Will 2011 be the year of the musical robot?

Will 2011 be the year of the musical robot?

Will 2011 be the year of the musical robot? It certainly seems that way. EMMI (Expressive Machines Musical Instruments) was founded in 2007 by Troy Rogers, Steven Kemper and Scott Barton. Their group invents, builds, and composes music for robotic musical instruments.

EAR Duo, a gifted musical group featuring bassoonist Dana Jessen and Amsterdam based saxophonist Michael Straus commissioned EMMI to create an ensemble of next generation robotic string and wind instruments for a series of upcoming performances across the US and Europe. As of 6pm EST tonight, the three Virginia boys who make up EMMI will have successfully raised over $8,000 on Kickstarter to build the needed robotic instruments.

?The current state of musical robotics resembles that of electronic music 50 years ago. Robotic instruments are poised to explode forth from research institutions onto the larger musical scene, creating new genres and transforming existing ones,? writes EMMI.

Check out this amazing video that shows composer and belly dancer Aurie Hsu wearing several wireless sensors to allow her to control EMMI?s robotic instruments with her movements as she dances. The performance took place this year and was a collaborative effort between Hsu and EMMI?s Steven Kemper.

Also read about our the top 10 robots that rocked in 2010! To read more about robots on TNW, click here.

Thanks to @PhanArt for the tip!

About the Author

Courtney Boyd Myers is the East Coast editor of TNW, based in NYC. She began her career writing about robots @ Forbes and has also written for PCMag, PSFK, IEEE Spectrum, the Huffington Post + Pocket-Lint. She loves magnets + reading on her Kindle. You can follow her on Twitter or e-mail her at Courtney@TheNextWeb.com.

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Source: http://thenextweb.com/shareables/2011/01/03/will-2011-be-the-year-of-the-musical-robot/

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Why Bing "Likes" Facebook

A massive upgrade to Microsoft's Bing search engine?or "decision engine," as the company calls it?includes a number of new features, including two with the potential to take Internet search to the next level.

For many types of searches, Bing now behaves less like a traditional page-of-results search engine and more like an interactive app that lets you manipulate aspects of your search on the fly. Bing now also incorporates a "social search" feature that looks through recommendations made by your Facebook friends to deliver more refined, personalized results.

"It used to be that with search, we tried to create the equivalent of a library card catalog for the Web," says Stefan Weitz, Bing's director at Microsoft. "That was what we could do with the technology. Now, it's more like walking up to a librarian and saying, 'I'm thinking of taking a trip to the Bahamas in January. What resources should I use to plan it?'"

In fact, Bing now responds to travel-related searches by generating a Web-based application for finding and booking flights and lodging, rather than simply returning a list of relevant Web pages. Type "San Juan Puerto Rico" into Bing and it will present an in-page widget that lets you book a flight from what Bing deduces is the airport nearest you. Bing will also present the price of the lowest round-trip fare as a large, friendly link, and will warn you with an up arrow if "fares are rising." Other categories of search that produce a more interactive experience include those relating to music, clothes shopping, and consumer electronics.

Overall, Weitz says, the goal is to move away from what some search developers now derisively call "ten blue links" in order to help users reach their goal that began with a search?for instance, to book a flight without worrying about missing a better deal available somewhere on one of many travel sites.

What is probably Bing's bigger upgrade is the new social search feature, which uses data from your Facebook social circle to provide personalized search results. Thanks to a deal with Facebook, Bing automatically recognizes your Facebook account (assuming you've logged in recently) and searches through content that your Facebook friends have recommended by clicking the "Like" button found on many Web sites.

Microsoft's alliance with Facebook could give it a key advantage over Google in the race to provide a better search experience. Google has also sought to improve its results by tapping information from users' social sphere, but its own social networking services have not been adopted anywhere near as widely as Facebook, so the information to which Google has access is relatively limited. In contrast, Facebook provides Bing with an ever-growing data mine of friends' links. This is important because while Bing has rapidly grown to second place behind Google in the search market, the market analytics company Hitwise reports that Google's market share is holding fast at about 70 percent of Internet searches. Instead of stealing traffic from Google, Bing has pushed other search providers off the playing field. Hitwise's latest report claims that all other services now add up to less than five percent of the search market.

