Techubbub : 2013

Sunday, 30 June 2013

Robot rock band performs live in Tokyo

It is expected that robots will replace human workers in the future; I have recently read an article about Moshe Vardi, an IT professor at Rice University claiming that it may happen by 2045 and it could put millions out of work permanently.

Some people claim that before the end of this century, 70 percent of today’s occupations will be replaced by robots and some jobs such as ballerinas, musicians, mathematicians, athletes, fashion designers, yoga masters, fan-fiction authors and folks are considered those that only humans will be able to do.

Well, I’ve got some news for you, Z-Machines, a band made up of 3 robots, Mach on guitar, Ashura on percussion and Cosmo on keyboard made their debut in Tokyo featuring Japanese group Amoyamo, so I guess this people were wrong about those jobs that can be done only by humans.

According to digitaltrends.com, the robotic band has been created by Yoichiro Kawaguchi, an IT professor at the University of Tokyo, and mechanical designer Naofumi Yonetsuka.

The band is composed of a 78 fingered guitarist fitted with 12 picks, an electronic octopus of a drummer who can wield 21 drum sticks and make a sound that, according to Yonetsuka, is "the equivalent of four people playing drums" and a keyboardist that can shoot laser beams from its eyes.

I don’t want to sound pessimistic but I would say it will be hard for musicians to compete against robots with these super abilities, and it seems to me that the replacement of humans by robots has already begun.

Monday, 13 May 2013

Astronauts wanted for Mars mission

Mars one is looking to recruit people to be sent to Mars in order to set up a human colony, according to the company’s website the aim is to send 4 astronauts in 2023 and then 4 astronauts every 2 years after that, successful applicants need to take eight years of training before their launch. The colony budget is £4billion and the project is to be funded through sponsors and private investors.

The candidates must be intelligent, creative, psychologically stable and physically healthy, so if you think you meet the requirements and you want to become an astronaut you might want to apply, but there is one more thing, this is a one-way trip as the company claims once on Mars, there is no means to return to Earth. Mars is home. Still want to apply?

Well, you might think not many people are willing to live on Mars for the rest of their lives, I thought so too, but according to the Daily Mail the venture has attracted 78,000 applications from more than 120 countries (3,500 Britons).

Mars One CEO and co-founder Bas Lansdorp said in a statement: "With 78,000 applications in two weeks, this is turning out to be the most desired job in history."

I wonder if people want to leave earth due to the global financial crisis or if they are just looking for fame as it will be filmed for a reality TV show, I guess living in an uninhabited planet under constant danger forever will be the price of fame.

Saturday, 20 April 2013

The world's most expensive iphone

What would you do with a rare black diamond? Well, according to CNN a Chinese business man “Joe” hired English craftsman Stuart Hughes who designs luxury mobile phone to replace his iphone 5’s home button with his family treasure, a 26-carat black diamond.

Hughes claims on his website that the device includes a solid 24-carat gold chassis, 600 white diamonds, and 53 diamonds that make up the apple logo on the back of the phone, and it took 9 weeks to make. This iphone is estimated to be worth £10 million ($15.3 million) which makes it the world’s most expensive iphone.

I would say it is the iphone with the world’s most expensive button considering that only the home button has an estimated value of $14.5 million, I wonder if this Joe guy is the kind of person who always loses mobile phones.

Saturday, 2 March 2013

Rovio announces "Angry birds toons"

We first saw them in video games, then clothes, stationery, toys... Well, now the most famous birds in the world will get their own series, Rovio has announced last Tuesday on its blog “Angry Birds Toons” an all-new animated series coming on March 16^th.

These episodes will last each about 3 minutes and will be available online only. Rovio confirmed a Ukrainian TV channel will begin transmission of the entire series next month, according to digitaltrends.

I guess more TV channel will soon be interested in transmitting a series about these characters that became an international phenomenon, so it seems a matter of time before these funny birds turn into TV stars, and to top it off, movie stars as the company has announced before to be working on Angry Birds the movie, expected to be released in 2016.

Wednesday, 13 February 2013

Apple developing smartwatch "iwatch"

A few months ago I published a couple of posts Google Glass Project and

TshirtOS about wearable technology, well, this seems to be becoming fashionable; Techradar has been told wearable computing is the next big thing Apple is working on. This time the device is a watch obviously called iwatch.

At the moment there is no much official information but there are certainly some leaks circulating on the internet and the press; The Telegraph wrote that fresh leaks suggest that the device is far more advanced than previously thought and Bloomberg wrote that a team of 100 Apple staff headed by senior executives has been assembled to work on the product.

Some other rumours suggest that iWatch will incorporate a curved glass display which wraps around the users wrist increasing the potential screen-size. It will be able to connect with an iPad or iPhone to receive text messages, social networks and it might even make calls. It is likely to include a GPS sensor and could include a heartbeat monitor.

I wonder what is coming next, iglasses? ikeyring? ishoes? I would truly like to see this stuff.

Sunday, 10 February 2013

The world's first bionic eye to go on the market

This reminds me of an American television series “The Six Million Dollar Man” about a former astronaut with bionic implants, I used to watch as a child. On Wednesday news.discovery.com posted that after years of research, the first bionic eye will soon be available in the United States. We may not see a bionic superhero saving the world, but it could certainly be the beginning of a bionic humans era.

According to Discovery this bionic eye, the Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System, created by Second Sight Medical Products has already benefited 60 people in Europe and some of them were completely blind. "The way the prosthesis works (is) it replaces the function of the photoreceptors," Brian Mech, the California-based company's vice president of business development told AFP.

The system consists of 60 electrodes in the retina and a pair of glasses with a mini camera. Argus II is meant to benefit people with retinitis pigmentosa, unfortunately not everybody with this disease will be able to afford this bionic implant since Mech claimed "Argus II is already available in several European countries for 73,000 Euros (£61,800 / $97,500)" and he believes the price for the US would be higher, what makes me think of a bionic millionaires era?