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Japan Prepares Tweeting Humanoid Astronaut

Posted: 15 Feb 2011 06:01 AM PST

Japan continues to be the world’s number 1 robot nation: the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the University of Tokyo and advertising agency Dentsu are ready to develop a humanoid that’s able to support astronauts at the International Space Station and post new information on Twitter.

Why not, Japan has a tweeting satellite already.

The plan is to have the robot in charge when the human crew is asleep. During that time, it will receive instructions from ground control and relay them to the human astronauts when they awake. It’s also expected to monitor the health of the astronauts, for example by checking the color of their skins and measuring emotional stress in their everyday language.

The robot’s makers expect the humanoid to make its debut in outer space in 2013. Not bad – but this time, it seems, the Americans were a bit faster.

Sony To Cut “Cool” Features From PSP2 To Lower Price

Posted: 15 Feb 2011 05:52 AM PST

The PSP2 debuted with laundry list of features, but  according to Sony Computer Entertainment’s president, Shuhei Yoshida, some of those “cool” elements will be removed to keep prices low. “I can’t talk about a definitive price at this stage. But since the very beginning we had a target in mind. So, when considering various features, we always had our price range in mind,” said Yoshida. He also added that, ”There were elements that we found pretty cool, but had to set aside to remain on target. It’s a big lesson we learnt from the PS3. There’s no point putting everything you want into a device and doing the math later. We always had the price and consumer in mind. We had to sell something that people could buy.” In order to compete with the 3DS, retailers have said that the PSP2 needs to be affordable — 3G and a 5-inch OLED may be too expensive. Removing these cool features won’t help the PSP2 succeed.

The Crysis 2 Story Trailer

Posted: 15 Feb 2011 05:32 AM PST

Crysis 2 is heading towards its release and the story trailer just hit EA’s YouTube channel. Nevermind that an early dev build hit download sites last weekend so eager gamers probably already lived the storyline. For the rest of us, this trailer sets the scene for what could be 2011′s best shooter.

LifeTouch Note: NEC Rolls Out Android Netbook

Posted: 15 Feb 2011 05:01 AM PST

First a LifeTouch-branded Android tablet, now a netbook: NEC took the wraps off the so-called LifeTouch Note [JP] today, a netbook with Android 2.2 and a 7-inch LCD touchscreen on board.

There will be three different models (with or without 3G and with more or less internal memory).

Here are the main specs of the top model:

  • 7-inch LCD resistive touchscreen with 800×480 resolution
  • Android 2.2 with access to the Android market and various Japanese marketplaces
  • QWERTY keyboard
  • NVIDIA Tegra 250 2-core CPU (1GHz)
  • 8GB of internal memory
  • Bluetooth 2.1+EDR
  • 3G connectivity
  • IEEE 802.11b/g Wi-Fi
  • 0.5 mono speaker
  • GPS
  • 2MP camera
  • USB 2.0 port, SDHC card slot
  • size: 234×138×25mm, weight: 699g

As far as the models and prices are concerned, this LifeTouch Note will cost $660. The same device without 3G will be $120 cheaper, while the most basic version (4GB internal memory, no 3G) will be priced at $480.

Video: Japanese Robot Learns To Clean A Whiteboard

Posted: 15 Feb 2011 04:01 AM PST


The Robocalypse is coming closer and closer: a team of researchers from the Italian Institute of Technology and Tokyo City University, led by Dr. Petar Kormushev, has “taught” Fujitsu HOAP-2, a mini humanoid, how to clean a whiteboard. In the amazing video embedded below, you can see a human showing the little guy what to do, followed by him replicating the actions.

Background from the makers:

The presented approach allows a free-standing, self-balancing humanoid robot to acquire new motor skills by kinesthetic teaching. The method controls simultaneously the upper and lower body of the robot with different control strategies. Imitation learning is used for training the upper body via kinesthetic teaching, while at the same time ankle/hip reaction motion patterns are used for keeping the balance of the robot. During demonstration, a force/torque sensor is used to record the exerted forces, and during reproduction, a hybrid position/force controller is used to reproduce the learned trajectories in terms of positions and forces to the end effector.

