3d illusion arts: Walyou

Walyou

Just like Facebook, OkCupid experiments with people
AT-ST cathouse: the cutest and furriest Empire ever
Pizza launcher from Comic-Con 2014 works and rocks
Samsung’s Tizen OS Smartphone Is Delayed, Not Canceled
Microscope Made Entirely Out of LEGO Bricks Works Like a Normal One
Selfie Toaster will toast your face in a piece of bread

Just like Facebook, OkCupid experiments with people

Posted: 29 Jul 2014 07:00 AM PDT

OkCupid has reveled to be manipulating results at their website, and it turns out true love might not be what you decide it is, but what the website chooses for you

Not long ago, Facebook made the headlines as they revealed to be partaking in an emotion-manipulation study. This led to all kinds of controversy and investigations, but now, the dating site OkCupid has made public that they’re conducting similar experiments with their userbase.

The site was very upfront: in a blog post called “We Experiment on Human Beings“, the founders explained what they were doing, and proceeded to defend the practice as tests like this”are extremely common and even beneficial to users.” As they put it, “guess what, everybody: if you use the Internet, you're the subject of hundreds of experiments at any given time, on every site,That's how websites work.” Well, speak for yourself?

Some of the experiments had to do with user pictures: the site temporarily removed all users’ photos to see how it would affect their interactions, which resulted on a decline in traffic. Those who still used the website, though, responded to more messages and exchanged contact information more quickly. The conclusion? “people are exactly as shallow as their technology allows them to be.”

Another experiment aimed to determine whether there was a correlation between how users scored each other for looks and personality. The premise was that users would rate higher the personality of someone whose looks they liked. And again, looks were the biggest factor as the text proved to matter little, or was blank, even. They explained it as “your picture is worth that fabled thousand words, but your actual words are worth … almost nothing”.

As opposed to Facebook, where it sparked an outrage, OkCupid’s experiment have so far not really caused a commotion, as the users who commented on the blog post didn’t seem to be upset for the most part, but instead found the data interesting, funny and depressing at the same time.

Via Mashable

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AT-ST cathouse: the cutest and furriest Empire ever

Posted: 29 Jul 2014 06:00 AM PDT

Have you ever fantasized about playing a Star Wars game and controlling a Khajit? Want to make your kitten the ultimate Empire soldier? Boy, do we have something for you.

A cool thing about the Star Wars universe is that racism (speciesism?) doesn’t seem prevalent, and we got to see aliens and animals of all species in different positions along the rebel ranks. Seems the Empire has taken note of this, and aiming to increase its popularity, they are now hiring cats to ride this AT-ST unit.

This creation came from the virtual pages of The Bloggess, where the creator shared her creation with the world, and got us to envy her mad skills at crafting. I wonder if she’d agree to make a human-sized one for us.

Via Geekologie

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories at AT-ST 'Imperial Chicken Walker' For Kitties and CAT-AT: The AT-AT Cat House.

Pizza launcher from Comic-Con 2014 works and rocks

Posted: 29 Jul 2014 05:00 AM PDT

Say what you will about Michael Bay’s TMNT, but we might be in front of the best marketing tie-in in history. Meet Comic-Con 2014′s Pizza Launcher.

This is quite unique: in order to promote the upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie by the both beloved and hated director Michael Bay, a group of designers backed by the movie staff and Pizza Hut have created a pneumatic pizza launcher. Because it was such a huge success, now we get a whole video where the creators explain how the project came to be, and show it in action. The result is an absolute triumph for both technology, and tastiness.Cowabunga, dudes.

Check the video below these lines:

Via The Mary Sue

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories at Pizza Portraits Are Deliciously Awesome and Serving Pizza At Its Cleanest And Fastest.

Samsung’s Tizen OS Smartphone Is Delayed, Not Canceled

Posted: 28 Jul 2014 01:52 PM PDT

The Korean tech giant seems quite fond of its own mobile OS, and would very much like to also implement it in smartphones, not just in smart watches and fitness trackers. By the looks of it, however, Tizen OS is not ready to face the world in a large form factor.

