Crave

Rapper Saul Williams

(Credit: Atticus Ross)

Could John Hammond have discovered Billie Holiday, Bob Dylan, or Bruce Springsteen by scrolling through MySpace pages?

The Babe Ruth of talent scouts, Hammond made Artists & Repertoire guys famous. These music-label reps have a storied history of haunting backwater honkey tonks, nightclubs, and dive bars in a quest for hot new acts. In the future, some may be asked to forget the clubs and restrict their searches to the Web.

Private-equity firm Terra Firma, the company that acquired record company EMI in May, is now trying to attract investors by floating a plan that includes drastic cost cuts at the struggling label, according to a story in The New York Post. The paper said that according to a "confidential investor presentation," Terra Firma is considering slashing EMI's fixed costs by $223 million.

Under the proposal, EMI would slice $58 million from its A&R and marketing budget. The savings would come from requiring talent scouts to rely more heavily on sites such as MySpace to find talent, the Post reported. The company would also use social-networking sites to promote acts. The plan is only under consideration and final decisions have not been made, one of the label's spokesmen told CNET News.com.

Nonetheless, this shows just how much influence MySpace has acquired in music circles.

The site is already teaming with hopeful musicians who may find it beneficial to build jaw-dropping Web pages and MySpace profiles to help them stand out.

Rapper Saul Williams, who is distributing an online-only digital album called, The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust, said MySpace is helping to boost ticketsales.

"MySpace has made people more interested in seeing live performances," Williams told CNET News.com during an interview two weeks ago. "Its extremely exciting for me to see how the Internet is bringing more people to live shows than ever before That's one thing you can't duplicate on the Internet. You can't get that exhilaration that comes from a live performance from a computer screen."

If that's true, can is MySpace really an effective tool for A&R guys?

"It's true, you can find some interesting music on MySpace," said one music record executive, who asked to remain anonymous because he has dealings with EMI. "Yet, I look for bands with strong live followings and a strong live presence and there's no substituting getting out there and seeing whether someone can actually play. I don't think you're going to find the next Bob Dylan on MySpace."

Get your own full-size printer-friendly bracket and start your own high-stakes office pool.

Voting is now closed for this round. See the results of these battles here and vote on the Elite Eight matchups here.

Get it now! Your full-size, printer-friendly tournament bracket.

And then there were 16.

These robots don't want to fight. That's why you have to pick the winners. After two weeks of "battling" it out, our field of nonviolent robots is down to 16 competitors.

Voting is open from now until Sept. 17. Check back then for the results of this round and vote on the Elite Eight matchups.

• See last week's final scores
• See last week's matchups
• See the tournament rules and first week's matchups

===================
PROTOTYPE DIVISION
===================

(Credit: Honda.com)

1. Asimo
Fittingly pronounced "awesome-o," Honda's amazing humanoid bipedal robot, is this year's tourney favorite, and with good reason. It's already been inducted into the Robot Hall of Fame. It climbs stairs. It looks like an astronaut. And most unfortunately for its opponents, it has some pretty sweet dance moves, as this video can attest.

(Credit: Robot Watch)

3. OmniZero.4
The demonstration-winning robot from this year's Robo-One 11 event in Japan is built for entertainment. Known to his friends as "Li'l Clompy," OmniZero.4 climbs ladders, skips rope, breaks the hell out of eggs, and politely bows. Sure, he can be physically intimidating if you're an egg or 1 foot tall, but everyone else can just kick him into a swimming pool if he gets confrontational.

(1) Asimo vs. (3) OmniZero.4: Who wins?

 Asimo
 OmniZero.4

====

(Credit: John W. Cornwell)

4. Beer-Launching Fridge
Another robot that could potentially do some damage if you're not paying attention, the Beer-Launching Fridge holds up to 10 cans of delicious beer and flings them to you so you don't even have to get up. Unfortunately, at this point, you'll have to know designer John W. Cornwell personally, because he has the only one. But he may build more. One can hope, or at least buddy up to him on Facebook.

(Credit: BeatBots.org)

2. Keepon
The robotic star of two Spoon videos (one unofficial one, and one official one) has the most soul of any Nerf robot we've ever seen. In addition to bass (which it picks up through its nose mic), the secret to Hideki Kozima and Marek Michalowski's head-bobbing robot is in its base. Base! How low can you go?

