2 Robots

Apple seems to be getting a lot of negative press on its recent SDK announcement. Much of the criticism seems to focus around two issues: That not all functionality of the phone is accessable via the SDK, and that Apple controls the distribution method to the phone. I’ll adress the second point first. Some perspective on the history of apps on cell phones will do a lot to put this in perspective, and see why these decisions were made as tradeoffs, and actually strengthen the position of the iPhone as a leader in custom applications.

Chrome Walker has a post on some of the new phones coming out in Europe for 2008. One of the trends that seems to be emerging is the “real web.” This was kicked off by Apple with the iPhone, and its the idea that you can view the Internet on your cell phone with a reasonable interface. In other words, its formatted the same way as it would be on your computer.

Is this the future of cell phone applications? Read on …

My wife is looking to buy a car. She is 30 years old. She likes iTunes and reads her news online instead of a newspaper. She is concerned about global warming, and about the war on terror. We’re about to have kids, which brings those concerns to the forefront. So, when we started looking around for a car, we remembered all those cool next-generation automobiles we’ve been bombarded with at auto shows and the news. And we were surprised to find that we could hardly find any.

Read on for the current state of future cars.

So, last October I build a Robotic Lamb. With the help of motion sensors, a servo and a Basic Stamp, this ordinary stuffed animal was able to amuse guests (and my wife) by turning it’s head to watch them as they move around the room. Since then, it has been given a name, Lamby, and has both amused and frightened many visitors.

Yet, lately, I’ve been feeling that it just isn’t enough to have a subtle, animatronic children’s toy following you wistfully with it’s eyes. Yes, it’s time for Lamby to get an upgrade. Read on for the details!

I watched the Space X Falcon 1 live webcast yesterday evening. I still think there is nothing cooler than watching space ships take off. This is their second launch since their first crashed into the ocean last year. Yesterday, the launch was aborted with less than 3 minutes left in the countdown — it sounded like due to an unreliable telemetry data feed. They are planning on attempting a launch today instead.

Something too prevalent in the marketplace today is the complete lack of innovation which seems to plague some companies. On the one hand, you have companies like Apple and Nintendo which truly bring something new to the table; from product packaging to human-electronic interfaces. On the other hand, you have companies like Dell and Sony who just keep pushing out more of the same. Yet, the latter seem more likely to hold big press events and tout their “next big thing.” It seems as if they don’t even know that their products are “me too’s” instead of market leaders.