Molly Wood is back in New York for a new Web show on CBS called Eye on Parenting, so of course we invite her on the show to chat with us about Gmail voice calling, the new Digg layout, and an ironic Twitter post from Gizmodo’s Brian Lam that …
Originally posted at The 404 Podcast
After Microsoft’s Surface multitouch table premiered, early implementations were limited: retail stores, hotels, restaurants, bored executives goofing off in board rooms, and university researchers modeling totally kickass Dungeons & Dragons games.
But why waste your time controlling virtual armies of NPC henchmen when you can control REAL armies of tiny robots? Or giant ones? That’s the Doctor Doom move. You don’t even need to peek at your WWDDD? bracelet from inside your hideous metal mask.
Nobody at the UMass-Lowell Robotics Lab (as far as I know) has a hideous metal mask. And they haven’t even built the robots yet — so this is still at the D&D level of virtual awesomeness/villainy, not cartoonish super-villainy.
But there’s important, amazing, yet simple tech at work in this proof-of-concept demo. The researchers use multitouch to send the robots scurrying around to execute commands, but also to pan and zoom a map of where they’re operating, create virtual subcontrollers, and display text and video data, all within the same interface.
The lab’s work focuses (among other things) on human-robot interaction, robot vision, interactive learning, and disaster response. The ease-of-use of multitouch controls is clearly valuable in all of those scenarios. As Evan Ackerman gushes at BotJunkie, “It’s not even that there’s anything that innovative going on here, strictly… It’s just that Surface is able to merge existing hardware and existing controls into a new interface, which makes all the difference.” Ackerman also notes that very little innovation in robotics research is happening at the UI level; the fact that a consumer/commercial product can be introduced on this end solves a slew of practical problems for existing robotics, not to mention potentially putting control of the technology in the hands/fingertips of many more people.
Now imagine if this research merged with the retail applications of Surface already in use. You go to a bar, touch a table, order a drink — and a robot navigates the room and brings it to you.
From UMass-Lowell Robotics Lab via the Microsoft Robotics Blog and BotJunkie.
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Remember when the iPad was first introduced by Apple? Remember what people said about the thing? That it was really just an oversized iPod touch? That sort of thinking seems to be a driving force behind the creation of iHome’s iA100. The thing really looks like a standard iHome iPod/iPhone alarm clock dock, only with a really, really big iPod/iPhone on top.
When the first round of iPod alarm clock docks first hit, I had a lot of visions in my head of sleepy people destroying their precious Apple gadgets as they felt around for the snooze button. Those images have, more or less, been compounded by the above shot of an iPad sitting on the thing.
We first wrote about the iA100 back in January, and it looks like iHome is finally getting ready to ship. I guess now we’ll finally see just how well Apple’s craftsmanship holds up under the stress of sleepy hands.
I should say that I have, in the past, used an iHome alarm clock dock with my iPod and didn’t have any major issues–though, for the record, I’m not a big fan of the Snooze button. And, as mentioned above, it wasn’t an iPad.
Have you ever scratched, shattered, dinged up, or otherwise damaged an iPod or iPhone with an alarm clock speaker dock? Let us know in the comments below.
You may have noticed that Digg got a pretty major overhaul yesterday. One of the nice aspects of the improved site is that it’s a little more social than its previous incarnation. So if you’re in the market for someone new to follow on Digg… well, you could always hit up Engadget on Digg. You probably won’t regret it. You can also follow Engadget on Twitter and Facebook, too!
Follow Engadget on the new and improved Digg… you know you want to originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Aug 2010 13:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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You might recall that Verizon and Motorola’s first go-around at pushing Android 2.2 to the original Droid didn’t include compatibility with the Flash 10.1 install in the Market — but don’t worry, lovers of Flash-based web ads, because the fix is now upon us. We don’t know exactly how long the rollout process is going to take, but you know how it goes with Android OTA updates: even if they try to stretch it over several weeks, there’s usually an update.zip floating around within a few hours that you can grab if you want to accelerate the process just a bit. Here’s the full statement from Verizon:
“Verizon Wireless has begun pushing an update today to the DROID by Motorola (introduced November 2009) that will allow customers to download Adobe Flash 10.1 via Android Market. Flash Player 10.1 provides access to millions of sites with rich content including animations, casual games, videos, rich internet applications, audio and much more.”
