Science Fiction in the News Articles
related to the works of

William Gibson

William Gibson was born in South Carolina; he went to Canada when he was 19. His first novel, Neuromancer won both the Hugo and Nebula awards in 1984.

Science fiction in the News articles describe real-world events that relate to the ideas and inventions in sf novels and movies. Select a news article:

Virtual Reality and Your Spider Sense
   Recent work at the University of Washington has shown that combining tactile input with virtual reality can improve the usefulness of aversion therapy.
LingoPhone Provides Mobile Translation
   LingoPhone now provides mobile, on-the-spot translation services via cellphone. The service works with any mobile phone equipped to send and recieve text messages.
Desktop Manufacturing - 3D 'Printouts'
   Unlike other systems that are more expensive and energy intensive, this machine can work with a relatively low-tech electrical heater filament.
Artificial Cornea Helps Pigs See
   According to the Proceedings of the Royal Academy of Sciences, scientists have succeeded in creating artificial corneas.
Diebold ATM Crashes, Dispenses Tunes - Not Money
   A Diebold ATM crashed on the campus of Carnegie Mellon University, and then rebooted without bringing up the ATM software, alarming financial institutions and Americans concerned about e-voting alike.
VolksVegan - Biodiesel Powered Vehicles
   The VolksVegan biodiesel is a great little car; any diesel vehicle can be converted to run on vegetable oil. Rudolph Diesel would have approved!
Phraselator P2: Speech Recognition And Translation
   VoxTec is now taking orders for the Phraselator P2, an improved version of its original product. The new device is a complete redesign, with longer battery life, higher-fidelity audio, better speech recognition and improved ergonomics.
ThereminVision Sensor: Robot Proximity Detection
   ThereminVision is a robotic sensing system that uses the same basic principle as the world's first electronic musical instrument, the Theremin.
Tooth Bud From Stem Cells Looms Large
   Implanted tooth buds created from stem cells may replace false teeth. This procedure has been shown to work in mice, and may work in humans as well.
ConeXpress OLEV - Will A Good Tug Save Hubble?
   The ConeXpress Orbital Life Extension Vehicle (CX-OLEV) may be able to serve as a "space tug" that could extend the life of the Hubble telescope.
Talking Washing Machines Are More Accessible
   New washing machines are starting to look, well, more modern, with LCD displays and smooth, easy-to-clean panels. Unfortunately, that makes appliances much more difficult to use for people with vision problems, who would prefer large knobs.
Calling All Sandbenders - PC Case Mod Contest!
   Liked the idea of sandbenders from William Gibson novels? Check out the extreme case modification contest.
AgBots: Agricultural Robots Take The Field
   In one memorable scene from the original Star Wars movie, Luke Skywalker's Uncle Owen is bargaining for agricultural robots with Jawas. Agriculture has been slow to adopt to robotic technology; however, some new developments are on the horizon.
Data Mining In Three Dimensions
   Graphical representation of information is not new; the first graphs appeared in the late eighteenth century. More recently, Sandia National Laboratories has created a data mining and visualization software suite that is able to accept information fr
Robot Crab: Crustacean Clockwork Automata
   This robot crab is more clockwork than automata, but be sure to see the cool and menacing video.
Smart Tag Art In London
   This site showcases hundreds of examples of tag art - they're too cool to scrape off.
Future Face - The Principal Eigenface?
   Will the widespread use of digital enhancement to "improve" faces in photographs suggest the kind of face that people will have in the future?
Chips In Your Head - Artificial Brain Prosthesis Under Development
   In the spirit of works by William Gibson, a silicon chip implant that mimics the hippocampus is under development.
10x10 News Interface Cooler Than Google's By Factor Of 10
   I love Google, but 10x10 is a Flash-based news interface created by Jonathan Harris that presents a grid of pictures in the news.
WiFi Hog - Early Xmas For Nihilistic Technofetishists
   Do you long to stake your claim to the wireless wide open spaces? Here's the tool for the bandwidth hog (cybersquatter?) in all of us.
Hit Song Science (HSS): Finetune Your Tracks
   A computer program called Hit Song Science (HSS) from Polyphonic HMI, is being used to predict success or failure for music. And it is being used by musicians around the world to "finetune" the music to which every one of us listens.
Toshiba Ubiquitous Viewer Lets Phones Control PCs
   Toshiba says it has developed software to let users control computers in their homes or offices from their mobile phones.
