We are responsible
For planting a seed of awareness
For the children of our dreams
For dreaming well

I love my car. It is so Japanese. I don’t mean simply that it was made by a Japanese manufacturer, which it was, but I mean also that it is small and compact and a little quirky. It is a cheap minicar (don’t say the r, it is just there for looks). It has a .66L, 4-cyl engine. It is an automatic but also has a push-button shift option and a teeny, tiny supercharger under the hood. I don’t know what the HP is, but I’m going to go out on a limb here and say it doesn’t crack the triple digits. I’ve seen an STi version driving around and I bet that one cracks the triple digits, which is a slightly terrifying thought. There is a big hole in the middle of the front dash, showing a lot of wiring. I have the wrong radio in there. It’s just a plain old, American-style AM/FM/CD player. The hole will fit a touch screen, hi-def, car tv/radio that I don’t have. Aside from the fact that I never lock my doors and sometimes just leave the key under the mat or in the glove compartment, if someone really wanted to steal my car, they could just get a friend or two to help them pick it up and then run off with it. But this is not America, this is Okinawa.

I tried to find cars to compare it with that are also available in the US, but most cars available in the US are not all that popular here in Okinawa. Up at the top I managed to find a Civic, which are everywhere in the US, but not so much here. The most popular Honda here is the Japanese version of the Fit, which is a little different from the US version and I like it a lot more. I did manage to find a Mini though. Who parked like a yahoo. I had to re-park and scoot over closer to him b/c it was throwing off the pictures, like I didn’t want his cooties or something.

I love my car though. It is about the same size as a Mini, maybe just a tad smaller, end to end, but definitely bigger on the inside. The white plate on the Mini indicates that it has at least a 1L engine. You’ve already heard about mine.

Note the Mini’s front bumper just peeking out.

Quick commercial. Look how cute and versatile it is! And yellow.

I should do this:

Pleo kann keine guten Artikel schreiben und auch bei anderen Aufgaben versagt er .

Was Pleo aber gut kann, ist Emotionen hervorzurufen. Sogar der ironische Redakteur kann nicht anders, als den kleinen Dinosaurier zu streicheln, wenn der sich unbeholfen bewegt und herzzerreißend brüllt.

Pleo, o robô dinossauro, age como um animal de estimação de verdade – explorando, acariciando, brincando, reagindo e aprendendo. O inventor Caleb Chung fala sobre Pleo e sua extravagante carreira de inventor de brinquedos na EG07, o Pleo já esta nas lojas ao custo de 350.000 dólares.

Quando era pequeno não tinha um desses, bom isto a 5 anos atráz.

Those of you who have played with a Pleo know exactly where this is going. The Pleo averages about 30 minues per 2-3 hour charge. Just swap batteries you say? Nope, the battery packs aren’t available. Fortunately, you can make your own pretty easily.  The basic frame is a standard battery pack for 6 AA’s. There are only a few modifications necessary to line up the leads and make it fit once you’ve loaded it with batteries.

[Robert] sent us some news on Pleo’s future. Apparently a company called Jetta has bought the rights to Pleo during the bankruptcy sale. They intend on re releasing the cute little robot. They mention that they have built parts for the iRobot line. We wonder what they’ll do, if anything, to make it more appealing.

Se l’estinzione dei dinosauri è ancora oggetto di teorie controverse, quasi certa sarà la causa che porterà all’estinzione del loro pronipote robot Pleo: la bancarotta. Il dinosauro hi-tech che ha invaso i negozi italiani lo scorso autunno proveniente dagli Usa ed è stato oggetto di un’entusiastica recensione proprio sulle pagine di Wired.it, probabilmente non sopravviverà alla chiusura di Ugobe, la società produttrice che ha avanzato richiesta di fallimento.

Continua a leggere “L’estinzione di Pleo”

[Andy] wrote in to show us how he hacked his Pleo to be controlled by a Wii Nunchuck. He has installed Xbee units for the communication as well as written a “skit” that allows the Pleo to just stand there and wait for commands. He is using an Arduino to interpret the Nunchuck input and send it to the Pleo. It’s a pretty cool proof of concept, but the response time is pretty slow. This might be due to the Arduino’s slower serial communication rate.  Yes, we said you might want to refrain from hacking them, due to their impending extinction, but did you expect us to stick to that? If you’re going to dig into one, you may also be interested in how to hack the Pleo for face recognition and remote control.

