Robot wars ‘still a long way off’

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AppId is over the quota
The similarities between robots used for cleaning and those used by soldiers in Afghanistan

Despite the US Department of Defense once predicting that a third of US fighting strength would be composed of robots by 2015, experts warn that the machine wars seen in the movies will remain science fiction for quite some time yet.

"I'll be back" said Arnold Schwarzenegger as cyborg-assassin the Terminator, back from the year 2029 to carry out a murder in 1984. But it seems that, when it comes to science fact rather than science fiction, it is unlikely that anything like him - or should he be an it? - will ever "be" at all.

Robots in the home have been promised for a while and though - as the BBC's Jon Stewart has discovered - technology is slowly allowing robots closer to domestic use, some of the most practical applications so far have been in military operations.

Robots so far are not quite up to the images depicted in science fiction

What robots are doing in modern warfare is no small feat. Machines undertake bomb disposal, mine detection and entering unknown places of interest before sending in soldiers - a practice that the military believes is saving lives.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) or drones have already carried out military operations carrying "lethal payloads" without having a soldier on board. It was called "the only game in town in terms of confronting or trying to disrupt the al Qaeda leadership [in Pakistan]" by CIA director Leon Panetta in 2009.

Despite it being called a "drone war" by some commentators, the Department of Defense is keen to point towards its key goals of "intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance" when it is using robotics.

In a document setting out an unmanned military vehicle roadmap between 2005 and 2030, it stated that around a third of US fighting strength would be composed of robots in a $127bn (£80bn) project.

This was scrapped in 2009.

But some of the latest prototypes could still make robots in military operations on the ground a regular occurrence.

The LS3 - known as "Alphadog" to its developers - will be able to carry up to 400lbs (180kg) of equipment over a distance of up to 20 miles (32km) over a 24-hour period.

In practical terms, this means that it could replace the use of a mule or donkey to carry heavy loads.

Newest prototypes move a lot more like organic animals than previously

Funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) and the US Marine Corps, it can withstand being kicked and maintains its balance when pushed.

"For years, I did work on one-legged hopping machines - funny contraptions in the lab," Marc Raibert, of Boston Dynamics told an audience at Stanford University.

"The number of remaining problems that need to be solved is a small but manageable list. In the next couple of years, I can imagine getting legged robot technology… out there and into use."

The way it is able to right itself when toppled and the noise it makes when moving is more than a little like the Terminator and many reacting to the clips have been amazed at just how realistically the robot moves.

Tech site Gizmodo called it the "creepiest and most awesome quadruped robot of all time".

Life and death

But despite the occasional YouTube comment saying this development will lead to the end of the world, this is where robotics experts are keen to see the comparisons with sci-fi stop.

"With today's technology, there has to a person in the loop with regard to a decision that would have the gravity of life and death," says Joe Dyer, chief operating officer of robotics firm iRobot.

"Will we ever have machines that would truly challenge Asimov's laws? Maybe, but it's going to be a long time coming."

The real stumbling block for robotics engineers is that where a robot fails - and a human excels - is context and recognition. People can tell things apart quickly, effectively and from a very early age.

While handling rough terrain is now generally considered to be at the later stages of development for robots, actual intelligence and recognition about what it finds when it reaches its destination is a lot more complicated.

"We're starting to nibble at the edges of it," says Dyer.

"The world will begin to change drastically when robots have the manipulation capability of a five or six-year-old child. That means you can start to do the basics."

Brain power

At the moment, "stupid" robots serve a purpose. Their main function is to go into places where it would be dangerous or impossible for a human to tread. High intelligence is not required so much as brute strength and the ability to keep humans away from potentially harmful situations.

Some robots are a lot less frightening to people than others

The first major mass practical use for these type of robots came in the aftermath of 9/11 as a search and rescue tool when emergency personnel were unable to carry out an operation. They were operated by human controllers in a similar way to how they are today.

But if futurist and author Ray Kurzweil is right, by 2019 a $1,000 (£650) computer will at least match the processing power of the human brain.

