10 Web trends to watch in 2010

By Pete Cashmore, Special to CNN

December 3, 2009 1:52 p.m. EST

Mashable's Pete Cashmore says real-time communication, Internet TV and social gaming will be big in 2010.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Mashable's Pete Cashmore lists his 10 Web trends that we'll be talking about next year
  
• Sparked by Twitter, Facebook and FriendFeed, the real-time communications trend will grow
  
• The cloud-computing movement will see a major leap forward in the first half of 2010
  
• 2010 will be the breakthrough year of the much-anticipated mobile payments market
  

RELATED TOPICS

• Internet
• Web Services
• Computer Technology

Editor's note: Pete Cashmore is founder and CEO of Mashable, a popular blog about social media. He is writing a weekly column about social networking and tech for CNN.com.

(CNN) -- As 2009 draws to a close, the Web's attention turns to the year ahead. What can we expect of the online realm in 2010?

While Web innovation is unpredictable, some clear trends are becoming apparent. Expect the following 10 themes to define the Web next year:

Real-time ramps up

Sparked by Twitter, Facebook and FriendFeed, the real-time trend has been to the latter part of 2009 what "Web 2.0" was to 2007. The term represents the growing demand for immediacy in our interactions. Immediacy is compelling, engaging, highly addictive ... it's a sense of living in the now.

But real-time is more than just a horde of new Twitter-like services hitting the Web in 2010 (although that's inevitable -- cargo cults abound). It's a combination of factors, from the always-connected nature of modern smartphones to the instant gratification provided by a Google search.

Why wait until you get home to post a restaurant review, asks consumer trends tracker Trendwatching, when scores of iPhone apps let you post feedback as soon as you finish dessert? Why wonder about the name of that song, when humming into your phone handset will garner an instant answer from Midomi?

Look out, too, for real-time collaboration: Google Wave launched earlier this year, resulting in both excitement and confusion. A crossover between instant messaging, e-mail and a wiki, Wave is a platform for getting things done together. Web users, however, remain baffled. In 2010, Wave's utility will become more apparent.

Location, location, location

Fueled by the ubiquity of GPS in modern smartphones, location-sharing services like Foursquare, Gowalla, Brightkite and Google Latitude are suddenly in vogue.

As I ruminated in this column two weeks ago, Foursquare and its ilk may become the breakout services of the year ... provided they're not crushed by the addition of location-based features to Twitter and Facebook.

What's clear is that location is not about any singular service; rather, it's a new layer of the Web. Soon, our whereabouts may optionally be appended to every Tweet, blog comment, photo or video we post.

Augmented reality

It's yet to become part of the consumer consciousness, but augmented reality has attracted early-adopter buzz in the latter part of 2009.

Enabled by GPS, mapping data from the likes of Google and the accelerometer technology in modern phones, AR involves overlaying data on your environment; imagine walking around a city and seeing it come to life with reviews of the restaurants you walk past and Wikipedia entries about the sights you see.

When using Layar, for instance, the picture from your phone's video camera is overlaid with bubbles of information from Yelp, Wikipedia, Google Search and Twitter. The challenge for such services is to prove their utility: They have the "cool factor," but can they be truly useful?

Content 'curation'

The Web's biggest challenge of recent years is that content creation is outpacing our ability to consume it: "Information overload" has become an increasingly common complaint.

In the attention economy, with its millions of daily status updates and billions of Web pages vying for our time, how do we best allocate that scarce resource? One solution has been algorithmic: Sites like Google News source the best stuff by technical means, but fall short when it comes to personalization.

In 2008, the answer revealed itself: Your friends are your filter. With the launch of its Facebook Connect program, Facebook allowed sites to offer content personalization based on the preferences of your network.

Meanwhile, Google's Social Search experiment is investigating whether Web searching is improved by using information gleaned from your friends on Twitter, Facebook, Digg and the rest. Increasingly, your friends are becoming the curators of your consumption, from Web links to movies, books and TV shows.

