Tech Review: The Future is Here
[Originally published in MILK magazine Mar/Apr 2015]
Myo Gesture Control Armband
[Thalmic Labs]
I’m pretty sure there’s not a single person in the world who’s sat through Avatar and hasn’t thought, ‘I want to do that’ as the protagonist battles it out in a simulated world with the help of his trusty virtual reality suit and some pretty epic hand-eye co-ordination. Who didn’t read Harry Potter and sneak away to a quiet place to try (and fail) to elevate objects from across the room with purely their own thought patterns? Now, thanks to scientists at Thalmic Labs, these fantasies don’t seem quite so unattainable.
Thalmic’s Myo gesture control armband uses a new type of Bluetooth 4.0 sensor device, which can detect tiny electrical impulses in your arm muscles when attached. Even the smallest movements in the wrist, finger twitches and fist clenching can be interpreted as and translated as a gesture to wirelessly control your computer, phone and various other digital technologies. Myo also incorporates a complex network of other electronic reading devices which can register arm and whole body movements. What this means is that you can now play a game like Call of Duty wearing a Myo on each arm to direct your avatar to run, crouch, jump, fire weapon and reload. Awesome.
Of course, it might seem a little silly – wasteful even – to have such ground-breaking science engineering being used essentially to cater to the dreams of gaming nerds the world over (disclaimer: as a gamer myself, I fully believe high-grade digital entertainment alone is enough to justify the existence of this technology). The truth is, this device was originally created with a slightly more venerable purpose in mind: to create a navigation aid for the blind. Although better control over brain impulses is necessary to achieve this, Myo’s muscle sensing system has innumerable potential applications within robotics, space application and gesture-activated security.
Cost: $149 USD.
Release date/place: Pre-order from thalmic.com/en/myo.
Why? It’s about as close to actually being your game character as technology currently allows.
Why not? See ‘Cost’.
Elektra Nails
[Sri Vellanki/Momentum Labs]
Okay, ladies. We all know how annoying it is to type accurately on a touchscreen with gorgeous – albeit impractical – long nails (men, imagine you accidentally super-glued ten oyster shells on the tips of your fingers and then attempted to use your phone. An unlikely situation, I would hope, but it gives you a rough idea). The reason it’s tricky is because touchscreens can detect the electrical charge in your finger, so a fingernail tap won’t register. Thankfully, Elektra Nails are the ingenious (and fashionable) answer to this daily dilemma.
The nails work by channelling the electrical charge from your finger through your nail and onto your screen, thus allowing your Elektra Nail to work a little like a stylus. One of the coolest thing about them is that they come in a range of sizes, all in a standard greyish hue, so you can customise them with whatever nail colour or decal that takes your fancy. They also come in a pack of six (no, the company didn’t make an incredibly embarrassing miscount, it’s because you only need to use one at a time), each of which will last about a week, depending on how laborious your lifestyle is.
So far, reviews have varied widely regarding the actual practicality of the Elektra Nails. Some report ‘stylus-like accuracy’, while others admit that a lot of pressure as well touching the screen at a specific angle is required for the nail to actually register on the phone. Perhaps with a little more tweaking, in a few more months Elektra Nails will be glitch-free. For now though, isn’t it just nice to see an invention on the market made specifically with us long-nailed lasses in mind?
Cost: $18 USD per pack of six. incl. all application accessories.
Release date/place: Available now at elektranails.com.
Why? Using a touchscreen with long nails is a bitch. They can be painted all kinds of pretty colours. Easy to apply.
Why not? You don’t have talons. You are a man (unless you are a man who has long nails, in which case, I commend you). You don’t own a smartphone. Questionable efficacy.
[Sri Vellanki/Momentum Labs]
Okay, ladies. We all know how annoying it is to type accurately on a touchscreen with gorgeous – albeit impractical – long nails (men, imagine you accidentally super-glued ten oyster shells on the tips of your fingers and then attempted to use your phone. An unlikely situation, I would hope, but it gives you a rough idea). The reason it’s tricky is because touchscreens can detect the electrical charge in your finger, so a fingernail tap won’t register. Thankfully, Elektra Nails are the ingenious (and fashionable) answer to this daily dilemma.
The nails work by channelling the electrical charge from your finger through your nail and onto your screen, thus allowing your Elektra Nail to work a little like a stylus. One of the coolest thing about them is that they come in a range of sizes, all in a standard greyish hue, so you can customise them with whatever nail colour or decal that takes your fancy. They also come in a pack of six (no, the company didn’t make an incredibly embarrassing miscount, it’s because you only need to use one at a time), each of which will last about a week, depending on how laborious your lifestyle is.
