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  • Star Citizen backers proving big publishers 'very, very wrong'

    by 
    Jef Reahard
    Jef Reahard
    08.01.2013

    Star Citizen continues to pile on its record crowdfunding run. The space sim from Chris Roberts and Cloud Imperium just crossed the $15 million threshold. The milestone means that a new flyable ship class (the escort carrier) will be developed, as will a special backer-only 42-page upgrade handbook that details "customizing and overclocking ship systems." Cloud Imperium now sets its sights on $16 million, which will bring about a galaxy-wide arena mode and a laser pistol for each pledger. "Ten years ago, big publishers decided space games weren't profitable," says the Star Citizen website. "And you are proving them very, very wrong!"

  • UCSF's robotic pharmacy automatically distributes medication, scrutinizes human error (video)

    by 
    Sam Sheffer
    Sam Sheffer
    03.10.2011

    Robots are slowly taking over the world, right? Well, their latest conquest is the pharmacy. The UCSF Medical Center has implemented three robotic pill-dispensing machines that handle and prepare medication that's dangerous to the common human. The process works as follows: doctor writes a prescription, hospital clerk sends it over to pharmacist, pharmacist enters slip into the computer, robot picks up it and does the dirty work. The automated machine will grab the proper dosage, package it and slap a label indicating instructions and patient info. Rather than fearing for their jobs (or lives), the folks at the UCSF at are excited about this robot-takeover 'cause it increases the time care-givers spend with patients while allowing pharmacists to work more efficiently with physicians in determining what medication to supply. The most impressive thing, we think, is that our robot pals have not had a single error since preparing 350,000 doses of meds. Take that, meatbags!