A consortium of engineers, including researchers at the French-speaking Free University of Brussels (Universite Libre de Bruxelles), have been developing a Swarmanoid system of robots who work together to retrieve a book from a high shelf. With co-ordinating flashing lights, the eyebots, footbots, and handbots work together to carry out the retrieval operation. It might seem like a lot of effort for a single novel, but I hope to see these little helpers in our libraries of the future.

Yesterday Steve Jobs resigned as CEO of Apple, presumably due to ill health.

To the Apple Board of Directors and the Apple Community:

I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come.

I hereby resign as CEO of Apple. I would like to serve, if the Board sees fit, as Chairman of the Board, director and Apple employee.

As far as my successor goes, I strongly recommend that we execute our succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO of Apple.

I believe Apple’s brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role.

I have made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I thank you all for the many years of being able to work alongside you.

Steve

Apple shares are at $369.94, down 1.7 percent from yesterday’s closing price of $376.18.

While I was living in the USA I was lucky enough to see Steve Jobs present a keynote at MacWorld 2008.

At 3 AM on Tuesday January 15 2008, I joined fifty other mac geeks at the Pre-keynote meet-up outside the Apple Store on Stockton Street, and we walked together to join the line at the Moscone Center, where there were already around fifty people waiting. Despite the early hour and the bitter cold, the atmosphere was electric with anticipation. We spent the next six hours in conversation over breakfast donuts and coffee, reminiscing over past Apple flops and successes, and speculating on what Steve would unveil during the big event.

Photo by Adam Jackson.

Finally, they unlocked the door, and we streamed into the hall to see Steve Jobs striding on stage in front of an audience filled with MacBooks and iPhones. He talked about the four billion iTunes song downloads, the new apple TV, and unveiled the MacBook Air. To conclude the event, Randy Newman – the composer for Pixar – sang a few songs, including Toy Story’s “You’ve got a friend in me”, saying “I always root against corporations, ’cause that’s how I am, but not this one”.

Photo by Tech Show Network.

This was just the beginning. I spent the next two days visiting all the booths, from Adobe to Microsoft to BusySync to Gelaskins, attending presentations on hardware and software, and even purchasing my first iPhone – one of the vendors saw my new box and gave me a complementary case to celebrate. It was exhilarating to be surrounded by so many members of the Mac community in such a dynamic venue.

Photo by smenzel

By the end of the second day I was completely exhausted, trying to fit a lifetime’s worth of Macworld experiences into 48 hours. There were 191 educational sessions, 479 exhibitors, and 47,908 attendees. Luckily, one of the exhibitors was MetroNaps – a company that provides an essential service and which permitted me to trial one of their pods for much need rejuvenation.

Photo by laughingsquid.

One of the most interesting sights from my bedroom window is the Electrabel Drogenbos cooling tower. Although it looks like something from the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, the internet tells me that it is a steam turbine plant powered by natural gas.

The exterior of the tower is covered by thousands of programmable LCDs that pulse through the night and change their theme with the seasons. The scenes change from falling leaves to snowflakes to flowers, with special days like Valentine’s day celebrated with red pulsing hearts.

Photo from belgiumtaste.be

I have a soft spot for World’s Fair structures. Seattle has the Space Needle and Paris has the Eiffel Tower, but only Brussels has the Atomium. On a fine day I can see the 102-m tall ball-and-stick model of an iron crystal from our apartment, and it always makes me smile.

Photo by Musely

On Sunday I discovered that Adrian had made secret reservations as surprised me with dinner in the very top atom. The metro line by our door took us all the way out to the site of the 1958 World’s Fair in less than 30 minutes. They had closed the doors to the general public, and one had to be on a very short list to be permitted entrance. Our names were checked and then we were escorted to the elevator for a private ride to the top.

Photo from belgiumtaste.be

We were seated with a view over Mini-Europe, so we could look down at Big Ben and Mount Vesuvius while watching the Thalys on its way to Paris. Most items were circular including the candles and the menus. We were informed that there was a fixed-price menu, and we could choose any three items from the list. The waiter suggested a starter, main, and dessert, but he gave me permission to have one main and two desserts instead. Adrian had the white asparagus, cheese platter, and cheesecake. I chose the chicken risotto, four-layer mouse, and chocolate meringue.

We meandered over our meals, discussing our lives and our plans, and watching the sun slowly set over Belgium. The lights over Atomium were lit by the end of the night, and as we walked back to the metro station it seemed to twinkle at us in farewell.

Photo by Merdichesky