IBM's Watson: Now for 'Top Chef'?

Watson in his "Jeopardy" days.

(Credit:
IBM/YouTube; screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)

Great chefs are crazy.

There are many kinds of crazy. Some of these culinarians rant, rave, and spit fire and brimstone. Some pore over their ingredients like scientists: quiet, brooding, and deeply serious.

All believe they can create their own particular gastronomic dreams, ones nobody else can copy. Especially not a computer.

IBM thinks different.

Having seen its Watson computer crush mere humans at the trivial game of "Jeopardy," the company is now setting the machine's sights on bigger business.

According to The New York Times, the world of haute cuisine is one in which IBM would like to make a robotic incursion.

Indeed, Watson has already put a tiny part of his mind into creating something called the Spanish Crescent.

This breakfast pastry comprised cocoa, saffron, black pepper, almonds, and honey -- but not butter. Oh, yes, Watson is a very California chef.

More Technically Incorrect

This little pastry was served only to insiders. And the cooks who had to execute it had to battle with the idea of using vegetable oil rather than butter.

So one can only imagine what the exalted palates of chefs like Jose Andres, Eric Ripert, and "Top Chef"'s Tom Colicchio might make of Watson's recipes.

However, what if the Watson name was put behind a restaurant concept? Wouldn't that be something that would fascinate?

Imagine the restaurant's interior design. There'd be servers all around the room. Large, lumpy computers, that is.

As for human servers, perhaps there'd be little need. Perhaps you'd just order on an
iPad and the food would shoot up from below your table on a futuristic dumbwaiter.

And the food at Chez Watson? His handlers believe one of Watson's great strengths is to know very quickly what the wrong answers are.

So one can only hope that he would create inventive but wonderful combinations that would then be executed by compliant cooks who would bow to his HALness.

One can also hope that Chez Watson would get a better review in The New York Times than did Guy Fieri's American Kitchen & Bar In Times Square.

But in case it didn't, IBM's engineers have already taken precautions. They discovered earlier this year that Watson had memorized the Urban Dictionary. Like so many chefs, he had a proclivity for profanity, which has now been dampened.

So Chez Watson's kitchen will be, in every sense, pristine.

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Scientists link rats to real-world 'Matrix' via the Internet

These guys are, like, totally on the same wavelength.

(Credit:
Screenshot by Eric Mack/CNET)

There is officially a Wachowski Brothers-style "Matrix" for rodents.

Scientists in North Carolina and Brazil have connected the brains of two rats using "brain-to-brain interfaces" that can connect directly or via the Internet. These allow the rodents to share sensory information, collaborate on tasks to earn rewards, and fight back against the shadowy and cyber-apocalyptic forces that have enslaved them.

There's actually no evidence of the latter, but I'd still suggest researchers watch out for any rats that start displaying a propensity for martial arts.

Hollywood franchises aside for a moment, the experiment was conducted by basically training one "encoder" rat in a lab to press a certain lever (represented by a certain color) to earn a food pellet as a reward. A copy of the brain activity behind that behavioral decision was then translated into a pattern of electrical stimulation that could be transported directly to another "decoder" rat's brain. That decoder rat was then able to press the same correct lever and receive its reward 70 percent of the time without undergoing the same training or receiving any other visual cues about which lever to select.

As if that wasn't freaky enough, the brain-to-brain communication between the two rats was two-way and the encoder rat didn't get its full treat if the decoder rat made the wrong choice. This twist led the rats to actually work together.

"We saw that when the decoder rat committed an error, the encoder basically changed both its brain function and behavior to make it easier for its partner to get it right," Duke University Medical Center neurobiologist Miguel Nicolelis said in a statement.

"The encoder improved the signal to-noise ratio of its brain activity that represented the decision, so the signal became cleaner and easier to detect. And it made a quicker, cleaner decision to choose the correct lever to press. Invariably, when the encoder made those adaptations, the decoder got the right decision more often, so they both got a better reward."

Just to prove that rats don't use some sort of whisker-based sonar that we haven't yet decoded, a similar experiment was conducted with two rats attached to brain-to-brain interfaces, but separated by thousands of miles. The brain-to-brain connection in this case was held together by sending data over the Internet. The researchers found that even with the associated noisy transmission and signal delays, the distant rats were still able to work together to get fed.

This is what rodent cooperation looks like.

(Credit:
Duke University)

Turns out, there is a point to all this beyond just playing Dr. Frankenstein.

"These experiments (PDF) showed that we have established a sophisticated, direct communication linkage between brains, and that the decoder brain is working as a pattern-recognition device. So basically, we are creating what I call an organic computer," Nicolelis explains.

So now that we have created telepathic rats, what's next? Why, networked brains, of course!

Nicolelis believes it could be possible to connect more than just two brains together to form what he calls a "brain-net."

And you thought the "Matrix" reference was just link bait.

"We cannot even predict what kinds of emergent properties would appear when animals begin interacting as part of a 'brain-net'," Nicolelis said. "In theory, you could imagine that a combination of brains could provide solutions that individual brains cannot achieve by themselves."

This stuff isn't quite in the realm of totally nutso-mad-scientist fodder, however. Some of the possible practical applications include helping us to better understand the social interactions between animals, and recording networked brain signals could also be beneficial to current research aimed at restoring motor control to paralyzed people.

But I still think it's a good idea to keep Bruce Lee flicks out of the view of any brain-networked animal.

The researchers have published their findings in Scientific Reports. Nicolelis describes the experiments in the video below.

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Former Groupon CEO leaks outgoing memo: 'I was fired today'

Groupon CEO Andrew Mason

(Credit:
Dan Farber/CNET)

Not waiting for a leak, newly ousted Groupon CEO Andrew Mason made his departing memo public this afternoon.

In it, Mason claims responsibility for missing expectations and the company's stock price, and says that a "fresh CEO" earns the company a chance at a second chance.

