Anki Drive – Drags Matchbox Cars Into The Future
Continuing a trend, which has seen the migration of gaming from the virtual to the physical, Anki Drive is a system for slot cars (or scaletrix) that integrates an iOS app with a smart track system. The cars each have character, weaponry and grow in potential and power as they are raced. The intelligent track is extremely cool and Tron like, and whilst looking flat has smart boundaries so the cars do not skid off it. Being a big kid these days is so much fun.
Reimagining Retail POS
‘Perch’, by Perch interactive is a completely novel integrated product display retail system. It is novel because it encourages interactivity by enticing the consumer to pick up the displayed item and engage with the item via an information display (like a big tablet). The pay off is that the audience can explore the products unassisted and the store can understand, via the data collected, which elements their customers are interested in.
http://www.perchinteractive.com
D.O.R.T.H.E. Is An Experiment In Music And Writing
Have you ever wondered what the opening line of your blog post might sound like as a musical score? D.O.R.T.H.E. is an artist experiment that creates music from thoughts by translating the typed lines from an old typewriter into an algorithm and finally into music via a computer. The programmatic logic is sophisticated to the point of picking out individual notes for letters, or adjusting pitch and tone for broader emotional nuances like joy, happiness or sadness.
http://www.soundjuggling.com/projects/dorthe
Ear Bud Health Monitors
Microsoft new Septimu device is a case of health science meets pleasure. Yes, Microsoft have developed some intelligent ear buds headphones that double up as a bio sensor to monitor mood and biorhythms, heart rate and temperature through the wearers ear. These non-invasive sensors represent a significant advantage to self managed health monitoring, and also make the job of monitoring people remotely a lot easier.
http://research.microsoft.com/apps/mobile/showpage.aspx?page=/en-us/projects/lifex/
HASHBAG – Instagram Classifieds
Another clever start-up that has one slapping their forehead and saying ‘why didn’t I think of that?’. HASHBAG is a classifieds site aggregating all the stuff being sold on instagram. Buyers simply sign up to have their items aggregated, categorized and linked to a seller page by tagging #forsale. Buyers log in any time and search for stuff they love. Hashbag connects the two and facilitates the deal grabbing 99c for the trouble. Oh and it’s built for mobile – Genius.
