apple?

Every person has their own personal obsession and it’s fast turning out that mine is an Apple DVR. I love digital video recorders, particularly when attached to a computer which could process that video all day long. I think it would complete Apple’s Front Row; Dan thinks it’ll cannibalize iTMS sales.

Ken Fisher is somewhere in the middle in an article for Ars Technica. He acknowledges Dan’s concern, giving it a lot of weight. However, he also sees things my way in that an Apple DVR could theoretically augment the iTMS in some ways. Ultimately, pricing the hardware for the DVR capability as well as an Airport Video could offset the potential loss of iTMS revenue.

I think the upshot is that until everything is available on the iTMS in some kind of truly affordable pricing deal, the DVR is needed to get everyone moved over to iTunes to watch their TV as well as listen to music (especially since TiVo seems to be off in the weeds somewhere). Being able to rip CDs didn’t prevent the iTMS from becoming the success it is today. There’s no reason for Apple to fear the DVR.

no iPods with video

Apple Matters reminds us that on today, April 30th, exactly two years ago in 2004, Steve Jobs himself said he saw no reason for the iPod to have video playing capability. Now, we all know this turned out to be a big fat lie, but let’s take a look at Steve’s quote regarding do-all devices:

You know, our next big step is we want it to make toast, I want to brown my bagels when I’m listening to my music. And we’re toying with refrigeration, too.

Ha. Ha. You’re so funny Steve. Why are you working for Apple? You should be doing standup comedy somewhere. In any case, just remember that no matter what Steve says, the complete opposite could very well turn out to be true, just as we learned on October 12th, 2005.

Robot cars will race in real traffic

The first 11 teams for a race in which robot cars will jostle with real ones along mocked-up city streets have been announced. The teams must construct autonomous vehicles to navigate an unfamiliar urban environment in the shortest time possible.

The robot racers will face a "simulated" urban course 96 kilometres (60 miles) in length in November 2007. The course will feature urban obstacles, such as trees and buildings, traffic signs and other moving vehicles. Its location is yet to be disclosed.

The contestants must obey traffic regulations. As well as merging with other traffic, changing lanes and observing stop signs, the robo-participants will have to pull into a parking lot for a short period. The first three vehicles to complete the course in less than 6 hours will be awarded prizes.

The event is called the Urban Grand Challenge and organised by the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). It is the follow-up its original Grand Challenge, a robotic race across a 212 km desert course, which was successfully completed in October 2005 (see Desert racers – driver not included).

Leap of capability

The teams that finished first and second in the desert challenge, from Stanford and Carnegie Mellon universities, are among those chosen to take part in the urban event. The Stanford team will enter a modified Volkswagen, while the team from Carnegie Mellon University has teamed up with General Motors and will enter a Chevrolet.

"The Urban Challenge will develop a leap of capability beyond what is possible in today's human-driven cars," says William Whittaker, the team leader for Carnegie Mellon University.

The cars involved in the original Grand Challenge were fitted with various on-board sensors, including laser range-finders, radar units, stereo cameras and GPS receivers. They also carried several networked computers to process this sensor information and control the vehicle in response. Stanford's vehicle used a machine learning algorithms to mimic the behaviour of a human driver.

Million dollar bonus

The other nine teams selected to participate come from academia and the automotive industry. They are from MIT, Caltech, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Cornell University, Raytheon, Honeywell Aerospace, Autonomous Solutions, Golem Group and Oshkosh Truck Corporation.

"We received more than 60 proposals from across the US and the world, representing a broad array of backgrounds and technical approaches," says Norman Whitaker, DARPA's Urban Challenge programme manager.

Each of the 11 teams announced by DARPA will receive $1 million in funding from the agency. Later in October 2006, another set of teams will be announced, but this group will receive no funding from DARPA.