Mason also shows a geeky, youthful spirit, making the comparison of running the company this far to the popular, though notoriously difficult 1991 video game Battletoads.

You can read the whole memo below, which Mason linked to in a Tweet:

(This is for Groupon employees, but I'm posting it publicly since it will leak anyway)

People of Groupon,

After four and a half intense and wonderful years as CEO of Groupon, I've decided that I'd like to spend more time with my family. Just kidding - I was fired today. If you're wondering why... you haven't been paying attention. From controversial metrics in our S1 to our material weakness to two quarters of missing our own expectations and a stock price that's hovering around one quarter of our listing price, the events of the last year and a half speak for themselves. As CEO, I am accountable.

You are doing amazing things at Groupon, and you deserve the outside world to give you a second chance. I'm getting in the way of that. A fresh CEO earns you that chance. The board is aligned behind the strategy we've shared over the last few months, and I've never seen you working together more effectively as a global company - it's time to give Groupon a relief valve from the public noise.

For those who are concerned about me, please don't be - I love Groupon, and I'm terribly proud of what we've created. I'm OK with having failed at this part of the journey. If Groupon was Battletoads, it would be like I made it all the way to the Terra Tubes without dying on my first ever play through. I am so lucky to have had the opportunity to take the company this far with all of you. I'll now take some time to decompress (FYI I'm looking for a good fat camp to lose my Groupon 40, if anyone has a suggestion), and then maybe I'll figure out how to channel this experience into something productive.

If there's one piece of wisdom that this simple pilgrim would like to impart upon you: have the courage to start with the customer. My biggest regrets are the moments that I let a lack of data override my intuition on what's best for our customers. This leadership change gives you some breathing room to break bad habits and deliver sustainable customer happiness - don't waste the opportunity!

I will miss you terribly.

Love,

Andrew

In a follow-up tweet, Mason joked that he was "good" on the fat camp recommendations:

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Apple gives more of Europe iTunes in the cloud features

Late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs announces iTunes in the Cloud at WWDC 2011.

(Credit:
Donald Bell/CNET)

Nearly a dozen European countries now have access to a key iTunes feature that lets users re-download purchased video content.

iTunes users in 11 countries, including France, Sweden and Belgium, can now view and re-download movies they bought from Apple. Previously, users in those countries would have needed to back up that file in the event that the device it was on was damaged or stolen.

The full list of countries in this latest batch (per The Next Web) includes Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden. France was reportedly the only one to get re-downloads of purchased TV shows as part of the rollout too.

Besides video content like movies and TV shows, the feature also works with music, music videos, apps and books -- all purchased through Apple's various digital stores. Apple maintains a list of countries that can use the feature which remains unavailable for many when it comes to music, TV shows and movies, which are tied to deals Apple has made with studios.

The expansion is the latest for Apple, which introduced the feature alongside iCloud at its annual developers conference in June 2011. Apple's last big rollout of it outside the U.S. was last July, which brought movies to the U.K., Canada, and about 35 other countries.

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Sony needs help naming its pink balls

The Sony SRS-BTV5 portable speaker features Bluetooth, NFC, and 5-hour battery life.

(Credit:
Sony)

It's not every day the president of Sony writes a blog post headlined "Help Sony's President Name His Pink Audio Balls."

What balls are we talking about? Today, Sony U.S. President Phil Molyneux took to the company's official blog and asked the Internet to leave a comment with a new name for the anemic-sounding SRS-BTV5 Bluetooth Wireless Mobile Speaker. If he likes the name, he'll push it through as the product's new moniker. The people behind the top five names get free -- ahem -- balls.

"In my 25 years with Sony, we've tended to drift away from some of the more clever and catchy product names like Walkman," Molyneux said in the post. Molyneux noted that setbacks from trademarks, international laws, and focus group testing, as well as packaging considerations, can turn the simple idea of naming a product into a rather difficult endeavor -- an endeavor that in some cases can include more than 600 names from the get-go.

This isn't the first time Molyneux has made a humorous reference to the round speaker. He made a similar statement upon announcing the product at
CES: "I carry my pink balls with me wherever I go." The remark inspired chuckles and confused looks from the crowd media types at the event.

Sony plans black and white variants of the $69 audio ball, which arrive along with the pink version on March 5. I can only imagine the feedback Molyneux would receive if the blog post contained either of two other shades in the title.

The "Help us with a Name" contest runs through March 8.

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Myo gesture-control armband uses muscle power

The Myo armband uses your muscles for gesture control.

(Credit:
Thalmic Labs)

From "Minority Report" to the Kinect, we've been on a tech quest for touchless gesture control that frees us from the shackles of mice and old-style controllers. We want to get in on the action and use movement to command our digital devices.

Myo from Thalmic Labs takes that gesture-control desire and builds it into an armband you wear on your forearm.

The Myo is available for pre-order. (Click to enlarge.)

(Credit:
Myo)

The Myo uses a combination of motion sensors and muscle activity sensors to track gestures. When you snap your fingers, wave your hand, or point your finger, it translates that movement into a gesture based on the muscles used. An ARM processor and rechargeable batteries power the armband, which communicates with devices using Bluetooth low energy.

The Myo team suggests using the armband to "unleash your inner Jedi," an enormously appealing idea. It could potentially be used to not only control your computer, but also to fly quadrocopters, interface with iOS and
Android, and play video games. The potential is limited only by what developers can create.

The armband will work from the get-go with
Mac and PC computers, enabling control of popular activities like Web browsing, media content, and watching videos. I, for one, am eager to see the gaming abilities showcased.

The Myo can be preordered for $149 and is expected to ship in late 2013. Its success may well depend on the number of applications it will work with.

Details on the device are still pretty thin, but a promotional video shows the direction Thalmic Labs is taking. What do you think? Is this a more appealing technology than existing options like the camera-based Kinect?

