Some random items of interest:
- ArduPilot. Very nice autopilot assembly (sensors, board, etc.) for DIY drones. <$75.
- RAND: Federal Paramilitaries. This paper examines roles and costs. This force is built to pacify areas that are too hot for regular police and too delicate for military force. Of course, the stated use of this force is in counter-insurgency and stability operations outside the CONUS. However, if classified as a police force, it can be used domestically (where, after first use, it would grow virally). This is all part of a larger trend: towards the militarization of police function. To wit: China, Turkey, Pakistan, and many other countries use paramilitaries to crush domestic unrest.
- The Gandalf moment. I'm both humbled and inspired to do more.
- Can someone send me this paper plz, "Militias, tribes and insurgents: The challenge of political reintegration in Iraq" Update: got a copy, thanks.
- US shifts from global contractors to locally sourced corporate militias to guard bases in Afghanistan. "The contractor shall hire a minimum of 50% of its guard force from within a 50 kilometer [30-mile] radius of the location requiring security"
- Global money laundering/smuggling switches to Euros.
- Augmented reality unconference at the "hacker dojo." Looks like it was fun. Might want to visit the next one.
- Interesting Times magazine: Cyberpunk ezine out of Sweden.
- Chris Arkenberg riffs on all things related to augmented reality. Nice.
- Sunlight labs: Great American hackerthon on open governance. 12 Dec. in Boston.
- TED India. Natural gestures + augmented reality + projected displays. Pranav Mistry demos his SixthSense software (which he is open sourcing -- the prototype in the demo below costs $350 to build):
NOTE: Natural gestures as a controls interface makes sense and is inevitable. Projection displays a) get around the short term deficit in mobile AR visualization and b) allow AR enhanced individuals share data with those that aren't similarly enhanced.