Making robots cute isn’t a simple proposition, and the industry just took a step backward. The company behind Pleo, the cuddliest piece of artificial life since Teddy Ruxpin appears to be among the latest victims of the global economic suckapalooza as Ugobe filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy today. That means we can probably bid a fond farewell to the best bet in pet robot technology to come on the scene recently. I mean, come on, how can you not love this little guy?

The worst bit of it is that a recent experiment in New York by the Tisch Interactive Telecommunications Program has demonstrated that cute, lost, orphan robots capture the hearts and helping hands of bystanders. The so called tweenbots were released on the streets of New York City, travelling towards a pre-programmed destination. The trick is, they can only travel in straight lines, meaning that to get where they’re going, people need to notice the little guys and then set them on their path, indicated by a flag attached to each machine. The surprising result is that people not only went out of their ways to stop and help the wayward bots, they would even point them away from their destinations to help them avoid dangerous situations.

Ugobe has officially filed bankruptcy. This is bad news for Pleo. That lovable little dino bot is no longer being produced. If you’ve got one you might want to refrain from hacking, just in case it’s worth something one day. As the point out at Engadget, another toy company might buy up the rights, but we doubt it.  At roughly $250 per unit, these things probably weren’t flying off the shelves.

Engadget is stirring the rumour pot about Stuff’s favourite robot dinosaur – Pleo. Apparently his maker, Ugobe, could be in pretty serious trouble, spelling the end of the little green monster’s production days. The robosaurus has been a good friend to us, appearing on our radio show and in the magazine (he’s number four in our More Stuff Top 10 list). We hope the gadget site is wrong. Sadly, that’s looking increasingly unlikely. If it’s true, we’ll miss our Jurassic robot chum. Another casualty of the credit crunch. *sniff*

For the uninitiated, Pleo is basically a robotic dinosaur that can adopt different responses according to how it’s “raised”. So if you decide to treat it like crap and slap it around it becomes less active. But if nurturing a piece of metal is your cup of tea, it becomes more responsive and will even start cooing/howling.

If you like knowing how the motors and processors in this animatron work, click here.

Pleo reminds me of the Furby I had around 8 or 9. The Parents refused to get a proper pet so they got me a Furby instead.

————————————————-

At the age of 8, you are quite unaware how marketing works. Advertisements tend to play up the product, and an impressionable 8 year old mind lapped it all up. Having been led to believe that Furby would be a proper replacement for a real pet, I opened the box eagerly. I set it up and commanded it to wake up. It did not. Some minutes passed and the new toy was subjected to an assortment of pokes and prods to get it started. The 8 year old mind was uninformed that the technology within required some time to boot up. When it finally awoke, the 8 year old leapt for joy, proceeding to talk to it.

Yes, I talked to a piece of metal.

Furby was supposed to be able to respond with words and noises if you interacted enough with it. Somehow, mine never responded appropriately. One day, in an extremely foul mood that Furby had not proclaimed his love for his master, the incensed 8 year old shoved her finger into his oral cavity (a beak). Furby proceeded to squawk hideously and his plastic eyes started rolling wildly in it’s sockets à la The Exorcist. Creeped out and finger sore, 8 year old retract finger and clubs Furby in the face with a flourish.

From that day, Furby sat sadly in a corner nursing a detached beak that would never grow back.

————————————————-

Moral of the story: Don’t be fooled by gimmicky advertisements, robots will never substitute real pets. You’d never get away with ripping bits off your dog.

Interested parties can get it at the current IT Show (12-15 March) at Suntec for $699.

Words of a wise sage:

For $699 it better to able to sweep the floor and wash the dishes and iron the clothes while I’m away. And separate the white clothes from the dark-coloured ones dammit.

Gotta love those ornery techies.

]]> http://freacamenta.wordpress.com/2009/03/02/cainii-si-pisicile-s-au-demodat-traisca-robotii/ Mon, 02 Mar 2009 14:03:54 +0000 freacamenta http://freacamenta.wordpress.com/2009/03/02/cainii-si-pisicile-s-au-demodat-traisca-robotii/

S-au demodat cainii si pisicile.

Gata ! S-a terminat cu animalele de casa vii, cu parul lasat pe canapele si cu pipi-ul la nisip.

De acum, puteti inlocui catelul Bobita cu robotul Pleo.

Mi se pare foarte normal sa nu ne mai prostim cu animale din astea demodate si sa achizionam gadgetul Pleo.

Astept cu interes sa vad blondele cum isi plimba roboteii prin parc; doar e la moda, phata….

