Filed under: Robots

Uh oh, it looks like we’ve got a full-fledged robot controversy on our hands. At the heart of it, as you might have guessed, is the recent obliteration of a harmless Pleo by a so-called ComBot known as Vicious Verdict at Maker Faire 2008. According to a UGOBE rep posting on the PleoWorld forum, the company is having none of it, saying that the “stunt” was done without its authorization or approval, and that there was “quite a ruckus” about it in UGOBE’s office after they learned of the incident. The rep went on to add that many people, including the UGOBE reps at their Maker Faire booth were “shocked and appalled” by the act, and that they “make emotional bonds with Pleo too.” The rep did seemingly confirm that the Pleo in question was in fact provided by the company, however, saying that, “it is perhaps a small consolation to know that the Pleo destroyed was a factory prototype.” A cuddly, cuddly factory prototype.

[Via Tech Digest]

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Via [Engadget]

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Filed under: Robots

Uh oh, it looks like we’ve got a full-fledged robot controversy on our hands. At the heart of it, as you might have guessed, is the recent obliteration of a harmless Pleo by a so-called ComBot known as Vicious Verdict at Maker Faire 2008. According to a UGOBE rep posting on the PleoWorld forum, the company is having none of it, saying that the “stunt” was done without its authorization or approval, and that there was “quite a ruckus” about it in UGOBE’s office after they learned of the incident. The rep went on to add that many people, including the UGOBE reps at their Maker Faire booth were “shocked and appalled” by the act, and that they “make emotional bonds with Pleo too.” The rep did seemingly confirm that the Pleo in question was in fact provided by the company, however, saying that, “it is perhaps a small consolation to know that the Pleo destroyed was a factory prototype.” A cuddly, cuddly factory prototype.

[Via Tech Digest]

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Via [Engadget]

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Rocket Lamp Built From Jet Engine (Can We Get A “ZOMG”) [Furniture]

This retro-styled rocket lamp is more than the absolutely most perfect accessory to complete any room, it’s the absolutely most perfect accessory to complete any room that’s built from the igniter can of a freakin’ jet engine. One-of-a-kind and shamelessly worth its $2,100 sticker price, we want to push each and every one of its glowing jewels…even though we know that they don’t actually do anything…and that they probably aren’t even buttons in the first place. [Moto Art via Bornrich]

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Toshiba aims to deliver laptops with Cell-based graphics this year

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment, Laptops

Toshiba has been touting its Cell-based SpursEngine graphics chip for some time now, but it looks like its finally starting to get a bit more specific about when we can expect to see it in actual products. According to Register Hardware, Toshiba will begin offering the chip in some of its multimedia-oriented notebooks sometime this year, with TVs and DVD players set to get it by the fall of 2009. The chip itself, for those not up to speed, uses its Cell-based technology (specifically, four of the Cell’s Synergistic Processing Element cores) to handle some heavy-duty graphics processing, including upscaling standard definition content to high-def levels, something Toshiba has apparently taken to calling “super-resolution.” Now word on what sort of premium (if any) we can expect to pay for such wonders, but Toshiba is apparently betting pretty heavily on the technology as part of its post HD DVD strategy.

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Rumor: BlackBerry 9000 To Be Announced on May 12? [Rumors]

The BlackBerry 9000 will be officially announced on May 12 at WES 2008, according to the Boy Genius. The reviews have been glowing so far, so if you’ve been waiting for the 9000, time to start getting excited. [BGR via Unwired View]

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HP 2133 XP configurations get priced

Filed under: Laptops

HP’s Mini-Note 2133 is due to get all-new Windows XP configurations this month, and it looks like early pricing details are starting to leak out. If the numbers are accurate, a base 1.2GHz rig with 1GB of RAM and a 120GB disk will run you $729, and bumping things up to 1.6GHz, 2GB of RAM and a 160GB disk will set you back $819. That’s pretty steep — but remember, early pricing info on the currently-available models was a tiny bit off, so these numbers could change when these hit sometime next week.

