Madison Who’s Who Blog

Have you noticed how many people are dancing these days? I mean, if you watched nothing but commercials, you would have to conclude that everyday, ordinary citizens break out into spontaneous dance several times during the course of their day. Maybe advertisers are practicing denial in order to counteract the daily spate of grim headlines.

Next time you watch some TV, take note of how many have dancing folks demonstrating everything from lawn mowers to sweepers to JELLO. That’s why ZMP’s dancing robot just seems like the most natural idea in the universe. Why not have an iPod dancing fool scampering around your home?

“Tokyo manufacturer ZMP insists its new Miuro is more than a shiny/weird robot that performs intricate dances in sync with songs streamed from an iPod.

The robot uses a series of algorithms to calculate movements in response to music, which the company says could be the basis for a new breed of semi-intelligent, semi-autonomous virtual pets. For now, practical applications for the $900 Miuro are pretty much limited to an alarm clock and a type of roving surveillance system using an add-on digital camera.”
(Source)

Who’s who in gadgetry? What are the strangest gadgets on the market today? TecheBlog.com has taken an inventory and produced a list of the oddest flights of imagination currently in circulation.

From a wooden LCD clock to a set of “Talking Lips” that “synchronize with your mobile phone or online chat conversations”, to foldable cardboard speakers, watches that teach you Japanese and a clock with a mechanical rat to remind you that you are in a constant rat race.

Perhaps the most amusing would be the toilet paper dispenser (pictured here) that has the latest news printed out on the paper. RSS publishing has never been deployed quite like this before.

“Introducing the RSStroom reader by Yi Tien Electronics, with this gadget you’ll be able to print the latest RSS headlines directly on to rolls of toilet paper. It also features Wi-Fi Connectivity, USB 2.0, and RSS 2.0/Atom compatibility. This reader interacts with your toilet bowl “biometrically” which basically means when you sit down this thing will weigh you. Depending on your weight, it’ll deliver you a customized news feed.”

Second to that is the “stained underwear” money holder.

“Leave the “Brief Safe” in plain view in your laundry basket or washing machine at home, or in your suitcase in a hotel room - even the most hardened burgler or most curious snoop will “skid” to a screeching halt as soon as they see them.”

(click image to enlarge)

The play of imagination is a wonderful thing, providing man with endless configurations of form and function. Only a concept for now, hopefully soon an available product, the sand+time watch.

“Sand+Time Watch is a project that unites modern technologies and old ways of measuring time. Sand+Time offers its wearer the time in modern electronic hours, but the form of the interface has also been borrowed from an old sand hourglass. The watch functions in two modes. The first, the screensaver, takes the form of a sand hourglass counting a certain time unit set by the user to their preference. (The default setting for the hourglass is to count one minute.) The second mode displays the time in numbers, the most common electronic interface for the modern person.”
from Idealist

If you enjoy the whimsy of the mind and the scribblings of random genius, you’ll want to visit Idealist:dreamed objects, often.

“Idealist is a platform for designers and creators to publish and share their creativity, get feedback from the community and increase the popularity of their ideas.
Idealist is all about ideas, concepts, sketches, designs and new products.
Idealist displays user submitted and rated ideas.
Idealist wants to spread good ideas, because there are a lot of ideas that often get lost in between of the pages of a notebook, and these are good ideas that are worth to share with other people.”