Filed under: Robots

WowWee, your favorite neighborhood bot-makers, have busted out of the gate at CES this year with another handful of new automatons sure to please even the toughest of fans... probably. On tap for the 2008 lineup are the Tribot, a three-wheeled robot which sports "distinct expressions" and "animated eyebrows," and can be controlled via a tilt sensor remote. Also on tap is the Femisapien, the female counterpart to the company's terrifically popular Robosapien line. Other inclusions are Wrex the Dog, a (you guessed it) dog robot with "desires and distinct moods" (happy, angry, and... er, crazy), as well as the Chatterbot, robo-figurines that connect to your PC via USB and can interact with email, IM, and web browsing apps (annoyingly, we suspect). WowWee is also introducing a new IR controller, the RoboRemote, which lets you program and assign individual buttons for elicit activities with your Robosapien, Robosapien V2, and Roboreptile, amongst others. Seem like a lot? That's just the Robotics gang -- stay tuned for another batch of bots from the company's other lines.

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Promises online musical treasure chest

The Pirate Bay, the controversial Swedish piracy torrent tracker, is launching a music site where users can share as much music as they want.

Well, that certainly didn't take very long at all. Just a day after the Supreme Court smacked down the Federal Circuit for not properly reviewing patents for "obviousness," Vonage has used the case as an opportunity to ask the courts for a retrial in their VoIP patent lawsuit with Verizon. Vonage claims that, under the new obviousness test, Verizon's patents may be toast. When combined with recent discoveries of prior art that certainly may be true. This certainly is opportunistic of Vonage, but it will be interesting to see how the courts react to this request. One that that's definitely become clear is that courts at all levels are actually going to have to look more closely at obviousness, rather than brushing it off as they have for years. In the meantime, expect many more cases along these lines in the near future. It may clog the system for a bit, but if the end result is fewer bogus patents, it's worth it.