Infantalizing Robots for the Elderly

Not only children may be adversely affected by interactive robots but also the elderly...  

No to the infantalizing robot
by Martial Van der Linden and Anne-Claude Juillerat Van der Linden, Readers' Mail, Tribune de Genève, 14 June 2016

Certain EMS [homes for the elderly] in the canton have acquired or are planning to acquire, a roboticized baby seal named Paro costing 5,000 francs ($4,900).  This baby seal, which responds to caresses and can also show dissatisfaction would stimulate interactions of persons who have dementia, awakening their emotions and easing their anxiety...

Samsung's Aggressive Battery Design Led to the Galaxy Note 7 Explosions

The battery for the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 had very
thin margins for safety.

Report: Samsung's aggressive battery design led to the Galaxy Note 7 explosions

by Alan F., phonearena.com, 4 December 2016

According to a new report, Samsung's aggressive design for the battery employed by the Galaxy Note 7might have been the culprit behind the multiple explosions that led the company to pull the phablet from the market. The way the cell was designed, a pair of polymer layers drenched in electrolytes was used to separate a positive layer made of lithium cobalt oxide, and a negative layer made of graphite. Should those two layers meet, the electrolytes would heat up causing an explosion.

As the report points out, compressing the battery would force the positive and negative layers to squeeze together. Samsung itself said that it might have been too aggressive with the design. In addition, there is a normal amount of swelling that takes place. Some of it comes from the pressure on the battery created through pushing on the back cover (for example, by putting the phone in one's back pocket and then sitting on a chair).