Google is kicking off its I/O developers conference Tuesday and the search giant is gearing up for a rousing keynote and a two-day conference filled with hardware and software announcements. More »
This article was written on December 14, 2005 by CyberNet.
The iRobot is not only a the vacuum that we all know and love, but now it has a sister, the floor washer. The vacuum was a very popular seller and so they came out with a sequel to keep the sales going. The review from PC Magazine said that it will clean your floors better than a traditional mop and broom. It is taller and wider than the vacuum is providing more power to get those pesky things scrubbed off of the floor. The downside, and of course there is atleast one, is that it has to be cleaned after each use. Well, some of you may say “We had to empty the vacuum as well”, but this is very different. With this floor mopping robot you will have three to four removable parts that will have to be cleaned after each use. Finally, if the $399 price tag doesn’t scare you away, then maybe the fact that you have to purchase the Clorox cleaning solution for it will. The solution costs $17.99 for three 8oz. bottles and you have to use the Clorox brand because “others might ruin the product”. If you have the time and the money then you should definitely give it a go! Let us know how it works out!
Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com
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This article was written on December 20, 2006 by CyberNet.
Several months ago I wrote an article about changing the default browser in Windows Vista Beta 2 and what a pain it was for anyone that had the User Account Control (UAC) enabled. While the purpose of the UAC is to protect the computer from hackers the simple task of modifying or installing something can be quite a pain. The concept of UAC is great, but I am still a little skeptical whether UAC will even help the inexperienced users that always click “OK” or “Continue” just to get the popup to disappear. At least Microsoft can say that they are doing their part.
At the time I was still learning Vista and wasn’t sure if this was some sort of bug in the operating system or if Mozilla had to fix Firefox (and the rest of their applications) in order to change the default program association. It is actually something that Mozilla has to handle themselves and they are working on making Firefox completely compatible with Windows Vista. The latest release, Firefox 2.0.0.1, fixes some of the compatibility issues that have existed, but there are still plenty that they need to conquer including setting the default browser. A comment in that bug report says:
We know it isn’t fixed yet. There is still lots more to be done. It is planned to be fixed for 2.0.0.2. Also, see bug 352420 for some of the additional bugs that need to be fixed.
While 20 bugs still need to be fixed the outlook does look positive since nearly 14 have been resolved (or supposedly resolved). Almost all of the bugs are due to the User Account Control “feature” which hopefully opens the eyes of other software development companies who are just sitting around hoping their software will work fine. I’m hoping that Firefox 2.0.0.2 ships in time for the January 30 release date of Vista, and as of right now it looks like both Firefox 1.5.0.10 and 2.0.0.2 are scheduled for “late January” so it might be close. I’ll cross my fingers and hope that I won’t have to hear the burning question “and why can’t I change my default browser?”
Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com
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This article was written on June 05, 2007 by CyberNet.
Have you been itching to get your hands on a Media Center computer that lets you record all of your shows? Both Vista Home Premium and Vista Ultimate include these capabilities, but you can download Mythbuntu if you’re looking for an open source alternative to put an extra PC to work.
As the name implies, Mythbuntu is based on the ever-popular Ubuntu Linux operating system. It makes it extremely easy to setup MythTV so that you can quickly begin recording your favorite shows. Here are some of the features you’ll get with Mythbuntu/MythTV:
MythTV is also well known for the selection of plugins that are available, as well as some themes. With nearly 300,000 downloads it’s looking like the MythTV project is doing pretty well for itself.
Even though MythTV is stable for you to use, Mythbuntu is still in the Alpha stage so you have to be willing to cope with some bugs and known issues. I’m sure it will continue to get better as future versions are released, and I think this could be the beginning of a beautiful thing!
Although lazy people will probably buy a pre-configured MythTV computer. 
If you want some screenshots of Mythbuntu you can visit this page, or screenshots of MythTV can be found here.
Source: Download Squad
Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com
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We caught and shot Osama bin Laden in a rundown, decrepit compound, lacking any direct contact with the outside world. But in 2001, the Times of London (and the Pentagon) thought he was living in a comic villain’s super fortress. More »
While we’ve been enjoying Apple’s and Netflix’s strong and extensive streaming movie libraries, YouTube’s been plotting a little jugular strike, sucking the streaming juice with a movie service of its own. Today, it’s real. More »
Shiny and purple. It may look like a baddy chopper from an 80s TV movie made in a Foxconn factory, but it’s China’s latest flying machine, the V750. And it means the Chinese’s aerospace industry is maturing dangerously quickly. More »
Steve Jobs demonstrates the iPhone 4 at WWDC 2010. Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com
Revealing how Steve Jobs runs Apple is like exposing the secrets behind a magician’s tricks. And several of the magician’s “assistants” just broke their code of silence.
In a lengthy feature titled “Inside Apple,” Fortune magazine’s editor at large Adam Lashinsky paints a clear picture of what it’s like to work at Apple, based on dozens of interviews with current or former employees at the company. In a nutshell: It’s a lot like working for a giant startup with a low tolerance for imperfection.
Take for example, the launch of Apple’s MobileMe web service in 2008, which was riddled with bugs and an embarrassing e-mail blackout for thousands of customers. This product release was so poor that critics labeled it “MobileMess.”
Jobs didn’t take it very well, according to Fortune.
“Can anyone tell me what MobileMe is supposed to do?” Jobs reportedly asked the MobileMe team after the fumbled launch. When he received an answer, he continued, “So why the fuck doesn’t it do that?”
Jobs didn’t stop there.
“You’ve tarnished Apple’s reputation,” he reportedly told the team. “You should hate each other for having let each other down.”
Jobs immediately named a new executive to run MobileMe, and shortly after the meeting, most of the team was disbanded.