And it’s getting better. The researchers say that their “upper-body kinesthetic teaching” method can pave the way to developing robots that are able to handle various “vertical surface related tasks”, i.e. cleaning windows or painting walls.

Here’s the video:

More pictures of Fujitsu HOAP-2 can be found here.

Thanks for the tip to “Tipper Tipper”!

Hands-Off Video Demo: The HTC Flyer Android Tablet

Posted: 15 Feb 2011 03:51 AM PST

There she is, folks: HTC’s brand new, all-aluminum Android 2.4 tablet, the Flyer. Alas, as is somewhat standard protocol with ultra-early hardware, HTC wouldn’t let us actually touch the thing. They were more then willing to give us a quick tour around the device, though!

High fives to the lady at the end who decides the perfect place for her camera (holder of the Guinness’ Book’s record for Largest Camera On Earth) is directly in front of mine.

Read the rest at MobileCrunch, because OHHH SNAP GIRL HE JUST CALLED YOU OUT!

Hands-On Gallery: The HTC Desire S, Wildfire S, and Incredible S

Posted: 15 Feb 2011 03:48 AM PST

Phew! Though the cat got let out of the bag a bit early (seriously guys, stop putting cats in bags. It’s a terrible way to keep a cat contained, and kind of cruel), HTC just announced a trio of new smartphones: the Desire S, the Wildfire S, and the Incredible S.

We just got back from battling the crowds to bring back a bucket of pictures of all 3 — check’em out after the jump.

Read the rest at MobileCrunch >>

Longphone Is Long: The Acer Iconia Smart

Posted: 15 Feb 2011 01:29 AM PST


I’d like to have seen the meeting where this device was approved for development: “Well, the other guys are putting big screens on their phones, in 16:9. Let’s one-up them by making our phone 21:9, since that 21:9 TV sold so well!”

Continue reading…

Synaptics’ New Touchscreens Can Detect The Head Of A Pin

Posted: 15 Feb 2011 01:00 AM PST


Synaptics is the company whose products you probably interact with every day without knowing. They’re always advancing the science of haptics and touch-detection, and their latest work is the most impressive yet. What they’ve done is integrate the touch controller (basically, the tiny chip that detects and reports touch activity) with the display driver. This means they can rule out a lot of the noise that the display creates with the touch sensors — the result is vastly improved sensitivity, even when using something non-conductive like a glove or stylus.


The demonstrators showed how you could wear golf gloves and still interact with it normally, poke at it with a stylus or even a pin, and even stacked 10 business cards on the screen and showed how it could still detect touches. This could really make for improved usability, even new features like easy stylus-based input that doesn’t compromise normal capacitive operation.

The next thing integration with the display driver does is allow for near-instantaneous visual feedback. Normally when you, say, pick up an icon or tap on the screen, that touch information goes from the sensor to the touch driver to the CPU, which queries the layout, directs what happens in the next frame, and then sends that information to the display driver. Now, since the touch and display driver are in direct communication, the touch sensor can just say “display this,” creating instant visual feedback.


What that feedback is depends on how deep the OS wants to include this direct display connection, but what they showed was a crosshair or dot that followed your touch with almost no latency.

How far are these from market? Well, that depends on whether OEMs like Apple and HTC decide to pick them up. Synaptics works with display manufacturers, not directly with the product designers, so it’s out of their hands. But as I expressed to them at the booth, the important part is not being the bottleneck. When someone complains about how their phone is slow or laggy, believe me, it isn’t Synaptics’ fault.

HTC Announces The Desire S, Wildfire S, and Incredible S

Posted: 15 Feb 2011 12:24 AM PST

We’re camped outside of HTC’s event at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, where a handful of broken embargoes have just spoiled the mood a bit.

