The Navy's robotic ship

Grok Headline matches for The Navy's robotic ship

PNI Sponsors Local Robotic Vehicle Team:
Desert Field Test of Robotic Vehicles
Offers $2 Million Prize

PNI Sponsors Local Robotic Vehicle Team:
Desert Field Test of Robotic Vehicles
Offers $2 Million Prize 12/17/2004 06:40 PM
Cobalt Horizons announced that PNI Corporation will support its efforts to win a $2 million prize in a Defense Department research and development initiative aimed at advancing robotics technologies for future military use. The initiative, known as the DARPA Grand Challenge, is a field test of fully autonomous ground vehicles to be conducted in the Mojave Desert on October 8, 2005. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is offering the $2 million to the vehicle that completes the course the fastest within a 10-hour period. [PRWEB Oct 20, 2004]

Navy's SA-60 High-Altitude Blimp

Navy's SA-60 High-Altitude Blimp 07/06/2004 11:39 AM

Now I'm not saying the Navy's new spherical test blimps look like giant, fake space breasts -- just because there's a circle within a circle and a little nipple-looking bit doesn't mean I'd be that crass -- but it does look an awful lot like a peering eye, which I guess would be more in theme, considering the Navy intends to use the new SA-60 blimps as mobile observation posts. And there's even a good reason for the ball-like shape -- the SA-60 can approach altitudes of up to 22,000 feet, almost four times as high as traditional cigar-shaped airships can fly. While the current version is piloted, future iterations will be unmanned to allow for flights of up to two days straight.
Read - BLIMPBALL IN NAVY TESTS [DefenseTech]

Judge Blocks Navy's Plan for Airfield
Near Flyway

Judge Blocks Navy's Plan for Airfield
Near Flyway 04/21/2004 12:45 AM
A federal judge in North Carolina has ordered the Navy to halt its efforts to create a new landing field for training pilots five miles from a large migratory bird refuge.

Robotic skin

Robotic skin 07/03/2004 04:42 PM
Interesting article about a new design for "electronic skin" as sensitive to touch as our own:

"Recognition of tactile information will be very important for future generations of robots," says Takao Someya at the University of Tokyo who developed the skin. A sense of touch would help them to identify objects, carry out delicate tasks and avoid collisions. But while a lot of effort has gone into vision and voice recognition for robots, touch sensitivity is still fairly rudimentary.

Our own skin contains a battery of touch receptors that produce nerve signals when pressed. For gentle pressures, the main sensors are tiny bulbs of layered tissue called Meissner's corpuscles. Their behaviour is mimicked in plastics such as polyvinylidene fluoride, which generate an electric field when squeezed and are used to make pressure-sensitive pads for computer keyboards and other touch-triggered devices.

Link (via Beverly)

Robotic Scientist

Robotic Scientist 01/16/2004 11:02 AM
Robotic Scientist - Scientists created a closed, automated system to conduct simple labor intensive scientific experiments in molecular genetics. The robot creates hypothesis and tests them. Supposedly it works more efficiently (picks less expensive experiments, and fewer of them) then its human counterparts (graduate students in biology and comp sci.). More detailed article in Nature here (institutional access / subscription required). I for one, welcome our new robot overlords.

Ask the Robotic Psychiatrist

Ask the Robotic Psychiatrist 04/19/2004 12:20 PM

Erotic Robotic

Erotic Robotic 05/16/2004 03:40 AM
JANE PINCKARD -- It's interesting that so many seem to find cold shiny steel arousing. I mean, robots and sex? Robots are, like, the antithesis of the best sex - messy, sweaty, sweet and tasty. BUT - and maybe this is something for Fleshbot to grapple with - there is...

Nothing Robotic About Robo-Art

Nothing Robotic About Robo-Art 09/21/2004 06:37 AM
The ArtBots show in New York this past weekend proved that robots can wax artistic, too -- or at least carry out the instructions of their artistic creators. Cyrus Farivar reports from New York.

DIY Robotic Exoskeleton

DIY Robotic Exoskeleton 12/24/2004 12:54 PM
CNET, Slashdot, and Boing Boing are reporting on Carlos Owens, a 26 year old steelworking in Anchorage, Alaska who is building an 18 foot, hydraulic exoskeleton. The soon to be finished unit, named NMX04-1A, will be equipped with a flame thrower and other fun accessories. The CNET article mentions several other exoskeletons both real and fictional that have been inspired since Robert Heinlein invented them in his novel Starship Troopers. Photos of NMX04-1A and a log of construction progress can be found on the builder's website. CNET also has a photo gallery of giant robots in a sidebar.

