Hasta La Gadget!

This article was written on February 28, 2007 by CyberNet.

There’s a PS3 shortage? Where? According to Reuters, Sony says that they’re dealing with the shortages of the Playstation 3, and they expect the situation to be resolved by May

Jack Tretton, Chief Executive of Sony Computer Entertainment America says:

April or May is when we feel like we’re going to catch up to the demand and have the product fully in stock across North America and stay there.”

Does he know something that we don’t? Every store that I’ve been in has had at least 2, but usually many more PS3’s sitting on the shelves. And they aren’t going anywhere.  Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy, you name it, they all have the consoles in stock.  The shortage appears to lie in the customers who aren’t willing to pay the kind of money that Sony is charging for the system.

Another favorite quote from Tretton:

Our goal is to fill shelves across the United States.  Our goal is not to have empty shelves, it’s to have full shelves.  If we have empty shelves, that’s one less consumer who could have bought a Playstation 3.”

I think they’ve already achieved that goal, at least the part of full shelves 🙂 Sure the Playstation 3 has the great graphics among other things, but at the price of $500 or $600, it looks like consumers will take the Nintendo Wii with their unique take on a controller over the PS3 graphics.

And speaking of Wii, Gizmodo pointed out a way to get yourself into shape with Wii Weights.  Just attach them to your wrists and you’re well on your way to sculpted arms, just from playing your favorite sports games. In all reality, someone just took a typical wrist weight and Photoshopped the Wii logo on there, but hey, it’s an idea!

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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Had enough Google for the week? We thought not. We’re still cranking on content from the (admittedly momentous) first day, but we’ll be taking a break just after lunch tomorrow (May 11th in the great state of California) to bring you blow-by-blow coverage of the outfit’s final keynote for I/O 2011. It’ll be hard to top the bevy of introductions from today, but we’re guessing Google’s down for trying to top itself. We’ll see you tomorrow, and if you’re looking to follow along as it happens, you can bookmark our liveblog page right here.

06:30AM – Hawaii
09:30AM – Pacific
10:30AM – Mountain
11:30AM – Central
12:30PM – Eastern
05:30PM – London
06:30PM – Paris
08:30PM – Moscow / Dubai
12:30AM – Perth (May 12th)
12:30AM – Shenzhen (May 12th)
01:30AM – Tokyo (May 12th)
02:30AM – Sydney (May 12th)

Google I/O 2011 continues tomorrow, get your (second) liveblog right here! originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 May 2011 21:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Companies register trademarks and domain names all the time to throw us off the scent, but somehow this one feels different — DotWeekly reports that T-Mobile’s made a bona fide landgrab for the word “SnapPad,” buying up a host of domains and filing the trademark above, all within the span of just two days last week. Needless to say, we’re envisioning a host of potential slates right now, all with magenta trim… and wouldn’t it be fitting if they housed a speedy Snapdragon? We’ll keep you posted.

T-Mobile snaps up ‘SnapPad’ trademark and domains, inadvertently teases tablet? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 May 2011 20:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Earlier today, Google revealed plans to make our abodes more efficient and user friendly through Android automation, and it turns out they’re helping Ford to do the same for our automobiles. You see, our driving habits affect the gas mileage we get, and if our cars could predict our preferred travel patterns they could optimize powertrain performance to max out our MPGs. That’s why the Blue Oval Boys plan to use Google’s Prediction API to learn our driving habits and combine that data with real time traffic info to make its cars increasingly efficient. The system isn’t yet ready for showrooms, as there is work to be done securing the personal data and location awareness information it collects, but hopefully it won’t be long before every new Ford can help us get from here to there with minimal fuel consumption. Here’s hoping William Daniels is the one doling out the directions.

Continue reading Google’s Prediction API lets Fords learn all about you, tell you where to go

Google’s Prediction API lets Fords learn all about you, tell you where to go originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 May 2011 19:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Pneuborn-7II is what a 7-month old infant would look like if it were a robot.

Sometimes I don’t know what’s worse: robots with a face, or robots without one.

Especially when it’s crawling towards you crying “ma-ma!” as it rises up to standing height on its spindly metallic legs.

Researchers at Japan’s Hosoda Laboratory developed Pneuborn-7ll and Pneuborn-13, a pair of musculoskeletal infant robots. Their names come from the fact that they use pneumatic muscles as actuators (and in case you were wondering, they don’t actually say “ma-ma!”, as far as I know).

Pneuborn-7ll is the size of a 7-month old child, weighing in at 11.9 lbs and measuring 31 inches tall. It was developed to “study the relationship between motor development and embodiment.” Pneuborn-7ll is completely autonomous, and has 19 pneumatic muscles, including a spine with three pitch and yaw joints. An algorithm based on central pattern generators (CPGs) was optimized for the robot to crawl without actual artificial intelligence or advanced sensors.

Pneuborn-13 is Pneuborn-7ll’s 13-month old older brother, designed so researchers can study the effect of bipedal walking on the musculoskeletal structure. It’s 29.5 inches tall and weighs a scant 8.5 lbs. Pneuborn-13 is also autonomous, but has only 18 pneumatic muscles, primarily concentrated around the ankle, knee and hip joints. It lacks a spinal column, but can still manage to get into a standing position and perform walking motions.

Unfortunately, videos haven’t been posted of the duo in action yet, but we can expect them to be uploaded sometime soon. In the meantime, you can use your imagination to picture how these Pneuborns move.

Pneuborn-7II & Pneuborn-13 [Plastic Pals via CrunchGear]