I saw this and was like, yeahhhhh!:

Excerpt from NFHQ:

"A prototype robot suit, to be displayed at the World Exposition in Japan, will allow wearers to take a step, literally, into the world of science fiction. "HAL-5" can move on its own accord, enabling it to help elderly or handicapped people walk, help workers lift heavy loads or assist people with disabilities climb stairs: AFP via Yahoo - The 15-kilogram (33-pound) battery-powered suit, code-named HAL-5, detects muscle movements through electrical-signal flows on the skin surface and then amplifies them. "Humans may be able to mutate into supermen in the near future," said Yoshiyuki Sankai, professor and engineer at Tsukuba University who led the project."

Kanagawa Prefecture - Japan. In a stunning report of engineering prowess, private entrepreneur Toru Mopawa this week developed the world's first apathetic robot. Powered by four standard AA batteries, upon turning Mbot on, the robot will take any voice command spoken directly at its two imbedded Kenwood microphones and tell its master to screw off.

Hot Chocolate Begat Melty Kiss.

Good news, readers.  Ross the Boss is on vacation for two weeks.  And y'all know what that means- stupid entries and a party in da house!  So pop in that copy if Pseudo Echo and let's get on down to Funky Town.

I'm hanging out with my French robot friends that you probably met before.  They're back, and have their man, Ogenki-san with them:

C'est global!  C'est super!  

French Robot I:  Bonjour.
Genki-san: Ohayo.

Congrats to the Decepticon crew, and please welcome my new office assistant, the lovely Darcy.

French Robot I: Yo, she's hot.
French Robot II: Like a lee-tel fox.  Vien ici.

Darcy the Spitfire.  Drives the French revolution buck wild.

So the last time we talked we were tearing it up over the merits of French people as robots.
French Robot I:  The French have a long tradition of technologie. 
French Robot II:  C'est vrais. Pour example, we made the Tour d'Eifel from steel, gave birth to le discotheque and taught 3CPO how to dress.
Me: Yeah, but didn't New York make disco?  Studio54?
French Robot II: Perhaps, but we put the lights in the floor.


Me: So how did you guys meet Ogenki-san?
French Robot I:  I met Genki in '67 at a Cheryl Tiegs bar-be-que in Malibu.  I was tres chic back then.
French Robot II.  Red leather.  Chic.
Me: Didn't know you went back that far.
French Robot I:  There were many brilliant people back then trying to become robots.  Paris was the center.
Me:  Like who?
French Robot II:  Jacques Cousteau, Marceau Marceau
French Robot I: Francois Mitterand, Gary Coleman

Peace out everyone! Have a great weekend!  It's a long weekend because there was this Canadian guy who was a left-tenant or The Simpson Company or the guy who brought GM to Canada so these guys take an extra day off.  They have different reasons for different provinces because of it.  Seriously.  I could have helped come up with a better freakin' holiday reason. 

That's right.  Decepticons are making a comeback.  I spoke with Puffy and he's reallly feelin their new sh*t.  The energy on their latest jam is amazing - BANG! BANG! good.  Whatever.  XXL Magazine be creapin' around the Decepticon Mafia Headquarters checking leads into their hush-hush you-heard-it-here-first comeback with the whole damn crew comin' back at ya:

XXL You'll hear it here first:  Word on the street, XXL, undoubtedly the illest mag on the block, is fixin' to break the story on the upcoming 213/Decepticon collaboration. 

The Decepticon Crew, with their new album, tentatively named "Art of Deception".  Crew members: Megatron, Soundwave and DJ Skywarp.

---

Megatron - who needs a gat when ya got a motherf*ckin Decepti-glock strapped to yo ass?  This bad boy's the point guard keepin' the whole crew in line.  And let me tell ya - he brings his sh*t hard. As Megatron puts it: "we came here to do battle, and we're not gonna leave our fans dissapointed."  Word.

Our take:  All you decepti-hatahs beware.  Megatron has been flexin' his rhymes lately and we gotta hand it to him - even Jay-Z admits Megatron's spittin' tight.  Look for intricate melody over a massive Swizz Beatz opus.