Professional "curation" has its place, too: Who better to direct our scarce attention than experts in their fields? I explored this possibility in a CNN article last month titled "Twitter lists and real-time journalism" .

Cloud computing

Cloud computing was very much a buzzword of 2009, but there's no doubt this transition will continue. The trend, in which data and applications cease to reside on our desktops and instead exist on servers elsewhere ("the cloud"), makes our data accessible from anywhere and enables collaboration with distributed teams.

The cloud movement will see a major leap forward in the first half of 2010 with the launch of "Office Web Apps," free online versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote released in tandem with Microsoft Office 2010.

Next year will also see the launch of Google's Chrome OS, a free, Web-centric operating system that forces us to ask: How many desktop applications do we really need?

Internet TV and movies

Is 2010 the year the majority of our television starts coming to us via the Internet? There's certainly more activity here than at any other time: Among the early-adopter set, Hulu, Boxee, Apple TV and Netflix's Roku box lead the field.

Hulu in particular has sustained remarkable growth this year, while the movie studios are getting on board with the launch of Epix, a Hulu for films.

Convergence conundrum

The outlook for devices in 2010 appears somewhat contradictory: While the convergence trend continues apace and many of our gadgets are folded into the smartphones we carry around every day, we're seeing a converse trend in which task-specific devices gain popularity.

GPS device maker TomTom recently introduced a $100 iPhone app that removes the need to buy a TomTom hardware device. Google then one-upped the company by releasing free turn-by-turn directions on devices running its Android operating system. Garmin and TomTom beware: Standalone GPS devices may meet their demise in 2010.

Also on the endangered gadgets list: Flip video cameras, which PC World declared dead upon the launch of the iPhone 3G S. Meanwhile, Apple executives say the iPhone is cannibalizing the iPod: Why carry two devices when you only need one?

Paradoxically, the e-book reader is seeing traction as a single-use device. With hard-to-read, power-hungry laptop screens proving impractical for reading, and smartphone screens proving too small, the Kindle and its competitors are gaining buzz.

However, I'd argue that the e-book reader is a fad: Carrying an extra device is never desirable, and the major factor preventing convergence is the lack of superior screen technology. Flexible, expanding low-power screens on cell phones might tip the balance.

The real power of Amazon's Kindle is its ease of use: a virtual bookstore so simple that it does for books what Apple's iTunes did for music. The devices will converge, but the "app store" model for books will persist across all devices. The technology won't be with us in 2010, however.

Social gaming

There's little risk of social gaming proving a bad bet in 2010 -- Zynga's FarmVille game on Facebook now counts more active users than Twitter, claims a Facebook executive. Meanwhile, rival Playfish was recently acquired by Electronic Arts in a deal valued at up to $400 million.

Of growing interest in 2010, however, will be the virtual currencies these games have spawned: In the allegedly unmonetizable world of social media, virtual buying and selling may be the route to riches for some social media sites -- a concept I outlined in this column under the title "Is Facebook the future of micropayments?"

Mobile payments

I'd wager that 2010 will be the breakthrough year of the much-anticipated mobile payments market. While much of Asia has embraced the technology, the U.S., in particular, has lagged. There's reason for optimism in 2010, however: From PayPalX to Amazon's mobile payments platform for developers, the big players are seizing the mobile payments opportunity.

Meanwhile, newcomer Square, founded by the creator of Twitter, began its rollout this week to much early-adopter excitement: The company enables merchants to accept payments via Apple's iPhone.

Fame abundance, privacy scarcity

Warhol was right: Fame is now abundant. Social media has birthed a galaxy of stars in thousands of niches: We're all reality stars now, on Facebook, Twitter and all the myriad online outlets where we hone our personal brands.

We're seeing the ongoing voluntary erosion of privacy through public sharing on Facebook and Twitter, the rise of location-based services and the inclusion of video cameras in a growing array of devices.

The incredible efficiency of Web-based communication and our Google-fueled appetite to know everything about everything (or everyone) right now are combining to make Tiger Woods the canary in the privacy coal mine. Expect personal privacy -- or rather its continued erosion -- to be a hot media topic of 2010.

