Top 10 Robots of Japan

Awards have been given out by Japan’s Ministry of Economics and Trade Industry for the top 10 robots in the area of service, industrial, civil, and small to medium sized venture robots.
It’s easy to see why Japan has given out these awards. Japan has a pretty low birth rate and their citizens are living longer and longer so it makes sense to build robots that will assist the elderly. I’m all for it, as the technology advances more and more of it will trickle down to everyday tasks. I for one hope that robotic fueling stations for cars become common. It might force car makers to establish a standard fuel port for cars but I think that would be a small concession for the convenience and environmental benefits such a system would create.
I saw a gob of the contenders at the 2006 NextFest in New York last September, and I can say that the Paro robot seals are going to be a big hit when they come across to the US. From the reactions of the kids that were interacting with them I’m sure that pediatric hospitals will be buying some of them.
KHR-2HV robots are cool just because they walk like humans but they are low enough in price that you could see a few being used in a school setting to teach robotics.

Help me choose: Treo 680 or Nokia E61?

recently submitted a journalist purchase discount form for a Treo 680. I’ve always wanted to own a Treo for the longest time but could never justify the price. Sadly too, the Treo was never available for free on my carrier whenever I had the chance to renew my postpaid line subscription.

So recently I did have that chance to get a 30% discount for the 680 - I knew that this device would be the nth iteration of the Treo series which meant that it would be as stable as ever. And c’mon, it’s a Treo!

Now here’s the thing. I also found out that I’m due for a line renewal (December 26 2006) which means that I can now avail of a new phone. No Treo on the listing though but with my plan, an extra $100 gets me the Nokia E61, which fellow geeks have been raving about.

Now nothing against Nokia, but I’ve had some bad experiences with hanging and the Symbian platform after having been a Sony Ericsson convert. And then I read this forum thread (of all places, a Macintosh forum!) and saw how versatile the E61’s Symbian platform can be.

Things to consider:

I originally wanted a Treo because of the ease of use. No WiFi, no HSDPA compatibility, but at least the user interface compares to none

I beta test games that are compatible with the Palm OS platform (none for the E61, so this would be a small loss - games, games! Oh how I love games!)
I will really benefit from the E61’s WiFi, UMTS and push email. These are the three connectivity options that are holding me back from purchasing the Treo. So it really has to do now with ultimate ease of use versus connectivity (productivity) options.
The 680’s form factor is much cooler that the wide E61.
I guess the choice is pretty obvious now. Maybe I’m just blinded by that “American Dream” which Treo users keep talking about when it comes to the best inegration between PDA and cellphone. What do you think?

You can compare the specs between the Treo 680 and Nokia E61 here.

At this point I have made a 360 degree turn in choice for the Nokia E61.

Nokia N93: Proof that the N Series was built on flimsy foundations?

You know, I’d actually consider buying an N93 if it were just for the video capabilities. The whole video blogging craze could even be highlighted with the Nokia N93 as the prime mover in the same way that Nokia had also made waves with the 7650 as the consumer cameraphone of choice.

It was all about the Series 60 platform — whoops, pardon me - the S60 platform that made Nokia what it is today as all of their high end multimedia phones run on this operating system. It really sucks though that S60 wasn’t built to withstand all that media. Sure, you could run video and audio and still use your phone to do those everyday phone functions … but at what cost? Speed of course. A fix to the sluggish OS is something phone manufacturers should work on for 2007.

Here are some specs. Does it show you how overpacked this phone is? Nah. Don’t think so. I think it really is a sluggish OS problem.

* Screen: Main - Portrait QVGA, 256k color TFT; External - 128 x 26 pixels, 65k color
* Memory: 50MB
* Network: Quad-band GSM (900, 1800, 1900, and UMTS)
* Camera: 3.15 megapixels
* Connectivity: 802.11b Wi-Fi, Bluetooth (with A2DP support), and Infrared
* Expansion: miniSD slot, 128MB card included
* Size: 118 x 55.5 x 28.2 mm
* Weight: 180 grams

iPod dock for Shower Dance

Now you can party to your iPod with this new iPod dock. It fits into your shower and keeps your iPod dry. Cool stuff. What a great way to start 2007. Happy New Year, everyone!

How many people, I wonder, got a shower radio for Christmas? And how many of those shower radios will still be gathering dust in the bottom of a drawer this time next year? The answer? It’s the iPod shower dock: a cute little waterproof “dome” that lets you take your MP3 player