EngKey telepresence robot teaches English to Koreans by way of the Philippines

You know, for all the hubbub we've been hearing about le robots (the robots), you'd think we'd see them put to better uses than chasing our pets and killing people. Right? Right. Well, the best use we can think of is education, and that's exactly what they're doing at an elementary school in Daegu, South Korea. Developed by the Korea Institute of Science of Technology (KIST), EngKey is just under three-and-a-half feet high, features a video display for a face, and seems hell bent on taking all those "teach English in Korea" jobs away from shiftless American college grads looking to postpone responsibility for one or two more desperate years. There are currently twenty-nine such devices, which -- get this -- are actually operated remotely by teachers in the Philippines. Is this the end result of globalism? Not quite yet: for the time being, the robots are still too cumbersome to operate and expensive to justify putting into production. But who knows? Maybe someday, kids.

EngKey telepresence robot teaches English to Koreans by way of the Philippines originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 28 Dec 2010 22:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Gigantic 1,500-Pound Camera Captures First X-Ray Images of Lightning [Image Cache]

Some madly brilliant scientists recently used a gigantic 1,500-pound camera to capture x-ray images of lightning—which they triggered artificially using wires and rockets. Crazy? Maybe, but it's definitely a beautiful experiment.

As a result of having a camera which could capture a lightning bolt traveling at one-sixth the speed of light, scientists have been able to discover that there's "a bright ball of x-rays at the head of the bolt, with almost no lingering radiation along the bolt's trail." This means that we now better understand where the radiation carried by lightning bolts comes from—and that we'll soon have some more crazy-looking images to use as desktop wallpapers. [National Geographic]

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LG looks set to unveil mobile 3DTV at CES

We don't know much about it yet, but it's looking like we might be getting a taste of 3D on the go after all at CES. We'd hoped it would be with Nintendo's 3DS, but that report turned out to be a bust, and now LG is apparently going to pick up the slack with a new mobile digital TV that has a 3D display. We know virtually nothing about the set at this point, but we're thinking it will be glasses-free and are speculating that, after its appearance in Vegas next week, it'll never be seen in the US again.

LG looks set to unveil mobile 3DTV at CES originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Dec 2010 20:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LG Xnote P210 claims 'world's thinnest bezel' title, our undying appreciation

If there's one thing we appreciate more than pixel density, it's slim bezels. LG, a traditional enemy of unsightly frames, is today staking its claim for having the world's thinnest bezel on a laptop with the new Xnote P210. This 12.5-inch machine is said to fit within the footprint of an 11.6-incher, but before you start throwing insults like "netbook" around the place, do take note it has a dual-core Core i5-470UM processor inside -- capable of running between 1.33GHz and 1.86GHz -- 4GB of RAM, and a 320GB HDD. The LED-backlit display's resolution isn't specified beyond a note saying it's "HD," while Windows 7 Home Premium is the predictable OS of choice. Look for the P210 to hit Korea in February for around 1.3 million won (about $1,135), but don't hold your breath on it coming Stateside for anything other than a flying trade show visit.

Continue reading LG Xnote P210 claims 'world's thinnest bezel' title, our undying appreciation

LG Xnote P210 claims 'world's thinnest bezel' title, our undying appreciation originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 28 Dec 2010 03:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASUS teases Eee Pad and Eee Slate ahead of CES launch

Seems like all these CES vendors have wised up to the fact that announcing their new products amidst a maelstrom of new product announcements tends to be slightly counterproductive. So, naturally, they're spending their December carefully teasing out little pre-release details. It's ASUS' turn today, who clearly isn't content just telling us about its Eee Pad / Slate / Tablet / Chopping Board and has decided to dish out some candid hardware shots. What we see above is a USB 3.0 port embedded within a very slinky keyboard panel, which itself seems attached to a touchscreen display (with Android buttons!) up top. It's looking more like a tablet PC (presumably with a pivoting screen) than a tablet, which is corroborated by other images at the source link. Two devices are included in this teaser picture set, with the other looking like it has a slider keyboard (see it after the break) -- none of it is definitive just yet, but it makes for a good guessing game to fill the time until the big show kicks off in Vegas next week.

Continue reading ASUS teases Eee Pad and Eee Slate ahead of CES launch

ASUS teases Eee Pad and Eee Slate ahead of CES launch originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 28 Dec 2010 04:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for ! use of f eeds.

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