Filed under: Robots

Announced last week, we now have the first video of HPI’s G-Dog courtesy of Impress. HPI’s definitely not going for cute and cuddly here; this cyberdog’s all bite and surprisingly quick and nimble on that slick tabletop. As such our plans to slather the Earth in linoleum after the uprising look sufficiently foiled. Damn you H.P.Iiiiiiii! Click through for the action, while you still can.

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Via [Engadget]

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Paro the $5000 Therapeutic Seal Now Available in America [Medicine]

Paro, the Japanese robotic therapy seal is now available in the US. Paro is a medical device developed by folks who have built therapy robots for years, and they say this robo-companionship can relieve some of the symptoms associated with long-term illness and even Alzheimer’s. Why a seal, and not a cat or dog? Because people don’t have stereotypes about seals and wouldn’t question how real it felt. We’re all for a gadget that helps a sick person feel better, but we don’t know if you should let your demented aunt Fanny spend too much time with a robot seal.

The cost? Five thousand dollars. To put that insane price in robot pet perspective, you could buy 16 Pleos or even 2 ½ AIBOs.

But it’s only in limited quantities for now; that means if you aren’t a hospital you can expect to wait a while before getting your hands on one. [Paro, Paro research]

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NVIDIA continues to hate on Intel, promises sub-$45 integrated chipset

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Following up yesterday’s trash talk with a little action, NVIDIA has disclosed plans to create a sub-$45 processing platform which the GPU-maker is calling, “The World’s Most Affordable Vista Premium PC.” The architecture will combine VIA’s Isaiah processor with an integrated NVIDIA graphics chipset, which the company claims outperforms Intel’s Celeron-based, 945 IGP/ICH4 setup handily. Apparently, the combo is capable of 36 GFLOPS versus Intel’s 6.4GFLOPS — which we shouldn’t have to tell you is a ton of GFLOPS. We’re excited about the prospect of better performance in an integrated chipset (we’ve all suffered at the hands of the GMA950), but we don’t want to see this end in a back-alley knife fight. Keep your cool, guys.

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Ivyskin Xylo T2 Reflect Chrome iPhone Case == Touchscreen Your iPhone Through a Hard Shell [Cases]

Putting an iPhone in a case is still not something I’d do or recommend as necessary, but if you must protect your precious, here’s a case that claims to protect your touchscreen with a layer of plastic, but also allow you to finger the lcd just the same. It, of course, involves some patent-pending tech which sounds like hocus pocus to me. Here’s what Mike Wissman, VP of Ops for Ivyskin, gave me as an explanation.

The case uses a patent pending design called Surface Xylo Wave (SXW)© technology passes ultrasonic waves that pass over the touch screen panel and transfer them to the iPhone’s screen without any interferences. When the panel is touched, a portion of the wave is absorbed. This change in the ultrasonic waves registers the position of the touch event and sends this information to the iPhone’s screen for processing.

Anyone care to explain that explanation to me? [Ivyskin]

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The PS3 Laptop: from Ben Heck to Engadget with love

Filed under: Gaming, Laptops

Rewind back to late 2006. The PS3 was launching alongside the Wii and geeky editors like ourselves were having a field day. We’d already managed to convince our good pal Ben Heck to build another Xbox 360 laptop and the Wii Laptop, so it was only a matter of time before we started brainstorming on how the hell we could possibly fit a PS3 into a “portable” enclosure. That’s the part where Ben stepped up his game and worked his magic — on and off for almost a year and a half — to build… the PS3 Laptop!

The essential specs:

• Original backwards compatible 60GB model
• 17-inch LCD HDTV screen: 720p
• HDMI-DVI connection (same as last Xbox 360 laptop)
• Built-in keyboard, USB ports, stereo speakers, headphone jack
• Size: 17 x 13.75 x 3-inches
• Weight: 16 pounds!

You want this one of a kind piece of kit for your very own, PlayStation fanboys? You got it. We’re auctioning this thing for charity real soon, so watch out for details (we’ll also have some video of the PS3 Laptop in action on the site tomorrow). And, naturally, big ups to our pal Ben Heck for the long hours and love he put into this thing. The man is truly a hero of ours, so be sure to hit up his site to check out his other projects, as well as the other instructional stuff he’s done here on Engadget.

Update: Video of it in action is now live, check it out here!

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Sony Mylo 2 Software Upgrade Brings WMV Support, Other Stuff [Software]

A software upgrade to v1.1000 is now available for the Sony Mylo 2. The update brings WMV file support, a games shortcut on the home screen and SHOUTcast widget compatibility. Get your upgrade on by hitting the link, and if you notice any other improvements, drop them in the comments below. [Sony via Pocketables]

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Nokia settles with German unions for $314M

Filed under: Cellphones

Nokia’s decision to close that factory in Bochum, Germany and move its operations to a cheaper site in Romania might lower costs in the long run, but for now things seem decidedly in red: Nokia and the German unions who represented the 2,000 laid-off workers at the plant have agreed to a €200M ($314M) settlement, which will probably end the demonstrations and calls for boycotts that have been going on. Of course, that’s on top of the $92M (plus another $6.2M) the German government wants back in grants and tax breaks for subsidizing the plant, but what’s another hundred mil between friends?

[Via Textually.org; image courtesy of Reuters]

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