"Robotic Dance"

"Robotic Dance" 12/20/2003 09:47 PM

Robotic wheelchairs

Robotic wheelchairs 05/27/2004 11:02 AM
BoingBoing reader Roland Piquepaille says,

Traditional wheelchairs used by the elderly and people with severe disabilities have some limited functions and flexibility. Their users often need help from nurses or relatives. Several teams are currently at work to develop robotic wheelchairs to overcome these limitations. For example, researchers from the University of Essex and the Institute of Automation at Beijing are developing the RoboChair.

RoboChair will be equipped with a vision system and a 3G wireless communication system. It will be able to avoid collisions and to plan a path. Meanwhile, Professor Ray Jarvis of Monash University’s Intelligent Robotics Centre in Australia, is building another robotic wheelchair which will help people to travel off the beaten track (PDF format, 1 page, 131 KB). His prototype system combines robotic navigation with a four-wheel drive. It automatically ad apts itself to the user’s capabilities and takes control when needed. You'll find more details and a picture in this overview. Keep in mind that there are still major issues to solve, such as security and costs, before these robotic wheelchairs become available.

Link

Robotic Librarian

Robotic Librarian 02/17/2004 10:26 PM
The new Librarian at the Valparaiso University in Valparaiso Indiana will be a Robotic Librarian. The books will put in specially designed metal bins and the students can select any of the obscure books from the internet that they want then the robotic crane device goes fetches selections and drop them to an accessible location for the students to pick up at their convenience. The school hopes to eventually have about 600,000 books in their system for check out. (Other colleges also have installed simlar devices.) The high tech library building will cost about $33 million. I don't think they have such a cool robotic librarian at my old alma matter. :-/

L.A. Zoo goes Jurassic with robotic
Dinosaur Den

L.A. Zoo goes Jurassic with robotic
Dinosaur Den 05/25/2004 02:15 AM
USA Today May 25 2004 6:17AM GMT

Mitsubishi's Robotic Carp

Mitsubishi's Robotic Carp 11/10/2003 10:56 PM
The Washington Times says that a robotic carp was invented for some reason. It seems that Japanese researchers at Mitsubishi have spent over $1 million to create a life-size robotic carp. The robotic fish is about 3 feet long and moves about 12 inches per hour. Except for the eyes, this fish looks like the real thing. One possible use might be to catch Koi Carp Poachers which are rumored to bring in $80k each. Mitisubish also plans to create a fish tank (virtual aquarium) filled with robotic replica long extinct marine creatures "just for fun".

Life on the Robotic Farm

Life on the Robotic Farm 12/30/2004 04:41 PM
The Swirling Brain sent a link to a CNN.com article that talks about the benefits of automation on the modern farm. The farmer sits in the air conditioned cab of his self-driving, GPS-guided tractor, checking stock prices and surfing the web. The tractor knows where it's going, and can continue in the dark. It even knows precisely where it left off yesterday so it can start in the right place today. The system also keeps maps of the fields to make sure this years plantings don't go over old root systems.

Fly Over Mars... in a Robotic Balloon

Fly Over Mars... in a Robotic Balloon 02/12/2004 01:24 AM

More Segway-inspired robotic fun

More Segway-inspired robotic fun 11/13/2003 11:13 AM
BoingBoing buddy and robotics whiz John Wiseman says:

Regarding Segway robotics, I thought you might be interested to know that DARPA funded development of a Segway-based common robotics platform (the "RMP"): Link. A group at CMU is working on a Robocup robot soccer team using the Segway RMP: Link. One cool thing about their work is that it's the first robot soccer team (as far as I know) that can play with and against humans on the field. Unfortunately they don't seem to have any images/video of that online; I saw some video at a conference a few weeks ago.

Random thing #1: I hear there's an upcoming exhibit at the Center for Land Use Interpretation of video from cameras mounted on sheep, spiders, tumbleweeds, etc. Sounded cool. Link. Sheep stampede video: Link. Random thing #2: Origami folding robot at CMU: Link.

