CYBORG BUGS ARE BACK AGAIN

DARPA's HI-MEMS (Cyborg Bugs) project is making progress! According to New Scientist, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley,have implanted electronics into a giant African bug and achieved successful remote control of flight.

Scroll down in this blog to see why I feel more like a prophet than ever!

http://technoprobe.blogspot.com/2009/01/cyborg-bugs-revisited.html
http://technoprobe.blogspot.com/2007/10/cyborg-insects-and-my-fifteen-minutes.html

A CLOUD FOR MANUFACTURING

I’ve just heard from an interesting outfit—CloudFab—that promises to hook up folks who have designs but no manufacturing capability (meaning 3D printers and the like) with manufacturing shops with spare time available on their machines.

There’s a need for such services, at least among small businesses whose people have the design skills to generate CAD/CAM files. Some hobbyists fit that description, but even though I think 3D printers will be in every home in a few years, I don’t think very many people will be generating CAD/CAM files.

They’ll be downloading them and printing them. And one big business opportunity will lie with generating, customizing, tweaking, and selling those files. Ponoko is reportedly doing something along these lines with a nascent partnership--100kgarages--with ShopBot, makers of inexpensive computer-controlled routers. “The idea is that designers (or shoppers) on Ponoko who find a great design now have the option of having the item built locally by any one of (eventually) 100,000 garages equipped with ShopBot tooling.”

So where does that put CloudFab? They say they are “all about increasing access to fabbing technology.“

“We aggregate many shops together to expand the process types available. In the beginning, we're concentrating on all 3D printing processes (FDM, SLA, ZCorp, PolyJet/ProJet, SLS/M,and more), but more process types, like laser cutting/etching, will become available soon.

“Our system gives you quotes from multiple shops on the system - like Kayak.com does for travel deals. All you have to do is upload an STL file, pick which process and material you'd like, and our system sends every applicable seller an RFQ. The sellers then quote you back, and you get to pick the quote that fits you best. After the parts are shipped, the buyer leaves feedback - or they can move into arbitration if the parts aren't up to snuff.

“So far, we've found that we've saved customers about 50% by using the spare capacity that all job shops have plenty of. Often our sellers are willing to give us this surplus nearly at cost. Also, with enough demand, sellers make multiple parts per build which decreases part cost even more by reducing applied finance costs.

“It's not always about price though, most industrial designers we talk to prefer turnaround time and quality over low pricing. If you talk to hobbyists though, they'll put up with a lot for cheap parts. For ultra cheap printing, we're encouraging the MakerBot / RepRap community to sign up as sellers to serve the hobbyist market.”

At this early stage in the development of consumer-grade 3D printing technology, there is a need for this technology. But as 3D printers become more capable and affordable and penetrate the home market, there will be less and less need to send design files elsewhere for printing. If CloudFab wants to stay in business more than a decade, it is going to have to invert its business model. Right now the premise is that designs are all over the place and need to find printers. Once printers are all over the place, the problem will be finding files to print. There will be a niche for a brokerage service that helps people do that. Right now, it looks like Ponoko is setting itself up to be that broker, though once 3D printing is in every home, there will be little need for 100kgarages. The cloud will be a lot bigger than that, and it won’t be “out there” somewhere. It’ll be in the family room.

HOPE FOR THE SUB-5,000 3D PRINTER

The latest word on Desktop Factory is that the company's buyer is 3D Systems, "the leadership brand in the Additive Manufacturing industry, which means that they have the resources and desire to deliver on the promise of a truly low cost, easy to use 3-D printer."

3D Systems has acquired Desktop Factory's key assets--meaning intellectual property, know-how, tools, and even the core team of remaining Desktop Factory employees.

Abe Reichental, CEO of 3D Systems, says:

Until recently, cost and complexity have confined 3-D Printers to the shops and design departments of major corporations and premier design firms. The growing success and acceptance of V-Flash®, our first sub-$10,000 compact desktop 3-D Printer, reaffirms our commitment to one day make 3-D Printing as common in offices, factories, schools and homes as 2-D printers are today. We believe that the technology already developed by Desktop Factory in combination with our extensive technology portfolio should lead to a new generation of fast, simple and affordable 3-D Printers capable of making durable plastic parts.

