boston

Prepare to witness a tantalizing glimpse at our future robot overlords.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency yesterday released a stunning video showing how an autonomous robot can navigate and jump over obstacles with great ease.

In the clip, the Pet-Proto robot -- a predecessor to DARPA's Atlas robot -- traverses a simulated hallway containing a very tall step and a thin walkway. Pet-Proto easily uses its strong arms to balance itself as it climbs a step, then perfectly leaps down with a thud. The highly agile walker stretches its legs to continue its journey along the thin edges of a gutted hallway floor. … Read more

While most classical concert halls deliver the best of Mozart, Beethoven, or Bach, the Boston-based Video Game Orchestra plays tunes from the annals of beloved franchises such as Final Fantasy, Metal Gear Solid, Castlevania, and others.

The eclectic musical group -- which weaves a Mannheim Steamroller-esque synthesis of classical music and a rock -- played to a packed house yesterday at the Boston Symphony Hall and completed a major milestone on Kickstarter by generating $40,000 in donations to launch an album recorded from the performance. … Read more

Let the human-hunting games begin. Boston Dynamics has a new video of its oversized beast pursuing defenseless human meatsacks through a forest.

The Legged Squad Support System (LS3), aka AlphaDog, is designed to carry 400 pounds of payload and travel 20 miles without refueling. It's funded by DARPA and the U.S. Marine Corps and is meant to support troops in rugged terrain.

The latest video shows the cow-size monster clambering over rocks and up steep hillsides with heavy weights on its sides. It charges through bushes without a thought. … Read more

Run, don't walk, if you want to get away from this cheetah robot. If you happen to be non-human, you might stand a chance of surviving.

That's because Boston Dynamics' quadruped has set a new speed record and can now outrun the world's fastest human, Usain Bolt.

The DARPA-funded cyber-cat, already the fastest legged robot around, can sprint 28.3 mph, better than Bolt's best 20-meter split of 27.78 mph, the company said, quoting data from the International Association of Athletics Federations. The robot can now run significantly faster than its former top speed of 18 mph because engineers increased its power and refined the leg control algorithms. … Read more

BOSTON -- OK, so Microsoft impressed me.

Microsoft opened its first local retail store here this morning. It's in the upscale Prudential Center in the city's equally upscale Back Bay. It also happens to be across the street from a very large and very sleek Apple store -- a common occurrence, it seems, for locations of new Microsoft stores.

Here's what I expected to write about the new Microsoft Store: A somewhat snarky but data-driven piece on Microsoft aping Apple's retail strategy and how it shows the desperation of this once-mighty company. I expected to say … Read more

If robots could run for president, which would you vote for?

Nobody doubts that machines would make better leaders than meatsack politicians, but there are so many to choose from. Carnegie Mellon University is helping out by letting us humans elect inductees for its Robot Hall of Fame.

The prestige has been awarded to real robots such as Honda's Asimo, as well as characters like C-3P0 and R2-D2 from "Star Wars." The unprecedented public participation in choosing the members follows years of inactivity at the hall, which was created in 2003 but last added new robots in 2008. … Read more

After getting a cease-and-desist order, private livery service Uber has gotten the green light to resume operations in Boston.

The Division of Standards of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts earlier this month ordered the service, which allows people to request private car service via their smartphones, to cease operations because the National Institute of Standards and Technology had not issued guidelines for use of GPS location technology in commercial transportation.

Uber uses GPS technology rather than traditional odometers to measure distance traveled, which then determines the passenger's fare. That, apparently, is what the state Standards Division objected to.

"The … Read more

It looks like Uber is being driven out of another city.

Uber, the quickly growing startup that lets people request private car service via their smartphones, has received a cease-and-desist letter from the Division of Standards of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, ordering it to stop operating in Boston.

The letter (see below) states that until the National Institute of Standards and Technology issues guidelines for use of GPS location technology in commercial transportation, Uber can't allow the public to use its app.

"GPS has not been used in commercial applications for assessing transportation charges until Uber Technologies, Inc. … Read more

Patent lawsuits seem to be getting more common -- continually there are daily headlines of this company suing that company over intellectual property rights.

A new study released today confirms that lawsuits are increasing and says the overall cost of these cases in the U.S. was $29 billion in 2011.

The study, which was put out by Boston University, specifically looks at "non-practicing entities" (NPE), or "patent trolls." How these trolls operate is by buying and licensing patents without making the products of their own. Many major tech companies, like Apple, Google, and Samsung, have been criticized … Read more