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Source: http://feeds.technologyreview.com/click.phdo?i=08185a5e462e0468eb86fd6b5a8c4f70

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iPhone Review: Rage

The easy, initial reaction to Rage for the iPhone is to say that id Software has done it again, delivering a game that sets a benchmark of graphical splendour for the platform and will doubtless grow to be one of the iPhone?s definitive shooters.

Closer inspection, however, reveals that early assessment to only be two thirds right. Yes, Rage is a technical marvel and it?s amazing that id Software has managed to cram such large, detailed levels into a mobile phone game. However, this isn?t a definitive shooter. If anything, Rage follows in the steps of Quake Wars and Doom 3; it's graphically magnificent, but a fundamentally boring game.

Rage is closer to a lightgun game than an actual first person shooter. Cast as contestants on Mutant Bash TV ? a gladiatorial TV show for the post-apocalypse civilisation ? players basically run a scripted gauntlet and kill all the baddies they see along the way. You can?t control your movement, and your role in the game is merely to aim and shoot using the three weapons provided.


Really, that?s all there is to Rage on the iPhone ? scripted hallways and enemies that pop up and down like cardboard cutouts. There are bonus targets to shoot along the way too, plus an active reload system that marketing execs would probably claim adds ?tactical depth?, but it?s all much of a muchness. Rage is essentially just Virtua Cop or House of the Dead with fancier graphics.

The fact that Rage is just a lightgun game, however, isn?t the problem. Instead, the issue is that it doesn?t feel like it was originally designed as one. Levels, for example, are so long and complex that, while they?d be great in a first person shooter, they become tiring when dropped into a lightgun game.

The levels take so long to complete, and are so lacking in variety, that they reduce players to yawns by the end of the first level. There are only a handful of different baddy-types, all with the same attacks. There are no bosses or sudden changes of pace to keep the game interesting, merely more rooms of mutants who stand perfectly still and throw easily-dodged bricks.

Despite the fact that the levels are so overly long, Rage still ends up feeling light on content too. There are only three levels to play at the moment, and all of them are very similar. The only replay value in any of them involves either finding all the hidden targets (which don?t unlock anything), or beating your high-score.

The result of all this is that Rage ultimately feels like little more than an expensive tech demo. The technology id has created is really the only grounds on which to recommend the game, unless you?re a big fan of monotonous, ceaseless, shallow and pointless shooting.

Verdict: Boring and badly designed, Rage?s only real appeal is its pretty looks. If that?s all you?re after then you'd be better off downloading Epic Citadel for free.

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bit-tech/blog/~3/qGZsYsU9mHs/

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Samsung sells 10 million Galaxy S smartphones

Samsung has announced that it has sold more than 10 million Galaxy S smartphone handsets since the series' launch in June 2010, according to Samsung Hub. The company thus sold about 1.4 million devices per month or about 40,000 units per day. 2 million units were sold in South Korea, 4 million were pushed out in North America, and 2.5 million handsets were purchased in Europe. The Galaxy S is Samsung's best-selling smartphone model; when the company sold the first 5 million units it said it expected to sell another 5 million before the end of 2010, and it achieved that goal easily.

The Android device is available on all major US carriers; though on each it sports a slightly different name (but the Galaxy S moniker is present on each) and set of features. All of them still boast a 4-inch AMOLED touch screen display, 1Ghz Cortex A8 Hummingbird processor, 5-megapixel camera with LED flash and 720p video capture, six-axis sensor for gaming, up to 16GB of internal storage, Bluetooth, GPS, and Wi-Fi.

Samsung, the world's number two phone maker and number four smartphone maker, has a real winner with the Galaxy S. Even Google thought so when it allowed the company to use the Galaxy S as the base for the design of theNexus S.