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A little more on HTC’s Touch Diamond

Filed under: Cellphones

We’ve got a few more details on the Touch Diamond to keep your motor running. Check it out!

• The Touch Diamond makes use of GPU accelerated procedural graphics, so you will not see a backward-compatible TouchFlow 3D update for the current Touch. It’s capable of doing 7-8mil polygons per second (not that many games or apps will make use of that right now).
• HTC has made hiding WinMo away something of a priority; CMO John Wang stated, “You wouldn’t even know this device was Windows Mobile. You would just think it’s TouchFlow 3D.”
• HTC totally reworked the WinMo virtual keyboard (as you can see above). Definitely not the best laid out we’ve seen (okay, it looks kind of messy), but it’s instantly lightyears ahead of what WinMo had before.
• Opera “reflows” web formatting, which HTC is pitching hard. Basically it just reformats and wraps text on zoom — unlike, say, the iPhone.
• Unfortunately, the device still uses a resistive touchscreen, while the controls below are capacitive. That really ought to be flipped around.
• And of course, we had to ask about Android: the first device is (still) coming later this year, but it will not br in the form of the Diamond.

Oh, and don’t forget to check out the hands-on (with video).

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NASA Wants to Get You in Bed for $17,000 [Siestas]

NASA wants to get you in bed, and if that wasn’t luring enough, she wants to pay you $17,000 for 90 days. Sadly, there is no french lingerie involved: their Bed Rest Project wants to study the effect of long-term microgravity in humans, putting you in a sightly-tilted bed, with your head down and feet up:

Participants will live in a special research unit for the entire study and be fed a carefully controlled diet. After the first 11-15-day period, participants will spend 90 days lying in bed, (except for limited times for specific tests) with their body slightly tilted downward (head down, feet up). Every day, they will be awake for 16 hours and lights out (asleep) for 8 hours. During the bed rest time they will also take part in a number of tests to find out changes in the state of their bone, muscle, heart and circulatory system, and nervous system, as well as their nutritional condition and their ability to fight off infections.

In other words: like blogging, but even more boring.

And yes, knowing that this is the closer I will get to the space program, I’ve already signed in. [NASA via Wired—Thanks discounteggroll]

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Vodafone releasing iPhone in Australia, Italy, India, and seven other countries

Filed under: Cellphones

Vodafone’s just got a tiny, minor, insignificant announcement to make this morning: it’s signed with Apple to sell the iPhone in ten markets, including Australia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Italy (so much for Telecom Italia), India, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa and Turkey. Expect the phone later this year — that’s all we know for now. Score one (or ten?) for Voda.

[Thanks, iB3nji]

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RIAA Tech Chief: DRM Not Dead, Will Become More Powerful than You Can Possibly Imagine [Riaa]

As CNET points out, when Sony BMG became the last major label to sell DRM-free tracks, we pretty much declared DRM deader than HD DVD or Tony Stark if he got in a fight with Batman (at least for the music industry; movies are another story). But RIAA tech chief David Hughes told a panel yesterday that DRM is tech’s Obi-Wan Kenobi: It’s coming back and will be powerful than we can possibly imagine, but it won’t be giving sage advice to budding Jedi.

Hughes’ argument centers around subscriptions: “(Recently) I made a list of the 22 ways to sell music and 20 of them still require DRM…any form of subscription service or limited play-per-view or advertising offer still requires DRM. So DRM is not dead.” And he thinks subscription services are where we’re headed (or at least the industry hopes so), meaning DRM for all.

But the fact that he’s pinning DRM’s survival on subscriptions—as opposed to advocating for it on all tracks you buy online—shows that we actually have come a long way, and DRM is dead, at least in one sense. Contrast with the MPAA’s rep, whose industry is still in the beginning of the DRM life cycle: “We need DRM to show our customers the limits of the license they have entered into with us.” The RIAA is a veritable Lessigian copyright hippie in comparison. [CNET]

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