Category Archives: Video

IBM’s interactive billboard changes color based on your outfit

Fashion, Technology, Video, , , ,

IBM’s Smarter Planet campaign acknowledges the importance of intelligent systems in the world today.  In the retail industry, for example, consumer data around something as simple as color can have massive implications around shipping, inventory and, ultimately, overall sales.  This interactive billboard is a simple and engaging virtual demonstration of how a smarter retail system can work.

In other words, IBM is trying to make retailers and consumers alike recognize the importance of technology in the retail industry.  Imagine, if you will, a world where when you walked into a Gap clothing store, a digital personal assistent recognized you by what you were wearing and helped you pick out a new season of clothes based on previous choices and personal taste.  Yeah, that’s what IBM is going for here.

[Via Gizmodo]

Lin Yu Chun belts out Whitney Houston, is this guy for real?

Music, Video, ,

Lin Yu Chun was a contestant on Super Star Avenue, a Taiwanese talent show.  People call him the next Susan Boyle; he’s got that same “how is that voice coming from that body” experience that Boyle shared with the world on Britain’s Got Talent with “I Dreamed a Dream.”  Chun’s performance of Whitney Houston’s classic love song “I Will Always Love You” made this guy an Internet sensation.  I mean, just watch it!  (I am aware this is a few weeks old now, but I just couldn’t let it go unnoticed.)

Are you a Gleek? There’s an app for you.

Images, Technology, Television, Uncategorized, Video, , , , ,

Designed by Smule (the musical geniuses behind Ocarina, Leaf Trombone, I Am T-Pain, and Magic Piano apps), the Glee music app puts you behind the mic and lets you belt out your favorite songs from the FOX hit show.  Here’s how it works.  You got your iPhone or iPad, right?  Plug in some headphones to get the background music pumping.  Hit start and music plays in the ‘phones while the lyrics scroll across the screen.  Now sing.  There’s a live pitch meter that let’s know if you’re in tune or not.  But it doesn’t end there.  Say you can’t sing all-natural and need some help.  The app automatically auto-tunes your voice and generates harmonies from your voice.  Neat-o, right!?  Once you’re done recording a song, you can share it with friends on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, or email (or the entire Glee app network) and listen to other Gleeks rocking out.  Everything is stored on Smule’s servers for easy access right from the app.  If you choose to “broadcast” your recorded song, other app users can find the track and sing on top of it, creating a band-like experience.  A world-wide Glee Club, if you will.

The Glee app is available at the App Store today for $2.99.  It comes with three tracks (“Rehab”, “Somebody to Love”, and “You Keep Me Hanging On”) and Smule promises to add new tracks every week.  They will appear as in-app purchases.  So far, the Glee “music store” includes the following additional songs: “Can’t Fight This Feeling”, “Imagine”, “I’ll Stand By You”, “Lean On Me”, and “No Air”.  The social aspects work over WiFi and 3G.  Well, what are you waiting for!? Gleek out!  (See how it’s done after the break.)

[Via TUAW; Gizmodo]

Continue reading Are you a Gleek? There’s an app for you. →

Kanye West Foundation is back for another round

Music, Television, Video, , , ,

The Kanye West Foundation, created by Kanye’s late mother Donda West, is all about keeping kids in school.  As an incentive to keep kids in school, they are given this ultimatum: if they improve their grades, attendance, and behavior they are offered free tickets to see Kanye West perform at the Chicago Theatre at the end of the school year.  Last year more than 2,500 students improved their grades and attendance and were able to see Kanye perform live in a televised concert (broadcasted on FuseTV) in their honor.  Currently the Foundation focuses on public high schools in Chicago, Kanye’s hometown.

This trailer promotes the second annual performance by Kanye.  Ever since his “imma let you finish but” incident with Taylor Swift, Kanye has ducked out of the limelight and into the studio.  He’s currently working on his next album rumored to be called Good Ass Job.  With the goal of diminishing student dropouts in the Chicago area, his foundation spreads a good message that hopefully resonates with the rest of the nation.  Thing is, he might just have to go on a nationwide Foundation tour to give more kids the incentive to stay in school and improve themselves.  Or you can just be really smart and set goals for yourself, then watch the performance when it airs on FuseTV this June.

