If you plan to stay in Cupertino’s high-tech Aloft Hotel in the near future, don’t be surprised if you open your door to a 3-foot-tall robot carrying extra towels or breakfast. See, it’s the Starwood property’s new butler (officially called A.L.O. Botlr, which is short for “robot butler, ” of course) programmed to assist the hotel’s concierge in catering to your requests. The 100-pound machine comes loaded with a 7-inch tablet screen to interact with guests and staff, as well as 4G and WiFi connections so it can call elevators when it needs a ride. Let’s say you pinged front desk to ask for new toiletries — the staff then just loads the items (as long as they don’t exceed two pounds) in an empty compartment on top of the robot and inputs your floor and room number on the tablet interface. You’ll know Botlr’s lurking outside the door when it calls up the room’s phone, and instead of a crisp $20 bill, all it asks in return is a tweet with the #meetbotlr hashtag. The A.L.O. Botlr is actually a repainted, bow-tie-wearing version of a robot called SaviOne developed by California startup Savioke. It’s a new company, but it’s backed by Google Ventures and led by Steve Cousins, the former CEO of Willow Garage , which you might recognize as the developer of the PR2 experimental robot . In fact, the PR2 looks similar to Botlr, but the latter (like Softbank’s Pepper ) was designed to look a lot more approachable so as not to scare hotel guests. Also, the newer machine lacks the PR2’s limbs, which means: 1.) it’s incapable of doing tasks that requires the use of hands, and 2.) its a lot cheaper to make, seeing as those limbs are the PR2’s most expensive components. Botlr will make its Aloft Hotel debut on August 20th for a pilot program: if successful, all 100+ Aloft Hotels could have one to two at their disposal. Aloft brand’s senior vice president Brian McGuinness swears, however, that these robots won’t be replacing human employees and will even free them up for other, more important tasks. Sadly, you won’t be seeing Botlr rolling along other hotel chains’ hallways anytime soon. Starwood has an exclusive deal with Savioke until the end of 2014, though the startup plans to open the pilot to other hotels next year. Filed under: Robots Comments Via: CNBC , Mashable , Savioke Source: Aloft Hotel

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California hotel hires robot butlers to provide room service (video)

It didn’t happen overnight, but ViaSat’s finally on its way to transforming the satellite internet space, be it through speedy in-flight WiFi on JetBlue and United or the Exede residential service . That latter product, while the fastest internet option for customers without access to cable or fiber, isn’t without its critics, due in no small part to some rather prohibitive monthly data caps. Well, no more. The company’s new Freedom plan, available beginning August 18th for $70 per month (or $60 when bundled with phone service), delivers “virtually unlimited” access for streaming, web browsing and anything else you might plan to do. Officially, there’s a monthly cap of 150 GB, but ViaSat likely won’t enforce that limit. Of course, Exede still won’t be a fit for downloading terabytes of video or linking up your remote server farm, but if you plan to do some work during the day and stream an HD movie each night, you should be good to go. Filed under: Wireless Comments Source: ViaSat (MarketWatch)

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ViaSat adds ‘virtually unlimited’ Freedom satellite internet plan for $70 per month

When PC gaming juggernaut Valve announced its Steam Machines initiative in Fall 2013, it was unveiled as such: “Entertainment is not a one-size-fits-all world. We want you to be able to choose the hardware that makes sense for you, so we are working with multiple partners to bring a variety of Steam gaming machines to market during 2014, all of them running SteamOS.” Not long after, at CES 2014, Valve revealed a full line of Steam Machines from 14 different companies . Chief among them was Alienware, Dell’s gaming PC arm, which showed a teensy $550 box called the “Alpha.” Alienware was a standout not just due to name recognition, but because the company proposed a launch window for its “game console”. The Alpha won’t ship with any of the promises of the Steam Machines initiative: no Steam OS and no Steam Controller. Valve’s delayed both , but Alienware’s pushing on nonetheless with a fall launch. That’s all to say one thing: While the Alpha is still a “Steam Machine” in size and horsepower, it isn’t a Steam Machine . The Alienware Alpha is a weird gaming PC. Alienware held an event last week in New York City to show off the Alpha. We were given time to play games on the system, sure, but the focus of the event was on the custom operating system that Alienware’s built to get around the fact that Valve’s initiative isn’t ready . According to Alienware, Valve president Gabe Newell sees the Alpha as the “ideal Steam Machine.” It’s hard to see how, at least at the moment: It runs Windows 8.1, it ships with an Xbox 360 wireless gamepad, and it requires a USB-based wireless dongle to make that gamepad function. Alpha is $550 — $50 more than the most expensive new game console — and it’s lacking in the horsepower department. Which GPU is inside? A “custom” NVIDIA Maxwell GTX. How about processing? Handled by an Intel i3. In so many words, the Alpha is roughly as powerful as the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, only it costs more and is nowhere near as accessible. THE ALPHA UI In place of Steam OS, Alienware’s got a custom user interface that allows you to skip the Windows 8 desktop. It’s non-ironically called the “Alpha UI, ” which is fitting given how vacuous it feels. We weren’t actually able to use it; instead, Alienware guided media through a slideshow of its features. Those features are sparse: play games, adjust a small handful of settings, and a button combination that helps players escape the pitfalls of playing PC games. Ever go to play a Ubisoft game, only to have the UPlay dialog box pop up? Not such a big deal if you’re sitting right in front of your computer, keyboard and mouse in-hand, but quite a frustration if you’re playing a PC game using a gamepad from your couch. The Alpha gets around this issue by offering a kill command for offending software. Ever play a Steam game that advertises “partial controller support?” Alienware reps say they’re working with Valve to test every single game and update all those listings. For now, however, workarounds like the kill prompt will have to do. Let’s be clear: the Alpha is a system of workarounds. No Steam OS? Alienware built a bare bones OS to shepherd consumers from a Windows 8 experience to Steam’s living room-friendly Big Picture Mode. No Steam Controller? Alienware’s straight up buying Xbox 360 wireless gamepads and dongles to ship a controller with each Alpha. Unfortunately for Alienware and folks excited for the Alpha, another word for “workaround” is compromise . Alienware says you’ll be able to upgrade to Steam OS and the Steam Controller whenever Valve’s got those ready. For now, though, the Alpha feels undercooked — a rushed product which serves Alienware’s bottom line and little else. We’re reserving full judgement until we’ve got a final unit this November when it ships to customers, but color us worried as of late Summer. Edgar Alvarez contributed to this report. Filed under: Desktops , Gaming , Software , HD , Dell Comments

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Alienware’s ‘Alpha’ is a half-step toward Steam Machines