Friday, July 6, 2007
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RoboCup 2007 Underway in Atlanta, Humanoid Bots Clash for World Title
11:44PM Seamus Byrne | Although these bots have a long way to go before they’re able to beat a human team of soccer players, the RoboCup organizers say their goal is to have a team of fully autonomous humanoid robots that can beat the world champion soccer team by 2050, so they have plenty of time to practice. Meanwhile, the annual world championship, RoboCup 2007, is underway in Atlanta, and here’s some action from the preliminary game between the Darmstadt Dribblers and CIT/H. More »
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iPhone Battery Replacement Priced, $85.95
11:30PM Seamus Byrne | Apple has announced the details and pricing behind iPhone battery replacement. Users can expect to pay $79 for the service plus $6.95 shipping and handling. But even worse than the exorbitant price is that customers will need to give up their phone for three days, and must remember to sync their contacts to a computer since they will be wiped out. Hopefully the third party companies will get on board and market pricing down á la iPod battery replacement. But honestly, anyone who can afford to give up their mobile phone for three days probably doesn’t need one. Where’s the loaner, Apple? At least hook a guy up with an iPhone shuffle. [pcworld] More »
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Nokia N800 Software Updated with Skype and More
11:28PM Seamus Byrne | Nokia has just updated the N800 tablet’s operating system. They added Skype as expected, plus Flash 9 and 8GB memory card support, all while increasing battery life. Not bad at all. More »
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Motz Music Box Adds MP3 Player to Anything
11:01PM Seamus Byrne | Sadly in Japan only for now, Evergreen has released a barebones MP3 player designed to be stuck into anything you can think about. The Motz Music Box includes a 28×25×18mm base unit with USB port, supports MP3, WMA and OGG file formats and has a nipplestick attached with a short cable. As you will see in the gallery after the jump, it has the potential to create either incredibly cool or diabetes-inducing-cute MP3 players. More »
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iPhone Stocks Replenished Coast to Coast
10:57PM Seamus Byrne | Yesterday there were press reports (some say it was all hype) that the iPhone was sold out everywhere in the US except for Pittsburgh and Tigard, Oregon, but now we’re hearing stocks are being quickly replenished all across the country this morning, where at least 74 stores have already shored up inventories for the weekend, making that about 50% of the stores now refilled. Apple Store employees told us there was a tremendous supply of iPhones coming in “quite frequently,” and now we’re hearing that’s the case almost everywhere this morning (California is still lagging behind, sold out almost all over the state). Take a look at a list of stores with plenty of iPhones, and give us your iPhone inventory reports in the comments. More »
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Make Your Own Egg Cannon
10:46PM Seamus Byrne | This might be a great trick for next Halloween: Make your own egg cannon out of a few simple items you might find around the house including a butane lighter you’d use to fire up the grill. This short step-by-step video even shows you how to prepare eggs for minimum breakage but maximum slimeage. More »
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Human Drives Robot Dressed as Human Driving a Digger (Verdict: We Dig It)
9:55PM Seamus Byrne | Dressing up robots to dig holes. That’s more or less what Honda is doing today in Japan with their humanoid robot series, which not only can do Buster-Keaton slapstick shows but also act as human operators in risky situations. However, the important thing is not the robot itself but how they control it. More »
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Olympus Shows off Snazzy 360º Video Projector
9:51PM Seamus Byrne | This is Olympus’ new video projector, with its axial symmetrical free curved surface lens (no, I am not sure, either.) It works with a Charge-Coupled Device (CCD) camera (nope, sorry). It looks good, though, and sounds fantastic (am I doing okay here?). More pictures, including the CCD camera (sigh) right below. More »
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