Cute Robotic Barista

HINA實在是太可愛了！她是一個會泡咖啡的桌上型機器人。:D

新家影片

Brain Age

話說前陣子覺得我們的記憶力好像又有衰退的跡象，於是趕緊把Nintendo DS Lite和Brain Age找出來，重新開始鍛鍊大腦。記得去年剛買這款遊戲的時候一連玩了兩個月，記憶力好像有變好一些，這回再試一次看看囉。^^

Brain Age包含了各種腦力訓練的益智小遊戲，像是心算、朗讀、瞬間記憶、數人頭等，還另附100題數獨(sudoku)。根據遊戲監製者日本東北大學川島隆太教授的研究發現，朗讀或計算這類活動，每天短時間訓練便能活化腦部運作，持之以恆更能使「腦年齡」年輕化。這裡有一篇較完整的介紹。

前幾天，我們又從美國訂購了八月二十日剛發行的Brain Age 2，大概下禮拜就會寄到吧。^^

Manipulating Information With Microsoft Surface

This looks to be rather similar to the Microsoft DigiDesk I blogged about two months ago, but it appears to be a more mature concept that could be in casinos and a few other places by the end of 2007. Perhaps one day, your coffee table, kitchen countertop, and even wallpapers could employ such multi-touch technology. Personally, though, I think that would be a bit of an overkill.

Theremin -- 「骨灰級」電子樂器

photo: Wikipedia

這是發明竊聽器和自動門感應器的Leon Theremin對電子音樂的貢獻。它就叫做「theremin」，發明於1919年，中文譯名不一，有「特雷門琴」、「空間感應電子樂器」、「色麗明」、「仙籟鳴」等。

這個樂器呢，一邊是個直豎的天線，另一邊是個環狀的天線，而表演者則透過揮動雙手來改變頻率和音量。早期，theremin曾被拿來為恐怖片和科幻片做配樂（看過下面的video #3就知道為什麼了），後來被許多前衛的樂團用來嘗試電子音樂。

按下「更多」之後，可以欣賞一些theremin演奏，不過別對最後那個影片抱有太大的期望噢（其實我是在YouTube看到這位老兄的表演才開始在網路上找相關資訊的）。:)

更多 >>

<< 更少

Visualizing Information With Microsoft DigiDesk

This is still in the proof of concept stage, so don't expect to see it on sale anytime soon. What you get when Microsoft starts thinking about the workstation of the future is this: A keyboard-less, mouse-less, touch-driven, speech-recognizing, document-digitizing, bland-graphics-animating, ultra-wide-touchscreen-and-heads-up-display-touting computer station for someone in the slave driver's seat, running production process management software. In other words, this is MS Project on steroids.

In all fairness, though, how it handles document digitization and manipulation looks impressive and intuitive enough.

After expanding the post: YouTube video of a DigiDesk presentation by the folks at Redmond.

show more >>

<< show less



via Engadget

Related blog entries: Visualizing Statistics Through Gapminder, Understanding Statistics Through Games

Movie QR Code (and Japanese Schoolgirls)

This cheesy video is about two Japanese schoolgirls kung fu fighting over whether the anime/manga character Black Jack is Japanese or not. But ultimately, it's really about a new type of QR code that incorporates video.



Expand the post to read a rough English translation provided by some kind soul on YouTube.

show more >>

<< show less

Um, do you know of Black Jack?
Yeah, I know him, I know him.
Isn't he cool?
Yeah he is cool.
Isn't he a foreigner?
No, I think he's Japanese.
Eh, he's a foreigner.
Huh! He's Japanese!
He's a foreigner!
I said he's Japanese!
FOREIGNER!
JAPANESE!
Foreigner! Japanese!
He's a foreigner. Isn't his name Jack!
What are you talking about! His real name is Japanese and his old man too!
Even though that's true...!
Uh, Mori? Are you ok?
JAPANESE!
FOR-EING-ER!
WAIT A MINUTE! WAIT A MINUTE!
SCAN ME, SCAN ME!
YOU'LL FIND THE ANSWER!
HURRY! SCAN ME! HURRY!

via TOKYOMANGO

Visualizing Statistics Through Gapminder

Some people are trained or born with the ability to visualize statistical relationships inside their heads. For those who are not so lucky, this tool looks to be a big help. Gapminder is a Swedish foundation that began with an idea to enhance our understanding of world health. In the process, it developed visualization software like the Trendalyzer, which was recently acquired by Google. Go ahead, try it out, or watch this video below to see the Trendalyzer and other Gapminder software like Dollar Street in action.



Update: TED talk by Gapminder co-founder Hans Rosling



Related blog entries: Understanding Statistics Through Games, Visualizing Information With Microsoft DigiDesk, The Next 4 Billion?

Change Your Mind, Change Your Brain

This is an hour-long video about authentic happiness and true riches. The speaker is Matthieu Ricard, a Buddhist monk who has lived and studied in the Himalayas for the past 35 years.

He assures us that we can still raise our happiness baseline significantly by meditating just 30 minutes a day -- you know, for those of us who cannot simply drop everything to become hermits. :)


http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1424079446171087119&q=user%3A%22Google+engEDU%22&pr=goog-sl&hl=en

Everybody Loves Sun Yat-Sen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Id9YOKeP0BM

'Twas a sunny day in Taipei

Not a single cloud in the sky

I paid homage to the "great"

And found tourists piled up high! :)