Robotic Wheelchairs of the Future

Robotic Wheelchairs of the Future 05/27/2004 12:27 PM
From Roland Piquepaille's blog comes news on the future of robot wheelchairs. Traditional wheelchairs have limited functions and flexibility. Their users often need help from nurses or relatives. Several teams are working on robotic wheelchairs to overcome these limitations. For example, researchers from the University of Essex Human Centred Robotics Group and the Institute of Automation in Beijing are developing RoboChair, which is equipped with vision and 3G wireless communication. It will be able to avoid collisions and plan a path. Meanwhile, Professor Ray Jarvis of Monash University's Intelligent Robotics Centre in Australia, is building another robotic wheelchair (PDF format) which will help people to travel off the beaten track. His prototype combines robotic navigation with four-wheel drive. It automatically adapts itself to the user's capabilities and takes control when needed. And we can't forget to mention Dean Kamen's iBOT.

AVRbased Robotic Modules

AVRbased Robotic Modules 04/12/2004 01:00 PM
Release of AVR ISP

$10 robotic floor cleaner

$10 robotic floor cleaner 04/04/2005 06:26 PM
Mark Frauenfelder: In the latest edition of Cool Tools, James Tierney reviews a $10 floor cleaner called the RoboMaid that looks a little like a Roomba.

Robomaid is a low tech, very cheap version of Roomba cleaner.  It doesn't clean rugs, but has done a great job on our wood, tile, and stone floors.   The design is wonderful in its elegance: a powered ball propelling a sweeping "hat".  Like Roomba it cleans along walls, under tables and desks, and in corners where it would be difficult to clean otherwise.  It uses no intelligence, so it randomly changes direction, but is surprisingly thorough.  Especially since I don't care how long it takes.

Link

Homebrew Robotic Lawmower

Homebrew Robotic Lawmower 06/24/2004 06:09 PM
Slashdot posted an "ask Slashdot" article yesterday asking for advice on building a homebrew robotic lawmower. As you might expect, reader advice is all over the place from "buy a sheep" to building a complex vision-based robot utilizing low-kinetic-energy cutting attachments for safety.

Army Looks at Robotic Dogs

Army Looks at Robotic Dogs 01/08/2004 08:49 PM
Slashdot Jan 8 2004 10:32AM ET

Robotic mating proposal

Robotic mating proposal 03/28/2005 01:17 PM
Xeni Jardin: Jason Striegel wrote an interesting post for Hackaday about a proposed sexual evolution mechanism for robots. He tells Boing Boing:

Using Lego Mindstorms, you can create simple robots that have the ability to mate (swap a simple software genome) and evolve (random chance of single point mutations). Mutations that make a robot unfit for traversing its environment or unable to mate will effectively drive it toward extinction as it cannot pass on its genes.

It's a pretty interesting experiment, as you can watch novel behaviors emerge with each generation. Even more interesting are the possible applications for an evolution based robotic platform. Two things that immediately come to mind are sex-based software upgrade mechanisms for distributed machines and distributed robot cultures that can adapt as a group to be optimized for communication in an environment, rather than being explicitly programmed for the task.

Now, I couldn't find any specific reference to fembots with gun-boobies in Jason's post, but any excuse to post this jpeg's a good one. Link

James P. Howard says:

This is ancient technology. Start with the Wikipedia article on genetic algorithms (Link) and for an excellent lay introduction, suggest "Artificial Life" by Steven Levy (Amazon Link)

Robotic Traffic Cones

Robotic Traffic Cones 04/30/2004 12:10 PM
NewScientist published an article Wednesday on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln project to develop self-propelled, robotic highway safety markers. Developed by the UNL Robotics and Mechatronics Lab, the robots are designed to improve safety by assuring correct work zone shapes. The robots can quickly deploy and reconfigure when needed to adjust the shape and size of the work zone. The work was done as part of the National Cooperative Highway Research Program's IDEA project. The story has been picked up by Slashdot, the BBC (includes photos), and from there has been turning up in local papers everywhere.

MIT and GM Develop Robotic Smart Car

MIT and GM Develop Robotic Smart Car 09/02/2004 09:34 PM
The MIT Media Lab and General Motors will be presenting a new, robotic concept car next week. The MIT smart car, which is still in development will have all sorts of futuristic properties such as a programmable exterior than can change appearance, embedded intelligence that can help the driver avoid impending danger, and automatic parallel parking. The car's AI will also learn the driving habits and city streets of the driver. For more info, see the Smart City Cars in the 21st Century exhibit info page.

Robotic bollards to take control

Robotic bollards to take control 04/28/2004 02:41 PM
US engineers develop robotic three-wheeled barrels that can quickly move across a carriageway to close off road lanes.

Robotic Segway soccer

Robotic Segway soccer 01/11/2004 01:30 PM
We're pretty sure that this wouldn't qualify for the upcoming Robocup, but researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have been keeping themselves busy lately by playing...

