Roboticists at the DARPA Robotics Challenge Finals discuss with Computerworld the difficulties of creating fully autonomous robots that can handle tasks without human intervention. Many of the robots at last week's finals were semi-autonomous or relied on human operators.
If a company wants humans and robots to work well together, they need to give the robots more freedom to work on their own.
Google's decision to pay $3.2 billion for Nest Labs, a mostly unknown maker of smart smoke alarms and thermostats, could be the start of a radical shift in the tech industry.
For all those friends, relatives, colleagues and acquaintances who deserve something cool to brighten their holiday season, we offer these suggestions
Apple has moved a step closer to acquiring the Israeli chip design company that provided the motion sensing technology used in Microsoft's first-generation Kinect video game controller.
Music has been a part of human existence throughout history, but digital technology has made it accessible 24/7. The equipment for listening to digital recordings anywhere, anytime just keeps getting better -- and, more to the point for this story, it makes a killer holiday gift.
Buckley Systems, Serko and Xero are vying for top honours in this year's Hi-Tech Awards.
Apple yesterday released a Java update for Mac owners that fixes a dozen security flaws, including one that has been exploited by attackers for at least two weeks.
Southern Cross has announced the first 200 Gigabits of capacity from its latest upgrade is available at the same time as prices have been reduced by up to 44 percent.
SAP's New Zealand revenue grew 102 per cent year-on-year in 2010 compared with 2009, contributing to a 26 per cent year-on-year increase for Australia and New Zealand, the company announced today.
Ericsson has appointed Alfred Ling as New Zealand country manager.
IBM Australia and New Zealand managing director Glen Boreham has resigned, citing personal reasons.
Vodafone New Zealand has released a statement on the data breach at its Australian counterpart, saying its local operation is "committed to ensuring that all customer details and private information entrusted to us is safe and secure at all times.
"The Vodafone New Zealand customer database and applications are on servers with appropriate access security in place at various levels.
"Access to these systems is for approved personnel only via an authentication procedure which requires more than a username and password.
"In addition VFNZ has rigorous security policies and procedures including regular audits and security reviews which ensure our customers’ data remains protected.
"All customer account access is monitored and logged. Should any unusual activity be reported, it will be identified and investigated.
"Vodafone New Zealand wishes to assure customers that we take the security of their information very seriously."
Details of the data breach in Australia can be found here.
Jade Software, Gentrack, Weta Digital, Zeacom and Endace are among the recipients of research and development grants announced today from the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology’s Technology Development Grant programme.
Research, Science and Technology Minister Wayne Mapp announced the grants in Christchuch, and 26 companies will receive assistance. The total sum of the grants across all recipient companies is $92 million.
Mapp noted at the announcement: “Increasing exports is an essential part of the Government’s economic strategy.
Read the full article at Computerworld.
A highlight of yesterday’s Computerworld iTEX Conference and Expo at Auckland’s SkyCity Convention Centre was the announcement of the winners of the Computerworld Excellence in IT Awards.