(4) Beer-Launching Fridge vs. (2) Keepon: Who wins?

 Beer-Launching Fridge
 Keepon

=========================
CONSUMER DIVISION
=========================

(Credit: Michael Kanellos/CNET Networks)

1. Pleo
When most people consider the concept of a robotic dinosaur, thoughts of mechanical T. rexes and velociraptors duking it out on a rickety bridge over a flaming pool of tar come to mind. Ugobe's Pleo is about as far away from that image as possible. He's cute, cuddly, "learns" things as time passes, develops moods and personality traits, makes grunting noises, and is slated to be in stores in October for around $250. However, the robot version of Carl Everett doesn't think Pleo exists.

(Credit: Caleb Goessling)

6. Nintendo R.O.B.
Any votes for R.O.B. will come straight from nostalgia, because Nintendo's game-playing robot sure didn't have many gaming skills. With only two compatible NES games (the forgettable "Gyromite" and "Stack-Up") and molasses-slow movements, R.O.B. was rarely part of any old-school gaming session beyond his first foray out of the box. These days, R.O.B. has hung up his Gyro Blocks and now has his own MySpace page.

(1) Pleo vs. (6) Nintendo R.O.B.: Who wins?

 Pleo
 Nintendo R.O.B.

====

(Credit: WowWee)

4. Robosapien
Another selection from the ultracompetitive WowWee Conference, Robosapien has a bunch of tricks. Namely, belching, farting, caveman noises, dancing, and more farting. That's a nice little repertoire for $50, and Robosapien's hacker-friendly innards have paved the way for some sweet mods. This is another dark horse with an enthusiastic fan base that may propel it to the late rounds. It is also good at farting.

(Credit: Mobile-review.com)

2. Sony QRIO
Hey, where's Aibo? Sorry. Sony's robo-dog was pummeled in the Sony conference finals by this lesser-known humanoid robot. Face and voice recognition, communication skills, and memory were some of QRIO's noticeable traits, but its smooth, fluid dancing moves (showcased in this Beck video) were QRIO's main drawing point. Development on the robot was halted before it hit store shelves, but you can't blame that on QRIO.

(4) Robosapien vs. (2) Sony QRIO: Who wins?

 Robosapien
 Sony QRIO

=================
MOVIE DIVISION
=================

1. Marvin the Paranoid Android (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)
The only robot in this year's competition that is (allegedly) the subject of a Radiohead song, Marvin's vast intellect is both his strength and his vulnerability. He may be too mired in depression and bored with this trivial tournament to even put up a good nonfight, or he may completely destroy the competition by employing his 5.5 million IQ. Either way, the championship is there for big number 42's taking if he wants it badly enough.

(Credit: StarWars.com)

6. C-3PO
Decisions, decisions...Would you cast a vote for C-3PO just because you love Star Wars? Or does this droid's incessant nattering and worrying grate on your last nerve? Threepio's fate could go either way in this competition, which makes him one of the more intriguing tourney competitors. Two things I will say for C-3PO: No one would understand most of the stuff R2-D2 said without his reactionary dialogue, and his Halloween costume is best accompanied by creative use of jazz hands.

(1) Marvin the Paranoid Android vs. (6) C-3PO: Who wins?

 Marvin the Paranoid Android
 C-3PO

====

(Credit: Johnny-Five.com)

5. Johnny Five (Short Circuit 2)
He may be "alive," but he's still a robot. Johnny Five's distinction in the tournament, other than his unparalleled knowledge of pop culture and classic literature, is that he's the only robot that has been arrested. For the purposes of nonviolence, it's important to note that this is the Short Circuit 2 version of Johnny Five, the one with the toolbox instead of an on-board laser.

(Credit: Amazon.com)

2. D.A.R.Y.L.
Whereas most movie robots can just crush anyone mercilessly with a combination of brute force and laser beams, D.A.R.Y.L. takes a more down-to-earth approach. He will obliterate your high score in Pole Position, make any Little League pitcher's ERA balloon to double digits, and ruin the grading curve on tests.

(5) Johnny Five vs. (2) D.A.R.Y.L.: Who wins?