(Via Reddit)

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YouTube code refers to paid channel subscriptions

Paid channel subscriptions on YouTube may be closer than previously thought.

After reports last month that YouTube was considering offering channels that would require a fee to access, code has now appeared that suggests Google is already laying the software foundation for subscription channels.

According to Android Police, the latest version of YouTube for
Android includes two lines of code that refer to paid channel subscriptions. The code, apparently intended to generate messages on users' screens, say:

You can only subscribe to this paid channel on your computer.

You can only unsubscribe from this paid channel on your computer.

YouTube had approached a handful of producers about developing content for a subscription platform that might the Google-owned video-sharing site hoped to launch this year, according to an AdAge report in January. YouTube was also mulling a plan to charge for other items, such as entire libraries of videos, live events, and even self-help or financial advice shows, AdAge reported.

A paid content platform would offer viewers an alternative to traditional TV, as well as deliver new revenue streams through subscriptions and ads placed in the channels.

YouTube has floated the idea of launching subscription services in the past but has so far balked at the idea. YouTube CEO Salar Kamangar said in February 2012 that his company was considering allowing content providers to create their own, unique subscription-based video service on the site.

CNET has contacted YouTube for comment on the code and will update this report when we learn more.

(Via The Verge)

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Google laptop shows Apple a thing or two

The 3.3-pound Google Chromebook Pixel sports a 12.85-inch, 2,560x1,700-pixel display and an Intel Core i5 processor.

(Credit:
Stephen Shankland/CNET)

Thank you, Google. For obsoleting my MacBook.

Question: What two killer hardware features are missing on MacBooks? My answer: a touch screen and 4G.

What a coincidence. Just what Google is offering on the Chromebook Pixel. And in a package that comes close to matching the MacBook's aesthetics. (I'm focusing strictly on the hardware for the moment.)

Google is saying, at least in the case of touch, hey Apple, you don't get it.

Not everyone may agree with that. Take the laptop flat-earthers. They will say touch is stupid (or "pointless" as one columnist said) on a laptop. Yeah right, just like the mouse was a stupid idea.

Then there's Apple's your-arm-wants-to-fall-off on vertical touch surfaces excuse. That will eventually give way to a touch-screen MacBook of some sort. You heard it here first.

The point is, Google knows (they're not stupid) that touch is important on a laptop. As does Microsoft (Windows 8 and Surface). That leaves Apple in Luddite land.

4G: And some might say that a Chromebook needs 4G more than a MacBook because the Chromebook is so immersed in the cloud. Hmm, my MacBook spends lots of time in the cloud too. And the last time I used it on the road, I was constantly hauling out my Verizon MiFi or running down my iPhone's battery with the Personal Hotspot. Come on, LTE belongs in a laptop.

And the operating system? I believe that cool hardware is the first step in luring consumers to a new operating environment.

While Chrome OS is still a work in progress (and lacks key features that many users need), with the success of
Android, I do think it's possible that an improved Chrome OS combined with a second-generation Chromebook Pixel could reel in more consumers.

Google certainly has my attention.

Google Chromebook Pixel.

(Credit:
CNET)

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Google to open registration for Google I/O March 13

Google co-founder showed off Google Glass at the 2012 Google I/O conference.

(Credit:
Stephen Shankland/CNET Networks)

Google fans will be happy to know that registration for the 2013 Google I/O conference will open Wednesday, March 13, 2013 at 7:00 AM PDT (GMT-7).

In December, Google announced that it had moved up its annual developer conference a month. The confab that assemblies more than 5,000 developers will take place in San Francisco May 15-17, 2013. Previous Google I/O's had been held in June. The company has posted the registration date and details on its developer Website and on the Google+ page dedicated to developers.

Google said it will keep registration open until tickets are sold out. But based on demand from previous years, Google predicts that tickets will sell out quickly. The price of the ticket is $900 for general attendees and $300 for academic attendees. Those looking to register need to have a Google+ account and a Google Wallet buyer account.

Why is Google I/O such a hot ticket? Google uses the Google I/O conference as an opportunity to make big announcements. In 2012, it showed off the next version of
Android version 4.1 Jellybean. It also debuted Google Now, the
Nexus 7 tablet, and
Google Glass. But the new products and announcements are only part of the appeal of Google I/O.

Every year Google also gives away hundreds of dollars worth of free equipment to every attendee, making the $900 entrance fee a valuable investment for gadget lovers. Last year, Google gave away the Nexus 7 tablet running the new Jellybean software,the latest Samsung Chromebook hardware, and the ill-fated Nexus Q, home entertainment accessory.

Of course, attendees will be anxiously awaiting this year's announcements and giveaways, but many are also likely intrigued to see if Google can top the theatrics of last year's death-defying skydive stunt that offered a live demonstration of Google Glass. During one of the keynote events, Google co-founder Sergey Brin took the stage and showed a live video of a team of skydivers who were jumping out of a plane and landing on top of the Moscone Center. The whole experience was streamed live from the Google Glasses that the skydivers were wearing.

Google is keeping mum on this year's announcements and hasn't said yet if it's planning another surprise stunt. CNET hopes to get press passes again this year to cover all the news. So even if you aren't able to get a ticket to the show, you will find all the details about new products and other announcements and demonstrations right here.

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How to manage OS X boot options with wireless keyboards

Apple offers several alternative boot environments for OS X that can help you troubleshoot problems you might be experiencing, which can be invoked by holding various key combinations at startup. Of these, Safe Mode is perhaps the most common; it offers a limited boot environment and can be started by holding the Shift key. In addition there is Single User mode (Command-S) for a command-line interface, Apple's hardware diagnostics tests (the "D" key), Target Disk mode (the "T" key), and holding the Option key will bring up the boot loader for choosing a startup disk.

