The Geek Church

Here’s about the neatest thing that I saw today: Microsoft Research’s Pinch-the-Sky. Check it out.

Here’s an Electric Car that is slated to make a 16,000 mile trip.

Here’s the Sony SC-ZT2 for Full HD 3D.

This is the ZR30w Display from HP.

Sony is working on a PlayTV 2 for the PS3.

Here’s another new point-and-shoot camera: the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX75.

This Newsight photo frame allows for 3D images.

Here’s Casio’s new point-and-shoot camera, the Exilim EX-H5.

Acer has a Liquid E edition with Ferrari look.

And the iPhone 4 Chassis has appeared online, with video.

The Samsung Galaxy S is going to launch worldwide.

The magazine Popular Mechanics has come to the iPad.

Best Buy is offering an interesting deal on the Microsoft Kin One and Two.

There were a lot of tablet computers on display at Computex. There was the Malata PC-A1001 and PC-A1001H, TVBoo from FIC, and the UX10 from LG,

Ten years from now, this could be the Apple iPod Shuffle.

Apparently, training simulations aren’t just for pilots and foot soldiers in the military anymore. Now we live in a day and age where field medics also receive their education and preparation from simulation technology. Recently, Engineering & Computer Simulations from Orlando, Florida developed a training simulator in the style of a first-person shooter for medics serving in an active combat zone.

This simulator is called the Tactical Combat Casualty Care simulator (TC3). It takes place in the setting of Afghanistan and the user will play as an active medic with a variety of medical situations given as playable missions. In one of the missions, the user must act as a medic to treat a man with a serious neck wound. Following his team of soldiers who clear the area of hostile threats in a “hot spot”, the player finds the wounded man and is challenged to give him the proper treatment. Then your medical skills are tested as you are required to perform the right procedures. Such medical procedures include applying a pressure dressing to stop bleeding, checking the man’s pulse, setting up an IV, amputating badly damaged limbs and stabilizing the patient for safe travel. Furthermore, you have to perform your work while your team of soldiers is defending you during a fight on the battlefield. Lastly, the mission ends when the soldiers have resolved the combat situation and medical transport is summoned to take your patient to a hospital ward. After each mission, the simulator gives the user a brief report of their performance. Then successful work will be recognized while you’ll be rebuked for mistakes and you will be referred to the proper educational information for follow-up training.

The Tactical Combat Casualty Care simulator seems to match the quality of your average first-person shooter for a game console pretty well in visual graphics and gameplay. It does have potential as a game for entertainment as well as being a training simulator. Initial reports of this simulation’s use indicate that it gets better results than basic multimedia presentations for a young audience. The TC3 also features a mission editor that enables teachers to customize simulated scenarios for their students’ lessons.

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Almost anything could be possible these days as scientists and inventors pursue bolder ventures in this modern age. It seems that technology is continually employed to fully realize any vision of the imagination. So, the main limitation that innovators might actually be facing today is how big men can dream. For example, I never thought of the Moon as anything more than a giant rock orbiting our planet that can reflect light and affect ocean tides. But now a Japanese construction firm called Shimizu Corporation has conceived a vision for the Moon as a massive source of solar energy.

They’re currently planning a project called Luna Ring to implement this vision. Their idea is to create a large belt of solar panels around the Moon, which will be connected to a series of energy conversion facilities on Earth located close to the near side of the Moon. Then energy from the Luna Ring solar belt will be transmitted to these energy conversion facilities through microwaves and lasers. Shimizu actually plans to convert the Moon itself into a giant solar power plant through the use of moon rocks and dust. Furthermore, these resources from the Moon will be used to create building supplies such as cement, bricks and glass fibers. The production of water will also be possible on the Moon through a chemical process using lunar soil and hydrogen. In this project, machinery and equipment sent from Earth will be assembled in orbit and on the lunar landscape. Lastly, most of the construction work will be performed by robots controlled by human operators who are still on Earth and astronauts sent to the Moon to oversee the project directly.

Shimizu is clearly very ambitious in their conceptual design ventures. They have six other projects set for the future and they are called Green Float, Mega-City Pyramid, Space Hotel, Lunar Bases, Urban Geo-Grid and Desert Aqua-Net. Most of the projects involve building cities in unlikely places, utilizing natural resources to improve human civilization and making uninhabited global areas compatible for human life. Thus, this construction firm is definitely driven to follow their dreams through to fruition.

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