CSS Skywalker - First Step To SF Orbital Resorts
   CSS Skywalker, an orbital hotel designed by Bigelow Aerospace, will consist of a 22x45 foot inflatable space habitat that can be easily configured for its guests. In the configuration shown below, the top level is set aside as a lounge; the middle le
DARPA's 'BigDog' Robot Now In Puppy Stage
   The Defense Advanced Research Project Authority (DARPA) Learning Locomotion project seeks to create algorithms that help multi-legged platforms learn to walk in varied terrain. DARPA will be handing out a series of $600K-$800K research grants to teac
Smart Buildings And Network Security
   Smart buildings, which use building automation systems (BAS) to put air temperature, lighting and security on a common network, are popping up on college campuses and in the corporate world. So are security problems.
Jack Into A Cat's Brain
   In this study, Garett B. Stanley, Fei F. Li and Yang Dan have literally jacked into the mind of a cat.
Virtual Girlfriends Updated
   Tomb Raider Lara Croft and V-Girl Vivienne, much loved personality-constructs, have both been updated this past week.
Bioengineered Mouse Tooth Bud Successfully Implanted
   As far as I know, this is the first successful creation and implantation of a tooth bud 'from scratch' that grows to full size and full tooth functionality.
Pneupard Feline Pneumatic Quadruped Robot
   'The legs are long, curled way up to deliver power, like a cheetah's.'-
Philips Readius E-Reader With Rollable Display
   First prototype of a rollable display electronic document reader.
Shelter After Katrina
   Readers wrote in suggesting that perhaps science fiction writers had some ideas that could be of practical use.
WolframTones Cell Phone Tones From Cellular Automata
   Wintermute back on your cellphone, mon.
Implanted Biothermal RFID Chips May Warn Of Avian Flu
   Digital Angel, which makes VeriChips for humans, suggests using its thermal biosensing chips to check chickens for avian flu.
Palm Vein Authentication First, Then Book
   No more worries about lost library cards; just flash your palm at the reader.
Black MA-1 Jacket Written Into Existence By William Gibson
   William Gibson writes it, and they make one for him. Damn.
US Company Implants Chips In Workers
   Well, it's finally happened - US workers get chipped like dogs.
Shark Cyborgs On DARPA Remote control
   In those Jaws movies, the shark seemed like it was out to get you. DARPA makes this dream come true.
Chameleon T-Shirts With Electrochromic Polymers
   At last, William Gibson's polycarbon suit is starting to take shape - good news for all Panther Moderns.
Origami Cell Phone Concept
   Great concepts galore from a company called Inventables; I found one that is a twenty-year-old sf idea.
Big Brother TV Or Distributed Citizen Action?
   Big Brother or entertaining reality TV taken to a whole new level - you be the judge.
Diebold AccuVote-TS Security Flaw
   Diebold is at it again, this time threatening free and verifiable elections in the US.
WT-6 Waseda Talking Robot Head From Neuromancer
   Japanese roboticists are working hard on the talking head from Neurmancer - the one that talks without synth chips.
Butterfly Wing Phone Screen
   This unusual design has the virtue of being realizable with today's technology.
Philips Readius E-Ink Video
   This video really demonstrates how cool this device is.
Polymer Vision Readius With Merely Foldable Display
   I liked the idea of a fully rollable display better. Picky, picky, picky.
IR Chemical Communication Graffiti Tags Wanted By DARPA
   ChemComm is a new proposed graffiti tagging technology under development by DARPA.
Chinese Cyberwar Units Prepare For Netwar
   Science fiction authors warned us and gave us the weapon concepts we needed - the Pentagon now tells us about Chinese netwar capabilities.
Mod My Life Site Working On Meat Puppets
   This is a uniquely disturbing site with a truly bizarre mission - to put you in control of another person.
Motion Capture Your Life Anywhere, Anytime
   I just realized this is just about exactly what William Gibson was talking about in All Tomorrow's Parties.
Readius Rollable Display Starts Mass Production
   You can roll up a newspaper, magazine and even a paperback book; try that with a Kindle. The Readius uses a great display technology.
DIY Gibson Video Column Convenience Store Video
   I've always liked William Gibson's idea of having a device that lets you see other convenience stores around the world whenever you walk into a Lucky Dragon store.
Readius Cell Phone 5-Inch Fold Out Display
   This Philips product will actually be available this year
Readius Polymer Vison E-Ink Video
   This video lets you see the future in the palm of someone else's hand.
Autonomous Robot Weapons For Terrorists?
   This may sound a bit far-fetched, but insurgents have always been adaptive.
When Slamhounds Attack
   Pretty good video not only presents sfnal inventions from the past two generations, but tells you how to solve any problems arising from the use thereof.
