Profile

unixronin: Galen the technomage, from Babylon 5: Crusade (Default)
Unixronin

December 2012

S M T W T F S
      1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
3031     

Most Popular Tags

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags

December 19th, 2007

unixronin: Cartoon pirate (Piratical)
Wednesday, December 19th, 2007 12:50 pm

Win:  Beat iRobot out of a $286 million US Army defense contract for three thousand ground robots.

Lose:  Steal your robot technology from your former employer iRobot, build almost identical robots, get caught, get sued, try to erase as much of the evidence as you can in violation of a court order to preserve everything, get served with an injunction, lose the contract, "you die, she dies, everybody dies..."¹

just goes to show, you don't have to be a genius to commit blatant intellectual property theft.  In fact, it looks like being dumb as a rock sort of helps.

[1]  Reference!  Be specific, please.  No fair Googling.  :)

Tags:
unixronin: Closed double loop of rotating gears (Gearhead)
Wednesday, December 19th, 2007 02:17 pm

Reuters reports Purdue University researchers have found a way to make a smart tire.  Reportedly, the tire can warn the driver of not just improper tire pressure, but also cuts, punctures, imbalances, improper mounting, physical degradation of the tire, and manufacturing defects.  (And presumably other physical damage from potholes, road debris, etc.)

Interesting final comment in the article:

[Gary Krutz, director of Purdue's Electrohydraulic Center] said the technology would cost manufacturers about $1 per tire, translating into something like $50 per tire for consumers.

Yowzah.  Nothing like a good old 5000% markup for a new safety feature...

Tags:
unixronin: A mon made from four torii gates (Wisdom/Zen)
Wednesday, December 19th, 2007 02:20 pm

Sanity trumps beauty in the long run almost every time.  Unfortunately, sanity is rather harder to pre-screen for.

(OK, only partly random ... the thought was triggered by the lyrics of a Chris de Burgh song.)