Filed under: Robots

It looks like France’s Robosoft is keen on getting its robots into as many places as possible, with it now following up its RobuCab and RobuDog with a service robot designed to help the elderly and disabled. Like the RobuDog, this one makes heavy use of Microsoft Robotics Studio, and provides just about all the features you’d expect from a 24-hour monitoring bot, including daily reminders, remote teleconferencing abilities, scaring off of house pets, and alerts if the patient falls or is in trouble. The company apparently even hopes to add cleaning capabilities to the mix, although there’s no indication as to when the robot will actually be put into service. Head on past the break for a glimpse of it in action.

Continue reading Robosoft shows off Microsoft Robotics Studio-based service robot

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Via [Engadget]

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Air Conditioned Seat Cushion Features The Latest In Eco-Friendly Ass-Cooling Technology [Gadgets]

Kuchofuku, the same company that brought us air conditioned shirts, has re-applied their groundbreaking technology in an effort to deliver us from one of the biggest problems facing mankind today. Of course, I am speaking about ass sweat. In fact, their air conditioned seat cushion line can pump up to 170 liters of air per minute through the seat using an extraordinarily low amount of electricity in the process.

Apparently, the energy consumption of the device is so low that you could run it every day for eight hours and only pay the equivalent of around five cents extra on your electricity bill for the month. However, this isn’t the first time we have come across an air conditioner of this type—Thanko came out with a version last year that is powered via USB. It also appears to be a little cheaper than the Kuchofuku model, but we are not sure how well it stacks up in terms of butt cooling performance and power consumption. [Product Page via Fareastgizmos]

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AT&T’s prorated ETF is live for new / renewing customers

Filed under: Cellphones

We really, really hope you didn’t ink a contract with AT&T over the weekend. If so, casually close your browser and attempt to avoid this post forever. Right on cue, AT&T has implemented its consumer-friendly prorated early termination fee, which enables new and renewing subscribers to have their $175 ETF drop by $5 each month they stick with the carrier and pay their bill. Yeah, the burn rate isn’t exactly the greatest — after all, you’ll still owe $60 if you cancel with a month remaining — but it’s certainly a move in the right direction.

[Via phonemag]

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iPhone SDK Beta 6 Now Available, OS X 10.5.3 Needed [Iphone Sdk]

iPhone’s sixth SDK has just been released, adding support for the latest iPhone OS and fixing various bugs. You’ll have to update to Leopard 10.5.3, which was released earlier today. That’s right, you HAVE TO. Not sure why, but that’s what Apple’s saying. [Apple]

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Netflix: Rental-by-Mail Has Five Years Left (Subtext: Discs Have Five Years Left) [NetFlix]

At Netflix Investor Day, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings revealed their timeline for the end of the rental-by-mail biz, and why they’re digging so hard into digital distribution: It “will probably peak in the next five years.” Taken more broadly, it’s more or less predicting that the real end of physical media is in T minus five years—’cause presumably, as long there are discs, Netflix’s model assumes you’ll get ‘em from Netflix. While the end of physical media has been predicted lotsa times, it’s rare that a company puts a death sentence on its core business, so this isn’t the cheap willy-nilly futurism we’re used to gagging on. [Reuters via Alley Insider]

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Blockbuster Planning In-Store Downloads, Not At Home Streaming? [Blockbuster]

This is an interesting turn to the Blockbuster media streamer rumor we heard last month. The Hollywood Reporter says Blockbuster will be going for the in-store kiosk download scheme where customers can download a movie within two minutes onto portable devices (we’re thinking iPods as opposed to USB hard drives).

The plan is to have a fee of about $10 a month as well as a free device, but the pilot test in the Dallas area will only work with Archos players. Individual movie rentals will be $3.99, but if you’re going to have to go down to the store AND pay about the same amount for a movie as you do already, why not just rent a DVD? [Hollywood Reporter]

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MSI Wind desktops and laptops exposed and fondled, Atom seen by all

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

MSI has been teasing us with its Atom-based laptops and desktops for some time now, so it’s only right that they finally give it up and let some journalist rip open a Wind for some straight-up circuit porn. Confirmed on the board are the aforementioned Atom 230 processor, 1GB DDR2-533 RAM, a 160GB SATA drive, gigabit ethernet, a DVD combo drive, 65-watt power supply, and passive cooling with that gargantuan heatsink. As for performance, testers say the machine was capable of playing 720P video without much ado, but wouldn’t deal with 1080P. On the laptop side of things, it looks as though the U100 will come in a whole rainbow of colors beyond the red, black, white, and pink we’ve already seen. Nothing new on that side other than the usual “is it still $399?“

Read - Up close with MSI desktop in Taipei
Read - Extreme closeup with MSI Wind notebooks

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Walgreens Building Time Square’s Largest Billboard [Architecture]

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RIM’s BlackBerry Bold gets previewed

Filed under: Cellphones

RIM’s hotly-anticipated BlackBerry Bold has only been received by a select few, but the fortunate folks over at Howard Chui managed to snag a pre-production unit and give it a good lookin’ at. Aside from showering us with a plethora of snapshots from a variety of angles, we’re also told that the plastic used “feels a little cheaper” than that on the 8800, outgoing sound quality “is terrific,” incoming sound quality could use some work and reception seemed much improved from the 8800. We know, it’s not a full-blown review or anything, but it’s still apt to whet your appetite until the real deal shows up en masse.

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OLPC XO-2 to include multitouch and possibly haptic screen from PixelQi

Filed under: Displays, Laptops

PixelQi, an OLPC project spin-off headed by Mary Lou Jepsen, certainly has its work cut out for it with the OLPC XO-2, due in 2010. Not only is the laptop supposed to support dual touchscreens and consume a mere 1 watt of power, but Mary Lou is also promising better readability, multitouch, and potentially even pen usage and haptic feedback. Interestingly, the projected price for the laptop is $75, which is exactly the pricepoint PixelQi claimed to be working on when it split from the foundation. She remains coy on which OS the new laptop will favor, merely stating: “The display can use whatever software OLPC chooses.” As for partners outside of OLPC, Mary Lou won’t name names, but she says PixelQi is “working with large, tier-one laptop, cell phones, and e-book makers.” Forget 2010, give us a full color e-book tablet by the end of the year and we’ll forget all this XO nonsense entirely.

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