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XPrize Founders Launch Tech Innovation Competition 214
metlin writes "The organizers of the Ansari X-Prize have launched the equivalent of the X-Prize in a variety of technology areas, called the WTN X-Prizes. The idea is to have a series of prizes for important technology challenges facing humanity in the 21st century, which will be judged by the World Technology Network. The website mentions that, 'The concept of the WTN X PRIZES is to utilize the concepts, procedures, technologies and publicity developed X PRIZE Foundation's Ansari X PRIZE competition for space and the global science and technology innovators identification process and community developed by the World Technology Network (WTN) to launch a series of technology prizes seeking to meet the greatest challenges facing humanity in the 21st century.' Sounds like a good idea, maybe this will help make that flying car a reality?"
Idea for important technological innovation (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Idea for important technological innovation (Score:2)
it better have an uglyness filter of some sort too.
I wouldn't want to see through every womens clothes
Re:Idea for important technological innovation (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Idea for important technological innovation (Score:2)
imagine walking through a busy street, lots of nice women, lots of less nice women. would you rather switch it off, or would you rather only see the goodlooking women naked.
PS: I do realize I'll sound sexist. This started out as a joke, so I apologize beforehand.
Cool (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Cool (Score:2, Funny)
Why does the new X price delay the advent of fusion power by three years?
Important technology challenges (Score:5, Funny)
SCNR
Re:Important technology challenges (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Important technology challenges (Score:2)
Re:Important technology challenges (Score:2)
Re:Important technology challenges (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Important technology challenges (Score:2)
WRONG. (Score:2)
That is false. Virus writers write to whatever system is easiest to break into to. Why? because it is a hard to do.
Lets assume that you are right. Then when ppl are going after money, why do they not go after where the real scores are at? That is, the real money is located at Banks and Credit Cards.
Re:Important technology challenges (Score:2)
There still is stuff viruses could do - say, email a bunch of virus-infected emails and the like from your user account - but it can't compromise your system. And if it can't compromi
Re:Important technology challenges (Score:2)
...and throw in cold fusion, anti-gravity, faster than light travel and a perpetuum mobile while you're at it.
Re:Important technology challenges (Score:2)
Re:Important technology challenges (Score:2)
Zooming out (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Zooming out (Score:2)
Re:Zooming out (Score:3, Insightful)
No it wasn't [bbc.co.uk].
Allen will make back MORE than his original investment with the prize money plus the Virgin Galactic deal, PLUS there are other groups queueing up to license the tech. It's starting to look like a pretty smart investment.
Re:Zooming out (Score:2)
While that may be true in this particular case, there's no guaranteeing that further prize attempts are going to see any appreciable return. However, I won't dispute the importance of privately-funded R&D. It seems like a great way to spur some real progress into the discovery of
Re:Zooming out (Score:3, Insightful)
In my ill considered and complet
Re:Zooming out (Score:2)
I'd like to see basic research prizes. Develop an alane booster? Get 10 million dollars. Develop an ion drive thruster tha
Whats the deal with flying cars? (Score:4, Insightful)
Also, think of the mess you get when theres a car crash on a motorway. Now multiply that by 40 times - thats the mess you get when flying cards run out of fuel and plough into regular traffic.
Instead of worrying about flying cars, lets just try and make the cars we DO have less of a hassle.
Re:Whats the deal with flying cars? (Score:3, Funny)
Flying card [amagic.de]
Re:Whats the deal with flying cars? (Score:2)
Well, that doesn't exactly solve the problem of traffic congestion. That being said, I personally fear the day flying cars are made available to the average person. Unless auto-navigation systems progress to the point that vehicles can safely drive themselves, I really don't see flying cars becoming mainstream. You think that idiot tailgating you in the "F-950" is a hazard? Just wait until he h
Re:Whats the deal with flying cars? (Score:2)
Re:Whats the deal with flying cars? (Score:2)
Re:Whats the deal with flying cars? (Score:2)
Re:Whats the deal with flying cars? (Score:2)
1. Flying cars don't need roads
2. Flying traffic can be layered both horizontally and vertically for a near-unlimited traffic bandwidth
#1: The cost (it's all about cost, you should know this by now) of surveying, constructing, maintaining and upgrading roadways is large both in terms of dollars and in terms of man-hours consumed. Not much of an issue here in the USA where we already have plenty of roads, but elsewhere in the world where they've got more dirt roads than cars to travel
Re:Whats the deal with flying cars? (Score:2)
Re:Whats the deal with flying cars? (Score:2)
Flying 'cars' would make multi-laned highways obsolete (in the long run).
Re:Whats the deal with flying cars? (Score:3, Informative)
Do we really need prizes for this stuff? (Score:4, Insightful)
The prize for the space travel thing was incentive to do it cheaply, wasn't it? That doesn't work when the hard part is doing it at all.