The CIA's robotic menagerie

The CIA's robotic menagerie 10/29/2003 11:23 AM
For its 40th anniversarty the CIA is showing off some of its more unusual spy gear at an exhibit that sadly is not open to the public. And apparently they built some crazy gadgets back in the day, like a mechanical dragonfly with a listening device for eavesdropping and some sort of robotic catfish. Read [Via TechDirt]...

Robotic walking chair

Robotic walking chair 12/03/2003 03:50 PM
Japanese researchers at Waseda University and manufacturer Tmsuk have built a prototype two-legged robotic walking chair which can carry a person and walk up and down stairs. Sort of reminds us of the iBot 3000, that motorized wheelchair invented by Dean Kamen (i.e. Mr. Segway) that can also climb up and down stairs. Though without the wheels, obviously. Anyway, a working model of the WL-16 could hit the market within a few years. Read [Via The Red Ferret Journal]...

Tender: NHS in Sheffield needs robotic
systems

Tender: NHS in Sheffield needs robotic
systems 03/30/2005 02:11 AM
PublicTechnology.net Mar 30 2005 5:52AM GMT

DOD Developing Robotic Battlefield
Surgeon

DOD Developing Robotic Battlefield
Surgeon 03/28/2005 03:45 PM
Technocrat.net Mar 28 2005 8:17PM GMT

A Robotic Assistant in Need of Legs Gets
Some Wheels

A Robotic Assistant in Need of Legs Gets
Some Wheels 12/18/2003 02:12 AM
New York Times Dec 18 2003 1:16AM ET

MIT Research Produces Robotic Results

MIT Research Produces Robotic Results 03/17/2005 03:32 AM
Roland Piquepaille writes, "Robots developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are working everywhere and can move without human assistance in a variety of settings, according to an article from the MIT News Office. For example, the famous PackBots were conceived at the MIT and are now used by the U.S. Army in Afghanistan and in Iraq. But engineers and robotic designers at MIT also are developing submarine-like vessels to help the U.S. Navy in mine warfare and battlespace preparation. And others are building 'intelligent' aircrafts, such as a 'robochopper' which would be better suited than surface robots to move in chaotic urban environments. ". For photos and links to more MIT robots, visit Roland's blog.

Asimo Shakes His Robotic Rump

Asimo Shakes His Robotic Rump 05/15/2004 05:45 AM
The dancing humanoid struts his stuff at Wired magazine's NextFest. See him dance. See him run. Find out if he's got a brain. A multimedia gallery.

Building A Homebrew Robotic Lawnmower?

Building A Homebrew Robotic Lawnmower? 06/23/2004 08:53 PM

NASA moots robotic Hubble fix

NASA moots robotic Hubble fix 04/26/2004 09:06 AM
Plans embryonic but optimism widespread

US rolls out robotic broadband airship

US rolls out robotic broadband airship 04/13/2005 05:39 AM
Stratellite's gone, up to the skies...

Robotic test craft launched

Robotic test craft launched 04/16/2005 05:47 AM
USA Today Apr 16 2005 9:47AM GMT

Large Scale Robotic Aquaculture

Large Scale Robotic Aquaculture 04/28/2004 01:21 PM
Charles C. Mann has written a new Wired article that offers an intriguing overview of the latest research into automated, open ocean aquaculture. Robot caretakers would manage giant, floating fish farms that would drift between continents. This approach could eliminate problems of previous attempts at large-scale aquaculture which relied on fixed pens near the shoreline which produced huge amounts of pollution, lowered the values of shorefront real estate, and frequently failed due to overcrowding of the fish. For more information on this new project, visit the University of New Hampshire Open Ocean Aquaculture Project website.
Grok Description matches for The Navy's robotic ship
GrokA matches for The Navy's robotic ship

Battelle on Google's S-1

Battelle on Google's S-1 04/30/2004 03:37 AM
John Battelle's analysis of Google's S-1 filing -- and particularily, the charming-but-stilted founders' letter -- is fascinating and insightful:

