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NYT offers a peek inside Google's secret, robot-filled 'X' labs - Page 2

post #41 of 69
11/15/11 at 4:54am
Yeah, and all the while, millions are dying from cancer

We have millions of hunger people

Homeless people

Pollution

A government that's a wreck

An economy that's just hanging on by a tread

A growing gap between the wealthy and middle class (Hell lower class don't seem to count any more)

War, Hate and so many other issues right here on this planet.

Let's spend a little bit more wisely, and deal with the here and now now if at all possible.

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post #42 of 69
11/15/11 at 4:56am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rot'nApple View Post

Well MS did "invent" a bigazz touch table, The Surface...






But those lights probably aren't the compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL) that contain mercury, a toxin long associated with reproductive and neurological disorders. Once released into the environment through bulb breakage or improper disposal, mercury can convert into the highly-toxic methylmercury. This can accumulate in animal tissue, causing far-reaching environmental hazards. According to the EPA, a single environmental light bulb contains about five milligrams of mercury. Guidelines established by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration list limits of 0.1 milligram of organic mercury per cubic meter. While over 86 percent of Americans have access to recycling programs, environmental light bulbs require special disposal procedures to minimize environmental impact. According to a 2007 Harris poll, one quarter of Americans do not recycle. Thus, despite regulation, environmental light bulbs are likely to end up in landfills.


/
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According to the article, they are LED bulbs. But at least the topic of light bulbs was broached, allowing you yet another chance to rant about CFL bulbs.
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post #43 of 69
11/15/11 at 5:06am
Quote:
Originally Posted by hill60 View Post

This "X-lab" is probably no more than an empty office with a photocopier, which explains the link to Xerox.

+1

Quote:
Originally Posted by addicted44 View Post

I don't think the existence of these Google Labs are in ANY WAY constraining Google's ability to make their own OS.

No one ever said it was. Just that it would be better if Google actually innovated something useful and that would improve the market today.

Quote:
Originally Posted by addicted44 View Post

If the money was not spent here, it would be lying around in a bank account somewhere, and not being used elsewhere. Google has a ton of cash sitting around. None of their projects are suffering for a lack of investment.

This, combined with their 20% time, makes Google one of the only American companies that is actually spending time/money on R&D which is focused at more than the immediate term, which is quite commendable.

There's nothing wrong with spending time on creative work - I used to ask my employees to spend 10-15% on new projects. The problem is that even with all that money, Google is still simply copying everyone else - and can't come up with an OS that isn't fragmented all over the place.
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post #44 of 69
11/15/11 at 5:09am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ncee View Post

Yeah, and all the while, millions are dying from cancer

We have millions of hunger people

Homeless people

Pollution

A government that's a wreck

An economy that's just hanging on by a tread

A growing gap between the wealthy and middle class (Hell lower class don't seem to count any more)

War, Hate and so many other issues right here on this planet.

Let's spend a little bit more wisely, and deal with the here and now now if at all possible.

Skip

That can go towards anything...like a company holding 81+ Billion in cash. Or one holding 30+ Billion in cash. Or a person holding X Billion in cash...
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post #45 of 69
11/15/11 at 5:10am
Quote:
Originally Posted by majjo View Post

Wow, what's with all the hate?

I'm sure Microsoft, Apple, IBM, et al. have similar 'skunkworks' type facilities as well.


Google is not hated for having a skunkworks.

Google is hated because Google is trying to kill the iPhone.

We already hate IBM. They are Big Brother, while Apple's customers are Revolutionaries who fight conformity.

We already hate Microsoft. They have no taste.


See? It isn't the skunkworks. We can hate all three companies with or without a skunkworks.
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post #46 of 69
11/15/11 at 5:10am
Quote:
Originally Posted by jragosta View Post

+1



No one ever said it was. Just that it would be better if Google actually innovated something useful and that would improve the market today.



There's nothing wrong with spending time on creative work - I used to ask my employees to spend 10-15% on new projects. The problem is that even with all that money, Google is still simply copying everyone else - and can't come up with an OS that isn't fragmented all over the place.

Like?
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post #47 of 69
11/15/11 at 5:14am
Quote:
Originally Posted by addicted44 View Post

Nice Strawman.

