Just about every major news outlet is reporting that Steve Jobs will not be speaking at the Macworld Keynote in January. Apple has also gone on record to state that 2009 will be the last year it will present at Macworld. Huge news; so huge that Apple’s stock is taking a huge beating while rumors of Jobs’ health swirl about. I hope Apple knows what it’s doing. Perhaps a new event is on the horizon?
When you can’t use a mouse because of too much Guitar Hero, don’t fret; alternative means of controlling your computer’s cursor are just over the horizon. The University of Washington is developing a vocally controlled mouse interface that’s completely hands free!
Similar to speech recognition that aids in typing, the vocal joystick makes using a mouse as simple as humming mantras in front of your computer. Using different vowels and sounds, the vocal joystick is able to create cursor motion and clicking functions as if you were using an ordinary mouse. However, playing Minesweeper is still a pain in the ass.
Just a quick heads up to anyone reading who uses PHP. If you’re looking for some text-to-speech on the quick, Jason Striegel has a great little piece on just that over at Hacks. I highly recommend you check it out and try messing around with it. The demo is pretty impressive and Jason touches on some other examples out there, including a primer on the Festival Speech Synthesis System. Check it out if you’re guided by (robotic) voices.
The Netherlands-based locksporting group Toool held a panel at HOPE discussing new and advanced opening techniques for high security locks. We sat in on this two hour discussion with Barry Wels and Han Fey commenting on some unorthodox approaches to key copying.
The speakers mentioned how easy it is to copy even the most exclusive of key profiles, which in actuality, only block hardware store copying methods. Noting the classic clay mold approaches to key copying, the speakers quickly alluded to the simplicity of imprinting the key’s marks on your own arm as a form of copying. Go ahead and press your house key into your forearm, the imprint stays there longer than you’d think.
They even challenged attendees to bring their own locks or “impossible to copy” keys, so they can take a crack at it. What daring hackers.
Designer of the double-ended jar, Sherwood Forlee has come up with an artsy concept for a speaker. The “Speak-er” is a speech bubble speaker. Other than that, it really doesn’t have much going for it, aside from fitting in your comic-book themed room. Having two of these coming out of your monitor will make you feel like your monitor has something to say. But no, that’s actually just your shitty MP3 collection playing.
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