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newVideoPlayer(”/qosmiowave_gizmodo.flv”, 520, 410,”"); To be honest, I was going to headline this article “Toshiba Magic Waving Handy-Spanky-Fingery Gestures Are Perfect for Harry Potter and Online Porn Users,” but I decided against it at the last minute for obvious reasons, even when I had two powerful arguments in favor. You will understand them when you watch Helga—the Good Toshiba Witch of West Berlin—and myself in the video:

Argument Número Uno: apparently this gestures-in-the-air control requires real magic powers. Watch Helga and myself getting frustrated, trying to control the pointer on the screen.

Argument Two: I can’t think of any really useful application except having the ability to control your computer without having to touch your keyboard or screen at any time—and therefore, keeping them clean of any crumbles and/or fluids.

The idea is good. The implementation is bad. Unfortunately, the whole experience is quite frustrating, and while they are showing the same technology in an experimental TV—which has greater potential—it doesn’t really work well there either.

newVideoPlayer(”/qosmiowave2_gizmodo.flv”, 520, 410,”");

I asked the german Kirsten Dunst and she told me an example of this being useful: if you are “cooking” and have your hands dirty, you wouldn’t like to touch the keyboard or the mousepad, so you can use gestures to control de computer. Fair enough, that’s one market right there: “dirty hands chefs who use their computers while they are cooking”.

I can see this being useful in TVs, however, replacing the remote completely. And maybe in computers too, but not for pointer dragging and clicking. That’s just useless. This technology needs a completely new graphic user interface to be really successful—like the simple Wii interface or the stuff shown in Minority Report. An interface that will allow to intuitively point at something or doing a hand gesture to trigger an action.

As it is now, it just doesn’t fly. What do you think? Do you think this is useful? Is there any else to this than its “wow!-what?-why?” factor? [More IFA 2008 coverage]

Source: Toshiba Magic Gestures Convert You Into Hitchhiking Gandalf [IFA 2008 Hands-On]

With Bill Gates’ part time transition in full effect, Steve Ballmer will be picking up Keynote duties at 2009’s CES, but only for the pre show speech. Opening night honors go to the charming and witty Sir Howard Stringer, who is like Sony’s CEO answer to Benny Hill. I’d say I’m satisfied with these two as speakers, considering how entertaining they’ve been on previous occasions. [CES]

Source: Microsoft's Stevie Ballmer, Sony's Sir Howie Stringer Headlining CES Keynotes [Ces]

newVideoPlayer(”/marufightingbots_giz.flv”, 475, 376,”"); Naoki Maru may live in Hikone, north of Kyoto, down the road from a samurai castle full of katana swords and armor, but for him, the ancient Japanese art of bushido is best carried out with robots, not people. King Kizer, the Maru family robot, has dominated the Robo-One tourney over the past three years, collecting $50,000 in prize money. Maru, a factory engineer by day, is trying to perfect a way to make Kizer even more of an ass kicker using a technique he had seen many times in anime: A harness that captures human movements and translates them into robotic attacks and other gestures.

Check out video footage of the harness in action below, plus our exclusive interview, where Maru discusses the what it takes to win a robotic deathmatch. galleryPost(’marubots’, 3, ”);

Maru builds the bots; his sons Kenta and Ryoma operate them in the combat tournaments. For a prizefighter, King Kizer is only 16 inches tall but has a lightweight aluminum frame, very rapid servomotors and sensors that help it maintain its balance and detect its enemies. Kizer uses the latter to launch speedy, autonomous attacks on foes.

The harness creates a master-slave connection with Kenta. When the boy moves his upper body during combat, sensors with voltage potentiometers transmit the motions via a Bluetooth link to Kizer, which reproduces them. In the video, you can see that there’s a bit of a delay, but apparently robot combat is still clumsy enough for this to not have too great an impact. The lower body is still controlled with a gamepad.

newVideoPlayer(”/marumasterslave_giz.flv”, 475, 376,”");

We recently visited the Maru dojo to discuss King Kizer and new fighting-robot technologies:

How does the “master-slave” control technology work? Where did you get the idea? Have you used it in Robo-One tournaments?
The master-slave control idea goes a long way back. The concept has a long history in robot anime, and it has been implemented in surgical devices. I’ve been using it since I first entered Robo-One.

The equipment affixed to the operator’s body is known as a “master suit,” and I concentrated on making this lightweight.

The strong point of the system is that it’s great for adapting to the requirements of the moment. Other systems can only be operated through preprogrammed robot motions. For instance, in hand-to-hand combat, if you encounter a robot that is shorter than what you expected to go up against, your machine will be punching air instead of metal. But with a master-slave control system, that’s not a problem you encounter.

The weak point of my current master-slave system is that it’s limited to the upper half of the controller’s body. But this is a problem that I believe I can solve. I’m also making improvements to use the system in non-combat applications. As you saw, it can also be used to handle eggs!

How do you build your robots?
When I decided to make my first bipedal robot from scratch, I had to study. The manufacturing process includes making the aluminum panels—cutting, bending and finishing—, plus vacuum form molding, resin casting and other techniques. The design is done in 2D CAD, and then I make a model, printing the frame on paper. Once I confirm the mechanical structure of the paper model, I start creating the actual aluminum panels. Since I don’t do it in 3D CAD [just 2D CAD], this work process is really critical.

I already had computer programming skills, so making the robot’s control system wasn’t so difficult for me.

