Greg Galitzine
Windows on ARM - New Tablet Operating System With Some Limitations
Microsoft Windows President Steven Sinoksky OR is this Bruce Willis? The next version of Windows will run full-sized desktop applications on low-power...
Full Story »
Apple Planned the iPad BEFORE the iPhone. Who knew?
Everyone assumes that Apple was working on the iPhone before the iPad. However, the recent lawsuit by Proview Electronics suing Apple over...
Full Story »
What Twitter Told Me This Week
I get a lot of articles off twitter. Too many to write about all of them so I am just going to...
Full Story »
iRobot Announces Record Results
Apparently Roomba business is good business. iRobot Corp. has announced its financial results for Q4 and for the full year ended December...
Full Story »
Dell Voice Launches in Canada - Will it Fail As Badly As Dell Video Chat?
Dell has partnered with Ontario-based Fongo to offer Dell Voice, a VoIP app exclusively available exclusively in Canada that offers a Canadian...
Full Story »
5 Tips for Speakers
I'm not the best speaker. I'm still nervous and anxious before every talk, even when moderating. But I prepare for every talk...
Full Story »
Vonage Attacks Skype with 30% Price Cut and Free App-to-App Calling & Texts
Vonage today launched new versions of their mobile app for both iOS and Android phones that feature free app-to-app calling and international...
Full Story »
ITEXPO IP Communications Trade Show Continues Solid Growth
ITEXPO East 2012 in Miami was TMC's best show ever with over 200 booths and over 8,200 attendees. Conferee attendance for ITEXPO...
Full Story »
Verizon and BT Announce Cross-Network Video Calling & Telepresnce
Verizon and BT announced a deal enabling each of their respective customers initiate high-quality video conferences and telepresence sessions. I spoke...
Full Story »
Social Media Channel Integration
An ITEXPO panel on Wed. discussed social media integration in the contact center. Sanjay Popli of LiveOps, Manuel Ramirez of Avaya, and...
Full Story »
FCC is Busy!
.The FCC is really busy!The FCC is still working on Inter-Carrier Compensation. It ordered Rural Call Completion.It approved TWC's $3B bid for...
Full Story »
Mobile Video Conferencing and IT Expo
IT Expo East was held last week in Miami. One thing I like to do at shows is to figure out...
Full Story »
N. Korea Arming 1970's-Era U.S. Drones?
According to a report published by South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency, North Korea is allegedly developing a new attack capability by refitting...
Full Story »
Why Apple's A5 Processor is Big (Siri) + Why Doesn't Siri Support Dictating Emails?
According to CNet, Apple's A5 processor includes noise-reduction circuitry licensed from a start-up called Audience. Audience's technology enhances speech and works well...
Full Story »
Verizon Puts the Move on Video
After Verizon's CFO sais that FiOS was a poor economic decision for the company, I would think video would not be on...
Full Story »Unmanned Drones to Share US Airspace by 2015
February 10, 2012One of the more noteworthy news items this week, was the passage by the US Congress of a bill that will usher in a new era in the nation’s skies. The new bill will hasten the switch of the air traffic control system from the current radar-based system to one that relies on GPS.
Another element of the bill was the fact that Congress has authorized unmanned drones to share the same airspace as piloted commercial passenger airplanes.
The FAA will be required to provide military, commercial and privately-owned drones with expanded access to U.S. airspace by Sept. 30, 2015.
Medical Robotics Firm Approaches European Milestone
February 9, 2012Stereotaxis, Inc., manufacturer of the Vdrive Robotic Navigation System, an advanced cardiology instrument control solution, announced that it expects to surpass 500 clinical procedures in Europe before the current month is out.
Separately, Stereotaxis announced regulatory clearance from Health Canada to commercially market the device in Canada.
Since its introduction to the European market in 2011, the Vdrive system has been installed in nine centers, with units scheduled to be installed in additional centers during the first quarter of 2012. The initial nine centers have performed 473 clinical cases with approximately 80% being completed in the left atrium of the heart.
Vdrive expands upon the company’s Magnetic Navigation platform and is designed to enable remote manipulation of diagnostic devices used during medical procedures.
