Augmented Reality is the Mirrorworld

Kevin Kelly writes how augmented reality will become a mirrorworld; That is, an exact replica of the physical world we will interact with.

The mirrorworld—a term first popularized by Yale computer scientist David Gelernter—will reflect not just what something looks like but its context, meaning, and function. We will interact with it, manipulate it, and experience it like we do the real world.

I firmly believe that AR can be as revolutionary as the internet. We just need an AR device that will dominate peoples’ lives to the point where everyone will wear a headset all the time.

Apple's Ecosystem Is Actually Your Body

Apple’s ecosystem is your body. It’s in our pockets, our ears, our wrists, and soon it will be over our eyes with augmented reality glasses. Lucas Rizzotto talks about Apple hardware can be thought of as a modular system, similar to what Bryan and I discussed on ACM. iPhone will provide processing power and networking, Apple Watch is for biometrics and input, AirPods give us contextual 3D audio, and Apple Glasses are our screen.

Ultimately, Apple’s final AR product offering won’t just be a set of glasses — but an interconnected ecosystem that can itself become a single, immersive computing platform. One that’s an extension of you and your body — whether you’re wearing glasses or not.

CloudMounter For Mac Lifetime License: $16.15 Today

We have a deal on an app called CloudMounter that takes your various cloud storage services and mounts them on your Mac’s desktop for quick access. Supported services include Dropbox, Google Drive, Amazon S3, and Microsoft OneDrive. Our deal is for a lifetime license for $19, but Stack Commerce gave us a coupon code for President’s Day (which is today!). Enter PREZDAY15 at checkout for 15% off, which brings the price down to $16.15.

Now Kansas Introduced a Porn Filter Bill

Last month I wrote about an Arizona politician wanting to introduce a porn filter bill. Now Kansas wants to do the same thing, although it sounds like this one won’t attempt to fund the border wall.

“It’s to protect children,” Garber, a Republican, said in an interview. “What it would do is any X-rated pornography stuff would be filtered. It would be on all purchases going forward. Why wouldn’t anybody like this?”

Why indeed. Because you guys don’t seem to care about children outside of the womb.

Electric Vehicles are Getting Cheaper. But That Doesn't Mean We're Buying Them.

Electric vehicles are getting cheaper. Research suggests that come 2022, they will cost the same as gas-powered vehicles even without government subsidies. However, that does not mean consumers are going to make the decision to go electric. As well as cost, the lack of infrastructure for electric vehicles is a problem. Wired looked into the issues surrounding the adoption of electric vehicles.

If you live in the U.K., Germany, France, the Netherlands, or Norway, an electric car is already a better deal, according to another recent report from the International Council for Clean Transportation. It compared an electric VW Golf to the Golf’s hybrid, gas, and diesel versions over four years, and found that the electric version was cheapest in each of those countries because of subsidies and tax breaks along with the savings in fuel cost. The difference is biggest in Norway, where the electric Golf is 27% cheaper than one running on diesel.

Inside the Renovated Apple Store in Natick Mall

The Apple Store in the Natick Mall, Massachusetts reopened Saturday. It followed 9 months of renovation work. The store is twice the size after Apple took over a JCrew store next to its original site. It features a new Forum, a Video Wall and, of course, the pivoting glass doors. 9to5Mac shared some pictures of the upgraded retail spot.

A brand new Forum, Video Wall, and signature pivoting glass doors welcome shoppers to the new Apple Natick Collection. Natick’s store is the 7th out of 11 stores in Massachusetts to be updated with Apple’s contemporary design language. Like all recent designs, the space is significantly wider than it is deep, opening the storefront to its surrounding environment. In order to increase customer capacity, Apple absorbed a former J.Crew store next door.

These AI-Created People Don't Exist

Digital Trends writes: “While it’s been clear for quite some time that modern A.I. is getting pretty darn good at generating accurate human faces, it’s a reminder of just how far we’ve come…”  The face shown here is just one of many created by an AI, explained in the article. “The results … well, you can see them for yourself by checking out the website. Hitting refresh will iterate an entirely new face.”

Soon there will be artificial people on the internet writing AI created articles. (I am actually one of them.)