EmuProphet - Slashdot User

Fast Navigating Guessing Robots 75

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday May 10, 2007 @03:55AM from the we-guess-that-you-are-weak-human dept.

holy_calamity writes "A new navigation technique for robots allows them to make predictions about what's around the corner based on where they've been already. It works well in repetitive environments like office buildings. If this were a Japanese project I'd say it'd be useful for robotic secretaries new on the job, but since it's an American one I suppose it'll be used for automated SWAT teams."

Which Movie Download Site Is Best? 205

Posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday January 03, 2007 @10:35AM from the still-costs-to-much dept.

mikemuch writes "ExtremeTech has reviews today of five internet movie download and rental services. The services/sites — CinemaNow, MovieFlix, Movielink, Amazon's Unbox, and Starz's Vongo — have various takes on how online feature-length films should be made available over the internet. CinemaNow has the most alternatives: Free, Subscription, Rent, Buy, and Burn to DVD, while the others offer some subset of these choices. Amazon Unbox has the best video quality, using a 2.5Mb/sec bitrate and VC1 encoding, while CinemaNow is the only one that lets you burn DVDs. There are still disadvantages to getting movies this way, but VOD is making headway, as these services show."

Quasi the Intelligent Robot 104

Posted by kdawson on Sunday October 01, 2006 @01:30PM from the but-does-it-vacuum-floors? dept.

Jake David writes to tell us about a uniquely emotive robot — named Quasi — developed by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University. Quasi appears capable of holding intelligent conversations. Here is a a video of the robot in action. Note that the animatronic figure is little more than the emotive organ of the robot, whose entirety encompasses the display booth as well. From the CMU page: "Quasi has a number of features in addition to his eyelids for conveying emotion, the most prominent of which are Color Kinetics LED lighting fixtures for his eyes and antennae. These combine red, green, and blue LEDs... His antennae can move both forward and backward as well as in and out, giving them an expressive quality not unlike that of a dog's ears."

PS3 Downtime To Fight Disease 289

Posted by kdawson on Monday September 18, 2006 @03:15PM from the gamers-for-good dept.

Aerenel writes, "CNN reports that Sony has teamed up with Folding@home to use the PS3 to study how proteins are formed in the human body and how they sometimes form incorrectly. From the article: 'Donating [a gamer's] PS3's down time to researchers could help cure Alzheimer's, Parkinson's or mad cow disease.' PS3 users will be able to download a software package that tracks when the PS3 is not being used. While gamers are in school, at work, or asleep, their system's Cell processor can be used to perform simulations for research organizations. The PS3, due in November, has gotten serious negative press in the past few months, and this refreshing good news may win back the hearts of gamers still undecided about purchasing the system."

Comment Re:Little Suzy. (Score 2, Informative) 1064

by EmuProphet on Monday September 11, 2006 @12:51AM (#16078930) Attached to: Newest Job Qualification — A Good Credit History

Your landlord, phone, cable, electricity, gas, and etc. companies run what's called a 'soft' credit pull/check that does not damage your credit score. It is when you request a line of credit or an increase in your current line of credit that calls for a 'hard' credit pull/check. These hard credit checks are what damage your score not your rental applications, don't be ignorant!

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