Today, the company released a statement in which it explained why the Samsung Z smartphone will be delayed in Russia. The world might not be dying to see a new mobile OS, and considering the grip Google and Apple have on the mobile world, Tizen will definitely face some challenges upon its launch. Still, Samsung is confident that its mobile OS will deliver. A bit of a variety wouldn’t hurt, and assuming that the app ecosystem is better than the one of Windows Phone, Tizen OS should fair nicely.

According to the statement, the reason of the delay is as follows: “To further enhance [the] Tizen ecosystem, Samsung plans to postpone the launch of Samsung Z in Russia. Samsung will continue to actively work with Tizen Association members pursuing to further develop both Tizen OS and the Tizen ecosystem.”

And there lies the problem, not that much with the mobile operating system itself, but with apps it’s supposed to run. Samsung is having problems attracting developers to its own platform, and the reasons are not that hard to understand. Carriers are running from this new OS, as proved by the Japanese and Russian carriers that canceled the launch of Tizen smartphones in January and July, respectively.

Samsung promised earlier this month that “The smartphone will appear on the Russian market later, when we can offer our users a fullest portfolio of applications.” Yet, that full portfolio of apps didn’t materialize, and the company was forced to push the launch date.

The Korean consumer electronics manufacturer falsely assumes that its success with smartphones running Google’s Android OS will repeat itself in the case of Tizen. Somehow, Samsung misses the fact that Google’s mobile operating system is where it is today mainly because it has been developed over a few years. On top of that, developers are enthusiastic about creating Android apps, this being one of the top options, which does not and will not be the case with Tizen OS.

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about how Samsung will take on Google Glass with Tizen OS smart glasses in Q3, and the Samsung GearFit fitness tracker.

Microscope Made Entirely Out of LEGO Bricks Works Like a Normal One

Posted: 28 Jul 2014 01:05 PM PDT

Things built using LEGO bricks are awesome as they are, but become even more so when they accomplish a function. The following LEGO microscope is a great example of that.

Carl Merriam, the master builder behind this project, has been playing with LEGO bricks for 27 years. Some could say that he’s developed an obsession for the Danish plastic pieces. All these years haven’t been wasted, though, as Merriam created quite a few successful projects, as shown on his website. This time, he decided to build a microscope using the same bricks, and to make the project even better, the device is completely functional.

The builder explained in detail the steps he took for building the LEGO microscope: “This build was originally inspired by the LEGO X-Pod sets. While trying to find a use for the pod itself, I realized that it was very close to a deep petri dish. I used a planetary gear system to allow both coarse and fine adjustment of the objective ‘lens’. A little more tinkering and I connected the focus to a magnifying glass and fiber optic light in the eyepiece, so adjusting the focus knobs would actually bring the writing on a LEGO stud in and out of focus.”

As he pointed out, the objective lens is actually a LEGO magnifier, so he didn’t cheat there. The design is pretty intricate, and considering that it has been submitted for a LEGO competition, it has chances of becoming a real set. At press time, there were 2,912 supporters for this project, but with 275 more days to go, Merriam might actually be able to reach the 10,000 supporters he needs. In that scenario, LEGO launches the microscope officially and offers Merriam 1% of the royalties.

Don’t expect the LEGO microscope to be as good as a professional one used in labs. It is functional in that it does what it’s supposed to, but the results may leave a bit to be desired. Come to think of it, this project was made for children, so expectations regarding the accuracy of the microscope should be realistic. For what it is, the LEGO microscope is an impressive project, and I, for one, am curious to see what Merriam will create in the near future.

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about the Braigo budget Braille printer made of LEGO, and these super cool functional guns made out of LEGOs.

Selfie Toaster will toast your face in a piece of bread

Posted: 28 Jul 2014 12:08 PM PDT

Never mind about toasts having the shape of Jesus or Mother Mary, this is the real thing: they actually feature your own likeness.

What the Vermont Novelty Toaster Corporation does is pretty unique: they create and sell custom toasters capable of toasting the likeness of any given person into a slice of bread. By transforming a high resolution picture of the customer into a metal plate via Photoshop and a CNC plasma cutter, they can just create a template that will be used on the toast afterwards. The plate just fits in the toaster and lets only select portions of the bread get toasted, creating the illusion of a drawing.

Via Laughing Squid

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more stories about toasters at Darth Vader Helmet Toaster: Humilliating And Awesome and Watchmen's Roscharch Toaster: You're Trapped in The Kitchen With It.