[Via KanyeBlog]

Microsoft Kin: the device for “Generation Upload”

Images, News, Technology, Uncategorized, Video, , , , ,

On Monday Microsoft finally lifted the covers off ancient rumored devices dubbed “Microsoft Pink” by introducing their next foray into the mobile space called Microsoft Kin.  Microsoft recently aquired Danger, the company behind the Sidekick; created with Sharp, the Kin devices are essentially next-generation Sidekicks.  At its core, and well all around it, Kin is a social networking phone aimed at tweens.  Microsoft is calling its target market “Generation Upload”, 15-30 year olds who are all about chatting, texting, taking and sharing photos, and constantly updating their favorite social networks like Facebook and Twitter.  Note that Kin is not a smartphone; smart dumbphone is more like it.  Although it’s built upon Windows Phone 7 and shares similar UI aesthetics, it can’t run apps and it’s closed off to many other WP7 features like Xbox Live.  This is all by design, really, since Microsoft is really pushing it strcitly as a social networking device.  Kin contains two family members, Kin One and Kin Two.  Both devices contain three unique features: Kin Loop, Kin Spot, and Kin Studio.

Kin Loop: This is your home screen.  It’s the place where all your social network content gets aggregated and displayed.  Loop aggregates information from four selected services: Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and Windows Live.  Information is updated in real time (well, every fifteen minutes unless you manually hit refresh).  So what you need to understand is this: the device does not run apps for these services; they live on the phone at all times.  Your profile picture and current status is visible at the top of the screen.  The rest of Loop is covered in recently updated statuses from the friends you converse with most often.  If you want to delve deeper into their page, simply tap their picture and you’ll be transported to their standard profile page.

Kin Spot: There’s a small green spot located at the bottom center of the screen at all times.  This dot allows you to collate all kinds of stuff and share it all with your friends.  For example, if there’s a picture, video website, status update, or map you want to share with one of your contacts, simply drag and drop the content into Spot and you’re one tap away from sending it off to your friends.  Enter Spot by tapping it and select the contact and content you want to share.  Content can be shared over SMS, email, or social networks.

Kin Studio: This is where all your device’s content is stored online.  Everything that you have on your Kin (contacts, pictures, videos, etc.) is backed up to “the cloud.”  In this case the cloud is Kin Studio, a website based on Silverlight that can be accessed on any computer.  So if you lose your Kin, all the data that’s on it continues to thrive online at Studio.  Also, Studio makes for a great way to watch and enjoy your Kin’s content on a larger display.  Studio’s UI is impressive; it features a visual timeline and supports geotagging in a map, allowing you to pinpoint exactly when, say, a photo was taken, and where it was taken, respectively.  It’s a very seamless experience; if you update something in Studio (for example, add a video), the change will take effect on your Kin device, and vice versa.

Kin also comes loaded with a custom IE web browser.  The display is capacitive with multitouch support, enabling pinch-to-zoom in the browser, but there is no Flash or Silverlight functionality.  Also included is a fully functional Zune player (hrm, minus Zune gaming), allowing for music,video, and radio playback.  Zune on Kin will provide the same experience found on Zune HD players and (soon) WP7 devices.  You can stream music over WiFi and 3G and there’s full support for Zune Pass, meaning you will always have access to your entire Zune library.  For Mac users, Microsoft will be providing software to sideload your iTunes music and iPhoto pictures to a Kin device.  Note, this is not a Zune client for Mac, it just a way to get a Mac user’s content from Mac to Kin; no Zune Marketplace access for you!  Now let’s distinguish between the two members of the family. Continue reading Microsoft Kin: the device for “Generation Upload” →

Opera Mini browser lands in the App Store

News, Technology, Video, , , , ,

Shock!  Awe!  Surprise!  That’s right, Apple has actually approved the Opera Mini web browser to co-exist alongside its coveted Safari mobile browser on iPhones, iPod touches, and iPads.  After playing around with Opera Mini, I think it’s safe to say it is definitely a worthy contender to Safari and a welcome addition to the App Store.  It loads pages super fast “by compressing data by up to 90 percent before sending content to the device”; it features a unique tabbed browsing experience; booksmarks can be added and managed within the app; it has the “find in page” feature that allows you to search for specific keywords within web pages (very handy!); and it supports a tab & hold gesture to select, copy, and paste text and save images.  The default Opera Screen provides a great place to start; you can customize it with your most frequently vistited sites.  It comes preloaded with Facebook, Twitter, New York Times, and more.  The only downside is that it does not support pinch-to-zoom.  To zoom into text you double tap the screen, and you tap again to zoom back out.  But you know what, the blazing speed at which it can load web pages sorta knocks that disadvantage down a notch.  You can download Opera Mini today, it’s free!  Full PR and a demo video are waiting after the break.

