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Bluetooth SIG working on specification to allow Bluetooth to piggyback onto
2008-02-11 17:03:00 Bluetooth SIG working on specification to allow Bluetooth to piggyback onto Wi-FiMobile phones like the Apple iPhone, and various Blackberry models typically feature both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity. These two protocols work independently of each other while the handset is in operation.The Bluetooth SIG announced today a new method of speeding up Bluetooth connectivity by piggybacking onto the Wi-Fi connection already available in many handsets and devices. The Bluetooth SIG is very specific in that this new announcement in no way affects the development of the upcoming Ultra Wideband (UWB) technology that has been in development for the last few years.The Bluetooth SIG says the new architecture, which is called Alternate MAC/PHY by the members working on the specification, is a way to grab the low hanging fruit until UWB comes to market.Michael Foley, Ph.D., executive director of the Bluetooth SIG said in a statement, ?This is the wireless technology equivalent of ?low hanging... More About: Bluetooth , Working
EA Regrets Stifling Developers, Promises Reform
2008-02-11 17:00:00 Game developers are like flowers, says EA CEOElectronic Arts has a reputation among gamers for swallowing talented game developers only to later turn them into excrement. EA CEO John Riccitiello knows it, and told Game|Life at DICE, "We at EA blew it, and to a degree I was involved in these things, so I blew it."Developers fallen victim to EA?s previous mismanagement include the once great Origin Systems, Westwood and Bullfrog. "When I talked to the creators that populated these companies at the time, they felt like they were buried and stifled," Riccitiello said.EA Sports is notorious for making small changes, sometimes the most significant of which is a roster update, every year to its sports games and selling them for full price. While that model may work for a select genre, it?s largely inapplicable everywhere else. EA may have figured that purchasing a developer for solely the IP would be a winning idea, but one that is now proven to fail without the adequate inspiration behind... More About: Software , Reform , Promises , Regrets
Microsoft's Shane Kim Talks Xbox 360 in 2008
2008-02-11 16:57:00 Halo and Gears of War are scaring away casual gamers, says MicrosoftA the DICE Summit, Microsoft Game Studios corporate VP Shame Kim made himself available for a conference session, recorded by Gamasutra, answering many questions surrounding the Xbox business.One of the biggest blows to Microsoft in 2007 was the loss of Bungie Studios. Kim explained, ?People have speculated that we were stifling their creative freedom, but I can tell you there's no studio that had more freedom at Microsoft Game Studios than Bungie. I think, at the heart of it, they wanted to return to their independent roots. At the end of the day, you are talking about human beings here. My personal philosophy? You want to work with people who are happy to work with you.?Besides Bungie, there were two other development houses to leave from under Microsoft?s umbrella. BioWare was fully acquired by EA earlier this year, and Bizarre Creations is now with Activision. Kim downplayed the snatching those two second party... More About: Software , Xbox 360 , Shane , 2008
Geeky Gambling
2008-02-10 13:48:00 Snap! It?s a USB flash drive that looks like a domino but the disguise serves a purpose. Each white dot denotes 1 gig of memory used. Not sure how useful that is but at least you?ll be ready for an impromptu street corner game of dominos. More About: Gadgets , Gambling , Geeky
Smoke And You Die Says The Ashtray
2008-02-10 13:30:00 The first ashtray designed to weigh the amount of ash placed inside and give you an accurate indication of how much your smoking habits have brought you closer to death. Morbid I know but there?s some genius in it. This product was designed from the core to shock the smoker and make him/her think twice before lighting up.It uses an internal weighing system. The built in microchip and LCD display then conveys how many days you have taken off your life by smoking so far. The whole tray itself gets darker as you delve closer to a wheezing end.Wow, makes a great gift huh? (Insert sarcasm) More About: Gadgets , Smoke , Ashtray
Blocky MP3 Player, Oh And Modular Too
2008-02-10 13:23:00 If you hit the jump, try to ignore the emo haircuts and focus on that piece of tech hanging from around their necks. The BLOC MP3 player may look like another stylized DAP but there?s function to its Lego-like form. The core unit houses an OLED screen, 4-way directional toggle, and 50GB of memory. Should you need more, just snap on another memory module. Wanna share music with friends? No problem - just connect two BLOCS together and get your sync on. Oh and just for kicks, it?ll record voice notes too.Concept people, concept. More About: Players , Player
