I have a lot of projects I've done for my library technical assistant classes and I wanted to show them off in a fun way. I created an online portfolio in scrapblog with pictures, videos, and links to my written projects. This took me about a week to make, working a few hours (or more) a day, but I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to these creative projects. Leave a comment and tell me what you think!
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!
This is the new design for the OLPC XO-2. This smaller model will have dual touchscreens so it can be used as a laptop, a tablet, or an ebook. I love the ability to swap between the horizontal and vertical so I can read comfortably. It's what I have been looking for in a device for a while. Most of all, it looks fun!
XO-2 will continue to be affordable, since they are aiming at it costing a mere $75. I would count on it being at least twice that when it comes to fruition. Although, I am impressed that it is projected to consume just 1 watt of power!
Unfortunately, it won't be out until 2010. Even then, it probably won't have the downloading capability of the Amazon Kindle (which still doesn't have enough books available in ebook format for my tastes). It will probably have a webcam though, so it looks like a decent multi use device to me.
Hey, have you seen the commercial for that new tv series, Scarlet? I love a kick butt heroine and it has that cute nerdy guy from C.S.I.:NY, A.J. Buckley.
Cool. So what is it about?
It's by the guy who created Supernatural and Smallville, so it's going to be good.
But what is it about?
Um...
That's pretty much what I discovered when I went to look up information on Scarlet. Even when I went to the official website, I couldn't find any plot or backstory. So who is Scarlet, the elusive star with a mysterious smile?
She's a virus. And no, not in a cool Terminator android kind of way. She is part of a viral marketing ploy to sell LG XCanvas Scarlett LCD TVs a "series" of five tvs that cost between $1500+ for the 32 inch to almost $5300 for the 52 inch. Thats over $100 an inch for all you mathimatical types. Her red eye seems to indicate some infrared technology.
For more proof just check out the subliminal advertising spotted by some attentive youtubers:
00:16 - "We're going to put her in every home in the planet"
00:21 - "What do you mean she's going to change TV forever?"
00:49 - "The evidence is staring you in the face"
00:54 - "Things aren't always what they seem" i.e., this is not a real tv show
00:28 - Notice the tv behind the actress
While it seems to be a decent viral marketing campaign, I can't help but think quite a few people are going to feel cheated when, instead of a new tv show airing on monday, they find out that Scarlet is another expensive tv. I suppose some will be struck by the cleverness of the ad, but after a long writer's strike is it really a good idea to tease the many people that are clamoring for new shows?
At least it's less creepy than Texas Instruments "It's the mirrors" commercials.
On Sunday morning, my boyfriend and I waited in line to get him a Nintendo Wii and I put down a deposit on a Wii Fit board. Almost 20 years ago, I had an original Nintendo but I wasn't very good at the more complicated games and my brothers played it more than I did. After playing the Wii exactly once, I am now a burgeoning gamer.
The controls were intuitive and easy to use and I enjoyed the Wii Sports games more than I thought I would. I played bowling, tennis, and boxing and actually worked up a sweat. Tennis was easy with basic serving, forehands, and backhands. Bowling had a tiny learning curve to get the speed right and I ended up having ridiculous spares that were impossible to get.
Boxing was my absolute favorite. I watched my boyfriend go a couple of rounds and he has developed this boxing style that looks remarkably like a kitten batting at invisible fairies. It works great though, and he gets the K.O.s. I take a more visceral approach and bob and weave and punch until I'm flailing around. It's a bit less effective, but I really got some exercise.
The Wii also has news, local weather, and the ability to go online, which strikes me as a great way to start my morning before I officially turn on the computer. We ended our intro to the Wii by making our avatars called Miis. I made his and he ended up looking tough and evil. He made mine with happy eyes and smile, and a purple shirt (I know, we are an adorably cute couple).
Now I can't wait for the Fit to come out. It's two months from now! Not only does it have the exercise games, it has a tightrope walking game, a hula hoop game, and a soccer goalie game. It all looks like good fun, although I'll probably have to get in shape so I don't hurt myself with all this interactive gaming.