Verizon pushing Droid update for Flash 10.1 compatibility originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Aug 2010 12:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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A little backstory: HP has an annual in-house event for its employees called TechCon, and this year a challenge was issued to the engineers to make the best webOS app (free phones were offered as incentive). Got that? Good. This week, HP CTO Phil McKinney had a brief chat with Pre Central over Twitter, where he revealed that the contest culminated in about 500 produced apps, and that “[they] are in the final stage of selecting ‘best app’ winners.” Does that mean we should expect a large bump to the current catalog of programs? We can’t say for sure, but we wouldn’t be surprised if many of these are already available to download. Additionally, we can’t say anything as for the overall quality of submissions. Edging closer to the 4,000-app milestone is great and all but not if it includes 250 different Angry Birds clones. Still, we’re ever-hopeful and can’t wait to see what exactly it was that came from the internal coding challenge.
HP’s in-house webOS competition yields about 500 apps, says CTO originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Aug 2010 12:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Technology keeps getting smaller. With a few notable exceptions (speakers, for example), that’s just what it does. We love portability, and as we continue to carry more and more gadgets on our person at all times, it makes sense that we’d like each of them to take up less pocket real estate.
However, we’ve ultimately got to ask ourselves the question: how small is small enough? Or even too small? I wish my phone was a bit smaller (I carry a Droid) and because I’m a music obsessive and need every song ever recorded on me at all times, I’ve got an iPod Classic in a big rubber case–I wouldn’t mind shedding a few inches off of that thing.
But USB flash drives? I’ve got to say, I think I’m pretty okay with the size of USB drives. I can stick one in my pocket and forget about it–in fact, sometimes I think the things can be too small. I go through way more than I care to mention.
If, however, you find yourself overwhelmed by the sheer girth of today’s flash sticks, Moser Baer is here to save the day. The Indian accessories company has introduced what it claims is the “world’s smallest” 8GB flash drive. The drive is 2.3mm thin–which, we have to admit, does sound awfully thin.
The drive weighs 1.3 and features Chip-on-Board technology–that, apparently is what makes it so small. It comes with a lanyard, so you can hook it to your phone, et al–also, it kind of looks like a neon dogtag or a skinny popsicle. Also it’s slim. Did we mention that part yet?
“Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits,” Thomas Edison once said. But is hustling all it takes? Is progress always deliberate? Sometimes genius arrives not by choice—but by chance. Below are our ten favorite serendipitous innovations. More »
Is your mouse too boring? Does your hand routinely fall asleep while resting on it? Well, Microsoft, known for sexying up its mice with all manner of wild patterns, has struck again — this time, with the Wireless Mobile 4000 series. The six new designs are seriously spiffy looking, so if you’re in the market for a new version of your favorite peripheral, who could resist names such as Micro, Botanic, Cosmic, Downtown, Crania and Pirouette, who could resist? These bad boys will be available starting in September for $39.95 each. There’s one more shot below — hit up the source link for the full set.
Continue reading Microsoft’s Wireless Mobile 4000 mice get a sassy new coat of paint
Microsoft’s Wireless Mobile 4000 mice get a sassy new coat of paint originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Aug 2010 11:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Ford is now using Wi-Fi to transmit software features to its Edge and Linclon MKX crossover models while on the assembly line. By inputting software using the cars’ WiFi technology, the Michigan auto giant could customize a car’s components and behaviors for individual drivers rather than issue models with several different part variations.
Via the Wall Street Journal
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