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Source: http://www.techspot.com/news/41799-samsung-sells-10-million-galaxy-s-smartphones.html

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Dear Facebook, We Need Fun Photo Filters Now

Dear Facebook, We Need Fun Photo Filters Now

Facebook have always been notoriously good at stealing features that work well on other sites and implementing them on their huge platform. We have seen it in the past with the @ button that was a carbon copy of the Twitter feature and also with their check in functionality which copied Foursquare and other location based services. There are countless other examples but the fact of the matter is that as soon as Facebook spots something good they are able to quickly copy it and roll it out to their 500 million users in a flash. Some say it?s very anti-competitive and it?s hard on the small start ups who are innovating but, at the moment, there is nothing anybody can do about it. So that having been said, I think it?s about time Facebook start thinking about copying the early success that apps like Picplz and Instagram are having. Here?s why:

Photos Look Better With Filters

The beauty of sites that allow you to add filters is they can make anybody with a camera on their phone take what looks like a classy photo. They really enhance your photos and I nearly always add a filter these days to jazz mine up. There are tons of different filters on different sites but as you can see from these ones above from Picplz they really can make a huge difference to the way your photos look.

Facebook Already Has The Biggest Photo Product

The size and scale of Facebook?s photo product is mind blowing and they are already by far the biggest home for all our online photos. They store tens of billions of photos and showed recently that they want to improve that service by adding higher res photos and additional features. For a company that always wants to push the boundaries (sometimes by copying others) and improve their products, adding filters would be easy with their existing photo product and would dramatically improve things for their 500 million users.

Replicating is Cheaper Than Acquiring

I?ve written recently that somebody like Google should start thinking about acquiring Instagram soon and Facebook has shown that with acquisitions like Friendfeed in the past that it is a route they are happy to go down by acquiring talent. However in this instance I don?t think the technology is massively hard to replicate and Facebook has shown with other products like their video app that with only a couple of engineers they can build things that can be rolled out pretty quickly. If they put their mind to this they could build it in no time.

Instragram Could Be Competitor?

Facebook doesn?t really have many competitors but by their own admission their photo product played a huge part in their early success. Instagram is still tiny by comparison but they did pass a million users in record time, have all the early adopters on board and are getting great early traction. I?m only one person but I now prefer to add my photos to the quick simple Instagram app rather than bother with tagging and adding descriptions to all my Facebook albums.

Do you think it would be right for Facebook to ?borrow? the filters feature from other sites and if so would you use it?

About the Author

Niall is one a social media advocate and co-founder of Social Media agency Simply Zesty. He's helps small brands get their message out to the world and engage with their customers using the free tools available to them.

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Source: http://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2011/01/03/dear-facebook-we-need-fun-photo-filters-now/

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Is the iPad the future of computing?

You?ll need to bear with me on this one, and not just because this idea struck me after a sleepless long-haul flight. Suggesting that the iPad might be the future of computing needs a heck of a lot of explanation, both in defining my terms and moving beyond the iPad?s current incarnation as a mobile device. As such, if I may, I?ll ask you to give me a little bit of time before inviting your comments, whether they're flames or petitions to sanctify Steve Jobs? turtle-neck sweater.

Here?s the crux of my thought ? imagine a PC that doesn?t fail, yet is cool, fun and easy to use. That?s the iPad, but not in its current form. Even my mother would feel much more at home if her computer still had a keyboard and mouse, as these input devices enable a person to be more productive than mere fingers. Similarly, the iPad's screen needs to be larger than 9.7in if the iPad's going to be a useful computer, rather than a frivolous distraction.

[enter]Is the iPad the future of computing? *Is the iPad the future of computing?
Your next PC? Probably not, but it might be everyone else's[/center]

A larger device based on the iPad is what I?m talking about. You might call it an iPad Maxi, or Apple could call it an iPC (hopefully people will be able to tell the difference between a computer and the publishing house). A device that?s as neat as an iMac, cheaper than a conventional PC and as easy to use as the iPad should have a big future.

Such a device wouldn?t just be useful at home; it would also be great for work. IT managers all over the world would love to deploy PCs that can?t crash, or have dodgy software installed on them. After all, you just need to password-protect or remove the App Store, and you?ll have a locked down system. What's more, your employees would thank you for the cool new PC on their desk, rather than feeling as if they're being treated like children, as many workers do feel about their locked-down work PCs.

