modular

LAS VEGAS--Say what you want about the cool panoramic cameras and futuristic augmented-reality technology on display at CES' Eureka Park.

The reality is everyone here loves robots--at least judging by the crowd of people at the Modular Robotics booth today.

Modular Robotics is a Boulder, Colo.-based startup that has created a robot construction kit that lets kids--or adults, judging from those here--build a robot by snapping together powerful cubes, or what the company calls Cubelets.

Each Cubelet has a different function. Black ones, for instance, are sensors, and the colorful ones are "thinking" Cubelets that react to … Read more

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--If you thought the Fukushima disaster derailed nuclear power worldwide, look again.

Evacuations and the havoc caused by meltdowns at four reactor cores at the Fukushima power plant earlier this year prompted Japan to shift away from nuclear power and recatalyzed a nuclear phase-out in Germany. But many countries remain enthusiastic about nuclear power, and interest in newer technologies has increased because they are safer, according to a panel of industry professionals here at the MIT Energy Finance Forum on Friday.

"Our investors have a very long time horizon and the reason they supported it is the … Read more

A University of California Davis spinoff is commercializing a modular robot that will let robotics researchers study fields like robot AI, biomimetics, and robot collaboration without having to build the hardware.

Barobo's iMobot, developed by Graham Ryland and Harry Cheng, is meant to fill a gap in the market for research-grade modular machines.

As seen below, each iMobot module can crawl or roll around, and stand up. Cameras could be incorporated into the rotating faceplate joints, according to the researchers.

The modules could hook up to form snakelike robots to wriggle over uneven terrain, or a larger assembly that could move on wheels.

Each module has standard mounts so other modules and sensors can be added in unlimited configurations.

The start-up received a small-business innovation research grant from the National Science Foundation, and it hopes to have iMobot on the market by the end of the year. … Read more

THX, born out of the George Lucas/Star Wars legacy, has stayed true to its roots while developing new audio technologies to improve the home entertainment experience.

Last week I spoke with Laurie Fincham, senior vice president of THX to discuss the company's Steerable Line Array technology. He told me THX wanted to create a new type of speaker that could focus sound beams to specific areas in a room. I've heard those sorts of claims before, but Mr. Fincham assured me that this system was designed to a very high standard. The Steerable Line Array speaker prototype … Read more

Could prefab structures be a quick and cost-saving way to get U.S. students out of dilapidated and energy-sucking schools?

A recent award to a Gen7 school building, made by American Modular Systems, seems to signal that modular classrooms have moved beyond being ad hoc building solutions for developing nations.

For the first time in California, a prefab building has been awarded national Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS) certification for new school construction. CHPS certification is awarded to those schools that meet specific health, comfort, maintenance, and environmental sustainability standards.

"The Gen7 classroom proves that a prefab structure … Read more

NuForce makes pricey preamplifiers and power amps that sell for thousands of dollars, but it's one of the few American high-end audio companies that also offers truly affordable gear. Most of the products NuForce sells are upgradable; it provides its customers with the most up-to-date technology, as well as value.

The NuForce uDAC-2 is a tiny (2.75 inches by 1.5 inches by 0.75 inches) USB Digital Audio Converter (DAC) that connects your personal computer's audio with your home stereo, desktop sound system, or headphones. The uDAC-2 processes incoming data via a USB audio receiver, which … Read more

Microsoft is taking its container approach to data centers a step further, making the building housing the data center itself a module.

In a blog posting on Tuesday, Microsoft detailed what the "generation four" data centers will look like.

"This is a significant step forward, and one that Microsoft believes will reshape how companies build data centers and support cloud computing," a Microsoft representative said in a statement.

The generation four concept "builds on the innovation at Microsoft's Chicago data center, which houses shipping containers packed with up to 2,500 servers each," … Read more

Apple recently released an update to Leopard, version 10.5.2. If you read the list of goodies included, it's a pretty compelling update. I've particularly enjoyed better WiFi connectivity with the update.

It doesn't, however, solve my biggest problems with my Macs right now: an inability to sync between Microsoft's Entourage and iCal (which may be Microsoft's problem or it may be Apple's problem - both support teams point fingers at the other company when I've called on the issue) and it doesn't remedy my inability to sync between my Blackberry and Entourage (which is a RIM/Microsoft problem, but both companies like to point fingers at each other on this issue, too).

In sum, my biggest problems on the Mac today have little to do with the Mac and everything to do with the Mac's intersection with third-party software. This may be Microsoft's big moment to yell out, "I told you so!"… Read more

My dad is a staunch user of MyHQ, which lets you organize your bookmarks in little clusters of text links. While it's highly functional, the service hasn't been updated since mid-1999. Regardless, the big draw is its simplicity, portability, and near-instant load time, which is where Web start pages can really shine over standard browser bookmarking systems.

I've taken a look at quite a few of these sites over the past year, and one I think is good enough to pass my Dad's test is Symbaloo, which like MyHQ is incredibly simple to set up. It also runs fast. Instead of going the route of showing you a live page preview, a la Opera's Speed Dial or Only2Clicks.com (review), Symbaloo lets you organize a smattering of your favorite links in a giant, rectangular grid. Depending on your display resolution, Symbaloo will scale itself to fit, along with providing quick and easy identifiers like site logos or icons to help you organize your links visually. In the center of it all is a search box that can be replaced with about two dozen various search tools that sit beside your bookmarks. You also can manually add more from a provided directory.

In addition to search tools and bookmarks, Symbaloo has a page that puts together links of the top news stories on Yahoo and MSNBC. While this isn't an entirely novel concept in and of itself, the way it's been implemented with stories getting real estate depending on their suggested importance is neat. It reminds me a lot of AOL's Mgnet news service, which launched in July, although with less usefulness considering the stories aren't coming from your saved bookmarks

… Read more