We’re entering an age where robots are beginning to think and act for themselves. Many have even become celebrities such as ASIMO. Programming is no longer necessary for them to do every little task. They can learn. And now, apparently, they can teach.
The South Korean government has announced its plans for robots to being teaching in pre-school classed by 2012. They won’t be the sole teacher just yet. However, the robots will be responsible for things such as reciting stories and even acting as a portal into the class room so parents can check up on their kids.
This will start off as a trial and if it proves successful they will expand the program and bump it up to Kindergarten level also.
I think it will be many years until it advances further though. At the moment, robots can only act a a supplement or a teacher for the most basic and least interactive of tasks and need human guidance. Crucial tasks such as helping kids with their problems and teaching new material to children can only be done by trained professionals.
Today, LG have unveiled their first ever laptop which is also the first ever laptop to get the official Windows 7 touch screen seal-of-approval sticker from Micrsoft. This is different to other touch screen laptops out there which use primitive overlay touch screen technology found on many budget touch screen phones. By using an inbuilt screen technology which leaves the screen firm and doesn’t reduce picture quality and responsiveness, LG are sure to have success with this model.
Undoubtedly, Samsung will be unveiling a competitor to this new product in the coming weeks and months, perhaps a little disgruntled having been bet to the post. Perhaps these touch screen laptops will be the new ‘iPad’ seeing as that doesn’t have enough computing power for most of us.
The LG model will go into mass production in the second half of this year although I’m sure some review units will be floating around. For now, we have this video from LG.
Wal-Mart, in an effort to curb losses through falling DVD sales have decided to buy Vudu, the popular video streaming service which is installed as standard on many media devices and is used by millions of people.
The New York Times have reported that Wal-Mart have been informing various Hollywood institutions and production companies of the purchase and it will soon be in total control of the streaming service.
What little information there is about the deal seems promising. Wal-Mart will complete the deal once the creases are ironed out and Vudu will “continue developing entertainment and information delivery solutions such as Vudu Apps”.
This is quite promising an perhaps it’s just what the online entertainment industry needed. With another big player entering the field piracy is being dealt one last blow as customers demand more quality especially with the ever growing popularity of HDTV and now 3D. We’ll have more on this new takeover in the coming weeks.
Two universities, funded by the Chinese military to train computer scientists for use in their forces, have had their computers used on the recent cyber attacks on major companies such as Google. This news comes as Google contemplates its withdrawal from China following disagreement with the Chinese government over censorship.
Interestingly enough, the universities are also part of a network which is operated by Baidu who stands to gain millions of users upon Google’s departure.
The Chinese government has denied any involvement of sanctioning of these cyber attacks upon US-based web companies and stressed it has been the victim of many cyber attacks itself.
“Computers at Shanghai Jiaotong University and the Lanxiang Vocational School in China reportedly played a role in the attacks, according to unnamed sources cited in The New York Times.” reported Information Week.
Cyber attacks are on the increase and are frequently becoming a method for governments to send diplomatic messages to one another. When the US asked Twitter to keep the service up (as apposed to taking it down temporarily for maintenance) during the Iran elections, it became clear that social networks and internet giants are the key targets in all of this. But how long will it be until utility companies and government databases are targeted on a big scale?
The Winter Olympics are well under way now in Vancouver but many of us are having trouble keeping track of both the results and the public reactions to the highs and lows of the games. Well Twitter have announced on their blog that NBC have launched their Olympic Twitter Tracker which allows you to see what’s happening in the games.
“I (@ChloeS) collaborate with our media partners, and have enjoyed watching them weave together new ways of experiencing these events that are even more engaging and interactive.”
This is definitely one of the best ways to follow the games if you can’t get to a television. A lot of us are stuck in school or work, so by just checking your Twitter account you can see what’s going on. The size of the pictures seen in the screenshot above, indicates how much a particular Olympic trend is being tweeted about. There is also a timeline along the top and different sections for different emotions such as those for fans rejoicing and those consolidating each other. Results are also updated regularly.
You can check out a video of the service in action here.
A few days ago, Apple took the extreme measure of removing almost all sex orientated apps from their app store, as we reported here. It seemed to be the case that they were selecting which apps to remove on a case-by-case basis. However, today only a few well-known apps are left such as the Playboy application. Apple have finally announced exactly why they did this.
So why did Apple decide sex apps had no place in the app store?
“It came to the point where we were getting customer complaints from women who found the content getting too degrading and objectionable, as well as parents who were upset with what their kids were able to see”
So for the issue of parental control and to not offend the iPhone’s female users, they decided to remove the applications from the store. I personally find this a little odd on two fronts.
