Month: June 2016

Florida Man Suing Apple over Design of iPhone

Dan Uff June 30, 2016 0

iPhoneTop “A businessman has filed a $10bn lawsuit against Apple, claiming that the iPhone, iPad and iPod all infringe his 1992 invention of an Electronic Reading Device, or ERD,” Olivia Solon reports for The Guardian.

“In an exclusive interview, Thomas Ross, from Miramar in Florida, told the Guardian that he knows he is fighting a goliath,” Solon reports. “Ross, who now works as a manager at a law firm, imagined a device that could, according to court documents, ‘allow one to read stories, novels, news articles as well as look at pictures, watch video presentations, or even movies, on a flat touchscreen.’ It would also include communication functions, such as a phone and a modem, and would come with rounded edges in various sizes.”

“Ross argues that Apple’s iPhone, iPod and iPad are ‘the very essence’ of his ERD. He supports his claim by making reference to the fact that Steve Jobs bragged in 1996 that the company had always been ‘shameless about stealing great ideas,'” Solon reports. “Ross recognises it won’t be easy. “I’m against some very esteemed and well-known attorneys. They know what they’re doing,” he says. Nevertheless, he remains bullish about his chances. ‘I am very confident. I believe in what I did. In spite of the odds I feel that I have a shot at it.'”

Read more in the full article here.

Microsoft ordered to pay £7,500 ($10,000 U.S.) To women over deceptive Windows 10 Forced Downloads

Dan Uff June 29, 2016 0

MicrosoftLogo “Microsoft has been forced to pay £7,500 ($10,000) in compensation to a woman after its new Windows 10 operating system automatically installed on her computer,” Stephen Matthews reports for The Daily Mail.

“Teri Goldstein made the claim after her computer– which previously ran on Windows 7 – became unusable after the software tried to download without her approval,” Matthews reports. “Microsoft has now said it will roll out an update that will change the alerts it uses for Windows 10 to prevent complaints such as this from happening again.”

Read more in the full article here.

China Cracks down on iOS Apps

Dan Uff June 29, 2016 0

ChinaFlag “More than half a billion Chinese smartphone users face increased monitoring of their mobile app usage thanks to new laws targeting operators including Apple Inc.” David Ramli reports for Bloomberg. “App stores and providers must establish the identity of users, while monitoring and reporting postings that contain banned content. The legitimacy of developers who post apps for download must also be verified, according to new rules posted on the Cyberspace Administration of China’s website.”

“All app stores and providers are now required to keep a record of users’ activity for 60 days,” Ramli reports. “The regulations mark one of the most comprehensive efforts so far to oversee mobile applications, which are mushrooming in popularity alongside smartphone use. They’re part of a broader effort by President Xi Jinping’s government to clamp down on content deemed sensitive — anything from critiques of the Communist Party to porn.”

Ramli reports, “The Cyberspace Administration has become a key force shaping China’s internet landscape in the two years since Xi established it, churning out regulations to curb public criticism and other perceived threats to the government.”

Read more in the full article here.

(Video): This Tiny Robot is a real-life Wall-E

Dan Uff June 29, 2016 1

Cozmo - Photo by: CNN/Money
http://i.cdn.turner.com/money/.element/script/7.0/players/embed.js?videoid=/video/technology/2016/06/27/tiny-robot-is-a-real-life-wall-e.cnnmoneyFor a small guy, he has a big temper.

Just 2.5-inches tall with a fondness for meaningful eye contact and heavy lifting, Cozmo is a robot companion designed to seem like it has a soul. And like any faux-sentient creature, he gets grumpy when he's poked or turned on his back. You can tell by the way his eyes narrow and he grunts at you.
Cozmo looks like a lot of toy robots on the market (and Pixar's Wall-E), but he's been programmed to move, interact, and emote like a complicated movie character. His creators at Anki designed him using a combination of artificial intelligence, image and voice recognition, and animation.
His face is just a small OLED screen with two animated eyes that can show a wide range of emotion. Depending on the situation, he might be angry, focused, annoyed, surprised, skeptical, bored, scared, sad, happy, or any combination of those emotions.

The robot works with a smartphone app that provides a matching soundtrack to his actions. A camera in his face can identify who is playing with him, and once you type a name into the app, he remembers who you are and will even say your name. It's one of the few words he says out loud. Mostly he communicates with a series of beeps and tones.
He can sense where you are and what you're doing, play games with you, and stack his toy blocks. When moving around, he builds a map of his environment, people and obstacles, and knows when he's teetering on the edge of a table. It's almost like a less useful, more lovable Roomba.

Anki is a San Francisco company founded by three Carnegie Mellon roboticists. It's best known for its racing game Overdrive.

"The world is polluted with robot companion products that claim to do all these different things, but they're plastics and components that aren't connected to the environment," said Anki founder Boris Sofman.
Anki hired a character director with 10 years of experience at Pixar to lead the creation of Cozmo. A team of five animators used traditional computer animation techniques to design his movements and reactions. They worked with a robotics team to translate it all into a physical body. Cozmo even has a backstory -- he was a warehouse robot that accidentally caught a case of emotions. Yes, like Johnny Five.
Related: The superhuman robot hand that learns from its mistakes
The robot will be available this October for $179. Regular software updates will follow to add new skills and keep your relationship fresh. Anki is planning to create more characters in the future.
Cozmo is constantly looking for approval. His neediness brings to mind Tamagotchis, the old digital "pets" on keychains that would die without proper attention and virtual food. If Cozmo wants to play and you blow him off, he might slump and look dejected. But Anki thinks they've designed a complicated enough robot that you won't be able to stay away for long.
"Not playing with Cozmo for a week should feel like not playing with your puppy for a week," said Sofman.

CNNMoney (San Francisco)

First published June 27, 2016: 9:16 AM ET