Robot Garbage Man Only Comes When Called

t's WALL•E!

You know how it is, you're sound asleep until the crash, crunch, bang of the bin truck wakes you up and you realize you've forgotten to put the garbage out. Again.

Most of us, at one time or another, have done the mad down down the stairs in our barely-theres to personally present the garbage man with our rubbish. Now, imagine how soundly you could sleep if there existed a garbage man that only came to collect your rubbish when you called him.

Dustcart is an intelligent robot about the size of a person. He is mounted on a Segway base and can 'see' both moving and stationary objects with integrate cameras and sensors. An E.U. funded project, Dustcart collects your garbage only when you summon it.

Residents use their phones to make contact with the robot and using a triangulation system, he navigates his way to their homes by interacting with wireless networks. The system also plans out the best route between pick-ups.

Paolo Dario, coordinator of the DustBot project, told the Daily Mail that though most robotics researchers want to make a fully automated and intelligent system, Dustcart was built using a different approach.

"Here, we have a smart robot in a smart environment; the robot 'talks' to its surroundings and the surroundings communicate back. This means the robot has access to a lot more information and computing power," Dario explained.

Fix Your iPhone 4 Reception Woes for a Dollar

Only a fool would pay $30 for something he could make himself for a fraction of the cost.

A lot of people think Apple should be giving iPhone 4 users free bumpers to fix the new device's antenna problem and it's easy to see why; the bumpers cost $30 from the Apple store. Why should loyal customers have to pay an extra $30 to fix something they aren't responsible for? Unfortunately, Apple has said that they will not be appeasing customers with free bumpers.

If you've resigned yourself to the fact that you'll need one of these bumpers to make calls or comfortably hold your phone without killing reception, then we encourage you not to spend $30 on one from Apple. Why would you when you can spend a $1 making your own?

If you're familiar with the Livestrong wristbands sold by the Lance Armstrong foundation, you probably know that there are tons of other versions, you can get them pretty much anywhere and they cost next to nothing. Well, iPhone Guru (via Wired) reports that these little gel bracelets actually make pretty decent bumpers.

Lots of People Suing Apple for iPhone 4 Reception

The iPhone 4 lawsuits are piling up.

Apple has already addressed the signal problem with the iPhone 4, which the company says is a software problem. However, the lawsuits are piling up with Gizmodo reporting that five lawsuits have been filed against Apple. Three of these were filed in the Northern District of California, one in Maryland and one in the Southern District of Texas.

Windows 8 to Have 3 R's: Recovery, Reset, Restore

Recovery, Reset, Restore all to fight the Rot.

We all know about "Windows rot," where the operating system slowly degenerates to a slow, sluggish state after numerous installs, uninstalls, and other things that a system accumulates over time.

Those of us who perform good housekeeping practices on our computers keep our Windows installs running better, longer, but that's not the case for everyone. The action of a fresh format and/or reinstall can make things feel new again, even on old hardware. And now it seems that Microsoft could be building a reinstall feature into Windows 8.

As seen in some of the leaked presentation slides, Microsoft could have a recovery option to "reset Windows" while retaining all personal files and user accounts. One of the presentation images shows the option of reinstalling all of the app purchases from the Microsoft App Store. Interesting stuff.

Microsoft Awarded Patent for Dual-Screen Tablet

Gone but not forgotten.

Microsoft killed off its fascinating dual screen tablet, the Courier, in April of this year and, while the company said in a statement that it would be evaluated for use in future offerings, Redmond also stated, "We have no plans to build such a device at this time."

Disappointed, we came to terms with the fact that Microsoft's 14-inch (2 x 7-inch touch screens) digital journal would never come to pass. However, a recent application to the U.S. Patent and Trademarks Office leads us to believe Microsoft was definitely serious about the Courier. Despite the fact that Robbie Bach told TechFlash in May that the Courier was never a device, rather it was a project and incubation leading to innovations that could find their way into other Microsoft products, this patent filed in January suggests Microsoft was, at one time, committed to a product that looked strikingly similar to the Courier.

Microsoft received the patent this week and TechFlash reports that this kind of patent is good for 14 years, so Microsoft has until 2024 to do something with this design.