Once the Nexus 7 is unlocked, started in fastboot mode and connected to an Ubuntu machine, the one-click installation software takes care of the rest.

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In "High Stakes" mode, you can take your favorite machine and race head-to-head against another player or the computer in a winner takes all race.

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We also used the device in portrait mode and found it still makes a fantastic word-processing machine, and it shouldn't be a surprise that Microsoft had one eye on the enterprise market.

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In the inhibit mode, the robotic device would be used as an in-space exercise machine to supply resistance against leg movement.

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And as they improve, the machine-based tutoring technologies will become good enough for those who could or would have paid full price or changed up their schedule to connect with a human tutor, such that machine-based tutoring may well be the norm for many of us as a prime mode of learning in the future.

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