Sony Rolly does NiN
I love the Sony Rolly. It’s such a cute little, “Aibo meets mp3 player” kind of robot toy. When I first heard about it and saw videos demoing its functionality, it reminded me of the old Sony — the Sony that made really awesome gadgety stuff, whether or not it made sense as a mainstream product. They made tons of different electronic devices in strange form factors, and dominated the consumer electronics world. Unfortunately, that Sony has been replaced with “is it good for the shareholders?” Sony — a Sony that still makes some really lovely hardware, but has enough financial issues that they can no longer afford to make devices like the Clié (the absolute best line of Palm OS PDAs, closely followed by the Tapwave Zodiac) or the cute line of Aibos. When I saw the Rolly, I saw the old Sony taking a peek out from behind the stodgy, “bottom line is king”, new Sony. Don’t get me wrong, there are still plenty of innovative (and expensive) products coming out of Sony, like that super-thin, OLED TV that they are selling now, their interesting take on digital SLRs, the Sony Reader, and their fun line of phones, several of which I’m enamored with. I just miss all the fun, “What am I going to do with this?” products they used to have.
Anyway, this rambling is just an introduction to a video I put together recently. I was surprised to see the Sony Rolly displayed at the Sony Style store in Woodfield, so I busted out my phone to take a video of it in action. Too bad I didn’t have the N95-3 with me; I could’ve Qik’ed it… Oh well! The original song it was bopping to was “Love Song” by Sara Bareille (IIRC), but I forgot that I turned off the audio recording. The audio probably wouldn’t have turned out so well anyway, since there was some other music blaring in another part of the store. Luckily I was able to find a good replacement song that still fits with the Rolly’s dance moves. Strangely it’s quite a different song from the original tune that played — “Discipline” by Nine Inch Nails. 
Thanks, Trent Reznor, for Creative Commons licensed songs! I converted the video from the original 3GP format and added the song as the backing track in iMovie, quite a painless process. I was all smiles while I was watching the Rolly dance in the Sony Style, and I was still all smiles when I watched it dance to NiN. Pretty funny contradiction between a cutesy, mp3-playing robot toy and an angsty (but dancey) NiN song. See it for yourself!
Repurposing-a-go-go
Sorry, it’s a lame blog post title… I’m under the weather. *smirk*
Just saw this amusing post on UNEASYsilence about someone reusing an empty CD spindle to transport a bagel sandwich. Looks funny, but actually makes sense! To improve on this idea, the guy should put plastic wrap over the bottom of the spindle in order to keep the bottom clean, and help keep the container a bit more airtight (cut a piece big enough to fit over the bottom and make a hole in the center for the spindle). Of course, you should also make sure you wash it out really well!
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I want a digital Moleskine
I've been trying to write an essay about my digital Moleskine idea for a while, but I was getting too verbose as I'm prone to do. So I drew up a messy mind map to gather some ideas. I'll probably post a follow-up in text, but here's the mind map for now… (Click to enlarge)
Awe…sum!
Make: Blog always has links to interesting DIY techie projects. This latest one is no exception: a USB flash drive integrated with a Lego brick! What a cool idea. I think I'm going to have to try this project out.
(via Engadget)
What Do You Do With Your Tablet PC That’s Creative or Offbeat?
What Do You Do With Your Tablet PC That's Creative or Offbeat?
I hear a lot about productivity, software, and hardware tips for TPCs that relate to business or student use. But I rarely read or hear about the more creative side of tablet use.
Hugh Sung blogs about how he uses his tablet for his classical music endeavors. Warner Crocker uses his tablet in his theatrical work. A week or so ago, JKOnTheRun had an article about how someone uses his tablet to help him field baseballs hit out of the park. I've seen a lot of great art created on tablets. And of course, we ink bloggers think that posting in ink is pretty creative.
Personally, I have created some drawings in ArtRage (love that program!), and I ink blog. I think all of the other ways I use my tablet are pretty standard — notetaking at work, surfing, photo editing, etc.
So, dear Readers, what are some of the ways you creatively use your tablet?
