ball Turret gunners were the remote killers of their day. However, the enemy adapted, and figured out how to shoot at the turrets of the slow-moving bombers. Thus, "When he died, they washed him out of the turret with a hose". 

Getting To Court In Style

This Hovercraft is made out of a motorcycle, and a couple of huge front and rear fans, and can hover up to 15,000 feet. It will have a range of over 90 miles, and would be a cool way to pull up to the Courthouse. Beat the traffic. Here is a wind test of the unit. It is surprisingly low noise.

 

3D Videoconferencing Without Glasses - The Future Courtroom?

There are several things that I love about this video. First, it proves that modern College kids are doing something valuable with their time. These kids from UNC-Chapel Hill are working on the bleeding edge. Second, hacking Microsoft's Kinect camera system is proving that current technology is just a taste of things to come. Third, I seriously wouldn't mind doing Court hearings in Telepresence rooms fitted with these types of setups. You would get the same 3D rendering of the other participants, and body language and sight and hearing would be lifelike. Telephonic hearings just don't do it for me, and I avoid them unless the travel distances are great. And, 2D videoconferencing also leaves something to be desired. In a few years, this kind of 3D videoconferencing will be common, and in a few more years, the Courts will be doing hearings with this technology. Oh, yes, and these kids will be billionaires.

You Want To Put A Video Camera Where?

The World's Smallest Video Camera - Slashdot. When I read that the tiniest video camera being made was designed for endoscopic medical procedures, I was tempted to ask if somebody has told them where to put it; but, alas, it is a real product designed to examine the interior of the human body, like the colon. Oh, wait, I guess they did put it there. While the company swears it is designed for such uses, I can't believe that it can't be used also for some sneaky spycraft. I suppose it could also have applications in entertainment; but, the fact remains that technology marches on, and privacy retreats. 

We Have Met The Aliens - And They Are Us

What Could Possibly Go Wrong: Immortal Micro-Organisms | Popular Science. I am always curious when I see a title like "What Could Possibly Go Wrong". As lawyers, we are trained to figure that out before our clients do something, so that we can prevent it. As every lawyer knows, however, something unexpected always goes wrong. So, we create mechanisms that will hopefully help to solve problems as they arise. Usually, we spend our lives putting out fires, no? So, when I read this PopSci article about DARPA's attempts to create synthetic micro-organisms and to send them out into space, and that they would be immortal unless we built in self destruct switches, I remembered a line from Jeff Goldblum's character in Jurassic Park. "Life will find a way". So, this immortal micro-organism walks into a bar on Mars, and says "Can anyone here turn off my kill switch?" And, the rest is history. Earth gets invaded by immortal micro-organisms, and you can fill in the rest. I try not to think about the actual results of these insane experiments; but, it is fun to imagine the legal questions that will come up. If man creates a micro-organism that can mate with other micro-organisms, is it sentient? If so, does it have legal rights and responsibilities? Are the scientists legally liable? Although, if the world is destroyed by these mad scientists, I don't suppose there will be courts left to try the cases. And, hey, the best scientists in the world are on this. What could possibly go wrong?

Earth To Aliens - Come In Please

Physicists call for alien messaging protocol - Networking - Technology - News - iTnews.com.au. Via Slashdot, I found this article about scientists working on alien communication. As if we didn't have enough problems on Earth, the scientists are now spending time creating a new protocol for communicating with the aliens that we all know are out there waiting to hear from us. Hey, we know that they want to copy our strategies for peacefully living with each other, and our ability to see to it that all of the people on the earth have a safe living environment, with enough to eat and a place to sleep, right? They are especially envious of our treatment of those among us who are less fortunate. So, first we had the Internet Messaging Protocols, which enabled our computers to talk to each other, and then we had Hypertext Transmission Protocol (HTTP) so that we could read what the computers said to us. Now, we will have an Alien Messaging Transmission Protocol (AMTP), so that the aliens will understand us when we share our secrets for living sanely and safely on our planet. I have a modest proposal; let's take all of the money spent on this, and use it to feed and house the homeless on our own planet. Let's learn to communicate with each other first, before we try to communicate with whatever is out there.