Daily Bits

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Meet the Human Drum Machine

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?

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Funny-Serious Video: Hug a Developer

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?

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Will Ferrell and Wired Tie Up

The Apple iPad is one of the most sought after gadgets today – and no wonder. While it is small enough to be portable, it delivers only the most excellent graphics. That is why countless content providers have jumped into the fray, developing content for specifically for the iPad.

Wired.com is one such provider, but it seems that it has been having difficulty attracting enough subscribers for its iPad application. One factor is that a lot of the content offered in the paid version is also available in the web site for free.

Now, the provider is scrambling to get paid subscribers. As part of its efforts, Wired.com has created exclusive videos that can only be viewed via the iPad application. More so, it has employed the help of comedian Will Ferrell. While not everyone thinks Will Ferrell is funny (for the record, I think he is hilarious), this collaboration should serve to make the Wired iPad app more marketable.

Here’s a sampling of what is on offer.

Wired – Will Ferrell Short from Nick Bilton on Vimeo.

This is only the beginning for Wired.com’s expansion, though. In the near future, various content will be available for other gadgets such as the iPhone, tablet computers, Android phones, and the like. More so, by fall of this year, Wired.com is also planning on including social networking and sharing features.

Wired.com does provide interesting content, and the move to join forces with Will Ferrell just might be a good thing for them. Will this entice you to pay $5 for the app, though?

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Family Websites: Keeping Your Family Intact Virtually

The family that prays together stays together. Isn’t that cute? You see pictures of families going to church, celebrating the holidays. There are even a few of these photographs where the whole family went on a beach, had some fun time in Disneyland, and threw in a party for Junior. These and a lot of other stories are worth remembering.

Well, surprise, surprise. The Internet not only allows you online photo-sharing, blogging, and video-posting, but also brought these three (and other online features) together to bring you a revolution in online networking. Let’s meet some “Family Websites,” shall we?

FamilyLobby

First in line is FamilyLobby, where you can create your own family’s private website. Family friendly and easy to use, FamilyLobby has one goal in mind: to “help keep you and your family together, no matter how far apart you may be.”

Browsing through its sample websites, I can say that it can be easily personalized. For one, the website can contain links such us your family tree, journal, chatroom, and of course, photos and videos. Also, you can add in news and calendar of events of what your family might be into, and further remind them that you will be holding a party if the schedule slipped off their minds. Further, you can allow registry of other people who happen to pass by, acting as an online networking website, too. And lastly, it’s free!

MyFamily

Next up is MyFamily. Similar to the one above, MyFamily has these following features among others: What’s New (updates on the website), Photos, Videos, Trees, Events, and People (or contacts). Added to its long roster of features are Discussions, SnapGenie, and Files. Discussions seemingly act as the family’s online dinner chat, where stories and opinions travel across from different ends of the table. SnapGenie is a storyteller in a way. It allows recordings of people’s voices (via phone and Internet’s technology). You just type in your phone number as well as the number of the relative you are calling, and MyFamily will store your conversation for the rest of the family to hear, be it reminiscing the love between your grandparents, or a greeting from a loved one who happened to travel to a different country. The Files section is just it. You can store files for your family to download or look at.

MyFamily has three membership levels. First is, of course, the free level. After a year of using the website, you can see your videos and photos. However, it will take a while before you can access them. Paying $29.95 a year gives you a Gigabyte per month of storage for your files, be it a photo or a video, while paying $99.95 a year maximizes your storage to 10 Gigabytes per month, plus options to customize your website.

TheFamilyPost

Third that I found is TheFamilyPost. It allows you to build a very flashy family website in an instant! It has a tabbed interface with contents like the other two, from photos to videos, calendar to history, to even a directory. To liven things up, it also included a My Kids tab to display personalized websites of your children, and a Newsletter and a Message Board tab to discuss things and update other relatives of the latest family info.

After a year of free trial, TheFamilyPost can allow you unlimited photos and videos once you become their premium member, for only $5.50 a month or $60.50 a year.

There are other family websites around. You can just go look for them in any search engine and see if it fits your need (they almost always allow photos, videos, calendar or events posting, and a journal). But please hear my advice. Don’t be blinded by showy or cleanly laid out pages. You should always check for the privacy policy of the website you are to register your family into. After all, it’s your family’s private memories that will be shared through it. Check user comments and demo sites of these websites, as you can get information on their privacy levels from them. And putting up family memorabilia doesn’t always mean that those will stay on the site forever. Try knowing how to take them down or delete them. This might help in cases where you don’t want to share things even with your relatives.

Finally, the Internet has a way to put your whole family in the virtual world. Just be a little watchful and secured, because it is your family that’s being registered in the cyberspace, not just you.