Flexible Rigid Biopolymer Inspired By Sea Cucumbers
   Researchers look to the humble sea cucumber for help in finding new materials for implantable electrodes.
Background Draw-a-Secret (BDAS) Makes Graphical Passwords
   Interesting security technique that takes advantage of the greater ease with which we all recall pictures, as opposed to the kind of alphanumeric strings IT techs want us to use for passwords.
Hexbug Robot Crab
   This little crab would good scuttling around on your desk; its sensors help it avoid the edge.
Lookalike 'Wanted' Leaflet Features Harry Potter Actor
   This is not a real compliment for actors; however, it's a technique that police hope will work.
Emily Lifelike Animation Sets New Standard
   This new technique presents a character that may have made its way successfully across the 'uncanny valley.' Are synthespians far behind?
Webkare - Virtual Boyfriends
   Are men or women more likely to become interested in a virtual friend/lover? Japanese schoolgirls are voting with their fingers on this one.
Secure Help Vending Machine: RoboSodaPopCop
   If you think that this machine has some moxie, I've got an sfnal device in mind that really knows how to dish it out.
Mcor Matrix 3D Paper Printer
   This device prints out three-dimensional objects using regular paper. It seems like only yesterday that I brought home my MX-80.
DoD Computers Penetrated In Cyber-Attack
   Attacks on DoD computers forced military leaders to brief President Bush this week; I wonder if they read to him from Neuromancer to help him understand it?
Samsung Folding Screen Cell Phone Video
   I think that William Gibson called this one pretty closely back in 1986; watch the video and read the excerpt from the novel and judge for yourself.
Virtual Faces With Personality And Emotion
   Computer personalities get a leg up on reality using this new model developed by Diana Arellano, a PhD student.
Virtual Body-Swapping Tech
   Can you accept the illusion of having swapped bodies with someone or something else? Yes you can!
Roadside LED Signs May Not Be Believed
   Got kind of a whiff of Neuromancer from this story; makes me think twice about those signs, though.
Total Health Surveillance Near
   Yes, that's right - 24 hours per day, 7 days per week medical monitoring is coming, whether you want to or not.
ATMs Fight Back With Pepper Spray
   Autonomous cash machine can decide whether you get money - or the hot stuff.
WAHHA GO GO Laughing Head
   This baroque device recreates the sound of the human laugh by means of clever clockwork and reconstructions of human pipes and lips. Why make such a thing when synth chips cost nothing.
A Real-Life Bridge City?
   Cities in Europe have bridge cities - why not the US?
Emily Howell - The Computer Is The Composer
   Updated with new reference! Keep an eye out for the new CD by an artificially intelligent composer named Emily Howell.
Yes, Internet Eyes Is A 'Snooper's Paradise'
   New UK (where else?) website will let you, the anonymous snitcher, surveil your fellow citizens in the comfort of your own home.
Zprinter 350 Full-Color 3D Printer
   Nothing like getting a full-color object right out of the printer - or the nanofax, for William Gibson fans.
Love Plus Dating Sim Requires Kissing
   Dating in the virtual world of Love Plus; would you have a relationship with a virtual person?
iPhone To Control Desktop Computer Remotely?
   Nice prediction for William Gibson; he even used a touch screen interface on his 'control-face' device.
James Cameron's Avatar Synthespians
   Updated with comment by Jeff Kleiser and a video. Is the world ready for artificial actors? James Cameron's technology in Avatar may make this long-delayed idea a reality.
Self-Folding 'Origami Robot' Smart Sheet
   Updated! What science-fictional devices could you make with this real-life technology?
Brain Coprocessor Platform Needed
   Do we need a Brain Implant Operating System?
Virtual Star Hatsune Miku In 3D Hologram Concert Video
   Amazing HD video of this live concert presented by an idoru, a personality-construct famous in Japan.
IEM Pill Microchip Remote Monitoring Of Dosage
   It sends data to a Bluetooth-enabled dermal patch.
Synthespian Wannabe: Tron Legacy's Jeff Bridges
   Jeff Bridges enjoyed being scanned into the movie Tron: Legacy. His original character did not enjoy being scanned into the video-game Tron.
MGX 3D Printed Goods Almost Has it
   They almost have that Gibsonian business model figured out.
Robot Motion Planning 10K Times Faster
   'The robot crab... fired a burst of light, then froze...' - William Gibson, 1984.
Razer Project Valerie Laptop Unfurls
   'A paper thin polycarbon screen unfurled silently...' - William Gibson, 1986.
'My Boss Is A Robot' Project Automates Journalism
   The end of the free blogging movement is almost here; your robotic overlord is being developed at Carnegie Mellon.
