3d illusion arts: Walyou

Walyou

Save, Facebook’s latest feature keeps content handy
Pinball machine desk: goodbye, productivity
Bistro: an all in one cat feeder and health monitor
MIT’s Robotic Grasps Provides You With a Few Extra Fingers
pd.id Identifies Spiked Drinks as Accurately as the DEA

Save, Facebook’s latest feature keeps content handy

Posted: 22 Jul 2014 07:00 AM PDT

Facebook has been storing your data for years and doing who knows what with it, yet now it is you who gets to look back on whatever you deemed important.

Facebook has a new feature, which is the equivalent of post-it notes for social media: it’s called save, and it’s Facebook’s very own read-it-later system. Save can be used on most devices capable of browsing Facebook at all, iOS, Android, and even the web interface. What it does is store away links from your News Feed, be it from pages or users, and puts it in an easy to access list which you can view them later. The idea is that Save will allow users to browse in short bursts without having to worry about missing the content they truly care about because the Facebook algorythm considers it read already.

"Save" will display a new option at the right of the stories and content in the news feed, and also in the drop-down menu used to block and filter content. Users curious about this new feature might want to check Facebook's blog post to learn more.

Via Techcrunch

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about how Twitter's profile redesign made it look more like Facebook, and Facebook's Buy Button Means to Shorten the Way between Liking and Owning.

Pinball machine desk: goodbye, productivity

Posted: 22 Jul 2014 06:00 AM PDT

A cool part of old arcades that is not romanticized are old pinball machines. If you miss them as much as we do, here’s how you can bring them to your work place.

Behold as a mere desk becomes a center of entertainment that guarantees you won’t leave the office before time. This is an old pinball machine that got turned into a desk by mastermind Tim Sway, from Wallingford, Connecticut.

That’s sort of what Tim Sway does best: he grabs old stuff and turns it into stylish furniture. This project was itself based off of a classic Charlie's Angels machine on which Sway removed the components, added drawers, cabinets, and ornaments. Also, he had to cut down the legs a bit to make it stay flat. Check the whole process in the video below these lines.

Via Technabob

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories at Duck Hunt Pinball Machine By Skit-B Pinball and Giant 3D Pinball Plunges Frenchies into a Festival of Lights Frenzy.

Bistro: an all in one cat feeder and health monitor

Posted: 22 Jul 2014 05:00 AM PDT

Our cats are as important as anyone else living at our place, and that is why they too require special attention. That is exactly what Bistro helps ensure.

Believe it or not, cats eat every day. Despite this, how much they do eat depends on what the owner decides, and as anything that involves humans, we sometimes overdo it or don’t do it enough. That is why a group of cat lovers created Bistro, the ultimate cat feeder that ensures that taking care of your kitty friend is done just right via the proper use of technology.

Bistro uses a built-in camera that streams to a server capable of running face-recognition software (yes, face-recognition for cats!) and then dispenses food for them. If a different cat tries to trigger it, a smartphone app will let the owner know, and even allow him to change setting or decide on the fly. Bistro uses weight sensors, and keeps track a pet's ingest levels, letting owners know how to keep the feline happy and healthy. Furthermore, the app allows users to see the feeding history and water intake, which is fantastic for the purpose of keeping track of the cat’s behavior. Learn more about Bistro in the video below.

Via Gizmag

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories at Mario Warp Pipe Climbing Box Is a Geeky Version of a Cat Tree and Super Cute Art of the Avengers as Cats.

MIT’s Robotic Grasps Provides You With a Few Extra Fingers

Posted: 21 Jul 2014 01:58 PM PDT

Since many tasks are difficult to accomplish single-handedly, researchers at MIT thought that it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to add a few more fingers to your hand.

Ford Professor of Engineering Harry Asada explained how the magic behind MIT’s robotic grasp works: “This is a completely intuitive and natural way to move your robotic fingers. You do not need to command the robot, but simply move your fingers naturally.” Ford Professor of Engineering Harry Asada says. “Then the robotic fingers react and assist your fingers.”

Since the brain perceives tools as extensions of the body, the robotic grasp could in time be perceived as part of the hand. In this context, using it would become less awkward and the overall behavior more natural. Asada is sure that after a while, “like a tool you have been using for a long time, you feel the robot as an extension of your hand.”

Faye Wu, who assisted Asada in creating the supernumerary robotic fingers, pointed out that “Right now we're looking at posture, but it's not the whole story. There are other things that make a good, stable grasp. With an object that looks small but is heavy, or is slippery, the posture would be the same, but the force would be different, so how would it adapt to that? That's the next thing we'll look at.”

Wu compared this project to Apple’s Siri, in that the robotic fingers are able to learn from you and adjust their behavior accordingly: “After you’ve been using it for a while, it gets used to your pronunciation so it can tune to your particular accent. Long-term, our technology can be similar, where the robot can adjust and adapt to you.”

Matthew Mason, director of the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, who did not take part in this project, stated that “This is breaking new ground on the question of how humans and robots interact. It is a novel vision, and adds to the many ways that robotics can change our perceptions of ourselves.”

While this project is obviously intended as an extension of the existing five fingers, it could be used to help people missing multiple fingers to regain the functionality of their hand.

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about the Hand-Tech glove that shoots video and translates sign language to audio, and the Google Gesture concept that gives the speech-impaired a voice.

pd.id Identifies Spiked Drinks as Accurately as the DEA

Posted: 21 Jul 2014 12:15 PM PDT

Given the high incidence of date sleep drugs in some clubs from all around the world, owning a device that identifies spiked drinks has the potential of saving lives.

It is estimated that 25% of North American women will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime, and that in 25% of these cases alcohol and date rape drugs facilitate the assault. This alarming percentage determined some companies to develop devices that can tell if a drink has been spiked, in order to make women feel more secure.

pd.id is said to be as accurate as the tools used by the DEA a few years ago, just in a smaller form factor. Some claim that anything as small as this gadget won’t ever be able to make a difference between the hundreds of possible substances found in alcoholic beverages (think bitters that include great numbers of plant extracts).

The personal drink ID can be paired with a smartphone in order to get more details on the results. However, it works very well on its own, and is able to display various colors on its LEDs depending on what it picks up in a drink. One of the things I’m concerned about, though, is the safety of the product. Its developers say that it fits quite well in a pocket or a purse, but getting it out from there and putting it in your drink might not be the best thing to do.

The makers of the pd.id personal drink ID are currently looking for funding on Indiegogo, where they’ve set a goal of $100K that they intend to beat within the next 40 days. Should the crowdfunding campaign be successful, anyone who backed the project with $100 or more will receive a colored pd.id in April 2015. At press time, there were still 79 Early Bird spots that enabled backers to secure a pd.id for themselves by pledging $75 or more. If you fancy the concept, feel free to visit the project’s page and pledge as needed to get one spiked drink detector.

From a social point of view, such devices are a step back for the human kind. Sure, they accomplish an important task, but at the same time, they could make surrounding people raise a brow at the clear signs of paranoia the user of pd.id might have. Since paranoia has always been a great income source, now there’s a new company who wants to cash in on that.

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about the plastic drinkware that signals the existence of date rape drugs and the Electrolux Yura flying bartender drone that mixes drinks and delivers them on flight.