Robotperson

Why is it that I really, really hate Windows Vista Explorer? The question has been niggling away at me since I started using Vista at work recently. I’ve noticed numerous little problems, those famous ‘thousand cuts’ to usability that kill websites, but today I think I’ve understood the big picture. First, what’s changed? Most obviously, […]

Last week I bought an xbox 360. My justification, and believe me, I had to have one, was that we needed a bridge between our home network and the main TV. This has been an obvious gap in our otherwise comprehensively digital lifestyle (CDLâ„¢), and of all the options the xbox was just about the […]

Sy tips us off to this superbly topical parody / commentary on Blu-Ray’s all-but-victory in the high-def DVD format war: (profanity warning)

Can I be the first to go on record and state that I believe the Heathrow airliner crash yesterday was caused by a mistimed electromagnetic pulse weapon, intended to bring down the Prime Minister’s plane on take-off. It certainly would have killed all the electronics instantly in exactly the way the pilots describe, and they’re […]

The Newsnight book club publishes an extract from Richard Dawkins’ new book, The God Delusion. It sounds hilarious. Dawkins on claims that Katrina was God’s retribution: You’d think an omnipotent God would adopt a slightly more targeted approach to zapping sinners: a judicious heart attack, perhaps, rather than the wholesale destruction of an entire city […]

A browse through this week’s history folder yields more of the good stuff: Official seal generator. Mine below Ultimate Ears custom ‘personal monitor’ headphones. They take a cast of your inner ear and mould the driver housing for a perfect fit. $900. Colourplayer media player. Train it to associate musical styles with colour, then pick […]

I didn’t actually mean it when I said “keep them coming”… Adam chips in with this piece on the Robot World Cup. Via a cunningly simple move of PR genius, this coincides with the real deal, in Germany. Results indicate that the Ozzie Nubots won the 4-legged category (not quite sticking to that soccer metaphor, […]

Time for a few guest links whilst my logic circuits are otherwise engaged with the World Cup. First, Stef appropriately contributes this terrific set of Adidas sponsored murals from around Germany. Check out some of the hi-res versions. Next, the Koller-esque Yorkshireman tips us off to DataTiles, fresh from Sony’s r&d labs. …the system integrates […]

Slides from a presentation on stories, belief and the aesthetics of artefacts in science fiction, from a workshop at the Fictional Futures project, Goldsmiths Feb ’06. 50 slides, so this will take about half an hour. Many interesting links to follow. Catalhoyuk had a population of up to 10,000 people, and a few strange features […]