It's a dumb idea that is better PR than the actual model itself. All they have to do is have a monitor that loops the ads for all passers by. When a customer approaches it could start to play a 30 second clip from the beginning.

Alternatively it could be setup so that when the customer enters the first digit of the code the machine knows what ad to play and by the time the drink is dispensed the ad is over.

I hate advertising and PR. Manipulating our minds, telling us what to think and preying on our hopes and fears - for cash.

Man, if I had limbs I'd give you such a whuppin'! As it is all I can do is dictate this reply using my trusty VR software. How'd you like them apples.

You know, that really grinds my gears...

One robot capable of displaying one programmed 'emotion' does not a human make. It's true that technology is moving forward at an incredible pace. What this amounts to at the moment in terms of hardware is an increase in processing power and an increase in storage capacity.

I don't believe in God so that doesn't enter into my argument. All I'm saying is that I don't understand how anyone can believe that, using current programming methods, a sentient being can be created. In terms of improvements in programming all we have really achieved are IDEs that allow programmers to produce programs more easily, at a higher level of abstraction and without the need to program at the machine code or binary level. So there is no exponential improvement in this field.

There is no exponential improvement in writing software in teams; we've just gotten slightly better at managing the process. Software development can take years, involve many people and be very expensive. Even if it was possible to write such a program I don't believe it would be truly sentient. Could it ever have a new or original thought?

In a previous comment I made reference to the mouse brain simulation: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6600965.stm

Writing a program to simulate a brain and then feeding it stimuli to see if it develops or learns is, in my opinion, a better approach than trying to create a traditional program trillions of lines long that simulates someone with an IQ of, say, 90. I concede that such a simulated brain may be capable of becoming sentient. To write this simulation all we have to do is develop a perfect understanding of the human brain's tiniest intricacies and describe it in a model. Of course when we do have a supercomputer thousands or millions of times more powerful than BlueGene L which can run this model, all we have to do is figure out how to make the simulation learn and develop into an intelligent adult and then fit this supercomputer into a humanoid sized robot.

As for 'Matrix' inspired thinking, I'm guessing that a lot of those who believe that sentient robots will someday be a reality have their unshakable belief inspired by movies like Terminator or the Matrix. The skeptics are the ones who may enjoy the movies but can differentiate between what is possible in reality and fiction.

Alot of significant developments are pushed by the military and then adopted by business later. I can't see why they would want a sentient computer or robot? Aren't robots just cannon fodder? Given the shift away from infantry based warfare I can't see the need for battallions of superintelligent robots marching off to war. So who pays for the research?

Maybe in 3000AD or 4000AD or even 5000AD it may happen I hear you cry? I think that the chances of the human race even being around at that point is a little optimistic; and I DON't mean because of the robot uprising. Has no one seen Mad Max? We won't have the infrastructure.

Apparrently a representative for Space Services Inc went on to say that the problem was caused 'by a particle xenon transponder relay becoming misaligned from the Helix coupler'. Thinking aloud, he went on to say 'Perhaps if we re-rounted auxillary power from the trans-spatial warp conduit we might be able to realign the relay and overcome the plasma flux'.

The CEO of Space Services Inc, who was overheard to say, 'Make it so'.

Mobile phone use is largely prohibited in UK and Irish hospitals as per:

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1125359

Didn't read the article but it seems to disagree with the policy of banning them.

Bah! You got their first. :(

I've found the perfect gift for my millionaire, octogenarian, pacemaker sporting uncle who recently changed his will. :)

The study was probably funded by Creative or Sony, hence 'iPods lethal to aged'.

You know nothing of rural life. Those tracks act as a guide for the cows when moving them from pasture to pasture. It's much easier to wheel or shunt the livestock around the farm on special bogies fitted to the underside of the animal. While the initial outlay in laying the track is high, it quickly pays for itself due to the time the farmer frees up for other work. Some setup costs are subsidised the EU and national governments.

Naturally the bogies are removed at slaughter. Serial numbers allow the bogies to be returned to the appropriate farm. Didn't you see that 'How it's made'?

Now that's laugh out loud. Very nice indeed. Maybe they could submerge or partially submerge a mini sealed fish tank (possible?) in the larger tank. Sweeeeeet!

Way to combine 2 hobbies. Some guy into rc cars, fish and pcs could probably add wheels, a motor and rc. But that would just be stupid...

This immediately made me think of the Combines surveilance cameras in Half Life 2 and Orwell's 1984. If the cameras can be programmmed to monitor suspicious activity shouldn't we worry about how suspicious activity is defined? Coupled with other technologies like RFID, the ability to track mobile phones, facial recognition software and retinal scanning to name but a few, the future is shaping up to be a dictators dream.