By now almost every robot fan on the planet must have seen the video clips of Honda's ASIMO conducting the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. But, just in case you haven't, we've included a copy of the video below. Obviously ASIMO didn't 'conduct' the orchestra in the same sense that a human conductor would. The robot can't add any artistic interpretation, or do much more than just mimic and mechanically replay what...

We mentioned the Korean Robot Games Festival a few posts back. Since then we managed to locate a video of last years event. It's definitely worth checking out. Actually, it's a little scary. The crowds in the audience are very similar to the Indian competitions - meaning there's much more enthusiasm around robotics in Korea than there is in the US or most European countries. There is so much more...

After reading Daniel Terdiman's excellent post titled "Robots serve up fiery cocktails in San Francisco" we've decided that the "RoboGames" name should be immediately changed to "RoboFlames". Daniel's post really gets into some of the spirit and energy behind RoboGames, and provides interesting insight into America's Primo Robot Couple - David Calkins and Simone Davalos. We really had to chuckle when Simone was quoted as saying: "Last year, I did...

We got the impression from some of the email we received that a few of our readers thought that we were putting them on about Mega Dynamizer mowing the lawn, or that the photo in our earlier post was staged. To put all that doubt to rest, and to motivate and inspire you robot builders, we've included a short video clip (see below) that was kindly provided by Sugiura-san, the...

Face 93 Originally uploaded by Dave Gorman.

It's not unusual to see crowds of fans at a rock concert, or even of the major ROBO-ONE competitions, but we have to admit that the crowd in the photo on the right just totally blew us away. What are they watching? A micromouse competition! The video below was taken during the Mouse X competition at Techfest 2008 IIT in Bombay, India a few months ago. Keep in mind that...

Just when we were thinking that 'paxshikai' had run out of creative hack, mods, and stunts for his i-SOBOT robot, he surprised us again with his latest creation - a Robot Bear (video below). One of the nice things about his approach is that most i-SOBOT owners should be able to recreate it, or something similar, with minimum taxidermy skills and a quick trip to the local crafts or dollar...

Filed under: Home Entertainment

Every bean-counter knows that falling prices and shrinking margins add up to one thing - cost-cutting pressure. Now we get word that JVC and Kenwood are merging underneath a single holding company, aptly named JVC Holdings. Hopes are high for the new company, with plans to quadruple profit in three short years by focusing on car and home audio. Expect to see more of this kind of merger/acquisition activity, especially among small- to medium-sized companies as more competition -- especially from South Korea and China -- ramps up. Every JVC share will be exchanged for two shares in the new company, while Kenwood stock will get a 1-for-1 rate. JVC definitely got the better end of the deal, with JVC's president continuing on in that role with the new company. It will be interesting to watch how this might affect Kenwood/Bain Capital bidding for D&M Holdings.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Home Entertainment

Every bean-counter knows that falling prices and shrinking margins add up to one thing - cost-cutting pressure. Now we get word that JVC and Kenwood are merging underneath a single holding company, aptly named JVC Holdings. Hopes are high for the new company, with plans to quadruple profit in three short years by focusing on car and home audio. Expect to see more of this kind of merger/acquisition activity, especially among small- to medium-sized companies as more competition -- especially from South Korea and China -- ramps up. Every JVC share will be exchanged for two shares in the new company, while Kenwood stock will get a 1-for-1 rate. JVC definitely got the better end of the deal, with JVC's president continuing on in that role with the new company. It will be interesting to watch how this might affect Kenwood/Bain Capital bidding for D&M Holdings.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Wireless

Sprint affiliate iPCS has butted heads with its parent company in the past, and it looks like it's causing a bit of a ruckus once again, this time over Sprint's deal with Clearwire to form a new WiMAX-focused company. As the AP reports, iPCS (which has 640,600 subscribers in seven states) thinks that new service would compete with it in the markets it operates in, and therefore violate the exclusivity agreement Sprint signed in 1999. To put a halt to that possibility, iPCS has filed suit in the Cook County Circuit Court in Illinois to block the deal, adding that it "intends to fully and aggressively protect and defend its exclusivity rights." Not surprisingly, Sprint saw this one coming, and it asked a Delaware Chancery Court to rule last week that the Clearwire deal didn't violate its arrangement with iPCS, although there doesn't appear to be any further word on that front just yet.

[Via Phone Scoop]
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Filed under: Wireless

Sprint affiliate iPCS has butted heads with its parent company in the past, and it looks like it's causing a bit of a ruckus once again, this time over Sprint's deal with Clearwire to form a new WiMAX-focused company. As the AP reports, iPCS (which has 640,600 subscribers in seven states) thinks that new service would compete with it in the markets it operates in, and therefore violate the exclusivity agreement Sprint signed in 1999. To put a halt to that possibility, iPCS has filed suit in the Cook County Circuit Court in Illinois to block the deal, adding that it "intends to fully and aggressively protect and defend its exclusivity rights." Not surprisingly, Sprint saw this one coming, and it asked a Delaware Chancery Court to rule last week that the Clearwire deal didn't violate its arrangement with iPCS, although there doesn't appear to be any further word on that front just yet.

