It seems the Japanese government is now debating on whether or not to start building real bipedal multistory combat vehicles, and I mean real ones, for the actual army. It makes no sense for me to post the 12 hour debate video since it’s in Japanese, but if you understand that language and want to check it out the link is here.
The folks over at NeuroSky have come up with a brainwave detecting headset about the size and shape of a pair of headphones, which plugs into your Android or iOS device. Right now it works with around a hundred Apps for some hands free control, and not all of them are games. It is a bit pricy, but at $130 it is hands down the cheapest and most portable EEG mapper you can buy. Thanks to the folks at Gear Patrol for the heads up on this one.
I don’t play games for more than 15 seconds at a time before my character is dead or disabled, but that doesn’t mean I cannot appreciate some good Mod Game footage. Thanks to the folks at Blastr for the heads up on this one.
This is the man who invented the Florescent Light off the top of his head, and then came up with a system for delivering electrical power to it without using wires, 4 years before Tommy Edison started trying to make his employees figure out how to make an incandescent light bulb. This is the man who invented AC power, the electric motor, and audio speakers, all of which he patented. He invented a bunch of other stuff he patented (Marconie’s “invention” of radio relied on 17 of Tesla’s patents to make it work), but he also invented some stuff the patent office couldn’t figure out how to process, like broadcast energy, wireless charging of batteries, Ball Lightning, Radar, and oh, yeah, that earthquake machine he almost sank Long Island with (he had to move to Colorado and build another lab to avoid going to jail for that one). Yet another great site in a long list of web pages honoring the genius of Nikola Tesla is Oatmeal Comics: Tesla. I recommend you read it and begin to learn what a true geek he was. Another site worth checking into is The Man Who Electrified The World, as is The New Prometheus. Each of those sites has their own perspective on the man and his works, but what I find interesting is the things they are forced to agree on by the historical record. I personally only ever had 5 heroes in my life, and Nikola pretty much tops the list, with Albert Einstein coming in a very close second.
This example of Furby Modding was put together by Julie Watai, a woman who isn’t afraid to pick up a soldering iron and commit surgery on small innocent cute creatures. Even when reprogramming them means skinning them first, with the possibility of damaging the hide to the point where reskinning might be problematic. This particular version includes English subtitles to make it easier to follow along, and for more fun projects see the Hardware Girls segment of her site. And then, just because it was there, a bit of animation she was involved with.
Kickstarter is a way to mobfund projects that might not otherwise ever get made, a social media variation of the good old Begathon that public radio and TV go through all the time. In it’s simplest terms, if there is a project you think should be done, you can vote with your wallet, offering as much or as little as you think it deserves within the limits of your own budget. Some of the projects entered are just silly, and some of them will be world changing if they get the correct backing. As usual, most are somewhere in between, offering an interesting result if enough people are willing to contribute.
Since nothing of value ever happens in a vacuum, many of these projects have rewards, with different returns for different levels of monetary commitment. The fail-safe here is that you can only achieve these rewards if the project actually gets fully funded and goes forward. If a project does not get fully funded, it does not go forward, you do not get billed for your contribution, and there are no rewards to share in. To date there are something like 20,000 projects that have been funded and created, with many more failing the test of support.
Yes, all of that was just the intro, and most of it you probably already knew even though it will be new to some of those reading here. I made the preliminary comments to give you the background, because there are some projects I think will be worth your time to consider, and today I have two of them for you to think about.
The one that could be a real game changer, or at least a first class creators tool, is in fact a game creation toolset called Storybricks. If they are allowed to bring this into the world, you could find yourself in possession of software that could potentially allow you to create your own online interactive RPG environment on a par with anything Steve Meretzky ever cranked out, at least in terms of game logic and environmental consistency. Assembling a game that was interesting enough to draw an audience would still be all up to you, of course. I have already contributed to this project, because I would love to have this toy to play with.
A different kind of Kickstarter project is Project: 13, an animated music video attempt where the music will drive the animation, 3 songs done as 3 music videos. The desired result being a video, the appeal for funding is also a video since that is what the creators understand, as you can see below. There are thousands of additional projects all hoping for funding over at Kickstarter; check them out, find the ones you want to support, and pass the word along. This kind of crowd sourcing is how we help create the future we want to live in, and support the people and groups who are trying to make that future happen in the way we want to see it come down.