The letter states, among other things, that 1. We don't need to do this for the money; 2. We have no plans to run our business to satisfy Wall Street's need for smooth earnings predictability; 3. We plan to give no earnings guidance, not at least as it's understood on Wall St.; 4. Don't ask us to do so, we'll simply decline the request; 5. We'll do odd things that you won' t understand; 6. We will make big bets on things that may not work out; 7. We run the company as a triumvirate, so there will not be clear leadership from one person like most other companies; 8. We bridge the media and tech industries (interesting), which are in flux, so we've chosen a two-class stock structure similar to the NYT, WashPost, and NYT that helps us avoid being taken over by those forces; 9. We plan using an auction model, as it feels fairer and we understand auctions from AdWords; 10. Don't invest in us if this scares you at all, or the price feels too high; 11. Don't even think about asking us to cut expenses with regard to our employees; 12. We believe in the idea of Don't Be Evil; 13. It's evil to pay for placement or inclusion (a swipe at Yahoo); 14. We hope to bridge the digital divide through Gmail type free services and a foundation with at least 1% of profits and equity to help make the world a better place; 17. Betting on Google is a bet on Sergey and Larry (this was said multiple times, making me wonder if there wasn't some odd future blame being assigned here by the VCs or bankers); 18. This letter is our way of answering the questions we can't answer in the coming months due to the IPO quiet period.

Link

Battelle on TimesSelect

Battelle on TimesSelect 06/05/2005 10:46 PM
As a follow up to yesterday's post, John Battelle's got some interesting perspective on the TimesSelect announcement as well, over on SearchBlog....

John Battelle on Searchstreams

John Battelle on Searchstreams 08/14/2004 03:06 PM
Great entry on Battelle's Searchblog about the value of recording the journey of finding information on the Web.

That's when I remembered As We May Think, Vannevar Bush's famous essay in The Atlantic. I had read it earlier in my research, and was struck not by the idea of the Memex, which is well understood, but by Bush's explication of the problem - that knowledge and learning has become so complicated, so layered, so inefficient, that it is near impossible for anyone to be a generalist, in the sense Aristotle was. Bush's answer to this problem was the Memex, of course, but what I find interesting is the mechanism by which the Memex is made potent - the mechanism for capturing the traces of a researcher's discovery through the Memex's corpus, and storing those traces as intelligence so the next researcher can learn from them and build upon them.

Link

Congrats to John Battelle

Congrats to John Battelle 02/07/2005 01:51 AM

On completing the draft of his book. All 90,000 words of it.

I'm proud to know John. He's become a catalyst for alot of things - including some killer parties on the rooftop of "The Industry Standard".

I still remember standing in line at 4:45 on a Friday - so I could get a good piece of the roof - as the masses flowed in. It was THE place to do deals and meet people - at the height of the boom.

Now John has his book and his conference - Web 2.0. Watch for him to start a company this year. It was part of his predictions for 2005.

Battelle and The First Rule of AdSense

Battelle and The First Rule of AdSense 09/07/2004 09:55 PM
John Battelle is blogging his experience with advertising on his weblog. He's started with Google AdSense (which I also use) but seems to have violated the First Rule of Google AdSense rather quickly. There's some amusing (or sad, depending on your point of view) stuff in his post as well as some good comments from Cory Doctorow in the comments, like: anything the scale of Google is way, way too big to be involved in editorial decision I think John's...

"John Battelle?s predictions for 2005"

"John Battelle?s predictions for 2005" 01/03/2005 10:35 AM

60 Minutes: Google, Battelle, and
Bollywood

60 Minutes: Google, Battelle, and
Bollywood 01/02/2005 11:06 PM
Xeni Jardin: Well -- not all together in the same story, though that might have been even more interesting.

The CBS television program 60 Minutes featured a lengthy segment on Google this evening which included astute comment from John Battelle, who moonlights as BoingBoing's Reuben Kincaid when he's not writing books, building empires, and tracking search tech trends here. Snip from the transcript:

"If anybody got a Porsche or a Ferrari right now at Google, they’d probably be drummed out of the company," observes John Battelle, an author and entrepreneur who has been following Silicon Valley companies for 20 years. He says, "Google has a brand image to maintain. And their image is they’re all about innovation and they’re all about the Internet, and they’re all about trust. They’re not about selling out. They’re not about getting rich quick. So you’ve got a culture like that; I think if anyone were to buy, you know, a new Mercedes convertible and drive around with the stereo blaring, and miss work a couple days because they’re rich now, that would not be acceptable behavior at Google.

"But trust me," he adds. "There’s a Mercedes convertible in every one of their heads. There is. And it will…come out. Over time, it will come out."

The show also included a killer piece on Indian film star and hyperbolic superbeauty Aishwarya Rai. Snip:

The reason Bollywood films have such universal appeal is because they’re squeaky-clean. There are no sex scenes, not even kissing. Every time you think someone’s going to do it, they'll burst into song instead. "I'd assume that's really a reflection of our society," Rai says, when asked to explain the films' modesty. "Of course people kiss and of course people have a very healthy love life. This is the land of the Kama Sutra. But nevertheless, in our society you don't really see people around the street corner kissing or being extremely, overtly, physically demonstrative publicly. They do it privately but not publicly."