Megatron:  "Get outta my face punk - decepticons never surrender"

---

Decepticon Soundwave - Not since Run DMC has a crew been this heavy.  Gun?  Got it?  Ghetto Blaster?  No problem - our man Soundwave transforms into a Straight Outta Compton sonic assault!  And if that ain't enough, he pops out a Minicon midget to stomp yo ass! (in glorious hi-fi, no doubt).  YOU MUST CLICK ON THIS SHIZNIT!!!! Soundwave plans to bring back fresh breakin' moves!  (Video)

Our take:  A serious addition.  Soundwave has insane stage presence, both as a beat box or in Playah form.  Word has it Rob Stone and DJ Green Lantern are hustlin Minicon for his superior mixtape skillz. 

Soundwave: Remix tapes that melt your head

---

DJ Skywarp:  Back in the day, you was all that if you rolled in a Bentley.  Not anymore.  When Decepticons say they gotta jet, it's cause they got one.  DJ Skywarp is the sneaky bastard of the lot, the type of gangsta that will stab ya in the back and leave you for dead.  But no one dismisses the cruel accuracy DJ Skywarp brings to the tables: when he locks on a beat, it's over. 

DJ Skywarp: "Strike when the enemy isn't looking"  One cruel bastard.  But then again we hang with DJ Skywarp so he be aiiiight.  Props, DK Skywarp.

Our Take:  DJ Skywarp is a tough dude, but that don't mean he ain't cool. Skywarp was over at the crib not to long ago - and daaaaamn does he like the bluntzzzz.  If you get the chance, make him you the "deceptibong".  It's dark purple, yo!  Be on the lookout for a possible Neptunes production with the Skywarp. 

Represent.

Good article by Gamespy on the Nintendo DS.  Pretty long, good pictures.

Update on becoming a robot.  I received a thoughtful email from a reader suggesting that I spend more time with robots to understand them.  Sort of like when I went to France for a few days to culturally immerse myself in French and do French things like eating chocolate with strangers in the hotel room. 

I would like to hang out with other neat robots like Marco the Qrio (Sony's little guy), but to be honest I'm still too intimidated.  Qrio is still too cool.  So instead, I have contacted my good friends Daft Punk.  Not only are they French, they are aslo people that want to be robots too.

I am also conducting an in depth study on the cultures that produce the best robot people in the world.  The results of the survey are as follows:

 

Best Robot People:

 

1.  French People -they try hardest to be robots, even though they are really just people.

"Le Big Mac c'est le merd" - see, underneath the cool robot gear, they are still French people.

 

2.  Japanese People - they make the robots that the French people and blogware people want to become.  They are like the Barry Manilow of robot world (they write the songs that make the whole world sing)

 

3.  http://Games.Blogware.com People - (click on link many times - it will bring you back the the page -serious! - try it, it's cool!) they appreciate the valiant efforts by the French avant guarde to become robots, and try to use Blogware to carefully detail the self-sacrifice and hardship they face in their own communities in becoming a robot.  Hats off to all of you!  Persevere!  Gambatte!  Oui! Oui!

I have decided that I want to be a robot.

From Kyodo News....

Monday July 12, 5:12 PM

Nagoya robot developer to release 'Hello Kitty' robot

Robot developer Business Design Laboratory Co. on Monday unveiled a "Hello Kitty" robot to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the popular feline character developed by Sanrio Co.

Business Design, based in Nagoya, will release the robot on Hello Kitty's birthday on Nov. 1 at an expected price of just over 400,000 yen. It hopes to sell 2,000 "Hello Kitty" robots this year by accepting orders through the Internet and other marketing routes.

The robot, which is 52 centimeters tall and weighs 6 kilograms, can recognize up to 10 human faces through a built-in camera, the company said.

The non-walking robot "communicates" with people by using expressions out of 20,000 memorized patterns of conversation while expressing its "emotions" by such gestures as moving its head and arms.

To develop the robot, Business Design used a software technology supplied by NEC System Technologies Ltd. Production farmed out to Futaba Industrial Co.

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More Kitty....(my girl Hello Kitty makes my blog look tight!)

Girl is cute, yo!

In other news:  First off, Happy Canada Day!  

Exciting News!!! I am accepting ghost writer submissions from my fan base.  This is an attempt to write more without doing it myself.  Unfortunately this has nothing to do with ghosts (note - I have several million international readers, so terms like ghost writing can be very confusing.  They write and ask if I'm ok, stuff like that.  Sweet people.  All of them).   Please submit to: smurff@tucows.com with "crap I wrote for your blog" and maybe send what drove you to do it and a head shot.  Or maybe make that a body shot if it would improve your chances of getting posted.  