What is the role of your sons in your robot activity?
They’re more than operators—our team is like the driver and mechanics in an F1 race car team. But their most important role is that they keep me motivated. I give it my all so that my sons can be victorious. I doubt I would have the power to keep winning at Robo-One if I had to create and operate the robots and compete in the tournaments all by myself!

Also, my sons sometimes provide me with unexpected inspiration. As children, their perspectives on robot making are invaluable.

In only three years of robot fighting, you have collected about $50,000 in prize money at Robo-One. Why is the Maru family team so successful?
I could not do this if I were not part of a family team. Most competitors in Robo-One are bachelors—there are few family teams. And I don’t want to see my kids cry if they lose at the tournament!

Another reason for our success is not the technological power of our hardware and software, but how we manage our team. There isn’t a great difference between competitors. in Robo-One. Fighting really hinges not on the actual winning or losing, but on seemingly trivial factors that are not obvious.

To give you some specific examples, one must consider things like safety parameters that are in your robot’s design and how they’ll affect performance, readiness for bugs that crop up during a fight, as well as strategies and practice based on your study of opponents. You can’t count on having a winning streak if all you have done is create a robot with some cool abilities.

What is special about Japanese robots in general?
For Japanese people, a robot means a humanoid, bipedal robot. It seems Japanese are unique in the world in this way of thinking about robots. Many of the competitors in Robo-One watched robot anime when they were kids and that really influenced them. Robots are part of their childhood dreams, and that is reflected in their robot designs and fighting techniques.

Music for the second clip: “Prelude No. 1″ by The Grift; no frikkin’ clue what the song in the first clip is.

Source: Robot Uses Master/Slave Remote Control Suit [Robots]

It’s becoming all about Blu-ray nowadays, but LG hasn’t forgotten the DVD player: its DVS450H is doubly interesting for its design and DivX playing. Check out those sleek lines—pretty sci-fi, especially with that concealed display and sliding-door disc tray lid. LG call its shape “floating”, and it can be desk or wall mounted. And its the first “DivX Certified(R) DVD player from a major manufacturer capable of playing HD video” according to LG, with playback capabilities from DVD or hard drives attached to its USB port. It’s due in October for around $240. Press release below.

Aug 28, 2008 19:00

LG to Launch First DivX Certified(R) DVD Player from a Major Manufacturer Capable of Playing HD Video

Innovative “Floating” Player Lets Consumers Enjoy HD Content on Standard DVD Device
SAN DIEGO & SEOUL, Korea —(Business Wire)— Aug. 28, 2008 DivX, Inc. (NASDAQ: DIVX), a digital media company, and LG Electronics, Inc. today announced the DivX Certification(TM) of a new DVD player from LG capable of playing high-definition DivX(R) video.

Incorporating a stylish and sleek design capable of being mounted on a wall, LG’s new DivX Certified(R) DVD player, the DVS450H, allows consumers to play their personal libraries of high-definition digital content. With this device, consumers can enjoy high-definition DivX videos burned to DVD’s or stored on USB flash drives. Typical HD video requires a considerable amount of digital storage space, but DivX HD video provides a superior media experience by maintaining the highest visual quality while significantly reducing the digital file size of the video. Using DivX technology, a full-length high-definition movie is able to fit onto a standard DVD.

“The demand for products that play DivX video has continually driven us to produce solutions that maximize this high-quality experience across a range of product categories,” said Dan D.H. Koh, Head of Marketing Strategy Team in LG Electronics’ Digital Media Company. “Incorporating support for high-definition DivX video on this DVD player illustrates this in a significant way. We are committed to bringing our customers the very best entertainment solutions and are pleased that working with DivX fulfills this vision.”

“Bringing high-definition video to LG’s newest DVD player illustrates our mission of enabling a high-quality media experience across any device,” said Kevin Hell, Chief Executive Officer, DivX, Inc. “This new player from LG simplifies the consumer transition to HD entertainment by providing a high-definition experience on a familiar DVD platform. We are delighted to work with LG in bringing consumers a premium solution for their digital content.”

Products that bear the DivX Certified(R) logo have undergone a rigorous testing program to ensure a high-quality DivX media experience, including reliable video playback, interoperability with other DivX Certified devices and the visual quality that users expect from DivX.

LG is a major manufacturer across consumer electronics product categories who has embraced DivX Certification within a variety of different platforms, including mobile phones, digital televisions, and in-car media players.

Source: LG's DVS450H Makes DVD Players Attractive Again, Plays DivX HD [DVD]

Filed under: Desktops

CTL, the same cats who brought us the 2go PC laptop, are apparently working up an equally cheap and not-exactly-flashy nettop PC. The 2go PC Nettop will reportedly range in price from $149 to $299 depending on specifications, and the baseline model will feature Intel’s DG945GCLF motherboard, Intel’s Atom 230 processor, 1GB of Kingston DDR2 RAM, a GMA 950 graphics accelerator, support for one HDD and one optical drive, six USB 2.0 ports and an Ethernet jack. The Essential Plus Edition ($199) adds in Ubuntu and an 80GB 7,200RPM hard drive (while slashing RAM to 512MB); the $299 Essential Performance Edition comes with Windows XP Home, a 160GB hard drive and 1GB of memory. There’s no word just yet on when the 4.5-pound boxes will be released, but we’d expect ‘em to surface pretty quietly.

[Thanks, Nate]

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Source:CTL releasing Atom-powered 2go nettop for $149