Daily Bits

Funny Stuff

Meet the Human Drum Machine

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What happens when you have a talented guy with a lot of time on his hands? A lot of things can happen, actually; and if you are Daito Manabe, you just might come up with a first – a human drum machine.

Manabe has been making waves with his work as a DJ cum artist cum programmer. Music + technology + art = some pretty weird/awesome stuff?

Here’s a short video of how his unfortunate friend got to be the subject of an experiment involving a drum machine and myoelectric sensors. How does the setup work? Manabe wires both of them up and starts tapping on his friend’s face and body – wherever. These actions trigger sensors, which in turn sends electrical signals to – well, you guessed it – the “friend’s” face. The result is quite hilarious as you can see his face twitching all over the place. Don’t worry, though – it is not supposed to be painful at all. (READ: No humans have been harmed in the making of this video.)

Don’t you just love how they maintained straight faces for as long as they could?

This Is How Commercials Should Be Like

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TV commercials are a pound a penny, but every now and then, you will find a rare gem. That’s exactly the case with this Batelco commercial, which will not fail to capture your attention for its entirety.

This commercial was created by Spy Films directors Alex & Steffen for Batelco (Bahrain Telecommunications Company), and while it may not place the focus on the telecommunications industry, the imagery is definitely bada**. Watch this video for yourself, and do look out for the awesome dragon (which, in my opinion, should have been shown for a tad longer).

Now tell me, what are you thinking? They couldn’t have ended that in a better way, could they?

Funny-Serious Video: Hug a Developer

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Let’s have a little fun on a Friday and watch a video, shall we?

I don’t know what you do for a living, but I am pretty sure that while a good number of just might be software developers, there are also a lot of readers like me – people who usually deal with the finished products. As consumers, we do have to admit that sometimes, we may overlook the hard work that goes into a piece of software. We might not even be aware of it in certain cases.

Now I came across a YouTube video, courtesy of a developer friend naturally, and it does give you a different perspective on the life of a developer. Whether you are working as one or you only have an inkling of what a developer does, you ought to take a minute to watch this. Now don’t blame me if you feel your eyes tearing up or if your chest starts getting a little tight along the way… 😉

As far as I know, there is no official Hug a Developer Day yet (or maybe I missed it?). What do you say to starting a movement?

For the developers out there: what can you say about the video?

Want to Rate Your Voice Impersonation Skills?

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We all have our little quirks, and if yours is to try to mimic how other people speak, here’s something that will tickle your fancy. Some time last month, NTT Communications announced a pretty cool mobile phone service. Dubbed Mane-1GP (available in Japan only), the service works this way:

  1. Mobile phone subscribers call a number.
  2. They have the following choices:
    • Popular comedians
    • Lines from movies
    • Animal sounds
    • Various dialect accents
    • Other sounds
  3. They can listen to the particular sound/line they want to mimic, and they can record their own rendition.
  4. The users’ recordings are compared to the original sound bytes, and a score is given.

How does the system analyze the recordings?  The concept is simple: an algorithm was developed specifically for the analysis of recordings, to compare the original and the user-inputted recording.  The analysis is based on the following factors:

  1. Speed
  2. Intonation
  3. Sound pressure
  4. Voiceprint
  5. Voice quality

Knowing just how good the Japanese are with technology, you can bet that these analyses are technologically sound!  The service is compatible with most mobile phones available in Japan via the major phone companies: NTT DOCOMO, au, and SoftBank Mobile; and each call will cost a person about 10 to 20 yen.  Oh, and to make things more interesting, users can invite friends to join a “competition” wherein the person who gets the highest score wins!

NTT Communications is also known for its other services such as international data service centers, but this piece of news just goes to show that the telecommunications giant is not averse to offering fun and quirky services to their clients!

It may not be for everyone, but hey, each to his own, right?

Antenn-aid: The Band-Aid for Your iPhone

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It all started out as a joke. You know how some people respond to an irritatingly serious problem with humor? Well, these guys did just that.

We’ve all been hearing about the antenna problems of the iPhone 4, and even the press conference that Apple held has not really given concrete solutions. Instead of banging their heads against the wall (like some people you may know), Szymon Weglarski and Jon Dorfman decided to have some fun.

The two designers designed and created Band-Aid looking things that fit exactly onto the bottom left part of the iPhone 4. Dubbed, Antenn-aid, the product is being sold on Etsy, where the designers opened a store about a week ago. Little did they know how much of hit their product would be!

Since they opened the Etsy store, they have been swamped with orders. Indeed, if you check the store now, you will see that they have announcement to the effect that they are behind 4 to 5 days in delivering orders. It’s but understandable as they are not following a mass production set up.

So what is the Antenn-aid for, aside from an intended joke? The colorful bandages can actually improve the signal performance of your iPhone. In spite of its being the coolest most magical phone out there today, it seems that the only solution for now is to put the Antenn-aid at the bottom left. At least you have several color choices. 😉

Buy the Antenn-aid for $4.99 (6-pack).