That said, it's still pretty cool.
Re:Do we really need prizes for this stuff? (Score:5, Insightful)
Finding a funder can be a bitch - prizes like this mean that the funder has a second bet on - firstly they are betting the flying car will make money - second they are betting that the prize itself will give them some additional publicity.
Imagine HP spending a few million on an Xprize entry for... well... anything. Thats a fraction of an advertising budget. They will sink the money more quickly based on a prize timescale and the reduced 'risk'.
At least I _think_ thats the theory of this kind of prize.
Re:Do we really need prizes for this stuff? (Score:2)
Re:Do we really need prizes for this stuff? (Score:3, Insightful)
It's the *challenge* that matters. I say "I bet $500,000 that nobody can build a flying car" and it gets attention. Now there will be people out there to prove me wrong. Like the space race between the USA and USSR. And there wasn't even a prize! Just the competition and the challenge.
That's what the X-prize does. Creates a chal
Prize for Fuel Cells? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Prize for Fuel Cells? (Score:2)
Use geothermal vents to build power stations and use the leftover power (after providing electricity to the net) to produce hydrogen.
A clean and for all intents en purposes endless suply of free (beside mainanance and transportofc ) energy
Ethanol or biodiesel (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Prize for Fuel Cells? (Score:2)
Does this [pureenergysystems.com] count?
Re:Prize for Fuel Cells? (Score:3, Informative)
The problem with hydrogen is storing it and transporting it safely. There is no good solution for this. The concept of using hydrogen as a bulk fuel is a complete non-starter until this problem is solved. With current appro
Hydrogen storage (Score:2)
Re:Prize for Fuel Cells? (Score:2)
Nature's Solution (Score:3, Interesting)
Also, if you think about it, h
Re:Prize for Fuel Cells? (Score:2)
Fuel cells also have poor *power density*. In general, you have the following
Ultracapacitors:
Best power density, worst energy density. Slowly leak energy, but have al
Re:Prize for Fuel Cells? (Score:2)
Re:Prize for Fuel Cells? (Score:2)
Re:Prize for Fuel Cells? (Score:2)
Flying car? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Flying car? (Score:2)
And with AI pilots you can just ditch flying: traffic jams can be avoided completely by perfect cooperation of well disciplined drivers. Quite impossible with humans.
Just look at the column of any (para)military outfit starting the parade march.
Well trained people keep the right distances while forming as well as starting and stopping, so the column starts moving immediately in all places.
Badly trained recruits at the front of the column
Re:Flying car? (Score:2)
So maybe Minority Report was right? The future isn't flying cars, but AI cars that work together in the city.
Either way, just take the friggin' subway you planet-screwing losers.
Oil? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re: Peak Oil (Score:2)
Oil in the ground is worthless until it is brought to the surface, refined, and distributed to the gas pump. Oil only comes up so fast and if you poke too many holes in the ground there won't be enough pressure left to carry the oil up the pipe. This happenned in southern Alberta - the oil wells lost pr
A bit off-topic but... (Score:4, Interesting)
The flying car, then, I think will end up being like helicopters - but perhaps slightly more common. Wealthy people will have them and for emergency purposes (organ transplants, etc.), but other than that, I don't see flying cars as truly useful. In the U.S., we already consume so much energy driving, etc., do we really just need more ways to consumer energy faster?
(Granted, if we all had this attitude, we would have had the technology advances we've had up to know, airplanes and all, but current energy usage trends are quite alarming).
Re:A bit off-topic but... (Score:2)
Well, there's always the Moller M400 [moller.com]. Top speed of 350 mph, uses regular gasoline, gets 20 mpg (better than an SUV).
Re:A bit off-topic but... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:A bit off-topic but... (Score:2)
This project has been going on for years and the most they've managed is a few feet off the ground. We can talk about fuel economy once the thing is flying.
I also don't think the Moller is that good of a design. Why fly at 350mph and NOT have a wing? The lift is essentially free...the only cost is induced drag...the natural byproduct of lift in an airfoil. I just don't understand why he
Re:A bit off-topic but... (Score:3, Interesting)
A flying car occupies an area of usefulness between a car and an aeroplane. For example, I happen to live on a island 10 miles off the French coast. If I want to go to France, I have to book a ticket on a plane, go to the airport according to a schedule. Wait 45 minutes mandatory checkin time, fly to another island, wait for the connection, fly to the one single French ai
Re:A bit off-topic but... (Score:2)
The problem is the infrastructure. NASA has their concept of 'highways in the sky', which essentiaally allows pilots to request flight
Re:A bit off-topic but... (Score:2)
Re:A bit off-topic but... (Score:2)
Small hovercraft also come to mind as
Innovations are nice, but . . . (Score:5, Insightful)
A true highway autopilot in a sub $30k car
Safe fog and rain navigation for the same car
Economic and RELIABLE robotic assembly lines
Stuff like that.
