ThingsAmongMany

Tomorrow, furniture design company Blu Dot will launch their Real Good Experiment on the streets of NYC. Known for their well designed, mid-priced contemporary furniture (I’m thoroughly enjoying the Paramount Sofa I scored during their 20% off sale recently), Blu Dot is starting the experiment in an attempt to give a little back:

Sony has just announced the Party-Shot, a UFO-style base station that docks either the DSC-WX1 or DSC-TX1 camera…and then takes complete control. Using the facial recognition software in the camera, along with a 360 degree swivel and 24 degree tilt function, the camera will sit in search mode, snapping a photo each time it catches a composition of your party-goers faces. That’s AWESOME. Of course, Sony didn’t manage to add in that last little bit of functionality that would send this duo over top.

Luckily, where Sony dropped the ball, eye-fi is waiting to pick it up. Slap a wireless SD card in your new Sony cam and you’ve got a purpose-built party camera that will upload shots automatically as you take them, throughout the party. Talk about a match made in digital heaven!

The ability for technology to aid in the formation of communities is no new thing (”social media” anyone?). But those connections are generally angled at one of two things: 1. connecting - or reconnecting - you to people who you know in real life (a la Facebook, etc.). Or, 2. connecting you to people who share a common interest that you may never meet in real life (ie. Nike+, message boards, etc.). There’s still a bit of grey area when it comes to meeting new people via technology who you intend to spend time with in the non-digital world.

What am I talking about? Well, dating sites come to mind first. Yup, there’s a ton of them out there. And they’re even being used, often by millions of people. But how often do you hear friends talking about being on one? There’s still a bit of a stigma around online dating (for better or worse, you decide).

I’ve come across two sites recently that made me think further about this subject. The first deals directly with the world of online dating. As the name implies, Virtual Dating Assistants, LLC is a company that offers two options for men who are either too wealthy or too lazy to handle their own online dating ventures. For a measly $200/month (plus an $80 startup cost), they’ll manage up to 3 dating sites on your behalf, including hunting down potential “candidates” for your pursal. But if you really want the “007″ treatment, you’ll have to pony up $480/month for their Online Dating Management package (plus the cost of the dating sites they enroll you on). For that price, they’ll do everything up to, and including, arranging the date with your potential “candidate”. My only question is how much they’ll charge me to send someon else all together so that I don’t have to deal with the discomforts of that first date.

On a more positive note, however, I also came across By/Association, a new social experiment/service that’s starting up in NYC and SF (with plans to expand to London and LA). Members must apply to be accepted into the good graces of By/Association.

As a member you receive one monthly introduction to another remarkable person, based on complementary interests, goals, passions, and skills. With each introduction, your network grows — not for short-term gain, but for long-term value.

By/Association isn’t a dating site. It’s more an all-out networking/connections site. Membership is supposedly based on a stringent application process and costs $30/month if you’re selected. While far more low-key (not to mention cheaper) than Virtual Dating Assistants, something about makes it seem more impactful in my mind. It’s more about making a lasting (platonic) connection with someone who might truly interest you. That, to me, is an innovative use of the connectivity offered to us by today’s technology.

The crossover between fitness and technology is something that’s of great interest to me, and I’ve been anxiously awaiting the arrival of my Fitbit device for a few months now (according to a recent email, I’m looking at a May/June arrival). I’m really excited to see what kind of information the device offers and how it’ll help me in my everyday life. As far as I knew, the yet-unreleased device is the only one of its kind.

So, obviously, I was surprised this morning to catch a follow from GoWear Fit on Twitter. Turns out that the GoWear Fit is similar device to the Fitbit and actually offers a little bit more information about the wearer. In addition to tracking movement (via accelerometer) to count steps and calculate calorie expenditure, the GoWear Fit also tracks galvanic skin response and temperature to offer a more complete picture of your activity throughout the day.

Unfortunately, the extra information comes at a cost - or rather a few significant costs. Whereas the Fitbit runs a rather stomachable $99 including software, the GoWear Fit clocks in at twice that for the basic device. Plus, they charge as much as $12.95/mo. from then on to continue using their software to see the information you get from the device.

If costs aren’t enough of a deterrent, the GoWear Fit is also considerably larger than the Fitbit and has to be worn on an armband in order to function correctly (the Fitbit can simply be clipped to your belt/pocket/etc.). I’d imagine that armband might get a little stinky after continuous wear (but you can buy an extra for $8).