And this could lead to "intelligent" robots with an autonomy that many find uncomfortable. But what many see this as frightening at the moment, some experts think that it is only a matter of time before it becomes an idea that people will get used to and eventually consider normal.

"We [humans] don't like to give up our special-ness," robotics pioneer Rodney Brooks said in a Ted talk.

"Having the idea that robots could really have emotions, or that robots could be living creatures - I think is going to be hard for us to accept. But we're going to come to accept it over the next 50 years or so."

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Your Apple Store Might Still Have the iPhone 4S

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AppId is over the quota
REUTERS / Jason Reed

If you want an iPhone 4S but didn't want to wait in line, you may be in luck. Some Apple Stores and other retailers still have the iPhone 4S in stock after the iLines have cleared.

My nearest Apple Store in Cincinnati was still selling the iPhone 4S for all carriers, although not all models were available on Sprint. 9to5Mac has also heard reports that the iPhone 4S is in stock at Apple Stores.

(MORE: iPhone 4S Reviews: No Disappointments)

Best Buy's online system shows the iPhone 4S in stock as well. In my area, Sprint iPhones are hardest to find, and there are more white iPhones than black iPhones in stock. Techland editor Doug Aamoth checked Best Buys in Boston and found plenty of stores carrying the AT&T and Verizon iPhone 4S, but not many Sprint models to be had. To check for yourself, head to Best Buy's iPhone 4S page and click "Check Shipping & Availability" for the model you're looking for. Best Buy isn't taking online orders, though, so you'll have to head to a store after confirming availability.

The situation reminds me of when the iPhone 3GS went on sale in 2009. There were iLines, of course, but later in the day people were able to waltz into Apple Stores and get their phones with less hassle. The line still has its perks in terms of comradery and excitement, I suppose.

Last year's s iPhone 4 launch was worse, with supply shortages lasting for months. Apple seems to have a better handle on it this time around.

MORE: No iPhone 5 Until 2013? Cue the Newest Round of Rumors

Read more about the life and legacy of Steve Jobs in the tribute book from TIME—Steve Jobs: The Genius Who Changed Our World

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Who still listens to podcasts?

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AppId is over the quota
Click's LJ Rich asks whether podcasting has become too corporate

Since becoming a buzzword more than five years ago, the term "podcasting" has largely disappeared from view as attention has increasingly turned to social media. So why has such a popular technology received such a small amount of attention?

Named word of the year by the New Oxford American Dictionary in 2005, podcast has become a widely understood term, with more than 150,000 podcasts available about almost any subject imaginable.

A podcast is defined as a multimedia digital file made available on the Internet for downloading to a portable media player, computer, etc.. It is derived from the terms iPod and broadcast, though Apple did not do anything to develop the podcast itselfOn 3 December 2005, podcast was named word of the year by the New Oxford American Dictionary, two days before the first Ricky Gervais Show podcast

Podcasting was going to be the next big thing - changing the broadcasting landscape forever. Radio would become inferior to this new medium that could be easily downloaded onto any device and listened to at any time.

And when comedian Ricky Gervais took up podcasting in late 2005 - exceeding 4.5 million downloads within two months of The Ricky Gervais Show's first release, according to the Guinness Book of World Records - podcasting was going from strength to strength.

"Podcasting created a level platform," says Brett Spencer, head of digital at BBC Radio 2 and 6 Music.

"For the first time, people in their bedroom could upload and get their work on iTunes alongside content from the BBC."

And then, nothing.

Bigger than Twitter

Well, that is not strictly true but podcasting appeared to fall pretty quickly from public consciousness, the media instead filled with talk of the newer technologies, Facebook and Twitter.

But podcasting has continued to grow and grow.

Podcasting remains more popular than the social media site Twitter

More than eight million adults in the UK - around 16% of the adult population - have downloaded a podcast, with almost half listening to one at least once a week. This figure is echoed in the US.

As a comparison, this is still a greater percentage of people than use Twitter.

