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

Frisbee Rush – Mobile to Desktop/TV Game

Unit9 premiered a new gesture-based, multiplayer, mobile-to-desktop synced game called Frisbee Rush at a few weeks back and are now finishing the app to be released in the coming weeks. More details on vimeo.

A Day Made of Glass Part 2

Corning released a follow up to their ‘A Day Made of Glass’, demoing the future of touchscreen technology.

Here’s Part 1 with 17.5 million views as of this posting:

Kinect DJ Maxx

Using Kinect, Romain Dumaine controls sound with gestures with an aim to enhance interaction between a DJ and the crowd.

Kinecthacks.com showcases other kinect/sound experiments.

Augmented City

Keiichi Matsuda imagines what it would be like when digital layers of information converge with the physical environment – no device required. (Best viewed in 3D if you have 3D glasses handy)

Using Your Hands to Light Paint with Kinect Graffiti

Jean-Christophe Naour’s Kinect Graffiti uses Microsoft’s Kinect to respond to gestures creating real-time light paintings.

via laughingsquid

Toronto Tourism Cheating Wall

Toronto Tourism has created a “cheating wall” where visitors can see via video screens into Montreal, and vice versa.

Equipped with video and audio, it’s a live portal enabling people to even chat with their counterparts in the other city.

http://www.marketingmag.ca/news/marketer-news/torontomontreal-go-to-the-wall-in-new-tourism-campaign-28905

Ideas About the Future of Education

PBS explores ways to adapt classroom education for kids growing up in a digital world.

Watch the full episode. See more Digital Media – New Learners Of The 21st Century.