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Sesame Street hits CES with augmented reality app for kids, we go hands-on (video)
At this year's CES, Qualcomm's got a big show -- but not all of it has to do with bleeding-edge performance and kick-awesome graphics. In fact, the San Diego company has a bit of a family side. It's partnering with Sesame Street to highlight its Vuforia platform, an Augmented Reality-based SDK that gives developers handy tools to make the most out of their apps. The program on display, called Big Bird's Words, is a word recognition tool to help children learn vocabulary. As you'll see in the video below, Big Bird himself lets the young 'uns choose a word and, using the rear camera, hunt around for it in a real-world environment. If the camera picks up an incorrect word, Big Bird indicates that you need to keep looking. Since this is just one application on the platform, this particular concept could be used for a plethora of different types of apps, such as dictionaries and translation programs. %Gallery-175380% Joseph Volpe contributed to this report.
The Road to Mordor: A conspiracy of hats
The hat, as they say, makes the man. Or the woman. Or the Dwarf. Unfortunately, in Lord of the Rings Online, the hat often makes the man completely silly. I'm not quite sure how it happened, but the hats in LotRO have garnered the reputation as being goofy as all get out. Sure, this is hardly a fresh observation, but I've wanted to address it in this column for a while now, so it might as well be today! Rumor has it that Turbine's artists drew upon actual medieval outfits to lend an authentic, renaissance faire vibe to the game. This is perhaps why there is such a distinct fashion style in LotRO that you don't see in other MMOs. Our modern sensibilities, with such fashion achievements as tank tops and crocs, make hauberks and codpieces seem quaint and ridiculous. Truly, we are seeing the height of human civilization in 2010. So while it's laudable that Turbine tried to give us the real deal, that doesn't quite excuse the fact that many of the hats -- especially the light armor versions -- are unbearably weird. It's as if, as The Pix'led Life speculated, there's a conspiracy of hats afoot: "Let's see what we can make them swallow!" one artist cackles. "Ooh, I know -- how about 16 varieties of dunce hats?" laughs another. I kid, I kid. There are 17. Hit the jump and let's take a terrifying journey through headgear that seeks to conquer Sauron by making the Enemy laugh himself to death.
Found Footage: Sesame Street does the iPod dance
Big Bird, Grover Elmo, Cookie Monster, Snuffy (my bad) and the Sesame Street gang have been cool since I left my crib for the big-boy bed. Here they give some love to their favorite music player. Not too shabby for a bunch of 40-year-old dudes (except Elmo, who is young enough to be hip to the iPod). Snuffy isn't in this one as they couldn't find earbuds to fit. My mistake, I guess they could. Honestly, I surprised that Apple hasn't used this. Sunny days to all. Thanks to Chris Hollomon for the tip!
