Dark Future Ahead 21 – News from the ‘Net of a Cyberpunk bent

Searching the net for weird and wonderful ideas and inspiration for cyberpunk gaming:

Rockers and music are, or at least should be, an important part of cyberpunk, here are some crazy ways various bands have released music that are bizarre or collectable, usually both.  Recovering and freeing the only copy of Once Upon a Time in Shaolin to release into the infostream sounds like a great adventure to me.

Is your sex toy spying on you?  Could you ask for a better cyberpunk headline?

Solar powered skin for your cyberlimb!  Because, it turns out, you need a way to power all those sensors in the new skin.

Cory Doctorow talks about How can we make technology that frees us, rather than enslaves us?  And how our current laws make criminals out of people just trying to use and improve the things they own.

Need to contain a riot?  Bozena of Slovokia has the vehicle for you!  The remotely operated Bozena Riot deploy an mobile armored screen complete with water cannon, cameras and loudspeakers to deal with any riot!  Just do not lose control of it.

Photo from the Bozena corporate site and used without permission.

And for a more friendly robot, Marble is testing out food delivery robots (though drone would work as well) in San Francisco.  You can read more of their plans at the Marble corporate site.

What visions of the coming dark future have you seen recently?

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Dark Future Ahead 20 – News from the ‘Net of a Cyberpunk bent

Let’s jack in and see what the futurewatch brings us this time.

Sailing the sea on a massive container ship, the time-lapse of the port is especially inspiring, but there is a considerable amount of useful information in this fairly short article.

Vanguard is a new company producing a premium motorcycle (in NYC no less).  Now, not only is this a very cyberpunk looking machine. but it was primarily digitally designed.  The Economist has a good article (may require registration) about how the new digital processes allow for small firms to enter markets that have been dominated but the huge vehicle corporations.  Now there is a ton of cyberpunk adventure ideas to exploit from there.

Power from organic waste!  What could go wrong with producing massive amount of methane from organic matter?  Hopefully not much as it is a great way to turn garbage (and less pleasant matter) into electricity.

Feeling lonely?  What about a ‘virtual wife’ to manage your house?  A Japanese company, Vinclu, has developed a hologram linked to an expert management system, who could need more?

And what will your virtual wife have prepared for dinner?  A light article form Gizmodo looks at 8 Foods of the Future, maybe.  Still some good ideas for setting color in a cyberpunk world (“Fried grasshopper anyone?”).

New ways to fix your teeth!  King’s College London is developing a chemical to encourage cells in teeth to heal them.  No more fillings!  If it works.

And the US Department of Defense is looking into spent casting from training ammunition that grows plants!  Guess they are seeking to be more green than olive drab.

What visions of the coming dark future have you seen recently?

Note: Photo from Vanguard and used without permission.

Dark Future Ahead 19 – News from the ‘Net of a Cyberpunk bent

Still sifting the feeds for news to apply to your cyberpunk games and writings.

It seems the Pentagon has been reading cyberpunk, one of their latest conference video spots sounds like a dystopian cyberpunk view of the future of megacities.  Certain good inspiration for the likes of us and you could see a megacorporation issuing a similar video before touting its technological solution to the problem.

An American company, Bloom, is making plastics from toxic algae and (hopefully) reducing the risk of dangerous algae blooms.  Lots of uses for bioplastics and the environmentally friendly part is great too.

MeyGen is moving forward with commercializing tidal power in Scotland.  So many people want to to succeed, surely others want them to fail.  Which side will hire you?

Meanwhile in Switzerland, the Cybathon challenges teams to show what their cybernetics can do.  It seems likely that technological competitions like this will continue with all sorts of opportunities for spying and sabotage (and protection from such) one has come to expect in the dark future.

An interesting article on bodyguarding celebrities which incudes a multitude of inks to various security provides (such as The Shadow Group -warning automatic audio on the site- which has its own branded apparel!) which should be useful for designing scenarios from either side of the security equation.

What visions of the coming dark future have you seen recently?

Shadowrun, Anarchy and a new Seattle Scream prop (#51)

It is almost Halloween(er) Time!  Been running quite a bit of Shadowrun over the last two months.  We have some new players for the monthly game, including one who tried an in-game betrayal (which ended badly for the character and his ganger buddies)!  The games for this week have mostly focused on dealing with the crazy Seattle gang, the Halloweeners, which has been fun.  Hope to get in at least one more appearance by the Halloweeners by the end of the month.

