Robot Mouth

There’s something to be said about robots and how they can definitely be used to make our lives better. Like this mute quadriplegic who was able to scratch an itch by himself for the first time in 10 years. Imagine not being able to scratch an itch! I would go nuts.

Then there are those robotic creations that I am just not so sure about. Like this robot mouth created by professor Hideyuki Sawada from Kagawa University in Japan. There really is no better description than that – robot mouth. The robot is a mouth. A robot mouth. I am still feeling the remnants of my freaking out as I watched this robot mouth in action, so bear with me.

Anyhow, this robot mouth is not without merit. For one, it is a rather accurate representation of the human mouth. From the lips to the oral cavity to the tongue (made of silicon) – this robot mouth has got it all! To complete the setup, there is even an air pump, which functions as the lungs. There is even a nasal resonance cavity. You get the picture. The creator of the robot mouth wants it to be as real as possible. For what purpose, I can only hope it is better than what Wolowitz did with the robot arm in one of TBBT episodes. And in case you need to be reminded of that, here is a clip from YouTube. (I would have loved to embed it, but the feature is disabled for this video.)

Going back to today’s freaky exhibit, the robot mouth has the ability to “listen” to itself speak. Basically, there is a feedback mechanism by way of a simple microphone. As it hears the sounds it produces, the robot mouth can make the necessary adjustments. Now I am not so sure as to what practical purpose this creation can have. I am pretty sure that the creator has something useful in mind, but for the life of me, I cannot think of it right now. Then again, I might just still be totally freaked out. After watching this video, you will understand why.

By the way, that is supposed to be a Japanese children’s song called Kagome Kagome. You can listen to the song over at Wikipedia, but do not expect to see a lot of similarity. Freaky or what?

I am sure you have heard/encountered some people who think that one shouldn’t eat meat because it’s taking advantage of animals. Political correctness aside, I see some flaws in their arguments, but I will not get into that here. (There is, of course, the argument that raising animals for food contributes largely to the problem of greenhouse gases.) Instead, I propose a solution which may or may not ruin your appetite.

It’s easy enough for non-carnivores to take the stand that real animal meat should not be consumed. For those who like their meat, though, actually foregoing meat is a totally different matter. Enter Mitsuyuki Ikeda, a Japanese scientist who has come up with a meat alternative made of soya, steak sauce essence (good so far, huh), and – be ready for this – human feces.

I kid you not. Instead of being satisfied with alternative sources of protein (tofu and the likes), Ikeda has gone one step further by recycling “sewage mud”. Whether that can be considered a euphemism or not (I say not!), sewage mud is basically poo; waste that is ultra rich in protein.

So what Ikeda does is to extract protein and lipids from waste. These materials are what are turned into something meat-like by “whipping” them in an “exploder”. And of course, flavor has to be added, hence the soya and steak sauce essence.

These burgers are very low in fat – woohoo! – but cost about 10-20 times as much as a burger you can buy from McDonald’s. Still, they’re healthy; they’re not real meat; and they’re good for the environment. Man, I can’t help but think of that ice cream made from mother’s milk. Now that would be preferable to this!

Poop burgers anyone? I think I’ll pass this time.

What if you use the best milk in the world? Human breast milk, that is.

You may be gagging from the mere thought of eating ice cream made from human breast milk, but it seems that there is something to be said about this “new” product. As a matter of fact, I don’t think the use of human breast milk in adult food products is not that novel. This is, however, probably the first time that human breast milk is being used in commercially sold ice cream!

Founder Matt O’Connor is no less then enthusiastic about his “invention”, and he aims to let the world know just how great his Baby Gaga Ice Cream is. In spite of “selling points” such as the source being all natural and free-range, unsurprisingly, not everyone is buying the idea – that includes me!

The ice cream can be bought at 15 Maiden Lane, Covent Garden, London, United Kingdom, WC2E 7NG – if you can find some space in your fridge, that is. Here’s a video plugging this exotic concoction.

I may not be able to say no to ice cream generally, but I think I shall pass up on this one.

Looking for the perfect gift this Christmas? Look no further – whoever receives this iPhone from you will be eternally in your debt. Stuart Hughes, renowned British jeweler, has just come up with an iPhone that will definitely stand out from the rest of the iPhones that you see yuppies, geeks, and your mom carrying around. One look at that baby, and you’ll know that something is definitely NOT normal about it!

