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Evan Ackerman

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Evan Ackerman is a native Oregonian who now lives, somewhat unwillingly, in San Francisco. He has a background in creative writing and astrogeology, neither of which are necessarily appropriate for someone who is now a full-time blogger. Evan also writes for IEEE Spectrum's robotics blog, and when he's not parked at his computer with his eyes glazed over, you can find him getting injured on a soccer field or playing bagpipes excellently.

11 mostly friendly giftable robots to automate your life

Evan Ackerman
Tuesday, December 7, 2010 - 8:39am
 
It's wasn't so long ago that giving someone a robot as a gift would have been a nutty idea, but thanks to the Roomba, it's now almost normal. iRobot isn't the only company on the block anymore when it comes to giftable robots, though. As consumer electronics get faster and better and cheaper, more possibilities open up for affordable robots that can help make our lives easier and more fun. We've got 11 'bots for you that you that would be perfect present for the geek in your life who's either lazy, wants to take over the world, or both.

Holographic maps kick the crap out of traditional 3D images

Evan Ackerman
Monday, December 6, 2010 - 12:57pm
 
Stereoscopic 3D (the kind with the glasses) is clunky and annoying and doesn't give you much besides a little bit of fake depth, no matter what all of those commercials featuring stuff jumping out of 3D TVs try to get you to believe. Holograms, on the other hand, are serious 3D. We're all waiting on 3D holographic TV, but in the mean time these holographic maps are pretty sick.

Download food through this underground physical Internet of tubes

Evan Ackerman
Monday, December 6, 2010 - 11:14am
 
Before the days of faxes and email, the fastest and most efficient way to get stuff from one place to another within a building was to send it through a pneumatic tube. The Internet has rendered most of these systems obsolete, but there are some things you just can't digitize, and a company called Foodtubes wants to replace big trucks with a series of tubes to deliver groceries.

14 useful objects you didn't know were 3D-printable

Evan Ackerman
Thursday, December 2, 2010 - 1:43pm
 
In the future, stores won't exist anymore as you'll be able to print everything from clothes to food right at home using a 3D printer. Just download a recipe or a pattern, hit print, and in a few minutes you'll have a fresh copy of whatever it is that you need. We're not quite there yet, but we're close, and here are 14 things that you probably didn't think were possible to print out for yourself.

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