Link to Google piece with BoingBoing's own John Battelle, and Link to seg on Aishwarya Rai.

John Battelle on Google's Froogle
Promotion

John Battelle on Google's Froogle
Promotion 12/18/2003 01:05 PM
If you're interested in the web search world and aren't reading John Battelle's searchblog, you really should be. John's a smart guy who knows a ton of people in this area. On the recent addition of Froogle results to Google search results, John says: ...it is a clear departure from the conceit - and I use that term neutrally - that Google has always maintained, which is that the results offered by their engine are free of human intervention -...

Online video of 60 Minutes Google seg
(with John Battelle)

Online video of 60 Minutes Google seg
(with John Battelle) 01/04/2005 11:55 PM
Xeni Jardin: Here's last Sunday's 60 Minutes segment about Google, including comment from BoingBoing's John Battelle. Link to video (divx), and Link to previous BB post with details. (thanks, matthowie!)

Webmaster World New Orleans Pubcon -
John Battelle Keynote

Webmaster World New Orleans Pubcon -
John Battelle Keynote 06/22/2005 02:33 AM

John Battelle visits Applied Minds, a
Willy Wonka-esque nerdvana

John Battelle visits Applied Minds, a
Willy Wonka-esque nerdvana 06/17/2004 06:12 PM
John describes his mind-blowing tour through Applied Minds, a Glendale, CA consultancy started by former Disney Imagineers Danny Hillis and Bran Ferren.

After chit chatting for a few minutes, he took me to a small room - no wider than my outstretched arms - at the far end of which stood one of those classic red English phone booths. We stepped inside - a bit cramped - and Danny lifted the receiver and dictated a passphrase of some sort. Presto - the rear wall of the booth opened, and we stepped into - nerdvana.

From a cramped phone booth into massive pure-white-lit space two-stories high, adorned with all manner of things strange and beautiful. Over to one side stood the Terminator-like skeleton of a forty-foot dinosaur, its 15-foot pneumatic legs gleaming and exposed. Nearly blending into the walls, itself painted movie-set white, was a tricked out Hummer-like RV refitted as a communications/command center - complete with built-in kitchen and bedroom. The space was a great big project lab, with happy geeks combing over various assemblages of wiring, motors, processors and plans like ants on a summer picnic. It's Willy Wonka's chocolate factory for geeks.

Link

2005 C6 Corvette Reviewed

2005 C6 Corvette Reviewed 09/10/2004 03:00 PM

We don't normally cover cars here on Gizmodo - we love them, but most of them are just more of the same - but when John Hallenborg offered to give us a review of the new 2005 Chevrolet Corvette (the C6), with a special focus on the gadgety interior, well... how could we resist?

Took a spin in a 2005 C6 Corvette, a six speed manual example in Millenium yellow (paint option: $750) with the Z51 performance package ($1,495). Thanks to dealer Corvette Mike of Anaheim, California, it was a grin-inducing drive, but I had a few reservations. The great news is that Chevrolet has gotten it right this time, as although the styling seems distinctly Italian-derived, the car has an integrated quality no previous Corvette has had. Construction is tight the way a good European car is tight. The interior is nice, tidily functional, much improved over its predecessor (the C5 was made from 1997-2004), which had an abundance of cheap plastic trim. Leather seats were comfortable, headroom good for me at six foot two inches, and ergonomics take a major role, unlike in any previous take on this American classic, an early version of which immortalized the brand name in the great Route 66 TV show (1960-1964).

International Federation of Robotics
Hosts Groundbreaking Advanced Robotics
E-Symposium

International Federation of Robotics
Hosts Groundbreaking Advanced Robotics
E-Symposium 06/05/2005 11:53 PM
The Advanced Robotics E-Symposium will be held online on July 6 2005. Its international outreach, cutting edge topics and line-up of world-renowned experts already makes it one of the 'must-attend' fixtures of this year for organizations, academics, industries and government representatives. [PRWEB May 10, 2005]

Industry Leading Robotics Vendors,
Associations and Media Firms Sponsor
Emerging Robotics Technologies &
Applications Conference