This week, due to payer absences, we gave a the new Shadowrun: Anarchy system a spin.  It is very narrativist and pretty neat, but it will take some getting used too.  I do not think we used the system to its best advantage, but there is always next time and we will certainly try it again.

And now for the latest news from my Shadowrun word: Seattle Scream #51.

Photo by Damian Cugley and used under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.

 

Dark Future Ahead 18 – News from the ‘Net of a Cyberpunk bent

Still keeping my optics working looking for news to apply to your cyberpunk games and writings.

A way to defend against counterfeit drugs and maybe food too, miniature edible barcodes.  Inexpensive, practical and readable with a slight modification of a smart phone.

For some reason, the idea of edible food wrappers just seems very cyberpunk to me.  Full of advertising and nutrition!

This article is a little dated, from January of this year, but the images of offshore oil rigs parked in the North Sea off Scotland give you an instant and exciting place to set a mission.

They are watching you, Persistent Surveillance Systems, provides real time airborne camera coverage covering 30-square miles and running for hours upon end.  The privacy questions are many but why would megacorporations care about such?

DARPA is working on a system of battlefield drones for similar “persistent, wide-area surveillance” to watch out for other people’s drones, of course they would only use the technology for that one purpose, right?

Back in DFA16 we looked at wooden buildings for the future, now a seven story wooden building is being finished in Minneapolis.

What visions of the coming dark (green?) future have you seen recently?

Dark Future Ahead 17 – News from the ‘Net of a Cyberpunk bent

Looking at the future of fashion among other things.  Now, tune in for the latest interesting and cyberpunk inspiring stories that I have found:

The Museum of Fine Arts – Boston is hosting a exhibit called #Techstyle looking at the overlaps and twists between technology and fashion.  Reason magazine has a good interview with the curator here.  You can also look at the tech fashion accessories of CuteCircuit who are providing items for the exhibit.

For protection against the paparazzi, ISHU has produced a scarf made of reflective material that uses the light from camera flashes to ‘blind’ cameras.  Useful for those trying to keep out of the public eye, ISHU also makes neckties and other things of the same material.

On a different level, there  are bunches of companies recycling bit of piece of cars and bikes into bags, clothing and even clothing.  Good ideas for the sorts of things you might find in street markets and underground bazaars.

Would you wear leather made from vat grown human skin?  What if it included tattoos and was cultured from a celebrity?  Fashion is going to be strange in the future.

Facebook moves closer to its goal of bringing the internet everywhere with the test flight of the Aquila solar powered drone, designed to circle for months and act as a broadband link for people and areas outside of usual connectivity.  (See a video of the test flight here.)

Lastly, a Dutch company is upcycling industrial waste, (ceramics, glass and insulation) into fancy bricks, read about it here.  Or visit the company’s, StoneCycling, webpage directly.

What visions of the coming dark future have you seen recently?

Dark Future Ahead 16 – News from the ‘Net of a Cyberpunk bent

Lots of information on architecture this time around but buildings are important.  Now, tune in for the latest interesting and cyberpunk inspiring stories that I have found:

When business travelers suspect they will need help, they often contract with International SOS (or similar firm) to provide advice and action when required (from the Economist, may requires registration).  Seems like the sort of company who might have to hire specialists now and then.

What about the Johammer J1, an electric-power motorcycle from Austria.  The can visit the company’s site here to learn more about the interesting vehicle.

Would you feel safe in a skyscraper made of wood?  I think I would as long as it was not too tall.  But lots of opportunities for incorporating things into the structure of the building if you can hit the right point of the production process.  Also, a very green way to construct buildings if done properly.

The future of building is green is various ways, visit the Edge in Amsterdam, a green, interconnected office building complete with security drones(!).  It is the greenest building built so far with a BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Methodology) score of 98.36%, the highest ever, making it the target to match (or beat) for sustainability in buildings.

How security uses intelligent design of buildings to control your movement and get a good look at you.  Things to remember for people on both sides of the law.  Remember, cameras are everywhere, plan accordingly.

What visions of the coming dark future have you seen recently?