SOURCEL http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/12/03/cashmore.web.trends.2010/index.html

The smartphone apps that could save your life

London, England (CNN) -- There are a growing number of smartphone applications aimed at assisting medical professionals or improving personal health.

From AirStrip OB, which lets obstetricians remotely access real-time data about newborn babies, to Epocrates, a kind of drug encyclopedia for medics, phone apps have the potential to be lifesavers.

Then there are the apps aimed at improving people's general health, such as RunKeeper, designed to make it easier to keep fit, and Absolute Fitness, which could help you keep tabs on your diet.

We take a look at just a few of the health-related applications now showing on a smartphone near you.

SOURCE: http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/12/07/health.apps.smartphone/index.html

MIT wins $40,000 prize in nationwide balloon-hunt contest

December 7, 2009 9:58 a.m. EST

Ten 8-foot-wide red weather balloons across the United States were the targets in Saturday's high-tech challenge.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• MIT team was first to discover the locations of 10 balloons scattered across U.S.
• Contest tested use of Web-based techniques to achieve time-critical tasks
• Challenge was announced on anniversary of first message sent on Internet's precursor
• DARPA: Winning team discovered balloons' locations less than nine hours after launch

(CNN) -- A team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology won $40,000 in a high-tech scavenger hunt on Saturday by discovering the location of 10 red weather balloons.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency announced that the MIT team was the first group in the contest to report the latitude and longitude coordinates of all 10 balloons, which were scattered across the United States.

DARPA is the U.S. military's research arm. Saturday's challenge is the latest in a series that the agency has hosted since 2004.

This contest was designed to test the way social networking and lesser-known Web-based techniques can help accomplish a large-scale, time-critical task.

DARPA said in a written statement that the MIT team discovered the locations of the 8-foot-wide balloons less than nine hours after they launched, around 10 a.m. ET.

Video: Balloon-hunt contest

RELATED TOPICS

• Internet
• Military Technology
• Twitter Inc.

It did not say exactly when the task was completed or how many groups had participated.

Johanna Jones, a spokeswoman for DARPA, said the hunt was designed in part to give the military new ideas on ways to operate in a range of situations, from natural disasters to combat.

The agency said it plans to meet with teams to discuss their approaches and strategies used to build networks, collect information, and participate in the contest.

The challenge was announced on October 29 -- 40 years after the first message was sent on ARPANET, the precursor to the Internet. DARPA said it hopes the contest will lead to advances in the way the military communicates and coordinates activities among multiple geographically separated groups.

On MIT's Web site, a link was posted inviting people to sign up to help find the balloons and urging them to invite their friends. It said the MIT Red Balloon Challenge Team "is interested in studying information flow in social networks, so if we win, we're giving all the money away to the people who help us find the balloons!"

It detailed a chain for giving away the money, beginning with $2,000 given to each person who first sent in the coordinates of each balloon.

iReporter on balloon challenge

"We're giving $2,000 per balloon to the first person to send us the correct coordinates, but that's not all -- we're also giving $1,000 to the person who invited them. Then we're giving $500 whoever invited the inviter, and $250 to whoever invited them, and so on..." it said.

It was not immediately clear how many people participated for MIT.

SOURCE: http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/12/05/darpa.balloon.challenge/index.html

The hidden costs of identity theft

By John Blake, CNN

December 7, 2009 9:40 a.m. EST

The identities of an estimated 9.1 million Americans have been stolen, according to a 2008 survey.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• The toll of identity theft includes financial and emotional costs
• An estimated 9.1 million Americans have had identities stolen, according to a 2008 survey
• Security experts: Recovery takes months, if not years
• The Internet has made identity theft easier and more widespread

RELATED TOPICS

• Computer Security
• Computer Crime
• Identity Theft

(CNN) -- Debra Guenterberg doesn't have to go to a horror movie to get spooked. She says she's been living a nightmare for the past 13 years.