Firstly, if women find these kinds of apps offensive then that’s fine. But they don;t have to download them. It’s not like Apple ever advertised them on the homepage. They were there in the background if anyone wanted them, that’s all. There are bigger fish to fry on that font rather than a few relatively soft-core apps.
Secondly, on the issue of parental control, I genuinely don’t see what good removing apps from the store is going to do. If a kid wants porn or anything of the sort couldn’t he or she just open up the Safari browser?
I fear this move is little more than Apple wanting to wash their hands of any objectionable material. It’s not that they’re against it.
Apple, have left in a few apps from big companies such as Playboy though, which seems to contradict the above. Wouldn’t they want to eliminate the big players? Or is the revenue loss just too much to swallow?
“The difference is this is a well-known company with previously published material available broadly in a well-accepted format,”
I don’t get it either.
Need proof that Google can simply barge into whatever industry they want to and be given the go-ahead? Take one look at how they’ve been given clearance to buy and sell energy having just put in a request to do so a little over a month ago and you’ll see what I mean..
Basically, Google can now buy and sell energy just like any other electricity company in the US. This could involve targeting the commercial market or even residential. As for now though, it appears as though they will be using their new found rights to get some cheap energy for their own use. Running huge servers and data centres uses up a lot of energy so getting it at wholesale prices wouldn’t be bad for business at any rate.
That said, it might not be too long until we have Google bills coming through our letter box as they’re currently toying around with the idea of becoming an ISP too!
There has been a lot of buzz about the Dell Mini 5 recently. Mostly after the extreme let down following the Apple iPad launch. For example, we discovered that there were prototypes on the black market before Dell wanted them released. Of course, now there are quite a few review pieces knocking around with dozens of review popping up all over the place.
T3 Mag, a tech publication based in Greece, released a video with two presenters (and a very unfunny DELLicious joke). When watching it, I recommend skipping right to the end. This is the interesting bit.
They point out that the dock, which will be available separately from the device, had a HDMI output port which presumably runs either to a TV or PC (or both). I think that Dell have made a great addition here. HDTV is new enough to the market and with 3DTV hot on it heels so it’s great that we’re starting to see some serious compatibility on mobile devices. Hopefully it will enable us to have a better mobile entertainment industry.
Facebook, undoubtedly the biggest social network at the minute, has been promoting and ramping up its ‘credits’ system over the past year or so. These ‘credits’ afford users the opportunity to use real world money to purchase gifts, apps and songs which can either be used by themselves or given as presents to other Facebook users.
Now, they are allowing users to pay with PayPal, which has in excess of 80 million users. Previous to this one could only purchase Facebook credits via credit card or by using their mobile phone. By intergrading with PayPal, Facebook will undoubtedly allow more people to use the service, particularly young people who may not have access to a credit card themselves but do have a PayPal account.
Recent speculation as to whether Facebook would be opening their own payment service to compete with PayPal have pretty much been put to bed with this recent update. Many people said that you would soon be able to “pay with Facebook” on eCommerce sites. However, it seems unlikely that Facebook and PayPal would be cooperating on such a big revenue-making deal whilst one party was plotting the downfall of the other.
‘Sex Apps’, which have been available in the App Store, pretty much since its launch have their days numbered. Numerous apps with sexually explicit content such as Jon Atherton’s Wobble iBoobs have been removed from the grill.
He received this Email from the app store:
The App Store continues to evolve, and as such, we are constantly refining our guidelines. Your application, Wobble iBoobs (Premium Uncensored), contains content that we had originally believed to be suitable for distribution. However, we have recently received numerous complaints from our customers about this type of content, and have changed our guidelines appropriately.
We have decided to remove any overtly sexual content from the App Store, which includes your application.
Thank you for your understanding in this matter. If you believe you can make the necessary changes so that Wobble iBoobs (Premium Uncensored) complies with our recent changes, we encourage you to do so and resubmit for review.
Sincerely,
iPhone App Review
Numerous apps, most catering to the male audience, have been removed from the store. A simple error message appears when you try to purchase one. However, it also appears as though Apple are choosing which apps to give the bullet on a case-by-case basis. Apps such as “Sex Strip” are reportedly still available. So are Apple choosing which apps are too explicit or just haven’t gotten around to eliminating all sex related apps?
They send this statement to Tech Crunch:
“Whenever we receive customer complaints about objectionable content we review them. If we find apps that contain inappropriate material we remove them from the App Store and request the developer to make any necessary changes to their apps in order to be distributed by Apple.”