Fortunately, the leaked news is probably good enough to make up for it. HTC’s taken just about each one of their greatest phones — the Desire, the Wildfire, the Incredible — and given’em a refresh. The new names? The Desire S, the Wildfire S, and the — wait for it! — Incredible S!
Read the rest at MobileCrunch >>

HTC Announces Their First Android Tablet: The HTC Flyer

Posted: 15 Feb 2011 12:23 AM PST

Tablets, tablets, tablets, tablets. iPads! Touchpads! Playbooks! G-Slates! These days, it seems like you’re not one of the cool kids unless you’ve got your own tablet. As of this morning, HTC’s able to sit themselves at the cool table.

In other words, HTC’s got themselves a tablet now: the HTC Flyer.

Read the rest at MobileCrunch >>

Daily Crunch: Galaxy Space Edition

Posted: 15 Feb 2011 12:00 AM PST

Rumor: iPhone 5 To Have A Larger, 4-Inch Screen?

Posted: 14 Feb 2011 10:41 PM PST

Apple has taken its own sweet time adopting functions and features that many phone users now take for granted. Unfortunately, as Android phones up the ante in terms of screen screen size and processor speed, the iPhone is starting to lose a few comparison tests and, barring all other stats, screen size makes for a great in-store tie-breaker. Luckily for Apple, there’s a new rumor on the block; this time from Digitimes, and it’s about the next iPhone’s screen size.

The rumor is, in short, this: that Apple will increase the iPhone screen size to 4 inches, up from 3.5 inches. According to “upstream component suppliers,” this change should come in the next iteration of the phone.

Screen size is increasing, whether Apple likes it or not, and this move makes sense. With all the rumors coming out about two new iPhones, the iPhone Nano and a new iPad, a slight change in specs or trade dress isn’t enough anymore. A larger size would help with viewing webpages and other small documents, though the downside would be decreased battery life over the smaller screen and also having a bigger, heavier phone to carry. Android’s competition is forcing Apple’s hand and, if our sources are correct, things are changing quickly at Cupertino.


Nokia’s Qt Isn’t Dead Yet

Posted: 14 Feb 2011 10:17 PM PST

When Microsoft partnered with Nokia, many thought the Symbian operating system died that day. But, it’s not entirely dead yet. Qt, the cross-application framework used by Nokia’s Symbian operating system developers, is said to continue going forward with the release of SDK 1.1 due out soon. Nokia’s CTO, Rich Green, said that, "We are still very much big fans [of Qt].” And that, “We will continue working on Qt, enhancing it." So there you have it. There’s no need to worry..yet.

Valve Makes More Money Per Employee Than Google Or Apple

Posted: 14 Feb 2011 09:04 PM PST

Here’s an interesting figure: Valve makes more money per employee than Google or Apple. While we can easily figure out how much the publicly traded Google and Apple make per employee, estimating what Valve pulls in is trickier. Valve has done quite well selling video games — over 12 million copies of Half-Life 2 — but, Valve is even better at selling games in Steam.

Steam is an online video game distribution program owned by Valve; it controls an estimated 50-70% of the $4 billion per year market for downloaded games. Valve’s founder, Gabe Newell, says that the 250-person company brought in “high hundreds of millions of dollars” in 2010. Although, they have not released their financials, over 30 million people using Steam so it’s easy to assume they are doing as well as he says.

The company is valued at $2-4 billion which is reasonable considering Zynga’s value of $4-6 billion — and they got that just from some farm game.

[via gamrfeed]

Boeing 747-8: The Largest Airliner Boeing Has Ever Built

Posted: 14 Feb 2011 08:23 PM PST

A few days ago, we foretold of the Boeing event where they would release the new 747-8: Boeing’s largest airliner ever built. Well it happened, and Wired got some good pics at the event. The fly-by-wire plane still has to undergo further testing and log more flight hours. The fly-by-wire system is relatively new — earlier planes required mechanical linkage — and so a new law needed to pass in order for the system to be used. Fly-by-wire offers a lot of benefits including automatic vibration reduction, before the pilots even notice. The first flight of the intercontinental 747-8 will be at the end of March or early April. What this plane means for you, once it becomes certified, is a less-noisy, smoother trip from point A to point B. This plane is just unbelievable.

