Robotics+AI=Robot Vacuum Cleaner

I recently wrote about robots and artificial intelligence.

I cannot leave those two subjects without mentioning what may well be the pinnacle of achievement of those two endeavours: the robot vacuum cleaner!

Imagine a device which can:

• Vacuum your house, and can remember where it has been and where it has not.
• Navigate around obstacles, and which is smart enough not to fall down steps.
• Return to its base when it has finished or when it needs to recharge.

You don't need to imagine such a device, you can go out and buy one.

The newest ones can even return to their base to empty themselves!

Pure genius.

I don't have one myself, but I know someone who has and she loves it.

So if I sounded in previous postings as if I were disappointed with the progress in robotics and AI then I now stand corrected!!


Here is a picture of a recent self-emptying model parked at its base station:

So if you're ever wondering what to get me for my birthday...

The Three Investigators

When I was a kid, my favourite series of stories was The Three Investigators.

I can't remember how I got the first book (The Secret of Terror Castle) but I loved it and I went on to get many more from the series.

It's hard to remember, from this vantage point, what exactly I found so special about the books.

The three boys (Jupiter, Pete, and Bob) lived in the (imaginary) town of "Rocky Beach" in California. This was close to LA and Hollywood. So this would have made it exotic for me.

And Jupiter lived in a salvage yard, and had a secret "headquarters" hidden by piles of junk, with cleverly disguised entrances with strange code names. I know I loved this.

And the stories were scary. Another big plus. And they were clever and well written.

And my 3 sisters had no interest in them. Again this would be a big plus for me.

The characters were created by Robert Arthur, who wrote 10 of the original 43 books, between 1964 and 1969.

The edition I bought was by Armada Books and seem to have been published in the 70's.

Anyway, I kept the books all these years and I have just finished reading the first book to my own son, who is now 7. He seemed to enjoy it and I have now started the second book. It's quite possible that I am getting a bigger kick out of reading them than he is!

Here is a link to an official website, created by Robert Arthur's daughter, Elizabeth.

Here is the cover of the first book as it appears on my copy:

Opening Ceremony - London 2012

I watched the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics on TV yesterday.

Very impressive. Congrats to Danny Boyle and all those involved.

The high points for me were when the Olympic symbol was formed high overhead. And the lighting of the Olympic "cauldron". Amazing.

I enjoyed the comic moments too. James Bond and the Queen. Rowan Atkinson on keyboards.

Some parts of it were very strange too though. The whole bit about the NHS. And what does Tim Berners-Lee have to do with sport?!

The part where all of the teams file on one after another was boring as usual. They have to find a way to make that more interesting. Strangely one of the BBC commentary team said that it was his favourite part. Perhaps because they don't have to think of anything to say - they just name the team, the person carrying the flag, when they first competed, and how many medals they have won!

Anyway, a good start and hopefully this will be a great Olympics.

Here is a picture of the cauldron when all of the parts had moved into place:

TED - Adding 10 years to your life

I mentioned TEDx in a previous posting but I have never mentioned TED directly.

TED stands for "Technology, Entertainment, Design" and the site is full of videos of talks which are generally intriguing and sometimes inspiring. There is also a nice app for Android (and iPhone too, I imagine) which allows you to watch the videos from anywhere.

The talk I am referring to in this posting was given by Jane McGonigal.

In the talk she says that games can improve the quality of life. Further, she says that you can introduce the principles of games into your ordinary life to recover from illness or injury, or to introduce improvements which will actually extend your lifespan!

I encourage you to watch the video.

Then try to use Jane's instructions to improve your "resilience" in the following areas (through "power-ups"):

• Physical - never sit still for more than an hour
• Mental - tackle tiny tasks to exercise your willpower "muscle"
• Emotional - have 3 "positive" emotions for each negative one (look at baby animals!)
• Social - friends, family, community, gratitude

Here is a link to Jane's website and here is a still of Jane from her talk:

Supernatural TV Show

I don't like horror movies. Never have.

The scariest movies I have ever seen were probably (in creation date order):
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
The Omega Man (1971)
The Hitcher (1986)
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
The Sixth Sense (1999)
Hannibal (2001)
The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005)
Silent Hill (2006)

Some of those movies were actually very good.

But real horror movie fans will be laughing at my tame selection.

Surprising then (to me at least) that my favourite TV show at the moment is Supernatural.

I was late coming to the show (a friend put me on to it a few months ago) but because I am now addicted to it I have been catching up fast. I am now half way through season 6. That's the great thing about coming to a show which already has 7 completed seasons and an 8th on the way: you can go straight from one episode to the next, and straight from one season to the next.

I don't know which is my favourite episode, but I know which one is the funniest. It was entitled "Yellow Fever" and came in season 4. In the episode Dean catches "ghost sickness" and becomes increasingly scared as the episode progresses. The episode provides Jensen Ackles with a great opportunity to showcase his comic acting (and the show has little enough of that!)

Here is a shot from the episode where Dean and Sam are hunting the ghost and Dean is getting more than a little nervous:

Stephen Covey - The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Last week, on the 16th of July to be precise, Stephen Covey passed away at the age of 79.

He was the author of a number of books, the most famous being The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.




To remind us all, here is a list of those 7 habits:

• Be Practive
• Begin with the End in Mind
• Put First Things First
• Think Win/Win
• Seek First To Understand, Then To Be Understood
• Synergize
• Sharpen the Saw

A fantastic book and a fantastic legacy.

Posting #100

Blogger tells me that this is my 100th posting.

My first posting was on the 21st September last year. 100 postings in 306 days. That's about 1 every 3 days.

When I started blogging, I wasn't sure what I would blog about. I wasn't even sure if I would enjoy blogging and if I would stick at it.

But I do enjoy it, and I have no intention of stopping.

