Gearfuse

“Walnut and Paper Drum Machine.” It sounds like the subject header from some shitty spam e-mail. But thankfully, this DIY project is both faux-meat product-free and very real.

So, here’s what you have to do. Steal a bunch of walnuts from your squirrely forest friends, grab a sheet a paper and a webcam, and head over to download the free drum machine software. Technically, you don’t have to use walnuts, but without them, this wouldn’t be much of a walnut drum machine, now would it?

Link [via] (Thanks Paul!)

We’ve seen robots controlled by all kinds of applications. From your standard remote control to innovative path finding methods, robots are sharing more and more traits with their creators. Take this latest bot based upon the LEGO NXT system. Using multiple webcams, software analyzes video of your pupils staring in a specific direction and then sends the robot in the same direction.

Yes, this is a robot controlled by eye movement and private eyes. With this design, simple actions such as blinking, moving your head, staring off in to a distance or making any other distinctive facial motions are capable of controlling robots hands-free. A robot that can travel to where my eyes stare? Think of the possibilities!

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35-year old blogger Tanya Vlach lost one of her eyes in a car accident three years ago. Now she wants to make the best of it by replacing her prosthetic acrylic eye with an ‘eye cam’ – a webcam for her eye socket. She wants one capable of dilating with changes of light that also allows her to blink to control its zoom, focus and an on/off switch for when she sees something too obscene to record.

“There have been all sorts of cyborgs in science fiction for a long time, and I’m sort of a sci-fi geek,” said Vlach. “With the advancement of technology, I thought, ‘Why not?’”

With an eye like that she could blog her daily events and life story through her own eye’s perspective. I hope she leaves it on while in the shower. That’s a webcam blog I’d like to see!

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The ultimate gaming rig has now become your car. It doesn’t sport the powerhouse graphics offered by the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 nor the gimmicky bullshit that encompasses the Nintendo Wii, but it does have a cool name: the Carcade. Students at the Berlin University of the Arts designed this “augmented reality in-car videogame” which utilizes a laptop and webcam to turn the scenery you’re driving by into the level of the game.

It’s like the standard shooter except it’s all about avoidance rather than racking up points by demolishing enemies. That doesn’t mean it isn’t fun, considering that the faster the driver is going will directly affect the difficulty and speed of the game. Just hope the driver keeps his/her eyes on the road and off the game.

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I don’t know what Turkish designer Erdem Selek was thinking when creating this, but Big Brother must have been floating around in someone’s mind. What seems like an ordinary pillow is really a space-alien with a digital eye. It’s designed to let newborn mothers watch their children through a webcam when they’re sleeping.

Some would argue it’s lovely, others would claim invasion of privacy. I suppose it depends if your baby is a supporter of the Patriot Act. Either way, it’s just a prototype, so you’ll have to stick to the walkie talkies for now.

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We celebrated the 125th birthday of the Brooklyn Bridge last night and boy was it a party. We had some drinks, mingled a bit and eventually watched a guy named Paul St. George bring in a huge Telectroscope. The Telectroscope, in theory, is supposed to let people from London and NYC look at each other via an undersea tunnel with a complex mirror setup. Luckily, it’s all a crock of crap and it really works using two webcams and a broadband connection. One person looks in, another does the same and suddenly, two continents become one.

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Those of your who turn to the Internet for match making might want to be on the lookout, for the next “woman” you are talking to might just be a program designed to flirt. A Russian website called CyberLover.ru is advertising software that can simulate chatroom flirt exchanges.

And we aren’t talking about those bots that are all like “14/f looking for big black daddy man. Come see my webcam at…”. Yeah, you get the point. We’re talking about a piece of software that can entertain 10 woman at once with words of interest. “Not a single girl has yet realized that she was communicating with a program!” says the Russian company. They will offer their software for sale in Russia on February 15, right after Valentine’s Day. — Andrew Dobrow

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Check out this excellent useful (and dare I say, adorable?) USB Robot Webcam combo. The Robot features 11 points of articulation which allows us to contort the cam into whatever shape we want it in.

The 6″-tall cam bot features LED eyes that illuminate in the night, as well as a maximum resolution of 640×480. You can use the bot for video conferencing, as well as just having lonely conversations with an inanimate object. Get your own for $20. — Andrew Dobrow

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Something spectacular is happening on the Internet these days. People are understanding that it’s ok to laugh at the dark side of current events, no matter how discriminating it is. Iraqi artist Wafaa Bilal is someone who understands this all to well. Bilal has locked himself into a room for a month, so people can shoot paintballs at him from their own homes, and watching on a webcam set up in the room.

Weird? Perhaps. Genius? Definitely. If your shot is accurate enough, the paintball gun will even spray fake blood at Bilal to make the Iraqi slaughter more authentic. Video after the jump. (more…)

The V-Gear Talkcam Tracer Webcam is not like the other cams on the market with a grainy picture. The Talkcam uses auto-focus and zooming features to keep you looking your best…well, at least the most like yourself.

The Tracer is a 1.3 megapixel camera also capable of displaying video at 30 frames per second. The 1.3 megapixel quality of the camera might not win you any awards in photography, the webcam function of the Tracer is bound to be better then what you currently use.

The Tracer can be yours for around $81.34 (converted from the Euro) and is an especially good investment if you are reliant on creating a professional image when dealing with international companies, or if you just want to look good for that international hottie. — Andrew Dobrow

V-Gear Auto Focus Webcam [via Ubergizmo]