Posts Tagged miscellaneous gadgets
Pixel-bots will rock your world
Posted by admin in Future Concepts on March 11th, 2010
Curious Displays from Julia Tsao on Vimeo.
Okay, I usually like to have a still shot of what I’m reporting, but could only find this video. However, a picture wouldn’t say a thousand words on this, and this video speaks volumes.
These are the pixel-bots, which remind me of that supposedly top secret MIT project with the swarming robots that I reported on a while ago. Granted, the individual units here don’t exactly fly, but the designers create what is clearly the next best thing. I’m certain that these Pixel-bots are just as conceptual as that MIT one, but since they made this cool video, you might as well watch it.
As you can see, the group of ants come in from somewhere and gather together on the wall to form a screen. I think it is fitting that the screen is showing Finding Nemo, which depicts a school of fish working together to form shapes, just like the Pixel-bots.
What really makes it weird is how the Pixel-bots branch off to give reminders of who to call, what meetings to attend, and even where the lost keys are. You’ll notice how the screen goes off like puzzle pieces with each task. Then they show the screen splitting into two smaller screens. Um, if it can split into smaller screens, why doesn’t the screen just become smaller when it branches off?
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Pixel-bots will rock your world
Last Call movie uses an audience member’s cell phone for even more horror
Posted by admin in Audio Gadgets on March 11th, 2010
I realize that most of you cannot stand it when someone’s cell phone rings during the theater, but imagine watching a film that was dependent on having a cell phone call from an audience member during the film.
This is the technology from Last Call from 13th Street, an interactive horror film. Sometime, during the movie, an audience member’s cellular phone will ring, and it is up to this audience member to give the character on screen directions.
You can watch a video after the jump to see how the startled damsel in distress from Last Call tries to escape from the mad slasher. Yes, she actually calls an audience member during the film, and his or her voice commands tell her to go left or right, up or down, and so on.
The technology of vocal recognition is limited, but it is enough to apparently change the plot of the movie (think Choose Your Own Adventure book). Of course, in order to get this to work, each member of the audience must send 13th Street their mobile number. However, this is all taken care of with flyers given to the audience members with instructions that are carried out before the previews show.
Of course, what if the movie calls, and no one picks up. Does that mean the movie takes an even darker direction as no one will help the poor main character? By the way, this photo is from When a Stranger Calls, something that will probably need to be remade again with this new technology.
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Last Call movie uses an audience member’s cell phone for even more horror
Skinput: Get your whole body into your interface
Posted by admin in Future Concepts on March 2nd, 2010
What you are seeing here is not some sort of modern art, but it may make some statement about our society today.
This is Skinput, a conceptual technology that can recognize a user’s taps of a finger on the skin, but it seems to be limited to the hand and the rest of the arm.
This tech is under development from Carnegie Mellon University and Microsoft, and requires that the user wear a certain armband with “piezoelectric cantilevers, or sensors that measure pressure, acceleration and force”. Click on the video after the jump to see this technology in action, and a most unusual method of controlling Tetris.
Skinput also uses a pico-projector to create images like menus on the user’s arm. With a tap on the skin above or below the menu, the user has a very unusual form of navigation.
You have to admit that this technology could have all sorts of applications for the mobile world. Just picture selecting your tunes on your arm instead of your iPod, or dialing your phone on your palm instead of your mobile device.
Still, I can’t help but this tech will lead to an age when we are all comfortable with integrating technology with our flesh. Then our cyborg teachers will say that it all began with Skinput.
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Skinput: Get your whole body into your interface
Guppie is one tool to rule them all
Posted by admin in DIY Gadgets on February 27th, 2010
We have reported on the Lil Guppie before, and I suppose that this is the next step up, the Guppie. Actually, I think that this Guppie is the same as the Lil Guppie, just like Lil Bow Wow is the same as Bow Wow. (Oh, why do those young rappers put Lil in front of their names? Don’t they know that they will grow out of the Lil?)
This Guppie is one tool that I would have in my pocket, possibly the only one. The Guppie has an adjustable wrench with the crescent wrench adjuster worm gear. It also has a flip-out knife, and an LED flashlight, but I don’t see it in my picture. Did I mention the beer bottle opener? It’s got one, and I’m guessing its by its weird flip-up handle.
It also has a screwdriver with some magnetic heads, and the user can add his or her own.
All in all, the Guppie is the one tool to rule them all, like it says in my headline. By the way, there have been many a geek who has used that one (insert pronoun here) to rule them all headline. It probably isn’t worth it to use it again.
I’m not certain why it is called the Guppie. Is that because it is fish shaped, like a guppy? By the way, if you run a search on Guppie, one definition is “a gay yuppie”. Not something I would name a tool after, and I definitely wouldn’t have put “Lil” in front of it.
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Cherry And Leather Belt Earphones
Posted by admin in Audio Gadgets on February 19th, 2010
These earphones don’t just have a cherry pattern printed onto them. Instead they look like cherries dangling from a stem. Of course it’s a little easier to tell what they are if you buy the maroon or bright red versions, but the other colors look good too. Thanks to one Japanese company not only can you get cherries, but Leather Belt Earphones too. Yes, they are actually shaped like the end of a leather belt. Not the side with the buckle, the one with the notches. Why? I’m really not sure.
It’s entirely possible there’s a rhyme or reason to the belt earphones, but I sincerely doubt it. Both versions of the earphones come in 4 different colors. The cherries you get white, maroon, red and light pink. Then the belt you’ll get brown, black, blue and a very strange shade of yellow. They’ll go on sale sometime in the middle of next month within Japan. At that point the Pioneer earphones will cost right around $30.
