Quote:A robotic treasure hunter has laid claim to the find of the century, on the very archipelago that inspired the novel Robinson Crusoe. The robot, called "Arturito" or "Little Arthur", is said to have discovered the 18th-century buried treasure on the island of Robinson Crusoe - named after the book. The island lies 660 kilometres from the coast of Chile in South America.
A Scottish sailor called Alexander Selkirk was marooned on the island in 1704. His story inspired Daniel Defoe to write Robinson Crusoe, which was published in 1719.
The Chilean company responsible for developing Arturito, Wagner Technologies, announced at the weekend that the robot had found the booty by probing 15 metres below ground. The company plans to start excavating in a matter of days, as soon as permits can be obtained.
Gold ingots
According to legend, a fabulous treasure haul was buried on the island in 1715 by Spanish sailor Juan Esteban Ubilla-Echeverria. The bounty is said to have been discovered a few years later by British sailor Cornelius Webb, who reburied it on another part of the island.
By some estimates the haul would include 800 barrels of gold ingots, silver pieces, gems and other riches worth up to $10 billion. Naturally, the promise of such fabulous wealth has attracted scores or treasure hunters to the island in the past.
"The biggest treasure in history has been located," Fernando Uribe-Etxeverria, a lawyer working for Wagner Technologies told AFP News. And the announcement has already sparked a dispute over who could claim the treasure, with the Chilean government suggesting it would have full rights.
Wagner Technologies could not be reached for comment, but the robot Arturito has previously helped Chilean police locate buried weapons using ground-penetrating radar. GPR, or georadar, locates subsurface objects or structures by emitting microwave-frequency electromagnetic radiation and measuring the reflected signal, which is then represented as a two or three dimensional image.
Subsurface objects
Adam Booth an expert in GPR archaeology at the University of Leeds, UK, says it would be necessary to use a low-frequency signal to search at 15 metres' depth. But this would decrease the resolution of the signal, he says. It would be "very, very difficult", to distinguish between different metals so far down, Booth told New Scientist.
But Booth says further details could be gleaned by using other techniques in combination with GPR, such as magnetometry, which measures disturbances to the Earth's magnetic field.
Robert Richardson, a robotics expert at the University of Manchester, UK, says a robot could feasibly hunt for treasure, but believes a human controller would be crucial. "It is difficult to interpret GPR images, requiring a trained operator," he says. "It sounds more of a mobile sensing platform than a robot."
Marvin Pitney of US company Subsurface Radar Solutions agrees that it can be tricky to identify sub-surface objects accurately. "It takes years of practice," he says. "But once you get really good at interpreting images you can tell the difference between metals and plastic."
Quote:Jaffray Picks Sony to Win, But Lead for 360
New hardware estimates from analysts at Piper Jaffray have picked the Xbox 360 to maintain a lead over PS3 in the US market through 2008 but ultimate victory for Sony. Also, hard drive equipped PSPs are tipped for mid-2006.
ImageToday's report from Piper Jaffray has a number of optimistic figures. Overall hardware unit sales are predicted to grow 30% from 2006 to 2011. Most of that growth will be in handheld hardware, which has been tipped to grow 45% over the next cycle.
Software growth is predicted to go from $7.0 billion in 2005 to $10.0 billion in 2008. The analysts say that the sector as a whole should outperform broader market indices.
The introduction of PS3 and Revolution in the US is pegged to be late 2006 with Sony introducing the rumored HD equipped PSP (presumably to tap into the iPod market) in mid-2006.
Hardware market share for the next cycle is predicted to eventually be 45%-50% for Sony, Microsoft at 35%-40% and Nintendo with 15%. That said, through 2008, Xbox 360 is predicted to be the market leader.
Children of Mana for DS, and Mana 4 (4? It's the fifth title, I guess Legend of Mana is a sidestory and not a main-series Mana game...) for unspecified platform(s). Children of Mana looks great, classic 2d Mana look... not much there of Mana 4, but it looks 3d. No idea what platform it's for though...
This is a Q&A about the REAL CoconutCommander. You ask the Q, and I give the A. What do you want to know about him? Anything at all. Just Q away. Lets shatter this mystery.
Hello. My name is Jamie. I don't really know what this site is. Coconutcomander told me I need to join this site and say some stuff. He told me I needed to say somethings about myself so that everyone here has some perspective on whatever I say. I am a 23. I am from Savannah, GA. I dont have a southern accent though. I have been dating Coconutcomander since august. I am in the USAF, too. I outrank CoconutComander and I have a motorcycle. I like mob movies. I dont know what else to say. I dont think Ill be on here alot, Im only writing this because Coconutcomander keeps begging me to. He probably doesnt want me to say it but his real name is Clifford John Willey. He is dumb, lol.
I saw this odd commercial that looked like some weird therapy commercial. However, it was just odd enough to get my interest. It seemed like some advertisement for getting meaning in your life or something.
Well, check this site out and tell me exactly what you think it's about.
I'm just shocked these people actually managed to get the money to advertise this on "the TV".
Who do we know that has the money to advertise on TV and is known for ridiculous and undiscernable fake web sites?
Why we have only 337 members registered here, only about 10 post regularly, 20 at all, yet looking at the "Who's Online" page tells you that the most members online at once was 350, Sat, January 29th, 2005 at 07:10 AM?
Am I missing something? Surely those can't all be search engine spiders and bots?
![[Image: seiken6gx9ow.jpg]](http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/4408/seiken6gx9ow.jpg)
