Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Lighting a cigar with a volcano
Onstage with Metallica
Swimming inside a water bottle
Pushing a computer mouse
Running away from a mummy
Winning a boxing/UFC fight
Riding a dinosaur
Headbutting a ram
Have my head seperate to my body, hooked upto machines
Getting caught in a disc drive
Standing at a urinal next to Joseph Fritzl
Jumping over a car as it trys to hit me
As a king on a chessboard
Winning an oscar
Onstage with Metallica
Swimming inside a water bottle
Pushing a computer mouse
Running away from a mummy
Winning a boxing/UFC fight
Riding a dinosaur
Headbutting a ram
Have my head seperate to my body, hooked upto machines
Getting caught in a disc drive
Standing at a urinal next to Joseph Fritzl
Jumping over a car as it trys to hit me
As a king on a chessboard
Winning an oscar
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Thursday, March 11, 2010
5 Pretty cool restaurant menu's
#5
The E-Menu
Originating in Israel, the E-menu is an interactive LCD touch screen located at one end of the table to be used by one or two operators sitting close by, a downside to this being that multiple people may want to look at different things at the same time.
The entire menu is visible with full descriptions and calorie count, it has a call button for a waiter and can view the current bill. It also has interactive group games and music to keep the customers occupied. There is a video available of it being used in the above link. I'm not sure how well food/drink spillage would be handled by these screens
#4
Zupa!
Not exactly interactive, and it is more a cafe than a restaurant but their menu, specialising in soups(Zupa is italian for soup) contains a video of their special being prepared. The special changes often and they rely on recipes from around the world, the video being of the original recipe preparer. The video incluedes sound so that people can here the instructions and know exactly what is in their soup. What makes it interactive is the fact that the recipes and videos are actually made by the people from around the world, they encourage family recipes and alike to be filmed by people and the best stays as their "Special" for a week or longer "And it's fun for the customers, when they're in line, they can look at it and decide whether or not that want to try it."
#3
The Interactive Wine Menu
The basics of the menu come up at first, but selecting "Red" lets into a whole new level, to names, years, producer and a whole lot more. All by simply using your hand to select what you are interested in, order a bottle or a single glass. The menu is projected onto the bar and uses object recognition software to follow your hands selections to delve deeper into the menu and ake your order.
#2
Everyone has it, Inamo
The whole tables are interactive, displayed from overhead projectors and use touch screens to do everything I've previously talked about with every other menu on here. Nothing extra except for the fact the entire restaurant is themed this way and makes the experience more wholesome and less tacky
#1
Well, everything from here is basically the same. Projectors and touch menu's
The E-Menu
Originating in Israel, the E-menu is an interactive LCD touch screen located at one end of the table to be used by one or two operators sitting close by, a downside to this being that multiple people may want to look at different things at the same time.
The entire menu is visible with full descriptions and calorie count, it has a call button for a waiter and can view the current bill. It also has interactive group games and music to keep the customers occupied. There is a video available of it being used in the above link. I'm not sure how well food/drink spillage would be handled by these screens
#4
Zupa!
Not exactly interactive, and it is more a cafe than a restaurant but their menu, specialising in soups(Zupa is italian for soup) contains a video of their special being prepared. The special changes often and they rely on recipes from around the world, the video being of the original recipe preparer. The video incluedes sound so that people can here the instructions and know exactly what is in their soup. What makes it interactive is the fact that the recipes and videos are actually made by the people from around the world, they encourage family recipes and alike to be filmed by people and the best stays as their "Special" for a week or longer "And it's fun for the customers, when they're in line, they can look at it and decide whether or not that want to try it."
#3
The Interactive Wine Menu
The basics of the menu come up at first, but selecting "Red" lets into a whole new level, to names, years, producer and a whole lot more. All by simply using your hand to select what you are interested in, order a bottle or a single glass. The menu is projected onto the bar and uses object recognition software to follow your hands selections to delve deeper into the menu and ake your order.
#2
Everyone has it, Inamo
The whole tables are interactive, displayed from overhead projectors and use touch screens to do everything I've previously talked about with every other menu on here. Nothing extra except for the fact the entire restaurant is themed this way and makes the experience more wholesome and less tacky
#1
Well, everything from here is basically the same. Projectors and touch menu's
5 New Technologies
#5
Self charging mobile phone battery
The only real source is the patent, available here
Not a new technology, more of an adaption of old technology but still really cool and could easily become a part of the everyday. Just a mobile phone, with slightly heavier components(Like an older phone, really) all the standard components are inside a frame and this frame can move along two sets of rails, one allows it travel up and down, the other side to side. Strips of piezoelectric crystals sit at the end of each rail and generate a current when compressed by the frame. So as the user walks, or otherwise moves the phone, the motion generates electricity. This charges a capacitor which in turn trickles charge into the battery, keeping it topped up.
