I'm a sucker for animatronic noises. They always make me laugh for some reason.

[RoboCommunity]

Though news of the Waalbot actually surfaced last fall, EngineeringTV has good footage of the gecko-like robot in action. The Waalbot has two legs with three micro-suction adhesive pods each, letting one pod stay attached to the wall while the other two rotate forward. It is also an autonomous bot with an RF transmitter on its back, allowing for wireless control. This is cool and all, but is it too much to ask for some giant-sized pods for my own usage? Check out the video below. [Carnegie-Mellon via EngineeringTV]

The device plucks individual hairs, follicle and all, from the patient's scalp, using suction through a one-millimeter needle guided by cameras and 3D-imaging software. It is mounted on a robotic arm normally used in circuit board manufacturing. The hairs are then implanted back into the patient's scalp.

"It understands what trajectory it needs to get follicles out of the scalp, compensating in real time if the patient moves slightly," says Moll. As well as the transplant itself, the machine can design the hairline on the computer. ("Perhaps Sir would prefer the 'Eddie Munster' instead.")

Less intrusive than the current procedure, which removes strips of the patient's scalp using local anaesthetic, the machine could be undergoing clinical trials by the end of the year. [New Scientist]

It seems like the perfect software for the laziest people in the world, but it's one of those "oh wow" things that will make everyone smile when using it.

Breakthrough Visual Search Engine for Mobile Phones Takes Off Big in Japan

Pasadena, CA & Tokyo, Japan - April 17, 2008 - Evolution Robotics Inc., a leading robotics technology company, in partnership with Bandai Networks Co. Ltd, Japan's leading mobile content provider, announced today that KDDI Corporation is including the "ER Search" visual search engine on its new Spring 2008 "au™" line of camera phones, and has made it available for download for any KDDI customer with a prior "au" camera phone. This launch marks a dramatic expansion in the market for mobile visual search, which will enable millions of consumers in Japan alone to do online searches by taking pictures of everyday objects with their camera phone.

The deployment of this technology in the mass market also opens up an entirely new range of categories of services for mobile marketing, which is already projected to grow to $24 Billion worldwide by 2013. (Source: ABI Research)

ER Search is a mobile search engine operated by Bandai Networks and powered by Evolution Robotics' ViPR visual pattern recognition system. It works essentially like using a traditional search engine, but without having to type any text or go through complicated menus. Instead, users simply snap a picture of something they're interested in and immediately get back relevant content, all in the palm of the hands.

As an example, KDDI customers will be able to take a picture of a music CD that would return links relating to the artist, hear clips from the album and purchase songs to download on their phone. If they are shopping for wine in a store, they can take a picture of the wine label and get expert reviews and recommendations on the spot. Or, if they are browsing through a catalog and see an item they'd like to buy, they can order it immediately by snapping a picture of the item on the page.

"ER Search is an entirely new way for connecting consumers with content and companies," said Satoshi Oshita, CEO of Bandai Networks. "Because ER Search runs on mobile phones, searches happen when and where the customer is, as soon as they see something that they're interested in. Additionally, the fact that a customer simply has to click a picture of a product or advertisement, makes the search process far easier and immediate than anything that has been available before."

"We are very pleased to be working with Bandai Networks and are excited to see the momentum building in the Japanese market," said Paolo Pirjanian, President and CEO of Evolution Robotics. "Our mission is to take aerospace-grade technologies and make them affordable for mass market applications, and ER Search is a great example. We see this as just the start of a growing market for visual search in Asia and other parts of the globe and are actively working with our partners to expand the range of services that can benefit consumers and companies alike."

Bandai Networks had already deployed ER Search on over one million phones in Japan in 2007. With this deployment with KDDI, the number of users with access to ER Search will expand by millions more in a very short time, making it even more compelling for companies and advertisers to participate in the service.

