Yoda is a four eared cat who has become an internet star since his pictures were posted on the internet by his owner. He isn't the only genetic anomaly among cats, many can be found with extra toes or ears, but he is one of the cutest. He was also a stray before he was taken in by his loving family and given his fitting name. They found him in an alley by a bar while watching a bears game. He's quite possibly the coolest cat I've seen in a while.
Hi! Meet Purply, my first creature created in Spore Creature Creator. I find him both odd and endearing. Spore is the much anticipated new game from EA that promises to let you "nurture your creature through five stages of evolution: Cell, Creature, Tribe, Civilization, and Space. Or if you prefer, spend as much time as you like making creatures, vehicles, buildings and spaceships with Spore’s unique Creator tools."
The creatures are extremely customizable in a very easy to use interface. It's fun and slightly addictive to make your own creature and then watch them dance, sing, play or pose. You may be wondering what to do with a creature once you've made it. Post it in the Spore online community with pictures or videos available right in the game. You can even record a moving avatar. After that, you'll have to wait until the full version of Spore comes out next month.
Spore comes out September 7th for around $60, but you can start making outrageous creatures with the Spore Creature Creator free trial or pay $10 for the full starter kit.
I'll admit I am a bit biased towards female type robots. They are just cuter. After all, half the point of having a robot is that it's adorable to look at (which also explains my feelings toward robo-kitties). Last Christmas, Sakura was at the top of my list. She was adorable, lit up, and had a small vocabulary of jokes, Magic 8 Ball like fortunes, and other cute sayings. She even will keep your secrets, but I haven't thought of any to tell her yet.
The robot is posable, but only moves on her twirling, whirling scooter. My friend's kids had a blast dancing "with" her and asking her a million questions. She resided on my nightstand for months, but I have moved her to a display shelf where I wouldn't knock her over as much in my morning stupor. Sakura is still available on Amazon, but the price has gone way up from the under $20 pre-christmas price.
Over at Dvice, I saw a beautiful storytelling robot called Murasaki. Murasaki-bot tells the Tale of Genji in Japanese, complete with gesturing and fan brandishing. It's just a prototype for now, so it isn't available to buy, but I really want her. I can only hope she comes with a USB interface so I can program her with my own MP3s and sequence of gestures. If nothing else I would love it if she connected to my computer and moved in reaction to getting email or hearing music. Gah! Will my dreams of a desktop buddy never be realized?
Femisapien is the newest release from WowWee toys. It's a pretty advanced and interactive bot for the money, only $100.
She walks, dances, and poses like a model and will even hand out business cards. You can teach her to move by posing her in sequence and she will remember it and repeat it. She will actually dance with you. If you hold her hands she will sway to and fro just like an awkward junior high student. In Kiss Mode she blows kisses at anything placed in front of her.
She speaks "emotish" which I can only assume is like Furbish and not like angsty Morrisey songs. There is a link to a comprehensive review over at Engadget, complete with video. She is the least cute of the bunch, although she makes up for that with feminine movements.
Overall, I am still disappointed in the lack of programming available for these robots. Although they all do a variety of tricks, each is still just a toy. Perhaps I want too much. Well, here's to the folks writing programs for the Nabaztag and the Tux Droid. May your innovations lead to the perfect cute and customizable fem-bot!
I just discovered these videos of the adorable Capucine, a little French girl whose mother is becoming a regular videographer. In these episodes, Capucine has eaten too much candy and is afraid her dad will find out. She hides out under a counter and brainstorms with her mother on what to tell him. The second video has the "outtakes" that are just as cute as the edit Capucha initially posts.
Too much candy from Capucha on Vimeo.
"Too much candy" II-The bonus scenes ! from Capucha on Vimeo.
If you look at all of Capucha's videos, she starts out like anyone does with a new video camera and takes short videos of her cats and kids doing cute stuff. The more she plays the more sophisticated the videos get with editing, effects and music. It really is what having a video camera is all about.
This is for my guy, who was only slightly offended when I described his Wii Boxing technique as "a kitten batting at invisible fairies." Just remember that he still beats me every time we box against each other.