Toshiba creates Segway clone

Toshiba has created a personal commuter vehicle similar to the Segway. The scooter will be powered by a fuel cell and the LED lights on the front are for communicating with other Toshiba transporters to prevent collisions and to auto-navigate. Current Segways are illegal to use in Japan on public property so the anti-collision and auto-navigation features are needed to help this thing get approved for public use.

New Robot Adapts to Injury

Researchers at Cornell University have developed a robot which can adapt to injury. Most robots fail completely if something goes wrong, but this robot uses software to keep moving if, say, a limb is shortened or disabled. The robot maintains a computer model of itself which is adapted when its body or environment changes. Once an existing model no longer fits its ability to move the computer generates hundreds of new ones at random to test against the robot's last known physical movements. The computer calculates which new physical movements would be most effective and uses those.

Wii gamer breaks his TV

Here's the first of many incidents I'm sure we're bound to hear about with the Nintendo Wii. This guy lost control of the Wii stick and flung it at his TV while playing bowling on Wii Sports. "But there's a wrist strap" you say. Well apparently it's uselss because the strap snapped and the guy ended up cracking his 60" TV after spearing it with the flying remote.




I'm sure we're going to hear plenty more of these types of reports. "I'm serious officer! She stepped right in frontt of me when I was swinging my samurai sword!"

Paypal's Founder Finds Slide Funding

I'm not sure what to make of this really. I suppose press releases serve their purpose though. A serious contender for Photobucket or Snapfish or Flickr I suppose.

PayPal founder's photo slideshow site gets funding

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Slide Inc., a start-up that allows Web users to publish online slideshows of photos and other digital media, said on Tuesday it had received additional funding from two top Silicon Valley venture firms.

By Eric Auchard, Yahoo News

Is Apple About to Release iPhone?

Though I despise Apple and their philosophy of cult (or is that cult of philosophy?) and their insistence on design over substance, I cannot deny that their products do look and feel light years ahead of anything else on the market, and that stylishness is a major part of their success.
iTunes' hold on the iPod's music files, their insistence on proprietary security over their music and video files and their cultish followers are infuriating in a world of increased openness and freedom. The idea that I can buy a song, but only use it on 5 computers, period should be causing a worldwide revolt, but their progress forward as the single MP3 player acceptible in this brave new presence marches forward.

Now it seems that Apple is on the verge of breaking through the MP3 market and into the mobile phone market.

Apple's iPhone is Calling

One of the reasons the iPod has stayed on top is because it's a moving target. Competitors can't catch up because Apple changes the game every six to nine months.

Take the Zune. It's an iPod knockoff that's several years too late. Except for wireless Wi-Fi song sharing, it brings little new to the table...

By Leander Kahney, Nov, 14, 2006, Wired

Finally Some Headway in Hybrid Vehicles

It's about time that we are making some headway into hybrid vehicles. Though I think the fact that they are all still hybrid and not fully electric makes me doubt the full sincerity of the auto maker's new greenness.

Flex Fuel Hybrids Gain Speed

The folks who buy hybrid vehicles (who tend to be older and more affluent) are willing to pay a little extra to use less gasoline and to be kind to the environment, which makes them the exact demographic to also put alternative fuel in their tanks.

Wired, Tuesday, 14 November 2006

Bots Are Coming!

Having been the victim of a number of trojan, malware and adware infiltrations, this item interests me deeply. So deeply that I have to fight the urge to scream bloody murder at the tops of my lungs. That's how frustrating these things are to me.

The idea that there are people out there who do this for fun is one thing. The concept of doing it for profit is beyond my comprehension. How is it that companies that use malware and adware are still in business and not in court? The owners of these businesses should be in prison.

The latest threat to the Net: autonomous software programs that combine forces to perpetrate mayhem, fraud, and espionage on a global scale. How one company fought the new Internet mafia – and lost.

By Scott Berinato, Wired

Intel Brings Quad-core Chips to Market

It seems that the promise of exponential reduction in size and increase in speed is fianlly being realized. I remember when a dual core chip was the next big thing.

Intel is entering the quad-core era.

The Santa Clara, Calif., company on Nov. 14 is rolling out its first chips with four processing cores for servers, workstations and desktop PCs, and OEMs large and small are supporting the move with systems powered by the chips.

By Jeffrey Burt, November 14, 2006, Eweek

Consarnit Contrary Users!

Right on the heels of the previous post about Firefox 2.0 being a hit, there's another side of the story (of course) from those who think it's not the next best thing to sliced bread.

Is Firefox 2.0 a dud?

Is Firefox 2.0 a dud? Are users better avoiding it and waiting until a future build? Are too many of the new features buggy and incomplete and is the browser overall more unstable that previous versions? What about Firefox on Vista?

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes
ZDNet

PS3 is a Hit!

Well, the PS3 is finally out. At least in a limited fashion. Lucky gamers who attended the 2007 Sony Expo in Honolulu got to see it and try it out and they've given it rave reviews.

I'll have to hold off on my enthusiasm until I see it myself, but I think it should be great. Once the novelty of the Wii wears off and people get tired of the workout, the PS3 should claim a large following.

Gamers Rave About PS3

HONOLULU -- Crammed in the corner of a hotel's banquet hall, they stood and stared silently, mesmerized by what they were seeing. They were watching a soldier gunning down a giant monster on one TV and Miami Heat's Dwayne Wade taking over an NBA game on the other screen. What they were really experiencing was the new Sony PlayStation 3.

Associated Press

Trouble in Voteland

Well, it's not like we didn't all see this coming. And it's not like there weren't tons of people screaming that this was going to happen, but, like always, the feds are pushing it through regardless of the storm on the horizon.
Seriously, this is going to make 2004 look like a mild shower compared to the typhoon of horror I'm sure is coming.

Ohio Election Portends Trouble

Six years ago the world watched dumbfounded as the Florida 2000 fiasco exposed the messy underbelly of U.S. election administration. Since then states have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on new electronic voting equipment to ensure that the nation would never experience such mishaps again.

Kim Zetter
Wired News

Study Lists Symantec as the Best at Removing Rootkits

Symantec's Norton Anti-virus has been rated the best at finding and removing stealth rootkits, one of the most persistent threats to computer security. The downside is that none of the software tested removed all 20 of the rootkits included in the test.

Study: Symantec Best at Removing Rootkits; Microsoft Worst

Among existing desktop security software, Symantec's Norton AntiVirus 2007 suite is the best at detecting and removing stealth rootkits, according to a study done by Thompson Cyber Security Labs...

Ryan Naraine
Eweek

Firefox 2.0

After a year, Firefox releases their newest version of the popular browser of the same name.

"Firefox 2.0 Balances Innovation with Ease of Use"

"When Firefox 1.0 was introduced two years ago, the goal of the Mozilla Foundation was clear: take all of the innovations and strong features from the Mozilla browser suite and streamline them into a stand-alone Web browser that could compete directly with Internet Explorer and chip away at Microsoft's overwhelming browser market share. Looking back, Firefox 1.0 was an unqualified success. "

Jim Rapoza Eweek.com