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Humanoid robots are arriving. Do we really need them?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:12 GMT

By Matt O’Brien | Associated PressBuilding a robot that’s both human-like and useful is a decades-old engineering dream inspired by popular science fiction.While the latest artificial intelligence craze has sparked another wave of investments in the quest to build a humanoid, most of the current prototypes are clumsy and impractical, looking better in staged performances than in real life. That hasn’t stopped a handful of startups from keeping at it.“The intention is not to start from the beginning and say, ‘Hey, we’re trying to make a robot look like a person,'” said Jonathan Hurst, co-founder and chief robot officer at Agility Robotics. “We’re trying to make robots that can operate in human spaces.”Do we even need humanoids? Hurst makes a point of describing Agility’s warehouse robot Digit as human-centric, not humanoid, a distinction meant to emphasize what it does over what it’s trying to be.What it does, fo...

What to watch: Compelling ‘Maestro’ might be too much in love with itself

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:12 GMT

Bradley Cooper’s long-in-the-making directorial follow-up to “A Star Is Born” comes out in select Bay Area theaters this week before it streams Dec. 20 on Netflix.We check the buzzy biopic out along with John Woo’s killer “Silent Night” and a heartbreaking look at musician Jon Batiste. We also unveil a new feature singling out a film, new or old, that might have escaped your attention but is worth seeking out.Here’s our roundup.“Maestro”: The versatile, committed Bradley Cooper steps back up to the director’s podium and also writes, stars in and produces (whew!) this nonconformist biopic on legendary composer Leonard Bernstein and the love of his life Felicia. It’s an ambitious affair that showcases its frequent brilliance with brio and confidence as Cooper dabbles in various cinematic styles and approaches. That tinkering results in a polished, even adventurous, feature that unfortunately feels emotionally detached due to its attention-seeking cinematic flourishes.Make no mis...

San Jose man arrested in June carjacking, kidnapping

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:12 GMT

SAN JOSE — San Jose police announced Wednesday that a man accused of carjacking, kidnapping and robbing another person in June has been arrested.Around midnight on June 17, police responded to a report of a carjacking on the 500 block of South Kiely Boulevard, authorities said in a news release Wednesday. The victim told police that an unknown person approached him while he was sitting in his car and demanded that he give his phone and money, suggesting that he was armed with a knife.The suspect allegedly told the victim repeatedly that he was going to kill him.Related ArticlesCrime and Public Safety | Road rage spree alleged against ex-San Jose cop known for indecent exposure scandal Crime and Public Safety | Palo Alto police say a pair of armed catalytic converter thieves are at large Crime and Public Safety | Santa Cruz bridge crash, dramatic leap leaves two injured Crime and Public Safety | Woman arrested on suspicion of...

Single family residence sells in San Ramon for $2.2 million

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:12 GMT

3130 Sweetviolet Drive – Google Street ViewA spacious house located in the 3100 block of Sweetviolet Drive in San Ramon has new owners. The 3,207-square-foot property, built in 2013, was sold on Nov. 9, 2023, for $2,230,000, or $695 per square foot. This two-story house offers a spacious layout with five bedrooms and five bathrooms. In addition, the home includes an attached two-car garage.These nearby houses have also recently been purchased:A 2,660-square-foot home on the 1500 block of Bayberry View Lane in San Ramon sold in October 2022, for $2,070,000, a price per square foot of $778. The home has 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms.In June 2023, a 2,222-square-foot home on Sweetviolet Drive in San Ramon sold for $2,080,000, a price per square foot of $936. The home has 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms.On Rashelle Way, San Ramon, in August 2022, a 2,858-square-foot home was sold for $2,150,000, a price per square foot of $752. The home has 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. 

Kurtenbach: The Warriors are at a crossroads, but the Dubs’ big problem has no easy fix

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:12 GMT

The Warriors’ choke-job loss to the Kings Tuesday night not only knocked Golden State out of the NBA’s in-season tournament — it also threw the team’s entire regular season into question, too.Blowing a 24-point lead will shake you. Letting an opponent come back from a five-point deficit with 50 seconds to play — a point at which the start of which you hold the ball — will rattle you.And doing it all amid a legitimate slump — the Warriors have only two wins in their last 10 games? Well, that can break a team.“This team is cooked. They’re not a contender,” TNT commentator Charles Barkley said after the game.Barkley’s reaction was knee-jerk, but it wasn’t unfounded. What have the Warriors shown in recent weeks to make you believe there are still good times ahead?Steph Curry in existential thought after Tuesday’s game. That doesn’t happen after just one loss:“It’s going to be tough to swallow just because we should ...

Those magnificent purple and green lights aren’t the aurora. They’re Steve.

