[From The Daily Mail (UK); the original story contains additional images] The real A.I.: Childless millionaire builds ‘intelligent robot’ that sings Karaoke, laughs and tells jokes By Mail Online Reporter Last updated on 13th August 2010 Tony Ellis and his wife, Judie, do not have any children or animals at home – but with chatterbox robot Aimec following them around, there is never a dull moment. The couple effectively have a robotic child, just like in the 2001 futuristic fairy tale Artificial Intelligence starring Haley Joel Osment. Their creation is so advanced it can tell jokes and keep its human parents…

[From CNN GO Asia; the original version includes several additional images] [Image: Inside the State Grid Pavilion] Shanghai Expo 2010 pavilions: The best of the Puxi site With less than three months left of the Shanghai Expo, head to these Puxi pavilions for some of the Expo’s best entertainment By Christine Tan 17 August, 2010 One-time visitors to the World Expo tend to stampede toward the Pudong site’s national pavilions, leaving Puxi’s dazzlingly garish pavilions for last — or never. It’s time to change people’s 2010 Expo strategy. Here are the best corporate pavilions that may entice new visitors into…

[From The National (UAE); the original story includes a photo gallery] [Image: Jonas Samson’s light emitting wallpaper. Photos by Roel Determeijer] The plugged-in home of tomorrow Yvonne Courtney Last Updated: August 14. 2010 Technology and home furnishing have never been the easiest of partners – yet they are starting to converge in all kinds of exciting ways as digital technology starts to revolutionise design thinking. Cue window blinds that glow or darken in response to light levels, tiles that light up your path as you touch them or wallpaper that changes colour according to how much energy your home is consuming.…

[From The University of Michigan Health System Newsroom] [Image: Trauma room simulation (source: Yong Cao, Virginia Tech)] August 09, 2010 Medical students believe video games can help them become better doctors Survey of medical students at University of Michigan and University of Wisconsin-Madison shows strong interest in role-playing and strategy games for doctor training ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Today’s students were raised with a digital mouse in their hands. So it should be no surprise that a majority of medical school students surveyed say video games and virtual reality environments could help them become better doctors. A reported 98 percent…

[From The New York Times’ Wheels blog]   August 11, 2010 Recreating a Classic Video Game With Radio-Controlled Cars By JONATHAN SCHULTZ With apologies to “Gran Tursimo,” “Forza Motorsport,” “Project Gotham” and any number of hyperrealistic, console-based racing simulators and video games, arguably no title channels the visceral thrill of hurtling around a course like the futuristic “Wipeout” series. Now, a German art collective has rendered that thrill tactile, using defiantly analog components: cardboard, glue and vintage-video-arcade kitsch. Called (with a wink) Racer 0.2, the project is the creation of three media artists collectively known as Sputnic.…

[From the MIT Technology blog Mims’s Bits] Friday, July 30, 2010 Brain Scans Teach Humans to Empathize with Bots Mirror neurons light up when we’re put in their shoes. When we watch a human express a powerful emotion – anger, fear, disgust – big sections of our brains light up, including so-called “mirror neurons,” which are unique because they fire both when we produce a given action and when we perceive it in others. They are the basis of what neuroscientists call Resonance. Resonance describes the mechanism by which the neural substrates involved in the internal representation of actions, as…