The Adam Carolla Show, a daily US download set up after his radio programme was cancelled in February 2009, officially broke the record for the most downloaded podcast recently, receiving 59,574,843 unique downloads up until March 2011 - beating Gervais's record.

So why hasn't this now mainstream technology been more widely discussed?

The common perception is that a podcast is just a download of something that has already been made available elsewhere. Rather than changing the traditional media landscape, many believe that it is just replicating it.

"Half of podcasting is about just another medium to deliver the same content," says radio futurologist James Cridland.

"The other half is the real democratisation of creating new interesting audio content.

"Is it something different to normal radio? Not really. I look at quite a lot of the podcasts and the fact they are on a downloadable medium that you can listen to whenever you like doesn't necessarily change a lot of the content."

Turning tide

Despite the big stars often taking all the plaudits and the big broadcasters often occupying the top spots of the charts, the tide seems to be turning towards the smaller broadcaster and the amateur enthusiasts, each carving out a niche audience for themselves.

"Podcasting offers a good alternative to the kind of programmes you would expect on the radio," says Cridland.

"The hard part is finding the quality. There are some really good podcasts but there are a load of terrible ones as well."

The Sony Radio Academy Awards - the radio industry's Oscars - has begun to recognise independent and individual podcast content.

This year, the gold award for internet programme was awarded to Answer Me This, co-founded by Olly Mann. While starting from humble beginnings and modest audience numbers, it now gets downloaded 50,000 times each week.

"It's been amazing that by making a programme in [co-founder] Helen Zaltzman's sitting room, we're able to sit alongside Desert Island Discs, Friday Night Comedy on Radio 4 or Adam and Joe. It's a really exciting feeling."

'Old-fashioned'

And what it has done for the presenters is open doors into traditional ways of audio broadcasting - they now appear regularly on Radio 5 Live.

Ricky Gervais is often credited with making podcasts more mainstream

"It's getting to the point now where if someone wants a radio programme the question will be asked 'Why haven't you already been making one?' Podcasting is the best way to showcase your talent, especially with commercial radio running out of space for personality."

New forms of audio techniques have arrived to challenge traditional broadcasting even further. Audioboo for example, described as a service which is "to podcasting what Twitter is to blogging", offers almost instant uploading of audio content.

"Podcasting is quite an old-fashioned approach to getting content on the internet," says Audioboo founder Mark Rock.

"Really, it's looking at the internet as a broadcast mechanism. The internet to us is more social. It's very much about curated content. Our approach is that anything you say is important - whether that's important to 10,000 people or just two."

What podcasting still offers is a chance for anyone to get behind a microphone and, for all intents and purposes, make a radio programme.

But even for the biggest in the business, it takes a little time for it to get going.

"It takes time to burn through," says Spencer, who used to work for BBC Radio 5 live.

"History is littered with great television programmes that did nothing in their first season and it's a little bit like that. They rely heavily on word of mouth.

"When we first started the Kermode and Mayo podcast in 2005, it was downloaded 42 times in the first week and I was jumping around the office, amazed that people were actually downloading it.

"Now it's downloaded 120,000 times a week."

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"BlackBerry: ' we have many of you let;" Still working, the service to restore

Enlarge Damien Meyer / AFP/Getty Images Damien Meyer/AFP/Getty Images

As BlackBerrys are beginning to work properly again in some parts of the world after three days of failure, the founder of the company, which is the power of the devices today for user morning - and apologize conceding, that he still didn't say if things entirely back will be normal.

"I apologize," research in motion says founder of Mike Lazaridis in a video, the company today provided online. "We have disappoint many of you." ... "You expect from us better and I expect better from us."

According to Lazaridis, BlackBerry text services are back to "normal levels in Europe, the Middle East, India and Africa." He mentioned not North America, where failures were reported yesterday.

"We do everything in our power to restore regular service level," he added.

Lazaridis said he would like to able to predict when everything will be resolved, but said, "I this with certainty at this point not."

