Another Website Creation

As a final project for Doug's FA332 class, we were required to create a website. I decided to create a fake electronics company known as "Bapple." I'm not sure how good of an idea it is to show this website to Peter, and hopefully he won't dock me down for making fun of Apple products. Anyway, here is the link:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/156607226/FA332/indexpage.html

Enjoy!

The Curly Phone

I don't understand why humanity is always trying to make things that are completely pointless. Spending money on research for something that doesn't matter. Here is one example...a phone the curls when you have an incoming call. Yup, that's right. Some people with too much time and money at Queen's University have invented a prototype phone that curls up a little bit to indicate an incoming call. It has other notification features as well, such as bending corners to indicate a message.
OR........
You could have the phone vibrate or ring to let you know. I guess it's just a matter of opinion?

Link to article here.

Website

Well....here it is. The incredibly unawesome website that I created for the "Insta-Fridge," an automatic instant refrigerator. I really wish this was a real thing...oh well, I suppose I'll live. Here ya go:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/156607226/index.html

NOTE: This is the first time I have ever even came close to attempting to create a website. Ever. So don't judge too harshly, eh?

The Super Toilet

I have talked about a lot of crazy inventions on this blog...but I think this one takes the cake. A super-ultra-mega fancy expensive toilet has been created by Kholer. This thing has it all...Bluetooth compatibility to play your favorite songs, an SD card slot for prerecorded messages or songs, a fancy LED lighting system with 7 different colors, battery power that is good for around 100 flushes, and a USB port for when the toilet needs an update (who new toilets could need updates?). This is absolutely ridiculous. No one needs this toilet. Not now, not ever. This is invention is stupid, and people need to learn to simply do their business and get out. It does't need to be this complicated! Here is a picture of the $6500 porcelain throne:

And a link to the article here. 

A New Drumset...That You Can Wear?

Yep, that's right. Someone has gone and came up with idea of a wearable vest that, when smacked in the correct place, will make a prerecorded sound similar to that of part of a drum set. Once the person wearing the vest figures our where all the right places to hit are, they can make some awesome beats just by smacking themselves in the chest. Pretty cool right? While I do find this little invention pretty useless, I do see it as pretty cool. I am one of those obnoxious people that everyone hates because I am constantly slapping and hitting tables and walls in an attempt to make a beat. Maybe if I had one of these, I could plug some headphones in (which I am unsure if that is actually available for this musical vest, and if it is added later I want my cut of the profits) and make a beat all to myself without bothering anyone else. I kind of like the idea.

Article can be found by clicking this part of the sentence that is a different color than the rest. This one. Right here.

Let the Mind Reading Begin!

Now...this is just weird. Apparently, Samsung has just developed and tested a device that allows you to run apps on your tablet...just by thinking about them. This crazy machine hooks up to your cranium and  somehow detects your brainwaves, causing it to do stuff on the tablet such as pick an app to run. This is kinda creepy to me, and seems way, way, WAY beyond absolutely useless. Let's see here...we can spend hundreds of thousands of dollars doing research on a product that saps your brain for information, relays it through a computer, and sends it to a tablet which then opens up the desired application, or...we could press it with our finger. I guess either way works, right? New inventions are cool and all, but I think maybe we should be focusing on something a little more useful. Where's our flying cars, huh?

Link to the article here.

The Tutorials of Evan Eckard

A few weeks ago, I posted a blog about a new media artist by the name of Evan Eckard. However, I simply went over his artwork and not much else of what he does. The way I found him was through YouTube, and more specifically through his tutorial videos. His videos mostly consist of quick (between 5 and 15 minutes) tutorials in which he shares some of his tricks that he uses in Photoshop or Illustrator. These can range from text alterations to shading techniques, as well as creative ways to make things from scratch. I have learned a lot from these videos, and thought I might share them. Here are a few examples, as well as a link to Evan's YouTube channel:

http://www.youtube.com/user/EvanEckard

"Metal Texture" tutorial

"Monster" text tutorial

"Great Gatsby" poster tutorial (Part 1)

New Video Game Teaches Java

The University of California, San Diego has released a mini video game which is designed to teach people how to read and understand the Java programming language. In their initial study, they had 40 people between the ages of 10 and 12 play the game for a little over an hour. Within this short time, the group began to grasp some of the basic elements of Java programming.
I love hearing these kinds of stories. I have always loved video games, but they have begun to get a bit of a bad rap recently. They are blamed for acts of violence and called a bad influence. But its stories like this that help prove their potential. Video games can be used as an excellent medium for education, as well as for developing other skills such as hand-eye coordination, communication, or teamwork. I look forward to seeing where the future of video games is heading, whether it be for entertainment or education.

Article can be found here.

A Small Invention That is Rather Awesome

Everyone has to shave. Well...everyone should shave, at some point (in my opinion). A new little electric razor has been created, know as the "ShaveTech." This mini razor is USB powered and has a battery life of about 30 minutes of constant use. The razor is no bigger than the average smartphone, and about the same weight. This seems like a fairly unexciting little innovation, but I see it as a pretty awesome example of other future innovations. Things are becoming smaller and more efficient, and who knows what could be next? It excites me to see the possibilities of what is to come. Here is a picture of the ShaveTech. Looks kinda like a mix of a lighter and an iPhone, huh?

Review of the ShaveTech can be found right....about..................

here.

The "S" Stands for "Stupid"

Looks like Apple is starting to develop the "NEW" iPhone 5S this quarter. Surprise surprise! That's basically like telling someone the sun is planning on rising tomorrow morning. Apple always has the "next new thing" on it's way sometime soon, but it never seems to arrive. As soon as it does arrive, everyone wants to know what features are going to be on the next one coming out. Well, just like clockwork, Apple has started working on the newer, pointless version of the iPhone 5, plastering a fancy "S" to the end of the name so they can jack the price up a few hundred dollars again. What kind of features will there be this time? We don't know for sure yet...but I have my suspicions it will be a great big bunch of nothing.

The article that got me onto this rant can be found here.