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iCub - "The most advanced humanoid robot in Europe"

Lucy Hedges — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:39:00 GMT

Last week we were given some alone time with the iC Hexapod - a clever 6 legged automaton that interacts with you, tracks your face and movement, and snaps pictures of you too.

Continuing our seemingly robot quest, we went to the Institution of Engineering and Technology, joining a host of robot experts for the Humanoid Robotics Symposium, or more importantly to get a glimpse of the star of the show, the iCub.

We even bagged a video of it in action. It's pretty damn awesome, so make sure you check it out. Believed to be the most advanced humanoid robot in Europe, it is described by its creators as "incredibly reminiscent of a human".

The iCub is capable of 53 distinct movements or "degrees of freedom" and after watching it in action, movement was pretty smooth and impressive but not quite "reminiscent of a human".

The iCub is around the size of a three-and-a-half year old child and experts hope it will “grow” and learn how to walk and even how to talk. Robot boffins are also hoping it will provide the basic platform from which future robots are built.

Officials say the iCub will develop the same way as a child - progressively learning about its own body skills, how to interact with the world and eventually how to communicate with others.

The open source iCub is most certainly work in progress and is currently being developed across 11 European universities and institutions. There are over 20 iCub models, with each version doing different things based on the interests of the research team and specific core areas of development. But the overall aim is to "develop a humanoid robot with the physical and cognitive abilities of a two-year-old child".

So the version we met didn't have some of the components some other iCub models have. For example, the eye movement on this version didn't work with its (creepy) child-like mask screwed on, but we were told is a feature that works on another model elsewhere. There are also models that can walk. There's even versions that are learning to beat an egg and play noughts and crosses by mimicking what it sees.

On hand to help was Tom Carlson, a PhD student from Imperial College, London, who is part of a research team trying to teach the toddler robot to imitate human actions, rather than controlling it via software instructions. We also managed to get a few words from him in our video about the iCub project and what aspects of the robot his team are currently researching and developing.

For me, there is something inherently unsettling about a robot attempting to blend in with their human masters, but at the same time it is mind-blowingly awesome that the development of this kind of technology could one day see robot assistants (read: slaves) do our house work and other arduous chores. But don't expect it to clean your house any time soon - experts say it is only a base to develop future humanoid robots. We're still a long way away from the so-called humanoid android - like 30 or 40 years away.

As incredibly impressive as the iCub and its potential is, I couldn't help thinking Vera from Superman III (remember, when the super computer turns her in to a robot?) and iRobot the entire time... and we all know how that ended!

What do you think? Should robots be built to mimic their masters or is a machine with a human face just too weird? Check out our iCub video and let us know what you think below.

Video – Official Tron Legacy Trailer surfaces

Julian Whitehorn — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:47:03 GMT

After we had our socks blown off by the first teaser for Tron Legacy back in July, the official trailer has now been released!

We get a glimpse into the plot – former protagonist Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) has been missing for years, and now his son follows a clue to his whereabouts. As you'd expect, the 'in computer' world looks fantastic, and we're just itching to book our IMAX 3D tickets right now. Check it our for yourself:

iC Hexapod is watching you

jools whitehorn — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 12:16:00 GMT

We recently went to visit Matt Denton and his creation, iC Hexapod, which will be on show at the Newcastle Maker Faire next weekend.

As he explained to us, a hexapod robot is a six-legged robot, and he even sells kits so you can make one yourself.

But what is particularly special about iC Hexapod is the way Matt has drawn on his background in animatronics to programme a set of very organic and lifelike behaviours and movements. It uses the camera in its head combined with onboard facial recognition software to spot faces .

It 'wakes up' when it sees a face, and then follows the face around the room, even stealing a quick snap which it then uploads to its own website (www.hexapodrobot.com/ic/).

Check out these photos, then have a look at our iC Hexapod video

The iC Hexapod will be on show this weekend (13/14th March) at the Newcastle Maker Faire, along with a whole host of DIY tech and even a RuBot II – the world's fastest Rubik's Cube solving robot.

Video – HP Slate shows off iPad-bashing Flash capabilities

Verity Burns — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 11:40:42 GMT

Adobe has always been outspoken about Apple's lack of support for its Flash software on devices like the iPhone and the iPad.

Now it seems it's really sticking the knife in, with a video showing off Flash and Adobe Air's capabilities on HP's forthcoming Slate – and it's pretty impressive.

