Google’s open-source Chrome OS is expected to release before the end of 2010, but eager adopters can get a preview of it now. You’ll first have to install VMware, which is a virtualization software that will allow you to run Chrome OS from within Windows, Mac OSX , or Linux. Google released the open-source code for developers, but for those of you who just want to give the OS a test run, you can find a virtual machine image here that will run along with VMware.
If you’re not quite ready to jump through hoops and give Chrome OS a hands-on test run on your personal computer, check out the Chrome OS demo video below for a quick look at what the operating system is all about.
Got Chrome OS up and running? Give us your impressions in the comments section below.
In 1950, Alan Turing asked whether machines can think. Rather than argue over definitions, he turned the question into a party game, where an interrogator trades typed messages with hidden players and tries to work out who is who. Since then, chatbots have gotten so good that they have already fooled humans in modern versions of the test.
So, four researchers from Paris Cité University asked the obvious follow-up question in a new study published in Computers in Human Behavior Reports: can AI at least catch its own kind?
Mozilla is giving Firefox’s Smart Window two new tricks. If you haven’t tried it yet, Smart Window is an optional AI mode in Firefox with a built-in chat that helps you get things done while you browse. With this update, it can fill out online forms using details from your tabs and keep an eye on websites for you.
Tired of typing the same details into every form?
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.