So, while I’m really impressed by GoWear Fit’s integration of further technology to offer more information, it appears that their product design and business plan leave a little something to be desired. Granted, you can actually get a GoWear Fit right now whereas the Fitbit is still in production…

Yeah, I’m a fan of Twitter. And yeah, I have to wash my clothes occasionally. Put the two together, and you’ve got Ryan Rose’s tweeting Washing Machine. Need I say more?

I’ll let him explain the rest:

EDIT: Apparently YouTube hasn’t approved the audio for the video yet. Hopefully it’ll be up soon.

As a devout tech geek and also reasonably enthusiastic car guy, anything that demonstrates the collision of the two (no, not literally) is of immediate interest. Back when I owned a car - a joy that I both miss and and dread returning to - I went through my fair share of radar detectors and other gizmos (the Valentine One earns my vote in that department).

Of course, this was well before the iPhone was available and every manufacturer had their own app store. Now that this is the case, there’s a whole new tech gadget available for your in-car needs. I’ve already used my iPhone as a wayfinding tool on trips out of town, etc. But I don’t bother to travel with a radar detector, which did cause me to be a bit more conscious of my speed on my last trip…

This is where Trapster comes in handy. Essentially a virtual, socially powered radar detector, Trapster is an application available for a variety of mobile devices. Power it up while you’re driving and simply click on the map as you pass a speed trap. When another Trapster user drives by the same spot, they’re warned of the impending speed trap, which they can also click to confirm.

There’s also a brief demo video on the Trapster site (but be forewarned, it’s pretty corny).

Fellow POKEr Charles Gallant, who’s name you may recognize from Robot Designs For Tomorrow, recently took a huge step toward acheiving a long standing project goal. An avid guitarist as well as technology afficianado, Charles took the game we all know and love - Guitar Hero - and turned it on its head.

By connecting a bunch of gizmos and gadgets to his guitar, Charles has created a real-time visualization engine that reacts to the notes he’s playing on the instrument. Still in the early stages of development, the project is sure to continue moving forward, time permitting, of course. Check out the vid of the first test-run:

Guitar Animation Project from Charles Gallant on Vimeo.

You can also read more on his blog here.

DNA has long since become part of the mainstream vernacular. Everyone learns about it in school, and, thanks to the wonders of CSI, everyone thinks they know just a bit more than they really do about the subject. Even MOMA has hopped on the bandwagon, offering framed prints of your personal genetic code to hang over your bed.

Of course, if you’d like to spend that money in an arguably more useful manner - albeit one that’s still DNA related - have a look at 23andMe. For $400 (that’s $150 less than the DNA print from MOMA) they’ll send you a spit kit that you send back for analysis. In 4-6 weeks, you get back a report on your health traits and risks and your ancestry, as well as access to the 23andMe community where you can share your genetic info with friends and relatives of your choosing. In addition, 23andMe will keep your genetic info on file and keep you continually updated as new developments that might effect you are found.

While, obviously, this is a pretty cool (and potentially scary) way to dig into yourself and your past, it also has some interesting potential benefits. Need to prove that you’re 1/16th American Indian for that college scholarship? This might just be your best bet!

I stumbled onto this interesting new(?) site the other day. MakeFive.com is yet another new take on the social network model - though this one capitalizes on something we’ve talked about a bit lately on BrandsAmongmany, interaction as competition - that allows users to start ranking competitions for the top five…whatever. Anyone can then submit their choices for top fives in that contest, or vote existing recommendations into their list, and you earn points for your participation. So, for example, the competition that caught my eye was The Most Influential Designers of Our Time, by user chrynkow. Games can be started in just about any category, though design seems to be a pretty popular topic so far.

But the real question, of course, is “why bother?” Well, what would any good competitive site be without prizes? All of those points you accumulate propel you up the ranks of the community. Those who are ranked highest are eligible to win a variety of prizes (they change each month, apparently) as reward for their participation and trendsetting opinions. Looks like you’d better get an early start each month, though, if you want to participate. The top ranked participant has upwards of 8900 points right now!

Learn more about the prizes and rules here, or just jump in head-first and sign up for an account.

What do you get when you take a mechanism similar to Twitter and add the suffix “gasm” to the title? Well, you get Textgasm. Textgasm is an anonymous, Twitter-like site dedicated to sharing secrets. You submit that little tidbit that you’re just itching to share with the world - anonymously - and it populates a stream of secrets that anyone can stopy by and read. Unlike Twitter, Textgasm also offers users the ability to comment on other’s secrets.

And, not one to miss out on the phenomenon of the Twitterverse, the secrets at Textgasm can also be viewed by following @Textgasm on Twitter.

Of course, be forewarned, anonymity online breeds some raunchiness. It seems that, until Textgasm takes off a bit more, you might encounter some more…PG-13 secrets being share.