Technabob » laughter http://technabob.com/blog Cool Gadgets, Gizmos, Games and Weird Science Mon, 13 Feb 2012 21:30:40 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Wahha Go Go Laughing Machine Looks as Creepy as It Sounds http://technabob.com/blog/2009/08/30/wahha-go-go-laughing-machine-looks-as-creepy-as-it-sounds/ http://technabob.com/blog/2009/08/30/wahha-go-go-laughing-machine-looks-as-creepy-as-it-sounds/#comments Sun, 30 Aug 2009 12:03:24 +0000 Lambert Varias http://technabob.com/blog/?p=19060 It’s a little after 2 am, and you’re heading home. It’s dark. You’re alone. Suddenly you catch the sound of gears turning, tightening some unknown part. The sound bounces off the walls around you, amplifying. You shake it off and walk a bit faster. You can still hear the gears tur – wtf? WTF was that sound? You run. It’s too late when you realize that you were heading towards the source of that sound, it’s too late, all you could think about was go fast, not where to, you turned a corner and then you find yourself face-to-face with this creature:

wahha go go robot

The creature’s mouth/face tilts back, it’s accordion lungs expand – there it is, the gears turning. You scream, but your voice is drowned by what you can only describe as an anime villain and/or pervert’s laugh.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The machine is called wahha go go, and I don’t know what diabolical inclinations motivated Maywa Denki to create this. I’m just thankful that the sound in the video wasn’t loud or I’d have yelped like a little girl at a Jonas Brothers concert. Although I also half-expected Happosai to show up, with a sackful of bras on his back.

[via The Automata/Automaton Blog]

]]> http://technabob.com/blog/2009/08/30/wahha-go-go-laughing-machine-looks-as-creepy-as-it-sounds/feed/ 3 Big Brother PS3 May be Watching You in the Future http://technabob.com/blog/2009/08/16/ps3-big-brother/ http://technabob.com/blog/2009/08/16/ps3-big-brother/#comments Sun, 16 Aug 2009 12:39:35 +0000 Alisha K. http://technabob.com/blog/?p=18322 At this point, I’m pretty sure that everything in the damn world is about to be patented as a possible game control system. Right now, someone is filing a patent for a game controller modeled after their grandmother’s little finger. Why? Tea party simulations, y’all. In the meantime, Sony has filed a patent for a controller that depends on your laughter… or your blind rage at the money you’re gonna be spending on all these add-ons.

sony ps3 laugh detected

SCEA recently filed the patent for emotion and reaction tracking–a concept that has promise, of course, but sounds hilarious on paper, particularly when coupled with these diagrams (Ha Ha Ha) and their example of two dudes high-fiving when extolling the types of group interaction the device could read. I can see it now: one guy high fives his bro after scoring a sweet basket, and the virtual crowd erupts in cheers. Sure, it works. I guess.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the patent is that this software can be applied to all sorts of media… movies, television shows, whatever. Kinda puts the Nielsens to shame when your machine can read whether or not you’re paying attention to what you’re watching.

None of this really means anything yet, but the next few years will be interesting, as the gaming companies scramble to create crazy artificial intelligences that will destroy us all.

[Siliconera via The Escapist]

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