About ViPR

The ViPR technology easily supports user-generated content so that users can take new pictures of objects, images, videos or even locations and tag them with links and content to expand the database. That content will then show up in the results returned to other users who take similar pictures, thus creating a robust world-wide visual database for communities to develop and access. (A video demonstration of Evolution Robotics' visual search technology running on Apple's iPhone can be seen at: http://www.youtube.com/user/EvolutionRobotics)

ER Search's versatility rests in Evolution Robotics' breakthrough ViPR visual recognition technology. ViPR is able to learn new objects and images on the fly (such as the cover art on a music CD), without the need for any special encoding such as barcodes or watermarks. Just as significant, ViPR performs well on low cost components such as the cameras used on most mobile phones today, even when lighting and other visual conditions are poor.

For the music search application alone, Bandai Networks has over 150,000 music CD covers already indexed in their database. Other mobile marketing and mobile commerce applications include providing content and links for print ads, book covers, DVDs, product packaging, movie posters, retail displays, business signs, etc. Even animation, streaming video or images from live TV can be supported.

[Evolution via Mobile Whack]

[Let's Make Robots! via MAKE]

Feel like trusting someone else to be kind about your porkiness? The Half Truth design has a display on the front where you can't see it, leaving it up to someone else to read it and decide what to tell you. Not sure about the "harming a human" rule: this one may be a relationship-strainer.
Open Secrets doesn't have a display at all, instead transmitting data on your current fatness to someone else's mobile phone. You'd never even have to know the exact figure, which may be quite liberating.
And White Lies is the most devious. The further back on the scales you stand, the lighter you appear, so you can choose how much to let the scales lie to you.

Its nice to see a designer tackling a mundane object like bathroom scales, but I can advocate another weighing tactic to avoid upset: ban scales from your house altogether. Much simpler and cheaper all round. [Alice Wang via Dezeen]

The university will begin the program with 15 students, eventually bolstering it to 60, and currently have 30 faculty working in robotics. This announcement goes hand in hand with the launch of Georgia Tech's new center specifically designated for robotics. Maybe Carnegie Mellon should worry about their distinction as the robotics school. [Gizmag]

From first viewed to last viewed:

• Mr. Clock Radio by Geewiz Entertainment ($99.99), is primarily an alarm clock radio. However, it does have a line-in jack, making it usable as a personal speaker set. It also has some three-hundred different wake-up message (half are aggressive, half are charming), and a fun/pointless "fortune telling" mode. The price is a little steep for the basic tech it implements, (flashing lights, portable speakers and pre-recorded messages), but we can't help loving the guy for his fantastic witticisms. [Geewiz Entertainment]

• Comprehensive Robot Kit by Bioloid ($869.00), one of the most complete and versatile robotics kits we saw on display at CES '08. The Comprehensive Robot Kit is really a a super-glorified Lego kit. It comes with various robotic bits'n'bobs, including IrDA receivers for dual robot communication, microphones for sound detection, luminosity detectors, piezo-electric speakers, essential battery packs and a full software suite for programmable characteristics in your robot's behavior, all via your PC. At this price, the kit is strictly an educational tool or for serious enthusiasts. [Bioloid Comprehensive Kit]

• Wrex the Dawg by WowWee ($TBA), has three emotional modes (happy, sad and angry), 14-motors for movement and a remote control for general locomotion. Expected to ship this Spring; if Wrex's quirky styling does not have reaching for your wallet, perhaps his mechanized wagging tail will? [WowWee]

• Tribot by WowWee ($99.99), is the robot that will replace the much loved Robosapien. The Tribot comes pre-loaded with a series of games that rely on the user to position the bot in various different orientations, it has three wheels that allow it to have a wide range of movements, a motion sensing controller that allows for Wii-esque navigation and it will hit the shops this summer. [WowWee]