Google Can Win By Losing Spectrum Auction
2008-02-10 13:20:00 Google doesn't want their own playground; just permission to play in the sandboxWith the FCC auction on the 700MHz band drawing to a close, and the bidding on the "50-states, eight-license" package going stagnant, analysts are speculating that Google has already withdrawn from the race, leaving the lead to Verizon Wireless.With the $4.64 billion reserve price met on January 31st, the "open access" rules pushed for by Google have become part and parcel to the spectrum. The buyer of the spectrum will be "required to provide a platform that is 'more open to devices and applications' ... allowing consumers their choice in applications and devices to connect with." Regardless of who wins, Google stands to benefit from the "open access" rules to promote their mobile phone OS, Android.However, industry experts haven't all agreed that Google has thrown in the towel. "If Google wanted to get into the nationwide wireless business, this was their only chance," said Rebecca Arbogast, a tele... More About: Google , Gadgets , Auction , Spectrum
Apple MacBook Air
2008-02-09 18:32:00 MacBook Air is ultrathin, ultraportable, and ultra unlike anything else. But you don?t lose inches and pounds overnight. It?s the result of rethinking conventions. Of multiple wireless innovations. And of breakthrough design. With MacBook Air, mobile computing suddenly has a new standard. Priced at $1799 USD and ships in two weeks.The thinness of MacBook Air is stirring. But perhaps more impressive, there?s a full-size notebook encased in the 0.16 to 0.76 inch of sleek, sturdy anodized aluminum. And at just 3.0 pounds,1 MacBook Air is more than portable ? it?s with you everywhere you go.The glossy 13.3-inch, widescreen LED backlit MacBook Air display is the same viewable size as the screen on MacBook. The 1280-by-800 resolution gives you vibrant images and rich colors at full brightness the moment you open MacBook Air. So you get full-screen performance with all the benefits of a slim design.The keyboard is full-size with crisp keys just like the ones on MacBook. But MacBook Air goe... More About: Apple , Laptops , Macbook , Macbook Air
SUV Not Big Enough for You? Try an XUV
2008-02-09 18:29:00 Alton's offering sets new standards for conspicuous consumptionWhile most automakers are jumping on the trend of smaller, more fuel-efficient cars, Alton Manufacturing has taken the opposite route. They've created a whole new vehicle category with their extreme-SUV variant, the "XUV"The XUV weighs in at an eye-popping 13 tons, and includes such features as hardwood floors, a 42 inch plasma TV, two smaller drop-down TVs, a 42-speaker sound system, custom captain's chairs, and four computer workstations.Oh, and a train horn too ... in case someone doesn't see you coming.Based on a modified Ford F-650 platform, the XUV is powered by a 7.2L turbocharged diesel engine built by Caterpillar. The purchase price will set you back nearly 200 gran, a figure that likely pales besides the estimated annual fuel bill. More About: Auto
MySpace Launches Developer Platform
2008-02-09 18:25:00 MySpace developer platform allows the building of custom applications to interact with MySpace pagesThis week MySpace announced its developer platform to make it easy for third party developers to build applications that work with MySpace pages. To go along with the new developer platform, the online social site also started a MySpace Developer Platform website where users of the software can build and test applications.ComputerWorld reports that the Developer Platform site will be open to developers for a month to build and test applications in a live environment before the applications are visible to MySpace members in March.The heart of the MySpace Developer platform is a set of APIs needed to make applications work with MySpace. The set includes Google OpenSocial with special MySpace extensions to enable JavaScript and HTML to interact with MySpace and Representational State Transfer or REST APIs designed to speed up applications.MySpace came under fire from a variety of sources... More About: Internet , Myspace
GM to Showcase Flex-fuel, Car-based Hybrid Pickup Concept in Chicago