To be honest, I think I'm a little addicted to blogging. I'm always planning new blog postings. I have a list of topics for future postings. The list has 32 items in it (31 now that I have created this posting!).

When I don't post anything for a while (I didn't post anything while I was on my 2 week holiday), I invariably write extra postings when I resume (this is my 7th posting in the last 3 days!)

If you're thinking of starting a blog, I would encourage you to give it a try. Perhaps, like me, you'll find you're addicted. And surely this is one of the most harmless of addictions!

Android games looking for too many permissions

I was considering installing a game called "SAMURAI vs ZOMBIES DEFENSE" when I looked at the list of permissions it required. These are:

• Storage
• System tools (including "automatically start at boot" and "retrieve running applications")
• Your location
• Phone calls ("read phone status and ID")
• Network communication
• Hardware controls
• Your accounts ("discover known accounts")

Now maybe I'm paranoid, but I decide that this was too much and I didn't proceed with the install.

The real red flags for me were "your location", "phone calls" and "your accounts". Why would a game need these?

I then installed "aSpotCat" so I could easily check into the decisions I had made previously (it allows you to view installed apps by permission).

Under "Services that cost you money" and specifically "send SMS messages" I found "Tetris trial". I deleted it.

Under "Your accounts" and "discover known accounts" I found "Fruit Ninja Free". I deleted that too.

Under "Your location" and "fine (GPS) location" I found "Get the Rope Free". Also deleted.

Again, I don't know if I am being paranoid, but I don't think these games should be seeking these permissions.

Street Performers World Championships

We attended an event with the very grand title of the "Street Performers World Championships" in Dublin over the weekend.

It's a fun free event that takes place in Merrion Square (and apparently in Cork too) every year and we try to attend most years.

This year (as with previous years we have been there) the weather was extremely kind.

Mario (Queen of the Circus) is a favourite of ours and we went to see him first. He did not disappoint. He has a new show which tells how he used to be a Prince before he became the Queen. The introduction of music from the world's greater singer/songwriter suits me just fine!

We also watched Lisa Lottie, Jonathan Burns, Reuben Dot Dot Dot, and Hakuna Matata. The pick of that bunch was Reuben Dot Dot Dot. Only found out afterwards that Reuben and Lisa are husband and wife.

The winner this year was "Cirque no problem". We didn't see them unfortunately but that fact that they won means that they can come back next year if they wish to do so.

Here's a picture I took of Mario at the start of his performance (unfortunately the picture does not capture either the sunshine or the size of the crowd):

Spider-Man Outstanding Scenes

I mentioned in my last post that I greatly prefer the original Sam Raimi Spider-Man movies to the "reboot".

Here are two absolutely outstanding scenes from Spider-Man 2 which (for me) prove my point:

The Amazing Spider-Man

Went with the family to see The Amazing Spider-Man the other day.

As a big fan of the 3 movies by Sam Raimi,  Tobey Maguire, and Kirsten Dunst, I was originally very sad to hear that the Spider-Man movies were to be "rebooted".

But when I saw that it had a score of 7.6 on IMDB (versus 7.4 and 7.5 for Spider-Man 1 and 2) I thought that there must be something to recommend it.

I was wrong.

The movie is rubbish from start to finish. I couldn't begin to list the things I didn't like about it, so I won't.

I will say that I am a fan of both Martin Sheen and Sally Field but I didn't think they were nearly as good as Cliff Robertson and Rosemary Harris in the same roles.

The only ray of light in the whole thing was Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy.

Oh and the cameo by Stan Lee is very funny.

I am aware, of course, that people almost never like the second version of a song as much as the first version that they hear. It's human nature and probably applies just as much to movies as it does to songs. So I may have fallen into that trap. But I don't think so. I just don't think it's any good.

One of the biggest failings is that I just don't like the new version of Peter Parker. He seems to have very few redeeming qualities. In the original movies, Peter has a very strong code of honour. In this movie, he seems to have no code of honour at all. This is especially evident in what he says at the end of the movie.

One thing I may have learned from this is that the Metacritic score on IMDB may be a better guide to quality than the IMDB rating. The four Metacritic scores are:
Spider-Man: 73/100
Spider-Man 2: 83/100
Spider-Man 3: 59/100
The Amazing Spider-Man: 66/100

Since I'm unwilling to include a photo from the movie, here is one from the comics where Spider-Man confronts The Lizard:

Liars and Bankers

Apparently the Bank of Ireland is sending customer who have a "Laser card" a replacement card which is a "Visa Debit card".

I was wondering why they are doing this. Luckily they have a leaflet which includes some "Frequently Asked Questions". Here is the one that tackled my question:

Q: What has the Bank if Ireland moved to a Visa Debit card?

A: Visa is an international brand that offers more convenience, greater access to your money, and more protection for the goods you buy.

So the Bank is asking us to believe that the reason they are going to the trouble and expense of replacing existing cards is for the good of their customers.

Pull the other one!

It is bad enough that the Bank is one of the banks (albeit not the worst of them) that has brought this country to its knees. But now they have decided to lie to their customers. And we own the Bank!

Now I don't claim to know why the Bank is doing this. But I certainly don't believe that the only (or even the main) reason is because it is better for customers.

Holiday in Kenmare, Co Kerry

We had a 2 week holiday in Kenmare, Co Kerry this year. Kerry is a fantastic part of Ireland and Kenmare is a fabulous town. We had a great time.

We stayed in the lodges in the Kenmare Bay Hotel. We would recommend the lodges as a place to stay.

There is so much to see and do there. Highlights of the trip for us were:

• The Gap of Dunloe
• Seeing the seals in Kenmare Bay
• Gleninchaquin
• Garnish Island off Glengarriff

Here are a few of the photos I took with my phone: