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Here's a robotics challenge for you: create an advanced humanoid robot in only nine months.

That's what engineers at the University of Zurich's Artificial Intelligence Lab are trying to do with Roboy, a kid-style bot that's designed to help people in everyday environments.

Researchers around the world are trying to create useful humanoids. One interesting aspect of Roboy is its tendon-driven locomotion system.

Like Japan's Kenshiro humanoid, Roboy relies on artificial muscles to move; in the future, it will be covered with a soft skin. … Read more

The International Telecommunication Union is "the most failed body in the history of international telecommunications," a former policy chief has told CNET, describing secret talks, Russia's close involvement with the group, and the ITU's Global Cybersecurity Agenda.

Anthony Rutkowski held the position of the ITU's chief of telecommunication regulations and relations between members in the ITU's general secretariat from November 1987 to January 1992. In that capacity, he also served as counselor to the secretary-general, worked for two ITU secretaries-general -- and much more in various capacities for the telecommunications arm of the United … Read more

The Russian Federation has revised a controversial proposal to turn Internet governance over to the U.N.'s International Telecommunications Union, CNET has learned.

The revised proposal tones down some of the anti-Internet rhetoric of the original, but still calls on the UN to help member states seize control of key Internet engineering assets, including domain names, addresses and numbering.

Both the original proposal (PDF) and Saturday's revised version (PDF) have now been posted on WCITLeaks, a Web site operated by researchers at George Mason University.

On Friday, CNET was first to report on the original proposal, which leaked … Read more

commentary The Russian Federation is calling on the United Nations to take over key aspects of Internet governance, including addressing and naming, according to documents leaked on Friday from an upcoming treaty conference.

The Russians made their proposal on November 13 in the lead-up to December's World Conference on International Communications in Dubai. The conference will consider revisions to the International Telecommunications Regulations (ITRs), a treaty overseen by the UN's International Telecommunications Union (ITU). The treaty has not been revised since 1988, before the emergence of the commercial Internet.

Russia's proposals would, if adopted, dramatically affect Internet … Read more

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Sure, you can save a ton of money on gas by purchasing an electric car or plug-in hybrid, but that's a bit of a lifestyle makeover. If you want to pare back the outrageous cost of fuel and still have gas pump convenience, we've got the Top 5 technologies to look for in showrooms now.

The Paris auto show just wrapped up as we published this episode, so we take a look at the cars -- and one non-car -- that … Read more

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- New Captcha system uses empathy to distinguish humans from bots.

- Watch Pornhub to donate money to breast cancer research.

- Meet the man that invented the Escape key.… Read more

Sharing a panorama taken with iOS 6 on your iPhone is easy, but takes some work on the recipients end to view. The photo isn't all that tall, it's wide and only provides a general overview of the entire photo unless you pinch and zoom. Then you'll need to swipe back-and-forth until you can view the entire photo. It works, but it's not fun.

The next time you have a great-looking panorama you'd like to show off, use TourWrist, a free iOS app (download link) available in the App Store. Once you sign up and … Read more

The Batcave is located in Gotham and the Daily Planet in Metropolis, but when I was in New York City recently, I got a chance to see where Alfred E. Neuman, Bruce Wayne, Diana Prince, and other comics characters really come from.

Getting a camera inside DC Comics is no mean feat, since photos can potentially reveal sensitive storyline information, and in the comics business, there's often a direct connection between storyline and marketing plan. At times I felt like I was visiting NORAD. … Read more

Real Racing 2 is the long-awaited sequel to popular driving game Real Racing, and it definitely lives up to all the hype. Like the original game, Real Racing 2 offers the same sensitive accelerometer steering that feels just right on the iPhone. But there are a lot of new features in this sequel that make it even better than the original.

One of the biggest changes is the ability to drive real-world cars; Firemint managed to get 30 officially licensed cars, and each car sounds and drives like its real-world counterpart. You also can take part in automatched 16-player online … Read more