If this was indeed the case, how in the world do you explain Coverflow and Siri? 2 products and technologies which were not only bought from 3rd parties, but Apple didn't even bother to change the name of the technology? If Apple's fans indeed did think Apple invented everything on their own, wouldn't Apple put at least the slightest effort to hide the fact that these were products purchased from outside, you know, by at least changing the name?

Really?

If Apple sees a novel idea (say, Android/WebOS notification panel...moreso Android) and decides to integrate a familiar yet not direct copy of it onto their OS...it's genius, revolutionary, amazing, obvious, etc.

If ANYONE ELSE does the same thing in regards to an Apple technology they are the scum of the Earth and worthy of eradication and forcing oneself to use BING!

Also you mention coverflow and Siri, bought technologies...no one is denying this (Was coverflow bought or are you referring to that BS lawsuit they lost?) however in almost every Android bashing circle-jerk on this site someone always points out the fact that Android was bought like it's an instantly and irredeemably bad thing.
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post #48 of 69
11/15/11 at 5:16am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Asherian View Post

Every time I come to read this forum, it kills me. It's kind of like looking in from an observation window at a psych ward -- some of you are truly out to lunch and obviously exist in a reality parallel to the one the rest of one live in.



Cool, ain't it?


Not only are facts up for grabs, but also the meanings of words too! So both factual statements and bullshit can be twisted and deformed until they no longer resemble anything a normal person would have associated with them.
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post #49 of 69
11/15/11 at 5:19am
Quote:
Originally Posted by jd_in_sb View Post

Quote:
Originally Posted by Firefly7475 View Post

A tidbit of trivia; the Kinect-like interface seen in Minority Report came from consultation between Spielberg and the Microsoft team.

Unlikely. Minority Report was released to movie theaters in 2002. PrimeSense, the Israeli company that developed Kinect, was founded in 2005.

Well that's what Spielberg tells us in the Minority Report commentary audio, so if you have a problem you can take it up with him.
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post #50 of 69
11/15/11 at 5:22am
Though this is all speculation...imagine the change of tone if Apple were the ones with an Apple X project.

"This is why they are on top, they are so genius and benevolent, I Love Apple :-D"

"Wow, this explains so much, I MISS YOU STEVE!!!!"

"OMG, this is so amazing, I can't stand up for at least 20 minutes until this raging hardon goes away."

There is bias on all tech sites but jesus Christ...even amongst Apple blogs AI is crazy.

Hilarious note btw, to everyone...while perusing I believe either 9to5mac or Macrumors I noticed Tallest_Skil posting...amongst his own (Apple fans, undoubtedly so) and they were calling him a troll because of his unwarranted Google/Microsoft/Anything not Apple bashing...It was hilarious.

Even the other Apple blogs can sense a pro-Apple troll. (Oddly I must admit his writings are less troll-like here than they were there)
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post #51 of 69
11/15/11 at 5:28am
Quote:
Originally Posted by addicted44 View Post

I don't think the existence of these Google Labs are in ANY WAY constraining Google's ability to make their own OS.


Facts ain't gonna work.

This is a Steve-ism: "Maybe they should spend more time doing [something else] instead of [what they are doing]".

The validity of the statement has nothing to do with its utterance. These sorts of statements are a demonstration that the speaker can be as specious as Steve sometimes was.

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post #52 of 69
11/15/11 at 5:40am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ncee View Post



Let's spend a little bit more wisely, and deal with the here and now … now if at all possible.

Skip


Naw. Lets accumulate cash until we get $100,000,000,000.00. In the meantime, we can invest in the Money Markets to aid Wall Street Bankers' liquidity needs.
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post #53 of 69
11/15/11 at 5:58am
Quote:
Originally Posted by AbsoluteDesignz View Post

There is bias on all tech sites but jesus Christ...even amongst Apple blogs AI is crazy.


This is kook central.

Religious sites? Fewer kooks.
Political sites? Fewer kooks.

This place is their home. Their fervor is fed by the articles and maintained by policies of the management. I hope it never changes.
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post #54 of 69
11/15/11 at 6:28am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ConradJoe View Post

This is kook central. .

At least, it has been since people like conehead Joe got here.
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post #55 of 69
11/15/11 at 6:53am
Not a google fan at all but...

to all those who are saying this is stupid, a waste of resource and that anyone who thinks this is worthwhile are idiots....

please take a step back and listen one more time to the think different commercial....

The world used to be flat you know.
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post #56 of 69
11/15/11 at 7:50am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ConradJoe View Post

This is kook central.

