it's like an orange on a toothpick

It's official -- Mike Myers is going to star in a movie based on my book,
How to Survive a Robot Uprising.

I'm speechless except to say, "Yeah baby!"

robots, guns, and hors d'oeuvres

Today I agreed to speak at West Point (aka the United States Military Academy at West Point). They are hosting a workshop with
30 hand-picked roboticists and military people -- all gathering to discuss robot language and machine-human interfaces.

There's even going to be a General there. Neat!

speech and debate, minus the debate

This cracks me up. A couple of highschool speech and debate kids from Duluth have adapted HOW TO SURVIVE A ROBOT UPRISING into a humorous duet. Essentially, this is about ten minutes of competitive comedy. The reason I love this so much is that I spent a lot of time in highschool as half of a humorous duet. Granted, we only competed in order to meet girls, but still -- good times!

The news story about these kids is about halfway down the page in this Hibbing Daily Tribune article. (dhw: Article no longer available...)

cat vs. robot vacuum cleaner

The cat always wins.

I received a hilarious email from Tyler, Niles, Isabella, and Griffin -- four children who market, make, and sell RoomBuds. These are bunny rabbit, ladybug, etc., - shaped coverings that fit over a Roomba to make the robot vacuum cleaner look cuter and more friendly. (And less likely to kill all humans.)

Luckily, I was able to skillfully negotiate a deal by which TNIG send me a LADYBUG RoomBud and I send them an autographed copy of HTSARU. So totally rockin'.

  My Roomba is going to be a wolf in ladybug's clothing.

journey to the center of LA

I just got back from sunny Los Angeles, where I met with my screenwriters Tom Lennon and Ben Garant on the set of their new movie Reno 911!: Miami. I saw a guy go after another guy with a weed whacker, stunt men falling from yachts, and a friend of mine wearing very short shorts. But who cares? What I really found out is that the ROBOT UPRISING is makin' progress and that the script is fantastic... woo hoo!

This time the mustaches are real. These cops are not playing around.

i (heart) the New York Times

Cory Dean wrote an extremely excellent (and fantastic) article about HOW TO SURVIVE A ROBOT UPRISING for the Science Times section of the New York Times.

Here is a link to the NYT article, subscription required.

The article was fortunately mirrored by CNET news.

now i'm a patent holder, sucka

The United States Patent Office approved my patent application and granted a patent on "System and process for selecting objects in a ubiquitous computing environment."

The patent is basically for a fancy remote control that you use by aiming and wiggling (no buttons). My friend and colleague Andy Wilson and I put it together three years ago at Microsoft Research. It's called the Xwand.

popular mechanics

My first article for Popular Mechanics is in the January issue. It's all about this NASA 'bot called the Robonaut. It's kind of like an Argonaut, except that it's not a brave sailor from Greek mythology.

Be sure to buy Popular Mechanics and feast your eyes on the robotic goodness!

washington post online chat

Oh my god, if you love discussing robotic bear-rape as much as I do -- and that's a lot -- then I suggest you read this online chat that I had with concerned readers of the Washington Post.

Check out the full transcript of my washington post interview.

Alternately, download the pdf file here.

attack of your mom!

I had my 4 and 1/2 minutes of fame on ATTACK OF THE SHOW from the G4 network.

I sat in a director's chair and a girl powdered my face -- and then came the inevitable robot questions...
  

Thankfully, the world is now safe for another day.