For starters, this iPhone costs a nice GBP 5 million – that’s roughly USD 8 million. You can stop drooling and dreaming now. The price tag makes this iPhone the most expensive mobile phone in the world, obviously. What makes it so expensive? If beauty is in the details, so is the price:

The bezel is handmade from rose with approximately 500 individual flawless diamonds which total over 100ct. The rear section is formed using rose gold with the added touch of its rose gold Apple logo and 53 diamonds. The main navigation is made from platinum which holds a single cut 7.4ct pink diamond. Also included (not shown in picture) is a rare 8ct single cut flawless diamond which can replace the pink one. The chest which houses this unique handset is made from a single block of granite, in Imperial Pink with the inner lined with Nubuck top grain leather…

I think I got lost at the “500 flawless diamonds” part!

Tell me if that isn’t beautiful! Then again, something this beautiful doesn’t really mean much for someone who can’t even imagine holding 8 million bucks in her hands! ;)

If you think it’s a tad too pricey, you can check out other luxury mobile phones – they’re a little cheaper compared to the iPhone 4 Diamond Rose. Oh, and for what it’s worth, there are only two units in existence – you might still have a chance to get your hands on one if you have that much money lying around.

Here are the three at the bottom of the pit.

Pac-Man Angel

Que horror!  I am not into angel figurines (and yes, I do believe in angels) but I don’t have anything against them either.  When something looks like this, though, I don’t know who should be horrified more – angels or Pac-Man!

Pac-Man Puppets

I don’t get it. I just don’t.  I don’t even have to add a description to this photo.  These puppets are plain awful.  They’re not even funny! (Although I don’t know if funny was what the creator was going for.)

Pac-Man Lingerie

How can you go wrong with lingerie? Well, one look at that photo and you’ll know how. I don’t know, maybe it’s because I don’t like purple all that much? Purple and yellow – even worse.  The whole look just makes me want to put my hands over my eyes.  Or maybe it’s just me?

So what do you guys think?  Are these Pac-Man things absolutely distasteful or am I just overreacting?

Now you can just click on that link and get started on your lessons.  This could be the end of my post.  Then again, I don’t think I can just sit here and not say anything.  Now, don’t get me wrong – I could very well be one of the last ones to go all gung ho about feminism/sexism – but there is something about the “lessons” that didn’t quite seem right to me.

Let’s summarize the points:

1. Learn the language.
2. Hang out where the geeks hang out.
3. Ask questions.
4. If you don’t love the gadgets, love the content.
5. Ignore his clothes.

Lady geeks – aren’t your eyebrows just going through the roof right now?  Now our male FG readers are either snorting or rolling their eyes in derision – that, or they might not even be reading this anymore.  I know Leslie’s probably geekier than most women in my circle.  She’s the corporate VP of Product Marketing at AMD after all, but did these points really work for her?  Am I missing something here?  I am seriously at a loss.

I shall leave you with what’s been on repeat in my head for the last hour (since I read the post): why do you need to get a geek in the first place? And, if you have a justified answer for that, why would you go through all the trouble of pretending (which is what this seems like to me)?

Can anyone help me make sense of this?  Otherwise, I’ll stick to my original thought: this is one big fail.  (Then again, I just might have missed the sarcasm that could be all over the place.)

Where I come from, pirated DVDs are commonplace, and I am surprised that I never came across one that looks just like this particular version. Not that I am promoting the creation and purchase of these illegal items, but they do have their uses. Just take one more look at the back of the DVD cover up there, will you? It showcases the ingenuity of whoever made the cover. (According to a commenter in the original article where I found the images, the review is actually for another movie and that “Geirot Free Press” is actually “Detroit Free Press.”)

Here’s the cover of the DVD, which contains more elements that will make your eyebrows skyrocket.

With the exception of Baltar – everyone looks pretty good to me. Now I haven’t finished the entire series, so I don’t know if the end is really like “Saw.” I haven’t seen the Enterprise make an appearance as well. Stargate’s still MIA – at least in the version that I am watching, whatever that is. So tell me, BSG fanatics, am I missing out on not buying this particular version of the series? That would totally blow. Maybe I should go to the nearest bazaar and look for this copy.

The main problem with LV though is when men start using it as a ‘man bag’. Big was my surprise around 4 minutes ago when I finally saw a smart use of Louis Vuitton fabric: create bugs in LV design!.

Yes, bugs. Sculptures actually but what’s in a name?

Kyoto-based artist Mitsuhiro Okamoto set out and created 9 different sculptures, all made from fake counterfeit items. Five of those were made with Louis Vuitton products and for the other four Chanel, Gucci, Coach and Fender imitations bags were used.

