bots

Being that I'm a famous geek-culture Internet celebrity, people send me gifts all the time. Why, just today I walked out of my apartment to find an eye patch, chopsticks, a John Elway coffee mug, and a power supply for a PowerBook 1400cs. Thank you, readers, for your kind gifts!

But not everyone can be a well-known blogger. Take, for example, Paul Hunkin, a Ph.D. student in New Zealand. He set up an Internet bot to randomly buy low-priced stuff, with free shipping, from an online auction site. Paul, you see, likes to get packages. This way, he … Read more

Mavizon Technologies just introduced AutoBot, a smartphone application that allows drivers to control several car functions with the push of a few buttons.

The new app will be available in 2012, but you don't need a brand-new car to use it. According to Amy Gilroy at CEOutlook, it will work in all vehicles with an OBD-ll port (1996 or later). Drivers can sync information with a their home computer using a cloud-based account.

AutoBot functions will allow the driver to lock and unlock doors, control window settings, start the car, and even locate the car if it gets stolen.… Read more

Panda Security has launched its latest product, this one geared specifically for Mac users.

The security firm today unveiled Panda Antivirus for the Mac, designed to defend Mac OS and OS X users against viruses, spyware, adware, and other forms of malware. In addition to scanning e-mail and local files on the Mac, the new software will prevent Mac users from unknowingly sending malware-infected documents to friends and colleagues running Windows or Linux, Panda said.

Moving beyond the computer, the software will also scan iPhones, iPads, and iPods to make sure those portable gadgets aren't delivering malware to other … Read more

The United States is now the top source of spam, accounting for almost 19 percent of all junk e-mail sent throughout the world, according to a new report out today from Sophos.

The security firm's "Dirty Dozen" report highlighted the top 12 countries responsible for the world's supply of spam during the third quarter. With the United States generating almost 2.5 times more spam than second-place India, the country now accounts for almost one in five junk messages. The United States' 18.6 percent share of all global spam also showed a significant jump from … Read more

More than 2 million PCs in the U.S., or 5.2 out of every 1,000, were recruited into botnets during the second quarter of 2010, according to a Microsoft report released yesterday.

The company's ninth and latest Security Intelligence Report tracked the spread of botnets and malware infections detected and removed throughout the world during the first and second quarters of the year. The sheer number of infected PCs found and cleaned up by Microsoft in the U.S. in the second quarter was the highest in the world. But the percentage of infected PCs was greater … Read more

One good robot deserves another. That's why Japan's robot toilets would love a British bot that poops with clockwork regularity.

Ioannis Ieropoulos and other researchers at Bristol Robotics Laboratory in the U.K. have created a marvel of modern science--a robot that can feed on biomass and excrete waste. The EcoBot III has an artificial gut that allows it to survive on fluid food and water for seven days without human intervention.

The robot is powered by 48 small microbial fuel cells (MFCs) and moves along a steel track between sources of liquid food and water (see time-lapse … Read more

Interest in Brooklyn-based MakerBot and the company's 3D printing machines is high. So high, in fact, that a mention on a television segment that ran on CBS News briefly brought down the company's Web site.

Chalk it up to an understandable rush of excitement. The idea that one day small 3D printers will be as widespread as personal computers is a provocative one. And while it may still be ahead of its time--not to mention the purview of the early-adopter crowd (for instance, Jay Leno has one that his mechanics use to build hard-to-find replacement parts for his … Read more

Dirt. Disgusting dirt. The enemy of all that is gleaming, shiny, and gadgety--how we despise it. Thank the stars then that the brave super-scientists at iRobot worked so hard to create the revolutionary Roomba cleaning machine, guaranteed to keep your home sparkling and new, without any input from you. Pretty smart, eh?

So smart, in fact, that electronics mega-giant Samsung is getting in on the act with the Samsung NaviBot (for now, only available in the U.K.). It's a silicon beast of such calculated poise and deadly efficiency it could probably kill a tiger. A robot tiger. We … Read more

Team of builders and engineers are repairing wounds, testing hydraulics, charging batteries, and sharpening weapons in preparation for the next round of matches following Friday's fierce battles during the opening day of RoboGames, the world's largest open robot competition.

The three-day competition, which opened Friday at the San Mateo Fairgrounds, features more than 50 robot games and challenges, sporting events, and contests, from sports like soccer and sumo wrestling to climbing, shooting galleries, and weightlifting, but the big draw is the awesome power of the combat robots.

In weight classes up to 340 lbs., these monstrous machines are … Read more