Steven Vaughan-Nichols - Google+ Public Posts

I have every expectation that by the time I'm in a retirement home (ack!) at least one of my...

2013-06-18T21:53:55Z

I have every expectation that by the time I'm in a retirement home (ack!) at least one of my "nurses" will be a robot.

Steven Cherry originally shared this post:

"We have to think in terms of the robot plus person working as a cooperative pair, and the ways in which the split of responsibility in doing any particular task, let’s say making breakfast, how that’s going to occur, how that might be defined by the person.

"For example, the person might want to do all of the actual cooking but would like the robot to retrieve all the ingredients. That might be somebody who has some mobility impairment, could even be arthritis, and they don’t move around as fast, and so how they would interact would be very different.

"So you could imagine that if the person needs help lifting something, then the robot cooperating to provide the extra physical force to lift that frying pan, for example, provides a much different type of a challenge than just a split of responsibilities—'You do this, I do that.' "

A Techwise Conversation with Jim Osborn, executive director of the Robotics Institute’s Quality of Life Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon University.

Your Dad’s Next Nurse Might Be a Robot - IEEE Spectrum

Serious professionals only need apply, but for the right person this could be a great gig.

2013-06-18T21:45:59Z

Serious professionals only need apply, but for the right person this could be a great gig.

OSI Seeks to Hire General Manager | Open Source Initiative

Linux's domination of supercomputers just keeps rolling along.

2013-06-18T21:06:55Z

Linux's domination of supercomputers just keeps rolling along.

Linux continues to rule supercomputers | ZDNet

Benchmarks can reveal the truth – well, some of the truth – about technologies. A well-constructe...

2013-06-18T15:42:31Z

Benchmarks can reveal the truth – well, some of the truth – about technologies. A well-constructed benchmark can provide a way to compare performance, reliability and other metrics that can make a difference in comparing product quality and effectiveness. But you have to look closely at what a benchmark is measuring and how it was run – and, even then, take its results with a large grain of salt. Here’s how to approach benchmarks and their touted results.

Lies, Damned Lies and Benchmarks

An amusing & informative statistical analysis of "Geek" vs. "Nerd." Which...

2013-06-18T14:28:39Z

An amusing & informative statistical analysis of "Geek" vs. "Nerd." Which, by the way, automatically makes this a nerdy story. Enjoy!

On "Geek" Versus "Nerd"

What might have happened had Jackson been successful in having Microsoft broken into two companie...

2013-06-18T14:00:55Z

What might have happened had Jackson been successful in having Microsoft broken into two companies? I think Microsoft Red and Microsoft Blue would have been the better for it.

Two Microsofts: Mulling an alternate reality | ZDNet

The Seattle Public Library presents the book domino chain world record. Enjoy! Then read a good...

2013-06-17T20:22:52Z

The Seattle Public Library presents the book domino chain world record. Enjoy! Then read a good book.

Video: Book Domino Chain World Record

Want to get paid to work on open source software and journalism? Apply here.

2013-06-17T20:16:51Z

Want to get paid to work on open source software and journalism? Apply here.

The Knight-Mozilla Fellowships | Knight-Mozilla OpenNews

No, I'm not making this up. If you really want to use MSFT Skype video messaging you can do...

2013-06-17T19:20:04Z

No, I'm not making this up. If you really want to use MSFT Skype video messaging you can do it on Windows 8, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Android and BlackBerry, but MSFT's own phone platform? Not so much.

Skype video messaging available, but Windows Phone support lags | ZDNet

Red Hat is not switching out MySQL for MariaDB. Well, not yet, anyway.

2013-06-17T18:19:42Z

Red Hat is not switching out MySQL for MariaDB. Well, not yet, anyway.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 software stack still under wraps | ZDNet