Ghost Writer Kitty

All complaints on the pointlessnesses and unprofessopanilissism of this blog, global politics and medical diagrams please forward to my personal address:  ross@tucows.com .   Again, all head shots and body shots to the editorial review commission at smurff@tucows.com.

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Good quote from The Feature:

Vodafone started much-ballyhooed content filtering in the UK this week, and quickly found out why it's such a difficult undertaking. In an attempt to keep kids from accessing adult content, Vodafone users that want to have open access must prove they're 18, either by using a credit card or showing up to a Vodafone store and asking for access ("Hi, I want porn on my phone!"). The carrier launched its filters ahead of schedule, and apparently ahead of testing, as the system flagged plenty of innocuous sites, and let plenty of risque ones through. So Vodafone now has annoyed users, lost revenues, and kids that can still look at porn -- sounds like a winner.

"Yo baby, wasssup!  I'm Marco the QRIO.  Wanna see me do da robot?  I'll sizzle-ska-dizzle circuit-break dis joint...."  - Marco the human  (Marco the QRIO is a Sony product)

QRIO the playah, the baller, the NBA lovah....

*Photo courtesy of the NBA New York Knicks Team Roster

 

 

A couple of fun things today.. since today is Friday and all.

#1 - Site Feedback and Amazing Site Demographics: So my buddy Greg checked out the previous blog entry where I posted his pics and wrote, "

Having my picture up on your
Blog really improved things.  I
recommend you add my picture
every week (you'll get a lot more
women checking out your blog).

Greg, I appreciate your market segmentation ideas.  I have found my phone ringing off the hook with advertisers trying to reach the elusive trend-setting and influential female audience this site attracts. 

 

#2 - Check this QRIO craziness out:

Note:  I WANT A Sony QRIO!!!! Readers: please donate money to me so I can buy one and feature it on the site.  I can bring it over to your crib and make it breakdance and stuff.

Sony To Upgrade Robot 'Brain' To Supercomputer Level

Sony Corp. is due to begin later this year an experiment aimed at upgrading the "brain" of its Qrio humanoid robot to the level of a supercomputer, company sources said.

The project will use broadband communications to give Qrio access to the computing power of many computers, thereby enabling the robot to "think" on its own instead of just following orders.

Some 250 personal computers will be connected in a broadband network in a way that uses the central processing units of all the machines. The system will be linked to Qrio via high-speed wireless communication.

Total computing power is estimated to reach 1 teraflops (tera floating-point operations per second).

If a robot is to rely on its judgment in deciding a course of action, it needs to run on software that requires enormous computing power. Sony aims to overcome this problem through the use of grid computing technology, which will have many computers, connected in a high-speed network, operate as if they comprise a single computer.  (From Nikkei)

Comments from friend Marco the human:  Good thing this little fellow didn't come out in the 80's - burning up the dance floor with the "robot" to Paul Revere and stealin' your girlfriend like I stole your bike!"

 

#3 - Very curious article in Slate titled "The Game of Wife: Gay marriage comes to video games."

Quote:

"Players of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic discovered that while playing a female Jedi, they get hit on by another female Jedi. Later this year, virtual gay wedlock will hit the mainstream when The Sims 2, the long-awaited sequel to the most popular PC title of all time, allows marriages between same-sex Sims.

Guile, Ryu Hyabusa, and Balflear all hail from Japanese games, which is what's really significant here: The world of games is strongly influenced by Japanese pop culture, where gender is a lot blurrier. Male heroes are often "bishounen," that strikingly feminine anime look you see so often, with long hair and soft features. (Ten years ago, I spent months playing Samurai Showdown before finding out that Amakusa, a woman with flowing red hair and long nails, was, whoops, a guy.) This style reached its apotheosis with the Final Fantasy series. At one point in Final Fantasy VII, you actually have to cross-dress the character Cloud (and get him to flirt with a male enemy) to complete a mission. Even the Japanese butch characters read as gay, such as the bearded tough guy Barrett—"a bear love poster child," as another gay gamer joked to me."

 

Advice: Yo!  Wacky Shiznit.  Hang with the QRIO - he'll help you work it all out cause QRIO is super dope smart and cold as aaaiiiiice!  A Brave New World indeed.

 

See ya next week!  PEACE!