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Digital Pet
A virtual pet (also known as a digital pet, artificial pet, or pet-raising simulation) is a type of artificial human companion. They are usually kept for companionship or enjoyment. People may keep a digital pet in lieu of a real pet. Digital pets have no concrete physical form other than the hardware they run on. Interaction with virtual pets may or may not be goal oriented. If it is, then the user must keep it alive as long as possible and often help it to grow into higher forms. Keeping the pet alive and growing often requires feeding, grooming and playing with the pet. Some digital pets require more than just food to keep them alive. Daily interaction is required in the form of playing games, virtual petting, providing love and acknowledgment can help keep your virtual pet happy and growing healthy. Digital pets can be simulations of real animals, as in the Petz series, or fantasy ones, like the Tamagotchi or Digimon series. Unlike biological simulations, the pet does ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Artificial Human Companion
Artificial human companions may be any kind of hardware or software creation designed to give companionship to a person. These can include digital pets, such as the popular Tamagotchi, or robots, such as the Sony AIBO. Virtual companions can be used as a form of entertainment, or they can be medical or functional, to assist the elderly in maintaining an acceptable standard of life. Introduction Senior citizens make up an increasing percentage of the population in the Western nations, and, according to Judith Masthoff of the University of Brighton, they tend to live alone and have a limited social network. Studies also show that those elderly living in such circumstances have an increased risk of developing depression and dementia and have a shorter life span than more socially connected seniors. It has been known to gerontologists for some time that pets -- particularly those such as cats and dogs that exhibit a range of behaviors and emotions -- help prevent depression in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ludobot
An entertainment robot is, as the name indicates, a robot that is not made for utilitarian use, as in production or domestic services, but for the sole subjective pleasure of the human. It serves, usually the owner or his housemates, guests or clients. Robotics technologies are applied in many areas of culture and entertainment. Expensive robotics are applied to the creation of narrative environments in commercial venues where servo motors, pneumatics and hydraulic actuators are used to create movement with often preprogrammed responsive behaviors such as in Disneyland's haunted house ride. Entertainment robots can also be seen in the context of media arts where artist have been employing advanced technologies to create environments and artistic expression also utilizing the actuators and sensor to allow their robots to react and change in relation to viewers. Toy robot Relatively cheap, mass-produced entertainment robots are used as mechanical, sometimes interactive, toys whi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Icon (computing)
In computing, an icon is a pictogram or ideogram displayed on a computer screen in order to help the user navigate a computer system. The icon itself is a quickly comprehensible symbol of a software tool, function, or a data file, accessible on the system and is more like a traffic sign than a detailed illustration of the actual entity it represents. It can serve as an electronic hyperlink or file shortcut to access the program or data. The user can activate an icon using a mouse, pointer, finger, or recently voice commands. Their placement on the screen, also in relation to other icons, may provide further information to the user about their usage. In activating an icon, the user can move directly into and out of the identified function without knowing anything further about the location or requirements of the file or code. Icons as parts of the graphical user interface of the computer system, in conjunction with windows, menus and a pointing device (mouse), belong to the mu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dialog Box
The dialog box (also called dialogue box (non-U.S. English), message box or simply dialog) is a graphical control element in the form of a small window that communicates information to the user and prompts them for a response. Dialog boxes are classified as " modal" or "modeless", depending on whether they block interaction with the software that initiated the dialog. The type of dialog box displayed is dependent upon the desired user interaction. The simplest type of dialog box is the alert, which displays a message and may require an acknowledgment that the message has been read, usually by clicking "OK", or a decision as to whether or not an action should proceed, by clicking "OK" or "Cancel". Alerts are also used to display a "termination notice"—sometimes requesting confirmation that the notice has been read—in the event of either an intentional closing or unintentional closing (" crash") of an application or the operating system. (E.g., "Gedit has encounte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sherry Turkle
Sherry Turkle (born June 18, 1948) is the Abby Rockefeller Mauzé Professor of the Social Studies of Science and Technology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She obtained an BA in social studies and later a PhD in sociology and personality psychology at Harvard University. She now focuses her research on psychoanalysis and human-technology interaction. She has written several books focusing on the psychology of human relationships with technology, especially in the realm of how people relate to computational objects. Her latest book 'Empathy Diaries' her memoir received fair critical reviews. Writings In ''The Second Self'', she writes about how computers are not tools as much as they are a part of our social and psychological lives, writing that technology "catalyzes changes not only in what we do but in how we think.” She goes on using Jean Piaget's psychology discourse to discuss how children learn about computers and how this affects their minds. ''The Secon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Furby