2008-02-09 18:21:00 GM adds many fuel-saving features to its unibody pickup truckAll auto manufacturers are thinking "green" these days and many will showcase their fuel-efficient vehicles at the upcoming 2008 Chicago Auto Show. In this age of broken embargos and leaked specifications, it comes as no surprise that one of GM's vehicles to be showcased at the show was leaked early.The new GMC Denali XT Concept is based on the same Zeta platform that forms the basis of the upcoming Pontiac G8 sedan and Chevy Camaro. The low-slung concept features a fully-independent front and rear suspension, 23" wheels and a 55" bed with Midgate. The Midgate feature -- similar in concept to the Chevrolet Avalanche and Cadillac Escalade EXT -- extends the bed to a full seven feet.The most important part of the Denali XT Concept, however, is its advanced powertrain. The concept uses a brand new 4.9-liter, 326 HP small-block V8 engine with direct injection. The new 4.9-liter engine can be powered by regular gasoline or E85... More About: Hybrid , Fuel , Flex
Lenovo ThinkPad X300 64GB SSD
2008-02-09 18:19:00 Best Buy for Business leaks pricing for the Lenovo ThinkPad X300Last month, DailyTech told you about Lenovo's impressive new 13.3" ThinkPad X300 notebook. Nearly every aspect of the device was covered except for its availability date and the price of admission.Best Buy for Business tackled one of those unknowns by leaking the price for a ThinkPad X300 equipped with a 64GB solid state disk (SSD). Best Buy for Business lists the price at a whopping $2,743.99.The price may initially make you stand back and take pause, but an Apple MacBook Air with a 64GB SSD will ring up even higher at $3,098.Lenovo's ThinkPad X300 packs a plethora of features into a 12.5" x 9" x 0.73" - 0.92" frame that weighs a mere 2.5 pounds in its base configuration. The display is a 1440x900 LED backlit unit, two DIMM slots are provided for up to 4GB of DDR2 memory and a DVD burner is included with the package.Wireless connectivity is handled by Bluetooth and 802.11n WiFi, while HSDPA, EV-DO Rev A and WiMAX opt... More About: Thinkpad
IBM Proposes One Computer to Run Entire Internet
2008-02-09 18:15:00 Dreaming big; IBM looks to host entire internet on a single modified Blue Gene supercomputerThomas Watson, founder of IBM, is oft misquoted as stating that the world really only would need five computers. Ironically the frequently used, erroneous quotation may come to true by the very hands of the business Watson created.IBM launched an Epic project with an almost unfathomable goal -- to develop a single supercomputer capable of running the entire internet as a web application. The project, codenamed Kittyhawk (detailed in a white paper by IBM) created quite the stir in internet technology community.While the software details descend quickly into the realm of the cerebral, one number that jumps off the page is the estimate for the number of cores and memory for the finished proposed system -- 67.1 million cores with 32PB of memory. The system is based on IBM's Blue Gene/P architecture, which takes millions of cores and arranges them in a hierarchal architecture. At the lowest le... More About: Internet , Computer , Entire , Tire
Video Sparks "Anonymous" War vs. Tom Cruise, Scientology
2008-02-08 19:08:00 Scientologist wage war on a digital battle fieldThe Church of Scientology rarely sees a lot of respect from the press and general public. Critics – a group that scales from individual citizens all the way up to entire nations – label it as a cult and unscrupulous enterprise, preying on the minds and pocketbooks of its followers. In the United States, however, the controversial religion has, for the most part, avoided outright attack; aside from the occasional tell-all website and snarky TV commentary, it enjoys considerable support from Hollywood and the its followers amongst the public. That is, until now. What started with a simple video has now stretched deep into the digital domain, and if the critics are to be believed then the War on Scientology has just begun.The video, which stars a crazed Tom Cruise , appeared on YouTube late last month. Intended for internal distribution and leaked by unknown sources, the Cruise video was created by the Church of Scientology to honor ... More About: Video , Anonymous
Creative's 32GB Zen PMP
2008-02-08 19:05:00 Creative gets down and dirty with 32GB Zen pricingJust a few days ago, Apple bumped the maximum capacity of its popular iPod touch portable media player (PMP) from 16GB to 32GB. The increase in capacity also resulted in a price increase from $399 to $499.Creative may not have the same name recognition as Apple when it comes to PMPs, but the company is looking to attract customers on a different front: pricing. The company's 32GB Zen already undercut the 16GB iPod touch by $70, but Creative is taken even further steps to lower the price of its player.Creative now lists the 32GB Zen at a low price of $299 representing a $30 price cut. That puts the 32GB Zen at the same price as an 8GB iPod touch.On a feature-for-feature basis, however, the Zen would most likely be best compared with the iPod nano. Apple's popular iPod nano is priced at $149 for the 4GB model and $199 for the 8GB model. An additional $100 gets you four times the capacity with the Zen plus the addition of an FM tuner....