Alan Tam from the Adobe Flash product marketing team talks viewers through a five minute video showing off the tablet's capabilities in association with Adobe, being sure to push the importance of Flash to view 85% of Alexa's top 100 websites, and 75% of all online video. Clever.

Of course, as a Windows 7 device, the HP Slate was always going to support Flash, so it seems this video could be more to prove a point than anything else. As Tam himself says "With Flash Player on HP's Slate device, I'm able to access the full web, and not just a part of it." Take that, Apple.

All that aside, the device does look pretty promising and we're definitely looking forward to seeing more from this in the coming months.

Check out the video below and be sure to let us know what you think. How does it compare to Apple's iPad? Sound off your thoughts in the comments.

Video - Apple iPad gets TV ad debut during the Oscars

Verity Burns — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:29:06 GMT

Just a few days after confirming the iPad would be hitting shops Stateside on 3 April, Apple put out the first official iPad TV advert in one heck of a prime advertising slot - during last night's Oscars.

The 30 second ad whizzes you through most of the tablet's main features, although we suspect a lot of the apps have been speeded up for the purpose of the ad - something we see on iPhone ads regularly.

Either way, check it out below - it certainly creates the same desirability factor as most other Apple ads we've seen.

What do you think? Has the iPad won you over? Check out Penguin's plans for the iPad for an idea of what it could do on a bigger scale, and let us know your thoughts below.

Video – Penguin shows what the Apple iPad can really do

Verity Burns — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 14:49:55 GMT

We now know we can expect to see the iPad on sale in the States on 3 April, with a UK release coming later in the month, and while some doubts still remain over its functionality as an e-reader, that hasn't stopped Penguin Books showing off its rather impressive plans for the device.

The video below shows the company demoing a couple of ways it could be use, seemingly with a rather strong emphasis on learning.

Kids-favourite Spot has a new lease of life on the iPad, and Dorling Kindersley's The Human Body gets interactive, with the ability to zoom in on parts of the anatomy for a closer look.

DK doesn't stop there, with interactive travel guides, complete with maps and the ability to send e-postcards, and "Starfinder" – a guide to the "sky above you", which tracks your location via GPS and allows you to hold the iPad to the sky and get realtime info on the stars above your head – augmented reality style.

Vampire Academy shows off Penguin's plans for the straight up ebooks, this one coming with online chat, and now doubt some sort of social networking integration as well.

Take a look at the video below and let us know what you think – does it sway your opinion on the iPad?

MORE iPAD STUFF:

Murdoch confirms support for iPad

Gallery: hands on with the Apple iPad

First impressions of the Apple iPad

Apple iPad – what we wanted, what we got

5 things you need to know about the Apple iPad

Can the iPad save publishing?

Apple iBooks – Jobs unveils Apple's new ebook store

Apple iPad – what we wanted, what we got

Stealth hi-fi: Technics SL-1200 & SL-1210

Simon OW — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 11:21:00 GMT

Many people consider the Technics SL-1200 & SL-1210 to be the best hi-fi turntables under £10,000.

“What, those DJ decks?” I hear you cry.

Here’s a fact that might shock you: the Technics SL-1200 was designed for hi-fi buffs, not DJs. (Incidentally, the only difference between the 1200 and 1210 is the colour – the former is silver, the latter gunmetal grey.)

There’s something about its direct-drive operation that allows the Techy to grip the music and not get bogged down. Most turntables rely on a rubber band to spin the platter, and often struggle with timing.

But there’s a double-edged sword in here. On the downside, you can’t take the deck out of the box and expect it to be a world beater; there’s work to be done to it.

The upside of that is there’s endless upgrading and tinkering you can indulge in, and that’s the audiophile’s raison d’etre.

A whole cottage industry has sprung up around making the SL-1200/1210 awesome, and at the forefront of that is Sound Hi Fi.

The Technics’s most recognised problem is a humming power supply, so Sound Hi Fi offers the Timestep PSU, which they’ll fit for you or you can attach yourself with a bit of simple soldering.

Other, much simpler fixes are to replace the standard feet and the platter mat, neither of which damp vibrations very well. There are tons of options, some dirt cheap and others over £100.

The standard tonearm isn’t terrible, but it’s no audiophile-grade item. Swapping it out is a 30-minute process of removing endless screws and fitting a new arm and an adapter plate. It’s not unheard-of to fit a £3000 arm to a Techy – that’s how good the base unit is.

So, you can spend around £1000 on a Technics SL and some upgrades, and you’ll arguably end up with a turntable no other £1k deck could match.