The associated press writes:

"An important link in the BlackBerry European network not Monday, and also from a backup." Even though the underlying problems were quickly repaired, had built a backlog of emails and messages that you had to be wound up the system. In the meantime been news for Europe data centers in the rest of the world are piling up in BlackBerry. "By Wednesday it had slowed the failure in the United States and Canada, to a crawl."

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Who still listens to podcasts?

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
Click's LJ Rich asks whether podcasting has become too corporate

Since becoming a buzzword more than five years ago, the term "podcasting" has largely disappeared from view as attention has increasingly turned to social media. So why has such a popular technology received such a small amount of attention?

Named word of the year by the New Oxford American Dictionary in 2005, podcast has become a widely understood term, with more than 150,000 podcasts available about almost any subject imaginable.

A podcast is defined as a multimedia digital file made available on the Internet for downloading to a portable media player, computer, etc.. It is derived from the terms iPod and broadcast, though Apple did not do anything to develop the podcast itselfOn 3 December 2005, podcast was named word of the year by the New Oxford American Dictionary, two days before the first Ricky Gervais Show podcast

Podcasting was going to be the next big thing - changing the broadcasting landscape forever. Radio would become inferior to this new medium that could be easily downloaded onto any device and listened to at any time.

And when comedian Ricky Gervais took up podcasting in late 2005 - exceeding 4.5 million downloads within two months of The Ricky Gervais Show's first release, according to the Guinness Book of World Records - podcasting was going from strength to strength.

"Podcasting created a level platform," says Brett Spencer, head of digital at BBC Radio 2 and 6 Music.

"For the first time, people in their bedroom could upload and get their work on iTunes alongside content from the BBC."

And then, nothing.

Bigger than Twitter

Well, that is not strictly true but podcasting appeared to fall pretty quickly from public consciousness, the media instead filled with talk of the newer technologies, Facebook and Twitter.

But podcasting has continued to grow and grow.

Podcasting remains more popular than the social media site Twitter

More than eight million adults in the UK - around 16% of the adult population - have downloaded a podcast, with almost half listening to one at least once a week. This figure is echoed in the US.

As a comparison, this is still a greater percentage of people than use Twitter.

The Adam Carolla Show, a daily US download set up after his radio programme was cancelled in February 2009, officially broke the record for the most downloaded podcast recently, receiving 59,574,843 unique downloads up until March 2011 - beating Gervais's record.

So why hasn't this now mainstream technology been more widely discussed?

The common perception is that a podcast is just a download of something that has already been made available elsewhere. Rather than changing the traditional media landscape, many believe that it is just replicating it.

"Half of podcasting is about just another medium to deliver the same content," says radio futurologist James Cridland.

"The other half is the real democratisation of creating new interesting audio content.

"Is it something different to normal radio? Not really. I look at quite a lot of the podcasts and the fact they are on a downloadable medium that you can listen to whenever you like doesn't necessarily change a lot of the content."

Turning tide

Despite the big stars often taking all the plaudits and the big broadcasters often occupying the top spots of the charts, the tide seems to be turning towards the smaller broadcaster and the amateur enthusiasts, each carving out a niche audience for themselves.

"Podcasting offers a good alternative to the kind of programmes you would expect on the radio," says Cridland.

"The hard part is finding the quality. There are some really good podcasts but there are a load of terrible ones as well."

The Sony Radio Academy Awards - the radio industry's Oscars - has begun to recognise independent and individual podcast content.

This year, the gold award for internet programme was awarded to Answer Me This, co-founded by Olly Mann. While starting from humble beginnings and modest audience numbers, it now gets downloaded 50,000 times each week.

"It's been amazing that by making a programme in [co-founder] Helen Zaltzman's sitting room, we're able to sit alongside Desert Island Discs, Friday Night Comedy on Radio 4 or Adam and Joe. It's a really exciting feeling."

'Old-fashioned'

And what it has done for the presenters is open doors into traditional ways of audio broadcasting - they now appear regularly on Radio 5 Live.

Ricky Gervais is often credited with making podcasts more mainstream

"It's getting to the point now where if someone wants a radio programme the question will be asked 'Why haven't you already been making one?' Podcasting is the best way to showcase your talent, especially with commercial radio running out of space for personality."