 Johnny Five
 D.A.R.Y.L.

=================
TV DIVISION
=================

(Credit: Toyshow.org)

1. Twiki (Buck Rogers in the 25th Century)
Despite the bidibidi-bad haircut and the inconsistent silver-or-gold color scheme, Twiki is a player to be reckoned with. The reason for such a high seed? Twiki's actually a double threat, thanks to the fact that he wears another robot--Dr. Theopolis--on his chest like Flavor Flav's clock. Yeaaaaah bidibidi-boyeeeeeeee.

(Credit: StarTrek.com)

6. Data (Star Trek)
Commander Data may have lacked emotions for most of his run, but he definitely can win people's hearts. His childlike innocence combined with the most powerful positonic net-powered brain ever gives him an idiot savantish lovability. Combatants should keep in mind what Tasha Yar found out: Commander Data is fully functional. (Commander Data scouting report written by resident Trekkie Tom Merritt.)

(1) Twiki vs. (6) Data: Who wins?

 Twiki
 Data

====

5. K-9 (Dr. Who)
Yes, K-9 has a laser in his nose, but he ain't gonna use it unless the good doctor tells him to. His top weapons are intelligence and mobile database serving. What K-9 lacks in visual sophistication, the robot dog more than makes up for in sheer loyalty. All that persistence has paid off for K-9, too: He's getting his own spinoff series in 2008.

2. Bender (Futurama)
With Bender, the TV Division has one of the most potentially violent nonviolent robots in the competition. Bender's personality is a volatile cocktail that could blow a fuse at any second: He drinks with the best of them, has a smart mouth, and enjoys bending things. The Futurama star may also have the biggest fan base in the tourney.

(5) K-9 vs. (2) Bender: Who wins?

 K-9
 Bender

Last week's results

All scores represent percentage of votes, but let's pretend it's like a basketball game.

============
Movie Division
============

(1) Marvin the Paranoid Android 79
(8) Dot Matrix 21

(3) Robby the Robot 36
(6) C-3PO 64

(4) Teddy 25
(5) Johnny Five 75

(2) D.A.R.Y.L. 58
(7) Woody Allen 42

============
TV Division
============

(1) Twiki 60
(8) Vicki 40

(3) KITT 34
(6) Data 66

(4) Muffit II 63
(5) K-9 37

(2) Bender 73
(7) Crow T. Robot 15
(7) Tom Servo 12

Voting is now closed for this round. See the results of these battles here and vote on the Sweet Sixteen matchups here.

These robots don't want to fight. That's why you have to pick the winners. Here's part two of the first round of our grand tournament, featuring robots from the movies and TV. All you have to do is vote for the winners.

Voting is open from now until next Monday, September 10. Check back then for the results of this round, exciting second-round matchups, and a couple of surprises.

• See last week's matchups and tournament rules
• See last week's final scores

=================
MOVIE DIVISION
=================

1. Marvin the Paranoid Android (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)
The only robot in this year's competition that is (allegedly) the subject of a Radiohead song, Marvin's vast intellect is both his strength and his vulnerability. He may be too mired in depression and bored with this trivial tournament to even put up a good non-fight, or he may completely destroy the competition by employing his 5.5 million IQ. Either way, the championship is there for big number 42's taking if he wants it badly enough.

8. Dot Matrix (Spaceballs)
Voiced annoyingly by Joan Rivers, this Spaceballs bot may meet its inspiration, C-3PO, in the second round. It'll be tough for either of them to get there, though. As much of a cult classic as Mel Brooks' Star Wars parody is, we're betting that there are a lot more blue-blooded Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy aficionados in the Crave audience. We might be wrong.

(1) Marvin the Paranoid Android vs. (8) Dot Matrix: Who wins?

 Marvin the Paranoid Android
 Dot Matrix

====

(Credit: U. of Michigan Science Fiction Filmsite)

3. Robby the Robot
Making his debut in the 1956 film The Forbidden Planet, the semi-ubiquitous Robby the Robot also did some guest spots on TV's "Mork and Mindy," "Lost in Space," and even "The Simpsons." In addition to simply being a classic, Robby made the tournament due to his inner conflict about killing a human in The Forbidden Planet. The hardest-working robot in show biz is a hall-of-famer, too; Robby made the Robot Hall of Fame in 2004.