These options can be invoked by holding their respective key combinations immediately when powering on the system; however, if you use Apple's Bluetooth keyboard, you could find that the system may ignore these inputs and boot normally. While you might assume that these options require a USB keyboard or other physical connection, this is not always the case. There are a couple of workarounds if you find yourself in this situation.

Apple's Bluetooth hardware controllers activate after all of the system's self-tests at boot complete and the EFI firmware loads successfully, which is indicated by the system playing the standard
Mac startup sound. It is at this point that the system will accept boot variables, either stored in the PRAM or those being sent via keyboard inputs. These are then passed to the OS X kernel to invoke the desired startup sequence.

If any inputs are being sent via the Bluetooth keyboard before the controllers are active, then they will not be recognized by the system. However, if these inputs are performed after the controllers are activated, then they will be properly read. Therefore, for Bluetooth keyboards, be sure to press the desired key sequences after you hear the boot chimes and not before.

While this approach for wireless keyboards should work, it may not in all situations. Should that happen, you can try various alternative approaches, such as using a spare USB keyboard to connect and send the desired boot argument to your system. Alternately, you can manually adjust the system's PRAM variables to invoke these boot arguments the next time the system starts up.

Setting the boot arguments PRAM variable requires administrative access, and is done from the Terminal using the following command:

sudo nvram boot-args="VALUE"

In this command, the VALUE component is one or more of the following flags separated by spaces, that will tell the kernel to load in the corresponding way:

-s -- Single User Mode
-v -- Verbose Mode
-x -- Safe Mode
rd=DISKID -- force booting to a specific partition.

In the "rd=DISKID" option, DISKID is a BSD device ID such as "disk0s1" for the first partition or "slice" of the disk0 device. The DISKID value can also be "*hd:NUMBER" where NUMBER is the partition of the drive to use as the boot volume. For example, if you would like to load the system in Single User mode and boot from the first partition on the second hard drive in the system, then you would issue the following version of the command:

sudo nvram boot-args="-s rd=disk1s2"

The Target Disk mode and startup disk can be set in the system preferences, which may be preferable to using Terminal commands.

(Credit:
Screenshot by Topher Kessler/CNET)

The "boot-args" variable can be used for setting the above modes. but in addition if you need to load the system into Target Disk mode, you can do so by setting the "target-mode" PRAM variable in the following way (this will be enabled only once for the next time the system is started):

sudo nvram target-mode=1

The option for rebooting the system into Target Disk mode or choosing an alternative boot partition can be done in the Startup Disk system preferences pane, so using the Terminal for these options is not a requirement for those with wireless keyboards. If you want to boot to Safe, Verbose, or Single User modes and cannot do so at startup with a key command, you will need to use one of these Terminal command options.

A final word of note when adjusting PRAM values is how to revert any changes you make. By default the PRAM variables mentioned here are empty, so you can delete them by running the following commands:

sudo nvram -d boot-args

sudo nvram -d target-mode

A final approach to clearing these is to simply reset the system's PRAM by rebooting and holding down the Option-Command-P-R keys at startup. Again for a Bluetooth keyboard, this needs to be done after you hear the boot chimes, or using an alternative keyboard.

---

Questions? Comments? Have a fix? Post them below or !
Be sure to check us out on Twitter and the CNET Mac forums.

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FCC takes first step toward allocating more Wi-Fi spectrum

FCC Commissioners L to R: Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, Commissioner Robert M. McDowell, Chairman Julius Genachowski, Commissioner Mignon Clyburn and Commissioner Ajit Pai.

(Credit:
FCC)

The Federal Communications Commission took the first steps today toward freeing up more wireless spectrum to boost Wi-Fi data speeds and ease congestion on Wi-Fi networks in hotels, airports, and homes.

During its meeting today, the five-member commission approved a proposal that will allow 195 megahertz of additional wireless spectrum in the 5GHz band to be used for unlicensed Wi-Fi use. This will increase the amount of available unlicensed spectrum by 35 percent. This is the largest block of wireless spectrum the FCC has freed up for unlicensed use in 10 years.

The commission also agreed to create rules that would streamline the process to use more devices in this upper 5GHz band of spectrum.

What this additional spectrum means for average consumers is that they will eventually get faster uploads and downloads in Wi-Fi hot spots. And the additional capacity will also help alleviate congestion in major hubs, such as airports, convention centers, and other places where large numbers of people congregate.

The 5GHz band of spectrum that the FCC has targeted for unlicensed use is already being used by federal and non-federal users. And the agency will have to work with these other agencies to either free up the spectrum or share it with these other users.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski talked about freeing up this spectrum for unlicensed use last month at the Consumer Electronics Show. Today's vote means that the proposal is now open for public comment. At the end of the process, the FCC will write up official rules and regulations, which the agency will once again vote on.

The FCC has been working the past few years on freeing up additional wireless spectrum for wireless broadband use. The agency is currently writing rules for a wireless spectrum auction of lower frequency spectrum that broadcasters are voluntarily giving up. And the commission has also worked to reclassify spectrum designated for satellite use so that it could be used for wireless broadband services.

Chairman Genachowski has said several times publicly that it's also important to free up more unlicensed wireless spectrum. The commission has already taken steps in recent years to free up unlicensed spectrum in lower frequency bands. Lower frequency spectrum allows signals to travel longer distances and to penetrate obstacles like walls more easily.

In 2010, the FCC allocated unused spectrum between broadcast TV channels, called white spaces, for unlicensed use. And as part of the upcoming incentive broadcast wireless auctions, the FCC has also proposed to set aside some low-band spectrum for unlicensed use.

But the idea of setting aside spectrum for unlicensed use has been controversial. Some lawmakers would like to see the FCC auction as much spectrum as possible instead of allocating it for free unlicensed use. The thinking is that this spectrum can generate revenue to help pay off the national debt or fill budget deficits.

