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Babyloid: Therapeutic Baby Robot For The Elderly

Posted: 01 Mar 2011 04:02 AM PST

Japan has the world’s oldest society (20% of the population is 65 or older), and it’s the world’s No. 1 robot nation. As such, the country has seen quite a few “welfare robots” over the years – and the so-called Babyloid [JP] is the newest model.

As the name suggests, the little guy is designed to resemble an infant. Babyloid weighs 2.2kg, measures 44cm in length and has a movable mouth, arms and eyelids.

 

Babyloid inventor Kanou Masayoshi says his robot can, by simulating certain human emotions (i.e. crying/see above), trigger emotional responses in users, something that may be helpful to fight symptoms of depression especially seen with the elderly.

Masayoshi already started conducting experiments in nursing homes in Japan and hopes to have 10 working prototypes produced within 2 years.

Via Plastic Pals via Robonable [JP]

The Pentax K-r Gets Yet Another Special Edition (In Japan)

Posted: 01 Mar 2011 02:42 AM PST

I don’t know what it is about Pentax and special editions, but today the company announced [JP] yet another one, for the K-r. This time, Pentax inked a licensing deal with Tokyo-based San-X to use their star cartoon character, super-cute bear Rilakkuma, in a special version of the camera.

Apart from the now much cuter body, Pentax says users will see Rilakkuma when switching the camera on or off (see below). Needless to say, the device wasn’t changed technically.

Pentax is bundling the K-r Rilakkuma special edition with a 18-55mmF3.5-5.6AL lens. The company already accepts pre-orders and will start shipping the camera on July 8 (price: $1,150). Ask specialized online store Rinkya if you need help in importing the device.

Breakdown Reveals Xoom Cost To Build: $278

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 07:25 PM PST


Motorola’s Xoom, the first Android 3.0 tablet to get into consumer hands (if you don’t count hacked Nook Colors), has a total build cost of about $278, according to UBM TechInsights and iSuppli, as reported by the WSJ. That’s $33 more than the iPad’s cost-to-build estimate. On the consumer pricing front, an iPad with 3G and 32GB of storage costs $729, while the Xoom is $799. Motorola is, of course, going to have to defend the insensible comparisons between the Xoom and the iPad’s costs and pricing. As far as I’m concerned, as far as hardware goes, the Xoom has the iPad beat by a pretty large margin, and let’s not forget that the iPad costs the same as it did a year ago.

The difference, say the analysts, is mainly in the cameras and higher-resolution display. Of course, the chipset is superior as well, with the Tegra 2 providing better graphical capabilities and the 4G upgrade included in the Xoom’s price.

That said, it’s hard to provide an apples-to-apples comparison, especially since the iPad actually has a higher-quality screen by some standards, and also the Xoom doesn’t offer a cheaper version, like the $500 base iPad. Android 3.0 itself isn’t exactly proven yet, either, and the iPad has already gotten some value-add in the form of the 4.3 update, which added multitasking and other enhancements.

The take-away here is that it’s a complicated situation and people will want to oversimplify. If I had to summarize, I’d say that by hardware standards, the Xoom is very competitive with the iPad, but without a ~$500 option, they’re going to have trouble mobilizing consumers who are on the fence.

At any rate, things might change in a couple days when the new iPad hits, so let’s all just take a chill pill until then, yeah?

Intel Announces New Solid-State Drives

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 07:20 PM PST

Today, Intel announced a new line of solid-state drives: the Intel SSD 510 Series. The new drives operate over 6Gbps SATA to take advantage of Intel’s new higher speed SATA bus interface (like the new MBPs). Speeds are now up to 500MB per second and 315MB per second for reading and writing respectively. That’s a pretty serious upgrade from just a year ago.

The two drives available now are 250GB and 120GB and are priced at $584 and $284 in quantities of 1,000. Got three hundred grand lying around?

Tobii Technology Unveils Eye Tracking Laptop, A World First

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 07:00 PM PST

A new technology that we’ve been hearing about for a few year finally is getting unveiled today at CeBIT in Germany. Tobii Technology has partnered up with Lenovo to create a laptop with integrated eye tracking control. It is said that it will add to the functionality of a keyboard and mouse, rather than killing them.

The technology will track user’s eye movements in efforts to make suggestions based on where the user looks. For example, when looking at the bottom of the screen, the task bar could appear; also, if it notices that you stumble around a word, it may bring up a definition. These are just a few of the potential capabilities.

