Google is melding real and virtual worlds with games, apps, and Glass

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Ingress, Google’s virtual reality game

In Google’s global alternative reality game, Ingress. that uses the real world as its gamespace, Ingress says, “the world around you is not what it seems.” And, perhaps, when Google’s semi-independent division Niantic Labs is finished with its mission, we humans won’t be, either.

 

 

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Abod – tiny houses that can be built in a day

Abod

One billion people of the world’s population lives in informal communities – sometimes known as shantytowns, tent cities or, if you’re really going for the jugular, slums. Doug Sharp, president and chairman of BSB Design, came up with a tiny, inexpensive home for slum dwellers that can be built in less than one day by one family. (Pics)

 

 

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Transgenics – next wave of genetically modified crops could ease concerns over ‘Frankenfoods’

Transgenic canola

When the first genetically modified (GM) organisms were being developed for the farm, says Anastasia Bodnar, “we were promised rocket jet packs” — futuristic, ultra-nutritious crops that would bring exotic produce to the supermarket and help to feed a hungry world.

 

 

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Three myths about genetically modified crops

GM crop technologies have seen dramatic uptake in the past 20 years.

It can be hard to see where scientific evidence ends and dogma and speculation begin in the debate over genetically modified (GM) foods and crops. In the almost 20 years since they were first commercialized, GM crop technologies have seen dramatic uptake. Advocates say that they have increased agricultural production by more than US$98 billion and saved an estimated 473 million kilograms of pesticides from being sprayed. But critics question their environmental, social and economic impacts.

 

 

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IBM makes world’s smallest movie ever

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSCX78-8-q0[/youtube]

The world’s smallest movie made by IBM Research has carbon monoxide atoms being moved around on a copper surface with a scanning tunneling microscope. The 250-frame stop-motion film, entitled “A Boy and His Atom,” uses discrete atoms to draw a stick-figure-like boy that bounces on a trampoline and plays catch with an individual atom “ball.”

 

 

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Getting around the peak car conumdrum

New breakthroughs in connecting cars to the cloud (and eliminating the need for car ownership) show what a better future for cars might look like.

The global automotive industry is on a run by all accounts. Globally, sales are surging. Advances in hybrids, electric vehicles, and even conventional petrol engines are delivering eye-popping mileage gains.

 

 

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Internet sales tax will force small businesses to abide by tax codes in 9,646 different jurisdictions

Every business could face 46 separate audits (from the 45 states that collect sales taxes plus the District of Columbia).

Legislation on internet sales tax could subject small online businesses to up to 46 state audits. And since sales taxes vary among thousands of tax jurisdictions across the country, the chances that auditors will find mistakes—and slap the business owners with penalties—are very good. If truth-in-advertising requirements applied to legislation, says Heritage Action’s Dan Holler, the Marketplace Fairness Act would be renamed the Tax Audits from Hell Act of 2013.

 

 

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MOOC mania – more action in 1 year than the last 1,000 years

MOOCs are a powerful force for good.

Where did all of the MOOC mania come from? It came faster than Facebook and it’s here to stay. In just a year MOOCs emerged from a unique mix of entrepreneurial spirit, a few leading US Universities, supported by not-for-profits and venture capital. It’s an ecosystem that can take an idea and support it through to a sustainable business. That’s impressive.

 

 

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