But FCC commissioners believe that freeing up more spectrum for unlicensed use will lead to innovation, as it has in the past. Commissioner Ajit Pai said:

Flexible unlicensed spectrum use was one of this country's great innovations in the 1980s...The Commission expanded several so-called junk bands to permit additional unlicensed uses and streamlined the Part 15 rules accordingly. Unlicensed spectrum in the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands is now some of the most valuable spectrum in the world for broadband. And consumers are the ultimate beneficiaries of unlicensed-use technologies such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

The commission also approved new regulation that will allow consumers to use approved and licensed signal boosters to fill gaps in wireless coverage. The new rules create two classes of signal boosters. One will be for consumer use while the other will be used by businesses. Each will have their own set of requirements to minimize interference with other wireless networks. The move is expected to alleviate dead spots in cellular wireless coverage.

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PlayStation 4 should go all-in on cloud-streaming games

Based on the steady stream of rumors about Sony's upcoming next-gen living room console, it's widely expected that gamers will be spending at least part of their time playing games streamed directly over the Internet.

According to the Wall Street Journal and others, Sony's acquisition of streaming game provider Gaikai in 2012 set the stage for streaming game content, and the new Sony console, whatever it's called, will offer both streamed games and games played via traditional optical disc, purportedly older catalog titles for the former, and newer games via the latter.

A move to streaming games is a far-thinking idea, and one that would reduce the need for large amounts of local storage for fully downloaded games, as well as the need to manufacture, transport, and store physical game discs -- with games joining music and movies as media types moving away from being distributed through retail stores on disc.

The idea of streaming game content is one we've been playing with for some time. The best-known player in this space is OnLive, a PC-based service that runs game software on a remote server farm and then streams the action, in real time, to players interacting via a controller or mouse/keyboard combo. Since that service launched in 2010, we've been reasonably impressed with it, although it works better for some games than others (for example, casual or third-person action games work better than first-person games, which are more sensitive to even the slightest lag).

The biggest pushback (besides the fact that OnLive has struggled to succeed) is that streaming games are far too reliant on your broadband Internet connection, which can be flaky, slow, or sometimes out altogether. This, coupled with the lag already built into live cloud game delivery, is enough to potentially turn off consumers.

Legitimate concerns, to be sure, and I have no illusion that today's A-list games could all be converted to cloud streaming right now and deliver the same high level of visual quality. But, the discussion about Sony and Gaikai reminds me of a conversation I had at the 2011 E3 video game trade show with John Carmack, a PC gaming legend and the lead programmer behind classics such as Doom and Quake. I asked him about streaming games in general, and OnLive specifically, and this is what he said:

I've played the OnLive stuff and a lot of people have just enough technical knowledge to count it out for the wrong reasons. When you talk about having a 50ms ping, that does not invalidate the process. One of the points that I make is that if you take a lot of the console games out there, and you're playing with your wireless controller, going through your post-process TV, the games themselves often have multiple frames of latency.

You get an event, you pipeline an animation, and it goes to the render thread and the GPU. A lot of games have over 100ms of latency in them right now. Now it's true that adding latency is always bad, and with OnLive, you're adding a compression step and two transmit steps.

But the laws of physics do not guarantee this to be a bad idea. I don't necessarily think any of the current players will live to see the pot of gold at the end of this rainbow, but I'd say it's almost a foregone conclusion that five or ten years from now, that's going to be a significant marketplace.

From a raw technical standpoint, it has too many positives going for it. There are negatives, but a lot of times, people will accept a big negative for a much bigger win. And the win for convenience and managing your library is huge. And the win for publishers and developers -- zero piracy, instant patching, all that data gathering -- are strong advantages. I don't think it's the big thing next year, but I think it's coming.

Even if the next-gen PlayStation kicks off with only a nod to streaming games, the era of the physical disc is still winding down. The current
Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and
Wii U all offer full game downloads (even if many of these consoles have limited onboard storage for full games), and a whole generation of media consumers already thinks of video and music as streaming products from Netflix, Spotify, and others, as opposed to something you get on a plastic disc.

The game publishers themselves would like nothing more than to kill disc-based gaming. Think of the fixed hard costs associated with manufacturing an optical disc, putting it in a box, loading it in a gas-guzzling truck, driving it to a store, placing it on a shelf, and waiting for a consumer to march in and buy it (to say nothing of the resale of used games, something game publishers hate). Many of these costs can be reduced in the future by digital distribution, both download and streaming -- not that gamers can expect to see any of the savings passed along to them.

Whatever new hardware is being announced by Sony later this week will surely include an optical drive, as will the inevitable Microsoft Xbox upgrade expected later this year. But if we take a look at the current state of laptops, there's something similar going on. Many popular models, from the
MacBook Air to almost every ultrabook, omit the once-ubiquitous DVD drive. Taken to its logical conclusion, this may be the last generation of living-room consoles that include support for physical game discs.

Sony's PlayStation event will be held in New York on February 20, starting at 3 p.m. PT/6 p.m. ET. You can tune in to the live blog here:

CNET's live coverage of Sony's event on Wednesday

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Asia chatter predicts increase in cost of Retina iPad Mini

Be careful what you wish for: a Retina iPad will add a lot of cost -- so a report claims.

(Credit:
Apple)

Chatter in Asia has it that the total cost of the iPad Mini could increase by almost a third -- though no word on whether that would impact price.

Commentary in Digitimes, which is close to the chain of component suppliers in Asia, said the jump to a Retina screen means adding costly display components.

If iPad mini adopts the Retina display, the dots per inch (DPI) will be higher and the brightness of the backlight modules will have to improve. This also means the number of LEDs used will...[increase the total cost] by more than 30% if it is equipped with the 7.9-inch Retina panel.

This commentary is similar to what Vinita Jakhanwal, a display analyst at IHS iSuppli, told CNET in November.

At that time, she said a Retina iPad Mini with a design identical to the current Mini would not have been possible. "They would have had to compromise on thickness and weight and price," she said.