So far, reviews have varied widely regarding the actual practicality of the Elektra Nails. Some report ‘stylus-like accuracy’, while others admit that a lot of pressure as well touching the screen at a specific angle is required for the nail to actually register on the phone. Perhaps with a little more tweaking, in a few more months Elektra Nails will be glitch-free. For now though, isn’t it just nice to see an invention on the market made specifically with us long-nailed lasses in mind?
Cost: $18 USD per pack of six. incl. all application accessories.
Release date/place: Available now at elektranails.com.
Why? Using a touchscreen with long nails is a bitch. They can be painted all kinds of pretty colours. Easy to apply.
Why not? You don’t have talons. You are a man (unless you are a man who has long nails, in which case, I commend you). You don’t own a smartphone. Questionable efficacy.
[Originally published in MILK Magazine Dec/Jan '24/'15]
The oPhone [Apple]
Ever wished to send a heartfelt text message to your loved one and neither words nor pictures could quite capture those deepest of emotions? On the flipside, maybe you’ve had to turn someone down and just couldn’t find the kindest way to phrase it. Well, as it turns out, thanks to a bunch of forward-thinking (and potentially loco) Harvard scientists, you’ll soon be able to convey all that you need using the most emotionally evocative and powerful means of all – scent.
Presenting Apple’s oPhone. It works by connecting a rather cumbersome, but nevertheless impressive, accessory to your smartphone (the oPhone Duo), which generates smells that are selected and sent via the iPhone app, oSnap. The process goes something like this: you take a picture with oSnap (Apple-only for now – sorry Androids), and tag the picture in various places with a range of different smells. You then send your ‘oNote’ to your lucky (or unlucky, depending on the scent) recipient, who will receive the message as a link leading to your customised ‘smellscape’. If connected to the oPhone Duo, it will emit slight scents from two separate pipes to be smelled alongside the message. You can still send and receive messages without the oPhone hardware – the app will instead just offer vibrant descriptions of the odour to the recipient.
You can currently choose over 3,000 scents with which to tag your photo, ranging from such hackneyed descriptors as ‘Paris Afternoon’ and ‘Plantation’, to the less appealing ‘fermented yoghurt’. Users can also customise their own unique smells by combining scents to recreate specific dishes, or multi-layered scents that only you and your recipient understand. Inevitably, this has led to a few bizarre user creations already in circulation: ‘Lady Gaga’ scent (what?), and the ambiguous-sounding ‘My Bedroom’. Umm…
Cost: oPhone Hardware starts at $149 USD. Refill ‘oChip’ packs $20. oSnap app is free at onotes.com
Release date/place: Available now via Indiegogo.com.
Why? Long-distant partners can be comforted by the familiar whiff of their significant other. Foodstagrams will be even more appetising. You can potentially send a fart via SMS.
Why not? It’s currently only compatible with iOS. Refills may become pricey in the long term. You can potentially receive a fart via SMS.
Ever wished to send a heartfelt text message to your loved one and neither words nor pictures could quite capture those deepest of emotions? On the flipside, maybe you’ve had to turn someone down and just couldn’t find the kindest way to phrase it. Well, as it turns out, thanks to a bunch of forward-thinking (and potentially loco) Harvard scientists, you’ll soon be able to convey all that you need using the most emotionally evocative and powerful means of all – scent.
Presenting Apple’s oPhone. It works by connecting a rather cumbersome, but nevertheless impressive, accessory to your smartphone (the oPhone Duo), which generates smells that are selected and sent via the iPhone app, oSnap. The process goes something like this: you take a picture with oSnap (Apple-only for now – sorry Androids), and tag the picture in various places with a range of different smells. You then send your ‘oNote’ to your lucky (or unlucky, depending on the scent) recipient, who will receive the message as a link leading to your customised ‘smellscape’. If connected to the oPhone Duo, it will emit slight scents from two separate pipes to be smelled alongside the message. You can still send and receive messages without the oPhone hardware – the app will instead just offer vibrant descriptions of the odour to the recipient.
You can currently choose over 3,000 scents with which to tag your photo, ranging from such hackneyed descriptors as ‘Paris Afternoon’ and ‘Plantation’, to the less appealing ‘fermented yoghurt’. Users can also customise their own unique smells by combining scents to recreate specific dishes, or multi-layered scents that only you and your recipient understand. Inevitably, this has led to a few bizarre user creations already in circulation: ‘Lady Gaga’ scent (what?), and the ambiguous-sounding ‘My Bedroom’. Umm…
Cost: oPhone Hardware starts at $149 USD. Refill ‘oChip’ packs $20. oSnap app is free at onotes.com
Release date/place: Available now via Indiegogo.com.