While there will always be a market for high-performance systems for gaming, media creation and so on, most people don?t need that level of power. What's more, with ARM delivering ever faster CPUs, a larger, desk-bound iPad PC wouldn?t have to be slow, and Apple could release speed increases yearly, as ARM delivers faster designs.

I can imagine Apple being bold enough to deliver such a system, but it wouldn't have to be an Apple-only deal. The likes of Sony, HP or even Asus could make a similar device based on a modified Android (or even Windows Phone 7) OS. Either way, such a PC could potentially initiate a massive swing in power away from Intel, AMD and Microsoft towards ARM, Apple and possibly Google.

Bearing in mind that any ?iPC? device wouldn?t be aimed at enthusiast-level bit-tech readers, but rather the other 80 per cent of PC users, do you think a desktop-based iPad-like PC would make sense? If so, just how much influence do you think it might have?

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bit-tech/blog/~3/2pk4sr8heF0/

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The Twitterverse Mapped Out [Infographic]

The Twitterverse Mapped Out [Infographic]

Twitter?s importance as an ecosystem can?t be underestimated. Sociologist Brian Solis and data visualization specialists Jess3 have got together to create an infographic that shows just how big it?s become.

The Twitterverse 1.0 is a development of an earlier infographic from May 2009. The new version presents the wide range of apps and services based on Twitter across a number of ?Orbits?, such as branding, livestreaming and relationships.

Solis and Jess3 have made the graphic freely available in both low-res and hi-res forms. and you can read the full story behind its creation on Solis? blog.

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Source: http://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2011/01/03/the-twitterverse-mapped-out-infographic/

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Navigating Your Energy Risk

Editor's Note: This introduction begins our Business Impact report on the topic of Corporate Energy Strategy, unfolding here daily throughout January.

Businesses can be excused for feeling some confusion about what to do about their energy consumption. Though they've been told to expect an economy-wide price on carbon, the U.S. Congress failed to impose one last year, and the nations participating in the Copenhagen climate summit in 2009 did not reach a binding agreement on how to cut carbon dioxide emissions. But despite the uncertainties about what national energy policy will bring, companies ranging from big-box retailers like Wal-Mart and Costco to high-tech leaders like Google and Cisco to industrial behemoths like General Electric and IBM are embracing cleaner energy technologies that lower their carbon footprints and reduce their overall reliance on fossil fuels.

The overriding motivation has become one of simple economics. "Some of these things just pencil out well," says Greg Neichin, a managing director at the Cleantech Group, a market intelligence firm. Indeed, a new report from Environmental Leader, a publisher of energy news and research, found that the majority of nearly 400 companies now generating their own renewable energy are doing so in order to reduce operating costs or to hedge against the prospect of higher prices for fossil fuels (see chart on next page).

This is a marked shift from the reasons companies have previously turned to environmentally friendly policies, such as a way of enhancing branding while largely continuing with business as usual?a tactic that some critics deride as "greenwashing." In the past, companies typically pursued such efforts through corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs rather than core business units directed by senior management. According to a 2007 survey of 420 global businesses by public-relations firm Hill & Knowlton, 52 percent of companies cited "improved reputation" as the main reason for pursuing green policies and technologies.

This special report on corporate energy strategy will argue that the new corporate focus on the economic benefits of going green is being made possible not only by advances in technology but also by innovations in business models that help companies mitigate their energy risk. We'll hear from corporate leaders who are putting energy strategies into practice, and we'll cite research showing for the first time that a broad range of companies are actually receiving a return on their renewable-energy investments.

Over the course of this month, we'll explore how better, cheaper renewable-energy technologies are making a difference for companies. Some of these technologies are well established. For instance, wind power has achieved "grid parity" in many parts of the world, matching the price of power generated by fuels such as natural gas. New ways of financing solar power have been making it more attractive to business. All-electric vehicles are coming to market in significant volume for the first time, and companies such as UPS and Coca-Cola are adding them to their fleets alongside hybrid vehicles.