(Credit: StarWars.com)

6. C-3PO
Decisions, decisions...Would you cast a vote for C-3PO just because you love Star Wars? Or does this droid's incessant nattering and worrying grate on your last nerve? Threepio's fate could go either way in this competition, which makes this first-round battle one of the more intriguing in the tourney. Two things I will say for C-3PO: no one would understand most of the stuff R2-D2 said without his reactionary dialogue, and his Halloween costume is best accompanied by creative use of jazz hands.

(3) Robby the Robot vs. (6) C-3PO: Who wins?

 Robby the Robot
 C-3PO

====

(Credit: IGN)

4. Teddy (A.I.)
He may smell like Haley Joel Osment's armpit, but the animatronic teddy bear from Steven Spielberg's A.I. steals scenes and hearts like it's nobody's business. Stanley Kubrick worked on A.I. for years before handing the project off to Spielberg before his death. Part of Kubrick's vision for the film was that the robots in the film would be played by actual robots, but the real world never quite caught up to his vision. As this video shows, Teddy came closest to that reality.

(Credit: Johnny-Five.com)

5. Johnny Five (Short Circuit 2)
He may be "alive," but he's still a robot. Johnny Five's distinction in the tournament, other than his unparalleled knowledge of pop culture and classic literature, is that he's the only robot that has been arrested. For the purposes of nonviolence, it's important to note that this is the Short Circuit 2 version of Johnny Five, the one with the toolbox instead of an on-board laser.

(4) Teddy vs. (5) Johnny Five: Who wins?

 Teddy
 Johnny Five

====

(Credit: Amazon.com)

2. D.A.R.Y.L.
Whereas most movie robots can just crush anyone mercilessly with a combination of brute force and laser beams, D.A.R.Y.L. takes a more down-to-earth approach. He will obliterate your high score in Pole Position, make any Little League pitcher's ERA balloon to double digits, and ruin the grading curve on tests. There may be a deeper story brewing here, too; Barret Oliver, who played the boy robot in the 1985 film, also did a couple of guest spots on "Knight Rider" in the '80s. D.A.R.Y.L. may run into KITT in the later rounds.

(Credit: MikeReger.net)

7. Woody Allen in Sleeper
OK, OK, so he's not really a robot. But when Woody Allen disguises himself as a robot butler in this 1973 film, some of the best robot hijinks in film history ensue: crappy foot-shuffling, semi-robotic hand gestures, and people passing around a silver orb that produces orgasms. I couldn't find any of the relevant Sleeper clips on YouTube, but this guy does a pretty good impersonation of the walking schtick.

(2) D.A.R.Y.L. vs. (7) Woody Allen: Who wins?

 D.A.R.Y .L.
 Woody Allen

=================
TV DIVISION
=================

(Credit: Toyshow.org)

1. Twiki (Buck Rogers in the 25th Century)
Despite the bidibidi-bad haircut and the inconsistent silver-or-gold color scheme, Twiki is a player to be reckoned with. The reason for such a high seed? Twiki's actually a double threat, thanks to the fact that he wears another robot--Dr. Theopolis--on his chest like Flavor Flav's clock. Yeaaaaah bidibidi-boyeeeeeeee.

(Credit: PopHangover.com)

8. Vicki (Small Wonder)
Hey, remember Small Wonder? Who could forget this visionary, superbly acted sitcom, which delved into the subtle intricacies of in-home robotics by personifying them in the form of the archetypical Vicki. Despite her brute strength and endless sass, if Vicki had any violent instincts, the Lawsons' neighbor Harriet (and all the show's writers) would have been toast by episode three. Vicki's greatest contribution to the world, however, is inspiring this in-depth written analysis of the plausibility of her various powers.

(1) Twiki vs. (8) Vicki: Who wins?

 Twiki
 Vicki

====

3. KITT (Knight Rider)
Technically, KITT is more of a souped-up car than a robot, but anything that carries around The Hoff is automatically granted robot status. Plus, KITT could smell, see, hear, use x-ray vision, talk, take your blood pressure, perform drug tests, and kick it with The Hoff. Yes, KITT had flame throwers and lasers, but those needed to be manually operated by The Hoff. Anyone who still disagrees that KITT should be in this tournament should talk to The Hoff.

