[From The Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies (IEET)] Life in a Virtual World Mike Treder Ethical Technology Posted: Jul 24, 2010 If you could live in a world that was just the way you wanted it to be, with specifications you’d chosen, customized and personalized to meet your every need and fulfill your fondest desires, would you spend all your time there? Or would you prefer to stay here, in the real world? As computers continue to gain speed and power at the rate of

[From The Wall Street Journal; more information about the AR Drones, including videos, is available here] [Image: Electronics-show attendees watched a demonstration of Parrot’s helicopter in January.] JULY 13, 2010 Reality Gets a Makeover With Jumps in Processing Power, Apps Adding Data to Cellphone Images are Taking Flight By KIMBERLY PETERSON PARIS—French electronics company Parrot SA plans next month to release a toy helicopter with a twist. The AR Drone has a pair of cameras to relay video to iPhones or iPads, which function as the remote control. The device also recognizes certain objects, such as other AR Drones, and…

[From The New York Times, where the story includes a 3:23 minute video and other multimedia supplements] [Image: Andrea Thomaz, right, and Nick DePalma in 2009 with Simon, a robot being developed at Georgia Tech. Above left, Simon evaluating objects.] Students, Meet Your New Teacher, Mr. Robot By BENEDICT CAREY and JOHN MARKOFF LOS ANGELES — The boy, a dark-haired 6-year-old, is playing with a new companion. The two hit it off quickly — unusual for the 6-year-old, who has autism — and the boy is imitating his playmate’s every move, now nodding his head, now raising his arms. “Like…

[From Discovery News] What Does Your Avatar Say About You?  Analysis by David Teeghman Thu Jul 29, 2010 The website Second Life lets users create a completely new identity in virtual reality. Tall people can become short and animals can pretend to be humans, because on the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog. But even with the range of possibilities to completely change your online personality and become all you ever dreamed of, you won’t. Researchers at Concordia University in Canada report in the journal Psychology and Marketing that online avatars usually reflect the personality of their creators.…

[From The Montreal Gazette] Age now, save more for later By DOROTHY LIPOVENKO, Freelance Shortly before the Great Bull Market of the 1990s topped out, advance warning came of a most unusual birthday gift. A television makeup artist with a deft hand for special effects agreed to sit me in her chair, dip into her pots of magic, and “age” me. Turns out a sneak preview of version 70.0 is more prescient than anyone could have imagined. New research suggests that showing someone how they’ll look when they’re old (through digital tinkering of the face) can add up to extra…

[From CNN] The robot that visits your cubicle By John D. Sutter, CNN July 30, 2010 (CNN) — When Trevor Blackwell, CEO of a company called Anybots, wants to know what his employees are up to, he sends a robot to their cubicles. “I can see if people are busy on something — and then won’t interrupt them,” he said this week. “Or, you know, if they’re doing something that looks interesting, or if they look stuck, I’ll have a conversation with them.” This isn’t your standard “Office Space” conversation. Blackwell boots up a “telepresence robot” — which looks like…