- A robot is usually an electro-mechanical machine which is guided by computer or electronic programming.
- The term robot comes from the Czech word 'robota' which means 'forced work or labor'.
- The word robotics, used to describe this field of study, was coined by the science fiction writer Isaac Asimov.
- Most robots today are used to do repetitive actions or jobs considered too dangerous for humans.
- Currently, robots are unable to think or make decisions.
- Archytas of Tarentum, built a mechanical bird driven by a jet of steam or compressed air—arguably history’s first robot—in the fifth century B.C.
- Robotics expert Henrik Christensen predicts humans will be having sex with robots within four years.
- Animatronics is a method of animating models by using specially developed robotic techniques.
- Robots cannot feel emotions. However, they can be built to have senses.
- Isaac Asimov and John W. Campbell created the Three Laws of Robotics: 1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. 2. A robot must obey any orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. 3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
QUOTES ABOUT ROBOTS
I believe that robots should only have faces if they truly need them. DONALD NORMAN
We are survival machines -- robot vehicles blindly programmed to preserve the selfish molecules known as genes. RICHARD DAWKINS
I visualize a time when we will be to robots what dogs are to humans, and I'm rooting for the machines. CLAUDE SHANNON
Man is a robot with defects. EMILE CIORAN
If you had an alien race that looked like insects, then they would build robots to look like themselves, not to look like people. KEVIN J. ANDERSON
You gotta be pretty desperate to make it with a robot. HOMER SIMPSON
Our worst comes out when we behave like robots or professionals. FERNANDO FLORES
The danger of the past was that men became slaves. The danger of the future is that man may become robots. ERICH FROMM
- Peter Dimitroff Petroff, a NASA engineer, was the inventor of the Digital watch.
- Most inexpensive and medium-priced watches are electronic watches with quartz movements.
- A watch is usually a wristwatch, attached to the wrist with a strap or bracelet.
- Patek Phillipe created the first wristwatch in 1868.
- Before wristwatches became popular in the early 20th century, most watches were pocket watches.
- Until the World War I the wristwatch was considered to be a woman's accessory.
- The first wristwatch for men was invented by Cartier.
- The quartz watch was introduced in 1969.
- Compared to quartz movements, mechanical watches are less accurate, often with errors of seconds per day.
- Electronic watches require electricity as a power source. Usually the electricity is provided by a replaceable battery.
- The watch worn by astronauts in their mission to the Moon: Omega Speedmaster.
- Analog display of the time is nearly universal in expensive watches sold as jewelry or collectibles.
- Analog watches as well as clocks are often marketed showing a display time of approximately 10:09 or 10:10.
- In 1953, when Sir Edmund Hillary was the first man to conquer Mt. Everest, he was wearing a Rolex Oyster.
QUOTES ABOUT WATCHES
"Even a broken watch is correct twice a day."
"A person with one watch knows what time it is; a person with two watches is never sure."
"Rolex is more like a religion than a watch." John Sapphire
"The clock, not the steam-engine, is the key-machine of the modern industrial age." Lewis Mumford
"Outside of a dog, a watch is man's best friend. Inside a dog, it's too dark to tell time." Groucho Marx
- The iPhone is a line of smartphones designed and marketed by Apple Inc.
- On January 9, 2007, Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Inc. introduced the first iPhone.
- The App Store was launched in mid-2008 by Apple.
- There are over 300,000 "apps" (applications), approved by Apple.
- Currently, there are four generations of iPhone models.
- The iPhone has been successful in attracting users of all ages.
- The original iPhone went on sale in the U.S. on June 29, 2007.
- The iPhone was made available in the Germany, France and United Kingdom in November 2007, and Austria and Ireland in the first months of 2008.
- By the end of fiscal year 2010, a total of 73.5 million iPhones were sold worldwide.
- The iPhone allows users to purchase and download songs from the iTunes Store directly to their smartphone.
- iPhone app impressions on Black Friday increased year over year by 109 percent.
- Safari is the iPhone's native web browser.
- Currently, the iPhone supports neither Flash nor Java.
QUOTES ABOUT THE iPHONE
"Every once in a while a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything. It's very fortunate if you can work on just one of these in your career. ... Apple's been very fortunate in that it's introduced a few of these." STEVE JOBS
"The iPhone is the most sophisticated, outlook-challenging piece of electronics to come along in years. It does so many things so well, and so pleasurably, that you tend to forgive its foibles." DAVID POGUE
"Well, of course, I'm the wrong person to ask. I like to dial numbers with one hand, and maybe I'm the only one." BILL GATES
