Thought and Freedom

AI the Movie was a film that touched on subjects ranging from science fiction, to philosophy, to biology, etc. The movie’s modern Pinnochio theme made some laugh and some cry. One researcher had a different revelation from the movie.

When Professor Cynthia Breazeal saw the movie, she was inspired by the look and lifelikeness of the Teddy Bear on the movie. She decided to create her own version of the bear in her MIT labs.

Her creation, called Leonardo, is amazing. It thinks, learns, and gives expressions that some would believe were real feelings.

You can see the Leonardo Project at http://robotic.media.mit.edu/projects/Leonardo/Leo-intro.html.

If you would like to see some videos of Leonardo, please visit the Techblog’s Post on the Leonardo Project as well.

It is really fascinating what we can do with computers these days. We can create lifelike sensing robots that appear to have the characteristics of a person or a pet. These robots go far beyond what a Roomba does for humans. And, I can’t even imagine what sorts of algorithms must be used in Leonardo’s decision making process. It will be exciting to see what sort of “toys” they come up with next.

terrypearsonc-20%26lcode=xm2%26cID=2025%26ccmID=165953%26location=/o/ASIN/0448157047%253FSubscriptionId=0EMV44A9A5YT1RVDGZ82″>It appears that of all the stores that had great deals this Thanksgiving Weekend, Office Max had the best deals.

I went to Office Max late in the day on Friday, and all (or at least the ones I saw) were still available.

I especially liked the fact that there were NO MAIL IN REBATES this year! That made it the most customer friendly experience I have ever had at Office Max. The workers were all helpful, and I found every deal that I wanted.

Today (Saturday), I also went to Office Max, and they still had a lot of the products available.

It was great to see that Office Max has taken the lead on making customer friendly service possible in a technology store. Who knew you could get great deals without rebates!

If you like console game systems, you love this week. Yesterday, the Playstation 3 was released. In about an hour from now, the Nintendo Wii will be released.

Both these game systems have been promoted for a very long time. They each had a strong following even before the systems were released.

To show how strong of a following each system has, I will tell two brief stories.

Yesterday, a Playstation 3 (PS3) was released. I have heard reports that one individual already sold his PS3 on Ebay for $9000. This is amazing. How could you buy a system for a few hundred dollars and then sell it for that much.

Today I went to Walmart and found a large group of individuals sitting in camp chairs, playing on their computers, etc. It was like a little nerd convention right inside of the entrance of Walmart. The Walmart had a total of twenty Nintendo Wii’s and these people had been waiting in line since about noon. At midnight, each one will get a Nintendo Wii.

About two years ago, I bought a DXG camera for my wife, Jessica. It was on sale at radio shack when we were in Sioux Falls, and she and I thought it would work great.

After using it for a while, we noticed a few major quirks. There were two that were the most problematic. First, the camera would reset all settings whenever it turned off. Second, it would not take good pictures in low light (such as indoors).

These two factors nullified most of the advantages of the high megapixels and small size of the camera. It was very unfortunate that we did not discover these problems earlier.

Today, I was able to finally replace that camera for Jessica. Now, she has a Nikon Coolpix L3. In my opinion, this camera rivals a large part of the Canon Powershot series in size, functionality, price, and quality.

This is a very small camera. It is just slightly larger than a deck of cards, yet it fits comfortably in your hands.

The camera comes with several preset modes for taking pictures. It advertises 15, but in actuality, there are more. For several of the modes, there are sub categories of modes. The camera has a video mode that captures audio; a basic feature for more expensive models, but a luxury in this price range. Another very useful feature, is the fact that the camera can be used as a voice recorder. If you want, you can even tag a 20 second audio description on each picture.

The price was simply amazing. It runs about $150 dollars at stores around my area, although Sam’s Club is selling it for cheaper than the rest by a little. For such a low price, I would think the quality would have been reduced, but it is not.

The picture quality is pretty good on this camera. It definitely exceeds the $150 dollar camera quality range. Video is clear, even when moving. Pictures turn out clearer than some more expensive models. The wide range of modes allow for a setting for almost any situation you would find yourself in. One innovation Nikon has included is an “Auto Focus on Face” portrait mode. It automatically focuses on the face no matter which quadrant of the screen the face is in. It baffles me how it finds the face, but it does every time.

So, if you are looking for a low cost, high quality alternative to the Canon Powershot “A” Series Cameras, I would strongly recommend investigating the Nikon Coolpix L3.

In the old days, we did not need mice. We had a black screen with white (or green) text. Those were the golden days. Less desktop clutter from those mice because all we had was the good old keyboard (of course the 14″ monitor’s footprint was humongous!).

Then it started, we began to get other peripheral devices. It all started with that triangle pointer on the old apple computer. Today, we use the mouse every day. Most people would not even know what to do without a mouse.

