Random Round-up

There are several breaking stories I want to mention today. So rather than pick one and ignore the rest, I’m going to give you a quick summary and link for each of them.

In a wonderful display of hubris, Japanese tech company Cyberdyne has demonstrated HAL, its new powersuit which enhances human strength and mobility by a factor of 5 or so. The leg sections are already available to rent, with the torso and arm sections coming soon. Cyberdyne are looking forward to HAL being able to read mental intention to move and therefore return mobility to the paraplegic, a function which should be integrated shortly. So. A HAL computer controlling a powersuit on behalf of Cyberdyne. What could go wrong there? Still, it’s comforting to know that current military powersuit tech is a decade ahead of public-grade sluggards like Cyberdyne, so if it all goes wrong, our gallant cyborg soldiers will be able to charge in at 50mph and beat HAL to death with any handy cars left lying around.

Talking of our inhuman overlords, a pair of physicists working for a Swiss research organisation have applied macro-scale network analytic techniques — physics analysis tools — to the global economic market. Their discovery, which may surprise a few people, is that 80% of the core global financial markets across almost 50 major countries are dominated by the same small group of octopus-like megacorporations and ultra-financiers. Whether the Illuminati will react to this unmasking with swift and terrible vengeance remains to be seen.

There is good news on the horizon, though. Dear, sweet old Google, not content with controlling most of the world’s access to online information, has decided that it wants to greatly increase its capacity for power. Literally. The company is investing heavily in sustainable energy tech, and hopes to have a breakthrough in solar power ready for trial in the next couple of years. Hopefully they’ll stick by their “don’t be evil” principles once they’re in charge of the world’s electricity supplies. Although Nepalese Hair might give them some problems.

Also: Guillermo del Toro’s two movies of The Hobbit to go ahead; anti-gravity experiments have now successfully levitated mice; “Science” is discussing an Arcturan Mega-Cow knock-off that doesn’t feel pain when being prepped for eating; and here’s some of the tallest abandoned buildings on Earth.

Finally, if all this reality is getting a bit too much, Funcom have released more information and screenshots for The Secret World. Dark Days, one trusts, Are Coming closer.