Category Archives: Transhuman News

As if the NFT trend wasnt already mind-meltingly unintelligible and annoying enough.

Investors arenow buying up exclusive rights to simple strings of emojis, for some reason. The consecutive row of cartoonized images are now being referred to as Yats among early adopters, The Wall Street Journal reports definitive evidence that were nowhere near hitting peak NFT yet.Or, uh, yat.

If your yat is Fire-Dragon, that says so much about someone, Yat Labs co-founder Naveen Jain told the newspaper. Versus your username being Naveen512. That tells you my area code.

In other words, strings of emojis are the latest and greatest in NFTs if you really want to go down that road.

Yats go for anywhere from pocket change to thousands of dollars. Jain, of course, has already gotten rich off of the trend, cashing in some $20 million from selling almost 160,000 Yats since last February, the Journal reports.

Needless to say, high-profile celebrities are already jumping on the trend, including the likes of Paris Hilton and Lil Wayne.

To investors, its yet another way to establish an online identity and, well, spend lots and lots of money.

This is all a fiction constructed in our heads, but all property is a fiction constructed in our heads, investor Michael Arrington, who invested in Yat Labs, told the WSJ.

But not everybody is impressed by Yats.

I could say this NFT represents a string of initials, or this NFT represents my butt. It would be exactly as meaningful as turning a Yat into an NFT, David Gerard, author of the book Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain, told the newspaper.

READ MORE: When You Marry NFTs and Emojis, You Get a Yat [The Wall Street Journal]

More on NFTs: Mad Scientist Forces AI to Make Horrific Pictures Out of BuzzFeed Headlines

Care about supporting clean energy adoption? Find out how much money (and planet!) you could save by switching to solar power at UnderstandSolar.com. By signing up through this link, Futurism.com may receive a small commission.

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Because the World Has Lost Its Mind, You Can Now Buy NFTs of Strings of Emojis - Futurism

Meridian is quickly getting bigger. We've seen a unique new concept in other cities that will now be arriving in Idaho's second-largest city. We've heard about TopGolf and other businesses moving into the area. A 50,000 square feet office complex will now share a parking lot with TopGolf.

A look inside Meridian's latest development.

The new office concept is from Kiln, a Utah company with five locations throughout the country. The space is designed to help workers' creativity from two to fifty. The company CEO says creatives, startups, and enterprise teams. The site's location is Eagle View Landing and is being developed by Ball Ventures and Ball Ventures Ahlquist.

CEO Arian Lewis shared his enthusiasm for the new project in a release:"Kiln is a boutique, lifestyle-focused coworking brand that is primarily driven around the well-being of our members and enabling teams and individuals to perform at their highest level," Lewis said. "As a result, we have allocated a lot of square footage dedicated to communal amenities that look after the physical, social, and emotional wellness of our members. We have put a lot of time and thought into developing meeting rooms and amenities that enable teams to collaborate and to communicate effectively with one another."

The work area will indeed be one of its kind in Idaho. Work areas will have treadmill and cycling desks, access to a full kitchen, massage chairs, a private fitness studio, and a state-of-the-art fitness center. On the technology side, workers will have access to podcast and video studios, a theater that will hold up to seventy-five people. There will also be a barbershop so no worries about getting a haircut.

BVA CEO Tommy Ahlquist describes how Kiln will offer another option for Idahoans in the Treasure Valley. "The opening of Kiln Meridian is the exciting next step in establishing Eagle View Landing as a true mixed-use development where people can work, live, and play," Ahlquist said. "Kiln's quality and care in their flexible coworking spaces and services are unparalleled, and we are proud to partner with such an innovative and forward-thinking company."

Eagle View Landing is a 73-acre mixed-use development that will feature class-A office, hospitality, multifamily living, retail, and corporate campus spaces. Site highlights will include Idaho's only Top Golf Venue, a 200-room Hyatt Place Hotel, Idaho Central Credit Union's corporate headquarters, The area will have housing units and other amenities. For years, that area hosted the Farmstead.

Meridian has won many awards over over the past decade or so as being one of the best places in the country to live and to raise a family. Meridian is indeed a fantastic city boarding Boise with lots to do. Scroll to check out 10 great things to do, see, experience and check out in Meridian.

If you haven't driven past or through The Village at Meridian lately, there's a lot of construction underway! According to the Village's website, these projects are currently underway!

These 3 Meridian Donut Shops Have the Best Donuts

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Why You'll Want To Work At This Futuristic Office in Meridian - KIDO Talk Radio

By Ashok Hinduja

With stable tax structures, the Budget exercise was to turn into a vision and policy communication document of the government, moving away from a What has got expensive document. This Budget shows that we are already there with our vision for our journey from the 75th year to the 100th year of Independence as the FM outlined.

