Genpets: Horrifying genetically modified life

Posted in Toys by Conner Flynn on June 30th, 2008

Genpets: Horrifying genetically modified life
These things are just plain creepy and wrong, but if you’re looking for a toy that resembles a mutated alien baby these are for you. They’re called Genpets and they were created by the demented mind of Adam Brandejs.

They’re the “Only Bioengineered Buddy. Available in 7 different personality types”. Each personality type is linked to it’s respective color, and that color is represented on each package. Continuing with the creepy and wrong factor, each package has a built in heart monitor that is fully functional, with green LED lights and a built in speaker. I guess that way you’ll know if your Genpet has a bad ticker. Each package also has a “fresh gauge” consisting of four blue LED lights displaying the status of the Genpet’s freshness. Check out the video below to be creeped out by the horrible sounds that they make.

Mask Of Emotion: Never trust a robot head

Posted in Humor by Conner Flynn on June 8th, 2008

Mask Of Emotion: Never trust a robot head
In some sort of apocalyptic robot future, we may all be required to wear one of these to hide our identities. I call the name Mr. Roboto. It’s kind of like the emoticon version of the Micheal Myers mask, whether your just cold chillin’ at the park with your dog or stabbing somebody senselessly, it’s all creepy on the outside. It’s a research project from the Digital Media Design department at Hongik University in Korea.

The idea is to hide your facial expressions so people can’t see your emotions. Those around you won’t see your face, just the LEDs of death, that form emoticons. The default setting is no expression at all, but as you interact, the display will smile etc. Imagine a few people on your street wearing these while going about their daily business. Now imagine the entire street full of them. An entire town. I’m too creeped out to continue, but the point is that you WILL see a few with an axe or a machete.

Bear from AI becomes reality, only talks GPS

Posted in GPS by Conner Flynn on June 4th, 2008

Bear from AI becomes reality, only talks GPS
Looks like the Teddy bear from AI has now come to life. Only problem is, he loves GPS and won’t shut up about it. I guess the idea is to put some Snuggles fabric softener-like cuddliness into a gadget, thereby making it more personal. Which is great and all, if I’m not worried that it will come to life, gain a soul and kill me, then use my corpse as armor while it kills others.

This cuddly but potentially deadly creature was created by iXs Research Corporation and is hopefully not the future of GPS navigation. It will talk and give you the directions you need. It’s arms even point you in the right direction. Get this. It has an alcohol detection sensor in its neck, so it will give you an attitude about driving drunk. Not flying out the window and hitting a puddle, it won’t!

Stitch CD Player is creepy, plays CDs

Posted in CD Player by Conner Flynn on April 22nd, 2008

Stitch CD Player is creepy, plays CDs
I admit, I’m not much of a Disney fan. Even if I were, I think that having this thing on my desk would creep me out. Runat Japan just announced this CD player based on Stitch from Disney’s popular series ‘Lilo and Stitch’. Stitch’s mouth opens wide revealing the CD tray, the ears double as speakers and the teeth are the controls.

It’s got an AM/FM tuner and the onboard speakers have an output of 0.6W×2ch. Here’s a great design move: It runs on 3 D batteries, which will give you a whole hour of play. The player is a Japan only and will cost you $92.

MIT’s Nexi: The overly emotional robot

Posted in Robots by Conner Flynn on April 3rd, 2008

MIT’s Nexi: The overly emotional robot
MIT thinks that the world needs an emo robot. That’s why they created this next-generation tiny humanoid robot called Nexi. It’s an ‘emotional robot’ designed by roboticist Cynthia Breazeal’s group at the MIT Media Lab. It’s known as an MDS (Mobile/Dexterous/Social) robot, which basically means it can move it’s body, hands, and face in a way that suggests human emotions. Its arms, wrists, and hands are fully adaptable to clutch and raise up to 10 pounds and by the looks of it this thing is probably a cutter too.

It possesses changeable features including eyes, eyebrows, eyelids, and mouth movement. It creeps us out in a whole new cartoon way. It also moves on a pair of animatedly self-balancing wheels. So, if you hurt it’s feelings, it will have no problem chasing you down and killing you.

Cyberdesk: virtual office in creepy headgear

Posted in Concepts by Conner Flynn on March 3rd, 2008

Cyberdesk: virtual office
The name is misleading. It’s not a desk for your neck. It’s a concept from Krohn Design. The organic and alien looking headgear is not designed to suck out your spinal fluids from the base of your brain while it keeps your heart pumping. Though, I can see how you would get that impression. What we have here is basically a creepy necklace that must have come from alien technology, with a curved tube in front of the eye.

The tube puts a screen in front of your face by projecting a laser through your pupil onto your retina, creating a virtual HUD(heads-up display). Ouch, my aching retinas! It’s thought that the buttons on the necklace part serve as your keyboard and mouse. Could be they just report your actions to a higher power. If I were the paranoid type, I would thank Area 51 for this new technology and hope that no aliens were harmed in it’s making.





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