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Getting a handle on cloud-based virtual operations is no easy task. Next month researchers from the Intelligence Advance Research Projects Activity (IARPA) will introduce a new program that looks to address that management concern by developing better technology to manage and secure Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) environments.

+More on Network World: Intelligence agency wants computer scientists to develop brain-like computers +

IARPA, the radical research arm of the of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence will introduce the Virtuous User Environment (VirtUE) which it says aims to “creatively define and develop user environments that are more dynamic, secure, auditable, transferrable, and efficient than the current offerings provided by traditional physical workstations and commercial VDI; develop innovative, dynamic analytics and infrastructures that can leverage these newly developed user environments to both automatically detect and deter security threats that IC user environments will be subject to in the new cloud infrastructure.”

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What will we do when money has no meaning? And if everyone gets life extension what will today’s mega rich think and/or do about it?


May you live in interesting times – A curse, origin unknown

One of the ‘curses’ usually attributed to ancient China, but frequently thrown around in today’s society is ‘May you live in interesting times’, suggesting that living in turbulent times, no matter the cause, is somehow a bad thing.

True or not, there is no denying one thing – every individual fragment of time was interesting in its own right, and I’ll be free to say that life has never been as interesting as it is today. Just look at what humans did in the last 40 years – first we got computers, then the internet, mobile phones, smartphones, high-speed internet, high-speed internet on smartphones, social media, virtual reality, augmented reality, drones, exoskeletons, prosthetic mind-controlled limbs… all of these things happened in less than a single lifetime.

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Very promising. I imagine 3D Printers being able to create synthesize diamonds will be a very profitable business to get in to because of the stabilizing benefits that the nanodiamonds bring to Quantum Computing and nanotechnology in general.


Nanomaterials have the potential to improve many next-generation technologies. They promise to speed up computer chips, increase the resolution of medical imaging devices and make electronics more energy efficient. But imbuing nanomaterials with the right properties can be time consuming and costly. A new, quick and inexpensive method for constructing diamond-based hybrid nanomaterials could soon launch the field forward.

University of Maryland researchers developed a method to build diamond-based hybrid nanoparticles in large quantities from the ground up, thereby circumventing many of the problems with current methods. The technique is described in the June 8, 2016 issue of the journal Nature Communications (“Nanostructures for Coupling Nitrogen-Vacancy Centers to Metal Nanoparticles and Semiconductor Quantum Dots”).

electron microscope image shows a hybrid nanoparticle consisting of a nanodiamond (roughly 50 nanometers wide) covered in smaller silver nanoparticles

This electron microscope image shows a hybrid nanoparticle consisting of a nanodiamond (roughly 50 nanometers wide) covered in smaller silver nanoparticles that enhance the diamond’s optical properties. (Image: Min Ouyang)

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The rapid growth of artificial intelligence (AI) has serious implications for our future. The issues and their oversight are not just the domain of computer engineers, technologists and AI experts. Policymakers, Smart Nation experts and security officials too should come together with them to ponder implications and set out the parameters, if needed, for future research and development.

By Shashi Jayakumar(

In March this year, AlphaGo, a machine created by Google’s artificial intelligence (AI) arm, DeepMind, trounced Lee Sedol, a grandmaster at Go, the ancient Chinese game. AlphaGo used cutting-edge AI to beat a player acknowledged to be one of the greatest ever.

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To provide computing power for the U.S. arsenal of advanced weaponry, satellites and information systems, the Pentagon has entered into a seven-year deal with Globalfoundries Inc, an Abu Dhabi-owned microchip manufacturer.

The move serves to diversify the Defense Department’s microchip supply chain — an issue of particular concern for some defense officials — which has been dominated by a short list of sellers led by IBM for over a decade.

A microchip is a small, wafer-thin semiconductor used to relay information through an electrical grid, thereby making an integrated circuit. Almost every modern digital device is chock-full of microchips.

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Medical/ Biocomputing will only continue to grow and advance as a result of the demand for more improved experiences by consumers and business in communications and entertainment, food, home life, travel, business, etc.

Today, we have seen early opportunities and benefits with 3D printing, BMI, early stage Gene/ Cell circuitry and computing. In the future, we will see these technologies more and more replaced by even more advance Biocomputing and gene circuitry technology that will ultimately transform the human experiences and quality of life that many like to call Singularity.


Printing technology has come a long way from screechy dot-matrix printers to 3D printers which can print real life objects from metals, plastics, chemicals and concrete. While, at first, 3D printers were being used to create just basic shapes with different materials, more recently, they have been used to create advanced electronics, bio-medical devices and even houses.

Aircraft manufacturer Airbus recently showcased the world’s first 3D-printed mini aircraft, Thor, at the International Aerospace Exhibition and Air Show in Berlin. Although Airbus and its competitor have been using 3D-printed parts for their bigger assemblies, recent attempt shows that aviation may be ready for a new future with much lighter and cheaper planes given 3D printing not only cuts down the costs with less wastage, it also makes the plane lighter, thereby making them faster and more fuel efficient. But planes and toys is not what 3D printing might be restricted to; though in the elementary stage at the moment, the technology is being used for creating complex electronics like phones and wearables and may be able to reduce costs for manufacturers like Samsung and Apple.

One of the most important uses for the technology comes in the field of medical sciences. While pharma companies have been working on producing medicines from 3D printers, with one winning approval from the US’s Food and Drug Administration earlier this year, the technology is also being used to create bones, cartilages and customisable prosthetic limbs. But the real test for the technology lies in bioprinting—creating living cells via a 3D printer. Doctors have been using 3D printed organs to practice on, but scientists at research institutes have been experimenting with printing stem cells, skin tissue, organs and DNA. Though this is still decades from being a reality, printing of regenerative tissues can help cure heart ailments. 3D printing is also helping in construction, with a printer being used to create the first office space in Dubai using concrete blocks. The city aims that 25% of its buildings will be 3D printed by 2030.

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Good for him.


A new company launched Monday by former NASA chief Dan Goldin aims to deliver a major boost to the field of neural computing.

KnuEdge’s debut comes after 10 years in stealth; formerly it was called Intellisis. Now, along with its launch, it’s introducing two products focused on neural computing: KnuVerse, software that focuses on military-grade voice recognition and authentication, and KnuPath, a processor designed to offer a new architecture for neural computing.

“While at NASA I became fascinated with biology,” said Goldin in an interview last week. “When the time came to leave NASA, I decided the future of technology would be in machine intelligence, and I felt a major thrust had to come from inspiration from the mammalian brain.”

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