Industry Leading Robotics Vendors,
Associations and Media Firms Sponsor
Emerging Robotics Technologies &
Applications Conference 05/31/2004 02:13 PM
iRobot, Evolution Robotics, VIA Technologies, Robotics Foundry and Others Sponsor First Robotics Conference to Focus on Commercialization of Emerging Robotics Markets [PRWEB Dec 12, 2003]

UK institutes ridiculously difficult
English-proficiency test for
English-speaking immigrants

UK institutes ridiculously difficult
English-proficiency test for
English-speaking immigrants 08/22/2004 07:30 AM
Cory Doctorow: Immigrants to the UK from English-speaking countries such as Canada and Australia must pass an English proficiency test in order to gain UK citizenship. The test is apparently very stringent:

According to one report two Australians, including a knight who has lived in Britain for 44 years and a writer with a degree in English, have been rejected under the new rules.

Link (via Fark)

Digital Chosunilbo (English Edition) :
Daily News in English About Korea

Digital Chosunilbo (English Edition) :
Daily News in English About Korea 07/13/2004 08:23 AM
3 Megapixel cameratelefoon .. chosun

english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200407/200407110024.html
track this site | 5 links

BBC Persian

BBC Persian 08/15/2004 02:34 AM
����� ��� �� ����� ���� �� � � � ��.��.� .. � ����� �����:

bbc.co.uk/persian/sport/story/2004/08/040813_pm-olympic_judo_ esmaeili.shtml
track this site | 2 links

Microsoft, Persian interface

Microsoft, Persian interface 08/01/2004 03:24 AM
AME Info Aug 1 2004 8:09AM GMT

persian webl0g festival!

persian webl0g festival! 06/09/2004 03:48 PM
man, a festival sounds a lot more fun than a conference

Persian photobl0g: Those Sexy Iranians

Persian photobl0g: Those Sexy Iranians 05/10/2004 03:02 PM
Hossein Derakshan says, "I've launched my photoblog, titled "vagrantly." Here's the latest image post, about the Islamic dress code and Nicholas Kristof's New York Times column this weekend about 'sexy Iranians.'"

No one has challenged the cleric's rule more effectively than these young Iranian girls. They have totally changed the Islamic dress code during the past five years. The half-sliced heads of the mannequins are results of Islamic laws that prohibit making identical statues to humans.

Link to Hoder's photoblog post. And coincidentally, BoingBoing's own Cory says from the U.K., "Spotted at the Brick Lane Bengali new year's festivities in London: a little girl in a couture Calvin Klein headscarf."Link to 80K jpeg image.

Persian bl0gger Hoder on how to build a
bl0gosphere

Persian bl0gger Hoder on how to build a
bl0gosphere 04/12/2004 02:11 PM
Hossein Derakhshan publishes this insightful post on how to foster the development of "a local blogosphere in a community, based on the experience of Iranians." Link

PostNuke Persian(Farsi) Language Pack

PostNuke Persian(Farsi) Language Pack 12/07/2003 06:26 PM
Finally...some action!

BoingBoing reader clears up my Persian
confusion

BoingBoing reader clears up my Persian
confusion 01/01/2004 02:38 PM
Sina Ahmadian points us to the FarsiWeb Project, and corrects my sloppy references to lanugage in Iran on recent posts (1, 2) about blogosphere reaction to the Bam earthquake (now said to have taken 50,000 lives):

I noticed that you have used the word "Farsi" (instead of "Persian") as English equivalent of our language in your web site. I would like to point out that FARSI (which is originally PARSI) is the native name of our language and PERSIAN is its English equivalent; as the native name of German language is 'Deutsch', but we never use 'Deutsch' in place of 'German' in English; or native term of Greek Language is "Ellinika" and always in English we say 'Greek' language, not 'Ellinika' language.

The titles of dictionaries written by several great Persian scholars (eg. Prof. Moein, Prof. Aryanpour, Prof. Baateni, etc.) are "English-Persian Dictionary" not "English-Farsi Dictionary". And the official institution "Farhangestan" (the Academy of Persian language and literature, in Tehran) in an announcement has rejected the use of the word 'Farsi' instead of 'Persian' in English.

According to Dr. Hossein Sameie (visiting linguistics professor of Emory University in Atlanta), "PERSIAN, alongside the name of a language, may be used, as an adjective, for the other aspects of our history and culture. For example, we can speak about 'Persian Literature', 'Persian Gulf', 'Persian Carpet', 'Persian Food'; this way, 'Persian' may be a common concept and function as a link between all aspects of Iranian [Persian] life, including language. 'Farsi' does not have such a characteristic..." And finally, all international brocasting centres (eg. BBC, VOA, DW, etc.) have "Persian Service" not "Farsi Service" -- BBC, VOA, DW, Radio Free Europe, etc.