• iRobiQ by Yujin Robot has been doing the rounds since CES 2007. It is a home information service that is able to display the news, weather, cooking recipes, photos, videos and sing some karaoke if you get bored. All this information goodness is displayed on a 7-inch LCD screen, but the iRobiQ also accepts voice commands for various jobs, like sending images to a cellphone, ordering a room to be cleaned by pairing with a Roomba type device and even read books that are stored on its central server. The iRobiQ, at present, has no US distributor, so do not expect it to ship anytime soon. [Yujin Robot; Korean link, via Tech Digest]

• E1 by Roboware ($1,500), recognizes set voice commands via a Bluetooth headset, connects to your network to transmit pictures captured via the on board camera, which it can also display on its tiny LCD screen and boasts bi-pedal motion, generated by a ton of different joints. At present, it is not ready for shipping, as the engineers are working out the bugs in the system. The final model will come with a full software suite, as well as an online developers community that will be launched along side the bot. Roboware hopes to ship the E1 by March, and envisions a truly malleable robot that can be completely defined by its users. [Company website is not live at present]

• Zeno by David Hanson (concept stage); we have covered Zeno an awful lot here at Giz, but the creepy bot was displaying his moves at CES '08, still in prototype stages. Zeno did not look so horrific in the real "frubber," but he still made us a little unsettled. Zeno will be able to talk, recognize faces and detect specific sounds, as well as be user upgradeable via an online community, with which Zeno can remain wirelessly connected thanks to the inbuilt support for Wi-Fi connectivity. [Hanson Robotics]

• FemiSapien by WowWee ($TBA), the FemiSapien is coined as Robosapien's girlfriend, and when the two interact, hilarious girlfriend/boyfriend rifts take place. The Femisapien is able to control Robosapien, but not visa versa. The female bot will be able to dance, move, sing and carry out a range of movement like her out-dated boyfriend. We are not sure the robot god approves of them living in sin, but we did not see them romp. However, if Robosapien carries on acting like this (VERY NSFW), we are sure robot god will be most displeased. Expect the FemiSapien to ship this summer. [Robots Rule]

That's the best of the robots we uncovered at CES '08. It looks like it is going to be a great year for fans of this genere of toys, but Sony, if you are reading, we wouldn't mind Aibo joining in the festivities at some point. Until then folks, there should be more than enough here to tide you over.

Despite the inroads iRobot's made, robotics hasn't become a true industry even though the idea of robotics has been around for 40-odd years. The goal of the company is to get robots in homes to be ubiquitous. Their market penetration is currently only 1-2%, but it's even lower among the non-gadgety middle Americans that they're aiming for. "One robot company doesn't make an industry."

Why are so few people getting into the robotics industry now? Colin says it's because the market is incredibly hard, the margins are terrible, and very few companies have the collective knowledge necessary to enter the market. It took them 10 years to get enough company knowledge from partnering with the industrial cleaning industry (among others) in order to create a robot that's cheap enough and good enough to be used as a consumer electronics device. Other companies like Samsung or LG—who can design a device with the highest-quality parts for the lowest prices—can possibly enter in the robotics field, but they haven't chosen to yet.

So what's to come? Angle emphasized the fact that robots are going to be necessary to live the way we've become accustomed to. As the population ages here and in places like Japan (where three out of every two people are over the age of 150), robots are going to have to provide health and home care for the elderly. iRobot is entering this market with their ConnectR webcam robot that lets doctors or nurses monitor someone at home and have a "presence" there without actually being there.

He says that Japan is making developments in this area, but most of their designs (like the robot that helps you get out of bed, the dead human picker-upper and the exoskeleton) seem too expensive for the average elderly person to afford. ConnectR is just a start, but the industry around care for the elders is just going to get bigger.

Colin also talked about the military industry, which they've entered into as well. Their PackBot, which helped clean out mines in Afghanistan before moving onto Iraq, is just the tip of the iceberg. By using robots instead of humans to do dangerous missions like cleaning out a building, our military can use non-lethal force because the operator of the robot isn't concerned about his own life. This "shoot second" principal is supposed to save lives, even when we arm robots with weapons, as they're starting to. And with these lethal robots, there's always going to be a human "in the loop," meaning there won't be any autonomous killer robots that annihilate humanity.