We want to keep this exciting conversation going. The ability to design, create and produce models and prototypes — on your desktop, within a few hours — should be available to all. Our global economy runs on innovation, and we intend to provide the necessary 3-D printing tools to help you succeed independent of the size of your company and budget or your design challenges. You can count on our commitment to affordable 3-D printers — starting with V-Flash® today and even more affordable 3-D printers in the future.

In the coming weeks we will announce our formal communication strategy and invite you to participate with us as we seek your input and ongoing support. We are very excited about the potential before us and look forward to delivering an even wider choice of affordable, accessible 3-D printing technologies.

So don't give up hope. Affordable consumer-grade 3D printing is still on track.

DESKTOP FACTORY GONE?

If you've been following this blog, irregular though it be, you know I've had a good deal to say about 3D printing. I've had a lot to say elsewhere as well, and at the World Science Fiction in Montreal last week, I gave two talks. There were other talks on the topic as well, just to show that there's a lot of interest in the topic.

Unfortunately, the economy isn't helping. A few months ago, Desktop Factory announced that they were running short on venture capital and having trouble finding more. Plans to move out of beta were on hold.

Now they report that they had to bite the bullet and look for a buyer for the company. Fortunately:

"a funny thing happened as we launched our effort to sell Desktop Factory. We found interested parties who do understand the exciting potential for this breakthrough technology. We found companies that value the industry and can visualize the myriad applications for this affordable printer. Most important, we have found organizations that engage with customers and truly want to be a part of this next major wave in additive fabrication.

"And, along the way we have found the best opportunity to place the assets, the intellectual property and many of our people with a leadership brand; a company with the resources and the desire to deliver on the promise of a truly low cost, easy to use 3D printer. We are cautiously optimistic that we can successfully conclude this sale of Desktop Factory within the next 30 days."

Meanwhile they are refunding the deposits already paid by eager buyers.

They're not saying who the buyer is, just that "We look forward to sharing the complete back story with you on the new owner and how they will continue to keep this exciting conversation going."

If you're as optimistic about this technology as I am, keep an eye out for that new owner. If they're a public company, their stock may be worth a look.

THE SF PROPHET STRIKES AGAIN!

Slashdot has just posted a great story:

"Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York is developing flexible nanotubes inserted under the skin to create a handheld display — inside your hand. They wirelessly receive data and display reminders and text messages, and the concept has also been broadened to suggest endlessly programmable digital tattoos, while Netherlands-based Royal Philips Electronics is also exploring the concept of the body as 'a platform for electronics and interactive skin technologies'."

Much to my delight, a few years ago I wrote a story that forecast almost exactly this! Is science fiction supposed to try to forecast the future? That question has provoked a lot of debate over the years. I’m inclined to say “yes.” If you’re not, don’t argue. Just enjoy!


HACKING THE SKIN TRADE


Thomas A. Easton


"Give me that, you little bastard!"
Molly had spent an hour carefully copying a bold black and red geometric pattern from a magazine page taped to her mirror. The dark hair that framed her face made the design even more dramatic. But now Tony-J had the toowand. He was holding it like a sword, en garde with Molly's nose above her plate.
"Hah!" He slashed the toowand in the air, and a stripe of iridescent green toobits appeared across her nose and cheek.
"Give!" Molly lunged at her brother and a milk carton went flying off the table.
"Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha!" But as Tony-J threw himself backward, his hand went up in the air. His father, Tony Scarpatti, grabbed the toowand before it could do any more damage.
"Antonio Junior!" His mother, Dinah, took the toowand from her husband and said. "You clean up the milk."
He knew better than to argue with that tone of voice, but he couldn't help muttering, "Call me Scar."
Then Dinah handed the toowand back to Molly. "Go get that straightened out. And hurry, or you'll miss the bus."
Tony finished his coffee and sighed. "I can go by the high school."
"What about me?" said Tony-J from the floor, still mopping up milk.
His mother laughed. "You miss your bus, you walk."
Not that the middle school was really that far away. And not that she couldn't go by it on her way to work. But the kid had to learn: You screw up, you pay.

