Homer
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ICYMI: The alcohol creating energy and removing pollution
try{document.getElementById("aol-cms-player-1").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: The University of Colorado, Boulder is diving into a beer project with a surprising twist: Researchers have managed to use beer brewing runoff to grow a species of fungus that not only cleans the water but can also be used to create lithium-ion batteries. Meanwhile the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center is helping paralyzed people regain a sense of touch through a robotic arm, by implanting electrodes in the participant's brain. The flexible phone display for music is here, and the BMW concept motorcycle that had everyone talking is here. In case you're friends with someone on Tinder, they should know about this story. As always, please share any interesting tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.
Homer Simpson will broadcast live, with some motion-capture help
The Simpsons, live! Well, at least partially. In a new episode set to broadcast on Sunday May 15, Homer Simpson will speak live to viewers, commenting on the day's news as well as answering fans' questions. (You can can tweet your queries to him starting in early May, using the #homerlive hashtag.) How is that even possible? According to The Wrap, it apparently involves a "first for animation", tying together motion capture, real-time animation and some all-important improvisation.
Homer for iPhone lets you peek at the apps your friends use
Ever had the urge to peek at your friends' phone screens, whether it's to learn about their favorite apps or simply pry into their digital lives? Well, you can now do that without having to either strike up an awkward conversation or get overly nosy. PayPal co-founder Max Levchin and the HVF crew have launched Homer, an iPhone app that lets you share your app picks with fellow users. All you do is take screenshots of your home screens and submit them; Homer scans the pictures and identifies the apps, making it easy to compare them with pals in your contacts or on social networks.
The Simpsons skewer iPad obsession with A Tree Grows In Springfield
This past Sunday night The Simpsons ran an episode with what has now become a semi-regular guest star: Mapple Computer. This episode devoted a considerable chunk of the story to Homer's obsession with his newly won MyPad. I can't give away any more due to spoilers, but suffice it to say the man known for his gastric rapacity knowing no satiety meets his comeuppance in the materialistic trappings of tablet ownership. The ending of the main story, a nod to the late Steve Jobs, is not to be missed. The episode on Hulu is blocked unless you're a Plus member and locked on Fox.com unless you are "connecting to a participating TV provider account." In accordance with all "we hate allowing people to watch free TV online even with advertising we can directly monetize" rules the networks have had in place since Jules Verne invented the television, the episode will be available for the unwashed masses to watch (in certain geo-restricted countries, naturally) December 3.
Etsy Find: Mmmmmmmm iPhone
Just in time for the weekend, here's an awesome vinyl sticker for the back of your iPhone that has Homer Simpson taking a bite out of your favorite brand's logo. It's made by Etsy user apjam, and while I'm sure it's not quite, you know, ... legal, it is a pretty funny way to play with the logo design back there. If it sprinkles your donut (so to speak), you can pick one up for under US$5 (assuming they go back on sale at some point). I usually like stickers for the back of MacBooks -- they always look pretty good and stay out of the way. But an iPhone sticker? I guess it looks OK, but I toss my iPhone around far too much to leave a sticker untouched back there. I guess if it was held on well and I was careful, it would be alright, but I don't know if the visual gag would be worth all of the scratches and scrapes. Have you put one of these on your iPhone? [via Neatorama]
Friday Favorite: Coda + Versions + Beanstalk
Welcome to Friday Favorites! Every Friday, one of us will get all sloppy over an app, web service, or Mac feature that makes us grin like an idiot every time we use it. This week, Robert tells us about his favorite Web development tools. It's no secret that I heart Coda. I've been in love with the one-window web development app since the day it came out. It turns out, though, that I was just scratching the surface of using Coda until I signed up for my new favorite web service: Beanstalk. Beanstalk is a service that hosts your version control repositories remotely. This is great for far-flung team members with firewalls and other networking hurdles between them. Having a zero-configuration Subversion repository available no matter where you're working is hot stuff. Best of all, Beanstalk publishes items committed to the repository to my team's development server automatically. It's just like it lives on our network. To make Beanstalk work with Coda, I first had to check out a copy of the repository with Versions. Versions is still in beta (and Christina has written about it before), but its ease of use is unparalleled. In fact, it has Beanstalk in mind, with shortcuts to help you connect with your Beanstalk repositories. With the repo downloaded, it's just a matter of setting it up as a site in Coda, and entering my username and password for Beanstalk. Coda does all the heavy lifting from then on. Committing changes and adding files is as easy as clicking an icon in the same position as if I was uploading it (and not using Subversion). I love that it keeps my muscle memory working for me, and not against me. Coda is $99, Versions is free (while it's in beta), and Beanstalk starts at $15 per month (which is the plan I have). Put together, though, it's a million-dollar solution.