Pleo

Sursa foto aici

Pleo, your cuddly dinosaur.

Only $349.

Excluding shipping.

I could buy a real dog with that amount.

Bah.

What d’ya thunk?

↓

You might as well get the Baby Alive Dolls from Hasbro.

She eats pea mix and poops them out shortly, and says phrases like, ‘Mmm, good!’

It’s time to change her nappy when she says, ‘Uh-oh, I made a stinky!’

When she’s tired, she gets drowsy and falls asleep.

Starts from a recession-friendly price of $49.90.

Advert’s pricing is out-dated though, use the link instead.

What toys would you choose for your kids (or yourself)?

Pleo se află încă în pântecele încăpător al cutiei sale, plină de polistiren expandat. Undeva pe o masă se încarcă bateriile care îi vor ţine de foame o dată ce va deschide ochii. Putem spune că Pleo visează , că se bucură de starea de gestaţie… dacă Pleo ar fi pui de mamifer…

De fapt Pleo încă stă cuminte în oul său. Cuibul este gata pregătit, frunza stă lângă el aşteptând prima trezire…

—-

În curând va fi ziua mea. Sunt deja la o vârstă la care societatea spune că ar trebui să am preocupări mai seriose, dar nu este cazul. Nu vreau să mă conformez, prefer să mă joc copilăreşte, aşa că, în locul unei pisici, l-am primit pe Pleo.

Pleo încă nu are nume. Nu m-am hotărât încă, nu ştiu dacă să îl personalizez. Şi cât de mult. Aştept să se încarce bateriile acestei ingenioase jucării şi povestea va continua…

Visto l’interesse suscitato da PLEO vi consiglio questi link che esaudiranno le vostre richieste,

un consiglio, se ne avete le possibilità economiche Compratelo !!!! è meraviglioso !!!!:

(precednte post: 2008-09-01 – Il cucciolo di dinosauro PLEO sbarca in Italia)

标题惯例扯蛋。

这是只会走路的治愈系萝卜恐龙，单看Spec就很华丽，还能更新软件，看了看视频，这简直就是AI了，这玩意虽然在外国发售了有段时间了但是11月尾进来这里了，售卖地点不明，貌似要RM1,900.00，滚地不起。不过比起爱宝这价钱便宜了N倍，值得耍（有钱的话-v-）。
真糟糕越看越有爱。

本地官网：http://www.pleomalaysia.com/
这里有详细介绍
PLEO 有一個攝影鏡頭、聲音感應器、2 個紅外線感應器、14 個馬達、100 個齒輪、8 個觸控感應器，和一個平衡感應器。這些感應器使他聽見、看見、感覺接觸，並且知道有人在跟他玩。

● 規格：體長：52.6公分 ／身高：19.1公分／體重：1.59公斤，適合8歲以上
● 配件：
．USB PORTx1
．SD插槽x1
．紅外線傳輸x1
．原廠鎳氫電池x1
．使用手冊(中/英/日文說明)x1
．快速指南x1
．變壓器x1
．認同卡x1
．訓練葉片x1

随便谷歌了段你管子放上来

Gli amici di GiiKS hanno effettuato una galleria immagini con video di uno dei regali più richiesti di questo Natale 2008, il  dino-robot Pleo… il nuovo beniamino di grandi e piccini

clicca qui per visionare galleria immagini completa

Fonte:GiiKS

Pun pariu ca v`ati gandit la altceva. Ha ha. E vorba de fapt de un dinozaur, Pleo. Tot am auzit pe net de el si acuma intru pe site. Ma mir cum de asa o chestie e o noutate pentru noi, avand in vedere ca japonezii sunt obsedati de asemenea roboti si un tip chiar a creat o nevasta-robot pentru ca nu avea parte de femei reale. Pleo nu se adreseaza copiilor pentru ca e destul de sensibil la miscari brutale, nu poate fi scapat pe jos, lovit sau udat si costa 1300 lei.

Desi e ciudat sa te “joci” cu un obiect, producatorii spun ca e un fel de animal de casa, preia informatiile din jur prin multimea de senzori cu care este dotat, software`ul e capabil sa invete si raspunde la atingeri ceea ce nu e rau pentru persoanele care nu vor sa aiba responsabilitatea de a creste un caine sau o pisica ci un animal de plastic si metal care poate fi scos din priza cand pleci in concediu sau nu ai chef de el.

Acuma stiti ce vreau de Craciun *evil grin*

Sursa imagine