The Wisconsin woman says she's been stalked by two phantoms. Two men stole her name and her husband's Social Security number. They used the information to obtain credit cards, buy cars and three homes.

Like many horror movie villains, the bad guys keep coming back. Thirteen years after the men stole their names, the Guenterbergs are still being turned down for credit because of the damage done by the men, she says.

"It's a nightmare," Guenterberg says. "We both feel physically and mentally exhausted. We feel hopeless because we can't fix this."

Most people know about the financial hit identity theft victims take. But less attention is paid to the emotional costs they also pay. Victims often experience paranoia, depression, rage -- some even endure family breakups, security experts say.

There are many ways someone's identity can be stolen. Much of it now occurs online. A person's identity can be stolen from a social media site, through online banking or after they have clicked on a deceptive e-mail.

But no matter how it happens, the victim is going to pay -- financially and emotionally, cybersecurity officials say.

The Guenterbergs say they've battled the IRS, elected officials and local sheriffs to reclaim their name. They've also undergone counseling.

"We're angry," Debra Guenterberg says. "We can't sleep at night. ... We want to move on."

The hidden toll of ID theft

Moving on, though, often requires justice. And that can be elusive for victims of identity theft, security experts say.

The identities of an estimated 9.1 million Americans have been stolen by thieves lifting personal information off the Internet or through other means, according to a 2008 survey conducted by Javelin Strategy & Research, a financial services research firm.

But it often takes the average identity theft victim months, if not years, to resolve their case, security experts say. Some say that no matter what they do, they still encounter problems getting credit.

Robert Guenterberg tried to open a checking account earlier this year, but says the bank turned him down because it confused him with the men who had stolen his Social Security number.

"It never ends," Robert Guenterberg says.

The Guenterbergs say their ordeal began 13 years ago when Robert Guenterberg tried to buy a Ford truck but was rejected because of poor credit. He got the same answer when he tried to get a home loan and a credit card.

When the collection agencies started calling, the Guenterbergs say they finally discovered the source of their problem. They say two men had stolen the couple's name and Robert' Guenterberg's Social Security number.

The Guenterberg's situation was especially thorny because it involved the loss of his Social Security number.

The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, a nonprofit group that educates consumers about privacy protection, tells people that even if an imposter is using their Social Security number, the Social Security Administration will only issue a new number in extreme cases.

Michael Kaiser, executive director of the National Cyber Security Alliance, says getting a new Social Security number is tough and can complicate an identity theft victim's life even more.

"They can [get a new Social Security number] but the hassle may not be worth it," Kaiser says.

What the scammers say after they've been caught

Even if victims of identity theft are able to clean up their financial records, some must learn how to overcome their bitterness. Linda Foley had to learn that lesson.

Foley had just started working as a restaurant reviewer for a San Diego magazine when her employer asked her to fill out tax forms to get paid.

Foley says her employer then used her Social Security number to obtain three credit cards and a cell phone. She says she uncovered the deception when one of her credit card companies called during a routine credit check to verify her change of address.

That's when Foley learned that her boss was living it up on credit cards with her name.

"She was getting gourmet meals home delivered," Foley says. "She was getting vitamins; she was going on shopping sprees at department stores."

Foley says she's not the same person she was before her identity was stolen.

"It changes your life," she says. "I don't trust the way I used to. I don't share things with people as much as I used to."

Foley says she never talked to the woman who stole her identity, but she always wanted to.

The woman was eventually caught and apologized to a judge in court for stealing Foley's identity. Foley was so angry that she wanted to personally confront the woman. But Foley says her lawyer restrained her.

"I came to understand that what she did was because of what she is," Foley says. "How could she explain that to anybody? They [scammers] live a different life; they live in a different world."

Foley says she and her husband, Jay, formed Identity Theft Resource Center, which educates individuals and businesses about identity theft. In her new role, Foley says she talked to identity theft scammers.

None of them saw themselves as criminals, she says.

"The reason they gave is, 'No one is going to get hurt,' '' Foley says. "They don't see this as a crime of victimization."

