FRIDAY NEWS

WORLD NEWS
Emotion robots learn from people

Making robots that interact with people emotionally is the goal of a European project led by British scientists.
Feelix Growing is a research project involving six countries, and 25 roboticists, developmental psychologists and neuroscientists.

Co-ordinator Dr Lola Canamero said the aim was to build robots that "learn from humans and respond in a socially and emotionally appropriate manner". The 2.3m euros scheme will last for three years.

"The human emotional world is very complex but we respond to simple cues, things we don't notice or we don't pay attention to, such as how someone moves," said Dr Canamero, who is based at the University of Hertfordshire.

The project involves building a series of robots that can take sensory input from the humans they are interacting with and then adapt their behaviour accordingly. The robots exhibit imprinted behaviour - following the 'mother around' Dr Canamero likens the robots to babies that learn their behaviour from the patterns of movement and emotional state of the world around them.

The robots themselves are simple machines - and in some cases they are off-the-shelf machines. The most interesting aspect of the project is the software. The robots will learn from the feedback they receive from humans.

The robots will get the feedback from simple vision cameras, audio, contact sensors, and sensors that can work out the distance between the machine and the humans. At the end of the project two robots will be built which integrate the different aspects of the machines being developed across Europe.

The other partners in this project are the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Universite de Cergy Pontoise, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, University of Portsmouth, Institute of Communication and Computer Systems, Greece, Entertainment Robotics, Denmark and SAS Aldebaran Robotics, France. (BBC NEWS)

US NEWS AND CELEB NEWS IN ONE
OUR FAVE CELEB BLOGGER INTERVIEW (it's long so read what you want)

The most hated man in Hollywood?
By Caroline Briggs
Entertainment reporter, BBC News

Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton talks to the BBC News website about being Hollywood's most hated gossip monger.

At first it's hard to see why celebrity blogger Perez Hilton strikes fear into the heart of Hollywood. In the flesh, the 28-year-old Cuban-American is infectiously upbeat with his shock of pink hair and lilting Los Angeles parlance. But Perez - real name Mario Lavandeira - is the self-styled "queen of mean". A smiling assassin whose cutting comments on his internet blog are the bane of celebrities.

"I'm a polarizing figure," he laughs. "Some love it, some hate it."

"I've had everything from Nicole Richie coming up and telling me to call her anorexic to her face, and I've had Tara Reid threaten to throw me in a pool at a party.

"I had Jesse Metcalfe say that he has fantasised about killing me... then he repeated it. As if I didn't hear him the first time. I was like, 'OK!'"

But Perez - whose daily readership regularly tops four million - is unrepentant, admitting that he "loves" offending people.

"I don't regret anything I have ever written," he says with a dismissive shrug.

"No one is forcing you to read my website and chances are that if I wrote something about you once that wasn't nice, it'll happen again." Anyone Perez takes a personal dislike to is fair game. Britney Spears, Jennifer Aniston, Tara Reid, Lindsay Lohan and Nicole Richie are regular targets of the gossip he posts daily from his "desk" at The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf cafe on the corner of Sunset Boulevard, in Los Angeles.

It is hardly a control hub of global dominance, but it's enough to have many a Hollywood publicist quaking in their designer boots. "I am seen as dangerous because it is hard for celebrities and their publicists to control me, to spin me," he explains.

"Before it was easier for them to manipulate the truth in the news... some magazines are celebrity and publicist friendly and don't want to say anything that will upset the stars, or upset the publicists, because they need 'access'. I don't need access. I don't ask for access, I don't care. Access sometimes mucks things up because sometimes it is nice to have this distance."

Perez was brought up in Miami, then moved to New York to become an actor. He arrived in Los Angeles in 2002 where he initially worked as a publicist and journalist.

It's a combination, he explains, that makes him the perfect celebrity blogger. "I was tired of editors telling me what I could or I could not write about," he says. "I was always pop culture and celebrity obsessed so I started the website just for fun, but within six months it got me on television, and I was like 'Wow, my little blog got me on television!' And then I realised there was something to this.

"I'm absurdly normal, but celebrities aren't, which is what I love about them. They are, like, incredibly insane and they are so fun to talk about."

Perez's trademark is to digitally deface photo agency pictures of celebrities, usually at their most drunk or vulnerable. He scrawls beards, alien ears, or cocaine dribbles on the famous faces, accompanied with comments like "fat" or "psycho". Most of it is catty, some downright cruel - arguably all childish.