Another very interesting piece of the robotics puzzle lay in the oil industry, which they developed a robot for in the mid to late '90s that improved oil refining by 100%. There wasn't a huge demand then, but there's obviously going to be a giant demand soon.

If iRobot's CEO has his way, we're going to have a robot in all of our houses. We can't wait.

It also runs on two AA batteries, just like the Cylons from Battlestar Galactica. It's also a good thing these bots have their "kill all humans and enslave humanity" mode removed. That first version didn't sell so well. [Scientifics Online via MAKE via Slashgear via Uber Gizmo]

That's right, lest ye think we're dissing the King, I want to state, for the record, that we have the utmost respect for the estate of Elvis Aaron (or was that Aron?) Presley, not to mention a positively drooly reaction to anything coming from the WowWee magic shop. Consider this ringing endorsement of one totally crazy product (yours for only $349.99). [WowWee Alive]

The robomutt comes with 2GB of built-in flash memory, probably for scripts and pictures. With Windows XP and its b/g wireless capabilities, we're hoping it can just toss its snaps to Windows-based PCs around the house. What you might end up with is a cool gallery of your life as seen by your RobuDOG. That also means it will be able to use Windows programs geared toward robots, like Microsoft's Robotics Studio.

The RobuDOG uses a 500MHz AMD Geode LX800 processor, 512 MB of internal RAM, both an Ethernet and a USB port, and a speaker allowing it to bark. Developed in France, the RobuDOG is going to cost around 3,200 Euros, so expect to pay upwards of $4,400 to get it in the States. [WindowsForDevices via GearLog]

Dento-Munch's upper and lower "jaws" consist of two platforms. The lower one is capable of moving six degrees of freedom (unlike the current lab simulators, which are only capable of 2 degrees) and can move and rotate up and down, forwards and backwards, and left and right - just like its human counterpart.

The software that controls the robot's motors and gearboxes responds to loads as muscle and tendon does, and the chewing is slowed when resistance is high (and speeded up when it is low) thanks to feedback loops in the system.

Mr Alemzadeh also thinks that the machine will work for research on ankles, as the movement in the joint that links the foot to the leg is similar to chewing.

Dental robot chews over a toothy problem [New Scientist Tech]

What do we think? It's expensive, for starters, and the port list leaves something to be desired.

First things first, what didn't we like?

Price

It's $500, and it doesn't come with any storage-only the enclosure. Now just for fun let's go over what else we could get for $500:

• 4GB iPhone
• Xbox 360 Elite or PS3 20GB or 2 Nintendo Wii's
• Toshiba HD-A1 HD DVD Player

Ok, so it's either one of those guys or the Drobo. But if money's no object or you really like hard drive space then that won't be a problem. But if you're like us, we personally would have to think long and hard about this purchase before we dropped that much cash on an empty hard drive enclosure.

Ports

Drobo is USB 2 only. While many people claim that USB 2 is plenty fast enough, if you're plunking down a couple hundred dollars you'd expect at least USB2, Firewire 400 & 800 or even an Ethernet port.

The good news is that Data Robotics confirmed that they are going to at least implement Firewire into future revisions. But for now it's a big ol' deduction.

Startup Lag

If you have four drives installed, waiting for all of them to spin up seems like an eternity. We can't tell you how many times we went to save a file and the computer seems to freeze, only to hear the familiar wrrring of four hard drives ramping up slowly, one after another. This gets very annoying at times. But, unless you want to have your drives constantly running it was unavoidable.

