“Mapkins”

A clever use of Open Street Maps data to make custom fleece blankets – or “Mapkins” – of an area that means something to you.

Via Laughing Squid

Evernote Peek

Evernote’s Peek app is a great example of innovation based on functionality — in this case, the “smart case” cover of the iPad 2.

Go Right – A Supercut of Classic Video Games

We’ve gamed a long way from two dimensions.

via laughing squid

Playing Tetris on a Building

Some folks at MIT hacked a building to play Tetris on the side of it.

via laughing squid

Frogger Using Real-time 5th Ave Traffic

5th Ave Frogger is a hacked version of Frogger pulling in real-time 5th Ave traffic as game data. If you’re in New York this weekend, you can play.

via laughing squid

Playbutton – Wearable Buttons You Can Listen To

Playbutton is a wearable button containing an album or a mix that you can plug your headphones into to listen.

Nubot – A Video Chat Robot Doll

Nubot is a doll ready to host smartphone video chats via Skype.

The remote user can control the doll’s body gestures (wave, bow, turn) giving them more of a physical presence.

The folks at Nuuo that developed Nubot use it to have teleconferences between their offices.

We’ve seen a more mobile, albeit less cute, telepresence robot named Texai in the past.

A Grocery Scanner That Recognizes Produce

Toshiba has developed an object scanner designed to speed up the grocery checkout process. The scanner has the ability to recognize produce and even distinguish between varieties of apples.

via laughing squid

Touché Advanced Touch Detection

Disney Research presents Touché, demonstrating that touch interactions don’t have to be limited to an on/off detection on glass, but rather any type of touch on any type of surface.

via laughing squid

livehoods

A very cool project from the smart people at Carnegie Mellon University to map (and remap.. and remap) Livehoods..  Neighborhoods that emerge in the moment, based on check-in and social graph data.

Contributed by: Ralph Paone