Religious sites? Fewer kooks.
Political sites? Fewer kooks.

This place is their home. Their fervor is fed by the articles and maintained by policies of the management. I hope it never changes.

A bit excessive. I tend to enjoy a good argument and being an atheistic liberal Android fan I can find a lot online lol.

Religious fanatics literally have no sense. None. It is a requisite.

Conservatives tend to be religious fanatics at least those who I find online. (Sucks that the right has aligned itself with the religious right as a few of their policies I'm 100% for)

At least a good amount of the fans here are just people who like Apple products. Just that far too many are Apple ][ esque.

But I'd prefer to be here than any religious or political board.
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post #57 of 69
11/15/11 at 8:30am
Quote:
Originally Posted by AbsoluteDesignz View Post

Though this is all speculation...imagine the change of tone if Apple were the ones with an Apple X project... blah, blah, blah

Not singling out AbsoluteDesignz, but using his post as an example.

Why do people get so worked up when praise is heaped on Apple considering this is a site geared towards fans of Apple products? I understand the concept of everyone being entitled to their own opinions, but at some point you gotta realize that you're just wasting your breath...
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post #58 of 69
11/15/11 at 8:34am
Quote:
Originally Posted by See Flat View Post

The world used to be flat you know.

Actually, if you read the book by Thomas Friedman you'd see evidence that the world may be flatter than we thought...

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post #59 of 69
11/15/11 at 8:50am
Quote:
Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post

Robots will probably follow a similar path as most consumer electronics products... expensive and limited in function initially, and growing in popularity as cost decreases and usefulness improves. But the question is, what do consumers need or want from robots? Maids? Butlers? Companions? Pet caretakers? Robots with narrow skills will slowly be replaced with general purpose humanoid robots that will be able to perform innumerable tasks, often better than humans. Watch for the eventual merging of immortal robot body and human consciousness... in 30 to 40... or 50 years.

South Korea, presumably Samsung is also working on robots for domestic use. They hope to have a robot in every home by 2020.

http://hplusmagazine.com/2010/03/26/...ery-home-2020/

Also the latest release of Honda's ASIMO was pretty impressive.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-...hand-gestures/

Life is too short to drink bad coffee.

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Life is too short to drink bad coffee.

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post #60 of 69
11/15/11 at 9:30am
[QUOTE=redbarchetta;1987911]And Apple can't even make a phone that maintains a majority of marketshare.

You lost me here, You mean Apple have some magical powers to maintain market share.
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post #61 of 69
11/15/11 at 3:08pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr. Poopy Pants View Post

Not singling out AbsoluteDesignz, but using his post as an example.

Why do people get so worked up when praise is heaped on Apple considering this is a site geared towards fans of Apple products? I understand the concept of everyone being entitled to their own opinions, but at some point you gotta realize that you're just wasting your breath...

Praise of Apple =\\= Hatred of anything not Apple.

If it wasn't for the ridiculous claims made by Apple fans about Android fans and Android I wouldn't even be here.

My RSS feed is overwhelmed with AppleInsider articles because every other one is not about Apple.

Apple deserves praise. But sometimes they are given too much.
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post #62 of 69
11/15/11 at 5:50pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by MoXoM View Post

Judgement Day - 2036.

The day GoogleNet became self-aware...


2045... The Singularity (according to Ray Kurzweil).

Proud AAPL stock owner.

 

GOA

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Proud AAPL stock owner.

 

GOA

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post #63 of 69
11/15/11 at 5:56pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mstone View Post

South Korea, presumably Samsung is also working on robots for domestic use. They hope to have a robot in every home by 2020.

http://hplusmagazine.com/2010/03/26/...ery-home-2020/

Also the latest release of Honda's ASIMO was pretty impressive.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-...hand-gestures/

Interesting stories in that H+ link. I'm really more into the robotics than the transhumanism aspect, but it is worth watching.

Proud AAPL stock owner.

 

GOA

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Proud AAPL stock owner.

 

GOA

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post #64 of 69
11/15/11 at 10:24pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Asherian View Post

Every time I come to read this forum, it kills me. It's kind of like looking in from an observation window at a psych ward -- some of you are truly out to lunch and obviously exist in a reality parallel to the one the rest of one live in.


Uh, No.

