Hasta La Gadget!

Do you love drumming your fingers on your car’s steering wheel while you drive? If Gregor “G-Man” Hanuschak has his way, soon you can actually make drum sounds when you tap on your steering wheel. G-Man invented Smack Attack, a steering wheel cover with 8 touch sensitive sensors.

The Smack Attack needs to be connected to an iOS device to work. From its mobile app you can set what samples will be triggered for each sensor. You can download more samples as they become available from the Smack Attack website or you can load your own sounds. You can play along with music, play solo or – get this – play together with other Smack Attack users.

While its maker suggests that using the Smack Attack could help you from falling asleep at the wheel, it could also just distract you from the task at hand – driving.

Ready to go on tour? Pledge at least $149 (USD) on Kickstarter and you’ll qualify for one of the first Smack Attack units if it gets funded.

[via Hacked Gadgets]

This interactive, electronic coat called the Riajyuu isn’t the first time people have attempted to give clothes that all-too-literal human factor. Remember the Like-a-Hug jacket which gave the wearer a good old squeeze every time someone ‘liked’ his or her posts on Facebook?

It’s all well and good until people stop ‘liking’ your stuff and you’re back to begging for hugs from willing strangers. I kid, but what makes the electronic girlfriend coat different is that you don’t have to do anything to earn hugs except wear it.

The Riajyuu Coat was created by students from the University of Tsukuba. It’s more than just a jacket that hugs you, since it has also been programmed to whisper sweet nothings to you as you wear it.

The coat comes with a belt around its mid-section, which tightens to simulate the hug. As for the whispering part, it comes with a pair of headphones that lets its wearer listen to a high-pitch voiced woman talking and apologizing for being late – just like a real girlfriend might. Obviously a real girl does more than just hug and whisper, but keep in mind that coats do have their limitations.

Hardware engineer Hikaru Sugiura explains: “The concept of this device is everyone can get the feeling of having a girlfriend.” It’s an interesting concept, but I don’t think a coat can ever take the place of a real live girl. I think that much is obvious.

[via Kotaku via C|NET ]

I remember that it caused quite a stir when Mattel decided to manufacture Barbie dolls with more realistic bodies. By that, I mean an average-sized chest, a slightly wider waist, and with a couple more inches (doll-inches, that is) added to her hips.

Artist Eddi Aguirre decided to go with that idea but took things a little further by using Photoshop to reveal the real face of Barbie. So here she is, minus the makeup and looking like she aged ten years overnight:

I don’t think braces can be covered up by makeup, but hey, maybe Eddi’s just trying to show what she would look like if she didn’t get her teeth capped. Here’s a closer look at Barbie’s face. I guess it’s true what they say about makeup damaging your skin if you put too much of it on or keep it on your face long enough.

Barbie isn’t the only overly dolled-up doll on the market. The one below happens to be one of her many plastic friends, and Eddi has decided to re-do her face and body if she didn’t go for the lipo.

It’s highly unusual art, but it leaves you with some food for thought afterwards.

[via Behance]

We’ve featured some strange stuff inspired by toilets in the past, but this is definitely one of the more unusual ones I’ve come across. As far as I can recall, this is the first speaker I’ve come across that looks like a toilet.

This craptastic speaker plugs into your computer’s USB port for power, and the 3.5mm jack for sound. Now why on Earth you’d ever want this gadget is beyond me. I suppose if you’re a plumber, you might buy one, but that’s about it.

Thankfully, the USB toilet speaker is only available in Korea at present, so you don’t have to worry about one of your co-workers replacing your Bose with one of these while you’re out on vacation. Oh damn, you can buy them here.

A group of Japanese students from Tsukuba University have invented a jacket that can be the substitute for girlfriend. At least it can be a substitute for a girlfriend who likes to hug you. The students have invented a coat that can give you a hug when you need it.

The device is known as the Raiju Coat, which translates to Fulfillment Coat. The jacket uses a pair of robotic pinchers and a pre-recorded voice to go along with the hugging experience. The jacket also uses motors that are attached to the back to operate the fake arms that are controlled by computer through a USB connection.

The person using the jacket wears headphones that transmit audio from the attached computer. The prerecorded sentences that the system says as it hugs you include “I’m sorry, were you waiting?”; “Watch your back!” (in a cute way); “Guess who?”; and “Blind side!” Apparently, it hugs you from behind.

The voice used for the sentences comes from Yu Shimotsuki, who is a Japanese voiceover artist known for work in adult-themed video games. The students have no plans to release The Girlfriend Coat commercially at this time. Check out the video below to see the hugging jacket in action.

[via Japan Daily Press]

Japanese students invent hugging coat is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
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