But more than three months have passed since then. And it's not known if display technologies such as IGZO or some version of Low Temperature Polysilicon (LTPS) -- the latter used in the
iPhone 5 -- are beginning to address some of these display assembly challenges.

If those challenges are met, a Retina iPad Mini could potentially maintain its current design and even, possibly, its price, Jakhanwal said previously.

When Apple introduced the 9.7-inch Retina in March 2012, it maintained the same price.

The upcoming
Nexus 7, for example, is expected to have a Full HD display but maintain the same $199 starting price.

The 7-inch
tablet segment may account for 45 percent to 60 percent of total shipments this year, Digitimes said.

iPad Mini First Look: The teeny, tiny iPad

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Why Google's stores shouldn't look so much like Apple stores

Is this really different enough?

(Credit:
Crave CNET UK)

Some engineers have never dated a real person.

They've tried to, but it's hard for them to appreciate that real people don't necessarily use data to make decisions -- especially when it comes to love.

Perhaps their most embarrassing moments come when they try to mimic what non-engineers do in order to make themselves more attractive.

This mirrors some of the little issues that the Google brand has had over the years in becoming, well, human.

When you've spent you life believing that facts are everything, it's hard to imagine that people might prefer, oh, rounded corners or that ephemeral thing sometimes known as taste.

Google has made progress through some of its advertising. The "Jess Time" ad for Chrome was one of the very best tech ads of the 2012.

Yet when Google has wandered into retail, it has either believed that all you need is online or that an offline store ought to look rather like Apple's.

This is something against which Microsoft also struggles. It was almost comical when one Microsoft employee explained to me that its store looked -- at first glance -- a lot like the Apple store because the company used the same design firm.

This week, rumors surfaced that Google wants to make the next step in coming toward humanity by having its own shopping-mall retail presence.

The evidence so far from its pop-up stores -- as the picture above shows -- is that Google isn't thinking different. Or, at least, different enough.

If it fully intends to come out to the people -- to be itself-- then instead of having nice, clean retail staff in blue T-shirts (what brand does that remind you of?), it should embrace its true heart.

It should have real house-trained nerds, replete with bedhead and bad taste clothing, there for all to see. Yes, you could have nice, normal members of staff there to translate for them.

But the purpose of a retail store isn't merely to sell. It's to create street theater. Apple has its own version. Google must find its own too.

Instead of the now almost cliched clean lines and permanent white, it should make its stores look like excitable, sophisticated college playrooms, where books about dragons and vast Hulk hands are lying about and episodes of "Star Trek" and "Game of Thrones" are playing on huge screens.

More Technically Incorrect

It should expose itself fully as a brand that came out of nerdomania by parading its nerdomanic tendencies for all to see and making it lovable.

You might think this marginally insane. You might think that I am suffering from delusions of brandy.

Yet "The Big Bang Theory" has proved to be one of the most popular TV shows, not because the nerds are hidden away, but because they are in full view, with a beautiful counterpoint in a real person called Penny.

Imagine taking your kids, your lover, or your granny into a Google store and having them actually enjoy learning something about, say, comic books or Hermann von Helmholtz.

Imagine walking in and one of the Google nerds has dressed as The Flash, Batman, or Wonder Woman for the day, yet still finds a way to sell you a fascinating
Nexus 7.

In fact, wouldn't it be an excellent human resources idea, as well as a stimulus to make more uplifting products, if every Google engineer had to spend a certain period working in a Google retail store?

Mountain View should surely mine the more lofty, fantastic elements of its reality in order to create something unique and dramatic.

Otherwise, its stores might simply be accused of being Apple rip-offs.

And you know where that will ultimately end up. Yes, in front of Judge Lucy Koh.

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PlayStation 4 to stream games in real time over Net, says report

At the end of January, Sony announced a PlayStation event but gave few details. We'll get the 411 this coming Wednesday in New York.

Sony's acquisition last year of cloud-gaming company Gaikai may be reflected in a big way in the upcoming PlayStation 4.

The Wall Street Journal is citing inside sources in reporting that Sony's new gaming console, expected to debut Wednesday at an event in Manhattan, will let people play games streamed in real time over the Internet.

The report says the streams will involve games designed for the outgoing console, the
PlayStation 3. That could be an effort to deal with backward compatibility: last month the Journal reported that for the PS4, Sony would "likely" go with chips from AMD, rather than the Sony-IBM-Toshiba-developed Cell chip that's in the PS3 -- a move that could cause compatibility issues with current games. The new report from the WSJ says the PS4 will be able to accommodate new games stored on optical discs. It's not clear if new games would be streamed as well.

Streaming could also help Sony go at least some way toward addressing the popularity of simple games on smartphones and other devices. As CNET's Rich Brown mentioned when Sony bought Gaikai, the acquired firm seemed to offer potential in terms of enabling higher-end mobile gaming: "Imagine playing a core PlayStation...[game] on your console, then picking the game up exactly where you left off on your cell phone or
tablet," he wrote.

Sony announced the Gaikai deal in July of last year. The cloud service allows for the streaming of beefier games than those commonly played on iPhones and the like (Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja, and so on). Company co-founder David Perry told CNET back in 2010 that the service was a bit like game arcades back in the day: "You wanted to play the latest machines, but they were $5,000 to $10,000. So you stuck your quarters in." Gaikai created data centers designed to run any modern-day game, at any settings, and then focused on piping streams to the end user.

The Journal said it's not clear how Sony might charge for the streams.

For more on the expected PlayStation 4, check out Jeff Bakalar's overview, here.

Also, CNET will be live at the Sony event in midtown Manhattan next week. Be sure to follow along with our live blog to get the very latest on all the announcements.

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Report: Google to open U.S. retail stores later this year

Google Chrome Zone section of PC World on London's Tottenham Court Road.

(Credit:
CNET Crave U.K.)