Software

One of the claims Data Robotics makes is that Drobo requires zero software for use. While this is technically true, Drobo is plug-and-play, and on a Mac it leads to an interesting problem. OS X lists Drobo as a 2TB drive no matter how much storage has been installed. To alleviate this problem they do include an application called the Drobo Dashboard that will tell you how much space you really have. However, it has been pretty spotty. Many times it couldn't even tell that there was a Drobo attached. Also, this could have easily been turned into a widget for Dashboard or a Sidebar gadget.

Unstable

One thing we encountered was the unstableness of the Drobo. While it must be difficult attempting to maintain multiple drives of different speeds and capacities, this is what Drobo is supposed to do. However multiple times during our tests our computers would claim that our Drobo was unreadable and that the only options were to eject or reformat. This simply cannot happen to your storage on a regular basis. Which we found out the hard way, as our Drobo video review was wiped out.
However, that's about as bad as it gets (although the last one was pretty bad). We know you're all dwelling on all of this right now, but the Drobo is actually a pretty amazing piece of hardware when it is running like it should be. Now on to what we love about it.

Drive Virtualization

No longer do you have to worry about a file that is 100GB when you only have 2 80GB drives. Drobo does a fantastic job of instantly mashing your drives together into one large virtual drive. No more keeping some files on one drive and others on another. Drobo moves all of the data around in small packets, so that it can be dispersed over all of your drives. Basically it acts like a RAID setup, but without all of the technical setup that's typically required.

Drive Installation

This is where Drobo shines, it makes installing a new drive as easy as popping in a tape into a VCR. Just take any 3.5-inch SATA hard drive and pop it in. you don't need any tools and it doesn't matter what speed or size each drive is. Just toss it in and let Drobo go to work, instantly you'll see your available storage space increase.

Backup

We know none of us backup our data nearly as much as we should, or at all for that matter. But who can blame us when it's such a pain to have to keep on balancing external drives or install yet another internal drive.

Drobo is the first backup solution that I've seen that might actually work (Aside from Time Machine), and that's because it does it without even asking. It is always making backups of your data. However this comes at a price with storage space. For instance if you installed 1TB worth of drives, you really are only getting 509.9 GB of pure storage before Drobo starts telling you to go out and look for a bigger drive to pop in.

While it does take its toll on available space, how nice is it knowing that all your pictures, files, songs & movies are all safe for once.

Convenience

One of our computers is a Mac Mini that is covered in external drives- two 80GB drives, one 250GB drive, and one 300GB drive. That means there are four enclosures, four power bricks, and four fans spinning and they aren't even in a RAID array, so they're independent storage spaces.

Drobo thankfully gets rid of all of that. You have one box, one power cord and one intelligent fan system that only runs when it gets warm. And when you live in a tiny apartment every inch counts, so getting rid of all those extra parts is quite a luxury.

Style

Compared to most hard drive enclosures the Drobo looks like a piece of art. With its simplistic black outfit and glossy magnetic cover, it definitely will grab your attention, while still being simplistic enough not to stand out too much.

While the storage monitor lighting is well done, we do wish their was an option to turn it off since it's pretty damn bright (You can see it glowing all the way down the block) and you can get the same info from the Drobo Dashboard application.

Final Verdict

We suggest persuading your friends to pick one up so that the price drops faster. That way when you go and buy one after a revision or two, not only will some of the flaws be worked out (Stability/Ports), but it should be more reasonably priced as well. Because once they get the growing pains straightened out this will be a great storage solution. However given the current price and stability issues we say pass on the Drobo for now.

Okay, reader, now that we've got that out of the way-what do you want to know about the Drobo? What questions are still lingering around that head of yours? Let us know and we'll post a follow up for you.– Ben Longo

Meet Joey Chaos, the rocker robot who's the latest creation of Hanson Robotics. He was introduced at the RoboBusiness Conference and Expo earlier this month, and looks a lot like his older brother Jules we showed you before. Even though Joey has the same type of camera eyes that can track human faces and speech recognition software as his older brother, he somehow seems less human, especially when his interviewer tries a few questions other than "tell me more."