(Credit: StarTrek.com)

6. Data (Star Trek)
Commander Data may have lacked emotions for most of his run, but he definitely can win people's hearts. His childlike innocence combined with the most powerful positonic net-powered brain ever gives him an idiot savantish lovability. Combatants should keep in mind what Tasha Yar found out: Commander Data is fully functional. (Commander Data scouting report written by resident Trekkie Tom Merritt.)

(3) KITT vs. (6) Data: Who wins?

 KITT
 Data

====

(Credit: Battlestar Wiki)

4. Muffit II (Battlestar Galactica)
It's a dog-eat-dog world, even when it comes to nonviolent robot battles. Muffit II, the Daggit from Battlestar Galactica, has the upper seed on his first-round robotic canine opponent for one simple fact: he's also half robotic bear. Also helping Muffit's cause is the fact that there was a trained chimp inside his costume. For some reason, Daggit didn't make it to the fancy new Battlestar Galactica series, probably due to widespread robo-rabies concerns.

5. K-9 (Dr. Who)
Yes, K-9 has a laser in his nose, but he ain't gonna use it unless the good doctor tells him to. His top weapons are intelligence and mobile database serving. What K-9 lacks in visual sophistication, the robot dog more than makes up for in sheer loyalty. All that persistence has paid off for K-9, too: he's getting his own spinoff series in 2008.

(4) Muffit II vs. (5) K-9: Who wins?

 Muffit II
 K-9

====

2. Bender (Futurama)
With Bender and KITT in the same bracket, the TV Division has the two most potentially violent nonviolent robots in the competition. Bender's personality is a volatile cocktail that could blow a fuse at any second: he drinks with the best of them, has a smart mouth, and enjoys bending things. The Futurama star may also have the biggest fan base in the tourney, but his cult following is fiercely rivalled by his first-round opponent: the smarmy bots from MST 3K.

7. Crow T. Robot/Tom Servo (Mystery Science Theater 3000)
Ah yes, this MST 3K play-in game may cause the geekiest of geeks' heads to spontaneously combust. Oh, the horror of deciding between bowling-pin-headed Crow's Monty Python references and gumball-machine-headed Servo's Lord of the Rings references. Only one can advance. Just to pack some more cult-status hair-pulling into your decision, Tom Servo made a brief cameo in an episode of Homestar Runner, while both appear in an episode of Futurama...an episode, coincidentally, about a robot battle.

(2) Bender vs. (7) Crow T. Robot vs. (7) Tom Servo: Who wins?

 Bender
 Crow T. Robot
 Tom Servo

====

Last week's results: Prototype Division

All scores represent percentage of votes, but let's pretend it's like a basketball game.

(1) Asimo 91
(8) Partner Ballroom Dance Robot 9

(3) OmniZero.4 58
(6) Motoman 42

(4) Beer-Launching Fridge 56
(5) The Rock-Afire Explosion 44

(2) Keepon 64
(7) Tiro 36

Last week's results: Consumer Division

(1) Pleo 71
(8) Hello Kitty Robot 29

(6) Nintendo R.O.B. 59
(3) WowWee Alive Chimpanzee 41

(4) Robosapien 74
(5) Necoro 26

(2) Sony QRIO 75
(7) 2-XL 25

UPDATE: Well, we just met with Monolith, developers of the original F.E.A.R. and we don't have much new info to provide. We were told that Monolith heard from Logitech about the issue and Vista, but that Monolith never heard back when it asked Logitech whether the glitch happened in Windows XP. Even if it had, it would still be up to the hardware vendors to dig up the problem and point to a specific place in the F.E.A.R. code. The developer theorized that it could be due to something going with DirectInput, the Direct X component that deals with mice and keyboards, but it didn't have anything concrete. Dizzy yet?

In better news, Monolith showed us a playable demo of the as-yet-unnamed sequel to F.E.A.R., which looked absolutely awesome, and seemed to really push current-generation graphics to the limit. They didn't allow cameras at the screening, so we have no screenshots (they're waiting until they have a name before they release any art), and wouldn't even take any real questions about the game. What we found interesting is that in the part we saw, at least, rather than ceding to critics of the original's claustrophobia by blowing the game up into a larger environment, Monolith ramped up the intensity of the close-quarters shooting to highly creepy, dramatic effect. It comes to PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 in 2008.