Google plans to open its own retail stores across the United States, according to a new report, giving the increasingly hardware-focused company a place to show off its growing number of physical products.

Citing "an extremely reliable source," 9to5Google says the company "hopes to have the first flagship Google Stores open for the holidays in major metropolitan areas."

The report says Google accelerated plans to build physical stores because customers are unlikely to buy expensive hardware, including the upcoming Google Glass, without first having a chance to try it for free.

Google already has set up Chrome mini-stores inside U.S. Best Buy locations and electronic retailers in the United Kingdom. From the start, those stores have prompted speculation that Google will open a full-scale retail presence. Google Stores could help bolster the company's brand image, showcase new products and win over
Android skeptics.

Still, Google is on the record denying any move into retail. In December, Google Shopping head Sameer Samat told All Things D that the company "had no aspirations to open a store."

"We aren't planning on being a retailer," he said. "We don't view being a retailer right now as the right decision."

CNET has contacted Google for comment and will update this post if we hear back.

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FDA approves bionic eye for adults with rare genetic disease

The system includes an eyeglass-mounted camera and a tiny antenna and electrode array surgically implanted onto the retina.

(Credit:
Second Sight Medical)

For most of us, light-sensitive cells that line our retinas convert light rays into electrical impulses that travel through the optic nerve to the brain to be assembled into images. But for an estimated 1 in 4,000 people in the U.S. with a genetic condition called retinitis pigmentosa, or RP, those cells are damaged, which most commonly impairs vision at night. What's more, treatment to prevent eventual (if unlikely) total blindness remains elusive.

Enter the Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System, which the FDA approved today to treat a very specific population: adults 25 and older with severe to profound RP who have bare or no light perception in both eyes but inner layer retinal function and a history of the ability to see forms.

Though the bionic eye doesn't restore vision to these patients, it could allow them to detect light and dark, which in turn could help them identify the movement or location of objects.

"This new surgically implanted assistive device provides an option for patients who have lost their sight to RP, for whom there have been no FDA-approved treatments," Jeffrey Shuren, M.D., director of the FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health, said in a news release. "The device may help adults with RP who have lost the ability to perceive shapes and movement to be more mobile and to perform day-to-day activities."

The system works via an array of electrodes implanted onto the retina, which transform images transmitted wirelessly from an eyeglass-mounted video camera into electrical impulses that stimulate the retina to produce images.

The FDA says it reviewed data from a clinical study of 30 patients with RP who were equipped with the Argus II and monitored for at least two years after receiving the implant.

After implant surgery, 19 of the 30 participants reported no adverse events related to the surgery or device, while 11 reported a total of 23 adverse events, including inflammation, retinal detachment, and the opening of a wound along the surgical suture.

The FDA is categorizing the system as a humanitarian use device, meaning there is a "reasonable assurance" that the device is safe and its "probable benefit outweighs the risk of illness or injury."

Most participants reported that they were able to perform basic activities better with the Argus II than without it, ranging from detecting the direction of a motion, detecting street curbs, walking on a sidwalk without stepping off, and matching black, gray, and white socks.

Three government organizations -- the Department of Energy, the National Eye Institute at the National Institutes of Health, and the National Science Foundation -- provided grant funding of more than $100 million as well as other basic research for the project.

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Intel's TV service will be on mobile devices too, exec says

Intel wants to make a TV offering with more capabilities than even the Google TV pictured here.

(Credit:
Google)

Intel wants to revolutionize the TV industry, and that change won't come just through the chip giant's planned set-top box.

Erik Huggers, general manager of Intel Media, told CNET that Intel's new Internet-based TV service also will be available on mobile devices, but he cautioned that it could take some time to expand to multiple different platforms. He compared the process to the launch of the BBC's iPlayer video player, a project he oversaw while at that company.

"I absolutely and completely believe in the world of multiplatform ... anytime, anyplace, anywhere. Consumers and audiences expect that nowadays. Yes, we will make services available on other sockets, on other devices, and on other products just like at the BBC. But to get from nothing to 650 devices at the BBC literally took four years. That doesn't happen overnight, but yeah, you bet, that's completely part of the strategy."

Huggers declined to say what devices will initially work with Intel's TV service, saying the company would provide more details at a later date.

Today marked the first time Intel has made public comments about its TV strategy. Huggers described some features during the AllThingsD media conference, but he was secretive about many details, including the product's name, content partners, and pricing.

What we do know is that Intel will be introducing an Internet-based TV service and box this year that allows users to watch live TV and on-demand programming, among other offerings. Intel will be providing the hardware and services directly to consumers, and the box (powered by Intel chips, of course) will come with a camera that can detect who is in front of the TV. The service won't be cheap, and it won't get rid of bundling, but Intel says the program will be much better than what consumers are used to.

During the AllThingsD conversation, Huggers noted that Intel decided to make its own TV box instead of simply making online and mobile apps because it wanted to control the experience and because it didn't believe there was a product on the market that could do all it wanted.

"The TV user experience I get at my home in the Valley is bordering on terrible," Huggers told CNET. "It is what it is, and it stays what it is. ... We think we have an opportunity to provide a service and device that will delight audiences and a user interface far superior to anything in the market today."

Whether those features are enough to attract consumers is the big question.

Intel isn't the only company targeting the TV industry. Apple is widely believed to be working on a device, and Google has been updating its Google TVs to gain more user adoption. In addition, traditional television makers like Samsung and Sony are also expanding their smart TV offerings.

However, changing the television industry is largely an uphill battle for these companies.
Apple's iPod and
iTunes store upended the music industry, and cable and broadcast providers don't want the same to happen to them. They're likely to be more cautious when considering deals with tech providers.

Intel specifically faces a few hurdles. The company said its offering won't be significantly cheaper for users, so it may be tough to convince consumers to give up their cable service or Hulu and Netflix subscriptions. And while Intel says the industry isn't ready for a la carte programming, consumers definitely are. They may not be pleased with moving from one bundled service to another, no matter how well the bundles are curated.