[Via Engadget]

Continue reading Opera Mini browser lands in the App Store →

Trailer: Gears of War 3

Technology, Television, Video, , , , ,

Last night Epic lead designer Cliff Bleszinski unveiled the first trailer for the next installment in the Gears of War series.  Using Late Night with Jimmy Fallon as a platform, Bleszinski debuted a trailer called “Ashes to Ashes” which “outlines the world you’re going to see in Gears of War 3.”  Protagonist Marc Fenix makes an appearence, along with Dom, a female soldier, and of course tons of Locust baddies.  Bleszinski confirms that double barrel shotguns and playable female soldiers will be featured in the game.  Gears of War 3 is slated to release on April 8, 2011.  Starting the hype a bit early there, aren’t you Cliffy B?  Look after the break to watch the full interview.

[Via IGN]

Continue reading Trailer: Gears of War 3 →

Music video: Drake – “Over”

Music, Video, , ,

Here’s the music video for “Over”, the first single off Drake’s forthcoming album Thank Me Later.  It’s directed by Anthony Mandler.  This music video is starkly different from the Kanye West-directed video for “Best I Ever Had”, but that’s not necesssarily a bad thing.  No, you won’t find scantily clad, well-endowed women jumping up and down.  For most of the video Drake is in a bedroom with chaotic projected images flashing over him and the walls.  It’s enough to keep you hooked for four minutes, so check it out.  If you like the track, download it here for free.  Thank Me Later hits stores June 15.

[Via EW-MusicMix]

Pixels take over NYC in visually spectacular fashion

Design, Technology, Video, , ,

PIXELS, produced by Patrick Jean at OneMoreProd.

This video is really making the rounds all over the Internet.  And deservedly so.  In PIXELS, New York City gets taken over by 8-bit pixels that come in the form of classic retro video games like Pacman, Space Invaders, and Donkey Kong.  The amazing visual effects combined with Naïve New Beaters “L.A. trumpets” music makes PIXELS one of the coolest animated videos I’ve seen in a while.

[Via Walyou]

Droid does bra size, underwear detection, & more

Technology, Video, , , , ,

A few weeks back Motorola started a viral video campaign called  “SECRET MOTOROLA DROID UNLOCK CODES.”  In the videos a group of guys enter a series a numbers into a Motorola Droid to enable hidden features.  Some of the new videos have picked up in popularity and are actually quite entertaining.  In the video above, one of these special unlock codes turns the Droid into a bra size and underwear detector.  Look after the break for two more videos featuring the Droid as a taser and animal translator.  Man, what can’t Droid do?

[Via Android&Me; Gizmodo]

Continue reading Droid does bra size, underwear detection, & more →

A 2.5 year old uses the iPad for the first time

Technology, Video, , , , , ,

What happens when you give a two and a half year old one of the most technologically advanced gadgets to come out in quite some time?  Telstar Logistics founder Todd Lappin decided to find out for himself by conducting this fun experiment.  Here are some of his findings:

As you can see, after geeking out on my Sutro Tower homescreen, she took right to it — including figuring out how to enlarge some of her favorite iPhone-legacy apps to 2x to display full-size on the iPad screen. If you’re good at understanding kid-speak, you’ll also notice that she immediately saw its potential as a video-display device. She lamented the lack of a camera, and wondered about its potential for playing games.

On the downside, she had the same frustration as many adults, where touching the screen-edge with your thumb while holding the iPad blocks input to all home screen icons. Notice also that she was confused by the splash page for FirstWords Animals, her favorite spelling game: Because the start button looked like a graphic, rather than a conventional button, she couldn’t figure out how to start the game.

Oh, here’s one he forget to mention: She’s so freakin’ cute!

[Via LaughingSquid]