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MTV's 'Catfish' will introduce internet trolls to their victims
MTV's Catfish: The TV Show, a documentary series that brings together online couples who have never met in real life with sometimes disastrous results, is branching out. Instead of pursuing potential romances, the broadcaster is seeking people who would love to square up to their online rivals in the hope that it'll make engaging TV.
Must See HDTV (June 24th - 30th)
The NHL and NBA playoffs have wrapped for the year, so we're officially into summer vacation programming. Look below for the highlights this week, followed after the break by our weekly listing of what to look out for in TV, Blu-ray and videogames. Dexter Everyone's favorite serial killer is back for an eighth and final season on Showtime this weekend. Even if you think the show itself should've been dismembered and dumped in the harbor a couple of seasons ago, it will be interesting to see if a department full of cops can finally figure out there is a killer right underneath their noses. Check after the break for a couple of trailers for the new season. (June 30th, Showtime, 9PM) Catfish After a successful first season and Heisman runner-up Manti Te'o's embarassing revelation, it seems no one had a better 2012 than the makers of Catfish. Nev and crew will be pursuing an entire new slate of internet hoaxsters this season, and we doubt they'll run out anytime soon. (June 25th, MTV, 10PM)
MMO Family: Why Catfish is a term your kids should know
By now, everyone's probably heard the strange story of Manti Te'o, the football player who had an online relationship with someone who wasn't really that person. The question that people keep asking is whether or not he was in on the hoax, but I think that's irrelevant. The real question is why people are surprised to begin with. Ironically, gamers probably have a leg up on the Catfish scenario, since there are plenty of examples of players misrepresenting themselves through their in-game avatars. And there's often a grey area when it comes to roleplaying and honesty. In this week's MMO Family, let's look at the lessons of gaming, identity, and social media and what children should learn about all three. (And I promise I won't mention Manti again in this column.)
Butlers, lunar rovers, snakes and airboats: the best of Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute
How was your week? We got to spend a couple of days trekking around the Carnegie Mellon campus in Pittsburgh, PA to check out some of the latest projects from the school's world renowned Robotics Institute -- a trip that culminated with the bi-annual induction ceremony from the CMU-sponsored Robot Hall of Fame. Given all the craziness of the past seven days, you might have missed some of the awesomeness, but fear not, we've got it all for you here in one handy place -- plus a couple of videos from the trip that we haven't shown you yet. Join us after the break to catch up.
AirBot and WaterBot help localize pollution data collection (video)
Want to do something about pollution in our water and air? Carnegie Mellon's CREATE Lab is working on a few interesting solutions to the problem of localizing pollution data with a trio of devices aimed at making the process accessible and affordable for regular people. First up is AirBot, a "particle counting robot" that monitors pollutants that can contribute to breathing problems like asthma. Aimed at a $99 price point, the little black boxes are portable enough to bring around with you, so you can, say, compare the air quality in areas when apartment hunting. The lab has made six prototype devices (one of which was on-hand during our visit), and is aiming to bring them to market next year. WaterBot, meanwhile, is set to bring the solution to streams near you. Stick one end in a body of water near your home and it will upload water purity information to the web via a built-in ZigBee module. CREATE's also cooked up the CATTFish, a method for recording such information in your home via, yes, your toilet. Dip one end in the reservoir and the box on top of the tank, and it will give you a reading of the cleanliness of the water being used to refill. That information can then be uploaded to the web via a USB port. The lab is shooting for a $50 price tag on the device. The big thing here is the ability to let the community take its own readings to build a bigger picture of water and are purity levels through online applications. More information on all of the above devices can be found in the video below.
