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Amazing

Ike's Nightmare

Veronique de Rugy says it's coming true:

Data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s military expenditure database show that the United States spent $728 billion on its military in 2010, or about 45 percent of the world’s $1.6 trillion total, more than the next 14 largest military spenders combined and nearly six times more than the next biggest spender, China. Most of the other countries at the top of the list are American allies. With or without the automatic cuts to defense from the Budget Control Act of 2011, the United States will remain the biggest global military power for at least a generation.

You don't need to be a physicist, a PhD student, a geek, or even a member of the Insane Clown Posse to appreciate the awesome capabilities of superconductors and magnets as demonstrated in this video by Tel-Aviv University.

An unidentified member of the university's Superconductivity Group School of Physics and Astronomy shows off the quantum locking, or quantum trapping, effects of a magnet that's been super cooled with liquid nitrogen. Now we've probably all seen demonstrations of super cooled magnets floating above a track before, with promises of them facilitating high-speed trains zigzagging across the country. But this video goes one step further, showing how the position and angle of the magnet can be locked in a magnetic field while it's in motion. The moral of the story is that it makes for an impressive demo, and I better see hoverboards popping up in toy stores by Christmas. [Quantum Levitation via ASTC via Fazed]

Love the lede on this Gizmodo post.

This is what I always wanted out of voice recognition. When I first used Voice Control on 3GS, I thought was amazing, but then after awhile felt it didn't do enough. Siri looks like a better take on the tech, and is a good base to build on. More natural speakers and the ability to call on Siri without explicitly summoning it would be a great place to start.