Cheetah Robot Will Run Faster Than Humans
   I'd like to see a robot running at full speed for a cheetah, about sixty miles per hour.
PaperPhone Uses Bend Gestures
   Fascinating prototype uses a unique gestural interface.
TellApart Ads Follow You On The Web
   Can a computer predict that you will be a customer, justifying its pursuit of you across the web?
Russian ATM Knows When You Lie
   This ATM knows more about you than you might think; oh, and be sure to stick to the truth.
Is Aimi Eguchi Real or Virtual? Updated!
   Japanese audiences are puzzled; is she an idoru?
Teeth From Stem Cells
   This research may someday permit your dentist to grow new teeth for you from your own stem cells.
Tokyo's Nakagin Capsule Tower Tear-Down, Neuromancer's Coffin Hotel Lives Forever
   'Plastic capsules a meter high and three long, stacked like surplus Godzilla teeth...' - William Gibson, 1984.
Musical Robotic Head
   'An anthropomorphic robotic head with a human-like face and a sheet of artificial skin.'
Implanted Glucose Sensor Glows Thru Skin
   This approach may facilitate development of long-term, fluorescent, implanted continuous glucose sensors.
Korean Talking Robotic Head
   Another strange robotic head, that may come to a classroom near you. Some day.
Interactive Robotic Painting Machine Can Hear You
   Like a blind artist, it creates based on what it hears.
Cyborg Rats Have Digital Brain Parts
   Someday, we'll have reprogrammable brain parts, which will come in handy.
Cheetah Robot Hits Record 18 MPH In Video
   A new record for robots running on their own legs. With video.
Nicotine 'Vaccine' Under Development
   'You're biochemically incapable of getting off...'
A Cool DIY Magnetically Levitated Bed
   'Everything was suspended magnetically at the proper height... '
Palm Scanners - Quick Lunch Or Mark Of The Beast
   'Bad cootie factor with those palm-scan things.'
How Smart Should Artificial Intelligences Get?
   '...The real smart ones are as smart as the Turing heat lets them get...'
Cheetah Robot Passes 28 MPH (Video)
   'The legs are long, curled way up to deliver power, like a cheetah's...'
China's PLA Unit 61398 Working On Kuang Grade Mark Eleven Penetration Program
   'When Kuang's good and bellytight with the Tessier-Ashpool core, we're ridin' that through...'- William Gibson, 1984.
Neurological Engineering - Creating Silicon Substrates For Brain Replacement
   "They all seemed to have carbon sockets planted behind the left ear..."- William Gibson, 1984.
NSA Data Mining And 'Cybernetic Water Witches'
   'He was an intuitive fisher of patterns of information...'- William Gibson, 1996.
Edible Authentication Microchip
   Ready to be monitored?
Bioengineered Muscle Grows In Mice
   'Joeboys... shoulders bulging with grafted muscle.'
Updated: Flying Graffiti Drone Will Alter The Urban Landscape
   The tagger's dream - lie in bed while painting at a remote location.
Outrunner Robot, Six-Legged Slamhound
   You don't want one of these running you down. Because it's probably faster than you, and can outlast you.
Toyota's Camatte Has William Gibson's Digital Hood
   'That's a nice car out there," Rydell said...'- William Gibson, 1993.
MIT's Robotic Cheetah Runs Free - And Frolics In The Grass
   THEY sent A SLAMHOUND on Turner's trail- William Gibson, 1986.
3D Printer Vending Machine Dispenses Dreams
   'Nanofax AG offers a technology that digitally reproduces objects, physically, at a distance.'- William Gibson, 1999.
SEL 3-Fold OLED 9 Inch Display Is Pocket-Sized!
   'A paper thin polycarbon screen unfurled silently...'- William Gibson, 1986.
Artisanal 3D Printing By Martha Stewart
   'Nanofax AG offers a technology that digitally reproduces objects, physically, at a distance.'- William Gibson, 1999.
Lizard Squad, Nihilistic Technofetishists For Hire
   'The Modern's were mercenaries...'- William Gibson, 1984.
Vat-Grown Burgers Getting Cheaper
   'They gotta raise a whole animal for years and then they kill it. ' William Gibbons, 1984.
Digital Immortality For Your Personality
   'You've got remote storage. How regular is the update?' - Richard Morgan, 2003.
Tokyo Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid
   '...the Sense/Net Pyramid screamed.' - William Gibson, 1984.
Military Implants To Boost Memory
   'He... pried a bright magenta splinter from his socket with a dirty thumbnail.' - William Gibson, 1985.