Why? Long-distant partners can be comforted by the familiar whiff of their significant other. Foodstagrams will be even more appetising. You can potentially send a fart via SMS.
Why not? It’s currently only compatible with iOS. Refills may become pricey in the long term. You can potentially receive a fart via SMS.
Hatoful Boyfriend
[Mediatonic]
I’ll admit this next gadget isn’t quite in the league of digital vision-aids, nor is it going to make your day any more efficient in any way whatsoever (in fact, it’s probably likely to do just the opposite). Hatoful Boyfriend is, however, one of the single most innovative, entertaining and bizarrely addictive digital creations to emerge from the latter half of 2014.
The overarching premise of this visual novel is fairly simple: You are the only human enrolled at St. PigeoNation's Institute, a prestigious high school whose other students are all human-sized sapient birds. Your mission? To find true love amongst them. Yes. Your sole mission in this game is to find a bird lover at your school. On a post-apocalyptic Earth-like planet in which birds have become more populous than humans due to a deadly epidemic of bird flu. You gotta hand it to the producer – for a storyline that is absolutely nuts, she clearly put some thought into it.
In fact, for what is essentially a parody of Japanese dating sim games, Mao Hato has managed to create something that evolves, through various plot twists and turns, into a surprisingly complex, engaging, heart-warming and occasionally sinister tale of interspecies relations. Despite the obvious absurdity of the central premise, each scene (mostly photos of birds with cartoon clothing accompanied by dubiously translated text) is presented with such poker-faced sincerity that players will find themselves quickly engrossed not only in the life of their own character but the intertwined storylines of their avian classmates, teachers and friends.
For this reason, I emphasise (while trying to avoid spoilers) that to get the most out of the game, it really requires multiple playthroughs, as each decision you make (e.g. earn the affections of Okosan, the fit freak, or investigate the strange undertakings in shifty partridge, Dr. Shuu’s, infirmary?) will determine the path you follow in this multi-branched story. Beyond that, subversive symbolism is scattered discreetly throughout, while each of your potential feathered candidates have their own unique backstories which run deep. Only by exploring the multiple threads in this game and remaining sharply perceptive will you piece together the mysterious ultimate backstory of the entire game.
Of course, you can just stick to the light-hearted goal of winning over your lovebird. It’s adequately entertaining and probably preferable if you have a day job.
Cost: $9.99 USD.
Release date: Available for Windows, OS X and Linux via Steam.
Why? Entertaining on a surface level, totally absorbing beyond that. Multiple threads for extended game life.
Why not? Exactly.
[Mediatonic]
I’ll admit this next gadget isn’t quite in the league of digital vision-aids, nor is it going to make your day any more efficient in any way whatsoever (in fact, it’s probably likely to do just the opposite). Hatoful Boyfriend is, however, one of the single most innovative, entertaining and bizarrely addictive digital creations to emerge from the latter half of 2014.
The overarching premise of this visual novel is fairly simple: You are the only human enrolled at St. PigeoNation's Institute, a prestigious high school whose other students are all human-sized sapient birds. Your mission? To find true love amongst them. Yes. Your sole mission in this game is to find a bird lover at your school. On a post-apocalyptic Earth-like planet in which birds have become more populous than humans due to a deadly epidemic of bird flu. You gotta hand it to the producer – for a storyline that is absolutely nuts, she clearly put some thought into it.
In fact, for what is essentially a parody of Japanese dating sim games, Mao Hato has managed to create something that evolves, through various plot twists and turns, into a surprisingly complex, engaging, heart-warming and occasionally sinister tale of interspecies relations. Despite the obvious absurdity of the central premise, each scene (mostly photos of birds with cartoon clothing accompanied by dubiously translated text) is presented with such poker-faced sincerity that players will find themselves quickly engrossed not only in the life of their own character but the intertwined storylines of their avian classmates, teachers and friends.
For this reason, I emphasise (while trying to avoid spoilers) that to get the most out of the game, it really requires multiple playthroughs, as each decision you make (e.g. earn the affections of Okosan, the fit freak, or investigate the strange undertakings in shifty partridge, Dr. Shuu’s, infirmary?) will determine the path you follow in this multi-branched story. Beyond that, subversive symbolism is scattered discreetly throughout, while each of your potential feathered candidates have their own unique backstories which run deep. Only by exploring the multiple threads in this game and remaining sharply perceptive will you piece together the mysterious ultimate backstory of the entire game.
Of course, you can just stick to the light-hearted goal of winning over your lovebird. It’s adequately entertaining and probably preferable if you have a day job.
Cost: $9.99 USD.
Release date: Available for Windows, OS X and Linux via Steam.
Why? Entertaining on a surface level, totally absorbing beyond that. Multiple threads for extended game life.
Why not? Exactly.