Computer: Tell Me About Speech Recognition

All nerds above the age of 20 probably remember thinking how cool it would be to have the computer in Star Trek: TNG because you could talk to it and it would understand you.   And now we have those computers . . . sort of.

3D Printing: More than Just a Curiosity

In 2011, I attended the first Maker Faire Detroit at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.  Maker Faire bills itself as the largest show and tell in the world.  It’s an event for “makers,” essentially do-it-yourself innovators, to come together and show off their innovations, among other things.  One of the biggest draws at the fair was the 3D printing area.  In the 90°+ of that late July day, hundreds of people filled a stifling tent to get a look at the different models of 3D printers and the things they could create.  To me, it was a glimpse of our future.

The Future of Spaceflight: Part 5: Militarization of Space

We are, I hope, entering into a new era of space travel and exploration: private, commercial spaceflight. Space travel was always the domain of governments: mainly the United States and the Russians, but others are now joining the club. For this series of articles, I thought we would take a look at where we’ve been, where we are, and where we are going, both near-term and a little bit longer out.  Here, we discuss the potential for the militarization of space.