Telstra has revealed the addition of almost one million new mobile services in the six months to December 2011, but Sensis revenues plummeted 24 percent in 12 months.
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Adam Turner
Thursday, 14 December 2006 19:41
Microsoft has released a commercial version of Robotics Studio, programming tools intended to make it easier to write robot applications. The software is free for hobbyists and academic use, with commercial licenses starting at $US399.
Asimov never saw this coming. Had Bill Gates written the Laws of Robotics he surely would have added a fourth; "When unsure, a robot must crash and await further instructions".
Microsoft's Robotics Studio is compatible with Lego's Mindstorms robot kit, but I'm dreaming of something a little more ambitious. Still, do I really want a robot that freezes whenever I ask it to walk and chew gum at the same time?
I don't remember Geordi La Forge asking Captain Picard "Have you tried switching it off and on again?" over the communicator after Data blue-screened on an away mission. I don't remember Gort randomly rebooting because The Day the Earth Stood Still happened to be the first day of daylight savings.
So I think I'll pass on a Microsoft-powered robot - at least until they release Service Pack 1.
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