New forms of audio techniques have arrived to challenge traditional broadcasting even further. Audioboo for example, described as a service which is "to podcasting what Twitter is to blogging", offers almost instant uploading of audio content.

"Podcasting is quite an old-fashioned approach to getting content on the internet," says Audioboo founder Mark Rock.

"Really, it's looking at the internet as a broadcast mechanism. The internet to us is more social. It's very much about curated content. Our approach is that anything you say is important - whether that's important to 10,000 people or just two."

What podcasting still offers is a chance for anyone to get behind a microphone and, for all intents and purposes, make a radio programme.

But even for the biggest in the business, it takes a little time for it to get going.

"It takes time to burn through," says Spencer, who used to work for BBC Radio 5 live.

"History is littered with great television programmes that did nothing in their first season and it's a little bit like that. They rely heavily on word of mouth.

"When we first started the Kermode and Mayo podcast in 2005, it was downloaded 42 times in the first week and I was jumping around the office, amazed that people were actually downloading it.

"Now it's downloaded 120,000 times a week."

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Robot wars ‘still a long way off’

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
The similarities between robots used for cleaning and those used by soldiers in Afghanistan

Despite the US Department of Defense once predicting that a third of US fighting strength would be composed of robots by 2015, experts warn that the machine wars seen in the movies will remain science fiction for quite some time yet.

"I'll be back" said Arnold Schwarzenegger as cyborg-assassin the Terminator, back from the year 2029 to carry out a murder in 1984. But it seems that, when it comes to science fact rather than science fiction, it is unlikely that anything like him - or should he be an it? - will ever "be" at all.

Robots in the home have been promised for a while and though - as the BBC's Jon Stewart has discovered - technology is slowly allowing robots closer to domestic use, some of the most practical applications so far have been in military operations.

Robots so far are not quite up to the images depicted in science fiction

What robots are doing in modern warfare is no small feat. Machines undertake bomb disposal, mine detection and entering unknown places of interest before sending in soldiers - a practice that the military believes is saving lives.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) or drones have already carried out military operations carrying "lethal payloads" without having a soldier on board. It was called "the only game in town in terms of confronting or trying to disrupt the al Qaeda leadership [in Pakistan]" by CIA director Leon Panetta in 2009.

Despite it being called a "drone war" by some commentators, the Department of Defense is keen to point towards its key goals of "intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance" when it is using robotics.

In a document setting out an unmanned military vehicle roadmap between 2005 and 2030, it stated that around a third of US fighting strength would be composed of robots in a $127bn (£80bn) project.

This was scrapped in 2009.

But some of the latest prototypes could still make robots in military operations on the ground a regular occurrence.

The LS3 - known as "Alphadog" to its developers - will be able to carry up to 400lbs (180kg) of equipment over a distance of up to 20 miles (32km) over a 24-hour period.

In practical terms, this means that it could replace the use of a mule or donkey to carry heavy loads.

Newest prototypes move a lot more like organic animals than previously

Funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) and the US Marine Corps, it can withstand being kicked and maintains its balance when pushed.

"For years, I did work on one-legged hopping machines - funny contraptions in the lab," Marc Raibert, of Boston Dynamics told an audience at Stanford University.

"The number of remaining problems that need to be solved is a small but manageable list. In the next couple of years, I can imagine getting legged robot technology… out there and into use."

The way it is able to right itself when toppled and the noise it makes when moving is more than a little like the Terminator and many reacting to the clips have been amazed at just how realistically the robot moves.

Tech site Gizmodo called it the "creepiest and most awesome quadruped robot of all time".

Life and death

But despite the occasional YouTube comment saying this development will lead to the end of the world, this is where robotics experts are keen to see the comparisons with sci-fi stop.

"With today's technology, there has to a person in the loop with regard to a decision that would have the gravity of life and death," says Joe Dyer, chief operating officer of robotics firm iRobot.

