Heads-up Pittsburgh residents and robot lovers across the universe: an all new exhibition is coming to the Steel City next year, and it's got high, high hopes. The $3.4 million display, which is slated to be "permanent," will be housed in the Carnegie Science Center and go by the not-at-all-puzzling title of "roboworld." The installation is expected to house an "array of mechanized devices," and given that it's being billed as the "largest and most comprehensive nationwide on robotics," we'd say it's got a lot to live up to. Of course, we'll be utterly shocked if it even compares to the now-closed Robot Museum in Nagoya, Japan, but we suppose we'll have to see for ourselves when the doors fling open in Spring 2009.

Following up on Sprint's announcement to spread the WiMAX love to Chicago and Washington, D.C., Horizon is looking to broaden that area of coverage out just a bit by partnering with Navini Networks. This news comes after the FCC approved Horizon's purchase of the WCS A Block spectrum previously owned by the diminishing Verizon, and now the firm is looking to deploy the wireless goods in "Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Richmond, and Cincinnati" for starters. Horizon has selected Navini's 802.16e equipment to get things up and running, and states that its objective it to "provide wireless last mile access to residential, business, and emergency restoration markets," but folks in rural areas will seemingly get shunned for now. Horizon isn't wasting any time getting this thing started, either, as it plans to start building the network in Q1 of this year, with hopes for "ongoing expansion and additional network deployments in the latter part of 2007."

[Via TheWirelessReport]

Hot the heels of Comcast's testing of TiVo comes an announcement sure to please couch-dwellers everywhere, as the firm unveils plans to release films on demand the very same day they're released on DVD. While it's no surprise to see Comcast digging deeper into the VOD closet, this plan (initially hitting Pittsburgh and Denver) hopes to seize a potential opportunity that's currently being wasted as movies hit the on-demand scenes approximately "30 to 45 days" after rolling out on DVD. Moreover, it seems that movie studios are more than willing to lend their support, as sagging DVD sales are reportedly being (at least somewhat) attributed to the skyrocketing popularity in not moving a single inch utilizing VOD. Of course, this newfangled approach could potentially hurt firms like Blockbuster, but representatives have purportedly said that studios would be "extra cautious" not to cannibalize sales in the rental and retail industries. It wouldn't be too shocking to see VOD purchases head north if flicks are released soon after their departure from theaters, but we're sure the DVD aficionados will keep piling up those collections no matter what.

[Via Digg]

A bioengineering team from Carnegie Mellon University and the Pittsburgh School of Medicine have presented a way to employ techniques based on inkjet printers to help stem cells become bone tissue cells. The team uses a set of inkjet-style streams to shoot little bits of proteins (like droplets of printer ink) on top of nurturing proteins (think of them as the paper) in a certain pattern. Then the team drops stems cells on top of the whole concoction, which depending on what bio-ink was used, can turn into bone-type cells or potentially even other cell types. While human trials are still a ways off, let's just hope that bio-ink cartridges aren't nearly as much of a scam as regular inkjet cartridges are when they reach that point.

[Via NewScientist]

Reader Matt Z. spotted yet another PSP knockoff in the wild, this one at a computer show in Pittsburgh. C'mon, guys, if you're gonna have the nerve to copy a product's name along with its design, at least take the time to get the logo right.