Furby is an American electronic robotic toy that was originally released in 1998 by Tiger Electronics. It resembles a hamster or owllike creature and went through a period of being a " must-have" toy following its holiday season launch, with continual sales until 2000. Over 40 million Furbies were sold during the three years of its original production, with 1.8 million sold in 1998, and 14 million in 1999. Its speaking capabilities were translated into 24 languages. Furbies were the first successful attempt to produce and sell a domestically aimed robot. A newly purchased Furby starts out speaking entirely "Furbish", the unique language that all Furbies use, but is programmed to start using English words and phrases in place of Furbish over time. This process is intended to resemble the process of learning English. The updated Emoto-Tronic Furby, with voice recognition and more complex facial movements, was sold by Hasbro between 2005 and 2007. Another updated Furby with black ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Emotion
Emotions are mental states brought on by neurophysiology, neurophysiological changes, variously associated with thoughts, feelings, behavioral responses, and a degree of pleasure or suffering, displeasure. There is currently no scientific consensus on a definition. Emotions are often reciprocal determinism, intertwined with mood (psychology), mood, temperament, personality psychology, personality, disposition, or creativity. Research on emotion has increased over the past two decades with many fields contributing including psychology, medicine, history, sociology of emotions, and computer science. The numerous theories that attempt to explain the origin, functional accounts of emotion, function and other aspects of emotions have fostered more intense research on this topic. Current areas of research in the concept of emotion include the development of materials that stimulate and elicit emotion. In addition, positron emission tomography, PET scans and functional magnetic re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Allergies
Allergies, also known as allergic diseases, refer a number of conditions caused by the hypersensitivity of the immune system to typically harmless substances in the environment. These diseases include hay fever, food allergies, atopic dermatitis, allergic asthma, and anaphylaxis. Symptoms may include red eyes, an itchy rash, sneezing, coughing, a runny nose, shortness of breath, or swelling. Note: food intolerances and food poisoning are separate conditions. Common allergens include pollen and certain foods. Metals and other substances may also cause such problems. Food, insect stings, and medications are common causes of severe reactions. Their development is due to both genetic and environmental factors. The underlying mechanism involves immunoglobulin E antibodies (IgE), part of the body's immune system, binding to an allergen and then to a receptor on mast cells or basophils where it triggers the release of inflammatory chemicals such as histamine. Diagnosis is typi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Promise
A promise is a commitment by someone to do or not do something. As a noun ''promise'' means a declaration assuring that one will or will not do something. As a verb it means to commit oneself by a promise to do or give. It can also mean a capacity for good, similar to a value that is to be realized in the near future. In the law of contract, an exchange of promises is usually held to be legally enforceable, according to the Latin maxim ''pacta sunt servanda''. Types There are many types of promises. There are solemn promises, such as marriage vows or military oaths and are conventions. There are legal contracts, enforceable by law. Or, there are fairy tale promises, regrettable and problematic at the time, they must be honored. And lastly, there are election promises, commitments that most people realize will later be shaped by politics and compromise. Both an oath and an affirmation can be a promise. One special kind of promise is the vow. A notable type of promise is an e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
PETA
Peta or PETA may refer to: Acronym * Pembela Tanah Air, a militia established by the occupying Japanese in Indonesia in 1943 * People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, an American animal rights organization * People Eating Tasty Animals, an organization mocking the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals' stance on vegetarianism * Philippine Educational Theater Association, a Philippine theatrical association * Pulse Ejector Thrust Augmentor, a type of jet engine People * Peta (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Tomasz Peta (born 1951), Roman Catholic Archbishop of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Saint Mary in Astana, Kazakhstan Places * Peta, Greece, a town * Peţa River, a river in Romania Other uses * peta-, a metric prefix denoting a factor of 1015 * Battle of Peta * Peta (cat), the unofficial Chief Mouser to the UK Cabinet Office 1964-78 * Mysore peta, a type of Indian royal attire * Pentaerythritol tetraac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Training
Training is teaching, or developing in oneself or others, any skills and knowledge or fitness that relate to specific useful competencies. Training has specific goals of improving one's capability, capacity, productivity and performance. It forms the core of apprenticeships and provides the backbone of content at institutes of technology (also known as technical colleges or polytechnics). In addition to the basic training required for a trade, occupation or profession, training may continue beyond initial competence to maintain, upgrade and update skills throughout working life. People within some professions and occupations may refer to this sort of training as professional development. Training also refers to the development of physical fitness related to a specific competence, such as sport, martial arts, military applications and some other occupations. Types Physical training Physical training concentrates on mechanistic goals: training programs in this area ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Lampoon (magazine)
''National Lampoon'' was an American humor magazine that ran from 1970 to 1998. The magazine started out as a spinoff from the '' Harvard Lampoon''. ''National Lampoon'' magazine reached its height of popularity and critical acclaim during the 1970s, when it had a far-reaching effect on American humor and comedy. The magazine spawned films, radio, live theater, various sound recordings, and print products including books. Many members of the creative staff from the magazine subsequently went on to contribute creatively to successful media of all types. During the magazine's most successful years, parody of every kind was a mainstay; surrealist content was also central to its appeal. Almost all the issues included long text pieces, shorter written pieces, a section of actual news items (dubbed "True Facts"), cartoons and comic strips. Most issues also included "Foto Funnies" or fumetti, which often featured nudity. The result was an unusual mix of intelligent, cutting-edge w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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