[Via Phone Scoop]
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Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

We've just received an official statement from AT&T regarding the presence of an "iPhone Black" on its model selector earlier today: "The reference to 'iPhone Black' was simply a temporary placeholder used over the weekend for a scheduled catalog update. It was meant to temporarily distinguish the various iPhone models-4GB, 8GB and 16GB-but was never reassigned. We're changing the site now." Makes total sense, right? Three models of iPhone, two placeholders: iPhone and iPhone Black. You know, because "Black" has so much to do with memory capacity, and is easier to remember than 4, 8, or 16GB -- never mind the fact that we have good intel suggesting that the next-gen device is glossy black.

Also, AT&T, we know those cigarettes are yours, so you can stop telling us you were "just carrying them for a friend." We're not stupid, you know.Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Cellphones

Well, it looks like the struggling Helio may not be falling under the Virgin Mobile umbrella quite just yet, with the MVNO's parent company, SK Telecom, now calling such speculation ""groundless." An SK Telecom spokesperson further added that it was not in "any sort of talks" with Virgin and that it remains "committed" to Helio, although the company did seemingly leave the door open somewhat by saying it is "actively seeking opportunities" to expand its service in the U.S. Muddling the situation a bit further, Reuters reported on Friday that the two companies were in fact in "early talks" about a deal, although the source behind that story was apparently unable to confirm whether the deal was actually a merger or a purchase, or one of a number of "other possibilities." Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Well, Microsoft finally got SP3 out the door for you stubborn Vista-resistant XP users, and we're dying to know how you like it. That's right, you. See, our resident guinea pig intern hasn't felt any performance improvement, we've received tips from people who have seen a speed bump, and problems have cropped up as well -- we've heard reports of sporadic reboots and crashes, some of them AMD-related. But hey, forget all of them... how has SP3 changed your life?

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Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Well, Microsoft finally got SP3 out the door for you stubborn Vista-resistant XP users, and we're dying to know how you like it. That's right, you. See, our resident guinea pig intern hasn't felt any performance improvement, we've received tips from people who have seen a speed bump, and problems have cropped up as well -- we've heard reports of sporadic reboots and crashes, some of them AMD-related. But hey, forget all of them... how has SP3 changed your life?

View Poll

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Filed under: Displays

Sanyo's got a new duo of projectors hitting the Japanese market today, the LP-XC55 and LP-XC50. Both beamers boast white motifs, a boisterous 7-watt internal speaker, 1,024 x 768 resolution, a security bar enabling extra thick cabling to hold it in place and the Active Maintenance Filter system for easy maintenance. Essentially, the latter enables the filter to last longer between changes and "automatically senses when airflow is obstructed by dust, and advances the cartridge to the new filter." The only notable difference between the two is the 3,100 ANSI lumens (XC55) / 2,600 ANSI lumens (XC50), and of course, the ¥365,400 ($3,529) / ¥312,900 ($3,022) price tags.

[Via AboutProjectors]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Displays

Sanyo's got a new duo of projectors hitting the Japanese market today, the LP-XC55 and LP-XC50. Both beamers boast white motifs, a boisterous 7-watt internal speaker, 1,024 x 768 resolution, a security bar enabling extra thick cabling to hold it in place and the Active Maintenance Filter system for easy maintenance. Essentially, the latter enables the filter to last longer between changes and "automatically senses when airflow is obstructed by dust, and advances the cartridge to the new filter." The only notable difference between the two is the 3,100 ANSI lumens (XC55) / 2,600 ANSI lumens (XC50), and of course, the ¥365,400 ($3,529) / ¥312,900 ($3,022) price tags.

[Via AboutProjectors]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Gaming

Nintendo just brought WiiWare to the States, which means you can finally download original games to the console -- not just the classics available on the Virtual Console. While we're sure the Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles entry and the charming LostWinds platformer will do quite well for themselves, we've been drooling over Defend you Castle, the Flash version of which has sucked more productive hours out of us than we'd care to admit -- unemployment here we come! Games range from 700 to 1,500 Wii points ($7 to $15) and are available now.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Gaming

Nintendo just brought WiiWare to the States, which means you can finally download original games to the console -- not just the classics available on the Virtual Console. While we're sure the Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles entry and the charming LostWinds platformer will do quite well for themselves, we've been drooling over Defend you Castle, the Flash version of which has sucked more productive hours out of us than we'd care to admit -- unemployment here we come! Games range from 700 to 1,500 Wii points ($7 to $15) and are available now.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

A CNN Technology article described Rocky, a robot squirrel being used by researchers to study squirrel behavior in the real world. Rather than observing squirrels in an artificial lab environment, Sarah Partan of Hampshire College and other researchers are using robot squirrels to study the animals in the natural environment. Scientists hope to learn more about squirrels communication techniques, social cues, and survival instincts. In additional squirrel-droids, the article mentions other cases where robots are being used to study real animals in the wild including an intimidating robot lizard and promiscuous robot cockroach. The article doesn't mention whether Rocky has a built-in cell phone like the last robot squirrel we covered.