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NASA's Personal Satellite Assistants
colonist writes "Wired News reports on the Personal Satellite Assistant (PSA), a spherical robot about the size of a softball that uses air jets to move in the microgravity environment of space vehicles and habitats. Described as a cross between Star Trek's tricorder and Star Wars' lightsaber training droid, the PSA has 'sensors for measuring gases, temperature, and air pressure' and performs 'video conferencing and can communicate with electronic support devices such as computer servers, avionics systems, and wireless LAN bridges'." We mentioned these a few years ago - looks like they've come a long way since then.
i know it aint gonna be it! 1st so its the anti-post
are we dense, or what?
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- South Korean regulators searched the offices of Microsoft Corp.'s local subsidiary on Thursday to investigate allegations that the U.S. software giant violated trade regulations by tying its instant messenger software to its Windows operating system.
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The investigation, conducted by South Korea's Fair Trade Commission, comes after the European Union fined Microsoft about $606 million in March and demanded changes in the software company's business practices. Microsoft has filed an appeal of the EU's antitrust decision.
In February, officials from Japan's fair trade watchdog raided Microsoft offices there on suspicion of monopoly law violations -- in particular, whether Microsoft attached overly restrictive conditions to deals with computer makers. Microsoft said it had already dropped a controversial provision of those contracts but was cooperating with authorities.
South Korea's FTC said it will conduct onsite investigations of Microsoft Korea through next Wednesday.
An FTC official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the probe was related to a 2001 complaint by Daum Communications Corp., a South Korean Internet portal that controls 10 percent of the nation's instant messaging market. He could not provide other details of the investigation.
Daum filed a separate antitrust lawsuit in April against Microsoft seeking 10 billion won ($8.6 million) in damages it says were incurred by Microsoft's Windows XP operating system.
Seo Min-seog, a public relations manager at Microsoft Korea, said the company will cooperate with the commission's investigation.
"We believe we operated in accordance with Korean (softwar gangster?) laws," Seo said.
These things are tiny! I bet they could launch them with satellites and control them from ground if they need to fix something or whatever. Anyway, pretty cool.
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