The sculpture weres on show at the Kobe Fashion Museum but were removed after only some weeks as the multi-national company swimming in money coming from their highly over rated and even more over priced bags decided that they an endorsement of the illegal trade in counterfeit goods mean and thus damage the image of the company and its luxury products. The museum complied and removed the art works.

The museum removed the items to avoid a legal dispute stating that they weren’t sure whether the works of art represented a trade mark infringement. I’ll just throw my hat in here, and it’s no Burberry’s hat, but it is clear that Louis Vuitton wrong is in this case and their statement and attitude damage their luxury image more than anything else.

View images of the other sculptures in the picture gallery.

So what’s the big deal?

The stroke of genius that led the guys at ThinkGeek to label their product as “Unicorn – the new white meat” has gotten the ire of some douchebags people over at the National Pork Board (NPB). According to the lawyers representing them, they want ThinkGeek (and everyone else for that matter, I guess) to stop referring to unicorn as the new white meat.

Why???

ThinkGeek’s slogan is close to infringing on their slogan – “the other white meat.”

And while the NPB guys say that they realize that unicorns don’t really exist (YOU THINK?), they have to protect their slogan. Puhlease.

Gotta love the response of ThinkGeek:

“It was never our intention to cause a national crisis and misguide American citizens regarding the differences between the pig and the unicorn. In fact, ThinkGeek’s canned unicorn meat is sparkly, a bit red, and not approved by any government entity.”

I think they should ship a box of Unicorn meat to the NPB – then they might see the world of difference between unicorns and pigs.

Jejemon (n): Usually seen around social networking sites such as Friendster and Multiply, jejemons are individuals Hu LyK 2 TyP LyK diZS jejejeje;

Jejemonn (n): Anyone with a low tolerance in correct punctuation, syntax and grammar. Jejemons are usually hated or hunted down by Jejebusters or the grammar nazi to eradicate their grammatical ways.

Jejemon (n): an offshoot of the subculture popularity of Pokemon and while the latter means “pocket monsters”; Jejemons are often seen as “Jejeje monsters” for their ability to turn off and annoy people with their “foreign” style of writing.

So are you a Jejemon or a Jejebuster? Hahaha!

Unfortunately, not everyone finds this issue amusing. Some may find it a bit elitist and rude.

But come on, you HAVE to admit, reading that kind of text on the internet is just really annoying! I can understand losing a few vowels when you’re sending an SMS on your phones since you only have around 140-160 characters per message. But with phones nowadays having QWERTY keypads, and phones being able to automatically separate messages longer than 160 characters in 2-3 messages, people really don’t have any excuse but to use proper English.

And besides, this is the internet for goodness sake, and there is no character limit on the internet!

ThIs StYlE oF WrItiNg WaS cUtE aGeS aGo, like circa 1995. But not anymore! It’s the year 2010, honey, and right now, proper English is geek chic. Now if you need to communicate with a JEJEMON, fortunately for JEJEbusters, there’s a JEJEMON Translator!

You think here at ForeverGeek we haven’t seen a thing yet? Really?

What about those BlingVaders? Or the shark tattoo stump? So… Yeah we’ve seen it all and be happy that we save you of all the yawnsers that land in our inbox day after day.

But sometimes there’s a true WTF moment we just have to share with you and this is one of these. We all love our iPads we don’t have or can’t afford yet, so of course we tell you how to win an iPad, just because we are that good to you, but even we have our doubts sometime. And after seeing this, I really have my second thoughts on whether I want an iPad or not.

I’ll leave the bashing to you guys, I just found a perfect reason to hit the Whiskey before 11:00 AM.

Maybe it is, but to a music-appreciating tech geek, the comparisons fall a little flat.

Take a look:

(Hopefully that video is still there, though for some reasons advertisers don’t always like the exposure that free YouTube marketing gives them)

OK, so “first there was the road map. Now there is the GPS”.

Let’s skip for a moment the horrible phrase “the GPS” because that’s not the focus of this rant.

Now…

“First there was vinyl. Now there is the MP3″.

Unless L’Oreal is trying to tell consumers that INOA is of a lower quality than established products, this is a poor statement to make.

Most of us know that, MP3 files even encoded at their highest quality cannot match that of lossless audio files, or even lossy formats with better encoding like AAC.

Don’t even get me started on the notion that MP3 (or even CD) could be of better overall quality, in theory at least, than vinyl… and this is coming from someone who never owned vinyl but understands why it is technically superior, if not particularly convenient.

