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University of Calgary's Fat Thumb trick allows one-handed phone use, jugglers are thankful (video)
Everyone's let it happen at some point -- that moment where we're desperately trying to use our smartphones in one hand while juggling groceries or coffee in the other. There'll be no way to recover those social graces, but six researchers at the University of Calgary have developed a software technique, Fat Thumb, that should at least keep the contortions and dropped phones to a minimum. As the name implies, it's all based around pressure: a light touch performs the usual commands, while squishing the thumb's wider surface area against the screen allows the equivalent of a multi-touch gesture, such as a pinch to zoom. The advantages for comfort and grip virtually speak for themselves; what's surprising is that Fat Thumb may well be faster than other one-handed gestures. Work on the project is so far confined to a research paper stemming from experiments with an iPhone, although it's easy to see this spreading to other platforms and real products before too long. Catch a glimpse of the cleverness in action after the break.
Robots master delicate art of juggling, prep for clown college (video)
Not to be outdone by their flying cousins, some less mobile bots are taking on the challenge of juggling. After the break you'll find a pair of vids, including one featuring a creation from the Czech Technical Institute in Prague that can launch five balls between its two "hands" with the aide of a high-speed tracking camera. The other clip stars the "Blind Juggler," a somewhat more impressive machine that has no sensors or cameras. Instead, it relies on mechanical feedback and some fancy math to control the trajectory of the ball and keep it airborne. The Blind Juggler debuted back in 2009, but creators Philipp Reist and Raffaello D'Andrea introduced an interesting wrinkle for version 2.0 by turning the entire thing into a pendulum that passes the ball to itself. Clearly, the next step is face paint and red, foam noses -- bringing our most bed-wetting of night terrors to life.
A different sort of Wii-shlist
Yeah, yeah, you can bust up some Yakuza punks and rampage across New York, but what else can we do with the Wiimote? British gadget mag T3 was kind enough to offer some possibilities for any game designers itching to find the perfect new idea. Their recommendations? Mario Darts Super Tokyo Juggling Rush Gladiators Barroom Brawl 2007 Ghostbusters The T3 blokes chose their Ghostbusters idea as the most viable of the lot, but we have to go with Mario Darts. Why buy a real dartboard and risk putting one through little Timmy's thigh when you can bring that smoky barroom favorite right into your living room with no fuss, no muss? This is probably a good time to admit a secret hankering for a game about soccer hooligans. Football, beer, and raging across London with your best mates, crowbars in hand. What could possibly be wrong with that? C'mon, reader -- design your own no-holds-barred use for the Wiimote. What do you want to bash today? [Via Go Nintendo]