IBM Shrinks Cell B.E. to 45nm Process
2008-02-08 19:02:00 PlayStation 3 CPU soon smaller, cooler, cheaperIn the continuing effort to advance production of the Cell Broadband Engine, IBM revealed yesterday at the International Solid State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) in San Francisco plans to migrate the processor to the 45nm high-k process.The Cell Broadband Engine chip currently found in the latest PlayStation 3 hardware is manufactured on IBM’s 65nm SOI process, which was quietly introduced into the market with the 40GB PS3. The power consumption drop from the original launch model, which used a 90nm Cell/B.E., to the 40GB model made users take notice of the shift in manufacturing process.The further shrink of the Cell/B.E. to 45nm will reduce power consumption by another 40 percent and die size by 34 percent, helping to cut costs. Current analyst estimates put the cost of manufacture per PlayStation 3 console at around $400, close to the MSRP of the entry-level 40GB console.Even with the shift to 45nm, Sony may not immediately pass the... More About: Process
MacBook Air to Get Slim PC Competitors
2008-02-07 21:41:00 Intel says competitors to Apple can use the CPU found in the MacBook Air; 45nm CPU refresh coming this FallWhen Apple unveiled the MacBook Air most every technophile stifled a lustful moan. However, the paltry specifications included in the Air leave something to be desired -- even to the most ardent of Steve Jobs protégés.PC manufacturers expect to fill the gap. InformationWeek reports that two PC makers will release similarly size Windows systems using the miniaturized Core 2 Duo processor found in the svelte MacBook Air. The low-voltage Core 2 Duo processor found in the MacBook Air is not present in any other computer to date. Some would claim Intel designed the processor specifically for Apple, though Intel roadmaps designate the ultra-low voltage processor as "publicly available" to any system integrator. The low-voltage Core 2 Duo played a big part in the ability for Apple to make the Air so thin. The processor is built onthe older Intel Merom processor family, though the ... More About: Macbook , Slim , Competitors , Macbook Air
Social Networking Sites Endanger Children Less Than IMs, Chat Rooms
2008-02-07 21:13:00 Solicitation and harassment much more likely in chat rooms and over IM says studySocial networking sites have been under fire for poor security measures and screening of users leading to harassment and sexual solicitation of minors using sites like MySpace and Facebook.The results from a study were announced today that was performed by child health researchers Michele Ybarra of Internet Solutions for Kids and Kimberly Mitchell of the University of New Hampshire Crimes Against Children Research Center. The goal of the study was to find where young teens and children were most likely to be the victims of unwanted sexual solicitation and harassment.Many may think social networking sites are the most likely place for kids to be harassed online. DailyTech reported in December of 2007 that a family had sued MySpace after a teenage girl killed herself after being the victim of cyber bullying on the site. MySpace competitor Facebook was also the target of legal action last year when the New... More About: Chat , Social Networking , Networking
Update: NVIDIA to Acquire AGEIA
2008-02-07 21:09:00 The physics battle heats upFPS Labs is reporting that NVIDIA will soon announce its intention to acquire AGEIA. FPS Labs' Stu Grubbs has no financial terms for the deal, but notes that his confidential source expects the deal to become official sometime this week.AMD batted around the idea of purchasing AGEIA in November 2007, but considering that the company is still recovering from its ATI acquisition, that idea was put to rest rather quickly. It should be interesting to see how AMD will respond to the news if the announcement comes this week -- especially considering that AMD has already declared GPU-based physics dead.A successful acquisition of AGEIA would give NVIDIA the firepower to go up against Intel which purchased physics software developer Havok in September.The last time that DailyTech covered AGEIA, its PhysX 100M mobile physics processor was sharing chassis space with dual GeForce 8700M GT graphics cards in Dell's $2,700 XPS M1730 World of Warcraft Edition notebook.... More About: Update , Acquire
Pirate Bay’s Defiant Leadership Slapped with Conspiracy Charges
2008-02-07 20:58:00 Site’s admins denounce accusations as idioticMaking good on a promise tendered last week, the country of Sweden pressed charges against four ThePirate Bay.org administrators, accusing them of conspiring to break Swedish copyright law.According to prosecutor Håkan Roswall, the BitTorrent supersite commercially exploits copyright-protected works through ad revenues, of which it nets over $3 million annually. The four men charged include The Pirate Bay co-founder Peter “Brokep” Sunde, administrators Gottfrid Svartholm and Fredrik Neij, and businessman/entrepreneur Carl Lundström, whose company once provided hosting for the site. Authorities specifically named 33 different copyrighted works, comprising of 20 songs, nine films and four computer games for which The Pirate Bay made torrents available illegally.Roswall says that the four should be made to pay at least $188,000, which the indictment says is the minimum profit that The Pirate Bay made from its activities. If convicted... More About: Leadership , Conspiracy , Irate
Yahoo Chairman Resigns, Microsoft Bid Offering Heats Up
2008-02-07 20:54:00 Yahoo Chairman Terry Semel resigns, Gates looks to solidify his online empire with the acquisition of YahooOnly days ago, the news broke that Yahoo was in troubled waters and sinking fast. The Internet giant, which ranks number 2 in terms of search engine traffic and number 1 in terms of total traffic to properties, posted a declining net profit for the fourth straight quarter. Worse yet, it announced that it would be cutting 1,000 jobs, or almost 7 percent of its workforce. CEO Jerry Yang stated that the company was facing "strong headwinds" and had to be prepared to make big changes.Now, an opportunity has come knocking on Yahoo's door, which holds the promise of transforming the online business world. Microsoft Corp. made an unsolicited $44.6 billion bid for Yahoo and its holdings this morning. The offer is one half in Microsoft common stock, and the other half in cash.The move promises a sweet payoff for share holders, who would see their stocks soar 62% from Thursday leve... More About: Yahoo , Yahoo!