Some identity thieves are so cold-blooded that they even prey on their closest relatives, Foley says.

"I've worked with people whose parents have stolen their information for 25 years," Foley says. "They've had their parents jailed."

Tips for preventing identity theft are now well known. Only give out a Social Security number if you must; install a firewall on your home computer; don't use biographical information in your passwords.

Linda Foley's husband, Jay, co-founder of Identity Theft Resource Center, says one of the best precautions a person can take is something simple: Pay attention to what they click on the Internet.

"You get yourself into a big rush and something pops up in front of you, you deal with it and move and then you say, 'What did I just do?' " says Jay Foley.

Perhaps one of the best precautions is to remember the struggles of people like the Guenterbergs.

Losing money to a thief is not the same as losing one's identity, Debra Guenterberg says.

"If somebody steals your wallet and you notice what they've done on your credit report, you still have protection from that, though it's still a nightmare, '' Debra Guenterberg says.

"But when someone overtakes your life and becomes you -- that's insane."

SOURCE: http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/12/07/identity.theft.costs/index.html

Discovery Brings Dinosaurs Roaring to Life

Saturday, December 05, 2009
By Jeremy A. Kaplan

• Print
• ShareThis

Discovery

Consulting anatomists and paleontologists let the show give a previously unexplored look at dinosaur tendons, muscles, and more

Consulting anatomists and paleontologists let the show give a previously unexplored look at dinosaur tendons, muscles, and more

• 
• 

65 million years after they ruled the planet, dinosaurs are back.

A new four-part miniseries on the Discovery Channel peels back the millennia and the skin, revealing a never before seen look at the birth and death of dinosaurs.

Researchers have made incredible leaps in the last year or two, learning previously unknown details about how the giant creatures were born, smelled, thought, acted and more. This Sunday at 8 p.m., a new series captures those advances like never before.

"Dinosaur science really evolves on an annular basis. So much changes year after year," explains "Clash of the Dinosaurs" executive producer Bill Howard to FoxNews.com in an exclusive interview.

"The series sets out to gather the sum total of today's paleontology and scientific knowledge about dinosaurs, letting viewers see what these creatures were like as animals, not prehistoric monsters."

SLIDESHOW: A sneak peek at "Clash of the Dinosaurs"

There have also been mighty steps forward in computational power and computer-rendering ability. Discovery's artists used these advances in graphics to depict dinosaurs as never before, letting viewers to see deep inside the body of a dinosaur.

"We took apart the anatomy of the different dinosaurs themselves, and really got into the cutting edge of how they moved, appeared, and behaved," said Howard. To study the muscles, tissues, and brain functions of creatures dead for tens of millions of years, Discovery relied upon the expertise of consulting anatomists and paleontologists, giving a previously unexplored look at dinosaur tendons and tissue.

"We're starting to understand where muscle attached to bone, how skin looked, how it resembled (or didn't) modern animals," said Howard."We've taken walk cycle models and anatomy and put it together with the correct weight and mass and how the muscles would have to move in order to move the joints and so on. With photo-realistic computer graphics, you see what the animals would have looked like when they moved."

"When you see the animals move, you see the skin responding to their movements, the effects of rain hitting their hides," he gushes.

Beyond mere anatomy, the show explores new theories about these powerful animals. For example, conventional wisdom holds that the fearsome Tyrannosaurus rex had a brain like a walnut, limiting its actions to reactions, fight or flight mechanisms. But modern science suggests the T. rex had a large brain capable of complex behaviors. The show depicts the incredibly maternal instincts and family bonding scientists now think was commonplace among the gigantic animals.

Flying reptile Quetzalcoatlus (named after the Aztec god) had a 40-foot wingspan. "We figured out how it's anatomy worked and how it was able to fly for extended periods," adds Howard. Given the creature's weight and size, paleontologists speculated that it lived in an area where it took off from cliffs and soared like a glider. "We've discovered that their leg muscles had the quick reflexes of a frog, so unlike a modern bird, it could leap into the air very readily." Howard also notes that the creatures had tremendous eyesight, seeing in ultraviolet to following the urine trails of its prey.

