Filed under: Robots

Are you a defense contractor, or would you like to be? DARPA has put out a call for a “legged vehicle capable of maneuvering robustly and nimbly” (which might be military-speak for “prancing” — we’re not entirely sure). To get in on the action, your vehicle must be able to sense, negotiate and operate in complex terrain (rubble-strewn streets and such), follow a soldier through dynamic, cluttered environments, operate quietly, pack 400 pounds of equipment and bring enough fuel for 24 hours of operation. The Legged Squad Support System (it’s been pointed out that this sounds a bit like the BigDog we saw a while back) would be required to do all of this autonomously as it follows a soldier up to 100 meters (328 feet) away. Piece of cake, right? If you’re interested, hit the read link for the full announcement and be sure to get your proposal in by January 6, 2009. Video of the “classic” BigDog after the break.

[Via Wired]

Continue reading DARPA contract sets its sights on autonomous, gear carrying robots

DARPA contract sets its sights on autonomous, gear carrying robots originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Oct 2008 15:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Via [Engadget]

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Filed under: Robots

Besides rarely showering, Robotic engineers and researchers also possess a peculiar sense of humor. Trip with us through the uncanny valley as we take a look at the animatronic head developed by David Hanson. Software, developed by the University of Bristol with some help by a professional animator, controls 34 tiny servo motors to mimic facial expressions picked up by Jules’ camera. Watch Jules make an ecologically sound case to “destroy humanity” in the video after the break. Indeed, if only Maggie was still in power.

Continue reading Video: Jules the robot makes convincing argument to destroy humanity

Video: Jules the robot makes convincing argument to destroy humanity originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Oct 2008 07:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Via [Engadget]

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We Help Out a Failing Circuit City in with Some Smartass Fake Ads [Photoshop Contest]

For this week’s Photoshop Contest, we had some fun with the imminent demise of Circuit City by making some fake CC ads. Oh, the puns! If you’re a fan of puns, specifically puns relating to the name of the aforementioned big box electronics retailer, welcome to paradise. Hit the jump for your top three winners and the rest of the best in our Gallery of Champions.

First Place — Dave Gregory (I can’t say no to this many puns)
Second Place — Kelly Rush (A former employee; think she’s disgruntled?)
Third Place — Thanassi Kaageorgiou (I wish this many brilliant salespeople could all be found in one place)

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ASUS rolls out Eee PC 1002HA, still mum about next week’s model

Filed under: Laptops

Still haven’t found an Eee PC to your liking? Then perhaps ASUS’s new 10-inch Eee PC 1002HA model will be more to your liking, with it bringing some of the S101’s stylings to the company’s standard 1000 series. Otherwise, you can expect most of the usual specs that now haunt our dreams, including a 1.6GHz Atom N270 processor,1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive and, apparently, a two-cell, 4200 mAh battery. No word on a release ’round here just yet, but it looks like this one will be available in Europe in the not too distant future for €449, or about $565.

ASUS rolls out Eee PC 1002HA, still mum about next week’s model originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Oct 2008 13:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Chair Burns Calories For You (Through Torture) [Furniture]

The Hobart I-Cool seat concept has your best interests at heart. It wants you to lose weight but knows that you shouldn’t have to leave your chair to do so. Using a “proprietary” system for “temperature regulation,” users are said to shed pounds while just sitting there in a fashionable “micro environment.” But to us, the seat eerily resembles a George Foreman Grill.

Despite its obvious name, we’re not certain whether the I-Cool makes you shiver, sweat or both to increase sedentary calorie burning rates, but we do know that office warfare already leads to many a rogue thermostat lacking proper regulation. In other words, it’s tough to imagine that this chair, however cool it may look, will make you any more able to down McMuffins all day without packing on the poundage. But a man can dream, can’t he? [Padwa Designs via Core77]

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Nuclear Powered Planes Will Not Assure the Destruction of Humankind [Nuclear]

Aviation experts in the U.K. are arguing that the industry should push to convert their planes from using fossil fuel to using nuclear energy, an idea that’s sure to illicit a visceral “holy crap, god no!” reaction from the get go. But while it’s hard to separate the idea from the mental image of flying hydrogen bombs, there ARE actually a lot of good reasons to go nuclear in the sky.

The most pressing one is that changing to nuclear will help reduce the amount of emissions from planes and keep them flying in the air longer. A plane sipping on nuclear energy could take off in London, land in Australia, and then go to South Africa without needing to refuel, and it’ll have zero impact on the atmosphere as well.

Plus, the safety risks we tend to knee-jerk envision with nuclear are tied more to its image in popular culture than any real scientific facts. Nuclear submarines have been around since the beginning of the Cold War—when was the last time you heard of an actual meltdown related to one of those? Now compare that to the tons of other fuels that have been leaked into waters over the years. Safe nuclear planes have been feasible since the 1950s, but lost favor when the military decided to start building intercontinental ballistic missiles instead.