The data on GDP clearly indicate that we are just at the pre-Covid level overall. Agriculture, which supports half of our population, has kept its pace of growth with record production of food grain, in spite of Covid-19. However, the manufacturing and services sectors, other than a few niche good performers, have not recovered to the pre-Covid level. We may have lost two years and there is a need to make up for this as we spring back.

There are several splendid examples on how India has used its expertise in digital technology for governance and for the benefit of its people: Aadhaar card, direct bank transfer to beneficiaries, Covid vaccination, cashless payment platforms, GST and income tax. This time, the government has embarked on the next stage of evolution to bring the benefits to all its citizens in a very inclusive and futuristic framework.

It is encouraging to note that the central theme is holistic and integrated. Be it the standardised high-quality education in the local language at the doorstep as envisaged by the expanded PM e-Vidya scheme, or the digital integration of post office and banking, or the agriculture-oriented and rural development schemes. We are laying the foundation to create a powerful rural India that is not going to be isolated. That is the force multiplier the new India wants.

The PLI for the manufacturing sector in multiple priority sectors announced over the course of last year were the first step of a multi-year project seeking to make Indian a global hub of manufacturing. Continued support to nurture these industries is very welcome.

Modern infrastructure and unified multimodal logistics through the PM Gati Shakti Yojana as an integrated centrepiece is a vision well set. This is a complex project with enormous potential for employment generation and we hope to see good implementation.

Public investment has been boosted, which is very much needed for us to recover from the Covid-related slowdown.It is now well proven that entrepreneurs have grown sophisticated and competent to start up companies, look for and get funding and drive innovation. Todays start-up or MSME is the mainstream industry of tomorrow. The encouragements to MSMEs and start-ups are great investments for the future.

The FM could have announced treating OCI/NRI investments on a par with investments made by resident investors, which has been a longstanding demand of the global diaspora. It is time the diaspora is used as another economic engine. Perhaps healthcare also could have been given higher priority.

Robust GST collection is a good sign of the stabilisation of the system and use of automated analytics to weed out input credit leakage have been good moves.The government has shown its commitment to clean and green technology, like the encouragement for EVs, renewable energy, battery storage, battery swapping interoperability standards, and energy as a service.

The FM has communicated a clear path for India and it is important to see the we implement these successfully keeping the inclusive and futuristic spirit at every step.

The author is chairman, Hinduja Group of Companies (India)

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Budget 2022: Futuristic and inclusive - The Financial Express

It's the year 4000 and we're on Earth-527. Everything's glistening silver and intergalactic guardian angels roam cities. It's an unfathomable idea for us humans but Shelhielis giving us a glimpse of this alternative future through 'Superstrobe'.

Part of the bigger world ofSUPERSTROBEthe EP, theMalaysian artist created a parallel universe that mirrors his very own beginnings as an artist, building a story that brings together reality and fantasy. Taking on the role of Angel-527, the mythical being descends upon a futuristic Kuala Lumpur and goes through a cyclic experience of love and loss.

Bandwagon caught up with Shelhiel where he takes us through the beginnings of Earth-527 and production behind creating the 'Superstrobe' music video.

When I started writing my debut EP SUPERSTROBE, I knew that I wanted to keep it pure and back to my music origins since Ive tried to explore different genres along the way for years. I wanted to put out something that really sets the beginning for the sound of Shelhiel.

Therefore the visualisation of the SUPERSTROBE universe resembles the origin and the beginnings of me as an artist. The ideation started from my birthplace and the influences I had in my upbringingmy hometown Sungai Petani, Kedah, my beliefs and my faith in God. 527 is a codename for my birthday, May 27th, yay.

As I set on the vision I wanted to achieve for the whole EP, I started the mood board in January 2020. It really grew on to something bigger than I ever imagined.

SUPERSTROBE's visual identity is a marriage of influences of Malaysian Chinese, Sino-futurism & Christianity. Im trying to design a world that is real to me, yet still in fantasy expressionism. The whole universe of the SUPERSTROBE storyline is a cyclic story of the descent of the Angel-527 to Earth (track 1), finding himself and his purpose, and goes on to seek love and live life in the settings of the music video for 'Star ' (track 3), finds confusion in 'Chillin' (track 4), and reside on sadness in 'Runnin, Merindu' for losing his loved one (track 6).

'_____' means the trackwhich was actually meant to be the last track of the EPcan be a beginning or the end for listeners, to start the story all over again linearly, backwards or in a loop. The whole listening experience of SUPERSTROBE can be listened to in an ascending and descending order for different meanings of the story of Angel-527.