"These creatures are no longer mysterious, they're more closely related in how they see, think and move to modern animals than you might think."

SOURCE: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,579519,00.html?loomia_ow=t0:s0:a4:g4:r2:c0.000000:b0:z5

Discovery Brings Dinosaurs Roaring to Life

Saturday, December 05, 2009
By Jeremy A. Kaplan

• Print
• ShareThis

Discovery

Consulting anatomists and paleontologists let the show give a previously unexplored look at dinosaur tendons, muscles, and more

Consulting anatomists and paleontologists let the show give a previously unexplored look at dinosaur tendons, muscles, and more

• 
• 

65 million years after they ruled the planet, dinosaurs are back.

A new four-part miniseries on the Discovery Channel peels back the millennia and the skin, revealing a never before seen look at the birth and death of dinosaurs.

Researchers have made incredible leaps in the last year or two, learning previously unknown details about how the giant creatures were born, smelled, thought, acted and more. This Sunday at 8 p.m., a new series captures those advances like never before.

"Dinosaur science really evolves on an annular basis. So much changes year after year," explains "Clash of the Dinosaurs" executive producer Bill Howard to FoxNews.com in an exclusive interview.

"The series sets out to gather the sum total of today's paleontology and scientific knowledge about dinosaurs, letting viewers see what these creatures were like as animals, not prehistoric monsters."

SLIDESHOW: A sneak peek at "Clash of the Dinosaurs"

There have also been mighty steps forward in computational power and computer-rendering ability. Discovery's artists used these advances in graphics to depict dinosaurs as never before, letting viewers to see deep inside the body of a dinosaur.

"We took apart the anatomy of the different dinosaurs themselves, and really got into the cutting edge of how they moved, appeared, and behaved," said Howard. To study the muscles, tissues, and brain functions of creatures dead for tens of millions of years, Discovery relied upon the expertise of consulting anatomists and paleontologists, giving a previously unexplored look at dinosaur tendons and tissue.

"We're starting to understand where muscle attached to bone, how skin looked, how it resembled (or didn't) modern animals," said Howard."We've taken walk cycle models and anatomy and put it together with the correct weight and mass and how the muscles would have to move in order to move the joints and so on. With photo-realistic computer graphics, you see what the animals would have looked like when they moved."

"When you see the animals move, you see the skin responding to their movements, the effects of rain hitting their hides," he gushes.

Beyond mere anatomy, the show explores new theories about these powerful animals. For example, conventional wisdom holds that the fearsome Tyrannosaurus rex had a brain like a walnut, limiting its actions to reactions, fight or flight mechanisms. But modern science suggests the T. rex had a large brain capable of complex behaviors. The show depicts the incredibly maternal instincts and family bonding scientists now think was commonplace among the gigantic animals.

Flying reptile Quetzalcoatlus (named after the Aztec god) had a 40-foot wingspan. "We figured out how it's anatomy worked and how it was able to fly for extended periods," adds Howard. Given the creature's weight and size, paleontologists speculated that it lived in an area where it took off from cliffs and soared like a glider. "We've discovered that their leg muscles had the quick reflexes of a frog, so unlike a modern bird, it could leap into the air very readily." Howard also notes that the creatures had tremendous eyesight, seeing in ultraviolet to following the urine trails of its prey.

"These creatures are no longer mysterious, they're more closely related in how they see, think and move to modern animals than you might think."

SOURCE: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,579519,00.html?loomia_ow=t0:s0:a4:g4:r2:c0.000000:b0:z5

Scientists, Lawyers Mull Effects of Home Robots

Sunday, December 06, 2009

AP

Nov. 24: Ryan Calo stands next to a robot that is being built for medical applications at Stanford University's Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.

PALO ALTO, Calif. — Eric Horvitz illustrates the potential dilemmas of living with robots by telling the story of how he once got stuck in an elevator at Stanford Hospital with a droid the size of a washing machine.

