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Robots thrive in real lifes of older Japanese

By TIMES WIRES
Published December 22, 2006

The My Spoon feeding robot, which won a prize in the service category at Robot Award 2006, helps elderly or disabled people eat with a joystick-controlled swiveling arm. It sells for as much as 408,100 yen ($3,454). Another robot receiving an award in the service category was Paro, a furry seal fitted with sensors beneath its fur and whiskers. It responds to petting by opening and closing its eyes and moving its flippers.

American's fares gain some altitude

AMR Corp.'s American Airlines, the world's largest carrier, raised fares $5 to $20 each way in most U.S. markets to help offset higher fuel prices. The increase doesn't apply to sale fares or to markets where American competes directly against low-fare airlines, Tim Wagner, a spokesman for American, said Thursday.

Nintendo expands the world of Wii

Some nifty Web-powered features of Nintendo's new game console are just now starting to come online. This week, the company turned on a free weather-checking tool for the Wii. Owners can now quickly check the console Wii weather channel for their local 24-hour and five-day outlooks. Wii owners wanting to check conditions elsewhere on the globe can explore weather conditions using a Google Earth-style interface. A Wii news channel is also in the works.

Blog for everyone, a few or yourself

Google Inc. has released a new version of its Blogger service, adding privacy settings that restrict readership to a predetermined audience. Users can choose to have blogs accessible to anyone or just to themselves. Or they can list the e-mail addresses of the people they want to let in. Those readers would need to register for a free Google account - the same used for its Gmail and other services - and would sign in with their regular Google passwords. Several blogging competitors already offer privacy options. Google began offering the new privacy features this week.

Stop Russian site, record labels plead

Several major record labels sued the operator of the Russian music Web site AllofMP3.com, claiming the company has been profiting by selling copies of music without permission. The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in federal court in New York against Moscow-based Mediaservices, which owns AllofMP3 and another music site, allTunes.com. Among the labels suing are Arista Records LLC, Warner Bros. Records Inc., Capitol Records Inc. and UMG Recordings Inc. The music companies are seeking a court order against Mediaservices and unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.

[Last modified December 21, 2006, 23:05:20]