Pleo

CES: Reborn Pleo dinobot more interactive, tough

LAS VEGAS--Pleo is an autonomous toy dinosaur robot that became more or less fossilized in 2009 when the company behind it went extinct. But it's been relaunched at CES as Pleo Rb with improved interactive features, longer battery life, and better skin.

Pleo Rb (for "reborn") is designed to be an emotional robot. The Life OS artificial-intelligence system in each Pleo has unique innate personality traits such as obedience and courage. They begin life as a hatchling Camarasaurus, either male (blue) or female (pink), and then go through infant and juvenile stages, interacting with their owner and … Read more

Facebook promises privacy fix

Links from Tuesday's episode of Loaded:

Facebook disables applications that were found to be sharing user identities

BlackBerry announces the BlackBerry Style flip phone

Rhapsody launches a streaming app on BlackBerry

The Barnes & Noble Nook update will let you read across devices and offers faster search and page turning

Microsoft announces a game lineup for the Kinect launch

Pleo the robotic dinosaur is back from extinction and better than ever

The telepresence robots are coming

It looks like a cross between a Segway and Wall-E, but a new "telepresence" robot being unveiled Tuesday is designed to help companies save money on travel and expensive teleconferencing technology.

Currently known as the "QB," the $15,000 robot from Mountain View, Calif.-based Anybots, is designed for people in remote offices or locations who want a rich communications experience without having to use a complicated video conference system.

QB, which is slated to go on sale this fall, has both a video camera and a video screen embedded in its "head." It has wheels and can be moved around remotely by computer. It is designed to be able to steer its way clear of obstacles or people. As long as both the robot and the person controlling it both have access to Wi-Fi, QB should work for just about anyone.

According to Anybots COO Bob Christopher, the idea for QB came from new theories about interactions between people and robots. The hope, said Christopher, who previously was CEO of Pleo maker Ugobe, is that QB will engender a "more humanistic approach" to the relationship between humans and machine. … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 957: Tweetza Hut!!!!

One of our listeners is upset that Pizza Hut is hiring interns to Twitter for them. We try to show the difference between astroturfing on blogs and hiring someone to Twitter legitimately. We also decide that when GREP is outlawed, only criminals will GREP. And Blu-ray's getting cheap. But do we care?

Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 957

Blu-ray in every home? Backers aim for $99 players http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2009/04/blu-ray-in-every-home-backers-aim-for-99-players.ars

Google: Search changes in images http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8009400.stm

Google news timeline http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10223607-2.html… Read more

Robot dinosaur a popular, if clumsy, Vegas companion

LAS VEGAS--A tiny green dinosaur moves across the table, gurgling and turning its head to the left slightly, striking an instantly endearing pose.

Then he knocks over a goblet, smashing the glass, and sending red wine spilling over the table.

Not the greatest first impression for the Pleo, a $349 robotic pet. I had been intrigued by my colleague's coverage of the robot and wanted to check it out for myself. Luckily, his makers hosted a reception with him at the Consumer Electronics Show here.

After cleaning up after their creation, Pleo's progenitors assured me that he's … Read more

CNET Live - Episode 32 - Show Notes

Although MC Hammer wasn't able to make it today, we did get a chance to play with the robotic Pleo dinosaur. Hopefully we can reschedule Hammer for a future show to talk about DanceJam.

Watch the show on CNET TV.

Things we Crave

Flux capacitor

DrIron

First Look

Ibiza Rhapsody

Guest A little dinosaur named Pleo.

Best of the Web

Google for iPhone.

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Fix Vista power button.

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Mp3tag 2.39.

Your calls

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Project to put Linux on the iPhone

Info on the Ubuntu Mobileedition

Rip DVDs … Read more

Waking up Pleo

Is it possible to love an animatronic dinosaur?

I don't know yet, but I'm likely to find out over the next few days.

That's because I'm road-testing Pleo, the new animatronic dinosaur robot from Ugobe. Though much talked about since it was unveiled at Demo last year, Pleo is only just now being officially released, and I was lucky enough to be among the first to get a review unit.

What I'm dreading is the moment in a week or so when I have to put Pleo back in its box and send it back … Read more

Pleo will change the toy game

AUSTIN, Texas--Every so often, a product comes along that just changes the game. The iPhone. The Segway. The Roomba.

Get ready to add the Pleo to that list.

The animatronic dinosaur Pleo is hotly anticipated to hit the market next year and it's already possible to pre-order one for $349. What makes this toy such a game changer is that it is so amazingly lifelike that it's hard not to treat it like it's real.

I first saw the Pleo at Demo '06. Back then, the toy was expected to be available by the 2006 holidays and … Read more

Vote: Battle of the nonviolent robots (The Sweet Sixteen)

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 … Read more