Ben Yugato must have been waiting for Tony. As soon as he unlocked his office door, Ben was right there, crowding in behind him with his belly and his mint-soaked breath and his musky cologne, saying, "Got something new here, Tony boy."
"What, boss?" He set the laptop case on the desk, took out his machine, set it where it wouldn't block the view of his family photo cube, plugged it in, hit the button. The office was small, barely big enough to warrant a door, and windowless. One wall bore shelves of reference books, software manuals, and the DVD records of all the ad campaigns he'd worked on. Another bore a few stills and a faded travel poster. Paris, where he and Dinah had wanted to go for their honeymoon. They had gone to Connecticut instead, a long weekend instead of two weeks. They had both had project deadlines.
Ben set a PDA in front of him. But not quite a PDA--a black cylinder the size and shape of a cigar stuck out of one end. Tony turned it over. Standard PDA screen but no keyboard-projection lens. "No keyboard is new? Where'd you get this?"
"One of our clients, PowerToo. It's a prototype. Old components." Ben touched a button, and a panel slid aside to reveal a miniature keyboard. Tony remembered when and grimaced. "Except for this." Ben touched the cigar.
"Pretty clunky for Wi-Fi."
"Different frequency band. Everyone's got toobits now, right? Go down to the drugstore and they spray 'em into your skin. Face, back, arms, legs, wherever. Then they sell you a toowand so you can draw whatever toos you want." The toobits were nanomotes only slightly larger than bacteria, tiny versions of radio-frequency ID chips with quantum dots for color. The wand was a wireless projector that told the chips which dots to activate.
"God, yes." He didn't have to explain. Ben had kids too.
"Most people don't realize the toobits are networked. But that's how they get color shades. And how they keep the edges of the toos clean. Not like old-time tattoos. And this..." He touched a button on the device. A red rose bloomed on the back of his hand.
Tony grinned. "The whole pattern at once."
Another button. The rose vanished. "Undo." Another, and it was back. "Redo."
And wouldn't Molly love that! No chance of missing the bus when Tony-J messed up her makeup.
Now Ben was backing across the office. "Hit it."
Undo. Redo.
"Longer range. See? It's a PowerWand. And I'm thinking of the beach. All that skin, like a thousand billboards."
"Ads?" He was horrified. "They will hang you from a lamppost."
Ben winked and laughed. "Not me. Maybe whoever bites when we sell 'em the ad. And that's your job now."
"What do you mean? I've got ..." Tony gestured at his laptop. He had clients, campaigns...
"Turn everything over to Janice. I want you to come up with something that will use this gadget. Something we can pitch to clients." Ben grinned. Waved. Said, "Take it home and play with it." And vanished, leaving the PowerWand on Tony's desk.
He stared at it for the next hour.
The PowerWand was a nice gadget, a nifty gadget. Molly would love it. The maker wouldn't be able to keep up with the cosmetics demand.
But ads? Popping up on people's skins?
What kind of a sleazy son-of-a-bitch would even think of such a thing?
People would remember telemarketers fondly. They would declare them saints of restraint.
Maybe spammers too.
And if they ever found out who had started it... It wouldn't be Ben who would swing. He was too savvy, he'd just point at Tony, and then...
Jesus!
If only he didn't have a mortgage, two cars, a couple of college educations to save for... Dinah made good money, but not enough. He couldn't just say no. That wasn't how this business worked. He'd be on the street, and someone else would be only too happy to take the credit for this little gig.
Ben knew him too damned well. Figured he couldn't say no. And he was right, damn him. Sneaky, slimy bastard.
He swore. He stared. He thought of sports stars who showed plenty of skin. Boxers, swimmers. Legs on runners, basketball players. Cover 'em with logos like NASCAR cars. That would work. But it wasn't the beach. He swore again. Finally, he got down to work. Copied his work files to Janice. Attended a couple of meetings. Took Janice to lunch with the biggest of his clients, introduced her, said something about a big new project, new media, hottest thing since Super Bowl slots, the client would be the first to have a shot at it. Went back to the office, took a couple of ibuprofen, and thought, "God help me." He knew what he was going to do, what he had to do. He didn't like it, but he already had a few ideas.
The PowerWand went into the case with his laptop.