"Will we ever have machines that would truly challenge Asimov's laws? Maybe, but it's going to be a long time coming."

The real stumbling block for robotics engineers is that where a robot fails - and a human excels - is context and recognition. People can tell things apart quickly, effectively and from a very early age.

While handling rough terrain is now generally considered to be at the later stages of development for robots, actual intelligence and recognition about what it finds when it reaches its destination is a lot more complicated.

"We're starting to nibble at the edges of it," says Dyer.

"The world will begin to change drastically when robots have the manipulation capability of a five or six-year-old child. That means you can start to do the basics."

Brain power

At the moment, "stupid" robots serve a purpose. Their main function is to go into places where it would be dangerous or impossible for a human to tread. High intelligence is not required so much as brute strength and the ability to keep humans away from potentially harmful situations.

Some robots are a lot less frightening to people than others

The first major mass practical use for these type of robots came in the aftermath of 9/11 as a search and rescue tool when emergency personnel were unable to carry out an operation. They were operated by human controllers in a similar way to how they are today.

But if futurist and author Ray Kurzweil is right, by 2019 a $1,000 (£650) computer will at least match the processing power of the human brain.

And this could lead to "intelligent" robots with an autonomy that many find uncomfortable. But what many see this as frightening at the moment, some experts think that it is only a matter of time before it becomes an idea that people will get used to and eventually consider normal.

"We [humans] don't like to give up our special-ness," robotics pioneer Rodney Brooks said in a Ted talk.

"Having the idea that robots could really have emotions, or that robots could be living creatures - I think is going to be hard for us to accept. But we're going to come to accept it over the next 50 years or so."

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TECHNOLOGY, Apple's iPad Still Leads the Tablet Pack, Says Gartner

Market research firm Gartner estimates that Apple's iPad will have a 73.4 percent share of the tablet market by the end of 2011, down from 83 percent at the end of 2010.
The data, released by Gartner today, shows that overall tablet sales are on course to hit 63.6 million units this year, a 261.4 percent increase from 2010.
Despite Apple's drop in market share, it is expected to be the dominant force in the tablet market for several years to come, Gartner said.
"We expect Apple to maintain a market share lead throughout our forecast period by commanding more than 50 percent of the market until 2014," Carolina Milanesi, research vice president at Gartner.
"This is because Apple delivers a superior and unified user experience across its hardware, software and services. Unless competitors can respond with a similar approach, challenges to Apple's position will be minimal. Apple had the foresight to create this market and in doing that planned for it as far as component supplies such as memory and screen. This allowed Apple to bring the iPad out at a very competitive price and no compromise in experience among the different models that offer storage and connectivity options."
Apple iPad's dominance in tablet market continues
Android-based tablets, however, will only account for 11 million of the total tablet sales in 2011, with Gartner having reduced its estimate for overall sales of Android tablets by 28 percent since the last quarter. Android's market share will hit 17.3 percent by the end of the year, up from 14.3 percent last year.
However, Milanesi sees a bright future for Android. "So far, Android's appeal in the tablet market has been constrained by high prices, weak user interface and limited tablet applications" she said.
"Google will address the fragmentation of Android across smartphone and tablet form factors within the next Android release, known as 'Ice Cream Sandwich,' which we expect to see in the fourth quarter of 2011. Android can count on strong support from key OEMs, has a sizeable developer community, and its smartphones application ecosystem is second only to Apple's."
Gartner did have a warning for Windows 8-based tablets, saying that new entrants to the tablet market would find it hard to compete with Apple and Android-based devices, which have already established themselves.
"Most of Apple's competitors are struggling to meet Apple's prices without considerably sacrificing margins. Screen quality and processing power are the two hardware features that vendors cannot afford to compromise on," said Roberta Cozza, principal analyst at Gartner.
"They should consider everything else 'nice to have,' rather than essential, in order to keep bills-of-materials costs competitive with those of the iPad."
However, the tablet market will continue to grow, with overall sales at the end of 2012 expected to hit 103 million and 326 million by the end of 2015, Gartner forecast.

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