As man’s technological prowess grows evermore impressive, his already-glutted opinion of himself equally grows. We ought to pat ourselves on the back; we have made creations that not only have the physical capability of walking, but can actually “learn” to do so. And they can do it within the first 20 minutes of their “lifetime”. That sure beats the human record.

As usual, my post is based on a recent technology news article: Robo-Toddler Learns to Walk Like a Human.

This is quite an impressive feat, especially considering the fact that this creation is learning how to walk, which undoubtedly is what helps it further develop by walking on differing terrain, walking backward, and even adjusting when it trips. When compared with existing technology, this latest innovation is quite a wonderful leap in application of science.

However, I found it nearly comical how the article compared the robot’s gait with that of a human. Despite acknowledgment that “the walking robot looks more like a moving Erector set than a human being”, there were a few times that the robot’s behavior or movement was compared to that of a human being. Really, though, couldn’t one say that its gait is just as similar to that of a monkey? And to be brutally honest, this expensive chrome creature’s maneuverability is likely found lacking next to the most simple-minded living animal.

Whereas such comparisons may even be angering to some–as it could be suggested that they miss the point of this breakthrough–they certainly are not intended to evoke such a reaction. They just help us appreciate that we have a long way to go as creators, even if we are such only in a biomimetic sense. In this changed perspective, the phrase “like a human” suddenly becomes almost laughable.

Tetris and Bejeweled fans should love this. Back in the day, there was an incredibly addicting game I found for the Mac OS called Puyo Puyo. It played in a small window, and I’m not sure if it even had music playing with the game, but the concept was so addicting, I fell in love with it. Well, Puyo is back–and in more style than before!

Actually, if you do your research (such as referencing Wikipedia’s Puyo Puyo entry), you’ll see there’s a lot of history behind the game. I loved Puyo so much that I actually wrote a very rough Puyo engine in my high school programming class (that should date my Puyo Puyo find to 1996-1997). The engine was only text-oriented at that point, but naturally it could have driven a graphically-oriented game as well. Testifying to how addicting the game is, my friends would even sit and mindlessly play this little text-oriented Puyo clone that I made. I should try to recompile it and make it available for download, because I still have the source code.
Anyway, back on track. A group of developers called iOS wrote a Puyo clone they call FloboPuyo, and it is a great clone. The graphics, music, and attitude of the game are all very well up to par. Please check it out! After all, it’s available for OS X, Windows, and Linux, so what possible excuse could you have to not check it out?

Speaking of Virtual PC, there’s some competition out there for Microsoft.

This really isn’t news, as there have always been alternatives to Virtual PC, even when it was owned by Connectix. There was SoftPC/SoftWindows and RealPC, now defunct; still in existence is the WINE Project, which is technically not an emulator; finally, still alive and well, although limited and/or difficult to use, are DOSBox and MacBOCHS, products of the open source community and Apple’s open acceptance of that community.

But now there is GuestPC. Weighing in at $69, it appears to be the cheapest alternative that does not sacrifice ease of use. Compared to Virtual PC’s $129 price tag, depending on how well this alternative emulator operates, it just may be a great choice.

I think this is the greatest thing ever! It is obviously undisputed that Windows machines are by far the most vulnerable machines in the world, but it is much more satisfying when a branch of Microsoft openly acknowledges this as well!

Check out the Top 10 Questions About Virtual PC from Microsoft, then scroll down to Question #10, “Does Virtual PC make my Mac more vulnerable to computer viruses?”

Indeed, in the answer, Microsoft openly acknowledges that Mac users are obviously exposed to the same vulnerabilities of a PC while they are running Virtual PC. Obviously–thankfully–these viruses will not be able to operate while any virtual machines running Windows are deactivated, and even if viruses do propagate to a Mac volume (by means of shared folders, for instance), they will not be able to run under the Mac environment. Nevertheless, the door is open for Mac volumes to be littered with virus files if a virtual machine running Windows is infected on Virtual PC. Indeed, this happened to me a few years ago, and it was a pain, because the virtual machine running Windows littered my Mac with virus files.

Microsoft is certainly forced to make such acknowledgments, and it is oh so sweet!