But his blunt views, coupled with a bloody-minded determination to break big celebrity stories - such as the recent death of model Anna Nicole Smith - have built an army of fans. His running commentary of events on the night she died - Anna Nicole Rushed To The Hospital!!!, Anna Nicole's Life In Jeopardy!, Anna Nicole Smith Likely Dead!!!, It's Official: Anna Nicole Smith Is Dead! - earned him a new record.

"My contacts were telling me a bunch of things as it was happening, before she was even dead," he says. "That set a record for me, then I set a new record the following week with 4.25 million visitors in one day."

It is a record that has since been smashed again, with more than 4.75 million people flocking to his site after singer Britney Spears shaved off her hair in front of the gawping paparazzi. He has followed every twist of her story since.

"People don't want to wait a week to get their celebrity news," he explains. "I actively and aggressively try to break news stories that are true. I'm not just going to make up things. I never have and I never will. And it's not anything new. People have always been obsessed with celebrities... gossiped about the homecoming queen, or the head cheerleader, or the captain of the football team, or whatever."

While Perez is quick to deny a desire to be famous, his showbiz blog suggests a shameless desire to be seen with the stars on the celebrity circuit. But his increasing closeness to certain celebrities - notably Paris Hilton - has led some readers to question his objectivity.

Last month a video of her allegedly making homophobic and racist comments was posted on the internet. Perez, who would usually revel in such things, was unusually quiet. "It can make it difficult, without a doubt," he admits.

"I know [Paris] is not a racist and I know she's not a homophobe... but it is not my job to defend her."

The socialite and singer has previously denied being a racist. Perez has also been criticised for "outing" gay celebrities who were happily in the closet - an accusation he rejects, claiming he simply "reports" - and for talking in the third person.

While he insists his larger-than-life Perez persona is "strategic", it also masks a disarming hint of vulnerability. "Sure I hide behind Perez. It's a character, you know," he explains.

"Perez will say things that Mario Lavandeira would never say... at least not to anyone's face. The real me is boring... but Perez is fabulous." (BBC NEWS)


LOCAL NEWS
Smoky North End blaze leaves 50 homeless
By David Abel, Globe Staff | February 23, 2007

The 35-year-old man in the suit stood in a cloud of acrid smoke, a fine mist of water raining on his shiny tie and BlackBerry. His heart raced as he hurried home after hearing that a building next to his in the North End had just burst into flames.

Jose Baraybar watched last night as about 130 firefighters struggled to extinguish the six-alarm blaze, but he wasn't worried. Neighbors, who had fled the flames with only their pets and cellphones, assured him that his apartment was fine. Then he saw Edward Capone, his landlord and the owner of three buildings that were still ablaze nearly two hours after the fire began about 7 p.m.

"I'm so sorry," Capone said, hugging Baraybar. "Everything is destroyed. It's horrible."

Baraybar was one of at least 50 people homeless as a result of the blaze on Endicott Street, which ruined 21 apartments at an estimated cost of about $1.5 million, fire officials said. No one was injured.

Baraybar began to shake. He didn't believe Capone. "You're kidding," he said.

Above them, teams of firefighters carried heavy hoses up ladders and sprayed the smoking roofs, some of which had collapsed. A crush of news crews stuck microphones and bright lights in the two men's faces.

"You're welcome to come sleep in my house," Capone said. "I put 35 years into these buildings. I feel like I'm going to have a heart attack. All I can say is, thank God no one is hurt."

Soon afterward, Boston Fire Chief Kevin MacCurtain emerged from the row of charred brick buildings and described the extensive damage. What fire didn't destroy, he said, smoke and water did.

It was too early to say what caused the blaze, he said. He didn't know whether the buildings' fire alarms had worked.

Caroline McInnis, 25, a law student, said she was in her third-floor apartment when she smelled smoke.

She said she didn't hear an alarm, but decided to go. She grabbed her Pomeranian poodle and cellphone and ran. "I guess we're lucky to be alive," she said.

Other residents said they had heard that a tenant on the second floor of one of the buildings had tried to dry some pants in an oven. The pants, they said, caught fire.

MacCurtain said he didn't know whether the story was true.

As the smoke diminished and Red Cross officials began shepherding homeless tenants to a nearby church, Baraybar paced up and down an adjacent block.

It had been a bad day before he got home, he said. He had lost clients at work, and now this.

