Hasta La Gadget!

Here’s a program that could be one of the big hits of 2014. Currently in development by Holotech Studios, FaceRig lets anyone with a webcam project their head movements and facial expressions onto a virtual character, all in real time. It’s Dance Central for your face.

According to Holotech Studios, FaceRig is based on “real time image based tracking technology” made by Swedish company Visage Technologies. Aside from tracking and mapping your head and face, voice alteration will also be included in FaceRig. So you can become a voice actor, a motion capture actor and an animator all at once.

So what can you do with the FaceRig? For starters you can stream a show online using your avatar as your visage. You can be the next Hatsune Miku! Or rather, Half-sune Miku. You can make a simple animated film without spending a single second or cent in 3D modeling software. Or you can just make funny faces all day.

Holotech Studios plans to release several versions of FaceRig for different devices and use cases, such as a full featured desktop program for professional use and a mobile app for funny face use. For now a pledge of at least $5 (USD) on Indiegogo will be enough to score you both a beta and a full license to the basic version of FaceRig.

[via Incredible Things]

As shown by the Kinect, today’s cameras are powerful and cheap enough to provide accurate motion tracking. The same feat can be achieved by making the subject carry a motion sensor or a tracking device of some sort. But a group at MIT CSAIL led by Dina Katabi have come up with a way to track motion and body parts in 3D using only radio signals.

Katabi et al call their technology WiTrack. The current prototype uses four antennas, one to transmit the signals and three to receive the signals that bounce back from subjects. The radio signals that WiTrack uses are apparently a hundred times weaker than Wi-Fi signals. Because it doesn’t require a camera to work, WiTrack can work through walls, assuming the wall lets the signal pass through. For instance, it can be used to interact with devices even if you’re not in the same room as them. Also, because the subject doesn’t need to carry any tracking device, it might be more suited to full motion gaming compared to the likes of the Wii, the PS Move and even newer tech like the PrioVR.

While WiTrack seems really practical, after watching that video I think we all quickly realized that it can be used to discreetly violate our privacy as well. Forget about tinfoil hats, we might need to make lead-lined houses.

[via MIT via Engadget]

I mentioned yesterday when I came across those the sweet Game of Thrones house sigil snowflakes that I had just started watching the series. I’m quite hooked now and I think it’s great news that a video game based on the epic HBO series is coming. The game is coming from Telltale Games, the company behind the episodic game The Walking Dead, and the Sam and Max adventures among others.

Telltale isn’t offering up much in the way of details, other than to say it is partnering with HBO on the game. That means the game will be official, and it better be good. Telltale had great success with the episodic game based on The Walking Dead, hopefully the Game of Thrones game is just as good.

If that video game isn’t enough to get you excited, Telltale has also announced an episodic game based in the Borderlands universe. The game is called Tales from the Borderlands. It will follow characters we know from Borderlands 2 and new characters.

Both games are landing sometime in 2014, and will be available on PC, Mac, mobile, and game consoles.

If you are looking for a gift to give a guy or gal on your Christmas list that likes cars and music, the Mirror Boombox is the ticket. The company behind the Mirror Boombox is called Iui Design and it crams the Bluetooth innards from a portable speaker into the shell from a Mini Cooper mirror.

If you have ever seen a Mini running the streets, you may know that the company makes a number of interesting mirror cap designs. The Mirror Boombox can be had in the traditional red, white, and blue Union Jack or a black, grey and white Union Jack. For fans that like to win, you can also get the Mirror Boombox in a checkered flag motif.

It connects via Bluetooth 3.0 technology and supports NFC pairing. The device also has a mic so it can be used as a speaker phone. The speaker has 8W of power and supports AAC over Bluetooth. The speaker also has the ability to connect to two devices at once and a 3.5mm input. The portable speaker has a battery good for eight hours of playback. And yes, doubles as a mirror.

The Mirror Boombox is available now for $149.99(USD). Mini Cooper sold separately.

Fans of the BBC series Sherlock have been clamoring to see what happens in the new season of the show, since the last season ended with the tragic demise of Sherlock Holmes. Or did it? Now, the premiere date for the new season of the show was tipped in an interesting way.

A hearse was hired to drive around with a flower arrangement in its glass windows. Those flowers spelled out “SHERLOCK” and the date “01-01-14.” Of course, the new season will air on January 1 (at least in the UK). It’s also telling that the season premiere is titled “An Empty Hearse.”

The hearse also had a hashtag on one window that read #sherlocklives. Actor mark Gatiss also tweeted to fans that they should look out for the vehicle. Gattis wrote, “Should you be around Baker St, Gower St or even Bart’s tomorrow morning, look out for a certain vehicle containing special news…#Sherlock.”

Fans looking forward to the next Sherlock episode here in the US will have to wait until January 19th, 2013 for its premiere on PBS.

[Twitter via Nerd Approved]