Hasta La Gadget!

If you had your eye on Ubi Interactive’s multitouch software, you’ll be glad to now that it’s now on sale. For those unfamiliar with the product, sit back and relax. I’ll take you to a world where any surface can become a touchscreen. As long as you have a computer that runs Windows 8. And a projector. And a Kinect. For Windows.

The Ubi program allows you to interact with Windows 8 programs from a projected display, as if your wall or canvas were a giant touchscreen. It uses Kinect for Windows – which is different from the one that works with the Xbox 360 – to map your fingers or hand and register their input.

Ubi Interactive says that Ubi will work with any projector as long as it has a “high enough intensity for the image to be visible in your lighting conditions.” The computer running Ubi doesn’t have to have a touchscreen itself. It just has to run Windows 8 and the resolution of the display being projected should be at least 720p. Its biggest restriction is that it will only work with Windows apps that have been optimized for touchscreens.

You can order Ubi from Ubi Interactive’s website; it costs between $149 to $1499 (USD) depending on the version you want. The Kinect isn’t included with the software, but then again the total cost of a Ubi setup is less than what you’d shell out for an actual wall-sized touchscreen.

[via CNET]

Games make life a whole lot more fun, and mealtimes are no exception. The latest food-related game is Pixelate, and it’s unlike most eating games you’ve played before.

Like most, it involves stuffing your face with food as fast as you can. The extra challenge is you have to follow the order indicated on the interactive dinner table.

Pixelate was created by Royal College of Art students Sures Kumar and Lana Z. Porter. Basically, players compete to eat what’s on their plates in the correct sequence as displayed on its screen. Whoever finishes everything fastest wins. It’s like Guitar Hero or Tetris, but with food instead of musical notes or falling blocks.

It’s a simple game with a complicated table to play it on. The table itself was developed using Arduino and OpenFrameworks. You don’t have to rely on human witnesses to tell who’s the winner, because the table can determine that much on its own. It does so by detecting the resistance for the food touching the forks that are connected to it. Neat, huh?

Pixelate sounds like a simple concept… until you check out its execution and realize it’s not that simple after all.

[via Core77 via Dvice]

A lot of people I know don’t go anywhere without tweeting about it or posting a picture on Instagram or Facebook announcing whatever it is they’re about to do or wherever it is they’re about to go.

For people like them, I’d recommend staying @SolWaveHouse, aka the Twitter Hotel.

Not that it’s officially sponsored by Twitter or anything, but the hotel is all about being social and sharing your experience there using social media.

The facilities are peppered with signs encouraging you to tweet and post online, including one on your room’s refrigerator with the #FillMyFridge hashtag.

My favorite has got to be the decal they put on their mirrors though, which featured the hashtag #HowDoYouLikeMyNewLook? and #Moustache, with an actual mustache decal on the mirror.

Check out the clip below of the kind of experience you’ll get at the Sol Wave hotel.

It’s definitely a Tweeter’s paradise.

[via PSFK via Bit Rebels]

Receiving transmission. Here’s our intel: an independent developer called Reactive Studios is working on a top secret game for iOS devices. It’s called Codename Cygnus, an interactive drama where you play a spy. Here’s where it gets interesting: the game plays like old drama radio shows, except you can talk to it. I hope it doesn’t have commercials.

From what I’ve seen, er, heard, it plays out like a cheesy crime drama crossed with a choose-your-own-adventure type of game. Other characters talk to you to relay what’s happening and to give you hints and options. You then select your response by speaking into your iOS device.

You can also respond by tapping an onscreen button, but that’s not too gimmicky is it?

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to pledge at least $10 (USD) on Kickstarter to obtain a copy of Codename Cygnus.

Seriously though, if I had to play a game that required me to talk, I’d rather play one that lets me give orders, like a general or a basketball coach. Or maybe a detective or scientist who has to dictate findings to a recorder. Instead of making you feel like a spy, it seems to me like Codename Cygnus could unintentionally turn you to a caveman who only converses in one word grunts: “Hostile!” “Down!” “Me!” “Winner!” Then again, the game’s not finished yet; maybe it’ll end up being way more exciting and varied than I think it is.

Popping bubble wrap is pretty calming. It’s an unconventional means to deal with anger or frustration, but hey, it works and it’s way cheaper than a session with a therapist.

Taking bubble wrap to the next level is LA-based comedy “imaginator” Eric Buss, who came up with the fascinating contraption that’s aptly called the Bubble Wrap Bike.

The bicycle isn’t made of bubble wrap, although bubble wrap is a huge component of it. The front of the bike is outfitted to hold and dispense a sheet of bubble wrap as the rider goes along. The bike’s wheels run over the bubble wrap with each push to the pedal, popping it along the way.

It’s weird, it’s strange, it’s all about bubble wrap and I think it’s amazing in a cool-but-I’d-never-ride-this-myself sort of way.

On a side note, what a waste of good bubble wrap!

[via Reddit and DPaF via Laughing Squid]