you may ask yourself "How did I get here?"

The BBC reports on "Researchers use spoofing to 'hack' into a flying drone." Yay, humans finally are raging against the machine and spoofing GPS signals to hijack drones.  Sadly, Noel Sharkey is quoted as saying "It's very dangerous - if a drone is being directed somewhere using its GPS, [a spoofer] can make it think it's somewhere else and make it crash into a building, or crash somewhere else, or just steal it and fill it with explosives and direct somewhere."

I guess I'm just old fashioned and longing for the days of yore when we killed people through neglect, bayonets, or boring stories about what cute things our cats did today. 

never trust math?

The BBC has a recent article that claims that robots aren't the problem, it's those pesky theorists that design algorithms. Read more about the problems that arise when algorithms control the world. On this note, I wish to notify my loyal reader(s) that I will likely not be continuing this blog, so that I may focus on algorithms during my sabbatical. Besides, as the blog is not well advertised, read, edited, or updated, I don't feel terribly bad about letting it rust out there with the rest of the machines done in by algorithms.

One robot I like

Loyal readers of the blog might know that I have a less than enthusiastic regard for robots, but sometimes I can be persuaded to potentially up my opinion of the mechanical killers to "slightly dissatisfied". A NY Times post on Steelers coach Mike Tomlin describes him as a man who...

chooses words carefully, thinks before he talks and rarely blurts out an uncensored thought.

but when

Asked to describe his emotions in such a pressure-packed spot, Tomlin said: “I’m a robot. I’m just going to ride the wave.”

I don't know if I should be mortified at the fact that the Rooney family rarely changes coaches, and a robot could potentially live a long time. Alternatively, despite the Steelers loss, I can be comforted in fact that the machines have failed. Also, even though it isn't a robot, I hoping Watson does not crush the contestants on Jeopardy

I don't know why scientists make these things

NPR has an article with videos on Meat eating furniture. I for one, do not approve and that chair can bite my ass. Before the day comes when robots enslave us and build human farms as crops to sustain their appetite for destruction, I might embrace robotics just enough to design a robot to eat roboticists and other robots for fuel. After all, planned introduction of predators to eliminate vermin has never failed in the past.

Killer robots

I admire a country that can freely admit that robots are killing machines. The Telegraph reports on South Korea using killer robots in the DMZ.

Robo Fish 4Gs

UK Scientist have created a Robofish whose fishy ways are so realistic, that it can convince other non-robotic fish to follow it. The BBC story has a video. See if you can spot the Robofish. If you can't, you may be a fish, or a robot. What I find most amazing about this story is that the Robofish is controlled via Microsoft Excel. Real fish apparently get bored of Robofish after 30 minutes. The average iPhone user takes slightly longer to get bored of old technology
(and the money in their bank account) and seeks out new iPhones after 12-18 months.

Robo babies

Oh Japan, why do you make so many crazy robots? Engadget reports creepy robo-babies that by the video appear to be as high maintenance as real babies who constantly require support to keep from falling over and frequently need their cables adjusted so they don't tangle themselves up in their quest to destroy their human handlers. If robo-babies work in the factories is it still a sweatshop?