In other words, badarse. Of course there will be issues with over charging the battery and things but I'm sure this will be overcome
#4
Mind controlled wheelchair?
In development by multiple universities, they use an electrode filled skullcap connected to a PC running brain-computer interface (BCI) software. The user thinks about their feet to move forwards, their tongue to stop, and their right or left hands to proceed in those directions. The researchers placed 12 phone vibrators, positioned like the numbers on a clock, on a belt worn around the wheelchair user's waist. These vibrate sequentially for 3 seconds each. If they wearer wants to go, say, in a 4 o'clock direction, they wait until the appropriate "tactor" vibrates and then think "that one".
Still in experimental stages, there is very little known about it. Source here
#3
Latex Soundproofing
Info from here
The reason low frequency sounds seep through walls is due to their long wavelength, and when traveling through solids the wave length can be increased. What Zhiyu Yang at the university of science and technology in Hong Kong has invented is a specific Latex based tile that cancels out sound, only being 15 millimetres thick!
These noise-cancelling panels consist of a latex rubber membrane stretched over a 3-millimetre-thick solid plastic grid of centimetre squares. In the middle of each square is a small, weighted, plastic button.
Interactive Paper
Well, the paper itself isn't really interactive. It's more to do with the ink used on the paper. The Ink itself is a conductor, and reacts to the current activated by moving the paper around ( I.e in greeting cards, pop up books)The conductive ink can also create touch-sensitive components and also link to other devices embedded in the paper, such as microphones and LEDs.
The best example is a birthday card in which the interactive card of a birthday cake in which the candles light up when somebody triggers a touch-sensitive switch by picking up the card. The lights go out again when a microphone senses the user blowing on the card.
Self charging mobile phone battery
The only real source is the patent, available here
Not a new technology, more of an adaption of old technology but still really cool and could easily become a part of the everyday. Just a mobile phone, with slightly heavier components(Like an older phone, really) all the standard components are inside a frame and this frame can move along two sets of rails, one allows it travel up and down, the other side to side. Strips of piezoelectric crystals sit at the end of each rail and generate a current when compressed by the frame. So as the user walks, or otherwise moves the phone, the motion generates electricity. This charges a capacitor which in turn trickles charge into the battery, keeping it topped up.
In other words, badarse. Of course there will be issues with over charging the battery and things but I'm sure this will be overcome
#4
Mind controlled wheelchair?
In development by multiple universities, they use an electrode filled skullcap connected to a PC running brain-computer interface (BCI) software. The user thinks about their feet to move forwards, their tongue to stop, and their right or left hands to proceed in those directions. The researchers placed 12 phone vibrators, positioned like the numbers on a clock, on a belt worn around the wheelchair user's waist. These vibrate sequentially for 3 seconds each. If they wearer wants to go, say, in a 4 o'clock direction, they wait until the appropriate "tactor" vibrates and then think "that one".
Still in experimental stages, there is very little known about it. Source here
#3
Latex Soundproofing
Info from here
The reason low frequency sounds seep through walls is due to their long wavelength, and when traveling through solids the wave length can be increased. What Zhiyu Yang at the university of science and technology in Hong Kong has invented is a specific Latex based tile that cancels out sound, only being 15 millimetres thick!
These noise-cancelling panels consist of a latex rubber membrane stretched over a 3-millimetre-thick solid plastic grid of centimetre squares. In the middle of each square is a small, weighted, plastic button.
When sound waves hit the panel, the membrane and weighted buttons resonate at difference frequencies. "The inner part of the membrane vibrates in opposite phase to the outer region
" So essentially the the tile cancels the sound out by absorbing and reacting to the sound.
Yes, awesome.
#2Interactive Paper
Well, the paper itself isn't really interactive. It's more to do with the ink used on the paper. The Ink itself is a conductor, and reacts to the current activated by moving the paper around ( I.e in greeting cards, pop up books)The conductive ink can also create touch-sensitive components and also link to other devices embedded in the paper, such as microphones and LEDs.
The best example is a birthday card in which the interactive card of a birthday cake in which the candles light up when somebody triggers a touch-sensitive switch by picking up the card. The lights go out again when a microphone senses the user blowing on the card.
#1
LCD screen that reacts to what happens infront of it
Not the best title, but it makes sense. The screen allows users to manipulate or interact with objects on the screen in three dimensions. It will also function as a 3D scanner. It reacts to the user waving their arms, fingers and general movements in relation to what is happening on screen.
The brightness of each of an LCD's pixels is controlled by a layer of liquid crystals, which can swivel to physically control how much light passes from the display's backlight. This screen uses the reverse of that and reacts the amount of light passing through from the outside source
Not too much more to say. Info here
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
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