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6 Responses to “ DB#368 - Rolly ”

1. 
   Michael C Sep 11th, 2007 at 10:12 pm

   Re: Sony’s New “Rolly”

   It seems like an awful lot of money for a 1GB memory rolling MP3 player with flashing lights. AP story on it here:
   ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

   “It’s a music player and floor show rolled into one

   September 11, 2007

   Sony Corp.’s new dancing, egg-shaped music player rolled into a dimly lit Tokyo hotel Monday, blinking its flaps and flashing its lights in time to each tune it played.

   The $354, 11-ounce Rolly, set to go on sale in Japan on Sept. 29, is small enough to fit in your palm and comes with stereo speakers, 1 gigabyte of internal flash memory and a battery good for about five hours of music.

   The smooth, white Rolly also can spin in place so fast it turns into a blur, and its sensors enable a user to control volume by turning the player clockwise or counterclockwise or switch tunes by pushing or pulling the gadget.

   The Rolly doesn’t have an American counterpart, but it will go up against Japanese robot maker ZMP Inc.’s Miuro at home. Miuro, which looks like a white ball caught inside an egg, wheels about in time to music when an iPod is locked onto it.

   Sony plans to sell packages of movies and tunes online for Rolly. And users will be able to program the Bluetooth-capable product on a PC using software that analyzes music and produces choreography to match and then sends the programs to the Rolly, Sony said.

   Not quite a pet, the Rolly won’t take over from the Aibo robot dog, which Sony discontinued last year as part of its restructuring effort, disappointing avid owners. It can be set as an alarm clock, though.”

   http://www.suntimes.com/technology/550907,CST-FIN-rolly11.article

2. 
   Michael Sep 12th, 2007 at 2:14 pm

   Father… Thanks for the info on Galero. I was aware of the existence of them, but you left out one very important cathedral, and that is the Cathedral in Baltimore. To quote their web site:

   “The historic Baltimore Cathedral, built from 1806 to 1821, was the first major religious building constructed in America after the adoption of the Constitution. America’s first cathedral, officially known as the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, quickly became a symbol of the country’s newfound religious freedom.”

   I have not (unfortunately) been in the cathedral since it was “renovated” and returned to its original beauty. However, I remember seeing the Galero there for (at least) Cardinal Gibbons.

   Baltimore has always been the (honorary) Primal See in the United States.

   I was told then (over 20 years ago) that the tradition was that when the hat finally went to pieces, the soul of the Cardinal entered heaven. The explanation that you gave about the galero going to dust to indicate the demise of all things material was an excellent, and probably similar, explanation.

   Rocco Palmo, who writes the “Whispers in the Loggia” blog said:

   A Latrobe-designed statue of the chapel’s patroness stands at its entrance as, in a first, a flight of stairs provides easy access to the crypt of the archbishops of Baltmore. The room is barely large enough to slide a coffin into, but contained within it are the final resting places of John Carroll, the father of the American hierarchy, and his successors Marechal, James Whitfield, Samuel Eccleston, Francis Kenrick, James Roosevelt Bayley and, along the opposite wall, Cardinal James Gibbons and Archbishop Michael Curley. (While Archbishop Keough and Cardinal Lawrence Shehan are buried at the new cathedral, Cardinal William Keeler has indicated that he wishes to be interred at the Basilica in one of the crypt’s four remaining niches.)

   Recalling the parish’s native son, Baltimore’s first cardinal and the nation’s second, Gibbons’ galero hangs upstairs, and a portrait of the iconic churchman stands at the entrance to the sacristy. In a new museum in the undercroft, Cardinal Shehan’s cappa magna is on permanent display, and a Mass vestment used by then-Archbishop Gibbons at the Third Plenary Council of 1884.

   Here is a link to the photo in the blog:
   http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5558/718/320/PA300207.jpg

   Michael

3. 
   Robert F Sep 12th, 2007 at 5:13 pm

   Enter “Sony Rolly” on YouTube to see the 3 commercials for it from Japan. Is Rolly that captivating? Sony has been making strides in robotics over the years and IMO, Rolly is Sony’s attempt to see what people find as endearing movenment. If their biped robotics program can be viewed as addressing primary animation, Rolly could be seen as a foray at secondary animation: those smaller movements and flourishes which lend continuity and character to a performance.

   Given Rolly’s programmable capability, we can expect to see Rolly doing things for which it was not originall designed to do. That could turn Rolly from a novelty toy into a creative vehicle. (Ouch-pun not intended.)

4. 
   Jodi Sep 13th, 2007 at 4:17 am

   the rolly looks like a waste of money.
   is there a link to the article about how tv is bad for your health?

5. 
   Berta Sep 13th, 2007 at 2:10 pm

   I want to react to the TV-question: I am not sure about all those illnesses that should be caused by watching TV. That sounds to me like heavy “sensationised” science news. Just think of how sentences from the pope often are taken out of context and blown up. That also happens to science rather often.

   But I agree on the general effect, watching TV has on children. I don’t have children on my own, but a friend of mine is teacher at a primary school. She told me, that she can easily tell weather a child has watched TV in the morning before school or not. These children show the same behaviour as you have described in the podcast.

6. 
   Toni in Wyoming Sep 14th, 2007 at 1:24 am

   I’ve been wanting to thank you for turning me onto Jericho and Battlestar Galactica. I’m a Lost and Heroes fan and have always loved sci fi books and movies. I’m so glad I watched these shows. They are AWESOME! I’m in the middle of season 2 with BSG and I’ve been listening to Ron Moore’s podcast, which is the producer/writer’s commentary while the show is running.

   I’m glad you returned to Heroes. Since I started watching just after the season ended, I didn’t have to wait for a week for each to come out. I agree there was a bit of a rough spot where it dragged, but since I had instant access to the next show, it was easier to stick with it.

   Thanks again!

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