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:12 GMT

(CNN) — Not all science is carried out by folks in white lab coats under the fluorescent lights of academic buildings. Occasionally, the trajectory of the scientific record is forever altered inside a pub over a pint of beer.Such is the case for the sweeping purple and green lights that can hover over the horizon in the Northern Hemisphere. The phenomenon looks like the aurora borealis but is in fact something entirely different.It’s called Steve.The rare light spectacle has caused a bit of buzz this year as the sun is entering its most active period, ramping up the number of dazzling natural phenomena that appear in the night sky — and leading to new reports of people spotting Steve in areas it does not typically appear, such as parts of the United Kingdom.But about eight years ago, when Elizabeth MacDonald, a space physicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, was in Calgary, Alberta, for a seminar, she had never seen the phenomenon in person. And it did not yet have a name.In ...

When foster care kids are sex trafficked, some states fail to figure it out

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:12 GMT

Nada Hassanein | Stateline.org (TNS)For help, call 1-888-373-7888 or text *233733 for the 24/7 National Human Trafficking Hotline, a national, toll-free hotline.____When she was a 10-year-old foster child, Withelma “T” Ortiz often rode a public bus around the San Francisco Bay area, alone.She’d frequent a bus stop by a barber shop. Little by little, the barber, who was 15 years older, befriended her, she said — buying her snacks and meals, giving her attention, gaining her trust. It wasn’t too long before he started selling her on the street and taking explicit photos of her to post online.Ortiz wasn’t a stranger to abuse: She’d first been sex trafficked by her birth mom when she was 5 years old, and she was abused by foster parents throughout her childhood, she recalled.Ortiz was in state custody and sex trafficked through age 17. She doesn’t remember how many group and foster homes she was placed in — she stopped counting at 14 homes. As she moved from one to another, the barber s...

Pac-12 championship game preview: UW’s comfort zone, the Lanning factor and radio silence from the Pac-12 Networks

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:12 GMT

The final Pac-12 championship game will feature two playoff contenders with a combined record of 23-1, two Heisman Trophy candidates, ABC’s top broadcast crew and a sold out stadium Friday night in Las Vegas.Not in attendance: The Pac-12 Networks.The conference’s wholly-owned media company will have no linear television presence in Allegiant Stadium, where No. 3 Washington and No. 5 Oregon collide with a College Football Playoff berth at stake.No Pac-12 Networks pregame show.No Pac-12 Networks halftime update.No Pac-12 Networks postgame show.Anyone tuning into the networks Friday at 9 p.m. will see a women’s volleyball match (USC vs. UCLA), not interviews with the Huskies and Ducks.The on-site football coverage was swallowed up by cost cuts as the conference downsizes operations. The scope-of-services plan crafted by commissioner George Kliavkoff and approved by the presidents did not bother to include expenses for a Pac-12 Networks presence at the championship gam...

Loaded semi-automatic rifle found by Santa Rosa police K-9 during traffic stop

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:12 GMT

(KRON) -- A loaded semi-automatic rifle was discovered in the bed of a truck by a Santa Rosa Police Department K-9 officer during a traffic stop Tuesday. Santa Rosa PD officer Gonzalez-Campos and his K-9 partner Ghost conducted a traffic stop at around 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, police said.The two pulled over a pick-up truck for a vehicle code violation in the 300 block of Dutton Avenue. Approaching the vehicle, officer Gonzalez-Campos saw what he thought was a knife sticking out from under the driver's right leg.Believing the driver was possibly armed, the officer asked him to exit the vehicle and patted him down for weapons. Following the pat-down, the officer determined the object he'd thought was a knife was a screwdriver. San Francisco to open 300 new shelter beds as winter nears During the course of the traffic enforcement, the officer learned that the driver was a convicted felon who was on probation, and therefore prohibited from possessing firearms. K-9 Ghost then performed an "...

San Francisco to open 300 new shelter beds as winter nears

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:12 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- The City of San Francisco will be opening 300 new shelter beds this week as part of an ongoing shelter expansion. The 300 beds, according to a news release from the city, were funded in the city's most recent budget and will be spread across a number of existing locations that are also adding capacity.The additional shelter beds will bring the total number of active beds in San Francisco's system to 3,850."We continue to add shelter -- adding 300 beds this week," said Mayor London Breed in a tweet. "We now have over 3,850 shelter beds, a 60% increase since 2018."The city says it plans to add an additional 30 beds before the end of the year. Plans are also in the works to open two tiny home communities next year, one of which would include a safe parking site. BART paper tickets phased out after Wednesday “Expanding shelter is essential for helping people off the street and keeping our neighborhoods cleaner and safer for everyone,” said Mayor London Breed. “...