In addition, the incorporation of a camera, which would allow more targeted advertising, could bring up some privacy issues. And while Intel is one of the best known brands in the country, it hasn't had much experience dealing directly with consumers.

Erik Huggers, head of Intel Media, speaks at the AllThingsD media conference.

(Credit:
Screenshot by Shara Tibken/CNET)

That's part of the reason why the new TV service won't have Intel branding, like being called "Intel TV." Rather, it will have branding that's more about Intel's new, direct relationship with consumers, Huggers said.

"We think Intel is a super powerful brand," he said. "But when I say Intel, you will automatically think 'Inside.' That's what we've all been trained. Intel is a super powerful brand, but it's an ingredient brand that has powered computing for decades. What we believe is there's a real opportunity to partner with the Intel brand. The way we think about Intel Media is as 'Intel Inside and Out.'"

Huggers told CNET that the service will be constantly updated instead of remaining largely static like current cable set-top boxes. He added that Intel currently is testing the service in employees' homes.

Whether or not Intel wins over skeptics remains to be seen, but Intel believes the product it's launching later this year will speak for itself.

"We have assembled a team of people who have literally dedicated their careers to digital media," Huggers said. "At the end of the day, what I would say to skeptics is it's fine to be skeptical. But at least give us the benefit of the doubt and judge us on the basis of what we ship, nothing else."

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Charge your smartphone, become a cyberspy

Don't charge it where you keep your secrets, OK?

(Credit:
U.S. Army)

There's just never enough battery life on your smartphone, is there?

You need it for so many things, like informing yourself, informing others and informing some mythical creature that you're about to kill it.

This might be especially true if, say, you happen to be in a U.S. Army garrison in South Korea.

Everyone in South Korea is on smartphones nonstop. It's de rigueur.

Now, efficiency is very important to the Army. Which means it's always tempting to charge a smartphone by plugging it into a computer.

The small drawback at a U.S. Army outpost is that these would be government computers. Which may have all sorts of secrets within, some that Julian Assange has never seen or even heard of.

As the U.S Army itself informs us on its Web site, these heedless smartphone owners have become the most virulent cybersecurity violators in the whole of South Korea.

You see, in a recent seven-day period alone, there were 129 such cyberviolations detected by the Korea Theater Network Operations Center. That's far more than the whole cast of a Bourne movie.

Most apparently charge up innocently. It's a reflex reaction, like not thinking straight.

More Technically Incorrect

As Lt. Col Mary M. Rezendes, 1st Signal Brigade operations officer-in-charge, said of these scofflaws: "They don't realize that computers recognize their phones as hard drives and that their software puts our network at risk."

It's not as if soldiers and their civilian cohort don't get cybersecurity training. It's not as if it isn't explained to them that USB devices can't come near a government computer.

But these people are human and they make mistakes, somewhere on the spectrum from silly to sinister.

Surely everyone has to be on heightened alert now that it has been revealed that Kim Jong-un is in possession of his own smartphone.

The sanctions can be quite severe. Civilians get a reprimand. Military personnel are subject to those kinds of military law punishments that can never, ever be all that pleasant.

Being of a disciplined mind myself, I want to find a good, humane solution.

Perhaps the U.S. Army might provide special charging stations, so that confusion can be kept at a minimum.

Perhaps a picture of General Patton, open-mouthed, with the caption "CHARGE!" might be placed above them, just to make their purpose entirely clear.

It was just a thought.

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Did Google Earth error send murderer to wrong address?

Dennis and Merna Koula.

(Credit:
CBS News.com Screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)

Sometimes, even after a murder conviction, some see reasonable doubt that the conviction was a righteous one.

Such is the case in the murder of Dennis and Merna Koula in La Cross, Wisc, a quiet community.

Their son Eric was found guilty and is currently serving two consecutive life-sentences for the murder of the wealthy couple.

It was Eric Koula who found the body. It was Eric Koula whose alibi didn't stand up. Eric Koula was broke.

Yet as CBS News' "48 Hours" reported, there are some inconsistencies that some can't quite put aside. They include John Christophersen, a special agent at the time with the Wisconsin Department of Justice.

It was said at the trial that Eric Koula treated his father as an ATM. There was a $50,000 check that he cashed right after his parents died.

It was a check from his father. Eric Koula had forged the signature -- something he claimed to have done many times.

But, as his attorney said at the trial: "What sort of an idiot would put a check in the bank the morning after they killed their parents, knowing that bank records are easy to get?"

To some eyes, the murder seemed like a professional hit. No valuables were taken. And there was no DNA evidence to implicate Eric Koula.

Moreover, there was another idea that investigators began to pursue at the time. A neighbor of the Koula's, Steve Burgess, freely admitted that he had received death threats. He was the president of a local bank.

More Technically Incorrect

And, as the CBS News investigation indicated (embedded, but there are some gaps in the audio), if you use Google Earth to locate Burgess' house, you get a surprise.

"48 Hours" correspondent Peter Van Sant said: "In fact, when you Google Earth Steve Burgess' address...the zoom into the house goes to the Koula's house, not to Steve Burgess' house."

Police say they discounted the threatening caller, as they located him and he had an alibi. But then could that individual have hired someone to do any allegedly required dirty work, a person who used Google Earth to go to the wrong house?

This story brings to mind the even more recent case of the alleged murder of Rodrigo Diaz. His friends claim that his GPS had led him to the wrong house.

The owner of that house allegedly became annoyed or threatened by the presence of Diaz and his friends. This resulted in Diaz being shot in what lawyers for the accused, Phillip Sailors, say was a case of self-defense.

The jury in the trial of Eric Koula believed there was enough evidence to convict him.

Others look at the evidence they see on Google Earth and still have their doubts.

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