Check out another video of Joey Chaos, after the jump.

Depending on how you count, this version of the Hanson Robot is up in the mid-teens by now (Jules was version 13). Adding a bit of rocker hair and a few words such as "frickin'" brings robotics one step closer to human airheadedness. But even with his flaws, he's still real enough to be a bit creepy. We know plenty of real-life rockers with less conscious awareness than Joey.

Let's see Hanson create a woman for Joey next, and let them argue. But still, unless there's some giant leap in robo-tech, neither one would be able to fool the desk clerk at the Hotel California. – Charlie White

Product Page [Hanson Robotics]

Follow the jump for the RoboBusiness 2007 wrap-up. (Will robot evolution ever reach a point where they can simply drag us off to their robotic caves? The answer might surprise you.)

As my robotically charged quest drew to a close, I couldn't help but reminisce over the many robots that touched me in so many ways, including the one that jerked me across the floor, almost crashing into the wall and ending my life. Still, I saw robots that danced, robots that clapped, robots that fell down repeatedly and kept falling down for no apparent reason, robots that picked up hard plastic suitcases, and finally, robots that showed promise and hope for the future. A future rife with cyborgs and Terminators. A future mired in wires, rife with automation and instant gratification. No more security guards, no more supermarket clerks, no more parents. Although, based on the Whitman's Sampler of robotic mediocrity I trudged through today, that future still might be a little ways off. – Jack Ventura

Event Homepage [RoboBusiness Conference & Expo 2007]

Product Page [via Electronista]

Froggie the Robotic Pen goes through quite a frog-like convolution just to open itself up, but it's about the most gadget delight you can get for 8 bucks. Fold it back up into itself, and it's hard to even tell what it is. Available in silver or black. It's not exactly robotic, but big fun nonetheless. See a close-up of both colors, after the jump.

We're digging that black one with its eerie-looking green buttons and trim. – Charlie White

Product Page [Grand Illusions, via Coolest Gadgets]

The core of the high school–level FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) is the design and building of a robotic competitor. Each year in early January, FIRST unveils the competition or "game" at an annual kick-off event that is beamed by NASA satellite to auditoriums all over the world. This is the first glimpse students get of the game they will have to design their robot to play.

Working in teams, students have just six weeks to create their robot. They get the opportunity to work with programmable radio controls, pneumatics, motors, electrical circuits, mechanics, machining, web design, computer animation, computer assisted design, and other technologies—just like professional engineers and technologists do.

–Adam Frucci with video by Richard Blakeley

FIRST Robotics Competition [NYC/NJ First]

Evidently the motion of the Echo robot will clue you into as to what you have in common with your neighbor, be it a shared hobby, a work-relation, academic similarities or total and complete lack of social skills. –Dana Bushman

Echo Robotics [via Robot Gossip]

Even though the JR RB-2000 robot is not actually grasping at the bar, this video is still pretty impressive. Hit it at about 40 seconds to watch the Paul Hamm routine begin. Now if they can just make a figure skating robot, my life will be complete. – Mark Wilson

Robot Gymnastics [robotdreams]

We saw a video of this robot puppy a few months back that was accompanied with little other information, but now we find out this robo-pooch picks up where Aibo left off with similar capabilities. For instance, it can sense when you pat him on the back or head because of those touch sensors located there, and understands a hundred of your commands, too.

Train Genibo to walk over to you and recite phone numbers or your schedule, or you can train him to tell you to go to hell if you want to. Or just enlist your kids to do those things for you for free. No pricing or in availability information was revealed yet. – Charlie White

Cute pet robot 'Genibo' [AVing.net]

Man's Dream Takes First Step Forward [Honda, via OhGizmo]

Scientists formulate theories about how various systems of the human body work, and roboticists believe that some of these theories can be verified or rejected by building robots.

Good luck gentlemen, and try not to get us all killed.

