The Gadget Show Live, April 2013: Technology in the UK
by Ian Cutress on April 4, 2013 6:30 AM EST- Posted in
- Trade Shows
- UK
- Gadget Show
Programming Gangnam Style and 4K Racing
One of the more esoteric demonstrations at the event was by a company called Aldebaran Robotics, makers of the NAO range of human-like robots for teaching school children how to react and program machines logically. There are clearly hits of Honda’s ASIMO robot in here, but the NAO robot does something other than running – Gangnam Style!
A project that encourages school children to think in a way that promotes coding is a good thing in my opinion, especially for the computer driven age we live in today. Having something visual like the NAO helps this, and some of the software seemed easy to use as well.
One of the uses for the NAO is to play football (the non-US kind) in the Robocup World Championship. The next big event, the Robocup German Open, is just 3 weeks away and will take place in Magdeburg, Germany.
In the coding world, one stand was dedicated to four teams of programmers designing new games and utilities in the Unreal Engine 3.0. All the screens were on display showing just how involved making a game and using engine software is.
Dirt 3 meets 84” 4K with a £12k Racing Seat
Perhaps the most interactive excitement I had at GSL was at the LG booth, were one of their 84” 4K panels was on display hooked up to Dirt 3. The game was also connected to a Vesaro racing simulator, capable of independent motion in all four corners to correspond with the feelings in game.
The Seat
The 4K Screen
Despite not owning a driving license or a car, I love driving games, go-karting and the Formula 1. The whole experience was great, with it being my first proper attempt at using both manual gear changes with a flappy paddle steering wheel. Luckily enough I did not crash in any major way and in my three lap race I did not finish last!
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hrrmph - Sunday, April 7, 2013 - link
Ahh yes, but Amazon.co.uk has had the Netgear D6300 WiFi-ac Router / ADSL Modem for 6 months or so. Currently at a mere £170 ($270).Amazon.com in the US only just got that listed and only in the Amazon Market Place from 2 third-party sellers. The French seller only wants $410, while the Irish seller wants $450.
I had to import my Blackberry Z10 from Canada; my Samsung Galaxy Note 2 from Dubai, and my old Philips X523 Dual-SIM from China.
If you are a global thinker, the world is full of apparently "locked washrooms on the highway of life." They can be overcome, but, as you rightly pointed out, it will cost you.
Oh and a UK seller just last week refused to send to the USA some snorkeling gear that is otherwise out of stock elsewhere. Guess that one would cost a plane ticket and the old "ship to hotel room at LHR Terminal 5" trick or ship to friends house in Europe. Been there, done that, on both sides of the Pond.
Not picking on any one country here, but if you think globally, trade barriers are everywhere.
They exist from currency (why does pound sterling demand a 60% premium over the dollar?) to restricted shipping (already covered) to restricted availability (hey Hollywood, how about those DVDs that Obama gave to the Queen that couldn't be played in the UK) to lack of standardization (hate the big British electrical plugs and the whole American special "letter sized" paper thing is inefficient compared to the new world standard A4).
How about the ridiculously un-Spock-logical date format that the USA uses. Who puts the medium sized (medium granuled) units first, the finest units in the middle, and the coarsest ones at the end. We do!
Umm... didn't we lose an interplanetary mission because we Americans couldn't be bothered to switch to metric like the rest of the world. I think the chimps will be converted to metric before we do.
And, whats this quaint thing where Europe has a political union, but still cannot agree on a unified language to trade in. Arabs have a common formal language across 2 continents. Why cannot 'The Continent' do the same?
Driving on the left? I'm tired of switching my brain back and forth depending on who's territory it happens to be in. The right generally prevails worldwide. The left has lost. Let the former empire get over it and get its roads properly untwisted.
Are we solving the world's problems yet? The first step is admitting there is a problem.
Okay, that's enough for now. Maybe the kids can fix this irrational mess that we've been unable to. ;)
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IglooGaming - Tuesday, April 9, 2013 - link
Glad you enjoyed the dome. We are well aware of some of the issues and these will be ironed out in the next few months. We have some big collaborations lined and hopefully we can launch this very soon. The beauty is that we can take any game made for Trinity and play it immediately in the dome. Also we need to work on the control system, which we have in development. This will be much more accurate. If you want to know more please contact ian@igloovision.comDeviceSquad - Tuesday, November 5, 2013 - link
I went to the SadGit Show on Friday and it was more of the same tat, aside from maybe six items we highlighted on our Device Squad website.BrennaFullen - Thursday, July 4, 2019 - link
This is a very cool exhibition from the University of Cambridge, I think many students were interested in visiting it, you can also attend a dissertation writing service by clicking here , you will find all the necessary materials for writing dissertations, I think it will be interesting for you.