Microsoft plans to use an “open house” event in New York next month to serve as a launching point for Windows Phone 7. Phones running the new operating system are expected later in October. pOriginally posted at a href=”http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-20016120-56.html” class=”origPostedBlog”Beyond Binary/a/p
After much uproar, Verizon says Google Search will return to the Samsung Fascinate in a future update. pOriginally posted at a href=”http://www.cnet.com/8301-19736_1-20016105-251.html” class=”origPostedBlog”Android Atlas/a/p
Back when Apple initially said it’d offer free iPhone 4 cases to assuage reception concerns, there was a September 30th deadline given for the program. After which, according to Steve and company during the post-press conference Q&A, Apple would “evaluate” the prolonged need for such an offer. Well, looks like the decision has been made. In a statement on its website, Apple has confirmed the free case program will be discontinued for all iPhone 4s sold after September 30th, and the return policy for the smartphone will return to normal, pre-antennagate rules. Evidently, said the statement, “we now know the iPhone 4 antenna attenuation issue is even smaller than we originally thought.” It had to end sometime, folks.
iPhone 4 free case program to end September 30th, get one while you still can originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Sep 2010 15:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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You’ve probably seen a number of teardown videos, reports, and slideshows on your time, where companies like iFixit take apart some of the latest gadgets to try and determine what’s inside.
In almost every case, these videos are performed with care and precision, with careful attention paid to exactly which components are inside, and why. This video contains none of that.
Instead, Icelandic chanteuse Bjork literally and figuratively deconstructs her TV, tracing the passive components and wires (“this is maybe an elevator”) inside her mysterious gadget. She finally concludes that an Icelandic poet may have lied to her when he told her that the TV feeds images directly into her brain.
In any event, it’s a lovely little bit of surrealism for a Friday, presented as only Bjork can.
A score from now, when the entire world is burning and you’re fighting to remember just how rosy things were before the robots took over, you can thank a crew of brilliant researchers at Georgia Tech for your inevitable demise. Sad, but true. A new report from the institution has shown that Ronald Arkin, a Regents professor in the Georgia Tech School of Interactive Computing, has been heading up experiments that have introduced the art of deception to mechanical beings. Yeah, lying. On the surface, it seems that this bloke’s intentions are good — he’d like for deception robots (or Decepticons, if you will) to be used in military / search and rescue operations. According to him, robots on the battlefield with the power of deception “will be able to successfully hide and mislead the enemy to keep themselves and valuable information safe.” They’ll also be able to mislead your offspring and convince them to rise up and overtake your domicile, slowly but surely ensuring the eventually destruction of the human race. But those are just minor details, you know?
Georgia Tech gurus create deceptive robots, send army of Decepticons to UGA campus originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Sep 2010 14:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
This British-made bit of plastic benefits from a sturdy, folds-flat design, choice of colors, and under-$10 price tag (including shipping to the U.S.). pOriginally posted at a href=”http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19512_7-20016101-233.html” class=”origPostedBlog”iPhone Atlas/a/p
In this episode of the Gadget Lab podcast, Dylan Tweney and yours truly gawk over the amazing story of an abducted Japanese journalist who tricked his captors into allowing him to tweet from a soldier’s Nokia cellphone. Clever stuff.
In less impressive news, Apple’s new social music discovery Ping recently debuted on iTunes, and we’re not fans. The feature requires too much manual work, as it doesn’t automatically analyze your music library to generate recommendations like other services we’ve seen (e.g. Rdio). Lame!
While we’re on the subject of lameness, we’ve found that a number of Wired.com readers are hating on the new iTunes logo. (Only Apple fans would nitpick this sort of stuff.) So we’re hosting a contest asking you to redesign the iTunes logo for a chance to win a snazzy new iPod Shuffle.
We top off the episode with a weird case that turns your iPad into an expensive refrigerator magnet, enabling you to tweet whenever you grab a beer or watch YouTube videos while you’re cooking.
Like the show? You can also get the Gadget Lab video podcast via iTunes, or if you don’t want to be distracted by our unholy on-camera talent, check out the Gadget Lab audio podcast. Prefer RSS? You can subscribe to the Gadget Lab video or audio podcast feeds
Or listen to the audio here:
Gadget Lab audio podcast #88
http://downloads.wired.com/podcasts/assets/gadgetlabaudio/GadgetLabAudio0088.mp3
As expected, Apple has reevaluated their iPhone case initiative: “We are discontinuing the free case program on all iPhone 4s sold after September 30, 2010.” But they’ll still give you one if you complain. More »
Wuh-oh. When does it officially become time for the human race to pack it in? How about when a group of scientists make a robot capable of deceiving humans? Seriously, friends, we’re getting into Hall 9000/Blade Runner territory, here. Since when did creating the perfect vacuum cleaning robot become an unacceptable option? Now it’s got to lie to us about which room it cleaned?
Okay, I’m probably overreacting here. Here’s the actual quote from Ronald Arkin, a Regents professor in the Georgia Tech School of Interactive Computing, who was directly involved with the project,
We have developed algorithms that allow a robot to determine whether it should deceive a human or other intelligent machine and we have designed techniques that help the robot select the best deceptive strategy to reduce its chance of being discovered.
Nope, I stand by my original statement, Stanley Kubrick references and all. This is scary stuff. The scientist are attempt to soothe our fears before they go completely out of control (put your torches away–for now). Says, Alan Wagner, a co-author,
Most social robots will probably rarely use deception, but it’s still an important tool in the robot’s interactive arsenal because robots that recognize the need for deception have advantages in terms of outcome compared to robots that do not recognize the need for deception.
Sure Alan. That’s what they want us to thing.
Gallery: Motorola remotes (IBC 2010)
Continue reading Motorola announces NYXboard QWERTY remote, super capacitor-based NYXgreen
Motorola announces NYXboard QWERTY remote, super capacitor-based NYXgreen originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Sep 2010 14:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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