Believe it not, Windows can be run without a mouse. My boss at the web office likes to show how he can navigate Windows without a mouse. He is pretty good at it. Unfortunately, I am not as fast at navigating Windows without a mouse.

However, I don’t need anything too special. I could use one of those old ball mouses, a trackball, a laser mouse, etc. In fact, I would prefer an optical mouse, but anything would work.

Anyway, all this talk of mice has led to an interesting point. Computer mice are getting far more advanced. Gaming now days requires it.

Mice are now coming with automatic sensitivity settings, incredibly fine tuned accuracy, etc. I saw a mouse at Walmart the other day, it amazed me. There is more technology put into some of the new mice, than some computers 15 years ago.

The mouse I saw was made by logitech. The laser mouse has 1600 dpi resolution. In case that’s lot enough, it has the ability to adjust mouse sensitivity on the fly. Among other things. The mouse I saw is the one in the picture above.
The mouse I saw at walmart, had custom counterweights. These enable you to completely balance the mouse to fit your style. In case you are wondering the mouse is called the “Logitech G5 Laser Gaming Mouse: Battlefield 2142 Edition.” These mice are amazing!

It is hard to believe that Thanksgiving is just around the corner. I guess we still have a month or so. You would not know that considering I have already seen Christmas decorations for sale in a couple department stores (Walmart and Shopko)!

I am sure that you do not want to start thinking about Christmas shopping just yet, but remember that when the Christmas season hits, you will find many more ‘rebate’ deals at stores across America.

I admit that a rebate is not my first choice when it comes to getting good deals. It seems like they only actually get sent in about half the time. If you do remember to send in the rebates, you will surely get a great deal.

Last year, I planned my morning after Thanksgiving by going to a site called “Black Friday @ GottaDeal.com.” They had a very good listing of deals that were coming up. It was much better than going through the newspaper on Thanksgiving in hopes of finding a good deal.

They even had stuff listed weeks before. Some of it was only “rumors” but they were fairly accurate with these. The site lists deals for a lot of different stores in advance. Think of it as a deal forecasting site.
So, definitely start checking the site. You may find some excellent deals on items that are listed on the site.

I recently have been hearing a lot of commercials for “HD radio.”

HD, or High Definition, radio allows for normal FM radio to transmit a digital signal. The radio can receive special information about a broadcast that can be displayed on the radio’s LCD.

According to JVC’s HD Radio Website, it causes FM radio to sound like a CD, and AM radio to sound like the current sound of FM. It eliminates the pops and crackles that you often hear in analogue radio.

HD also allows for the ability for a station to “multicast.” This can best be explained with an example.

Suppose that a radio station typically plays music except when sports games are going on. The radio station would have the ability to broadcast both the sports game, and the music, at the same time. Then the users could choose, from a menu on the screen, which broadcast they want to listen to.

It appears that there are some great deals and rebates on HD radios as discussed here.

Radio Receivers — A new HD Radio Holiday Rebate Program was announced today that will reduce HD Radio(TM) receiver prices up to $50. The Program applies to 20 HD Radio receivers, from table tops to car connector adapters, and makes many more products available to consumers for under $200. The Rebate begins today, Thursday, October 12, 2006, and runs through January 14, 2007.

On October 2, 2006 Sony will be coming out with a product that has the potential to make the Ipod obsolete. It is called the Sony mylo Personal Communicator COM-1.

The mylo is equipped with Wi-Fi internet access, a 2.4″ lcd, and a Skype Enabled calling system.

With the prevailance of wireless internet on college campuses, this device is sure to be a hit among university students. It allows users to listen to music, watch videos, communicate with friends, and surf the internet, all in the palm of their hands.

The device is being presold on Amazon.com and will cost $349.99.

A new product may soon change the way you and I communicate. Fossil has teamed up with Sony Ericsson to create a bluetooth watch.

You are now wondering “What possible use can a bluetooth watch have?” Thanks for asking, I will tell you.

Bluetooth has become a popular medium for wireless communication between cell phones and headsets.

These headsets have: made driving safer, created a generation who no longer have to burden themselves with picking up their Razr phone, and created a new way for people to pretend they are a cyborg (As far as I know, no “permanently” attached bluetooth headsets exist).

Sony Ericsson and Fossil’s bluetooth watch will display caller id whenever a person calls. It will also vibrate on your wrist when you receive a phone call. For text messages, it will show a “mail” icon whenever a new text message is received. Finally, it will help users keep close to their cell phones by vibrating when users leave the proximity of their cell phone (which is similar to house arrest for mobile phone users).

TechWeb has a list of features and other details in a news story called “Who’s Calling? Just Check Your Watch.”