The first time I saw Prince was on an album cover for Dirty Mind in the 80's. The image of his raw, sexuality is still seared in my brain. Then there was the masterful, pop majesty of his rule-breaking music. The methodology of artists always fascinates me and Prince was extremely prolific. He vowed to write a song a day and not only had a beautiful voice, but often played every instrument on his albums. If that wasn't enough, he wrote hit songs for other artists such as Sinead O'Conner and The Bangles. Over his three-decade-long career, Prince rarely granted interviews, but when he did we glimpsed an intriguing man and a highly disciplined artist. Here is a list at W Magazine at some of his best journalistic moments. Source: Prince Dead at 57: The Essential Reading List … [Read more...] about Prince: The Essential Reading List
Next Generation Atlas Robot Sparks Sympathy and Dread
Boston Dynamics Next Generation Atlas Robot is startling in its ability to handle objects and walk over rough terrain. But even more interesting is the reaction of observers to the robot's plight as his handler Steve pushes him around with a hockey stick. The video has turned out to be an unintended social experiment, eliciting over 24,000 comments, many of which anthropomorphize the robot, while others veer toward paranoid, dystopian scenarios where Atlas is the advanced guard of a robot army. The robot balances by using sensors in its body and legs and LIDAR, a surveying technology that measures distance by illuminating a target with a laser light, as well as stereo sensors in its head to avoid obstacles and help navigate rough terrain and manipulate objects. Designed to operate outdoors and inside buildings, the new Atlas is 5' 9" tall, 180 pounds, electrically powered and hydraulically actuated. The real question is what will happen when Atlas shows up on the line at an Amazon Warehouse. Will co-workers see the robot as a friend or an enemy? … [Read more...] about Next Generation Atlas Robot Sparks Sympathy and Dread
Bowie’s top 100 books – the complete list – David Bowie Latest News
Originally posted on www.davidbowie.com “Lend us a book we can read up alone” It’s likely that most people reading this will have already seen either the original story on openbookstoronto.com last week, or a version of it referring back to that original list of “DAVID BOWIE'S TOP 100 BOOKS”. There have also been numerous suggestions of a Bowie Book Club to tackle each of the 100 volumes. However, there was a problem with that particular openbookstoronto.com feature in that only 75% of the books were actually listed! For anybody planning on completing this epic voyage of discovery, we’ve listed every single one of the 100 books here (in no particular order) for your reference. You may have also noticed the two chaps in the middle of our montage. Well, it’s none other than David Bowie sporting a Clockwork Orange T-shirt (the book by Anthony Burgess is in the list) with his old chum, George Underwood. George kindly supplied the previously unpublished photograph, which according to him was taken aboard Amtrak somewhere between New Orleans and Chicago on the first US … [Read more...] about Bowie’s top 100 books – the complete list – David Bowie Latest News
