Sdtrk: the main theme from ‘Get Carter’ by Roy Budd

Y’know how the first podcast series of The Ricky Gervais Show had ‘Monkey News’ as a regular feature? Well, lately, ‘Shouting etc etc’ has turned into ‘Synthetiks News’. I mean, moreso than usual.

Soon he’ll be in two places at once
February 1, 2006

Students of Hiroshi Ishiguro will struggle to tell their teacher from his robotic doppelganger, writes Deborah Smith.

TRAVELLING long distances to meetings and conferences will soon be a thing of the past for Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro, the creator of the world’s most human-like robot – a female named Repliee Q2. Ishiguro, of Osaka University, is close to finishing an even more advanced robot – a male, this time – that will be a physical replica of himself.

“I will not need to come here again,” he told a conference in Sydney earlier this week. “I will send my android instead.”

The busy Japanese scientist expects his $500,000 lookalike will prove most valuable for avoiding the regular trips to see his research students at the ATR Intelligent Robotics and Communication Laboratories in Kyoto, an hour’s drive away from his Osaka office.

Its lifelike presence will keep his researchers on their toes during teleconferences, he hopes. “If they feel my authority with my android there, it will be good,” he told the Herald.

Hollywood’s robotic creations usually have hard, metallic shells. But people prefer human-like machines with soft skin, Ishiguro says. “They don’t like to spend time with a robot-like robot.”
the rest of the article is here

This is exactly the sort of thing Andy Warhol was attempting to do. Even back during the Sixties, long before the concept of an Android double had crossed his mind, he had Factory hanger-on Alan Midgette do the lecture circuit thing dressed as Andy — black rollneck jumper, some talc liberally sprinkled in his hair, black shades, the lot. But this is even better. We have the technology.

So will the Android Ishiguro-san be allowed to eventually head new robotics projects? That would be very… meta. But entirely appropriate!

Technorati tags: Actroid, Repliee, Gynoid, Andy Warhol

Sdtrk: ‘Un br Che’ by Merzbow

Checking the stats for ‘Shouting etc etc’, I see that the issue of Image has indeed hit the (Finnish) stands! It’s the issue with Alex Kapranos and Kelly Osbourne, or whoever the hell they are, on the cover.

Alex and Kelly went cosplaying as Jack and Meg White this year

Also, suzi9mm’s post helped quite a bit, too. 🙂
Sidore-chan and I say a hearty ‘Hallo!’ to everyone dropping in from the aforementioned places. Enjoy your stay, leave a comment, try the fondue, etc etc

UPDATE (5.50 pm): Just received my copy through the post!
I, err, can’t read a word of it! But it looks ace

Technorati tags: Davecat, Sidore, RealDoll, Elena Dorfman, iDollator

Sdtrk: ‘A bargain at twice the price’ by Vitesse

I have to agree with Ryan here — South Korea’s lookin’ rather good right about now. Well, in a couple of years, anyway.

In a Wired South Korea, Robots Will Feel Right at Home
By NORIMITSU ONISHI
Published: April 2, 2006

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea, the world’s most wired country, is rushing to turn what sounds like science fiction into everyday life. The government, which succeeded in getting broadband Internet into 72 percent of all households in the last half decade, has marshaled an army of scientists and business leaders to make robots full members of society.

By 2007, networked robots that, say, relay messages to parents, teach children English and sing and dance for them when they are bored, are scheduled to enter mass production. Outside the home, they are expected to guide customers at post offices or patrol public areas, searching for intruders and transmitting images to monitoring centers.

If all goes according to plan, robots will be in every South Korean household between 2015 and 2020. That is the prediction, at least, of the Ministry of Information and Communication, which has grouped more than 30 companies, as well as 1,000 scientists from universities and research institutes, under its wing. Some want to move even faster.

“My personal goal is to put a robot in every home by 2010,” said Oh Sang Rok, manager of the ministry’s intelligent service robot project.

(the rest of the article is here. Since the article’s on the money-grubbing New York Times, you’ll have to log in to see the whole article; in which case, you can either use my login — hope_u_like_it, password 123456 — or get round to bugmenot.com and use another one)

It’s almost as if South Korea has said, ‘You know, the simple fact that North Korea’s government even exists is spewing poison into the very earth’s atmosphere, and by doing what we’re doing, we’re trying to put Right what they’re putting Wrong.’
Good job, South Korea, and keep it up! If we can’t have Actroids immediately, we’ll settle for Android SAYA

*I was originally going to title this one ‘Robot Seoul’, after the Add N to (X) track ‘Robot New York’, but no-one would get it, and instead believe that I was just making a horrible pun

Sdtrk: ‘The sun ain’t gonna shine anymore’ by The Walker brothers

It’s Sunday eve! I should be writing Emails and calling people, but instead I’ve been playing through ‘Devil may cry 3‘ using Vergil (he doesn’t have a gun — he just launches spectral swords at his opponents instead), and watching the original (read: Good) ‘Bedazzled!‘ So I have nowt of any real significance to write about today. Sorry!