"I don't smoke," he said, "but I just had a cigarette." (BOSTON GLOBE)


MUSIC NEWS

Nirvana Soundtracks Baseball Video Game, Commercial
Also: Tapes n Tapes to headline "2K Sports Hit-n-Run Tour"

Last year, when Courtney Love sold a 25% share of her stake in the Nirvana publishing catalog to music publisher Larry Mestel, a guy who would help her with licensing matters, she told Rolling Stone, "We're going to remain very tasteful, and we're going to [retain] the spirit of Nirvana and take Nirvana places it's never been before."

Well, we sure hope Kurt Cobain was a baseball fan, because Nirvana's "Breed" has turned up on the soundtrack to 2K Sports' Major League Baseball 2K7 video game, due out February 27. The song will also appear in the television commercial for the game. Apparently, this is the first time a Nirvana song has been licensed for an ad.

But the Nirvana song isn't the only intersting thing about the MLB 2K7 music. Following in the footsteps of their Sub Pop-sound tracked hockey game, quality hip-hop-based basketball one and the Matador-friendly MLB 2K6, the 2K folks have assembled a stellar collection of tunes for MLB 2K7, including songs by the Stooges, Pixies, the Specials, Les Savy Fav, the Thermals, Death From Above 1979, the Walkmen, Tapes 'n Tapes, Bishop Allen, and Wolfmother.

There are no plans for a CD release of the soundtrack, but it is streaming online. The list of songs featured in the soundtrack, in alphabetical order by artist name, is below. (Dude, remember Nerf Herder?!)

2K is, however, planning to feature Tapes 'n Tapes as headliners on the upcoming "2K Sports Hit-n-Run Tour", which we previously reported as a regular old Tapes 'n Tapes tour. On the 2K-sponsored dates of the tour, concertgoers can play MLB 2K7 head-to-head and win various prizes.

Playing video games, listening to Tapes 'n Tapes...it'll be just like an average night in your bedroom. But with other people.

Tracks:

311: "Down"
Bishop Allen: "Middle Management"
Cities in Dust: "Emergency"
Death From Above 1979: "Little Girl"
Dixie Witch: "Set the Speed"
Editors: "Munich"
Five Horse Johnson: "I Can't Shake It"
Greatdayforup: "Man's Ruin"
The Jealous Sound: "Naïve"
Les Savy Fav: "Hold on to Your Genre"
The M's: "Plan of the Man"
Nerf Herder: "High Five Anxiety"
Nirvana: "Breed"
The Pixies: "Mr. Grieves"
The Specials: "A Message to You Rudy"
The Stooges: "I Feel Alright"
Sublime: "Summertime"
Tapes 'n Tapes: "Insistor"
The Thermals: "A Passing Feeling"
The Walkmen: "The Rat"
Wolfmother: "Woman"

Tapes 'n Tapes dates:

02-23 St. Paul, MN - Fitzgerald Theater (Current Fakebook) *
02-27 San Francisco, CA - Mezzanine (Noise Pop) !
03-10 Mexico City, Mexico - MX Beat at Deportivo
04-16 Columbia, MO - Blue Note #
04-17 St. Louis, MO - Creepy Crawl #
04-18 Nashville, TN - Mercy Lounge #
04-20 Dallas, TX - Gypsy Tea Room #
04-21 Austin, TX- Emo's #
04-22 Houston, TX - Numbers #
04-27 Indio, CA - Empire Polo Field (Coachella)
05-02 San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall #
05-04 Portland, OR - Dante's #$
05-05 Seattle, WA - Neumos #$
05-06 Vancouver, British Columbia - Plaza Club #$
05-09 Denver, CO - Bluebird Theater #$
05-10 Omaha, NE - Sokol Underground #$
05-11 Des Moines, IA - Vaudeville Mews #$
05-12 Chicago, IL - The Abbey Pub #$
05-14 Ottawa, Ontario - Barrymore's #$
05-15 Montreal, Quebec - Le National #$
05-16 Toronto, Ontario - Lee's Palace #$
05-17 Buffalo, NY - Mohawk Place #$
05-18 New York, NY - Irving Plaza #$
05-19 Boston, MA - Paradise Rock Club #$
05-22 Cleveland Heights, OH - Grog Shop #$
05-23 Columbus, OH - The Basement #$
05-24 Newport, KY - Southgate House #$

* with Chuck Klosterman
! with David Cross, Har Mar Superstar
# 2K Sports Hit-N-Run Tour (all dates with Harlem Shakes)
$ with Ladyhawk

(PITCHFORK MEDIA)