It’s not quite Richie Rich yet, but hold on Macaulay Culkin because Harvard is set to recreate a real life version of Robo Bees from the movie. Harvard researchers have received a $10 million grant from the National Science Foundation to spawn an army of robot bees, reports Network World. The RoboBee project is slated to span 5 years, and, according to the Harvard RoboBee Web site, could not only provide insight about how to mimic the collective behavior and intelligence of a typical bee community, but also lead to further advances in the electrical engineering and construction of micro flying devices. If all goes according to plan, the robotic bees will be able to fly on their own, and work cooperatively with each other to coordinate hive business, just like the real thing. (via)
Looks like we’ll be seeing Rock Band on the iPhone / iPod Touch relatively soon.
From the above shot, looks very similar to Tapulous. Do you smell an app war?
Another interesting thing the post point towards (via MobileCrunch) is that Verizon has something to do with it. Which further contributes to my suspicion that Verizon will launch their service based off the 700 MHz spectrum when they get the contract for the iPhone in 2010.
Popular car sharing service, ZipCar, just made it that much easier for you techies out there with their new official iPhone app.
You can find, reserve, and even control your ZipCar through the app. Users are able to unlock and lock their car, and even beep the horn if you forget where/what car you were driving.
The app’s free and is currently in the Appstore. Go cop that ish!
Verizon has decided it’s going to pass on the Palm Pre, if reports are to be believed. Their stock took a 5% hit today after an impressive week long rally that saw shares rise to $17 after Nokia showed legitimate interest in acquiring the handset maker. This certainly would have been a boost in sales for Palm, who has only cleared about 500,000 handsets this year, in no way threatening the iPhone.
Many think that Verizon is holding out for the iPhone and wouldn’t want a phone like the Pre to confuse new customers looking for a new smart phone. Let’s face it, if Verizon wants the iPhone, they are going to have to clear a ton of them to make it wake the expensive deal worthwhile. I guess we’ll have to wait and see what happens at the end of the year with Apple and AT&T to see if this is true.
Industrial robots have been around for a while, but something tells me warehouse workers should be worried more now than ever. The above is a video of Kiva Systems, makers of the orange industrial Roombas that go out and find inventory in a warehouse and bring it back to human workers to pack for shipping. Zappos and Staples use the systems already, which have been getting more and more sophisticated as we move forward (the video above is actually a year old).
MIT Robotics professor and iRobot co-founder Rodney Brooks, recently got $7 million in funding from Jeff Bezos and others for his latest venture, Heartland Robotics. There has been no word from the company yet, but their website says it all:
Heartland Robotics is combining the power of computers – embodied in robots – and the extraordinary intelligence of the American workforce, to increase productivity and revitalize manufacturing.
How can the US government make excuses for H1 B workers taking away US jobs, when robots will end up devastating the kinds of jobs that H1 B workers aren’t even competing for? It’s a joke. TC
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