The SUPERSTROBE vision is inspired by Bjrks 'Utopia' video, as well as the Y2K, but bringing it into a Y4K setting of futuristic Kuala Lumpur.

I wanted to make a statement video of who I am and where I come from through abstract and conceptual story-telling. As I started to do sketches and a very rough storyboard, I divided the stories into 4 phases: Discovery, Flashback & Transformation, Enlightenment, and Into the Unknown.

Phase 1: Discovery In an alternative Kedah, which is the Jelapang Padi (the land of the paddy) of Malaysia, where I go back to my grandmas house every Chinese New Year, where I grew up.Phase 2: Flashback & TransformationGoing back to find who I am and I am born into this world, trying to portray an abstract meaning of finding purpose and the meaning of life of Angel-527which is tightly connected to my beliefs of faith in God.Phase 3: EnlightenmentThis is where the spark of life and climax of the video, where he found his higher calling as a futuristic guardian angel to serve Earth-527.Phase 4: Into the UnknownWalking into a mysterious advanced setting of Kuala Lumpur, he is ready to explore the world, thus the beginning of the EP SUPERSTROBE.

I start the whole project by sketching the storyboard first as you see attached there and discussed with my director Nelson Chong (@birdycantfly) and art director Curly (@thenameisbon11) about the whole concept. Nelson led and solidified the direction for the shoot, different phases and scenes, and Curly and I brainstormed on the outfits, VFX and mood for the video.

We would call and talk to the 3D team from China led by Cattin Tsai (@cattin_tsai) to further discuss the 3D world-building before and after the shoot. Not forget to mention our VFX heroes and editors, my day-one editor Azrol (@monameqa) as well as the director for my first music video Hiren (@hirashe_). What else can I say? Its the dream team!

During the early pandemic, a lot of the planning for the shoot and the EP were postponed and delayed, and it was really hard to execute an exquisite and futuristic-looking shoot with no experience of a green screen and 3D composition.

Also, we went back and forth on the post-production and edits. We put a lot of faith and trust into everyones expertise, and I am glad that it really turned out well in the end. Everyone really gave their best to push the boundaries of the outcome, I couldn't be grateful enough.

I think seeing the first final draft of the video was most exciting for this project. You might think its the shooting process but because all of us had no idea how it is going to turn out in the end, were just shooting by trusting our gut feeling and going with the flow.

Is the alternate universe of Earth-527 something youll be exploring more in your future projects?

I'm planning something to tie in the Shelhiel-verse in the end, yet were going to see how it goes these 2-3 years of my upcoming releases. SUPERSTROBE is designed to be the beginning of greater things to come!

Maybe a SUPERSTROBE (Remixes)shhh I didnt tell you that. Due to the pandemic, SUPERSTROBEs release campaign has been a bit incomplete without any live showcase so more live shows of SUPERSTROBE to come.

Take a trip to Earth-527 with Shelhiel's SUPERSTROBEhere.

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Behind The Lens: Shelhiel on creating a futuristic Kuala Lumpur in - Bandwagon

An intimidating yet sociable flying crow could break the stereotype we have for the beautiful bird in real life.

Crows and ravens are normally associated with misfortune and darkness, even though are one of the most intelligent and playful birds. Their dark side has been amplified in movies and web series like Game of Thrones. I feel the majestic bird species, at last, deserves its share of kindness from all of us. With the likes of Boston Dynamics already showing us the pinnacle of robotic animals like Spot the dog robot, possibilities for an intelligent robotic crow are looking good.

Designer: Amin Akhshi

Concept designer Amin Akhshi aims to design a series of bionic birds, and the Hooded Crow is the first one hes created in the collection. The robotic bird has peculiar awe to it, and in a way does away with the fear element we normally associate with the crows. The aim of this flying machine has something to do with the reconnaissance and rescue missions (in my purview) as it is loaded with cameras and sensors. One can say it is an advanced drone but more captivating to look at.

To give the bird a more friendly and striking appearance, Amin blends it in a contrasting black and light grey form. For more flexibility in moving the neck for pointing the camera at things while flying, a fabric material is used. The wings also get the fabric insert with soft cushioning material inside which helps in maintaining the aerodynamic stability. The solid frame tail section acts as the rudder to maneuverer sharply in the air. Those claws look so life-like and itll be interesting to see how this robotic crow lands on an uneven surface with equal dexterity.

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This robotic crow is a next-gen drone giving us a weirdly futuristic x Game of Thrones vibes - Yanko Design

Will rockets soon be able to get us from Beijing to New York in an hour? ETX Studio pic

BEIJING, Feb 9 Chinese company Space Transportation is currently developing a hypersonic aircraft that would be able to make ultra high speed flights around the globe. According to the company, it could fly from Beijing to New York in one hour.