Other technologies are newer to the mainstream. Among these are fuel cells that can now power entire buildings or retail centers for about the same cost as grid electricity, and low-power LED lighting, which retailers including Starbucks are installing in their stores. Telepresence systems and low-cost videoconferencing can dramatically reduce the need to travel by car and air. Creative new ways to power data centers can minimize carbon emissions while offering more capacity in less space. Smart building technology is poised to work with the coming smart grid to save companies substantial sums of money.

As more companies adopt these technologies, the cumulative effect could be big. Business software giant SAP calculates that its customer base, which includes 40,000 companies in 120 countries, collectively accounts for one-sixth of the world's carbon emissions. By comparison, the entire European Union is responsible for about 14 percent.

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Source: http://feeds.technologyreview.com/click.phdo?i=c4b7e6b3297b87f29eeeb167657085e5

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Weekend tech reading: CA online impersonation law now effective

Analysis: California's online impersonation law, effective January 1 One thing that reached new heights of both stupidity and tragedy in 2010 was the trend of online impersonation. If you're shaking your USB-enabled cane and shouting "there oughta be a law" in between pre-NYE shots of Metamucil, then you're in luck. As of January 1, 2011, California's first online impersonation law SB 1411 goes into effect, making malicious digital impersonation a misdemeanor that comes with fines up to $1000 and/or up to a year in jail. ZDNet

Constant net connection no longer required for Ubisoft games It looks like DRM checks on games such as Assassin's Creed 2 and Splinter Cell: Conviction have been changed for the better. The controversial DRM system was launched earlier this year with Settlers 7, and required players to be permanently connected to the internet in order to play. Now the games will no longer pause instantly if a connection is lost, but... PCGamer

Hotmail users report blank inboxes The ring of the new year has come with an unpleasant surprise for some users of Microsoft's Hotmail service. According to multiple postings on Microsoft's official support forum for Windows Live, a number of users are reporting that their entire Hotmail accounts have been completely deleted without warning. PCMag

Pro-WikiLeaks hackers attack Zimbabwe government websites Hacktivists have struck a blow against the regime in Zimbabwe by attacking a number of government websites. The cyber-assault appears to have been in support of newspapers who published secret cables in the ongoing WikiLeaks saga, to the annoyance of the-powers-that-be in the country. Naked Security

Judge warns of 'Orwellian state' in warrantless GPS tracking case Police in Delaware may soon be unable to use global positioning systems (GPS) to keep tabs on a suspect unless they have a court-signed warrant, thanks to a recent ruling by a superior court judge who cited famed author George Orwell in her decision. The Raw Story

Duke Nukem Forever pre-order accepted Pre-order can be available through Amazon and GameStop. At the pre-order page of Amazon, the game's release day is supposed to fall on May 31st. That's to say, the game will be just five months away from us. EXPreview

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Source: http://www.techspot.com/news/41787-weekend-tech-reading-ca-online-impersonation-law-now-effective.html

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Bit-Gamer Competition #2

Bit-Gamer Competition #2

Posted on 20th Dec 2010 at 11:31 by Joe Martin with 23 comments

Congratulations to the three winners from last week, who told us their favourite games ever over Twitter. We sent them each a copy of Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit on PlayStation 3 as a prize, but here's what the winners chose, in case you were wondering:

@dragronphreak - Pools of Radiance Ultima 7
@xmvx - Diablo 2
@Krisposkitt - BioShock

Now it's time for our second competition to celebrate the launch of Bit-Gamer.net. This time we've got a copy of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood Codex Edition on Xbox 360 to send out - and, yes, this competition is open worldwide.


To be in for a chance of winning, all you have to do is Follow @bit_gamer on Twitter and send us a tweet telling us which game you're most looking forward to next year.

The deadline for this competition is 5 January 2011.

We've already handed out a few unannounced prizes over Twitter too, and we expect to be giving out a lot more of as we've got a ludicrous amount of prizes to be given away. Congratulations to @darth_careful and @alastor2004, both of whom grabbed themselves copies of Diamond Dan on Steam.

We'll be bringing you a new competition after the New Year. Don't worry if you're not interested in signing up for Twitter either; you'll get a chance to win something soon!

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bit-tech/blog/~3/3W66eQ0uJx4/

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