Synthespians

This is a pretty amazing video. The "person" being interviewed is synthetically constructed, using a number of images taken of a real human being to generate all of the facial expressions.

It was created by a company called Image Metrics, who are the people behind the animations in Grand Theft Auto IV.

Update: I've replaced the original YouTube video, which seemed to have some kind of glitch partway through. This seems to be a superset of the old one.

Thanks to io9.

Chronotopic Anamorphosis

This is a clever bit of trickery that involves incorporating lines from subsequent frames into the current one, thereby causing parts of the video to move through time.



Thanks to Neatorama.

They Set The Bar High at UNE

One of the subjects I'll be doing next semester includes an assignment that requires you to create an animation of some form.

This was the best submission from 2006. If I started now, and worked 16 hours a day on it, I reckon I could create something at least half as good by ... oh, let's say ... the end of second semester, 2010 :-).

Hopefully the person who produced this has been able to carry the same level of creativity and skill with them into their day to day teaching!

Creme That Egg!

Another, incredibly intricate Rube Goldberg machine.


Thanks to Dan Meyer for pointing it out.

Jumping Jeans

This is reminiscent of those French chaps who throw cans into various receptacles from large distances.

However, in this case, the projectiles are their own bodies and the receptacles are pairs of jeans!

Amazing ePaper Wrist Display

Ticketime is a concept design by Jacky Wu, Neo Chen & Eric Liu.

It's intended for use by airlines, to provide travellers with a wristband containing information about their flights, and would be returned once the customer's trip was completed.

The band is held on your wrist by two magnets, one on each end. In a clever twist, when the two magnets meet, they create a circuit that powers the display.

I would pay real money if I could get a watch like this for normal use, so let's hope someone takes this design into production sometime soon!

When Only The Best Will Do

Thanks to Shiny Shiny for pointing me to Wrong Cards, the place to go when Hallmark just doesn't cut it.

Most of them are clever, but this is my favourite so far.

In case you're still looking for that perfect mother's day card, they have quite a decent selection ... assuming you're happy being cut out of the will :-).

Impressive Keyboarding

I've seen this clip referenced twice now in my blog universe, so I figured I might as well pop it in, too.

I'm sure some of this is pre-programmed, but that takes nothing away from the obvious ability of the ten year old player.

The music isn't really my cup of tea, but I can still appreciate her work.

High (Tech) Noon

Here's an impressive bit of video editing by someone named Darryl Gold.

They took the classic western High Noon, from 1952, and updated it to include androids and other technology. Pretty cool.


Thanks to Neatorama.

Geek T-Shirts #1 of 42

Does it get geekier than this?

I don't think so!

Mechanical Digital Watch

This De Grisogono Meccanico DG is pretty amazing.

It displays the time in digital form, but is purely mechanical!

They've only made 170 of them, so I would imagine the price is astronomical.

Thanks to Gizmodo for the heads up.

I'm A Mathematician ...

... and I'm an FBI agent.

This is a cute promo for the latest season of Numb3rs, realised as a parody of Apple's well known "I'm A Mac" ads.

Sip Lamp

Here's another interesting lamp, thanks to Cool Hunting, this time.

It's shaped like a flexible straw, which can be mounted in any readily available cup or mug. Clever idea.

It was created by a designer named Sung-kyu Nam. Sadly, it's currently only a prototype.

"Chair"man Mao

While I think this Chairman Mao chair is absolutely hideous, I can't help but appreciate the pun!

I'm sure the designer never intended anyone to sit in it ... and I can't imagine anyone could, without having to turn around to check that he wasn't sporting a sinister little grin :-).

Thanks(?) to Neatorama for putting me off my lunch.

Clever Hand Painting

Thanks to Neatorama for pointing me to this gallery of clever hand painting.

They're all very clever, but I like this one the most. I think it's something to do with the overhead angle.

Store 'n' Slide

Thanks to Apartment Therapy for pointing me to Store 'n' Slide.

This is quite a clever space saving device that allows you to store various tools out of sight, in small nooks such as that between your refrigerator and the wall.

I had to check with Wikipedia to find out what some of those things in the photo were.

Apparently, one of them is called a "broom" and another is a "mop" ... don't ask me what they're used for, though :-).

Slide It!

The basic idea behind Slide It is that you specify a word by sliding your stylus through the letters in the word, without lifting it up for each character.

According to the voice over, you only have to draw a rough trajectory, plus once you've drawn the first few letters, the system uses a predictive algorithm to list possible words.

According to their website, they received a patent for the technology in April 2007 ... I wonder why I've not heard about it until now, and why it's now in the news?

Buckle-less Belt

A designer named Sruli Recht has designed a clever belt that has no buckle.

Instead, the ~Elt, as it is named, interlocks with itself, much like the fingers of your hands when you clasp them together ... which was apparently Sruli's inspiration.

Thanks to Cool Hunting for the link.

Can't We All Just Work Together?

I found this clever short film over at Mathematics Under the Microscope.

Homer In "Real" Life

Some chap over at Pixeloo created this image of what Homer Simpson might look like as a real human being, by splicing together pieces from various photos.

It's pretty impressive (and a little scary) work.