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We show you how to save yourself a couple hundred dollars by upgrading the RAM in your new unibody MacBook Pro on your own. It's easy, and we show you how to do it yourself in this episode.
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Pleo Can Be Resurrected

Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Hot Deals, Misc. Tech

Pleo

If you already have a Pleo but, for some reason, the robotic dinosaur bites the proverbial dust, send it back to its place of birth. If they cannot fix him/her, the UGOBE team will extract its “soul” and load it into a new one for a reduced price. We call that an incredible offer for those whose Pleo is more than just a robot. By the way, if you haven’t yet purchased one of your own, in honor of their 1 year anniversary, PleoWorld selling them for $235.00 off until July 11.

Read More | PleoWorld

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Interaction Wall-E

Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Movies, Science, Toys

Interaction Wall-EHow could we not pay homage to our newest and favest bot? Wall-E debuted today and although we couldn’t make the premiere, we did notice that there are already a truckload of toys and other tie-ins, like this Interaction Wall-E. The little guy’s eyes light up, he moves his head and arms, and has the original movie voice and sound effects. If that isn’t enough, when you talk to him, he responds and, if you are too busy, can communicate with Interaction Eve. At a size of 6.5 x 10.5 x 8.5-inches and a weight of 2.1 pounds, we found one on Amazon for $43.99.

Read More | Amazon

Flame Walks Like a Human

Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Misc. Tech, Science

Flame
ASIMO eat your heart out. Flame is now the most advanced walking robot to date. Created by Dutch PhD student Daan Hobbelen of TU Delft, his bot is both stable and energy efficient. To accomplish his objective, he studied how people walked for the first time. He then gave Flame seven motors and a balance mechanism created with stability algorithms. Daan is hoping that the technology will be used to help treat those with walking disabilities.

Read More | Physorg

WowWee Tribot

Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: CES, CES 2008, Misc. Tech, Science, Toys

TribotWowWee has finally moved on from their inane Chatterbots to bring us all the Tribot, which we first introduced you to in February from the CES. Obviously named for its three-wheeled base, the bot can move in 8 directions (including diagonal.)The kewl tilt trigger button allows you to move him in directions by just moving the remote around. He will also tell jokes and stories and refers to himself as “the most rad robot in the galaxy.“

Wait, there’s more. Use Tribot as a guard against alien bots or dogs, as an alarm that needs a tap on the head to shut him up, challenge him to a game of hide and seek, or play one of three driving games. We would have been happy if he just cleaned up our room.

Read More | Tribot Product Page

Robotic Tynamizer Mows Lawn

Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Design, Misc. Tech, Science, Videos

You’ve got your elite with their fancy Swedish Automowers that they adore so much they give them names, and then there are others who take a more ordinary approach by having a robot slave do the work for them, despite the rudeness of the family dog. The video of the Tynamizer is fairly amusing to watch but we were wondering a couple of things. Doesn’t the grass already look fairly short? And what happens when the extension cord runs out?

Read More | Robots-Dreams

WALL-E Toys Ready for Movie Premiere

Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Corporate News, Misc. Tech, Movies, Music, Portable Audio / Video, Toys, USB

WALL-E

Although the movie won’t be out until June 27, Disney is already promoting it with two toys. The Ultimate WALL-E has 10 motors, a programmable remote with touch programming, and sensors to detect obstacles and sound direction. It is also MP3 compatible with built-in speakers, USB cables, and rechargeable batteries (included.) The robot will be at ToysRUs and Disney Shopping this fall for $189.99.

The iDance WALL-E, with animated eyes, talks and dances. The audio in-jack makes it compatible with iPods or MP3 players. Sound activated, it will be at various retailers this summer for $24.99.

Read More | Bot Junkie

Asimo is Coming to Town!

Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Corporate News, Misc. Tech, Music, Science

ASIMO

One of our fave robotic buds, Honda’s ASIMO, will be coming to Detroit May 13 to conduct the city’s Symphony Orchestra as part of a performance with cellist Yo-Yo Ma. He will be performing to “Impossible Dream” to draw attention to the DSO’s music education program for younger listeners. He will also be on display to music students May 14, who get to learn what he can do as well as get a lesson from the Master of Strings. We will try to get a peek at the bot when he arrives, so if you plan on going, save us a seat.

Read More | Akihabara News

Push-kun Entertaining Bot

Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Design, Misc. Tech, Science

It’s not often that we find a bot that is useless, silly, and not made by WowWee, but the Push-kun can be placed in all those categories. Created by Osaka’s Robot Force, the robot tells jokes, plays drumrolls for itself, and performs other odd antics. If nothing else, he is a fine way to spend a couple of minutes watching. Push-kin was so impressive that he performed in the Baka RoboCup, which seeks out the most amusing and/or trivial robotics. While the quadruped didn’t win, we knew we just had to share, even if he only speaks Japanese. RF’s OniRoppo is also in the video.

Read More | Pink Tentacle

Nexi Wants to Teach

Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Misc. Tech, Science, Videos

Shades of Chucky. MIT Media Labs Personal Robotics Group has created Nexi, an MDS (Mobile/Dexterous/Social) bot that moves, has some dexterity, and communicates. About the size of a 3-year old, they hope that the robot will excel in areas of human/robot interaction, teamwork, and learning. While this is another step forward in the annals of robotics, the video kind of creeped us out. We wonder what would happen if a real child encountered it.

Read More | MIT Personal Robotics Group

Military Uses Wii With Packbot

Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Misc. Tech, Science, Video Games

PackbotWho says the military is not into games? When we last told you about the iRobot Packbot, it had barely taken off as a prototype that could fly with a parafoil system. The USDE has been busy and is now teaching its battlefield model, which features a gun and sensory equipment, to run via a Wii controller. It seems that the soldiers spent more time operating the bot than in reading data and they figured this would be a more useful alternative. Engineers have developed software that will send back vibrations if it finds something of importance, like an injured soldier. They would also like to hook it up to an iPhone sometime in the future.

Read More | New Scientist Tech

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