A Meeting Of The Metal Minds [Popular Mechanics]

Your small business looking for a good portable speakerphone to use with Skype? Jim Courtney over at Skype Journal got the US Robotics Speakerphone we told you about a while back. He says the setup's a breeze (plugs into USB port, no power adapter or software drivers) and audio quality is high:

I called Bill Campbell on Skype; certainly at my end his voice was of sufficient volume and clear. Noting the full duplex nature of the device, Bill reports that at his end there was no "barrel effect." Convenient volume and mute buttons allow you to manage your conversation without accessing the computer application. As the final measure we were able to carry on a normal conversation with no impediment caused by the technology.

The USR Speakerphone's currently available online from anywhere between $40 to $65, a nice low price that makes it a good affordable option for business travelers, or even families that use Skype to call Grampa so the kids make it into the will.

US Robotics Speakerphone: a Wish Answered [Skype Journal]

Jon Lund took some time out from liveblogging the CustomerMade conference in Copenhagen to email in and tell us that according to Soren Lund of Lego, the software behind the upcoming highly anticipated Mindstorms NXT will be published as open source; Lego is currently in the last stage, figuring out which public domain license to use before releasing it. Power to the people!

Mindstorms NXT has been available to pre-order at various online retailers since April 1st. MSRP is $249.99 and it should start shipping in August.

Breaking news: Lego only days aways from launching Mindstorms as open source [New Media Trends]
LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Pre-Order Starts April 1 [Gizmodo]

You fans of LEGO MINDSTORMS had better mark your calendars for April 1, as that's the date the LEGO Shop and retailers like Amazon, Target, Fry's and Wal-Mart will start taking pre-orders for the new MINDSTORMS NXT. Pre-ordering is the only way you can be sure to get a box of the highly-anticipated NXT, even at $249.99.

LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT [LEGO Shop, via nxtbot.com Blog]

Got this odd little move of a unique mouse that uses yaw and pitch instead of motion to move the cursor on the screen. Might be a little weird at first, but I do see the value. Any tech company that uses U2 in their video has to be on to something, right?

We couldn't figure out where this video came from on the Iguana Robotics page, but we'll do a little digging.

Product Page [Iguana Robotics]

We already showed you the Actiontec Chatterbox, a hands-free USB speakerphone for Skype, so it should be no surprise there's competition out there. Take this US Robotics USB Internet Speakerphone, the newest in the company's Skype family of products. Just $50, it includes echo cancellation technology, volume and mute buttons, full-duplex operation, and it's light and easy to tote around. 2006 looks like the big year for Skype, and aren't we happy! I can't say the same for the likes of Verizon, but they've been scamming us for so long with long distance calls, they deserve all they get.

U.S. Robotics USB Skype Speakerphone [Bios Magazine]

US Robotics isn't fooling around. Its Wireless Gateway USR019108 is a broadband networking solution that combines the company's exclusive MaxG with ADSL2+ technology for a complete broadband networking solution that encompasses a router and a print server. Obviously great for home networks, it's also perfect for any small business needs. And if your broadband provider isn't giving you ADSL+, the product does support existing ADSL connections. The Gateway comes with four Ethernet network ports and says that it can deliver up to 50 percent improvement in signal range and 125Mbit/s wireless performance (compared to 54Mbit/s for standard 802.11g). Also includes one USB 2.0 port, one adjustable antenna, an SPI firewall, Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2)/802.11i and Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA), 802.1x authentication, 64/128-bit WEP encryption, SSID broadcast disable, VPN pass-through (PPTP, IPSec and L2TP), password protected configuration access, DMZ and virtual server support. One problem: It seems the MaxG technology isn't really up to par because to get the real speed and range across your network, you'll also need to purchase wireless adapters for all your computers and laptops. Uh oh.

U.S. Robotics Wireless MAXg ADSL2+ Gateway [Bios Magazine]
Specs and pricing for U.S. Robotics MaxG routers [CNET]