Or you can go crazy. It’s tempting…

The best (and worst) of CeBit 2010

Mark Wilson — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 15:18:00 GMT

The annual tech jamboree in Hannover, CeBIT, kicked off yesterday. As tech trade shows go, it's an odd one: physically it dwarves competitors, because it covers everything from MP3 players to hospital equipment, via cash registers and military hardware, and the exhibition complex is the size of a small town.

But that didn’t stop us flying round the shop floor on a Segway to bring you the best, worst and downright bizarre launches at this year’s show:

There’s no escaping the 3D theme this year, and MSI's stand is full of 3D laptops and screens. It's also launched a 3D version of its all-in-one, the WindTop. It looks very nice but since it requires powered rather than passive glasses, we're not sure it'll catch on.

The AE2400, on the other hand, is a quad-core all-in-one with DX11 graphics, which sounds a lot more promising.

Best of all, though, there's a working prototype of MSI's twin screen netbook-type device. It's book size format looks like the shape of the future to us.

Asus stand is definitely one of the highlights of the show. Its centrepiece is the new NX90 laptop, which has been co-created by Bang&Olufsen's lead designer, David Lewis.

Its unusual shape means you can finally do away with external laptop speakers for listening to music, and it has two mousepads for an interestingly quirky new desktop interface.

Asus also showed off its shiny-shelled fourth generation EeePC, the 1018P. The DDR3 RAM should make it more responsive than most netbooks, but the real improvement is in the screen depth. The lid is barely as thick as a heavy piece of card.

A new brushed aluminium look for the PC-in-a-QWERTY case the Eee Keyboard doesn't make it any more practical, but does make it more desirable.

It may be too late to save the netbook, though. Taiwanese OEM Delux is showing 11inch lappies powered by Intel's dual-core CULV processor, and reckons wholesale prices will be as low as $260 (£175) a pop. Why would you choose an Atom-machine over that?

With the unstoppable rise of on demand cloud services, home media servers are starting to feel a bit old-fashioned. But until Spotify starts running video this ultra quiet machine from Cablecom sits unobtrusively by your TV and holds up to four hard drives worth of movies.

Before your living room turns into a giant video cocoon, though, you might want to head off into the great outdoors for a bit. And if you do, take one of these ruggedised hard drives from ADATA with you. You'll be saving it from being drowned like a kitten by its corporate overlords at any rate.

To keep it extra safe, you could pack it in one of Onlink's lightweight canvas pouches. They may look uninspiring, but they unfold into a portable solar charger with a selection of phone and laptop plugs.

Size is a big issue too, with both MSI and Shuttle apparently competing for the tiniest PC prize. MSI wins it, but Shuttle's look is better.

Hopping on the back of a passing milkfloat for a free ride home at 6am is going to get tougher in the future. Not because we buy all of our dairy produce in Tesco now, but because the modern electric truck is capable of 75km/h. Like this one, from EcoCarrier.

And the unworldly wrongness of this half mannequin, half screen sales talking digital sales assistant from Prisma. The most un-nerving thing about him isn't the bluntly hacked out ears or his uncanny resemblance to Barack Obama. It's the 2D chest and head on 3D legs. Brr.

Top news of the show, though? Binatone is launching an Android powered web-pad. Sadly there's no actual prototype on its stand at CeBIT, but we're hoping for a large orange controller with a wheel in the middle, and some sort of Pong variant installed by default.

Unboxed – Garmin Nuvifone A50

Mark Wilson — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 17:14:00 GMT

When Garmin first announced the Nuvifone way back in January 2008 smartphones and sat-nav were unfamiliar bedmates. But now we live in a world of free Google Maps Navigation and Ovi Maps on Nokia phones, is Garmin's sat-nav knowhow shoehorned into a phone still a lustworthy proposition? Let's find out.

First, the Nuvifone A50 itself. Built by Asus, it's a fairly unremarkable glossy black slab with almost identical dimensions to the iPhone.

On the front there's a bright 3.5in, 320x480 screen, underneath which sits a physical D-pad that's flanked by four touch-sensitive navigation keys.

Fire it up and you're greeted with a menu that leaves you in no doubt that the Nuvifone A50 is as much sat-nav as phone. It runs Android 1.6 (which will eventually be upgraded to Android 2.0), but this has been modded almost beyond recognition to create a UI that makes it ideal for reading from a car mount.

