Search icon

Tech

05th May 2012

The Week in Tech: Draw Something takes a dive and Sega go potty with new device

This week in the world of tech, Draw Something hit the skids and two really weird robots were demonstrated. In fact, it was just a very odd week actually.

JOE

This week in the world of tech, Draw Something hit the skids and two really weird robots were demonstrated. In fact, it was just a very odd week actually.

Draw Something has huge user drop-off

$200 million later, Zynga might not be feeling quite as confident after their huge acquisition of Draw Something developers OMGPOP earlier this week after it was reported that since the buyout, users have dropped from 15 million to 10 million.

The problem behind the dwindling numbers? Try playing the game for a weekend and you’ll realise soon enough – not enough unique words to stave off repetition. Worse for Zynga, their share price has dropped by 50 per cent since the middle of March. The search for the next Angry Birds goes on…

Sega go potty with new ‘Toylet’ device

Times are tough for Sega, no longer in the console business and seemingly incapable of creating a half-decent Sonic the Hedgehog game anymore. Their solution? A urine-powered device with a number of mini-games to provide relief and enjoyment for men bursting to play.

Titled the ‘Toylet’, the device was originally trialed in the toilets of arcades and bars across Japan and this week was released for consumers to take home with them. The price? €1,319 (140,000 yen) for the device and a further €94 (10,000 yen) for each game. Are they taking the piss?!

No Apple TV until 2014, reckon JP Morgan

JP Morgan have advised investors that they don’t believe we’ll see the industry’s worst-kept secret – Apple’s iTVs – until 2014 at the earliest.

“We are not sure that the Apple premium could prevail in the TV market, unless there is a radical change of the user interface, integration of the TV programming and data content, and use of gesture or voice control,” reckons analyst Mark Moskowitz. He’s clearly forgetting that plenty of people will be anything with an Apple logo on it… remember Apple iPod socks?

Panasonic launch their own hair washing robot

What do you mean you wash your hair with your hands? That’s disgusting! Since it’s 2012, it’s about time we got robots to do our dirty (hair) work, so Panasonic have finally launched a trial period in Japan (where else?) for their aforementioned ‘bot to leave you with sleek locks and luscious vibrancy… or something like that.

Developed to fill the needs of workers in hospitals and health facilities, the robot has 16 fingers and three motors to independently swing your hair about, all with the power detection sensors. We think it’s a fantastic idea although we’d rather they at least gave the robots shiny wigs beforehand – so it wouldn’t be weird, you know?

In other robot news…

After you’ve managed to get shampooed and rinsed, you might want assistance from another forthcoming robot helper – ‘HERB’. That’s the Home Exploring Robot Butler from Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute and he has the ability to make your dinner for you – via microwave at least. Let’s be honest, if you’re lazy enough to microwave all your meals, you’ll be lazy enough to get a robot to do it.

According to the Institute, the goal is to create robots that can do everything from cooking, cleaning and laundry, though we reckon the real money will be in the admittedly extremely creepy more “adult” uses of such a home-based robot. It’s bound to happen eventually, right? Just remember to never forget the shame afterwards…

LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Conor Sketches | Tiger Woods loves Ger Loughnane and cosplaying as Charles LeClerc 

Topics: