From a technical standpoint, the Dennou AR Figures virtual 3D girlfriends, first announced a few months back, aren’t much more impressive than PlayStation 3′s Eye of Judgment. You install webcam software to that when your camera detects the special bundled cube onscreen, it fills a 3D companion into your environment. But when that 3D companion is a girl who can be dressed, tickled or, errr, spanked, the concept is born anew.
Since the demo clip is ever so slightly NSFW, we’ve tucked it after the jump.
The U.S. is injecting a good $US1.25 million into a new “virtual training ground” for American diplomats who plan on working in China called “The Second China Project.” It’s a pretend city in Linden Lab’s Second Life that purportedly will help almost-expatriots get used to the environment in the world’s most populous nation. While some of the training activities sound useful (for instance, what to give as a gift, how to seat guests), as someone who’s lived in this country for years, I can tell you there are things that diplomats should get ready for that the virtual world doesn’t even seem to touch on.
Whoever said recorded music doesn’t have the same intensity as a live performance should meet Lead Sound, the Japanese company behind the Sympho Canvas virtual orchestra. Forty-six speakers are arrayed in a concert hall similar to the placement of instruments in a real orchestra and each speaker “plays” a discrete track. Four more fill in human voices and the rest add extra audio to improve the sonic facade. While this seems like an obvious experiment, it’s actually really really creepy, too, a totally still room brought to life with the music of ghosts.
According to the results of a new study, a virtual-reality 3D-graphic colonoscopy is about as good as the real thing for screening for colon cancer. The virtual procedure is made by image processing the results of an abdominal CT scan, then a doctor views the results in a sort of first-person-shooter “fly through” of the patient’s inner tubes, looking for abnormalities to shoot examine. The graphical technology is of course less invasive *ahem*, more convenient and preferred by patients…though it’ll likely come down to a dollars-based calculation before you start seeing this in your local medical facility. [Medgadgets]
Still smarting from Nintendo’s half-arse, arm waving train wreck of an E3 press conference? Yeah, these retro Famicom-inspired Classic Controllers for the Wii Virtual Console won’t help at all with that, but they’re still a pretty cool collector’s item. They come in two red and gold Famicom versions, two Wii white versions, and will retail for about US$15 apiece when they arrive in Japan on September 10. Import only for now, but that could change drastically in the future, just like Nintendo’s marketing strategy. [Amazon Japan via Virtual Console Reviews]
Touchscreens are great, but for many of us nothing beats old fashioned tactile controls. That seems to be one of the reasons why Lyndsay Williams of Girton Labs is in the process of developing SenseSurface–a system that allows users to stick working knobs to on-screen virtual controls. Apparently, the magnetic knobs can be placed anywhere on an LCD because the movement is picked up by a “unique sensing surface” attached behind the screen. It seems fairly unnecessary, but I’m sure that there are practical applications for this for music and graphics fields–or anyone who is tired of smudging up a touchscreen. A video of SenseSurface in action is available after the break.
The one thing I never buy on the Internet anymore is clothing, after realising for the umpteenth time that the dress that looked great on the 6 foot, 45kg model doesn’t quite hang the same on me. But Japan-based Aveilan Company’s virtual fitting room technology might make me give Internet clothes shopping another chance.
Created with lonely people in mind, Drew Burrows’ INBED is an “infrared-sensitive” light projected virtual girlfriend. A sexy brunette, she’s got about three tricks up her sleeve—and she does all of them from a supine position.
newVideoPlayer("pinball_giz.flv", 494, 276,""); Today, when we visited NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program spring 2008 show, we were immediately drawn to “Moving Parts,” a crazy pinball game that’s the brainchild and thesis of physical-interaction designer Daniel Soltis. It’s made of real wood, with wooden buttons and plungers, but the board itself is empty, and stays that way. The game you see is merely a projection from above, but man does it feel real.
For those times when 59 copies just isn’t enough, make 60 USB copies at once with this Virtual Console duplicator. Featuring optional 128-bit encryption and the ability to duplicate actual files (rather than just writing a binary mirror), it takes the copier just two minutes to fill 60 1GB drives with whatever pictures of your dog/resume/butt you find necessary to distribute to the public. Intended for industrial use, the system runs US$8000. [product via SlipperyBrick]
