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DORA offers a realistic telepresence experience through Oculus Rift
Many commercial telepresence robots are merely screens or iPads on moving platforms. DORA (Dexterous Observational Roving Automaton), however, promises to make users feel like they've been transported to another location when it does become available. The system was created by a team of University of Pennsylvania roboticists who want to provide people a more immersive telepresence experience without draining their bank accounts. Their robot is paired with an Oculus Rift headset, which can track the user's head movements and orientation, whether up/down, left/right or forward/backward. That data is wirelessly transmitted to the robot's Arduino and Intel Edison microcontrollers, prompting its camera-equipped head to follow the user's movements.
Breakfast Topic: What's the best pun name you've ever seen?
We've all seen some Alliance kiddie named "ikillhoarde" or a Warlock named "ifearyoudie." After all, what Horde wouldn't run for cover from a Hunter who's named after his very death? And woe is the person who actually thinks he can get away from a Warlock's fear. Phear the lock, baby.Add titles into the mix. "Doora the Explorer" is probably my favorite of all time. Every time I see someone named that I yell out "Swiper, No Swiping!" Of course insert the obligatory NSFW Kevin Smith reference here.Another favorite of mine that I've seen is "Highlander the Immortal."What's the best pun name that you've encountered in the game? Ever thought about renaming your character to make yourself pun-famous?
Vodafone's Symbian roadmap for 2008 revealed
We've seen so much stuff flowing from BoyGenius about what Vodafone is up to that we almost missed this, the Symbian roadmap for 2008. Nothing too mysterious can be gleaned from the roadmap, we just see that the previously leaked Nokia Dora and Nokia Liam are set for release in the second half of this year. Enjoy the pretty pic.
Nokia "Dora" to replace E65
We were still kinda settling in with the businesslike E65 slider, a phone that feels like it just found its way into widespread commercial availability a few months back. Ah, that's because it did! No bother, though; time marches mercilessly on, and Nokia's apparently getting ready for the inevitable future with this here piece coined "Dora." We know this from the same endless barrage of Vodafone leaks that have plagued the carrier today, and we're sensing some common themes: like several others in the mix, this one features 3.6Mbps HSDPA, GPS, and WiFi. The camera is up from 2 megapixels to 3.2, and we're a tad skeptical on this one, but the slide claims that we can expect a 320 x 320 display which would be an improvement over the E65's 320 x 240. This one's expected on Voda next quarter for £280 (about $554).
Nickelodeon unveils an array of tween-centric devices
DigitalLife is all about the tweens today, and Nickelodeon isn't about to be left out in the cold -- the venerable network has paired up with Imation to release an array of brightly-colored gear for the budding young geek. In addition to a line of pretty-decent DAPs, it's a pretty broad array of stuff you'd be mortified to own if you're not 7, including Dora / Diego and SpongeBob-branded cameras in resolutions from VGA to 3.0 megapixels, a Dora the Explorer portable CD player, a SpongeBob 15-inch LCD TV and progressive-scan DVD player, and a whack-SpongeBob-to-snooze alarm clock. The best of the bunch appears to be the $100 7-inch picture frame, however, which has a pretty decent-looking screen. Check it all out -- along with some hands-on shots -- in the gallery.%Gallery-7833%