Sony Ericsson PXi
2008-01-02 23:22:00 Bence Bogar must be a leftie because his SE PXi concept is a product specifically created for all lefties tho it?s flexible enough for righties too. Obviously following the current direction of SE?s P series of smartphones, the PXi is powerful while staying somewhat slim and ergonomic. The body is magnesium framing a big 3.3 inch touchscreen. The screen rotates automatically ala iPhone and is optimized for both finger and stylus input. The right side of the unit houses a jogdial and a secondary touchscreen which adapts to whatever app is currently open. The smartphone also sports not 1 but 2 card slots for all memory whores. Business functions aside, the PXi is equipped with stereo speakers and a Cybershot class 5 megapixel camera. I don?t know much about lefties but if the PXi was created with them in mind, isn?t the jogdial on the wrong side? I?m just saying. [PXi - mobile concept] More About: Sony Ericsson , Sony , Ericsson , Sony-Ericsson
Sony Ericsson PXi
2008-01-02 23:22:00 Bence Bogar must be a leftie because his SE PXi concept is a product specifically created for all lefties tho it?s flexible enough for righties too. Obviously following the current direction of SE?s P series of smartphones, the PXi is powerful while staying somewhat slim and ergonomic. The body is magnesium framing a big 3.3 inch touchscreen. The screen rotates automatically ala iPhone and is optimized for both finger and stylus input. The right side of the unit houses a jogdial and a secondary touchscreen which adapts to whatever app is currently open. The smartphone also sports not 1 but 2 card slots for all memory whores. Business functions aside, the PXi is equipped with stereo speakers and a Cybershot class 5 megapixel camera. I don?t know much about lefties but if the PXi was created with them in mind, isn?t the jogdial on the wrong side? I?m just saying. [PXi - mobile concept] More About: Sony Ericsson , Sony , Ericsson , Sony-Ericsson
Asus Aura Mobile Phone
2008-01-02 23:16:00 Asus Aura, produced by Hungarian design company Egy Studio for Taiwanese vendor. It was clearly inspired by iPhone , although it has some interesting innovations addressing commonly mentioned shortcomings of Apple?s cellphone. Features of Asus Aura include - a sliding QWERTY keyboard that should make text entry much easier, 3,9 touchscreen covering the whole surface of the phone, 2 megapixel camera, microSD memory card slot, GSM, UMTS, HSDPA, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity. All of this in a 6mm thick package. More About: Mobile , Cell Phones , Mobile Phone , Asus
Asus Aura Mobile Phone
2008-01-02 23:16:00 Asus Aura, produced by Hungarian design company Egy Studio for Taiwanese vendor. It was clearly inspired by iPhone , although it has some interesting innovations addressing commonly mentioned shortcomings of Apple?s cellphone. Features of Asus Aura include - a sliding QWERTY keyboard that should make text entry much easier, 3,9 touchscreen covering the whole surface of the phone, 2 megapixel camera, microSD memory card slot, GSM, UMTS, HSDPA, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity. All of this in a 6mm thick package. More About: Mobile , Cell Phones , Mobile Phone , Asus
PMP With Gasp! No Touchscreen
2008-01-02 23:04:00 Yes someone has designed a concept in 2007 with no touchscreen! Can you believe it? It?s like they didn?t get the memo or something. Seriously tho, I believe there?s still a place for tactile or as the geeks say it, ?analog? controls. Designers Mathieu Pesme and Jeff Castel embrace other ?concepty? technologies without drowning us in all the high tech hoopla-hype. This PMP (portable media player) comes equipped wit an subsurface OLED widescreen and a simple dropped bevel around the bezel to wind your headphones in. Other noted design elements are the tactile control wheel and integrated stereo speakers.[PMP] More About: Players , Touchscreen
PMP With Gasp! No Touchscreen