Citing positive clinical feedback, Michael P. Kaminski, President and CEO of Stereotaxis is excited about the company’s future, and the new opportunities that the Health Canada regulatory clearance portends.
“With the Health Canada market clearance for the Vdrive system, and our planned new Vdrive installations in Europe and Canada this year, we are well-positioned to drive the growth and further adoption of this exciting technology in electrophysiology labs in these important markets,” he said.
iRobot Announces Record Results
February 9, 2012Apparently Roomba business is good business. iRobot Corp. has announced its financial results for Q4 and for the full year ended December 31, 2011 and the news is positive. In fact, it was a record year for the Bedford-Mass.-based robotics manufacturer.
According to an official company release:
Revenue for the fourth quarter of 2011 increased 15 percent to $130.8 million, compared with $114.0 million for the same quarter one year ago.
N. Korea Arming 1970's-Era U.S. Drones?
February 6, 2012According to a report published by South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency, North Korea is allegedly developing a new attack capability by refitting U.S. target drones with the capacity to carry high-explosive payloads.
The news agency cited an anonymous South Korean intelligence report.
According to the source, “North Korea recently bought several U.S. MQM-107D Streakers from a Middle Eastern nation that appears to be Syria, and is developing unmanned attack aircraft based on them.”
The MQM-107 Streaker was designed as a reusable, turbojet powered, target-towing drone for testing and training. Developed in the early 1970’s the unmanned aircraft was phased out beginning in 2003 in favor of the smaller and lighter BQM-167 Skeeter drone.
The intelligence report opines that if the North Koreans are successful in their endeavor, the likely target would be South Korean troops stationed on border islands in the Yellow Sea.
iRobot Takes Minority Stake in Telemedicine Firm
February 1, 2012Bedford, Massachusetts-based iRobot is expanding its relationship with Santa Barbara, California-based InTouch Health, a remote presence telemedicine solution provider by investing $6 million, which represents iRobot taking a minority position in the company.
Back in July 2011, the two firms announced a joint development and licensing agreement, which was established to explore opportunities for healthcare applications on iRobot platforms, such as the iRobot Ava mobile robotics platform.
InTouch Health provides telemedicine solutions and expertise designed to enable doctors to consult with patients in real-time, regardless of the distance between them. Using an online portal, doctors can access telemedicine devices from wherever they are located to provide care anywhere patients might be: homes, clinics, ambulances, and hospital procedure rooms and wards. The InTouch telemedicine network is powered through its SureConnect cloud-based infrastructure.
According to a press release, InTouch Health will provide access to FDA regulated healthcare facilities, granting iRobot an initial foray into hospitals, emergency care facilities, patient wards and operating and procedure rooms.
iRobot Chairman and CEO Colin Angle feels the partnership will create a situation where patients and elderly consumers of assistive technologies would benefit greatly. “Currently operating in over eighty hospitals in the U.S.
Robots? Cool. Swarming Flying Robots? Very Cool.
February 1, 2012Whoa. If you harbor any fear of swarms of multiple robots flying in formation, avoiding obstacles, then this YouTube video might not be for you.
If on the other hand you think this is really fascinating and a great example of what the future holds, well then the video will be really, really cool.
The General Robotics, Automation, Sensing, and Perception (GRASP) lab at UPenn is conducting research using a series of nano quadrotors developed by KMel Robotics. Until now, the GRASP team had been able to showcase the robots flying "aggressively" meaning they could land on angled surfaces and navigate obstacles at high speed.
As evident in the video, the small copters can change direction, land, navigate past obstacles, and even fly in a figure-eight formation based on preprogrammed commands.
The applications of such swarming robot technology are many: military reconnaissance, search and rescue, and more.
Of course, when they’re not busy scooting around in preprogrammed figure-eight patterns, the quadrotors can actually autonomously build structures as shown in this video.
Someday findings based on this research might be used to build structures in environments that are hazardous or too extreme for humans.
For more information on what other GRASP groups at UPENN are up to, check out the highlights on the school’s current research page.
