• Gadgets

    A Skinny PC, Fat with Features

    By Posted on 6.13.2008 9 Comments

    While the MacBook Air showed how slim a laptop could be, the Voodoo Envy ($2,100; voodoopc.com) demonstrates how much can fit in that space. Using the same compact CPU as the Air, the carbon-fiber-clad Envy measures just 0.7 inch thick—a tad thinner than the Mac at its thickest point. And it packs in more features, including a slot for high-speed cellular data cards, two USB ports, and an HDMI port for attaching to a high-def TV.

    6.15.2008 at 07:39am - Comment by Macman1956

    Linux can be kinda cool if you like to tinker, but putting Vista on anything pretty much junks it. Still, it's not an Apple machine and falls short in the quality department.

  • Gadgets

    Apple Sued for Not Being Colorful Enough

    By Posted on 4.1.2008 8 Comments

    An angry Apple iMac owner filed a class-action lawsuit against the company because she says the monitors don't display as many colors as advertised. The lawsuit claims that Apple knows its monitors only display 262,144 colors, but asserts in marketing materials that the machines flash millions of hues.

    4.1.2008 at 07:07pm - Comment by Macman1956

    podboq is right, there are NO 27" iMacs. None. There are, however 24" iMacs. Who writes this copy anyway and isn't anyone checking after them?

  • Science

    Da Vinci Surgical Robot Gains Eye Control

    By Posted on 3.24.2008 1 Comments

    Robotics and surgery continue to intertwine with new research coming out of the Imperial College London. Computer scientists there have been improving upon the already tremendously sophisticated Da Vinci surgical robot. Currently, to operate the machine, a surgeon sits in a console from which she peers into the patient through a fiber optic camera. She manipulates the finely-tuned arms of the device with a set of fingertip controls. What the researchers are adding to the system is an attachment which can track the surgeons eye movements and present a three-dimensional map of the area of the patient at which the surgeon is looking. It does this by combining live imagery with a collection of scans of the patient taken prior to the surgery.

    3.26.2008 at 10:08am - Comment by Macman1956

    This construct is NOT a robot. A robot, by its very definition has a manner of memory, system and a measure of artificial intelligence to allow it to operate by a set of instructions (a program) on its own. This is a Surgical Telepresence Device as it requires the presence of a human operator to complete the surgery, just a fancy set of Waldo hands. If Da Vinci were sophisticated enough to perform surgery without the assistance of a human, it would be classified as a Surgical Droid. Da Vinci in its present form does not do this! A much more sophisticated version of Da Vinci that would more approximate the human form would fall under the classification of a Surgical Android. Robots, on the other hand, perform comparatively simple and repetitive actions such as painting parts or assembling sub assemblies for other devices. It's all a matter of sophistication, intelligence, autonomy, and form. One can't call everything with wheels a car, so the sharp distinction in the definitions.



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