uncanny valley

Exilium mobile website and launch

The Exilium mobile website is now online - for mobile phones with an internet function. Either use your mobile to scan the smart code pictured here or direct your handset's browser to www.richardevans.mobi. Featured on the mini-site are an extract from the book plus three exclusive micro-stories that tie in with the novel - Blue Cube, Doi Story and Dita Negativa. Each of the micro-stories link in with different parts of the story, kind of literary teasers.

Just a few days now to the launch - 5.30pm, 24th October at The Northern, Tib St, Manchester. I'll be reading from the novel, talking about the research, the world of 2032 and answering questions. Books, posters and bookmarks will be available. Come along if you're in the area.

Repliee R1

The Repliee R1 has made a rare appearance in the news, albeit with a couple of factual errors in this Daily Telegraph report. I'd be surprised if the Osaka University team are claiming it's the most realistic android created so far - that honour surely goes to their later androids such as the Repliee Q2 and some of the Actroids.

I met R1's creator, Hiroshi Ishiguro, last year and he talked about how the robot was modelled in 2001 on his then five-year old daughter, describing how she was afraid of the R1 and wouldn't set foot in the lab. Things have moved on for the little girl and she now has an android dad, the Geminoid, which is a robotic copy of her father. I saw footage of her playing, very tentatively, with the Geminoid, slowly gaining confidence as she tugged at the robot in search of a reaction.

Robots and the End of Days

Nice to see the religious right still planning for the End Times - nothing like a bit of positive thinking. Now it turns out that the development of hi-tech robots, along with pretty much everything else, is a signal of the end of days.

http://www.666markofthebeast.com/2008/09/16/end-times-prophecy-12529/