ORIGINAL POST: As bug discoveries go, we can't technically claim to have discovered this one. Still, it seems that by stumbling upon a major slowdown in F.E.A.R. during a recent Maingear desktop review, we've come across what might be a more universal issue in PC gaming performance. We're not trying to cause a panic. F.E.A.R is the only game we've seen suffer a significant frame rate loss. But an intriguing post on the official F.E.A.R. forum indicates that the issue might be more widespread. The potential culprit? USB mice and keyboards.

We found a disturbing performance issue in F.E.A.R.

(Credit: Gamespot)

From what we've seen, if you have either a USB mouse or keyboard connected to your PC while playing F.E.A.R., you'll get a major frame rate drop on even the mightiest of gaming PCs. We're talking from 150 frames per second down to 13 fps or so. Using old-school devices appears to fix the issue. We found big performance hits with Logitech and Saitek hardware, although there's a world of USB devices that we haven't tested. We found that the Creative-made mouse and keyboard that come with Velocity Micro PCs don't seem to cause as much trouble, but they still show a measurable decline in performance, by roughly 10 fps.

The less severe drop-off with certain hardware might explain why we never noticed the problem until the Maingear review. If all USB input devices cause some kind of performance loss in F.E.A.R., the scores for all of the systems we've reviewed with that test will have suffered, giving us no "normal" baseline to compare to. We only noticed the problem because, for some reason, the Maingear system caused a significant-enough slowdown. We were also able to replicate the issue by connecting the same Logitech G5 mouse and Saitek Eclipse keyboard to a to-be-reviewed Falcon Northwest PC we have in the lab, so the issue isn't unique to Maingear (and that's why we didn't slam that system in the review). Still, we've tested F.E.A.R. on other PCs in months previous with one or both of those devices connected to them, and saw no frame rate drop until now.

As we said, we are not the first people to find this problem. Posters over at the official F.E.A.R. forum reported this issue last year. A forum thread on Nvnews.com also eventually finds its way toward talking about input devices. Interestingly, a poster by the name of "Noe" put a new thread on the F.E.A.R. forum this past July 3 (a few days after our Maingear review posted), asking readers for information to provide feedback on the forum, which will then be forwarded to "a group of qualified people looking into the technical aspects of the 'USB bandwidth issue'." This lends credence to Noe's claim later in the thread that the issue isn't unique to F.E.A.R., since (assuming Noe is telling the truth) it's an external group conducting this troubleshooting research, rather than Vivendi, Sierra, or any other companies behind F.E.A.R.

Before we had any idea it was an input issue, we simply saw F.E.A.R. scores tank during testing on an otherwise powerful PC. Alongside our trusty lab technician Joseph Kaminski, the guys from Maingear and Nvidia technical marketing director Nick Stam narrowed it down to the input devices, largely based on the suggestions of the Nvnews forum thread. We were afraid that Nvidia would bow out at this point, since the slowdown didn't appear tied to a 3D driver like we initially thought. We're glad we were wrong. As Nick wrote me two weeks ago: "I'm still very interested in understanding the pure technical reasons, as this is definitely one of the strangest issues I've seen in a long time."

With Nvidia working on the problem independently, we then moved on to Logitech and Saitek, neither of whom had heard of the issue. We're still waiting to hear back from Saitek's technical team (which has been traveling), but Logitech's was available and got back to us quickly. It doesn't appear that Logitech's SetPoint mouse and keyboard software caused the issue (it wasn't installed on the Maingear PC during testing), but from what we've heard, a forthcoming SetPoint update will fix the problem.

We're glad that Logitech hardware owners, at least, may have a solution, but we'd still like to know what exactly causes the slowdown, and whether it affects other games. We have a meeting with Sierra (one of F.E.A.R.'s developers) at E3 this week, so we'll definitely be asking them in person.

Of the vendors we've talked to so far, all of them remain interested. That gives us faith that the problem will get the attention it needs. We were frustrated, though, when we saw people had posted about this issue in official and unofficial forums as long as 10 months ago. Apparently it takes a while for the wisdom of crowds to sink in.