Seabed Acquires Schilling ROV
January 31, 2012Schilling Robotics has announced the expansion of their customer base with the addition of Norwegian deep-sea specialist Seabed AS, who took delivery of a new Schilling HD 23 ROV system. The HD 23 is a 150-horsepower, 4,000 meter-rated remotely operated vehicle (ROV) system designed for subsea applications including underwater inspection, repair, maintenance (IRM), drill support, and medium-duty construction.
The ROV was delivered in December 2011.
Tyler Schilling, chief executive officer for Schilling Robotics, expressed his satisfaction with Seabed’s choice to partner with his firm. “We are very proud to have added Seabed AS to our expanding customer portfolio. They are a discerning and innovative company, and we are delighted that they have chosen to expand their fleet with our products.”
Hans Martin Gravdal, CEO for Seabed, also believes the partnership is a good one.
Robotic Pitchers and Catchers - A Sure Sign of Spring?
January 30, 2012As baseball fans eagerly await the return of pitchers and catchers to spring training, it seems that researchers at the Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics at DLR (German Aerospace Center) have come up with a robot nicknamed Agile Justin that can throw a ball. Which, some baseball purists (among others) might point out, is about time, since last year the Institute created the ball-catching robot, Rollin’ Justin.
I mean, can it still be called catch if you’re playing alone?
According to information on DLR’s Web site, the technology necessary to mimic the human capacity for catching a thrown ball is not so basic. What’s needed is a good catching strategy, body control and dexterity. All of which means that creating a pair of robots that can soft toss is an excellent test bed for proving a number of related robotic technologies.
According to DLR:
“…head mounted HD stereo-cameras track the thrown balls.
Northrop, Navy Complete Autonomous Aerial Refueling Tests
January 27, 2012Northrop Grumman Corporation and the U.S. Navy successfully completed a series of autonomous aerial refueling (AAR) tests designed to demonstrate technology that will extend the operating range and flight duration of future carrier-based unmanned systems.
The tests, carried out using Calspan Corporation’s Variable Stability Learjet as a surrogate for the X-47B unmanned aircraft, and a K707 tanker provided by Omega Air Refueling proved the functionality of the hardware and software that will eventually enable the X-47B aircraft to demonstrate AAR in 2014.
The tests are part of ongoing work in the US Navy’s Unmanned Combat Air System Carrier Demonstration (UCAS-D) program, and are designed to prove out technology which will eventually lead to unmanned aircraft being able to stay aloft for longer periods of time.
According to Carl Johnson, vice president and UCAS-D program manager for Northrop Grumman’s Aerospace Systems sector, “Future unmanned systems will need to use both refueling techniques if they plan to conduct longer range surveillance or strike missions from the carrier.”
Johnson was referring to two different aerial refueling techniques that were the subject of the recent testing — boom/receptacle and probe-and-drogue aerial refueling.
According to a Northrop Grumman news release, the UCAS-D program plans to demonstrate the ability of the X-47B demonstrator to safely operate from a Navy aircraft carrier, including launch, recovery, bolter and wave-off performance by 2013, followed by autonomous aerial refueling in 2014.
Actor, Voice of TV's 'Lost in Space' Robot Dies at 85
January 27, 2012Dick Tufeld, who was the voice of the robot on the 1960’s television series, “Lost in Space” (1965–1968), died this past week at his home in Los Angeles. Tufeld had a history of heart disease, and was said to have been in declining health. He was 85 years old.
Tufeld had a long and successful broadcast career, with announcing stints on TV shows like “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea” and commercial voiceovers for Gallo Wines as well as a radio career in the 1950’s that included credits on such shows as “Annie Oakley,” “Zorro,” “Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends,” “The Fantastic Four,” and others.
Tufeld was even cast on TV’s “The Simpsons” several times between 1998 and 2004.
But “Lost in Space” was perhaps the most memorable role of his career. In fact when the show was remade into a feature-length film in 1998, Tufeld reprised his role of the robot that spoke the oft-quoted phrase, “Danger, Will Robinson.”
He is survived by two daughters, two sons, six grandchildren and a brother.