Thank you, Sina!

Video mashup of Russ Meyer + Hoodoo
Gurus / Persian Rugs

Video mashup of Russ Meyer + Hoodoo
Gurus / Persian Rugs 09/24/2004 11:08 AM
Xeni Jardin: Following up to this week's sad news that sexploitation auteur Russ Meyers has passed away (Link), BoingBoing reader Richard Crepeau says, "Thought I'd spread the word about a Hoodoo Gurus side project called the Persian Rugs. One of their videos uses Russ Meyer clips from Mondo Topless. A nice hybrid between garage rock and camp."

On their website, the band says:

"Music and sex go very well together. For proof, just take a look at the video for the Persian Rugs' new single 'Be A Woman'. The band and director Todd Sheldrick have created the perfect setting for the band's 60's Punk-inspired Primal Rock: strippers and cavemen collide in a 21st Century psychedelic garden of eden. (...) The Rugs got in touch with famed 60's director Russ Meyer, the maker of such films as 'Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!'and Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls' (the latter a direct influence on the Austin Powers movies) and asked for permission to incorporate footage from one of his cult classics, 'Mondo Topless', into their new filmclip. Russ asked to hear the song first, [and] loved it (...)

Link to "Be a Woman" *.asx video in low and hi-res, contains megadoses of kitsch nudity (and shots of vintage '60s electronic equipment). How did those ladies make their humongous breasts do that stuff on rhythm? Weighed down by all that eyeliner, no less?

Fun with Homebrew Parts

Fun with Homebrew Parts 12/21/2003 12:05 PM
Every robot builder has been faced with needing (or wanting) parts that don't fit the budget. What's the solution? We try to improvise by building a homebrew replacement. Jack W. Crenshaw has written an amusing article in Embedded Systems magazine on this subject. He tells of an obsession in his college days to have (then unaffordable) seven-segment displays to play with. First he struggled to build a seven-segment display out of things like ice cube trays and light bulbs. He followed that up with a plan to build a circuit full of oscillators and counters that could generate the waveforms needed to turn his oscilliscope into a seven segment display.

Homebrew USB menorah

Homebrew USB menorah 12/19/2003 11:44 AM
In this project called "Taking Menorah Design into the 59th Century," an amateur hardware hacker uses the $8 commodity USB chipset to brew his own USB-powered menorah, then writes some code to get the shamas to blink arbitrary messages in Morse code. Link (Thanks Buddha!)

Homebrew Mecha

Homebrew Mecha 12/24/2004 12:16 PM

If there is a sweeter pairing than the union of "backyard" and "mecha," then I don't want to know it (unless there is, then tell me right now). Deep in the Alaskan wilderness (okay, Anchorage) lives Carlos Owens, a 26-year-old steelworker who is working on his own hydraulic-motivated 18-foot mecha that he intends to unveil at a local race track, where it will hopefully spout fire and destroy cars—or maybe even fight another mecha. Owens has no idea when his project will be done (if ever), but you have to respect the work of a man who takes on the giant robot challenge even our government has been reticent to pursue.

Be sure to look at the photo gallery on CNet, too. There's a great shot of a 1960s power-suit that was being by GE. Imagine how totally wicked our society would be now if that would have panned out.

Giant robots in the backyard [CNet]

SmoothWall Homebrew Mods

SmoothWall Homebrew Mods 07/23/2004 07:57 AM
SmoothieMods

Homebrew Financial Planning

Homebrew Financial Planning 02/17/2004 01:03 PM
I've been meaning to do it for a long, long time. But there are always more interesting things on my radar. After updating my copy of Open Office yesterday I started working on a few simple spreadsheets that will greatly improve my understanding of my financial situation. For far too long now I've been making educated (often overly optimistic) guesses based on back of the envelope calculations without the benefit of an envelope. I suspect that a lot of...

Homebrew PCB Through-Plating Machine

Homebrew PCB Through-Plating Machine 01/11/2004 01:32 PM
Ever wanted to create your own multilayer printed circuit boards? For most of us it's easier to send them out to a commercial boardhouse but it can be expensive. Open Collector recently included a link to a homebrew through-plating machine that can create 3 in x 3 in, 4 layer boards in about 4 hours for around $10 per board. The creator's website includes plenty of photos but is a little light on description. He offers to provide more construction details including schematics via email, however, if anyone else wants to try making their own multilayer boards.

The Navy's robotic ship

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