Willow Garage Gives Away 10 Free Robots to Jumpstart Open Source Revolution

I thought this was cool, so thought I would share...  from Singularity Hub:

If you were a robotics developer, why would you want to apply for Willow Garage’s deal? For starters, the PR2 robot is a high quality machine. It has two sophisticated arms capable of grasping, lifting, and coordinated work. It can also see what it’s doing. According to its specs, it has two laser scanners, half a dozen cameras, and arrays of other sensors. Just as important as the hardware, however, is the software. PR2 is fully compliant with ROS, and other open source robotics code supplied by a vast community robotics experts.

AMD and Intel Announce Settlement of All Antitrust and IP Disputes

Wonder what this will do for 'competitive prices'.

Intel Corporation and Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) today announced a comprehensive agreement to end all outstanding legal disputes between the companies, including antitrust litigation and patent cross license disputes.

Tesla Motors IPO

Came across this link today which said that Tesla Motors was going to be going IPO soon.  No specific date yet, but I want in on that action!

Sir Patrick Stewart

Congratulations to Sir Patrick Stewart! :)

Firefox QuickFind and GMail - How do I type an apostrophe?

Sometimes, you'll be trying to type an email to someone and as soon as you type an apostrophe, a QuickFind bar pops up at the bottom of the screen.  Annoyed, you close it, click into your email and try again with the same result.  Really annoyed, you cancel your email and try again with the same result.  Rather than closing your browser, here's a simple and quick fix....

Click on the maximize button twice. It is the middle one in the top-right corner of your window.

Done. Fixed. Now get back to your email.

2012

Enjoy :)

D&D on the Surface

Ok, I admit... this is a cool use of the Micro$oft Surface

SurfaceScapes Gameplay Session from Surfacescapes on Vimeo.

from Gizmodo

Announcing EEG access for independent developers & researchers

Time for me to upgrade :)

We are very pleased to announce that EEG access will be released to independent developers and researchers (individuals, companies or incorporated entities that had a turnover less than US$100,000 in their last fiscal year) who are creating free and commercial applications for the Emotiv EPOC that will be distributed exclusively through our online application store.

A Research Edition SDK including full EEG access will be soon be announced at $750 (includes SDK, TestBench and SDK headset).

As you are an early supporter of Emotiv and an early licensee, we wish to offer you the opportunity to upgrade your existing software license to the Research Edition for $150 ($100 discount) from the published price.

This offer ends 15 January 2010.




We look forward to working with you to further the field of BCI.

Wishing you and your family a wonderful Holiday Season.


From all of us at Emotiv.

Google Public DNS

I was going to change my DNS over to Google, but using Speakeasy's DNS is faster for me [checked via ping and traceroute].

Feel free to check your connection.  The full documentation is the title link above.  Google's DNS addresses are:

8.8.8.8

8.8.4.4

Castles?

Now if only they were desperate enough to make me one of these at my price range =)

Car Theft

Some of you may remember last year when Edward Vasquez broke into and tried to steal my car from outside of Embers. Lindsey had courageously fought him off, and the two of us have been dealing with court ( mostly cases being rescheduled ) ever since. The defense had even offered to bribe me $2500 to not show up to court. Well, a decision was finally made. He was sentenced to 24 months of probation. Not quite what I expected for a 3rd strike felony, but...

BattleGate

Up to now, I have seen every Stargate episode - of each series.  It is sad that I no longer care if I miss an episode.  Stargate Universe has completely ruined the franchise for me.  I think the concept was doable - but execution was a bit lacking.  Why, for instance, does every episode feel more like an episode of Battlestar Galactica than Stargate?  It's partially the acting, partially the cinematography (if you can call it that), partially the overall look...  If I had wanted to watch BG, I would have rewatched the original (since the SciFi, er SyFy? one sucked).  I expected a lot more out of the Stargate franchise and will miss the enthusiasm I once had for new episodes.

Another Sun service bites the dust

They may say that it has nothing to do with Oracle, but we have all been predicting these things since the announcement....

We regret to inform you that on November 30th, 2009 we will be suspending the zembly service.

More than three years ago, we started this project with the goal of making it easy to create next-generation Web apps. Our original tagline was "Build the web, using the web," and the ideas we were incubating around platform-mediated Web applications, Web API mashups, and social programming were brand new.
We learned a lot along the way. Your confidence and enthusiasm helped us improve the project and do amazing things that we never imagined when we began this journey.
Thank you to everyone who's been with us through the ups and downs. It's heartening to see that many of the best ideas pioneered in zembly have started to appear elsewhere. With your support, we're proud to have contributed to the DNA of the Web.
For more information about the zembly suspension, please refer to the FAQ section at http://zembly.com
Finally, if you have questions, please contact us at zembly-support@sun.com
All the best,
-- The zembly team
Sun Microsystems, Inc.
4150 Network Circle
Santa Clara, CA 9505