Apple’s mercurial CEO is well-known for running the company like a ruthless dictator, on a level of secrecy comparable to the CIA. Fortune’s article does a thorough job unraveling the company culture at Apple, which recently surpassed Google to become the most valuable corporation in the world.
The last ambitious piece analyzing Apple’s culture came from Wired alum, Leander Kahney, in his 2008 cover story “How Apple Got Everything Right by Doing Everything Wrong.” Kahney interviewed several former employees, including Guy Kawasaki, who described Jobs as a manager who proved that “it’s OK to be an asshole.”
Kahney elaborated on why Apple’s culture of secrecy is good for the company: “… [T]he approach has been critical to its success, allowing the company to attack new product categories and grab market share before competitors wake up. It took Apple nearly three years to develop the iPhone in secret; that was a three-year head start on rivals.”
Adding more details to the Apple picture, Fortune offers a rather interesting nugget on an elite group at the company known as the Top 100. Jobs gathers these exceptional individuals to attend a top-secret, three-day strategy session at an undisclosed location. This event is so secret that members of the Top 100 are told not to mark the meeting on their calendars, and they’re not even allowed to drive to the location.
During the Top 100 meeting, Jobs and his top leaders “inform a supremely influential group about where Apple is headed,” Lashinsky writes. Here, some members of the Top 100 get on stage to present strategies or products that signal the company’s future. According to one employee, Jobs first showed the iPod to employees during a Top 100 meeting.
Outside of the theatrical Top 100 events, Jobs meets with executives every Monday to discuss important projects, and on Wednesdays he holds a marketing and communications meeting, Fortune claims.
There’s no excuse for employees to have any confusion after a meeting. An effective Apple meeting will include an “action list,” and next to each action item is a “DRI” — a directly responsible individual who must ensure the task is accomplished.
As for senior employees such as vice presidents, Jobs reportedly gives the same speech to all of them. Basically, when you’re a high-level employee, you have no excuses for screwing up:
“When you’re the janitor,” Jobs has repeatedly told incoming VPs, “reasons matter.” He continues: “Somewhere between the janitor and the CEO, reasons stop mattering.”
And perhaps the most fascinating tidbit from the article is about a program called Apple University.
Before his second medical leave three years ago, Jobs hired Joel Podolny, dean of the Yale School of Management, to lead Apple University. Podolny has hired a team of business professors to write a series of internal case studies about Apple’s most significant decisions in recent history.
The purpose? To ensure that Apple will remain Apple, in the event that Jobs were to depart. Investors and technology observers have debated for years whether Apple can continue to be so successful without the visionary leader that has shaped the company from day one.
That remains an open question, but Apple University’s sole purpose seems to be preparing for the day that the show must go on without the magician.
This article was written on October 28, 2006 by CyberNet.
Apparently when Microsoft was designing the Royale theme for Windows Media Center (the one with the glossy look) they were also pondering whether to release a black version. Apparently they decided against it but it has somehow made its way to the web.
The theme, called Royale Noir, has been signed by Microsoft so it really is believed to be made by them. Here are the steps to install and use the new theme:
The only thing that is kinda weird which I noticed is when you hover over the start menu it turns from the black button (in the image above) to the green button that we have all become accustomed to in Windows. That’s a little weird but not that big of a deal.
Note: The source below is currently down.
News Source: IStartedSomething [via Digg]
Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com
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A masters student at Georgia Tech University has created a system that allows a group of robots to move into formations without communicating with the other robots it is forming shapes with. The robots have no predefined memory or no prior knowledge of their location.
In the video above, the 15 Khepera robots make independent decisions based on the same information and by trial and error move their way into a formation that has been assigned to them. They move to spell out the word “GRITS”, standing for Georgia Robotics and Intelligent Systems.
Ted MacDonald, who devised the multi-robot system, explained to Wired.co.uk that most other systems tend to split robot formation into two parts. The first is figuring out where each robot should go and the second is actually making the formation happen. He wanted to find a way to do both of these things at the same time, i.e. be moving and working out where to go simultaneously.
He told Wired.co.uk: “Imagine if a group of 10 people were asked to form the shape of a box, but weren’t allowed to speak. People would look around to see if there were any lines forming and try and find holes for them to move into.”
His robotic formation used a 3D motion-tracking camera above the robots, which could assess the position of each of the robots and then broadcast that information to all of the robots over Wi-Fi — so they each had access to the same information. They then use an Iterative Closest Point (ICP) algorithm which assesses the difference between where they are positioned currently and the formation they need to adopt.
The robots can be placed completely randomly to start with. Each robot then makes an initial guess as to where it thinks the formation might be (perhaps noticing an early pattern emerging that resembles part of the letter). All of the robots follow the same rules and eventually converge to a solution.
The robots can be made to spell out any words in real time by following the same rules. Macdonald is now working on a variation that sees a leader robot (which does not follow the algorithm) be automatically assigned a role in the formation. This means that a single robot could be controlled remotely (by a human) to lead a phalanx of other robots in a formation, which could change en route.
Clearly in real-world situations you do not always have a motion tacking camera, but the same effect could be achieved by the robots having GPS devices relaying their positions to the others.
Macdonald is also keen to find out what happens if the robots cannot see every other robot in the group. So far it seems that they can still get into formation if they start off close to the right formation, but so far he hasn’t been able to mathematically prove when it works and when it doesn’t.
Potential applications for the technology include moving a group of robotic vehicles from point A to point B without experiencing congestion problems (which could have uses for the military). Because of the sophisticated 3D motion tracking, the same system could be used to move aerial robots into 3D formations.
This story originally appeared on Wired UK.
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