"I remembered thinking, `Whoa, this is scary,' as it whirled around, almost knocking me down," the Microsoft researcher recalled. "Then, I thought, `What if I were a patient?' There could be big issues here."

We're still far from the sci-fi dream of having robots whirring about and catering to our every need. But little by little, we'll be sharing more of our space with robots in the next decade, as prices drop and new technology creates specialized machines that clean up spilled milk or even provide comfort for an elderly parent.

Now scientists and legal scholars are exploring the likely effects. What happens if a robot crushes your foot, chases your cat off a ledge or smacks your baby? While experts don't expect a band of Terminators to attack or a "2001: A Space Odyssey" computer that takes control, even simpler, benign robots will have legal, social and ethical consequences.

"As we rely more and more on automated systems, we have to think of the implications. It is part of being a responsible scientist," Horvitz said.

Horvitz assembled a team of scientists this year when he was president of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence and asked them to explore the future of human-robot interactions. A report on their discussions is due next year.

For years, robots have been used outside the home. They detect bombs on the battleground, build cars in factories and deliver supplies and visit patients in hospitals.

But the past few years have seen the rise of home robots. Mainly they are used for tasks like vacuuming (think Roomba). There are also robotic lawn mowers, duct cleaners, surveillance systems and alarm clocks. There are robotic toys for entertainment, such as Furby. Robotic companions, like Paro the harbor seal, comfort the elderly. By 2015, personal robot sales in the U.S. will exceed $5 billion, more than quadrupling what they are now, according to ABI Research, which analyzes technology trends.

"You won't see Rosie from `The Jetsons,' but you're going to see more and more robots that help maintain your home. They'll pick up stuff off the floor, stock your fridge, carry stuff from the car," said Colin Angle, CEO of iRobot Corp., which makes the Roomba.

As such 'bots become more sophisticated, they could complicate questions about product liability. Ryan Calo, a fellow with Stanford's Center for Internet and Society, pointed out in a recent panel discussion at Stanford Law School that the original manufacturer might not always be liable if a robot went haywire.

"Robots are not just things the manufacturer builds and you go out and use them in a specific way. Robots can often be instructed, they can be programmed, you can have software that is built upon by others," he said.

There are no laws in the U.S. specifically governing robots, and discussion of them usually leads to science fiction writer Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics, which debuted in his 1942 short story "Runaround."

The first of Asimov's laws is that robots should do no harm. It's also one of the biggest considerations when manufacturing the next generation of personal robots.

"If a robot becomes increasingly autonomous and can make its own decisions, what happens if the robot does not carry out the exact wishes of the person?" said George Bekey, a robotics researcher and professor emeritus at University of Southern California.

As robots interact more closely with people, the bonds some people form with the machines — even ones that do not look like humans — might need to be considered.

Shoppers personalize their Roombas, naming and decorating them, for example. Angle recalled an incident when a soldier plucked a banged-up military robot nicknamed Scooby from an Iraqi battlefield and carried it to a depot to be fixed.

"It's doing you a service, you're going to get attached to it," Angle said.

Ronald Arkin teaches a course on robots and society at Georgia Tech and directs the school's Mobile Robot Laboratory. His most recent book is titled "Governing Lethal Behavior in Autonomous Robots."

"There needs to be ethics embedded in the systems," he said. "It's not just making a system that assists someone. It's making a system that interacts with someone in a way that respects their dignity."

Horvitz said his panel will recommend more research into the psychological reactions humans have to robotic systems. The group, he said, also suggests machines be designed with the ability to explain their reasoning to humans.

While ethicists, lawyers and roboticists ponder how to best integrate humans and autonomous machines, there is some evidence that a balance is already beginning to be struck.

After returning to the Stanford hospital on another occasion, Horvitz noticed a sign hanging above the spot where he had his harrowing experience. It read: "Please Do Not Board The Elevator With The Robot."

SOURCE: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,579556,00.html