Although not breaking news, we had to mention the latest version of the AIBO robotic pet from Sony, which was released in late 2005. This latest variant — the AIBO ERS-7M3 — boasts a number of novel new features, including updated control software and the ability to understand about 30 Spanish words and phrases (in addition to around 1000 english ones). The revamped AIBO MIND 3 software is responsible for this new language support and other noteworthy capabilities, including AIBO RSS-feed enabled net news and an AIBO diary that lets the robotic canine grab photos and automatically post a record of its activities, possibly for inclusion in a blog of its own.
The pup is available in three colors (champagne brown, pearl white and pearl black) and runs around $2,000. Check out the AIBO-Life blog at http://aibo-life.blogspot.com/, or visit the official Sony AIBO site here:
http://www.sony.net/Products/aibo/index.html.
Hi Jeff,
Some users previously reported a problem with the feed. It turns out that there is simply an empty line at the start of the RSS. Some readers are having problems with that.
For more details on the problem, please see: http://www.feedvalidator.org/check.cgi?url=http://nxtbot.com/blog/?feed=rss2
Keep up the blogging!
Filip.
Hi Filip -
Thank you very much for the feed validator! Very helpful stuff.
I’ve been trying to track down the blank line in the offending php file, but haven’t been having much luck. It could be an issue with WordPress, or perhaps I’m just not looking in the right spot. I’ll keep at it, though — hopefully I can squash this glitch soon.
Cheers -
- Jeff
As the most of you already know and are sad about, Sony is not going to continue developing new Aibos. They have more-or-less sacked their consumer robotics at least for now.
Too bad, since Aibo was an interesting product bringing good image to whole company. Seeking short term profits for the good of next quartal may not provide big wins for the company in the future..
More about this, see for example:
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-6031649.html
On the very day of your “¡Buen Perro!” post Sony announced the discontinuation of AIBO! Consumer entertainment robotics has just been set back 7 years or more.
I think that this dog is cool and it would be fun to have one of my own.
Funny timing.