Molly knew the drill. Every night her Dad had to spend a couple of hours with the laptop, but not in any den. Big fat recliner, TV mouths running off about news, politics, sports, teenage mouths yah-yah-yahing. So she grabbed the case as soon as he walked in the door, took it to the table by the recliner, set up the machine. By the time he got back with his Sam Adams, Tony-J had the PowerWand in his hands.
"What's this?"
"A new toowand."
The kid laughed and waved it toward his sister. She batted him away. "What's new about it?"
Tony held out his hand and smiled when Tony-J obediently handed it to him. "You can program a whole design. From a distance. Though I haven't had it long enough to figure out exactly how."
"Can I try?"
"Me first, kid. It's work."
"And then me? Is that a promise?" The kid looked downright eager, and Tony was sure it wouldn't take him long at all. Might even save time to let him at it. But...
"We'll see. Like I said, it's work. It goes to the office with me, and it might not come back right away."
"Huh," and Tony-J eyed his sister, who said, "No way."
Tony laughed. "Don't worry, Molly. It's got an undo button if he tags you with it."
Later, while the kids were doing homework, playing video games, chatting with friends, bickering as usual, Tony pulled up the PowerWand's specs. 500-foot range. Addressable toos, send them anywhere a target had toobits, hand, arm, back, butt even. Nifty interface--3D manikin on the tiny screen, rotate it, set the crosshairs, click OK. Notes on how wide-open skin-nets were, no encryption, no passwords, no need that anyone had ever thought of. He shook his head. That wouldn't last. But for now, all a user needed was a port scanner to find a local skin-net, and that was built right in. All you had to do was aim. The manikin even showed you where the toobits were.
He played with the controls. Used his laptop to store an image of Dinah on its memory card, tried impressing that on the toobits in his arm. Grainy, but...
"Wow, Dad. Can I try?"
He looked at his son. Held up his arm. "This is the only place I've got toobits, Tony-J. What about you?"
"Ah..." Hesitation, an almost visible squirm. Toobits in places he didn't want his parents knowing. Tony tried hard not to laugh, couldn't help the smile.
"Your back?"
"Yeah." Tony-J's grin seemed relieved.
"Then take off your shirt." A moment later he was nodding. Much better with more skin.
"You can't leave him like that!" Dinah sounded horrified.
Molly just laughed. "Think what the other kids would say. 'Mommy on your back all the time?'"
"We can't have that!" Tony laughed and pushed the undo button, but as the image vanished, Tony-J yelled, "Hey! I want to see!"
Redo. "You know where the mirrors are."
A moment later, from the bathroom: "Wow. This thing makes killer toos. You could have anything!"
Undo again. Tell the kid no, he couldn't borrow the PowerWand. Test the regular wand to make sure it can erase the Dinah on his arm, and tell Molly yes, he'll use it to put a fleur de lis on her cheek. Tell Tony-J yes, he can have a dragon on his arm. The gizmo has both in its clip art folder.
Then back to thinking. Killer toos indeed, as long as he gave each image a patch of skin big enough for decent resolution. Logos could go anywhere. He laughed at the thought of a Studley's Gym ad decorating some beach-going slob's swollen paunch. A condom ad on a pregnant woman with six brats in tow.
Not exactly winners, he thought. Time to hang it up.

