[From DigInfo TV, where the story includes many more images and a 3:39 minute video]

Cocorobo intelligent vacuum cleaner robot communicates with its owner

8 May 2012

Sharp has developed a vacuum cleaning robot called Cocorobo, which uses the Cocoro Engine artificial intelligence capability. This product is the first in a planned series of robot appliances which can communicate with people.

Cocorobo features a speech recognition engine developed by Raytron, so it can be controlled by voice, as well as using its buttons or the remote control. It has also been given the ability to say simple greetings, with the idea being that a vacuum cleaner can communicate like a pet robot.

“For example, if you use Cocorobo every day, or speak to it every day, it gets in a good mood. Depending on how it feels, its words and movements vary a lot, so you can gain a feeling of closeness with it.… read more. “Cocorobo intelligent vacuum cleaner robot communicates with its owner”

[From Fast Co.CREATE]

Make Any Web Page 3-D With 3-D It!

Developer Edan Kwan created a program that, when bookmarked, uses CSS to convert any website to glorious 3-D. Glasses optional.

By Joe Berkowitz
May 9, 2012

It started as a fun little experiment, in three dimensions.

Edan Kwan, a developer at New York-based digital agency, Firstborn, had the thought that others might share his fascination with what websites would look like with a 3-D makeover. Lo and behold, pretty soon he’d created a program that uses CSS to do just that, turning 3-D into a verb in the process.

Users can simply drag the script to their bookmark bar and use it to click and transform any typically flat site into one that gives the illusion of containing a Z-axis.… read more. “3-D It converts any web page to 3-D”

[From Wired’s Gadget Lab blog; see also the related story at GigaOM]

Beyond Smart TV: ‘Surfaces’ Prototype Reveals the Television of Tomorrow

By Christina Bonnington
May 8, 2012

We’ve seen the future of television, and we want it now.

NDS, a company that develops DRM security and DVR technology for pay-TV providers like Cox and DirecTV, has developed a proof-of-concept called Surfaces that shows how television could become the center of a much more compelling, immersive living room experience.

The prototype jettisons the single, static screen that’s been a hardware mainstay since the golden age of television. In its place is a slick, highly customized room-sized desktop that hosts not only a traditional widescreen TV image, but also windows for a plethora of digital accoutrements.

It could be exactly what the TV industry needs to stay relevant.

“In a few years’ time, you’ll be able to buy a TV that covers an entire wall, acting like wallpaper,” NDS chief marketing officer Nigel Smith told Wired.… read more. “Beyond Smart TV: ‘Surfaces’ prototype reveals the television of tomorrow”

[From Gintime; more information about the first film to be featured is available here]

This Sunday Bombay Sapphire Presents the Edible Cinema

Posted on May 11, 2012

Wow! we’ve had Secret Cinema, scratch and sniff cinema, film scores re-imagined by DJs and musicians. But as yet, no-one has truly enhanced a cinematic experience with food… until now! On Sunday 13 May, the Electric Cinema in Portobello Road and Bombay Sapphire Gin are proud to present ‘Edible Cinema’; a collaboration between the team at Soho House, renowned experience organiser Polly Betton, experimental food designer Andrew Stellitano and Bombay Sapphire’s brand ambassador Sam Carter.

The concept is simple: the audience are given a series of numbered ‘packages’ before the start of the film which contain food and Bombay Sapphire specially created tasters. At specific points during the film large placards with corresponding numbers will be shown to the audience instructing them to consume the contents of the packages.… read more. “‘Edible Cinema’ features corresponding foods to heighten sensory experience of film”

[From CNET, where the story includes a 1:15 minute video]

[Image: A new look combining the depth camera of Kinect gaming console and a video from a digital SLR. Credit: Screen capture by Martin LaMonica/CNET]

‘Point cloud portraits’ bring ghostly 3D images to movies

by Martin LaMonica May 2, 201

Carnegie Mellon University’s Studio for Creative Inquiry creates distinctive 3D video effect by hacking together the depth camera of the Kinect gaming console with video from digital SLRs.

In yet another example of the amazing things possible with the Kinect gaming console, filmmakers have combined the depth camera of Kinect with a digital SLR to create a haunting new look in video.

Fellows at Carnegie Mellon University’s Studio for Creative Inquiry this week posted video, spotted by The Verge, from a filmmaking workshop which shows some of the potential of this type of 3D imagery.… read more. “‘Point cloud portraits’ bring ghostly 3D images to movies”