Showing 1 - 10 of 66
Robots get smooth moves
Life, James Hein, Published on 25/03/2026
» The subject of the week is robots. The amount of news on these keeps growing and growing. South Korea is first up here with their KAIST Humanoid. In the field test, the robot was shown running across a soccer pitch, jumping, taking shots on goal, and even doing dance moves akin to the Michael Jackson moonwalk. Many robot demonstrations still look a bit stiff but these moves were quite smooth. The robot can run at about 12kph on flat ground with the next goal at 14kph. It can climb a ladder with 40cm steps and the knees can generate 320 Newton metres of peak torque so it can push heavier objects. The current model is based on the lower human half but the goal is for a full humanoid form that can work with people in industrial environments.
AI learning versus human creativity is a real battle
Life, James Hein, Published on 25/02/2026
» If you’ve been reading these columns long enough, you’ll probably know that I write music and I’ve written some books. With the advent of artificial intelligence, the concept of copyright and private property has blurred. The standard rule was, what you have worked hard on to create, belongs to you. As musicians and authors, ideally, we create, we write and we invent. In the world of AI, it will draw a picture, write a book and create music for you based on a simple text prompt that itself may have also been written for you by AI.
Marketeers have simple choices
Life, James Hein, Published on 18/02/2026
» If you use a mobile phone for playing any games, then typically along with that comes all of the advertisements and marketing presentations. First however, there is the "free download", this means you can download it for free, install and run it. After that, things may not be free at all. This is to be expected as advertising is one of the few ways to make any income from the games being played by millions of people across the planet.
Hacking the future
Life, Thana Boonlert, Published on 14/02/2026
» The West is often upheld as a source of technological progress. Yet, this long-held belief in the origin of innovation is coming under scrutiny. A wide range of recent examples, particularly China's technological rise, shows that rather than introducing technologies, some countries are better at embracing, adapting or hacking them.
China trials AI police robots for traffic control
Life, Puriward Sinthopnumchai, Published on 31/01/2026
» Chinese police in several cities have begun deploying humanoid robots powered by artificial intelligence (AI) to assist with traffic enforcement, marking a serious step toward automating road management and public safety.
What to expect in the year ahead
Life, James Hein, Published on 31/12/2025
» The coming year will be full of artificial intelligence, robots and a Starlink communications experience that will have many moving from their current providers. Let's dig in with my predictions for 2026.
Sabine has the science you're after
Life, James Hein, Published on 08/10/2025
» Sabine Hossenfelder is one of the people I regularly watch on the YouTube platform. She is a physicist but also veers into other areas such as artificial intelligence and quantum computing. For her latest video -- In Which I Lose Faith In Quantum Computing -- she makes a number of interesting observations. In short, apart from some very specific applications, quantum computing, even if it is scalable from current technology, has limited application. It also has the potential of bringing down a number of current companies highly focused on this technology, or at least some of their divisions. Artificial intelligence takes up a lot of the space that quantum computing could do well in, but for the present at least, AI does it better. The next 10 years, or less, will be important to see how both of these directions develop, or not. If you are interested at all in physics, maths and occasionally quantum computing, then Sabine Hossenfelder provides some interesting perspectives.
Xenomorphs of Siam
Life, Tatat Bunnag, Published on 20/08/2025
» The Alien franchise has always been about survival in the most inhospitable places imaginable, from derelict space freighters to hostile alien planets. But in Alien: Earth, the inhospitable terrain is not light-years away. It's right here at home.
Here's to the dreamers
Life, Nianne-Lynn Hendricks, Published on 16/08/2025
» For the third consecutive year, Apple is bringing back the "Here's To The Dreamers" campaign, with a new theme of "Dream Beyond", to celebrate creators, developers, artists and creative minds from Southeast Asia, and inspire the next generation to push the boundaries and embark on their own creative journeys.
New creative space TEA Art Hub to launch with art and film festival
Life, Published on 14/08/2025
» TEA Art Hub, a brand-new creative space behind Kingsquare Community Mall, Rama III Road, will open its doors with TEA Art Weekend, running this Saturday and Sunday and Aug 23-24, daily from 3pm to 9pm.