We haven't had a chance to take the A50 out for a spin yet, but it locked onto our location instantly, and all the standard sat-nav options are available including POIs and a link to Google Street View. The Nuvifone also stores its maps in its 4GB storage, so you don't need to rely on a network connection unlike Google Maps Navigation.

The A50 is also a fully-fledged Android smartphone with access to all the Marketplace apps, a 3MP camera and a multitouch web browser. It all looks very promising – we'll bring you a full review soon.

Apps of the week – The Oscars and Location Scout

Mark Harris — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 18:03:00 GMT

With Hollywood's back-slapping film fest just a week away, it's the perfect time to brush up your cinematic smarts with a couple of must-have movie apps.

The official Oscars app (free, iPhone/iPod touch) is a typically slick affair, with a complete list of every nomination for every award category (yes, even Sound Mixing and Make Up).

You can browse the films, watch trailers and read snippets about each entry. You can then pick (and share via email, text, Facebook or Twitter) your own predictions for who'll be sobbing about their parents and agents on March 7. A results page shows the current front runners - with 62% of votes, Avatar looks like a shoo-in for Best Picture.

Location Scout (free) deserves a place on everyone's iPhone. Fire it up and it'll generate a Google map with all the films shot nearby, plus links to the film's IMDb page and directions on how to reach the location. You can also search by place name or film title (including TV movies).

But it's not perfect - there are no photos in the app and locations can be pretty vague, returning a whole town rather than a specific street. It also needs the option to upload locations and images to really kickstart its usefulness. It's a B-movie rather than a blockbuster.

Philips 9000-series 3D TV: first impressions

Tony Horgan — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 14:35:00 GMT

Philips has been demonstrating one of its new ranges of 3D-ready TVs to goggle-eyed press here in Barcelona. The 8000- and 9000-series will be 3D-capable when they launch in June, although final details of the active-shutter glasses have yet to be settled. The flagship, super-widescreen Cinema 21:9 will become available in a 3D-ready guise in September.

So how was it? Well, I got an eyeful of a 46in 9000-series running a number of computer-generated movie trailers with a touch of live action here and there.

The temptation with 3D, as with any new trick, is to turn it up to the max, and while extreme 3D effects work in the cinema, on the evidence of this demo it seems a subtle approach might be more successful. The illusion of depth was fairly impressive, but was broken when characters popped out of the screen and were cropped by the frame of the set. In a cinema your field of vision is pretty much filled by the screen, but even with a 46in TV you're still very much aware that you're looking at a picture in a box.

Impressive, certainly, and with the glasses I was using there was still a fairly bright picture coming through, although how bright an image you'd get in a room that's not been darkened remains to be seen.

It's a promising start, and there may be time between now and the June launch to tweak the performance further still. We'll keep you posted.

Hands-on photos – HTC Smart

Verity Burns — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 18:45:04 GMT

You may have checked out our hands-on blog oggling over HTC's Desire, Legend and Mini HD handsets, but just the day afterwards, it also pulled the covers off an entry level smartphone called the HTC Smart.

Launched in partnership with O2, the phone will reportedly concentrate on offering smartphone functionality without the cost and complexity many consumers seem to associate with smartphones – a theme we've seen from a couple of manufacturers during MWC.

Run on Qualcomm's Brew mobile platform (the same platform used in INQ's phones), the HTC Smart packs a 2.8-inch touchscreen, 3 megapixel camera and 3G connectivity.

It's 300 MHz processor may seem slow on paper compared to the likes of Qualcomm's Snapdragon, but as it powers such a lightweight platform, it didn't seem painstakingly slow.

The HTC Smart picks up big points thanks to the inclusion of the improved HTC Sense, a thoroughly usable UI seen on all of the manufacturer's higher-end handsets, and of course its no doubt low-end price tag.

Neither O2 or HTC would be pushed on price, but they did say it would come in at half the price of a normal smartphone. We're not sure what price that is, but it sounds good.

Peruse over our hands on shots below (the handset will come in a choice of black, white and pink), and give us your thoughts below.

Hands-on photos – Samsung Monte

Verity Burns — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 17:26:38 GMT

While we had a nosey around the Samsung stand at MWC, not only did we bump into the Samsung Beam projector phone, but also the recently-announced Monte.

As the lower-specced of the handsets shown off at the mobile trade show, it packs a 3-inch WQVGA display, 3.2-megapixel camera, 3G, Wifi, and Samsung's older TouchWiz 2.0 interface, rather than 3.0 seen on the Wave.