Finally, the technologies can be used in gaming where the characters can interact with eye movements — imagine first person shooters now. Right, now we aren’t too sure how well the technology works, but as soon as we get a glimpse of what they show at CeBIT, we will let you know.

Child Of Eden Almost Had A Vibro-Belt Accessory

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 06:30 PM PST


You might remember quite a few years back when the Sega “Trance Vibrator” for Rez made a stir by essentially being… a vibrator. Yeah. So they’re doing that again with Child Of Eden, Rez’s spiritual successor for Kinect, though a separate vibrating accessory probably isn’t going to happen. The game is shaping up nicely, though.

Kotaku went to a preview event where a newer build of the game was shown off, and one of the options available was to use additional 360 controllers as purely vibrational devices. This is actually an option in the XBLA game Rez HD, and the creator strongly encourages playing this way. In fact, during the preview, it was revealed that they’d even created a special belt that held three controllers on it so you could get really buzzed, as it were.

Alas, it almost certainly won’t be coming with the game, or as an accessory. Probably just a little too weird.

In-Browser OnLive-Esque Remote Gaming From GaiKai – Play Mass Effect 2 Right Now

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 05:30 PM PST


Intrigued by OnLive, but don’t really want to invest in a glorified set-top box and weirdo controller? You’re in luck. GaiKai, a firm specializing in video game advertising, has launched a streaming game service that lets you play new games right in your browser. Nothing to download, even. Like literally, click here, wait for the popup (takes about 10 seconds if you have the bandwidth) and you’re playing Mass Effect 2.

I played through the intro and it worked like a charm with only a few stutters and artifacts, pulling about 5-6Mb/s of data on average for a 720p stream, but on a second go (to get a better screenshot, which I failed to do), it froze up and gave me a “recalibrating” error:

Not that this is necessarily GaiKai’s fault, but I would be mad if I’d paid for this. As it is, I can’t really get worked up about an ad not functioning correctly.

The strategy is basically a form of mega-advertising. Instead of putting a banner on a website that says “Hey come download the demo,” you literally embed the entire demo, and all the user has to do is click on it. Or, say, fill out a short survey, as this blog post by GaiKai CEO Dave Perry points out, and which you’ll have to do if you want to play Dead Space 2. After all, that bandwidth ain’t free. But it’s getting close.

It makes lots of sense, of course, though OnLive did a lot of work in proving they can scale it. Why shouldn’t you go to a website and have the demo “play”? For full games, I’d say a local install is still very worthwhile, but for demos, which take up a ton of space, take forever to download, and you only play for a half an hour or so? Bring on the streaming.

Check Into Foursquare, Facebook Places With Your Watch

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 05:02 PM PST

If you’ve ever thought “I’d get so much more geo-location done in my day if it could all just be done from my watch,” the folks at inPulse smart watch have an app for you.

This hack allows inPulse smart watch users to check into Facebook Places and Foursquare with a tap of their watch button. It’s pretty kludgey right now because it requires a Bluetooth connection to an Android smartphone to work but, as an extension to the standard check-in APIs used on phones, it could prove useful.

The watch polls the smartphone for nearby places to use for check in and then connects to the check-in service to complete the process.

The code is all here and it requires you to register a new app with Facebook, but I think we all can agree that adding this feature to your watch is a great leap forward in human-computer interaction. Or something.

You can get an inPulse watch right here and start getting notifications right on your wrist.

Your Pilot May Soon Be Navigating By iPad

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 04:40 PM PST

You’d think that by now, pilots and airlines would have figured out a really sophisticated browser for flight paths, charts, regulations, and stuff like that, but as it turns out, a lot of that information is still on paper. After all, when the lives of hundreds of thousands depend on such things, you can’t risk a system crash or low battery. But it looks like the stable, long-lived iPad has overcome some of these limitations, and may just be coming to a commercial flight near you.

Executive Jet Management is a charter plane company that recently went through an extensive approval process for relying solely (if the pilot chooses) on iPads for browsing all the charts that used to be paper-only. They used an app called Mobile TC, developed by Jeppesen, a company that has made aviation charts for years. After showing that the app was safe, comprehensive, and wouldn’t croak due to battery, pressure, or other causes, they got FAA approval to use it instead of paper charts.