Source: Crunchgear
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Nooka’s ad campaign uses augmented reality
Posted by admin in Audio Gadgets on February 19th, 2010
We’ve already talked about how a mirror at a Japanese store can show customers what make-up looks like without putting it on their faces.
This conceptual ad campaign from Nooka also uses augmented reality, and it shows how a watch will look like without actually wearing it.
As you can see by the video, Nooka wants to put this weird paper band in major magazines. This band is removable, and it is full of QR codes. The user puts on the band, and he or she can then go into front of a webcam and the Nooka site.
From there, far out augmented reality takes over as the user figures out what watch goes well with them. In other words, it’s augmented reality accessorizing!
I don’t really see the effect being at all realistic. I mean, it looks like the Nooka is super-imposed on the wrist like an old-school special effect. However, does it have to look that realistic?
No, this is just a way to see how something looks, which means that it doesn’t have to look all that good.
Unfortunately, my Source does not have any word on when this new ad campaign is starting, or if it is starting. However, videos like these just don’t make themselves, which means that it had to be made for a reason.
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Nooka’s ad campaign uses augmented reality
Our voices, preserved for history, starting with Roger Ebert
Posted by admin in Audio Gadgets on February 18th, 2010
Some of you may not know this, but film critic Roger Ebert has recently lost his voice due to a complication after cancer surgery.
If he still wishes to continue his career, he could just stick to writing, or he could get one of those text-to-speech devices like Stephen Hawking.
That, or work with Scottish company CereProc by combining the hours of recordings from At The Movies, Siskel and Ebert and the Movies, and Ebert and Roeper and the Movies to create a database for his voice and daily vocabulary. It would be relatively easy to make any word from the sounds of other words.
I suppose that this is a way to create a library for people who will be losing their voices, like Ebert. Of course, you would probably have to have a lot of vocal recordings to get that database. I’m not certain how many syllables and vowel sounds there are, but it sounds like a complicated process.
In a way, I suppose that this is a way of preserving someone’s voice for an eternity, really. I once heard that a company can use a celebrity’s image after he or she is deceased. This definitely explains how John Wayne can appear on Coors ads.
I suppose if you really had vocal databases of every person, then you could have late celebrities say anything you want. This would explain a recent ad for One Laptop Per Child with John Lennon.
Take this tech one step further, and deceased could cut some new tunes. Man, that probably isn’t right.
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[ Our voices, preserved for history, starting with Roger Ebert copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
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Our voices, preserved for history, starting with Roger Ebert
Robotector Action Figure iPhone Case
Posted by admin in Audio Gadgets, iPod Gadgets on February 18th, 2010
Well you’ve gotten yourself an iPhone and now you have the tricky business of picking out a case that’s just as awesome as your iPhone. Thankfully Nugo Designs has just the solution out there for you. It’s not just your average silicone case that protects your iPhone or iPod Touch from scratches. It actually morphs your iPhone into an action figure. What more could you ask for in a case?!
Usually the only way a case stands out is by being able to protect your iPhone from harsh conditions. Which really isn’t actually necessary if you’re not a great outdoors man or anything. Sure this Robotector won’t waterproof it or prevent it from being damaged when you drop it off of a cliff. It’s still awesome though, because now your iPod Touch has arms, legs and even a face. These are currently being featured at the Toy Fair, but I haven’t seen any info on pricing.
Source: ChipChick
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Flyfire Swarming Display: Top Secret MIT Project?
Posted by admin in Future Concepts on February 17th, 2010
I’ve always thought about how cool it would be if bees could swarm into shapes, like they do on cartoons. Think of that one school of fish in Finding Nemo. With the bees example, I would imagine it would be a cross between the nano-swarm in Michael Crichton’s Prey or the smoky monster from Lost.
Apparently, some people are working to create a swarming display over at MIT’s SENSEable City Laboratory. This program, dubbed Flyfire, uses a lot of micro helicopters with multicolored and controllable LEDs. As they come together, they can form a 3-D display.
Normally, this is the point where I explain that there is a video of this product after the jump, but the video from my source went offline shortly after they posted about FlyFire. Is this technology meant to be some sort of top-secret project that somehow got leaked? You might want to check my Source to see if the video has re-posted.
If it hasn’t, I can see why. All these tiny micro copters working together could do some serious damage in nano-swarm form. However, this doesn’t sound like something that is designed to be weapon, but something to make a display.
Man, can you imagine these micro copters en masse to produce an object that is, for lack of a better word, a flying statue? This could easily replace those balloons at Macys.
Of course, you would need a truckload of this microcopters, plus some program to make them work in sync. But who cares about the problems? It’s a nifty concept, isn’t it?
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The Stackable Water Bottle
Posted by admin in Future Concepts on February 15th, 2010
This is one of those designs that’s so incredibly brilliant it makes you feel like a moron. Honestly, how is it that no one thought of this before?! Especially companies that have to deal with these bottles on a regular basis. It’s one thing for an average person to overlook this idea, but it’s surprising that no water cooler companies have come up with this.
The Stackable Bottle would make it possible to stack several bottles on top of each other and save a whole lot of space. Instead of having to use extra materials to make them stack, everything you’d need would already be built into the bottle. Plus for those using these at home or in the office, once these are in the water cooler you could use the bottom as a cute vase. This was designed by Yujin Kim, who hopefully will get companies to switch to this design soon.
Source: OhGizmo
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The Stackable Water Bottle