SoftBank’s adorable Pepper robot goes on sale this Saturday

Japanese robot Pepper is ready to unthaw the hearts of any consumer who wants one. Maker Softbank said that it’ll go on sale June 20th through a partnership with China’s Alibaba and Foxconn Technology. As a reminder, the 4-foot humanoid ‘bot is designed communicate realistically and even read your body language and tone of voice. It also “enjoys” human contact via touch sensors in the head and hands, and can detect you with an array of high-definition cameras, depth sensors and microphones. The manga-like eyes follow your movement, and the wheeled body — which moves fairly gracefully — is driven by 20 motors.

Softbank originally used Pepper as a greeter in its phone stores, but it has other commercial ambitions for the wee ‘droid. It would make a good learning or play toy in homes and schools, as kids seem to love it (see the video below), and could also be put to work assisting the elderly. Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son said that businesses would be more likely employ it to engage with customers, not do menial chores (it’s not that strong anyway). “We think there’s value in a robot that can understand human feelings,” he said.

Softbank will sell Pepper at $1,600 or so, which it says is less than the cost to produce it. However, it’ll come with service fees totaling up to $200, which the company hopes will eventually make it a profit. It’ll start off by manufacturing about 1,000 robots a month, and will likely sell it overseas in Europe and the US starting next year. If you think it might make the perfect robo-pal, however, just remember the fate of poor Aibo.

Filed under: Robots

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Via: Bloomberg

Source: Associated Press

FCC votes to subsidize broadband internet for low-income households

Last month, the Federal Communications Commission announced plans to subsidize broadband internet service for low-income households. Today, the commission voted on the matter, approving the addition of internet subsidies to the Lifeline program that already offers both phone and prepaid wireless. Less than half of homes that make less than $25,000 have internet access, and today’s vote offers help and provides steps to oversee the process, too. For example, service providers will no longer verify eligibility. That task will be given to a third-party instead. The vote also set the subsidy rate at $9.25 per month for both internet and phone service. Where does that money come from? Fees paid by service providers that are listed on customers’ monthly bills. The FCC is looking to ensure not only the program’s efficiency, but cut down on fraud and establish a set budget as well.

[Image credit: Pete Marovich/Bloomberg via Getty Images]

Filed under: Wireless, Internet

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Via: The Hill

Source: FCC

You can now stream Spotify through your Sonos system

In case you aren’t aware, Sonos is a wireless Hi-Fi system for users to be able to listen to all of their music on high quality, wireless speakers. Through the Sonos application, you can link certain music accounts like Pandora, Deezer, and TuneIn Radio to be able to play through your Sonos system.

Today, Sonos has announced that they are adding the ability to play Spotify through your Sonos Hi-Fi system. This is one of the biggest additions to the Sonos lineup due to how many consumers have been clamoring for this ability.

Spotify users have long asked for Spotify Radio to be integrated so that they can listen to it throughout their homes. We are pleased to say that starting today its integration has been placed into the current beta program. Spotify subscribers in beta can now start a radio station from any artist or track or play any Sonos favorited radio station in every room of their home. We’ve also worked closely with the Spotify team to make playback even more stable especially during peak usage times.

Now, if you are already using the Sonos application, you won’t see an update pop up. However, if you are willing to try out the public beta of the app, head to the link here, and sign up to test it out. Sonos hopes to get all the rest of the bugs and kinks worked out, so that they can release the official build of the Controller App “in the coming weeks.”

Are you a Sonos user? Let us know what you think about the added ability to stream Spotify to your Sonos Hi-Fi system.

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Sum, the simple math game, arrives in the Play Store

The basis of Sum is simple. Everyone learns addition very early on in their schooling and every single day after that you begin adding something in your every day life. Since you have so many years of experience you should be amazing at addition, but are you?

The game is straightforward and simple –

It game consists of a 3×3 grid. 5 numbers are generated at random, in random places of the grid.

You get 90 seconds to find as many combinations as possible.
To make a combination, you have to select the “SUM” first, followed by the two numbers that add up to the sum.

• Correct combination: 20 = 8 + 12 OR 20 = 12 + 8
• Wrong combination: 8 + 12 = 20 OR 12 + 8 = 20

Scoring a correct combination gives you 3 seconds more, whereas a wrong combination will deduct 5 seconds from your remaining time.
Each time you pass a level, you get a bonus 30 seconds of more time.

Some other neat features it has are stats to see how you are doing, different levels, ability to play with friends, and best of all does not require an internet connection. What is even more impressive is the game features no ads and no permissions. Not only is the game fun, but has been scientifically proven to help train your brain and make it think faster on other tasks. I don’t see any reasons not to give this one a shot.

Play Store Download Link

Click here to view the embedded video.

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