Now, that’s just for that charter flight company, but Alaska Airlines too is in the process of evaluating iPads for use, and 100 pilots are currently testing them out.

I wonder, though, will the new generation of high-tech planes rely on external devices like the iPad? Or will they include interfaces that can be loaded with something, perhaps, more proprietary, or even… Google-flavored?

[image: Flight Control HD, obviously)

Galaxy Tab 8.9″ To Hit Next Week At CTIA?

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 03:08 PM PST


If the Galaxy Tab 7″ is a little too small for your taste, but the 10″ is a bit too big, maybe I can interest the reader in the 8.9″ version? Rumors have been swirling that a version right between those guys might be coming soon, and this teaser on Samsung’s Facebook page seems to confirm it.

An 8.9″ version would be a significant size difference, as you can see here:

It would likely have most of the same specs as the 10.1 but probably not quite as well-built, perhaps opting for the (still solid) style of construction found on the 7″ version. Here’s hoping they lose that big silver disc off the back.

Also, why not call it the Galaxy Tab 9″, since it’s so close? Well, 9 sounds awfully close to 10, doesn’t it? 8.9 gets both 8 and 9 in there, which is nice when the next step down is a 7. Potentially very savvy, Samsung.

Best Buy’s Buyback Program? Yeah, Not So Hot

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 02:30 PM PST


There are a few buyback programs out there, and at CES we even saw a meta-buyback program, EcoSquid, that lets you get the best price from among those. But retail electronics juggernaut Best Buy had to have a piece of the pie — and why not? They have a captive audience of people who like to shop “in real life” and who would probably be excited to get anything for an old TV.

And that’s really the only type of person that the Best Buy program will work for. Digital Trends did a little investigation and found that most products you’d want to sell back (an iPhone 3GS, a two-year-old TV, that sort of thing) fetch less of a price at Best Buy than they would on Craigslist or many other sites, and in addition to that there’s a fee to join the service! It’s plainly predatory and I hope it disappears without a trace.

Honestly. If you have something you want to sell, put it up on Craigslist with a fair offer and a product photo (since pictures on CL always look bad). If you don’t get a favorable response, check online services like Gazelle to see what buyback sites are paying. It works

Regional Provider Says Libya Blocking Voice, Data Services

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 02:30 PM PST

Guardian’d

You’re a North African dictator with a penchant for "voluptuous" Ukranian nurses. What do you do when your people rebel against your 42-year rule, demanding such things as basic human rights? Why you shut down communication with the outside world, of course.

Thuraya, a regional satellite communication provider, has confirmed that its service is being actively jammed inside Libya. The jamming has affected both voice and data services, but voice services are said to be coming back online in recent hours.

Thuraya says it’s considering legal recourse, but what are you going to do, ask the Gaddafi regime to kindly stop jamming? Something tells me they’re not exactly open to such suggestions right now.

This, on the day that international community has stepped up efforts against the Gadaffi regime, with the US freezing some $30 billion (!) in assets.

False Alarm: Activision Calls Modern Warfare Teaser ‘Hoax’

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 02:00 PM PST

We regret to inform you that the Modern Warfare 3 "teaser" from the other day was, in fact, nothing of the sort. You can almost hear the angels crying.

The deal is that that site, www.findmakarov.com, was set up to promote some sort of Call of Duty-themed indie movie.

Activision told GameSpot that it’s not "revealing [anything] yet."

All of this means that we’ll have to wait a wee bit longer for the official Activision reveal of its latest hundred million dollar Quake 3 mod.

Cheap Ring Flash Adapter From Photojojo Is A Must Buy

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 01:40 PM PST

Ring flashes can come in handy for many shooting situations. Flash rings are especially great for creating even illumination giving subjects a flat look — very symmetric. One of the downsides to the flashes has been price, but the latest ring flash adapter from Photojojo has a price so low that even DIY options can cost more.