Yet another mind-boggling high-speed project has been born! A Chinese company founded in 2018, Space Transportation, is developing a kind of rocket with wings capable of reaching a speed of 4,200 km/h for long distance travel and space tourism. The plane would make suborbital trips, ie, above 100 km of altitude, and the passenger compartment would be entirely reusable and therefore less expensive than other space tourism approaches.

To sell the project, the company claims that its concept will be capable of connecting Beijing and New York in one hour. The distance between the two cities is close to 11,000 kilometers and it normally takes 12 hours of flight time to make the trip. The Chinese company says it wants to make the first manned flights with its hypersonic aircraft in 2025.

The number of companies specializing in space transportation vehicles in China is growing fast. At the moment there are about 20 pioneering Chinese projects in the sector. In any case, after the American projects of Space X or Virgin Galactic, the race to ultra-high speed is heating up and it still could be anybody's race. ETX Studio

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From Beijing to New York in one hour: The futuristic project of a Chinese hypersonic plane - Malay Mail

The Armys next-generation goggles, the Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS), sounds like something out of science fiction: Soldiers can outline friendlies and enemies, navigate the battlefield easily thanks to a compass and a mini-map, drop objective markers and pings, all while also doubling as night vision goggles.

Based on Microsofts HoloLens technology, U.S. troops have been testing the futuristic heads-up display since 2019, but only now are we getting a look at what soldiers will see when they look through the goggles.

Through a series of slides at a presentation in December, IVAS technical director Jason Regnier detailed some of the latest updates to the program, the fielding of which has been delayed for more than a year.

The IVAS uses augmented reality, a technology that overlays digital information onto the screen soldiers are looking through while wearing the goggles. That information includes training and on-the-spot language translations; high-resolution night and thermal sensors; facial recognition software; and the ability to see what a location or objective looks like before they get there. It even gives soldiers the ability to see outside of a vehicle before they exit, providing greater awareness of what theyre walking into.

The slides from Regniers presentation detailed specifics of the IVAS capabilities and suggested plans for use in combat and training.

Soldiers can toggle through the functions of the IVAS using a chest-mounted control pad, or puck. Regnier said that while the process was still going through its teething phase, soldiers testing out the goggles had planned entire missions within the IVAS system. The headset also boasts a range of features that seem to be focused on the needs and concerns of the folks who will actually be using them. For example: the goggles are far less likely to get fogged up than other wearable optics, and they can function in full sunlight as well at night.

Thus far, in terms of combat functionality, soldiers testing the IVAS have worked their way up through Battle Drill 6 entering and clearing buildings.

Developers are also planning on releasing a development kit, meaning soldiers using the IVAS system can create apps to further augment its capabilities.

As Regnier detailed, the IVAS provides a 70-degree field of view, which is nearly twice that of current night vision and thermal devices, over which ranges, routes, and phase lines can be displayed. Soldiers can also share 3-D maps displayable to an entire unit. The IVAS functions very similar to the heads-up display (HUD) commonly found in first-person shooter games like Halo, Call of Duty, or Battlefield where players can see a minimap, a compass on the top of the screen, objective markers, and the positions of friendlies, as well as enemies.

Regnier also noted that soldiers testing the IVAS last summer set records on land navigation courses.

You never have to stop to do a map check or anything like that because, with just the push of a button, you have an arrow thats in the bottom of your screen and you walk the arrow to your point, so theres no accidentally drifting left or right, said Sgt. 1st Class Brian Hayman a platoon sergeant in 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment who was among those testing out the IVAS in a recent Army release.

To prevent fogging up, the goggles are treated with a commercial anti-fog coating that had withstood 95 degree, 100 percent humidity conditions during testing last summer. The goggles have also passed Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) integration during testing at Fort Bragg, where soldiers were still able to use the IVAS while wearing gas masks and wearing their protective equipment.

The IVAS also connects to thermal devices mounted on weapons, essentially allowing a soldier topoint their rifle around a corner and see the view from the thermal device in the IVAS.

However, for all the new capabilities the goggles offer, there have been setbacks. Since development of the IVAS began in 2018, the project has seen a series of delays. The system was initially supposed to be fielded in 2021; however, in October of that year, PEO Soldier confirmed that the project would be delayed in order to give the development team time to enhance the IVAS technology platform.

The system hasnt just proven a headache for Army officials, but also for the soldiers wearing it literally. The Pentagons chief weapons tester recently reported that soldiers experienced a range of physical ailments from headaches and nausea to neck strain while training with the IVAS.

Still, the IVAS is set to undergo further testing in May of this year, and will be fielded by units by the end of September.

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We finally have photos showing what the Armys high-tech goggles can do - Task & Purpose