Leila Brillson
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Best of the Rest: Skateboarding Dog Tries 'Tony Hawk,' Muji Meets Lego
There's a load of great tech news happening out there every day, and, unfortunately, we just can't cover it all. Here are a few of the other noteworthy things we saw today on our never-ending journey through the wild, wild Web.
- Tillman the Skateboarding Dog is a skating celeb, so it makes sense that he (or one of his bulldog buds) gets to try out the new Tony Hawk game, which comes with a digi-skateboard. Trust us, it's as cute as it sounds. [From: Urlesque]
- Nothing goes as well with Japanese minimalism than Lego, which is why this block set from Muji is amazingly cool. [From: High Snobiety]
- The debate is a bit more than seeing an ex pop up constantly on Facebook. Professor Viktor Mayer-Schonberger talks about how new media makes it difficult to forget, which is an important part of the human experience, (though one commenter points out the other side of the spectrum). [From: Reuters]
- Wired's list of '10 Geeky Things To Be Thankful For" really are geeky (terabytes? really?), but we admit, we are glad there is good sci-fi on TV, too. [From: Wired.com]
Kidrobot Founder Talks Butts, Bunnies, and His Empire of Vinyl Art
Paul Budnitz has amazingly sent young adults scrambling after collectible vinyl figures as if they were children after toys. And toys, in essence, those figures are, but not in the child-friendly sense of the word. (In fact, Budnitz points out that his company's products often come armed with cigarettes and machine guns.) Kidrobot, which Budnitz conceived while collecting figurines during a stay in China, is famous for its small and affordable art pieces designed by underground and mainstream artists, graffiti writers, and musicians.
What started as a pastime has become an international phenomenon; collectors camp out to get limited-edition Kidrobot figures, and people like Karl Lagerfeld and Matt Groening have gotten in on the design action. Kidrobot crosses cultures, claiming a strong following among comic book readers, alternative rock fans, hip-hop stars, and even us gadget nerds (who have the colorful creations brightening up our cubicles). And that's precisely what Budnitz set out to do: to give young (but not too young) individuals a way of "collecting art" without breaking the bank, and to brighten their lives with beautiful, hilarious, or just outright interesting art objects.
Street Style for Sale: Like.com and Weardrobe Sell Blogger's Looks
So when Like.com, a visual search engine that has generated over $100 million in sales, wanted to transform itself into a more organic, user-friendly community, Shah went right to the source. Today, Like.com announced its acquisition of Weardrobe, a street-style community that connects novice and popular bloggers, allowing burgeoning fashionistas to post and comment on each others' looks. Now, thanks to the partnership, Like.com's search capability (titled 'Likesense,' a la Google's AdSense) aesthetically identifies items in street images, and then offers browsers the opportunity to buy online.
Kitty Brain Simulated By IBM, but Not Just for Adorable-ness
This doesn't mean that Maru, or Mittens, or any other kitten, is dumb: the computer operates using 147,456 processors (while the average computer uses just a handful) and 144 terabytes of memory, and it is still 100 times slower than the way a cat thinks. The senior author of the findings, Dharmendra Modha, suggests that by creating a program based on the way a brain works, the emphasis is moved from "structured" data (say, adding numbers) and is placed on weighing different factors (like identifying an image, even if its blurry). So even though it is slow, the Portland supercomputer is apparently a breakthrough in cognitive computing.
Switched Asks: Do Personal E-Shoppers Get It Right?
After I signed up, Covet gave me a series of questions asking me to select which of two celebrities' styles I most liked: Rachel Bilson vs. Kelly Osbourne; Vanessa Hudgens vs., well, anyone not Vanessa Hudgens. After a while, Covet presented my style profile: Edgy Modern/Edgy Boho. While I despise the term "Boho," and would only classify a triangle as edgy, the examples they gave were actually pretty appropriate. I do like edgier clothing, but with a soft, cosmopolitan touch.
Russia Bans 'Modern Warfare 2,' Microsoft Co-Founder Has Cancer
Highlights from this morning's other big tech headlines....
In communist Russia, video games play you -- by being a source of discord and controversy. In the new 'Modern Warfare 2,' much ado has been made over a level in which a group of Russian terrorists massacre an entire airport of civilians, and over general Russian antagonism. Despite the fact that producer Infinity Ward offers a ...Best of the Rest: French-Flavored iPhone Cases, Nasty, Naughty PCs
There's a load of great tech news happening out there every day, and, unfortunately, we just can't cover it all. Here are a few of the other noteworthy things we saw today on our never-ending journey through the wild, wild Web.
To celebrate the opening of France's first Apple retail store, Incase (and art-plus-Mac group Arkitip) asked French street artist André to design a couple of ...Google Search Suggestions Show Popular, Moronic Queries
The Brits are great, some of our favorite people. Well-dressed, polite, fabulous musicians, but perhaps a bit too hard on the average individual. In a recent investigation on the nature of humanity, CNET.co.uk decided to see what popular searches Google offered when prompted by simple questions, and the findings were bleak. Using 'Google Suggest,' the auto-fill feature that predicts text as it's ...Best of the Week: Evil Baguettes, Mickey Mouse, and Baby Monitors
Like pet-of-the-week Pinky the Cat, even the most adorable and innocent of critters can turn into vicious terrors when hiding behind the anonymous wall of technology. Once peaceful people can suddenly turn violent when sheltered by the Net, a cell phone, or even a large, exo-suit cargo loader. Imagine, if you will, happy-go-lucky Mickey Mouse suddenly taking a turn for the rogue thanks to a new ...'Baby and Me' Uses Wiimote to Create a Burping, Crying Baby
The Wii's motion-based gameplay is wonderful, having opened the door to imaginative uses never before possible in video games. While the Wiimote is rugged, that doesn't mean it can handle the sheer abuse of being tossed around, pitched at pets, and rolled haphazardly. Maybe, then, it's fitting that the controller is now being turned into a baby.
The special edition of 'Baby and Me' comes ...
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