Posted by Ty Colfax - Monday, August 18, 2008 12:27 PM
Two photovoltaic solar power plants are planned for San Luis Obispo County in Southern California. Covering 12.5 square miles of otherwise unused desert landscape, the two new installations will create around 800 megawatts of power.
The power will be sold to Pacific Gas & Electric which is under a state mandate to incorporate renewable resources to the tune of 20% of its overall sources. PG&E is saying the costs will be competitive with thermal and wind energy prices already in action or in development.
Solar has finally arrived, people. Now if we can just install the sun in every climate in the world in abundance like it is SoCal, we'll be sound as pie or however you say that phrase.
Posted by Jeffrey Kanjanapangka - Thursday, August 14, 2008 11:35 AM
Silicon Knights introduces us to the quaint robotic GRNDL... who by the way, eats human flesh in the action-RPG Too Human for the Xbox 360 available August 19th.
Posted by Stephen Johnson - Wednesday, August 13, 2008 3:26 PM
Presumably mad scientists at the University of Reading have announced they've created a robot with a rat's brain. The robot/rat/abomination is powered by a network of cells taken from the brains of rodents. The cells "learn" and have formed a brain-like thing that controls the electronic and machine parts of the--thing.
Although the scientists behind the project say their creation will help us understand how neural networks form our minds, and will provide valuable information that may help victims of neurological diseases, we're pretty sure RatBot is planning some form of world domination. Or maybe it's thinking about how delicious cheese would taste, if it had a mouth.
Posted by Jeffrey Kanjanapangka - Wednesday, August 06, 2008 5:14 PM
Take a gander at the size and scope of the "Arms Forts" in Ubisoft's mech sim action game Armored Core: for Answer. The game is set for launch September 9th for the PS3 and Xbox 360.
Click the image below for the Armored Core: for Answer image gallery
Posted by Frank Meyer - Wednesday, August 06, 2008 12:00 PM
Researchers in Leipzig have invented software that allegedly allows robots to learn movement through trial and error.
The software mimics the interconnected sensing and processing of a brain via a "neural network," allowing the simulated creatures to explore.
For instance, the video demonstrations, a simulated dog learns to jump over a fence, and a humanoid learns how to get upright and do back flips. The key word here being “simulated,” as they haven’t actually made any of this happen yet. In fact, the video demo of the software looks like it was created in 1983…but I digress…
Posted by Ty Colfax - Tuesday, August 05, 2008 10:50 AM
DVD rental kiosk leader Redbox is about to get a big challenge from Blockbuster who plan to roll out 10,000 blue boxes of their own over the next 18 months.
Industry analysts expect that the DVD kiosk industry will grow substantially from $197 million last year to $760 million in 2010. We're a little more skeptical in light of ever-increasingly affordable technology in the home allowing for cheaper, faster delivery of rented material, but nobody listens to us.
Blockbuster is mum about the full business model but you can expect it's similar to Redbox which has 6,000 kiosks across the US, each with around 500 movies that rent for $1 a night. B-buster did say that they are working toward a DVD burner in the box that will allow customers to download, burn, and purchase a movie right there on the spot.
Posted by John Manalang - Tuesday, August 05, 2008 10:28 AM
Paramount Pictures is finally rolling out the Blu-Ray edition of the megahit, Prime movie, Transformers, this September 2. But not only have been fans waiting for this edition, director Michael Bay has been sharing the same anticipation. In the IGN report, Bay said:
"I've been waiting for Transformers to be released on Blu-ray for a long time, and it was worth the wait. This is the complete high-definition package for fans of this film - it looks stunning and really allows you to engage with this movie in new ways. Remember, I told everyone Blu-ray is the best."
Posted by Ty Colfax - Friday, August 01, 2008 11:15 AM
Since surviving the 7 minutes of terror descending through the Martian atmosphere on May 25, the Phoenix Mars Lander has scooped, tested, and found water in the Red Planet's northern plains.
There were scooping issues as the samples they collected were turning into a sticky substance that was hard to get into the ovens for testing. But working around where the sun is at certain times, they've been able to deliver samples to the oven and mass spectrometers, which have led to the greatest discovery man has seen in over a week.
Seriously, though, it's pretty sweet. Beyond the fact that we can take pride in the fact that we actually did it, we can also continue to test the surface to see about sustaining plant life and maybe eventually human life.
Follow yonder link to see a nice panorama of the plains where Phoenix lies. Also, is that a PlayStation 1 on board on the left???
Posted by Ty Colfax - Tuesday, July 22, 2008 2:29 PM
Ak like ya'll didn't already know, but it's true, the robots are stepping it up. Check out the videos from robot masters on DiscoverMagazine.com who have managed to create a few eerily animal-like creatures.
Posted by Ty Colfax - Monday, July 07, 2008 2:43 PM
Check out the gallery of the new Robots for the Attack of the Show set. There are four new bots. One of them has a tap in his chest and is only vaguely phallic as hell. Two of the other bots have flatscreen monitors for chests. All four were designed by Hollywood special effects pros and will be able to talk and do all kinds of fancy new things.
Time to say goodbye to the Army of Monitorheads. You've served us well, Privates, but it's time for you to disappear now.
Posted by Derek Snowden - Saturday, June 21, 2008 3:00 AM
Welcome to the Tech News Countdown, hosted by Alison Haislip. Every Saturday, Alison will take you through the top tech stories of the week.
This week Alison brings you the latest on Google's Lab developments and the Android mobile operating system, the record-breaking launch of the Firefox 3.0 browser, DARPA's autonomous robot challenge, claims of a revolutionary water-powered engine, and the unveiling of a 15-inch humanoid female 'love' robot.
Posted by Ty Colfax - Friday, June 20, 2008 1:21 PM
News broke via the Phoenix lander's Twitter account last night that Mars has water ice. Photographic evidence asserts without a doubt that ice uncovered earlier in the week as the lander scooped soil has sublimed directly into vapor and dissipated over the past few days.
This is huge and it means more eyes will be trained on NASA as they further analyze the soil collected by the lander's arm in the onboard ovens pimped out with mass spectrometers.
There is regrettably no instruments on board to analyze the soil or ice for living organisms, as the goal of the mission was to find ice and that has been accomplished. This will surely mean more missions in the coming years as we try to figure this mystery out.
Posted by Stephen Johnson - Thursday, May 29, 2008 8:25 AM
Take a long look at the above series of photos. Go ahead. We'll wait. They essay a monkey controlling a robot arm with his thoughts. Let that sink in for a second: Scientists (presumably mad) are using technology to create monkeys that telepathically bond with robots. Hey, monkeys: We're really sorry about all the vivisection.
Presumably mad scientists at the University of Reading have announced they've created a robot with a rat's brain. The robot/rat/abomination is powered by a network of cells taken from the brains of rodents. The cells "learn" and have formed a brain-like thing that controls the electronic and machine parts of the--thing.
Researchers in Leipzig have invented software that allegedly allows robots to learn movement through trial and error.
DVD rental kiosk leader Redbox is about to get a big challenge from Blockbuster who plan to roll out 10,000 blue boxes of their own over the next 18 months.
News broke via the Phoenix lander's Twitter account last night that Mars has water ice. Photographic evidence asserts without a doubt that ice uncovered earlier in the week as the lander scooped soil has sublimed directly into vapor and dissipated over the past few days.