Glasses-free 3-D projector | MIT News Office


Over the past three years, researchers in the Camera Culture group at the MIT Media Lab have steadily refined a design for a glasses-free, multiperspective, 3-D video screen, which they hope could provide a cheaper, more practical alternative to holographic video in the short term.

Read More: Glasses-free 3-D projector | MIT News Office.

Little wooden hexagons rewrite the tape player | CNET


Digitised content is more convenient in many ways, but there’s one thing that it can’t provide: the tactile pleasure of a physical collection. The world may have made a sharp turn away from CDs, but one company believes that physical media can make a return — if, perhaps, that physical media is also beautifully designed.

Qleek, created by Ozenge Studio in France, certainly fits the bill. It consists of the basic Qleek player, a sleek, beechwood-clad player, and wooden hexagons called Tapps — which can be customised with images of your choice — that can be placed on the player to play your content.

The content, however, is not stored on the Tapps. Rather, each Tapp has an NFC chip inside that links to media of your choice, such as a playlist or a season of TV, stored on your PC; or a YouTube channel, a Spotify playlist, an Instagram feed or a podcast. It connects to your devices via Bluetooth, then streams it to your Bluetooth-compatible television, stereo or speaker.

via Little wooden hexagons rewrite the tape player | CNET.

Take a Tour of the New British Library Newspaper Reading Room | LJ INFOdocket


Read the article: Take a Tour of the New British Library Newspaper Reading Room | LJ INFOdocket

Queens Library Tests Job Application Kiosk with Real-Time Video | The Digital Shift


Building on the success of its existing job search and job training programs, the Queens Library recently began testing a new touch-screen job search kiosk at its central branch in Jamaica, Queens. The kiosk is driven by Apploi, a mobile app launched in April 2013 by recruitment software and services provider Innovate CV, and is fully funded and serviced by InnovateCV subsidiary Jobs4Five. Queens Library patrons can create a “passport” profile with essential resume information; search for job openings using a variety of filters including location, company, industry, posting date, keywords, or job titles; and record video responses to questions provided by specific employers, which are then included as part of their application. The kiosks can also be used for real-time video interviews.

Applicants and employers “don’t have to wait a week or two weeks for an interview” after submitting an application. “They can do it right then and there,” explained Joanne King, director of communications for Queens Library.

Read more: Queens Library Tests Job Application Kiosk with Real-Time Video | The Digital Shift.

MIT’s FingerReader Helps The Blind Read With A Swipe Of A Digit | TechCrunch


At MIT’s Media Labs, researchers Roy Shilkrot, Jochen Huber and others are working on the “FingerReader,” a ring-like device that straps itself around your finger and reads printed text out loud with a synthesized voice, thanks to a mounted camera and heavily modified open source software. Read more: MIT’s FingerReader Helps The Blind Read With A Swipe Of A Digit | TechCrunch.

LEGO Car Fueled by Air Drives Into History | PCMag.com


What started more than 60 years ago as a children’s building-block toy has turned into a technological tool, most recently used to design a plastic car fueled by air.

More than 500,000 LEGO bricks were used to build Steve Sammartino and Raul Oaida’s “Super Awesome Micro Project”: a drivable LEGO car. Read more: LEGO Car Fueled by Air Drives Into History | News & Opinion | PCMag.com.

Mind-Boggling Spherical Gear Made from 3D-Printed Moving Parts | Gizmodo


New York-based Proxy Design Studio has given Gizmodo a first glimpse of its incredible, 3D-printed spherical gear called the Mechaneu, equal parts tactile toy and mechanical sculpture, a mind-bogglingly precise intermeshing of wheels within wheels.

Read: Mind-Boggling Spherical Gear Made from 3D-Printed Moving Parts | Gizmodo

Video: official trailer for Kelley Armstrong’s Bitten TV series | Quill & Quire


Canadian cable network Space has released the official trailer for Bitten, a television-series adaptation of Kelley Armstrong’s 2001 debut novel.

Published by Random House Canada, Bitten follows Elena Michaels, a Toronto journalist who also happens to be the only existing female werewolf. The fantasy novel turned Armstrong into a best-selling author and kicked off her popular 15-title Women of the Otherworld series. Bitten premieres on Space Jan. 11

via Video: official trailer for Kelley Armstrong’s Bitten TV series | Quill & Quire

Primo Is An Arduino Robot That Teaches Kids Programming Logic Through Play [Kickstarter] | TechCrunch


Dan Shapiro’s Robot Turtles board game Kickstarter showed there is serious appetite for kids’ games that aren’t just fun to play with but also sneakily teach core coding principles. Instead of the $25,000 he was aiming for, Shapiro raised more than $630,000. Geeky moms and dads clearly have money, and will spend it on the right bit of educational kit.

With that kind of Kickstarter community response, it’s pretty likely we’re set to see a wave of educational toys doing cool fun stuff with programming principles. To wit, meet Primo: a physical programming interface that teaches children programming logic while they control the movements of an Arduino-powered robot.

Read: Primo Is An Arduino Robot That Teaches Kids Programming Logic Through Play | TechCrunch.