"Hey, Scar!"
"Ubori! Khan!"
Three buddies, one for all, all for one, all in trouble together.
"Whatcha got there?"
"Dad brought it home last night. A super toowand!"
"Super, huh. What's it do?"
"Whole pics. See?" He'd found the rose image while he was still on the bus. He held up the palm of his hand.
"A flower? C'mon."
"You like my dragon better?"
"Yeah!"
"That must have taken hours!"
"Nah." Tony-J snapped his fingers. "Like that. It even works long-distance." A moment later both Khan and Ubori wore roses on their foreheads. Then he had to show them the undo feature.
"Can you buy these things?"
"Not yet."
"Then lemme have it."
Scar yanked it out of Khan's reach. "If I don't take it back tonight..."
The others nodded, reluctantly. They understood.
"But we can play with it today?"
"Unless Dad shows up with the cops."
Ubori laughed. "We can put spiders on people. Roaches. Snakes. Dripping blood."
Khan giggled. "And I know who..."
"We ownЗ them!"

This morning Tony had time to get into the office and open his laptop case before Ben Yugato showed up. But he was still staring blankly at the empty space beside his laptop when his boss's hand landed on his shoulder.
"What's the matter?"
"It isn't there." No point in trying to hide the truth.
"What? The PowerWand?"
Tony nodded. "I know I put it in here last night." He pointed. "After I got it figured out."
"You got kids, right?"
Tony nodded again.
"Then we know where it is. One of 'em snuck it, and he'll bring it home tonight."
Tony-J, of course. No wonder he had seemed in such a rush to get to school. "He'd better."
"Tomorrow, then. I've got kids too, you know." Ben laughed, looked surprisingly satisfied. "Amazing, isn't it, how you can count on 'em to mess you up?"
Yeah. Had Ben taken the PowerWand home himself? Not likely, and Tony's laugh wasn't as jovial. He felt uneasy, suspicious, though he could not quite say why. The missing PowerWand was his own damned fault. He should have a den, or a lock on his case, or he should have left the thing in the office, no matter that the boss had told him to take it home for the night and play with it.
"It's not a problem, Tony. It'll work out. Now, have you come up with anything yet?"
"Nothing I like much. Though I do have one that would keep us out of trouble. No invasion of privacy."
"What's that?"
"Do a NASCAR number on athletes. Logos on their skin."
Ben shook his head. "They'd want to be paid. Think beach, Tony. Lots of skin. Free skin."
"Just let the too folks sell it, Ben. My daughter drooled all over it. It could do animated toos if you wore it like a pager. A watch in your skin."
"Too obvious, and they're on that already. Think beach, Tony. We want ads. We want eyeballs."
Tony shook his head. "They will shut us down so fast. Legislation, security in the toobits."
"But we'll get attention, won't we? Lots of it."
And that was the name of the game. Why skin shows and Super Bowls carried the most expensive advertising. They had the eyeballs.
"Maybe we should just advertise the gadget itself. ''Are we bugging you? Get your PowerToo PowerWand now and turn us off!'"
Ben gave him a dirty look. He wasn't being a good team player. "Maybe. It could work. But first the ads. Come up with something. Don't be negative."
As soon as Tony was alone, he sighed. Or else, eh?
Looking for inspiration, he pulled up a list of the agency's clients. Cars, perfumes, clothes, real estate agencies... Jolly Laszlo's Seafood Haven. He imagined swimmers suddenly sporting toos of various fish as they emerged from the water. Squid, lobster, snapper, trout, striper, bluefish, tuna, shark, shrimp, sole... A beat, two, three, just long enough for everyone to say "What the hell...?" Then the skin goes bare, and "It's just as fresh at Laszlo's" pops up on backs and bellies.
Could it do that? The PowerWand had a 500-foot range. Would water interfere? Could it do simultaneous images on multiple hides? Not his department. He had a nifty here, now all he had to do was write it up, generate a quick animation, and send it to Ben.
He was almost done when the phone rang.