Re:Innovations are nice, but . . . (Score:2)
what I want to know is... (Score:4, Funny)
What will the prize be for a foolproof way of teaching writing skills?
Potable water (Score:3, Insightful)
The much-talked about global water-crisis in the making needs some attention.
Crazy ideas aplenty: Thinking of Dune: the big 'stills, that take moisture out of the air and cool it, so it condenses, comes to mind. But something like that would be possible to build with simple stuff... In 'underdeveloped' nations...
Re:Potable water (Score:2)
Where's the opposite prize? (Score:5, Funny)
Where is this "Anti X-prize" then ?
My personal idea for the contents for such a prize would be:
Prize for the craft that crashes most spectacular (without people, duh)
Prize for the most useless invention on (name your territory here)
Prize for the worst overshoot of a set target (wanted to the moon, went to Mars)
Any more ?
Because what this world needs is.... (Score:3, Interesting)
Gimme a friggin break! The X Prize was cool and all, but that's not quite effective for everything, only encouraging lower costs. If you wanna help the world by offering a prize, try these:
1. Energy Efficient homes. The car is a good start, but the american home could stand to be improved. How about homes that produce more energy than they consume?
2. Space Resource gathering/production. This is what the X prize should work toward IMO. The nearest asteroid is worth (I think) ~3 trillion. Now that's smart resources!
3. Energy production. Solar energy "farms", in space!
4. Energy transport. Friendly/safe synthetic fuels or batteries are a must.
For most of these 10M may not cut it. But I'd like to see some kinda push.
Re:Because what this world needs is.... (Score:2)
How about feeding the entire World? (Score:2, Insightful)
Alternative Energy Sources (Score:5, Interesting)
Imagine -- forget mideast oil and all their conflicts; forget pollution -- most of it comes from our current, primary energy sources; forget nuclear waste disposal (after we're done with what we've already got to deal with); and if the energy source is reasonably self-contained / localized (like solar panels on the house), forget transmission problems and dangers. If I had to pay double taxes for 2 years to get this worked out, I'd be all for it!
Re:Alternative Energy Sources (Score:2)
At the moment, from the last report I read, wind X energy collected in west of Scotland last night ans stored in a hydro plant until I needed to use it this morning turns into X
Re:Alternative Energy Sources (Score:4, Interesting)
Still, research into energy sources probably wont get much help from prizes given out afterwards: either they're already funded by governments or (usually oil) companies, or they lack enough present funding like this interesting fusion project: http://www.focusfusion.org/home.html [focusfusion.org] - disregard the horrible site design, and if there's a VC out there why not have a closer look? If it's successful you'll make Paul Allen green with envy
Such projects or other more established ones might benefit a lot more from "fasttracking" than a prize by getting more funds and brainpower. Then again with all the research going on it might not help at all: do we want to try a broad approach or hedge our bets on a few? Choosing is very hard. Most governments in America, Europe, Asia and Oceania are giving pretty big incentives for energy research as it is. Some big examples are the US hydrogen focus, Chinas pebble reactors (the South African Republic is also looking at this, so Africa is in too), and the Australian solar tower (european technology), and there are lots and lots of smaller projects almost everywhere.
Re:Alternative Energy Sources (Score:2)
That's out of the Department of Energy budget, which is funded at well over $20 billio
WTN X-Prizes (Score:2, Funny)
Robot players beats human world championchip masters in a standard soccer match.
2. Space
2.1 - Race around the mon.
2.2 - Land on the moon.
2.3 - Bring back one kilogram of moon material
2.3 - Land on mars.
3. Medicine
Neural computer interface(say matrix)
4. Energy
Superconducting powerline over 100km
5. Transportation
Antigravity
Re: WTN X-Prizes (Score:2)
6. Bureaucracy
Redesigned patent system
Re: WTN X-Prizes (Score:2)
Only three humans were injured unintentionally by their bulky metal foes. The fourth doesn't count because he deliberately picked a fight with top robotic player Android Schwarzenegger.
5. Transportation Antigravity
Baloon trash is a thing of the past. Now, when you lose grip on the string, the baloon navigates itself out of the solar system.
One option (Score:2, Insightful)
How about an X-Prize for writing? (Score:2, Funny)
Man, what a complete trainwreck of a sentence.
solar power (Score:3, Interesting)
Anyone read J. Halperin's The Truth Machine? (Score:2)
I submitted one.. (Score:2)
I submitted the "Duke Nukem Forever" WTN Xprize. What better technological breakthrough could we ever see!!
I listed the prize as $1 million (and yes I did the Dr Evil thing when submitting). I listed the method of funding as $1 from each of the first million Slashdot readers to buy the game, since I figure we'll all be rushing out to get it when it comes out.
