Month: May 2016

(credit: Peter Bright)

Dell has followed in the footsteps of its rival HP by hitting the reboot button on its various brands.

Chief Michael Dell confirmed in a letter to employees that Dell—which turned 32 years of age on Tuesday—had a new name: "our family of businesses will officially be known as Dell Technologies," he said. The announcement will be made formally at the EMC World trade show, which kicks off today in Las Vegas.

Dell's family of affected brands includes Dell itself, EMC, VMware, Pivotal, SecureWorks, RSA, and Virtustream—all of which now fall under the "Dell Technologies" banner.

The Unmanned Tactical Autonomous Control and Collaboration (UTACC), a ground robot and small drone team, patrols a simulated town indoors in Ellis Hall at Marine Corps Base Quantico. (credit: Sgt. Terry Brady, US Marine Corps)

NEW ORLEANS—The problem with robots on the battlefield today, according to Marine Corps Colonel Jim "Jinx" Jenkins, is that they still have to be driven by humans. That's why the Marine Corps and the Department of Defense are researching ways for robots to act more like teammates on the battlefield than just another piece of hardware.

Jenkins, who serves as Director of Science and Technology at the Marine Corps' Warfighting Lab at Quantico, Virginia, said in a presentation at the Association for Unmanned Systems International's XPONENTIAL conference that while robots such as those used for explosive ordnance disposal and other roles on the battlefield take soldiers and Marines out of some dangerous situations, they take their operators out of the fight.

"A marine is driving, so we haven't improved our manpower situation, and sometimes it costs more manpower." he noted, since operators have to pay such close attention to what they're doing with the robot that they need someone watching their back. "We need to move toward autonomy" for robots and other uncrewed systems, he said. Eventually, the Marine Corps wants swarms of collaborating drones and robots to act at the command of a single operator as a force multiplier at every level of operations.

Iowa State Cyclones cheerleaders during the 2016 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. (credit: Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

The US Supreme Court said yesterday it will hear a case between two cheerleader uniform suppliers that could affect the state of copyright nationwide.In 2010, Star Athletica published its first catalog of cheerleading uniforms and was promptly sued. Varsity Brands, the world's biggest manufacturer of cheerleading and dance-team uniforms, alleged that Star Athletica's uniforms violated Varsity's copyrighted designs.

The clothiers' conflict could have wide effects in the fashion world and beyond. A trio of 3D printing companies have already filed an amicus brief asking the high court to take the case, seeking clarity on how to separate creative, copyrightable designs from utilitarian objects that aren't subject to copyright.

The case below

Star argues that Varsity's copyrights were on utilitarian elements of the uniforms, and thus shouldn't be allowed. The US has never allowed copyrights on "useful articles," and that's long been held to include clothing. Star won its case in district court, but a split panel at the US Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit overturned the win, siding with Varsity.