Oh, yeah! Revisionist history. It's drowned out in marketing and product noise on Google now, but Microsoft bought the Surface patent several years ago. The patent for such a device was filed ca. 1997 by an independent inventor. The patent describes a device very much like Surface. And Microsoft bought it.
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post #65 of 69
11/15/11 at 11:08pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cpsro View Post

Oh, yeah! Revisionist history. It's drowned out in marketing and product noise on Google now, but Microsoft bought the Surface patent several years ago. The patent for such a device was filed ca. 1997 by an independent inventor. The patent describes a device very much like Surface. And Microsoft bought it.

Did they buy it to avoid litigation or to start working on it?
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post #66 of 69
11/16/11 at 4:39am
Quote:
Originally Posted by caliminius View Post

Are you all a bunch of douche bags here or what? It's great that Google is willing and able to do this research. Fringe research can and does lead to practical applications. Do a search on all the practical applications that have come out of NASA research even though much of it's intended use could be deemed "pie in the sky" nonsense like people here want to consider Google's lab.

There's good and bad research. There's also the fact that Google does a lot of prestige stuff to give the impression it's something it's not, so there's a healthy cynicism for the stuff they do. The examples in the article of research Google X is doing make it sound like a prestige project and not a serious lab.
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post #67 of 69
11/16/11 at 4:43am
Quote:
Originally Posted by AbsoluteDesignz View Post

Though this is all speculation...imagine the change of tone if Apple were the ones with an Apple X project.

"This is why they are on top, they are so genius and benevolent, I Love Apple :-D"

"Wow, this explains so much, I MISS YOU STEVE!!!!"

"OMG, this is so amazing, I can't stand up for at least 20 minutes until this raging hardon goes away."

There is bias on all tech sites but jesus Christ...even amongst Apple blogs AI is crazy.

Hilarious note btw, to everyone...while perusing I believe either 9to5mac or Macrumors I noticed Tallest_Skil posting...amongst his own (Apple fans, undoubtedly so) and they were calling him a troll because of his unwarranted Google/Microsoft/Anything not Apple bashing...It was hilarious.

Even the other Apple blogs can sense a pro-Apple troll. (Oddly I must admit his writings are less troll-like here than they were there)

You do realise you just posted a lot of ranting, straw man nonsense and then accused other people of sounding like trolls, right?
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post #68 of 69
11/16/11 at 12:21pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by majjo View Post

Wow, what's with all the hate?

I'm sure Microsoft, Apple, IBM, et al. have similar 'skunkworks' type facilities as well.

That kind of boggles my mind as well.

Google competed with Apple on the smart phone business -- which was wrong since they had a board member "soaking up" intel at Apple who should have recused himself when he learned they were going to compete head on.

But a few ethics issues aside with our "favorite" company. Apple is also not without ethics issues either. Businesses are organisms that have to fight to survive.


>> I'm just glad that a FEW companies have these kind of think tanks -- as there aren't many things like DARPA in our government that work to do anything but weapons anymore.

If they make a profit -- that's good too. But I like a world where people can be paid to come up with new ideas and things worth doing -- as that's about the one thing I'm really good at.

>> It's just kind of strange to see so much absolutist partisanship over corporations. I've been an Apple user "since the beginning" or at least a bit before the Mac SE and Apple II. And I got a lot of sand kicked in my face by IBM "command line fans" and then Microsoft "we invented the GUI" fans. Now I get sand kicked in my face by Apple "you are not devout enough fans."

Dang, I guess I shouldn't bring up I used raytracing on an AMIGA before Renderman or Swivel were even a dream on the Mac, and I dreamt of buying an NeXT cube....
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post #69 of 69
11/18/11 at 7:17pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ncee View Post

Yeah, and all the while, millions are dying from cancer

We have millions of hunger people

Homeless people

Pollution

A government that's a wreck

An economy that's just hanging on by a tread

A growing gap between the wealthy and middle class (Hell lower class don't seem to count any more)

War, Hate and so many other issues right here on this planet.

Let's spend a little bit more wisely, and deal with the here and now now if at all possible.

Skip


"You can't solve a problem on the same level you created it."

speculative science and abstruse research are completely necessary for all innovation. People often fear this aspect of creation, as is evidenced by the persecution of visionaries, thinkers and artists throughout Western history's records.
an aye for an eye, the truth is a lie; a fish cannot whistle & neither can I.
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an aye for an eye, the truth is a lie; a fish cannot whistle & neither can I.
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