10-Year-Old Talks About MakerBot At Ignite Phoenix

Posted: 14 Feb 2011 07:23 PM PST

We love us some MakerBot at CG and clearly this young man loves his as well. Watch has he describes the magic of actually making stuff with his MakerBot at Ignite Phoenix this year.


It actually warms my heart to see a guy like this fall in love with rapid prototyping. Imagine if, back in the olden days of yore, you could make your own cars, action figures, dolls, and army men. How much fun could we have had and how much more creative would we be today?

via BB


Shock Study: People Need To Put Down The Diet Coke Before They Get A Stroke

Posted: 14 Feb 2011 06:16 PM PST

I’ve never understood why people on diets exclusively drink “diet” sodas — does advertising work that well? For starters, diet soda tastes like crap, offers absolutely no dietary benefits, and are full of aspartame. Whether or not aspartame converts to formaldehyde, there’s nothing natural about the stuff. So it comes as no surprise that a recent study found a link between drinking diet soda and strokes.

The study tracked the habits and health of 2,500 adults in Manhattan for nearly ten years. Those who drank diet soda had a 48% higher chance of either stroke or heart attack than those who didn’t drink soda at all. So far, the entire science between the finding hasn’t been concluded, but the study says the link exists regardless of factors like exercise, smoking, diabetes, weight and alcohol consumption. Even healthy people are victim to the diet soda. The researchers are now looking to explore the health effects further. Dr. Steven Greenberg, a neurologist and vice chairman of the International Stroke Conference in California, said this is "a wakeup call to pay attention to diet sodas."

[via blisstree]

Merrell Barefoot Trail Glove Reviewed

Posted: 14 Feb 2011 05:23 PM PST

If you’re a big VFF fan, you may have been thinking about moving toward a more closed shoe for trail running but didn’t want to sacrifice the delicious toe splay offered by “real” foot gloves. Merrell just came out with a new set of trail shoes designed to mimic the benefits of VFFs and they were quite well-reviewed at our favorite site dedicated to shoes, BirthdayShoes.

The ultimate decision?

I’m really liking my Merrell Barefoot Trail Gloves and recommend them as a solid contender amongst the emerging options in the minimalist footwear category — they are certainly top of mind in the non-five toed shoes category! That said, it’s important to keep in mind that every foot is different just as every person is different — there’s a good reason for the cliche “if the shoe fits, wear it!”


Some choice quotes:

The sole, while not having five separated toes like the KSO Trek, is reminiscent of the Trek in that the end of the sole has four ridged, implied “toes” (see pic at right). These ridges provide some added traction — particularly when ascending steep uphill climbs on the trail. Elsewhere on the sole you’ve got some decent knobbing that lends to overall traction on the trail. Since the sole is made by Vibram, and ssuming you’re running form is efficient, which is to say that it minimizes friction, you could probably expect these soles to last quite a long time. I’ve worn my Trail Gloves a good bit for walking, some road running, and trail running over the past two months; thus far, the soles show no appreciable wear.

The Merrell Barefoots are zero-drop shoes meaning the heel is not elevated. My handy calipers measure the forefoot thickness at a smidge over 10mm — same at the heel. For reference, my KSO Treks are more around 8-9mm. Compare the Merrell Barefoot Trail Gloves’ zero-drop to the NB Minimus Trail, which has a 4mm heel-to-toe drop and is overall a bit thicker-soled at 15mm or so at the heel (The New Balance NB Minimus Trail is slated for release in March 2011).

Xetum Releases Limited Edition Watch With Carbon Dial

Posted: 14 Feb 2011 05:14 PM PST

Our good buddies at Xetum are offering a post-Valentine’s treat: a new, limited-edition Tyndall with carbon-fiber dial and automatic movement. Xetum makes some of the best and most handsome American-designed watches I’ve seen in a while so pop over and visit them early and often.

I reviewed the Tyndall here, finding it surprisingly handsome and legible and a great value.

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