One Third Of Young Canadians Prefer Robot Boss
   `Sit, old son. We have a lot to talk about.' - William Gibson, 1984.
Aerochromics Shirt Makes You An Air Quality Monitor
   Clothing really should do more.
Bradbury's Method Used In Search For Bombing Suspect
   'He imagined thousands on thousands of faces peering into yards, into alleys...' - Ray Bradbury, 1953.
Wearables For Animals Totally A Thing
   'Twin deformities on either side of his skull had been engineered to house sensor units.' - William Gibson, 1981.
Gatebox Virtual Girlfriend Perfect For Budding Salaryman
   'She is ... a congeries of software agents.' - William Gibson, 1996.
ARM Wants To Build Brain Chips
   'Slivers of microsoft, angular fragments of colored silicon...' - William Gibson, 1984.
Orbital Space Tourism For $1M
   'Big cigar. Narrows at the ends.' - William Gibson, 1984.
Vaccine Blocks Heroin High
   'You're biochemically incapable of getting off...' - William Gibson, 1985.
Dadbot Digital Immortality
   'A hardwired ROM cassette replicating a dead man's skills...' - William Gibson, 1984.
SpotMini Robot Dog, Autonomous And On Sale In 2019
   Great, an autonomous slamhound.
Do You Still Want A Folding Screen Phone?
   'A paper thin polycarbon screen unfurled...' - William Gibson, 1986.
Still Wondering If You'd Work For A Robot Boss?
   'This is all coming to you courtesy of the simstim unit wired into your deck, of course.'
Disney Keeps Backups Of Star Wars Franchise Actors
   'She is a personality-construct, a congeries of software agents...' - William Gibson, 1996.
Xinhua AI Anchor Puts CGI Face To Automated News
   '...a congeries of software agents.' - William Gibson, 1996.
FlexPai Foldable Phone By Royole
   '...A paper thin polycarbon screen unfurled.' - William Gibson, 1986.
Unfurl The Future! Huawei Mate X versus Galaxy Fold
   'A paper thin polycarbon screen unfurled silently from the top of the unit and immediately grew rigid.' - William Gibson, 1986.
Adversarial Patches Trick Computer Vision
   'The surveillance cameras can all see it, but then they forget they’ve seen it.' - William Gibson, 2010.
Would You Get 'Chipped'? Michigan May Ban Employers
   'Employees above a certain level were implanted with advanced microprocessors...' - William Gibson, 1984.
EllipticaRunner Robot Is Fast, Amazing, Slightly Worrisome
   'THEY sent A SLAMHOUND on Turner's trail in New Delhi...' - William Gibson, 1986.
LG Wing Twisting Smartphone Might Be Fun
   'A polycarbon screen unfurled...' - William Gibson, 1986.
Implantable Covid-Detecting Microchip Developed By DARPA
   'Employees... were implanted with advanced microprocessors...' - William Gibson, 1984.
Rich (and Regular) People Should Stop Eating Meat, Says Bill Gates
   'You can get used to the taste difference.' - Bill Gates, 2021.
Orbital Reef: Bezos' High Orbit Archipelago
   'Tessier-Ashpool ascended to high orbit's archipelago to find the ecliptic sparsely marked with military stations and the first automated factories of the cartels' - William Gibson, 1988.
Galaxy Z Fold 3 Perfect For William Gibson's 'Control-Face'
   'Chia recognized the square as the control-face of the computer she'd seen in his room.' William Gibson, 1996.
Swedes Get 'Chipped' With Vaccine Passports
   'Employees above a certain level were implanted with advanced microprocessors...' - William Gibson, 1984.
Screaming Fist: Was Cyber Warfare Used Against Russia? Against Ukraine?
   'Screaming Fist, Case. You've heard the name.' - William Gibson, 1984.
Man's Marriage To Hologram Ruined By Software Glitch
   Till 'NETWORK ERROR' do us part.
'Ring Nation' Show Predicted By William Gibson In 1999
   '... you had your trademark Lucky Dragon Global Interactive Video Column outside.'
Harmonia Making Generative Audio Tools For Everyone
   'A cacophony of stentorious metal sounds.' - Ray Cummings, 1941.
Great. Now AIs Have Access To Hacking Tools
   '... when you and the Flatline punch through that ice and scramble the cores.' - William Gibson, 1984.
Anna Indiana AI Singer-Songwriter
   'She is a personality-construct, a congeries of software agents' - William Gibson, 1984
European Union Seeks To Regulate AI
   'Autonomy, that's the bugaboo, where your AI's are concerned.' - William Gibson, 1984.

 

 

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