Who's with me!?
Advances? (Score:3, Insightful)
Oh God I hope not. It is bad enough now with drivers not watching what they are doing in two dimensions and now you want to add a third!? The day that they let the average Joe Blogs drive a flying car is the day I give up driving and to back to walking/cycling/public transport - I'll live longer!
Kevin Rice's list of tech innovations needed (Score:5, Interesting)
Here's my list:
1. Medical technique (drug/etc.) to stimulate regrowth of tissue, as various lizards do. Lose an arm? Regrow it. this would have to take into account the replacement of scar tissue with healthy new tissue. Important in this are skin, nerve, and heart tissues.
2. Replacement teeth. Along the same lines as tissue regrowth for the gums, replacement teeth would have similar properties to existing teeth but be permanently implanted. We have this for hips, knees, etc., why not for teeth?
3. Technique to artificially stimulate (nuclear) Beta decay. This would allow us to reduce radioactivity immediately in radioactive materials.
4. Method/device to increase, decrease (even to become negative) the force of gravity acting on an object. This would NOT include any mechanical device; I'm talking about a gravitational FIELD force here.
5. 3 dimensional display as a transparent globe that we look into to view projected images. This would allow 3-D viewing, and would vastly assist all manner of medical and engineering processes.
6. Caller-id. Oh, sorry, we have that.
7. Recognition in the social sciences realm that peace studies deserves more research and development, allowing disparate, traditionally hateful relationships between ethic/religious/etc. groups morph into peaceful coexistence, without resorting to genocide of one or the other groups.
8. Airborne refuelling using liquid oxygen instead of jet fuel.
9. Ramjet or scramjet jet engines that can go from 100% atmospheric oxygen variably to 100% onboard oxygen, burning kerosene.
10. Same suppemental oxygen engines that are rated for very high mach numbers in rarified air.
11. Space suits that are very thin and easy to put on/take off, and work at higher than 2 psi so there's no prebreathing requirement.
12. Very high specific impulse (ISP) engines (from 1000 to 10,000) with thrust ranges in the tens or hundreds of newtons instead of millinewtons.
Just a smattering of goals here.
Re:Kevin Rice's list of tech innovations needed (Score:2)
Already done [actuality-systems.com]
Urr.. can I get my $1M now?
Space Suits... (Score:2)
They nuked the project on the grounds they already had a
If they are looking for suggestions (Score:2)
I wonder why is this so... (Score:2)
Nobel Prize (Score:2, Interesting)
Let's move out of the dark ages ... (Score:2, Funny)
I mean seriously, if someone could pack a laser hair removal system into a handheld gadget built for the home user, I'd buy it. I'm all about the not shaving for 4-6 weeks part.
OT: The America the rest of the world admires (Score:2)
Mod me down if you want, I don't care about Karma.
This news, along with last Monday's first private space flight, is exactly the side of America that the rest of the world likes to see.
America was admired and respected for a long time because of many things, standing up for freedom, innovation, opportunity.
In the post Sept 11 era, America is loathed and hated because of its foreign policy being hijacked by a few with agendas.
Will America in 2003/2004 be remembered for the Burt Rutans, and Ansar
A wild ride on SS1 (Score:2)
Last night I watched a 3 hour program documenting the Spaceship1 story on the Discovery Channel. I was struck by the brilliance and perserverance of Rutan's team, but also how insanely dangerous this was. The view from the spartan cockpit of the pilot struggling to control the flight of the rocket was sobering. It was like they were ridding a paint shaker! Chuck Yeager's wild X-1, X-2 flights had nothing on SS1. I'm just glad these great pilots weren't killed. Burt Rutan is still very far from safe subo
This is a great idea except.... (Score:2)
It's great what the X-Prize committee has accomplished but they shouldn't be the "World" (as in "World Technology Network") of prize awards lest they become another single poin
Re:crappy article (Score:3, Informative)
Re:crappy article (Score:5, Informative)
Here is a very rough and incomplete list of the sorts of challenges that might be appropriate:
Re:crappy article (Score:2)
Well, that would certainly keep their prize money safe...
Re:crappy article (Score:4, Funny)
A prize for software that takes overly long and unweildy sentances, and converts them to plain English.
Re:Innovation Stimulation Through Lack of Taxation (Score:2)
Interestingly, you don't actually need to set specific goals - you can grant a prize for any idea that is "successful" for some definition of successful, e.g. product sales by companies implementing the idea of >$100m within ten years.
Re:The Flying Car by Kevin Smith (Score:2)
1) is somewhat on-topic (flying cars are being discussed a whole lot in this thread) 2) it is also fucking hilarious, kevin smith is a genius , link to the actual movie http://www.viewaskew.com/tv/leno/flyingcar.html [viewaskew.com]