Professor: Epic drops have epic literary origins
The conventional game mechanics of today's WoW-like MMORPGs are thousands of years old -- at least dating back to the Ancient Greeks. That's the thesis of Classics professor Roger Travis of the University of Connecticut in an article he wrote for The Escapist, called "Achilles Phat Lewtz."He compared the excitement he experienced when gaining a rare drop in The Lord of the Rings Online to similar instances in Greek poet Homer's epic war story The Iliad. He also located examples of quests, guilds, character classes, grinding and boss fights in Homer's work. Check out the article; it's insightful and entertaining.Travis also runs his own blog on the subject of relating games and ancient literary epics called "Living Epic: Video Games in the Ancient World." The various posts there are substantial and fascinating. Give it a look-over.
Odissea the Musical
Odissea the Musical by Marco and Massimo Grieco is based on the The Oddysey by ancient Greek poet Homer, and features 18 singers, 20 dancers, 8 acrobats, and assorted computer-generated 3D characters. In addition to their run in Italian theaters, there will also be a live performance in the virtual world of Second Life. The live performance will feature ten of the twenty-five musical scenes from the theatre production performed by the theatrical cast, and run for more than an hour. The performance will be taking place at the Pæstum theater in Italia Vera, which we are told can seat more than 300 avatars.
Homer's iViewer: the wireless TV transmitter
Homer Technology's iViewer is based on a fairly simple concept, and while we're still curious as to what wireless protocol it's utilizing to handle its duties, it can reportedly beam content from just about anything to your TV sans cabling. More formally known as the HTM 9000, this thing features four separate channels / status LEDs, a trio of composite video inputs and an embedded antenna, which is apparently utilized to pass along video / images from your PMP / camcorder / etc. to the family room TV. Granted, we're always a bit skeptical when the nitty-gritty technical details are casually omitted from any easily retrievable documentation, but if this thing does what it promises at just $42.99, we'd say it's pretty worthwhile. [Via ChipChick]
Wii version of Simpsons contains exclusive gluttony
Surprisingly, the new Simpsons game, called The Simpsons Game, doesn't follow the storyline of the Simpsons movie (The Simpsons Movie). Instead, it puts the player in the roles of the Simpson family as they become aware that they are inside a video game, which enables them to use ingame abilities (Remember Bartman? No? Ask your parents.) The game draws from video game culture, poking fun at games like Grand Theft Auto and Zelda.The Simpsons Game is a platformer with two-player cooperative gameplay and a cast of 200 characters. Troublingly, the developers say that of those 200, 100 come from the show. Is EA creating 100 new Simpsons characters? Jiminy jillikers!Wii owners will get a special treat: an exclusive minigame in the form of an eating contest. Using the Wiimote like a fork, players will cram as much imaginary food into their avatar's gaping maw as possible in a limited time.
Wowwee cashes in with new Spidersapien and Homersapien
As much personality and flame-throwing capability as your Robosapien might have, there's just no denying that he's a total square compared to some sexy Hollywood personality like Spider-Man or Homer Simpson. That's why we're guessing the new Spidersapien (the original name for Roboquad, if you'll remember) and Homersapien bots from Wowwee -- rebadges of Wowwee's flagship bot -- are going to do quite well for themselves, especially since Homer will be launching alongside The Simpsons Movie in July, and Spider-Man will be hitting shelves this spring to coincide with Spider-Man 3. Along with looking a bit like their respective on-screen counterparts, both robots mimic their inspirations, with Homersapien shouting a "Doh!" or three, and Spidersapien quoting Spider-Man phrases and pretending to shoot webs, complete with sound effects. No word on price, but you know you want one anyways, don't try and deny it. Peep Homer after the break.
Lenny gets a high-def plasma
Did everyone catch last nights Simpsons? The entire show is about how great high-definition is and the lengths that people will go for a plasma. Lenny threw a big party to announce it only to have Homer camp out on his couch for 3 days watching random crappy programing. That sounds somewhat familiar doesn't it? 10 bucks says that a producer on the show just got his (or hers) first HDTV. Is this a sign of the future? Is the Simpson's going high definition? We sure hope so.
