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Tag Archives: avatar
Fixing the News and Freaky Avatar Assistant
On this podcast, Cathi Bond talks about Jimmy Wales' idea for Wikitribune: journalism that's crowdfunded, where the community decides what stories professional journalists will research and cover (via Wired UK).
Nora Young talks about SK Telecom out of South Korea. They're partnering with a VR developer to come up with a hologram avatar that lives in a cylindrical "HoloBox" in your home (via PSFK). Is this just the natural progression of Alexa, Siri et al on your smart speaker?
Nora also mentions the Super Monster Wolf (via BBC). It's a novel idea for a scarecrow designed to frighten wild boars away from crops in Japan. It has flashing red eyes, and a range of howls! Why not get one for your next party?
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Posted in Media, Virtual Reality
Tagged avatar, crowdfunding, crowdsourcing, digital news, HoloBox, hologram, Jimmy Wales, journalism, news, scarecrow, Super Monster Wolf, virtual assistant, Wikitribune
Changing Your Mood with Tech. Making Your Own Avatar with Selfies
In this episode, Cathi Bond talks about Thync, a wearable that uses what they describe as "low-energy waveforms" to boost your energy or calm you down on demand, via patches that you place on your head. You can find helpful reviews here and especially here, where the journalist had a positive hands-on experience. Nora Young says this is part of a broader trend towards tech that targets brain states, especially for calm and focus, such as the Muse brain wave sensing headband, or the contemplative technology the Buddhist Geeks podcast talks about. Cathi's tempted to get Thync. Would you? Nora also references Kelly McGonigal's new book, The Upside of Stress.
Meanwhile, how would you like to make your own realistic avatar using selfies? Nora talks about research from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. You use your phone to take pictures of yourself from various angles, and shoot short videos of yourself, in order to create avatars that actually look (more or less) like you (via New Scientist). As we move into more VR spaces and situations, would you want to look like yourself, or an idealized version...or maybe a cartoon?
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Posted in Personal Devices, Uncategorized, Virtual Reality
Tagged avatar, contemplative technology, selfies, Thync, virtual reality