What is the deal lately!?! I mean, I realize people pass away all the time, but we’re having a epidemic! Some expected, some not expected but also not unreasonable, and some just flat shocking. I’m not normally one to follow all the celebrity gossip (my own life is enough of a soap opera, I don’t need to borrow theirs), but lately it’s very hard not to. Hopefully we’re done with this for a while.

Futurelooks kicks it off with Why You Should Buy a Netbook

TrustedReviews presents Underwater Cameras – Group Test

Bjorn3D examines the Asus HD 4770 Formula Edition

DigitalTrends gets into the Best Software for Netbooks

Overclockers Online chills out with the Evercool Transformer 4

TestFreaks wants you to know about its Weekly Giveaway #8- NZXT Beta and Avatar

TweakTown takes on Terminator Salvation PS3

Guru3D shares its Photo Contest Entries

DragonSteelMods keeps cool with the Noctua NF-S12B FLX 120mm Fan

ModSynergy checks out the Winegard HD-1080M HDTV Antenna and Winegard HDP-269 PreAmplifier

Benchmark Reviews spends some time with the ZOTAC IONITX-A-U Atom N330 WiFi N Motherboard Kit

PureOverclock takes a look at the Samsung SyncMaster T240

The TechZone shares its thoughts on the Epson WorkForce 600 MFP

ThinkComputers gets into the Synology DS-409+ Network Attached Storage Device

And to finish us off, bit-tech reports on CEDIA 2009: Home Automation and more

Both my hockey teams are playing their respective first games in Round Two of the playoffs tonight. Only one is on TV and the other one is out of town, though, so at least I don’t have to try to decide which one to watch. It’s hard to type with my fingers crossed, but I’ll manage.

Hardware Bistro starts us off with the Synology DS109j NAS

DigitalTrends points and shoots with the Panasonic DMC-L10K

Gamepyre takes on Wheelman – 360

LanOC pokes around in the In Win X-Fighter

TrustedReviews gets its hands on the Logitech G19 Gaming Keyboard

RBMods takes a look at the Soyo Pearl 24″ LCD Monitor

Bjorn3D chills out with the Titan Fenrir

TweakTown spends some time with the Foxconn Quantum Force X58 Flaming Blade Motherboard

XSReviews gets into some Tuniq TX3

bit-tech speculates on The Future of Artificial Intelligence

DriverHeaven sits down with the Novatech X55MV Pro Laptop

BigBruin examines the Seagate Momentus 5400.6 500GB SATA Hard Drive

And to close out this selection, Technic3D reviews the PC Power & Cooling 750W

Part remote control car, part transformer, V_Bot from a company called RC2 has really upped the ante in terms of transformable toys. The V-Bot doesn’t require user intervention when transforming from its vehicle form to its robot form and even allows you to drive it around with a full function digital remote control.

In vehicular form, the lightning wheels give off a light show, dazzling the crowd, while in robot form, V_Bot can perform over 720 dance moves…including the robot of course. When you’re not driving V_bot around or freaking out the cat transforming it on the fly, he also doubles as a portable docking station for your MP3 player. V_Bot will groove along with the music showing off a parallel light show. Wasn’t that Autobot Jazz’s thing in the original Transformer series?

V-Bot retails for around £129.99 and hopefully we’ll see it on North American shores before the holidays.

First Law:
A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

Second Law:
A robot must obey orders given it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

Third Law:
A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

These three laws of robotics, formulated back in 1940 by Isaac Asimov, have applied in many science-fiction movies whenever a robot appeared – and were sometimes blatantly breached for the purpose of more gruesome scripts! Yet, it is likely that such androids will become a reality some fifty years from now. So what ethics will these artificial creatures apply?

This is the topic that was debated by both experts and lay people at the Rights for Robots public conference held in London, UK, on April 24. With the rapid technological advance in this field – remember Domo? – it seems essential to set up guidelines that will regulate the behavior of robots in the future. Or we’ll end up having to create special Blade Runner police forces!

“Robot technology is accelerating with applications in the home, in the workplace and in the military. It is hard to keep up and we are at a point where the public need to make some informed decisions about our future.”

Source: EurekAlert

After inventing a two-legged robot that can substitute for impaired legs, Japanese robotics now give us the opportunity to replace our whole body thanks to this new exoskeleton from Tsukuba University. In association with existing software in development in the USA and Austria, as well as with the international effort to link mind and machine, people who have lost their motricity – either through poliomyelitis or due to a spinal cord accident – will be able to move freely again.

Of course, this contraption could also be used by unimpaired, “normal” people to increase their strength and carry heavy objects more easily than with a cumbersome forklift truck. …Or how about a world domination endeavor? Anyone interested?

Source: The Japan Times