The Photojojo Ring Flash Adapter uses light from an existing flash unit on your camera. This light shines into the ring adapter and is channeled into a loop around the lens. The RFA isn’t perfect though, there are pieces of light missing at the 11 and 1 o’clock positions, but for $40 it’s worth having just to try. And, you’ll be able to try new lighting techniques and learn new creative moves.

ring-flash-adapter-9f93 ring-flash-adapter-22df ring-flash-adapter-baee ring-flash-adapter-f549 ring-flash-adapter-5b72 ring-flash-adapter-ba52 ring-flash-adapter-3fa5 ring-flash-adapter-007b ring-flash-adapter-b201 ring-flash-adapter-5a7e ring-flash-adapter-3f8c ring-flash-adapter-5ecf

[via wired]

Going Green: 100W Light Bulbs To Be Phased Out In California This Year

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 01:30 PM PST

Flickr’d

If there were a superhero who was powered by 100W lightbulbs it’s safe to say his days of fighting crime in California are over. The state will end the sale of 100W light bulbs after the current supply has been exhausted. It’s part of the federal Energy Independence Act and Security Act of 2007. Silly name aside, the law will go into effect in the coming years across the country.

Why are we banning 100W light bulbs? To conserve energy, of course, in order to make us energy independent. Green, if you will. Hmm.

What it will do is lessen the amount of electricity we consume. The California Energy Commission says the elimination of the 100W bulb will save Californians some $35.6 million.

Once they’ve eliminated 100W bulbs, people will initially be pushed toward 72W bulbs. We’ll have moved all the way down to 40W bulbs by 2014.

Steam Gets “Big Picture Mode” For PS3

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 01:00 PM PST


Portal 2 may be coming to the PS3 and bringing cross-platform play and some Steam elements with it, but the Steam interface is really designed for mouse navigation, not analog sticks. Valve is looking to fix that with a special “big picture mode” designed for use with big TVs and console controllers.

Newell has said they’re working really hard to make the PS3 version as good as possible, so I wonder just how deep the faux-Steam integration goes? Will you be able to buy hats through PSN? How deep is the social aspect integrated? Will friends carry over?

We’ll find out more at GDC, I suppose, where Valve will be making a few announcements. I might get the PS3 version of Portal just because it comes with the PC version. Just in case.

X-Ray Boots Have Transparent Soles, Just Because

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 12:30 PM PST


I was going to write that the transparent soles let you see what’s “underneath” the tread, but it’s not really underneath, since the sole’s on the bottom, right? It’s barely “above,” and it’s not really “inside.” So I scrapped the headline and wrote this paragraph.

The Hiker X-Ray boots from Feit have a transparent bit so you can check out the “bamboo shank, cork foot bed and thread weave” that make these hand-made shoes special. They’re a bit flashy, in my opinion, and I’m afraid the clear part would get scuffed up and lose its window-like aspect, but it’s still kind of cool.

The boots will set you back $315; there will only be 50 pairs made.

[via Uncrate]

MobileNotifier Does iOS Notifications Right, Will Make You Want To Jailbreak

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 12:08 PM PST

iOS’ Notifications system sucks. A lot. In the Great Smartphone War, it’s probably the platform’s most inexplicable Achille’s heel. Oh, you’re playing a game? Sorry, Bobby texted you again! PAUSED! Watching a movie? Sorry, the battery is at 10%! PAUSED!

Peter Hajas’ MobileNotifier, demoed after the jump, shows us that things don’t have to be this way.

Read the rest at MobileCrunch, where we know that the answer to the question of life is simply —— A FRIEND HAS FINISHED HIS TURN IN WORDS WITH FRIENDS! >>

GTA V Is Far Along In Development Says Stuntman’s Resume

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 11:50 AM PST

There are a lot of rumors out there about the next version of GTA. But, the closest to confirmation we’ve seen so far is this resume from stunt driver Declan Mulvey. He lists his involvement with all the movies and video games he’s worked on and GTA V is one of them.

Some think that it would be easy to forget the I before the V, which we can understand. But, his name is nowhere in the credits for GTA IV. While we have known about GTA V for a little while, this certainly shows that further development has taken place.

Gameduino: Arduino For Gamers

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 11:26 AM PST

Arduino seems like a great way to create interactive devices but historically it hasn’t been too hot for creating the ultimate in interactivity, computer gaming. That changed with the release of the Gameduino, a version of the open-source Arduino board pre-loaded with games, sprites, and inputs for various game controllers.

The Gameduino is an open source project and the creator has build a Kickstarter page to fund the actual production of the device.

You can also DIY and grab the plans here and the board sits on top of the Arduino microcontroller. The Kickstarter version will cost $53 if it gets funded so head over there and pick one up and help support open computing.

Product Page


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