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Sylvain Calinon of LASA (Learning Algorithms and Systems Laboratory,) has been working with robotics for quite some time. One of the results is the Hoap 3 that can create a portrait and sign it.
“When the robot recognizes a face in its field of view, it first grabs a snapshot of the face and extracts the relevant features and contours characterizing it. The robot then grabs a pen and starts drawing the user’s portrait, starting from the rough contours and adding details iteratively,” Calinon said.
While it a charming thing to watch, somehow it doesn’t have the same appeal as local artists who appreciate onlookers.
Read More 
| Bot Junkie
Gallery: Hoap is Portrait Artist
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Another amateur has proven the point that anyone can be discovered on YouTube. Kina Grannis created the “Digg Song” and became an almost instant viral success, so much so that a record company has been in touch with her. Although others have been discovered from the Net, this is the first one that concerns Digg. Perhaps other enterprising musicians will manage to create similar content. How about revamping that old Bread song, “I Want To
Google With You.”
Read More | TechCrunch
Gallery: Kina Grannis Digs Digg
Writers Continue Without Studios
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Corporate News, Internet, Movies, Videos,
And the beat goes on. As studios continue to lose millions to make a point, many of the writers on strike have taken it out online as we reported earlier. At the very least it can be a sort of therapy. Director/Writer George Hickenlooper has developed a series of short films to show his support. Dubbed “Speechless,” it seems proof that if a writer has to write, they can always skip the middleman. In all, 7 Silcon Valley investors and Hollywood folks have formed companies to create work without studio assistance.
Read More | stuff
Gallery: Writers Continue Without Studios
Earthrace Circumnavigates on Body Fat
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Science, Transportation, Videos,
Peter Bethume is attempting his second circumnavigation of the planet in Earthrace, a boat that is powered by biodiesel fuel as an alternate to fossil fuel. In order to draw attention to the trip, he and two other crew members received liposuction and collected about 2.5 gallons of fat from their bodies. That’s enough to go nine miles. In all, the ship carries 3,000 gallons of fuel and can go up to 2,800 miles on a full tank. It can withstand heavy winds and 50 ft. waves. The trip has been estimated to take about 65 days.
Costing almost $5 million to create, Bethume cooked up this video last year in an attempt to raise funds for the voyage. We bet that he would still be willing to take donations, either in funding or your own body fuel.
Read More | Earthrace
Gallery: Earthrace Circumnavigates on Body Fat
Canadian Sells Son’s Guitar Hero in Protest of the Evil Weed
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Internet, Music, Videos,
Poor Isaac. His dad caught him smoking pot in his backyard with a couple of buds and decided to punish him by selling his Guitar Hero III on eBay. The Canadian father went into detail about the circumstances surrounding the acquisition of the Wii game in the first place and offered to be talked out of it, but apparently the thought of the $9,100.01 bid was too much of a temptation and turned him into a Scrooge. We are not quite sure which one was the naughtier of the two.
Read More | Real Tech News
Gallery: Canadian Sells Son’s Guitar Hero in Protest of the Evil Weed
Carnegie Mellon University’s NanoRobotics lab has devised a robotic water strider. The insects can travel 100 body lengths per second, which would be equal to a human running 400 mph. The team uses micro-actuators and motors to create the movement so that it can walk and bounce on still water. We expect that the military will snap them up before Whammo can turn them into toys. After all, who would suspect that the enemy would place a mini recording device on a common bug?
Read More | NanoRobotics Lab
Gallery: Water Strider is Mini-Spy
Kewpies Not So Cute Anymore
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Accessories, Smartphones, Toys, Videos,
For those who never got over the eerieness of kewpie dolls, we have found PQ Creepy Doll phone straps. There is a whole collection, including the Buff Q, the Melting Q, Grandpa, Skinny, Gross, Fat, and Nyoru. Did we forget to mention that they come in a food, samurai, and bondage series, too? The straps are priced anywhere from 609JPY ($5.69.) to 658 JPY ($6.14.) The only thing creepier than these Qs is their accompanying commercial.
Read More | Strapya World
Gallery: Kewpies Not So Cute Anymore
Lightglove Uses Sense Motion
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Internet, Misc. Tech, Video Games, Videos, Wireless / WiFi,
If you like your Wii, you will love the LtWv Wrist Vmote Lightglove. Worn on the underside of your wrist, visual or infrared light scans your palm and senses motion from your hand, finger, or wrist. It then becomes a cursor on screen and an on/off switch.You can control your computer, PDA, phone, game system, appliances, even ATMs. In its “hunt and peck” mode, you can utilize it as a typing tool, although we are really not aware of anyone who can do that admirably one-handed. Still awaiting ETA approval and backing, here’s hoping that some company will find it a good investment. You will be able to catch it in action at the CES 2008, where it has already won a Best of Innovations Award.
Read More | Lightglove Product Page
Gallery: Lightglove Uses Sense Motion
Video: How Leopard’s dock was supposed to function
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Design, Software, Videos,
Being that I am an ADC member, I was able to enjoy the original dock functionality during the beta period of Leopard. No idea what we mean by that? Well basically, in the beta versions of Leopard, you were able to create Stacks that could be placed on the left side of the Dock, alongside the application icons. These would be Stacks of applications, that made things a lot more tidy in the Dock. An example would be putting Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and Entourage into a Stack that you would name Microsoft Office. Then you have one icon representing all of those apps which would fan out for you to choose an app to launch. You set up a few of these app stacks, and you end up with a more organized Dock. This functionality has since disappeared from Leopard. Take a look at the Read More URL down at the end of this post to see a video of all this in action. Here’s hoping apple brings back the feature. It did rock. If you agree, let Apple know!
Read More | Kuragari
Gallery: Video: How Leopard’s dock was supposed to function
Toyota Bots Play the Violin
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Corporate News, Smart Home, Misc. Tech, Science, Videos,
Just as Honda publicly entered the field of robotics with its spokesrobot Asimo, Toyota has 3-upped them with their trio of Partner Robots. Designed to carry out simple tasks for its humans, the first two can not only be programmed for assistance to the infirm or elderly, they can literally play the violin and trumpet. Mobiro was designed as an advanced sort of wheelchair for those who have difficulty walking. Look for him to achieve the status of being a part of Tokyo Disney Theme Park in 2008. Visit Toyota’s site for more robots that are in various stages of R & D.
Read More | Akihabara News