While there are a few genuinely valid concerns we need to address before we actually let nuclear-powered planes take off—how to automatically jettison the reactor in case of a plane crash and what to do with spent fuel, for instance— there’s no reason why we shouldn’t at least hit the power button on research. [Times UK via Crunchgear]

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LaCie Offers Unlimited Online Backups For a Year With Hard Drive Purchase [Storage]

LaCie, designers of some of the best looking hard drives around, are offering one full year of unlimited online data backup free of charge when you purchase any one of their external drives. Each drive will be bundled with Carbonite’s storage technology that promises to automatically back up the LaCie drive (when the computer is idle) “by finding new and modified files, encrypting them twice before leaving the original workstation, then transmitting them by HTTPS (SSL) to a secure data center, where the information remains encrypted.” All-in-all, the package represents a $50 value. The promotion is applicable to all drives purchased after October 15th and customers can start taking advantage the free online storage beginning next month.

“LaCie & Carbonite Partnership”
New One Year Unlimited Online Backup Offer

· Unlimited online backup for one full year at no additional cost
· Carbonite software available on LaCie drives after October 15th
· Automatic backups provide complete data security
· Data encryption ensures user privacy

PORTLAND, OR (October 2008) ­ LaCie announced today a new service package to
benefit hard drive consumers: LaCie One Year Online Backup. This unique
service provides unlimited online backup for one full year after
installation with the purchase of any LaCie external storage device.

Recognizing the importance of secure digital media for both consumers and
professional users, LaCie has partnered with Carbonite, Inc., an innovator
in online backup technology, to ensure that each LaCie drive purchased will
be bundled with their award-winning services.

For one year following software installation Carbonite will automatically
backup the LaCie drive by finding new and modified files, encrypting them
twice before leaving the original workstation, then transmitting them by
HTTPS (SSL) to a secure data center, where the information remains
encrypted, protecting the user¹s privacy. Additionally, backups are
completed only when the computer is idle, so the process never interferes
with computer performance.

³Taking into account the quality of information users place on our drives we
wanted to go beyond our expertise in hardware to provide the best options to
our customers,² said Philippe Spruch, LaCie Chief Executive Officer. ³LaCie
Online Backup provides one year of unlimited online storage to showcase the
importance of backup strategies that keep data safe, and our dedication to
helping users get there.²

LaCie is known for developing security technology products for Mac, PC, and
Linux users, and the creation of the LaCie One Year Online Backup package
aims to increase the overall value to consumers who choose to manage their
digital content through external hardware. LaCie One Year Online Backup will
be available in November for PC users, with a Mac version to be released at
a later date.

Availability
Unlimited LaCie Online Backup will be available at no extra charge for one
full year beginning November 2008 on LaCie consumer hard drives.

[LaCie and Carbonite]

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Fake Water Cube Building Spotted in Sichuan, China [Fakes]

We’ve long known about certain companies in China “borrowing inspiration” from more well known gadget makers, but it looks like architects aren’t safe from copycat syndrome either. Check out this spa building in Chongqing, the capital of Sichuan (where the earthquakes happened), which looks a little like it may have been designed by someone with just a little bit of Beijing Olympics mania. Hey, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right? [Shanghaiist]

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Psystar Introducing Blu-ray Enabled Mac Clones, Beating Apple to the Punch [Apple]

Even though Apple and Psystar are currently negotiating behind closed doors, the Mac-cloner is continuing to defy Apple by releasing new products. Psystar announced today that they are ready to ship an Mac clone with built-in Blu-ray and NVIDIA 9800GT graphics cards. For those of you who recall, Jobs recently referred to Blu-ray as a “bag of hurt” because of licensing costs—which is one of the reasons why a Blu-ray drive has not been integrated into a Mac thus far.

Besides, how long will it be before Blu-ray is dumped for digital downloads? Personally, I don’t care about Blu-ray on a Mac, but I’m sure plenty of people out there feel differently. And that is what Psystar does—they fill a need that cannot be satisfied by current Apple offerings. [Ars Technica]

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Laptop shipments exceed desktops in US for the not-exactly-first time

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Hope you’re eager to break into that Halloween candy early, because you’ve got some (re)celebrating to do. If you’ll recall, we first heard that laptops accounted for over half of US retail computer sales back in 2003, and in June of 2005, we found that it was somehow worth getting jazzed over once more when it happened again. Here we are in the latter half of 2008 shaking our heads in disappointment, as IDC has amazingly discovered that notebook shipments into the US market have exceeded the 50% threshold for the first time ever. Go ahead and stock up on rave supplies early — we get this weird feeling that we’ll be doing this same song and dance in 2010 or so.

[Image courtesy of DayLife]

Laptop shipments exceed desktops in US for the not-exactly-first time originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 28 Oct 2008 09:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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