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Men's health tech creates shame-free ways to get treatment
About 50 percent of men have erectile dysfunction. That's not to say that half of all men around you at any given time have ED. The statistic is aggregated across age groups, with the condition being more prevalent in older men -- 30 percent of men in their thirties, 40 percent in their forties and so on. But despite all the men it affects (not to mention their partners), ED isn't something people talk about much. It remains a taboo subject -- so much so that men even have trouble broaching it with doctors.
Robbie Bach: Project Natal a 'midlife kicker' for Xbox 360, 'absolutely confident' Courier innovations will appear elsewhere
Now that the proverbial cat's out of the bag, Tech Flash has caught up with Robbie Bach about his impending retirement from Microsoft. In a far-reach interview, the former President of Entertainment & Devices Division says he made his ultimate decision just last Thursday, and that while he and also-gone J Allard "had been talking [Allard's] situation for awhile," the conversation never went both ways and the timing of the departures is "pure coincidence... serendipity." Bach further claims that it was his choice and was not asked to leave, and as for pundits who might've thought he was in line for one day taking the reins from CEO Steve Ballmer, Bach downplays that possibility and says he never had interest and such discussions never took place. But enough business talk, what about some of the projects Bach oversaw? There were a couple choice quotes we noted from the report. First up is Natal, a motion-sensing project that he views as a "midlife kicker for the [Xbox] 360." For those watching a calendar, that would give the console an approximately nine-year perceived lifespan on the corporate side -- from November 2005 to 2014. Of course, we could be reading too much into that, but we could certainly believe it. On the subject of Courier, Microsoft's now-cancelled internal tablet project, Bach is "absolutely confident... a bunch of that innovation will show up in Microsoft products." It's a stronger wording that what we originally read, and given just how excited we were watching that leaked video, we can only hope his prophecy is foretold. Do yourself a favor and take 15 minutes to read through the interview -- hey, you're welcome.
Ed Boon: no online gameplay
Gamespot recently conducted a rather extensive Q & A session with resident Mortal Kombat dude Ed Boon, confirming that rumors of an online game mode for Mortal Kombat: Armageddon on the Wii were nothing but that: rumors. Boon discusses just when development on the Wii installment in the franchise began, as well as some of the tweaks the game was subjected to in transitioning over to Nintendo's motion-sensitive system. Ed goes on to discuss specifics in the motion-sensitive system, saying he "felt there would be no point in doing this game for the Wii if we did not support the Wii-mote for all modes and features. We didn't want to just support it, though--we wanted to utilize it and customize the gameplay experience. When you play it, you will notice that every single super move in the game is controlled by a Wii gesture system; also, the fatality systems will use the gesture system. For example, to do a move like throw Scorpion's spear, you will swing the Wii-mote away from your enemy and then bring it back toward your enemy, as if you are throwing the spear yourself toward the enemy, in an "away-toward" motion." Sounds good to us, bring on the Kombat!
ED unveils programmable, home-serving U-ROBO bot with RFID
While domesticated robots are becoming a (frighteningly) common inclusion in techno-friendly homes, Korean 'bot manufacturer ED has a home-ready robot that sports a plethora of communication venues including ZigBee and RFID. The ED-7270 (dubbed U-ROBO), touts a sophisticated similarity to the pioneering R2-D2, and can complete a myriad of in-home chores by using the included software to program its pathways, actions, and movements. While we aren't sure if the "ubiquitous robotic companion" can manhandle a broom or cook dinner, the innards are fairly potent nonetheless; beneath the U-ROBO's cute outfit is a 1GHz Intel Pentium processor, 512MB of RAM, WiFi, Ethernet, USB 2.0, ZigBee cooridinator, RFID reader, and a RS-232 serial port. It also rocks a 6.4-inch touchscreen, programmable display beneath his "eyes," voice recognition, motion / light detectors, and an eight-axis motor that has no qualms wheeling up slopes or braving extreme temperatures. Although we don't know precisely when these intelligent robots will start mopping our floors (or taking over our domicile), we're sure the undisclosed price will keep them in the hands of the rich and famous for awhile anyway. [Via AVing]
Ed Boon on Revolution controller
Game Informer's Billy Berghammer recently interviewed the master of Mortal Kombat, Ed Boon, mostly about the upcoming Armageddon, which aims to achieve the lofty goal of having every Mortal Kombatant available for play in one game, but did make a point to inquire about the next generation consoles. When asked if he would be willing to do a fighting game with the Revolution's remote, Ed had this to say: "You know, I don’t know how you could. One of the things about the Revolution controller is that you don’t have immediate access to a whole bunch of buttons. It’s like your holding a television remote and you have that directional pad and you have a big A button next to it. But there’s not five or six buttons to give you all of these functions, so maybe they will compensate but tilting one way for blocking or another way for attack. But that is so dramatically different. So it will either be one of the biggest hits in the world or a big failure. I certainly hope it does well." This brings up an interesting question; will Nintendo have to lay the first stones down to create the path of innovation before third-party developers can change gameplay through the unique mechanics of the Revolution's remote? Do third-party developers need to see the ideas executed first before feeling comfortable attempting them? [Via QJ Net]
