Kybernetica.com

Some slightly related from Technorati and Google.

[Computer Alchemy] German Robot Dogs Dominate 2005 RoboCup U.S. Open: of a company like Microsoft, the German entries are much more polished then their American counterparts...fishdan writes "As reported over on Sportsdot, the 2005 RoboCup US Open wrapped up today in Atlanta, Georgia. The American entry from the University of Texas fell 2-0 in robot soccer

 [MAKE: Blog] RoboCup US Open Crowns Champs: RoboCup soccer match results are in via Sportsdot.org- The American entry from CMDash from Carnegie Melon fell 2-0 in robot soccer to the powerhouse German squad, the MicroSoft HellHounds. After the match, the German robot dogs were programmed to flex their metal biceps. With the time to devote to development and the financial backing of a company like Microsoft, the German entries are much more polished than their American counterparts at the moment. Last month at the RoboCup German Open, the Germans dominated nearly every category.

[Cynthia L. Webb] Yahoo's Special Tune: It's hard to plan an official, one-of-kind launch for a tech product these days when bloggers are keeping an eye on products (and when insiders apparently have no problem passing along hot product news). Even though Microsoft planned to first show off its next-generation Xbox gaming device on MTV, tech blog Engadget blew the cover off key information pegged for the launch, posting some photos and details yesterday of the new gadget. The site hedged its bets by saying in an intro for the post, "These could be completely fake."

[Onlineblog.com] Onlineblog.com - Guardian Online's weblog: (Hard to see anyone else getting away with such a high-priced service based on its own software and iPod-style player without stimulating some sort of outcry. Instead you get sneering, as The New York Times does, at those "occasional oddballs whose music players are not iPods".) Of course, it's hard to find anyone who thinks the current music subscription services are adequate, but as this page points out, 99c a song is not a good deal compared to a flat $10 a month for EMusic, unless you download less than 10 songs a month -- and a lot of broadband users download 10 an hour. Still, not everyone inhabits Steve Jobs's famous reality distortion field: in The Register, Andrew Orlowski claims that: "Judging from my inbox, happy users are outnumbered by unhappy users by about ten to one."

[Iserloh.com] Uli Iserloh :: Online | Uli's Blog - Etcetera: Many bloggers, including fellow medicinal chemist Derek Lowe, have frequently covered the debateregarding the high cost of prescription drugs in the United States. While not new, this issue hasonly recently captured the attention of main stream media - in part because it has been made into aconvenient election year topic by the democratic presidential contenders. And the average consumer,looking at their own wallet, simply rally behind the politicians who charge that big pharma isinherently bad and only exists because they want to squeeze every little penny out of theconsumer.

 [Blogs.guardian.co.uk] Guardian Unlimited | Onlineblog | April 27, 2003 - May 03, 2003 ...: The blogging community now seems able to recreate the Slashdot effect. So many people have linked to The Dante Inferno Test that they've taken the server offline.

[Robots.engadget.com] Microsoft wants to watch your kids - Robots - robots.engadget.com.: And they want to do it through this insanely creepy robot bear, no less. Revealed at Microsoft’s annual gadget showcase yesterday, this “toy” houses four microphones and a camera that uses face finding technology to help parents monitor their children via the web, and speak with them remotely via a special phone. All appears normal until mom or dad log on and the bear’s head begins swiveling to track the child, which is the point where we’d hope any sensible kid would run screaming.

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