2008-01-02 23:04:00 Yes someone has designed a concept in 2007 with no touchscreen! Can you believe it? It?s like they didn?t get the memo or something. Seriously tho, I believe there?s still a place for tactile or as the geeks say it, ?analog? controls. Designers Mathieu Pesme and Jeff Castel embrace other ?concepty? technologies without drowning us in all the high tech hoopla-hype. This PMP (portable media player) comes equipped wit an subsurface OLED widescreen and a simple dropped bevel around the bezel to wind your headphones in. Other noted design elements are the tactile control wheel and integrated stereo speakers.[PMP] More About: Players , Touchscreen
Creative Announces 32GB ZEN Portable Multimedia Device
2008-01-02 22:59:00 Creative's new ZEN serves up 32GB of storage spaceApple may know how to tickle the fancy of portable audio enthusiasts around the world with innovative features (i.e., the iPod touch), but manufacturers like SanDisk and Creative continue to lead the way in value and storage capacity.In late October, provided details on SanDisk's yet-to-be-officially-announced 32GB Sansa View. The tiny player can playback audio/video and features a 2.4" QVGA screen. Pricing for the player is a relatively reasonable $329.99 which rings up $70 less than an iPod touch.Creative, not one to be left out of a capacity war, is following suit with the official unveil of its 32GB ZEN. The ZEN features a 2.5" display, an FM radio turner, a Secure Digital expansion slot for those who crave even more storage space and includes support for a multitude of file formats (WMV9, MJPEG, MPEG4-SP, DivX 4/5, XviD, MP3, WMA, Audible 2, 3, 4 and non-protected AAC).Creative says that the built-in lithium-ion battery is go... More About: Creative , Multimedia , Players , Gadgets , Portable
Creative Announces 32GB ZEN Portable Multimedia Device
2008-01-02 22:59:00 Creative's new ZEN serves up 32GB of storage spaceApple may know how to tickle the fancy of portable audio enthusiasts around the world with innovative features (i.e., the iPod touch), but manufacturers like SanDisk and Creative continue to lead the way in value and storage capacity.In late October, provided details on SanDisk's yet-to-be-officially-announced 32GB Sansa View. The tiny player can playback audio/video and features a 2.4" QVGA screen. Pricing for the player is a relatively reasonable $329.99 which rings up $70 less than an iPod touch.Creative, not one to be left out of a capacity war, is following suit with the official unveil of its 32GB ZEN. The ZEN features a 2.5" display, an FM radio turner, a Secure Digital expansion slot for those who crave even more storage space and includes support for a multitude of file formats (WMV9, MJPEG, MPEG4-SP, DivX 4/5, XviD, MP3, WMA, Audible 2, 3, 4 and non-protected AAC).Creative says that the built-in lithium-ion battery is go... More About: Creative , Multimedia , Players , Gadgets , Portable
Robot Learns Like A Child
More articles from this author:2008-01-02 15:25:00 Robots are notoriously lousy at coping with unfamiliar situations. One of the major obstacles to having robots assist us at home is that they?re going to need to be flexible, and home users aren?t going to want to sit down and write a new servo control subroutine every time their robot needs to perform a task for which it has not been preprogrammed. The robot in the video above is able to learn via observation and replication, which is how we humans figure things out. The HOAP-3 robot, made by Fujitsu, has been programmed by Sylvain Calinon and other researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne to watch how a human performs an action, and then duplicate that action. If the robot doesn?t get it right, it can learn on the fly as a human corrects its motions, which (if you think about it) is pretty much how you were taught to write, throw a baseball, ride a bike, and so forth. I?d much rather have a dumb robot with the ability to learn than a smart robot that I ... More About: Robot , Robotic , Child 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
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