In what could be a harbinger of the future, elementary-school students in Tokyo are being taught by a robot.

Saya is the result of 15 years of research and is being tested as a teacher after working as a receptionist.

She — or it — is multilingual, can organize set tasks for pupils, call the roll and get angry when the kids misbehave.

Saya is just one example of Japan’s determination to put a robot in every home by 2015.

The robot was originally developed for companies who want to cut costs by replacing office workers such as secretaries and receptionists with an android that had a range of human expressions

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Originally posted 2009-03-12 07:13:38.

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Just minutes ago the verdict in the case of The Pirate Bay Four was announced. All four defendants were accused of ‘assisting in making copyright content available’. Peter Sunde: Guilty. Fredrik Neij: Guilty. Gottfrid Svartholm: Guilty. Carl Lundström: Guilty. The four receive 1 year in jail each and fines totaling $3,620,000.

While only a few weeks ago, it seems like an eternity since the trial of The Pirate Bay Four ended and the court retired to consider its verdict. The prosecution claimed that the four defendants were ‘assisting in making copyright content available’ and demanded millions of dollars in damages. The defense did not agree, and all pleaded not guilty – backed up by the inimitable King Kong defense.

Today, Friday April 17, the court issued its decision: article continuously updated

“The court has found that by using Pirate Bay’s services there has been file-sharing of music, films and computer games to the extent the prosecutor has stated in his case,” said the district court. “This file-sharing constitutes an unlawful transfer to the public of copyrighted performances.”

Peter Sunde (born September 13, 1978) alias ‘brokep’:

Verdict: Guilty – 1 year in prison, damages to pay: $905,000

Peter Althin, brokep’s lawyer said, “I spoke to Peter and he wasn’t very surprised. A journalist he’d spoken to knew an hour before it was public that all four would be convicted. The verdict was leaked from the court. I have to think about what effects that can have on the sentence. It is unacceptable that the court is leaking.”

Fredrik Neij (born April 27, 1978) alias ‘TiAMO’:

Verdict: Guilty – 1 year in prison, damages to pay: $905,000
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Gottfrid Svartholm (October 17, 1984) alias ‘Anakata’:

Verdict: Guilty – 1 year in prison, damages to pay: $905,000

Anakata’s lawyer Ola Salomonsson said, “We’re appealing. It’s very surprising that the court has chosen to treat the accused as a team.”

Carl Lundström (born April 13, 1960)

Verdict: Guilty – 1 year in prison, damages to pay: $905,000
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The court said that the four defendants worked as a team, were aware that copyrighted material was being shared using The Pirate Bay and that they made it easy and assisted the infringements. It categorized the infringements as ’severe’. The judge said that the users of The Pirate Bay committed the first offense by sharing files and the four assisted this.

While the court did not agree with the plaintiff’s exaggerated estimates of losses, it still set the damages at 30 million SEK ($3,620,000). This a hugely significant amount and the court has ordered that the four should pay this amount between them.

The judge also stated that the usage of BitTorrent at The Pirate Bay is illegal. Rest assured, other torrent sites hosted in Sweden will be keeping a close eye on developments.

The defense put it to the judge that he had folded under intense political pressure. The judge denied this stating that the court made its decision based on the case presented.

At one point the judge was asked if he was concerned for his personal safety after handing down this decision. The judge said he hadn’t received any harassment and was quite surprised at the question.

While the judge won’t be getting any flowers for this verdict, Roger Wallis who spoke in favor of The Pirate Bay at their trial and received a mountain of floral tributes in return, noted, “This will cause a flood of court cases. Against all the ISPs. Because if these guys assisted in copyright infringements, then the ISPs also did. This will have huge consequences. The entire development of broadband may be stalled.”

Peter Sunde characterized the verdict as ‘unreal’ and said that he didn’t expect the jail sentence. He briefly spoke with Fredrik and Gottfrid and all were surprised with this outcome. In response to the fines Peter said: “We can’t pay and we wouldn’t pay if we could. If I would have money I would rather burn everything I owned.”

Sunde has already explained that this decision does not mean the end of the line in this case. There will be an appeal which means we are still far away from the ultimate decision – possibly years away. Any appeal from either side must be submitted to Sweden’s higher Court by 9th May 2009.

Rasmus Fleischer, one of the founders of Piratbyrån commented, “The sentence has no formal consequence and no juridical value. We chose to treat the trial as a theater play and as such it’s been far better than we ever could have believed.”

As for the fate of the site, Peter has already promised that The Pirate Bay will continue. The site itself was never on trial, only the four individuals listed above.

This is a breaking news story, please check back frequently for updates.

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Originally posted 2009-04-17 08:20:23.

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Pet owners can weigh themselves with their furry friends on “Wii Fit Plus,” the follow-up to the top-selling Nintendo workout game.

The updated title lets players create avatars of their dogs and cats, enter information such as their pet’s birthday, and use the scalelike Wii Balance Board controller to weigh themselves and their pets. The game will then continue to monitor the pet’s weight alongside its owner.

“It’s so fun to have a motivator when you’re working out,” said Katie Cray, Nintendo entertainment and trend marketing manager. “Obviously, if you have a dog, you’re probably out there walking your dog and playing with it, and that’s exercise in and of itself, so it’s nice to have the ability to track the progress of both your dog and yourself.”

“Wii Fit Plus,” which launches Sunday, doesn’t have any training exercises for pets. It does have several new features for human users, including three strength training exercises, three yoga activities and 15 balance games. Players can customize their routines, allowing them to focus on working out specific parts of their bodies.

Nintendo invited the media and celebrities including Rachael Leigh Cook, Nick Cannon and Brooke Burke — and their pooches — to preview the game Tuesday at the “Wii Fit Plus” Fitness Club, a Beverly Hills space transformed for one day into a posh health club, led by trainer Tracy Anderson, whose celebrity clientele includes Madonna.

“I will definitely prescribe it to people who are at a level where they lack a mind-body connection or they lack motivation or also people like Gwyneth Paltrow, who I train all the time,” Anderson said. “Sometimes we’re in trailers on movie sets, and we don’t have a lot of room, but it doesn’t take much room to set up `Wii Fit Plus’ and customize a program.”

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Originally posted 2009-10-02 09:54:03.

Popularity: 1% [?]