I guess the marketing peeps would’ve found it harder to justify going to the masses with the phrase “First there was MP3. Now there is 24-bit Free Lossless Audio Codec”.

Sigh. It’s not easy being pedantic, you know.

Take this landline phone modelled on a takeout Coca-Cola cup. Yes, really. In fact, it’s a double whammy because, at $6.64, it really is cheap.

The keypad is on the bottom of the cup and laid out in old-fashioned dial formation. The earpiece and microphone are located above and below the Coca-Cola logo. To hang up a call, simply stand the cup upright on a desk.

It would be great if the fake straw was an aerial, but in fact this isn’t a wireless model. In fact, that’s the giveaway that you’re really talking on the phone and not whispering sweet nothings into a plastic cup. Your friends and family may not think you’re quite so mad after all (just a bit).

I think I’ll stick to my iPhone.

Product page (Via)

First, buy and download the app, then go to the website and pick up one or more pairs of free wings that you can print onto cardboard and then stick to your iPhone.

Finally, start up the app and then swoop, shoot and bomb your way around your house and neighbourhood.

It’s truly daft, as you can see from these videos. A high-tech executive stress reliever. You’ll have to provide your own hardware if you want to destroy things for real (see the banana).

App Store link to Pilot

Now, granted, it helps if you know what you might be up against. You can’t just come right out and say “Are you a criminal?” or “Are you going to rip me off?”, but you can take an educated guess.

That’s what one Mike Nash did when he was connected by a Mr Robert Dutu.

Mr Robert Dutu:
Hello
How are you?
Am Robert Dutu
I have a very important business proposition for your consideration.

Please can we chat on it?

Mike Nash:
let me guess? You have millions of dollars you want to give me. But I won’t get it. Instead, you will rip me off with advanced fee fraud

Mr Robert Dutu:
you are right

Mike Nash:
Well, appreciate the honesty

Mr Robert Dutu:
you are welcome

pleasure chatting with you

(handshake)

Mike Nash:
Good luck in finding an idiot

Mr Robert Dutu:
thanks man

You see, Mike even finished with a civility. How lovely.

Right, I’m off to find some 419ers.

Via

(If you think this is the best gift ever, you need to read our 12 tips for buying geek Christmas presents)

Right, so what is it?

Forget dictaphones and other recording devices. Nothing says “I’m a geek making it in the business world” more than turning up with one of these pens, recording memos on it, and then pretending you’re an ace ventriloquist by playing it back, at which point the creature on the end of the pen moves its mouth in sync with the audio.

Honestly, you’re definitely going to be the office fun guy with this. Colleagues will be itching to spend time with you just so they can see your hilarious act one more time.

$12.99 is a small price to pay for such amusement. Heck, why not get all four — frog, dinosaur, parrot, dolphin.

Product page

If you’ve maxed out buying the iPhone 3G S and a heap of other gadgets, and have barely any money left to protect them, then the recession case claims to be the answer.

It’s made from cardboard, so when it falls off your iPhone it’s easy to recycle.

If you want to be even more environmentally friendly (or cheap), why not visit your local shopping mall and see if there are any old cardboard boxes going for free, then make your own. It’s not like you have to custom fit the cardboard to the nearest millimetre, after all.

Now, a bit of padded cardboard might protect your iPhone from minor drops onto softish materials, but it’s going to be literally rubbish if it gets wet, and as you can’t see through cardboard, don’t bother trying to use it as a screen protector.

I think I preferred it when people used their socks to protect mobile gear.

Product page (via)

First, the concept: Sony thinks it can improve your game playing experience if it knows when you smile or laugh at something on screen.

It will do this by tracking bodily gestures and sounds via a camera and microphone connected up to a PlayStation 3, and may well handle other emotions as well.

These could be used as controllers for a game, or possibly extended to give some “Big Brother” feedback if you’re watching a film or TV programme.

I suppose there are many possibilities.

But now we come to the patent drawing itself. As well as a rather boring flowchart, we have this great diagram that makes me wonder just what went through the mind of the designer when he/she was drawing it. I guess most patents are fairly mundane affairs, and this was the only way to spice up an otherwise boring day.

Now, has anyone invented that machine?

Via

Show off your pics of your selfmade glam cars in the comments. We promise you that we will won’t mock you!

I honestly don’t know what is most disturbing here: the tattoo, his manboobs or his six-pack. Seems like a Fosters pack to me.

Not known if this item from Famous When Dead is for sale, but one would hope not!

Only $18.