Ben's office was twice the size of Tony's. The carpet was a thick Isfahan. The walls were covered with ads--magazine pages, stills, even loops on flat panel displays--and the awards they'd won. The broad, polished maple desk was dominated by a 20-inch monitor displaying a page of text.
"Ben? We got trouble."
"What?"
"I just had a call from a reporter. My son's expelled, he's being charged with assault, and the school confiscated the PowerWand."
"What the hell did he do? And how did it get out?"
"He picked on the reporter's kid. She's phobic about spiders, and..."
"Oh, God." But Ben Yugato was grinning like a cat who had just scored a canary.
Tony didn't notice. He was looking at the carpet. "Damned stupid kid."
"Don't worry about the gizmo." Ben pointed at a small table by the window. Two more flanked a vase of lilies.
"You aren't going to get a chance to use it for ads." And neither he nor Tony would be attacked for invading privacy. Just Tony Junior, stupid kid, idiot kid.
"That's okay. See this?"
The monitor, the text. Tony moved close enough to read it: A press release. Denying blame. "We were testing the Powerwand and brainstorming publicity approaches. Unfortunately, a security lapse let [name] 'borrow' the prototype. We regret the consequences. Obviously measures will have to be taken to prevent misuse of the product...."
Tony abruptly swung to face his boss. "You expected this."
Ben nodded. "As soon as you told me it was gone."
"You set me up. You set him up!"
Ben just looked at him, as if to say that of course he had. Of course the ads had been just a pretext. The point was publicity, eyeballs, no matter how.
"I'll talk to PowerToo. If this works out--and it should--they'll cover the lawyer. And your kid's a minor. He'll get a slap on the wrist. That's all."
"But..." But Tony could only shake his head as helpless tears filled his eyes. He wanted to shout and scream. Do something violent.
"You want the account? It'll be an easy sell, and plenty of billings. But you may have to play lobbyist too."
He could do that. He really could.
Or he could just plain quit. Right now.
Couldn't he?
###

NEW BOOKS

Way back in 1997 I published Silicon Karma, about life for downloaded people, with White Wolf Books. It garnered some nice reviews (including a lovely one from cartoonist Gahan Wilson--he loved it), sold a few copies, and went out of print in due course, whereupon I bought a hundred copies of the remaining stock. The rights reverted.

In 1995 an earlier version appeared in electronic form from Serendipity Systems. I recently got those rights back as well, and I've just converted the original manuscript file, packaged with a background essay and a short story, into modern ebook formats--Mobipocket prc, Sony lrf, and epub, using Calibre--and uploaded as well to Amazon's Kindle store, where you can buy Silicon Karma just by clicking from your Net-empowered Kindle.

This is my first attempt, so if you buy a copy, let me know if and how well it works for you. If there are problems, I'll try to fix them and then send you a Kindle-compatible file (Mobipocket should work).

If all is well, I'll do another book or two. Serendipity also published a collection of essays, short stories, and poems called Frontiers of Wonder, and that's a candidate. So is Maine Quartet, a four-story chapbook coming this summer from SRM Publisher, which mostly publishes material by Steve Miller and Sharon Lee, quite popular for their Liaden Universe series (SRM also brings out material by other writers such as Lawrence M. Schoen). Steve says the electronic rights for this chapbook remain mine and he's cool with me Kindle-izing (is that a word?) it.

CYBORG BUGS REVISITED

Remember the HI-MEMS project I almost got involved with a year and a half ago? It's back, with a wirelessly controlled beetle. According to Technology Review, University of California at Berkeley researchers Michael Maharbiz and his colleagues have "developed a tiny rig that receives control signals from a nearby computer. Electrical signals delivered via the electrodes command the insect to take off, turn left or right, or hover in midflight. The research, funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), could one day be used for surveillance purposes or for search-and-rescue missions."

I can't claim any credit but as a science fiction writer I'm allowed to be delighted when one of my concepts comes true twenty years later. If you've read Sparrowhawk, you know what I mean. (For a new copy, click here.)