It looks like the fake iPhones from China are here. Features include: 2 Megapixel camera for photos and movies in MPEG4 format 2 SIM-Cards, which you can switch between on the fly, WAP browser, 64MB of built-in memory, 256 MB micro SD Card in an expansion slot, Stereo speakers on the front face and two additional speakers on the back that boast “3D Sound”, USB-connector, and removable battery.
Came across a trippy video by Bat for Lashes, the stage name of Natasha Khan, a Brighton-based songwriter. Wait until you hit 40 seconds in the video. It’s a very simple idea with mesmerizing results. She’s been called the new Bjork.
It’s always nice when people notice the little designs elements that you make for a site. Smashing magazine decided to put BuzzShout’s favicon (
) on a list of creative favicons.
In one of the busiest advertising spaces in the world, Adidas employs a clever ad in Tokyo to catch people’s attention. Basically, it’s real people hanging from the billboard playing “vertical soccer”. Very inventive.
I woke up this morning and found 20 messages from Facebook in my email. I shrugged it off as “Facebook Spam”, as some other people have been telling me they’ve been getting unsolicited messages on Facebook. I didn’t bother to log on to check the messages.
Later in the day, I logged on only to find that they weren’t spam at all. They were all comments and suggestions on the Mood app that I made for Facebook. It turns out that yesterday, Facebook added my Mood app to the official applications directory. Overnight, over 4,000 people added my app. By my rough estimates, it seems to be growing by about 20 people per minute right now, and I expect to reach over 10,000 people by tonight.
Currently, it’s easily overtaking the neighbors in the ranking list, and I think this is due to how viral the Mood app is. It’s a dead simple application that adds a bit of customization to your page that is familiar to MySpace and LiveJournal users. I really believe that it’s simplicity that will win over these other complicated applications.
Things that I’m planning on adding:
Any other ideas?
Continuing with the theme of contrasting popular dance forms and music in American history, here is a wonderful video juxtaposing the Charleston dance with Daft Punk. Based on African rhythms, Charleston is one of the roots of Lindy Hop.
We see a lot of similarities between the Charleston and top rock form in breaking. In fact, Wikipedia states
Charleston can be danced solo, its simple, flexible basic step making it easy to concentrate on styling, improvisation and musicality.
which also perfectly describes breakdancing. Also, the high kicks in the beginning remind me of the outside crescent kick in Wushu.
I’ve always been fascinated by human movement. The frenetic energy, strength, and flexibility of the human body never ceases to amaze me. In the past, I’ve been involved in various different kinds of artistic movement, including ballroom dancing, breakdancing, martial arts, popping, and gymnastics. I’ve found that there is a core set of movements and skills that are common in all of these activities. After watching countless videos, I’m convinced that all of these activities can be tied together in a huge graph mapping out the various human movement characteristics.
This is why it’s always a joy to see two videos highlighting the similarities between two disparate movement arts. And, it’s even more satisfying when the two movements have radically different demographics and culture.
I stumbled upon an amazing Lindy Hop competition video that reminded me of the energy and movements in breakdancing. The video highlights a lot of fast and technical footwork similar to top rocking in breakdancing, in addition to the high flying acrobatics. Without further ado, this is the video of the Ultimate Lindy Hop Showdown 2006:
Now, compare this to the footwork of Dyzee, one of my favorite breakers. Pay attention to the footwork after the first cut (the rest of the video is a bit low on quality). Dyzee just has one of the most fluid footworks I’ve seen, and mirrors the footwork seen in the Lindy Hop video.
Also, here is another oldie but goodie from Dyzee. I remember watching this in my college days:
UPDATE: And let’s not forget the original Lindy Hop style, captured in this video from “Hellzapoppin” (1941) featuring Frankie Manning (in the Mechanic’s Dungarees).
The field of robotics has been rapidly changing, especially during the recent years. For many of these, we have reached the Uncanny Valley, a point in the spectrum of human realism that basically creeps us out. The closer to real a robot is, the creepier it gets (unless of course, we get to the point where we can’t tell the difference). According to Wikipedia:
The phenomenon can be explained by the notion that, if an entity is sufficiently non-humanlike, then the humanlike characteristics will tend to stand out and be noticed easily, generating empathy. On the other hand, if the entity is “almost human”, then the non-human characteristics will be the ones that stand out, leading to a feeling of “strangeness” in the human viewer.
Without further ado, here is a video list of the creepiest human-like robots that I could find:
Jules
Created by David Hanson, this robot is able to converse pretty fluidly with people. Although, I’m not sure how much of it is scripted.
Akiba
Another Actroid based robot. This one is particularly creepy in the eyes.
Transport Robot
A transport robot commissioned by the Army. It’s able to carry large amount of weights over rough terrain. This one doesn’t have a realistic face, but those legs are just so eerily human-like, especially when the guy kicks it near the end.
Repliee Q1
Created by Hiroshi Ishiguru, this Actroid based robot imitates human behavior. According to Wikipedia:
The Actroid can also imitate human-like behavior with slight shifts in position, head and eye movements and the appearance of breathing in its chest. Additionally, the robot can be “taught” to imitate human movements by facing a person who is wearing reflective dots at key points on their body. By tracking the dots with its visual system and computing limb and joint movements to match what it sees, this motion can then be “learned” by the robot and repeated.
Geminoid HI-1
Fashioned after Hiroshi Ishiguro, a senior researcher at ATR Intelligent Robotics and Communication Laboratories, this robot sometimes sits in for him during his lectures. It was built using body casts from Hiroshi. It even fidgets in his seat, just like a real human. I find this one to be the creepiest of the bunch.
While I was filling up the tank today at a Shell, I noticed a video screen above the filling station. Yes, now we can all watch videos during those few minutes of dead time while waiting for tank to fill. I didn’t catch the name of the advertising agency, but it’s most likely GSTV, which provides a whole network of advertising and other content to gas stations.
It was actually pretty entertaining, even though it was all commercials. They’ve conducted various studies, and have found that most people don’t mind watching, and that they have a high brand retention as well. Looks like a win-win situation for consumers wanting a little bit of entertainment and advertisers wanting to fill every crack of free time with ads.