As is becoming the norm, you'll find Facebook and MySpace apps built-in as well as Twitter, Bebo and IMing widgets available, and pictures can be automatically geotagged thanks to the built-in GPS.

Samsung was actually showing off a range of Montes, including some with hard keys, however Samsung informed us this was the only one planned for a UK release.

We're still waiting on release dates and pricing for this, but expect it to come in at the budget end of the market.

Check out our hands-on pictures and let us know what you think to it below.

Hands-on photos – Powermat range 2010

Verity Burns — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 16:45:17 GMT

Powermat first started to make the headlines with its wireless charging solutions last year. The idea was simple – whack a Powermat case on your phone, put it (and up to two other gadgets) on the Powermat plugged into the wall, and voila – your phone (or other portable device) would magically start to juice up.

As cool as it sounded, when I first heard about it I did think it was a bit of a gimmick that would never really catch on. But after paying the Powermat stand a visit at MWC this year, this company is making some serious moves in the next year and beyond that are really rather impressive.

First up, it's looking to make the tech more accessible by offering one and two gadget Powermats with a lower price tag, as well as make the phone cases a little more attractive by building the Powermat charger into a new silicone case rather than sitting on the outside of a hard case.

For the iPhone, there will also be an extended battery case similar to the Juice Pack Air, which will charge up along with the iPhone when placed on the Powermat, giving heavy phone users more juice – particularly for events such as festivals or long journeys.

Other things up its sleeve include the ability to charge netbooks from your Powermat, a portable, foldable Powermat which you can charge up before going somewhere for truly wireless charging, and a Powermat car charger as well.

However, the biggest and most significant development in the business in my eyes has to be the development of Powermat batteries for most big name phones (apart from the iPhone – damn you Apple).

This means you'll open up the back and replace the manufacturer's battery with Powermat's one and you'll get wireless charging with no need for a case.

Powermat said it was thinking of selling the phone-specific batteries with a one-gadget Powermat as a set, and although prices are yet to be finalised, it was hoped a price tag of around £50 could be reached for the bundle. Perhaps a bit of a luxury, but not a bad price.

Walking around the Powermat stand, it was obvious this company don't want to stop there. It has visions for the future, shown off at the show, that demonstrate just how far this tech could be taken. What about a coffee table which charges your gadgets up automatically when you put them on it? Or perhaps a kitchen work surface that'll kick off the kettle without the need of a plug? Maybe a wall that needs no electrical wiring to get a light to work?

It sounds futuristic, but from the demo I had, you could really see how this kind of tech could take the step up from portable gadgets to a more general household use.

Sure, it may be a while – no doubt years – before we actually see any of the latter make it to market, but we think it's safe to say that this company is certainly one to watch.

IMHO – You’ll never read a book on your BlackBerry

Paddy Smith — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 16:25:21 GMT

Email-addicted bookworms were presumably elated to hear Amazon’s Kindle app had arrived on the BlackBerry. At a stroke, more than 400,000 books became available to owners of RIM’s finest. And they’ll never read a single one of them.

Why? Because the screen is the size of a biscuit. If the history of literature was rewritten on a BlackBerry, you’d wouldn’t get as far as Chaucer. Although the spelling might be worse. And there’d be lots more swearing.

It’s fantastic that Amazon keeps giving us new and free platforms on which to enjoy its eBook titles. They could have shut out non-Kindle users from their digital stock, urging us all to rush out and buy an ereader. Instead, they’re gently inviting us to experience paper-free books without any personal investment (other than the cost of the actual book).

But unless you’ve bought a large-print edition of a really short novella, you’re not going to finish it. In fact, it’s questionable whether you’d make it through more than a couple of pages of the shortest Mr Men book. Why? Because the screen is the size of a biscuit.

Ostensibly, if you own a real Kindle, and you’ve left it at home, you can use the mobile app to catch up with your reading on the bus. Thanks to Whispersync, when you’re reunited with your full-fat ereader, it’ll automatically be on the page you got to on your mobile. Clever, but as you’ll still be on the same page anyway, totally unneccesary.

Amazon claims the app will deliver “the best reading experience available on your BlackBerry.” No argument here, although Mobipocket (which also makes a BB reader app) might disagree. But it’s academic when you’re squinting at a screen the size of a Garibaldi.

We’re willing to be proven wrong, but doubt that day will come. Read an entire book on your Bold and let us know how you got on. Or take our word for it: you’ll never read a book on your BlackBerry.