[H]ardNews 9th Edition - Blair's Tech Ed.

Emotion Sensitive Computers?

Someone please tell me that this story is a joke. Maybe I am just being short-sighted but what purpose does a emotion sensitive computer system, that can detect whether a customer is angry (and react accordingly), possibly serve? The more I think about it, it is probably a GOOD thing our computers can’t tell when we are pissed at it…we’d probably never get the thing to work for us.

The UK telecoms giant is a partner in the EU-backed ERMIS project, which has created a prototype computer character able to understand and replicate a variety of human emotions. These range from straightforward anger through to more subtle states such as sadness or boredom.

Guide To Seeing Comet Crash:

PhysOrg has a handy guide posted today that will help you see NASA’s “Deep Impact” crash into a comet at 23,000 miles per hour on July 4th. Now that’s a firework display!

If you have a telescope or binoculars, you can watch to see if the comet brightens after the probe's kamikaze plunge. Contrary to optimistic predictions, you're unlikely to see anything of this event with your unaided eye.

44 Attorneys General Seek Answers:

The Attorneys General of 44 states are holding CardSystems feet to the fire for a security breach that exposed 40 million cardholders information to hackers.

In a terse letter sent to CardSystems Solutions Inc., the law enforcement officials said the company needs to tell exactly what happened when a computer hacker may have gained access to millions of credit card numbers.